Projection offers an appearance panel to style what the congregation sees: background, font and church logo. Your settings are kept from one service to the next on the same device, and apply to the audience window immediately.
Open the appearance panel
In the top bar of the projection, click the palette icon. A panel opens on the right with the appearance settings.
Tip: try things out before the service, on the control window. The audience window follows every change live, so you see the final look right away.
Start from an ambiance
Ambiances are ready-made animated backdrops: one click applies both the background and its animation at once, then you fine-tune if needed. The motion stays subtle, never distracting.
- Embers: golden embers that rise gently, for a warm atmosphere.
- Night sky: a deep midnight blue, with clouds and stars.
- Constellation: linked stars that drift slowly.
- Dusk: a warm end-of-day gradient.
- Sanctuary: a subdued, contemplative starry sky.
- Aurora: veils of colored light.
- Light rays: broad beams of light.
- Nebula: colorful cosmic clouds.
Set the animation separately
Under Background animation, you can also choose the animation independently of the background: None (fixed background), Living gradient, Aurora, Stars, Embers, Night sky, Dawn, Dusk, Light rays, Nebula or Constellation. These are ultra-light native animations - no video to load, smooth even on an old computer.
Smooth transitions
When you switch slides, the audience display transitions with a soft fade instead of a hard cut: the result looks more polished. The effect respects the operating system's "reduced motion" setting.
Set the background
Three background types are available:
| Type | Use |
|---|---|
| Solid | A single color; black stays the most readable for lyrics. |
| Gradient | Two blended colors, with an adjustable angle. |
| Image | Your own photo as the background. |
For an image, choose the file then adjust the Darken slider: the more the image is darkened, the more readable the text stays on top of it.
Warning: a background that is too bright or too busy makes lyrics hard to read from a distance. Prefer a dark background and strong contrast for the congregation.
The church background library
A background image is not used once: it is used every Sunday. So it stays in your church's library, and you find it again from any console machine.
- Customisation, then Background → Image.
- Choose an image: frame it in 16:9 - the projector's format - then confirm.
- The image is uploaded, added to the library, and applied straight away.
Next time, one click on its thumbnail is enough. The cross in the corner removes it from the library; the file itself is not deleted - a past session that used it still displays it.
Why framing matters: a projector is 16:9, a phone photo is 4:3 or portrait. Without framing, the image is cropped at random, often across a face or the sky. You choose what to keep before the congregation sees it.
The dark veil is not a detail
Under the image, the Darken slider lays a black veil over the photo. It is not there to look nice: on a bright image, white text becomes unreadable from the third row back. Raise it until the words stand out clearly, then step back a few metres and check.
Twenty-four images maximum. Beyond that, remove one: a longer gallery becomes a treasure hunt five minutes before the service.
Choose the font and readability
- Font: ten styles in three families - classic, modern, majestic - picked from a grouped list. A live preview shows the real rendering, in both cases, before applying.
- Text glow: adds a soft glow behind the text to lift it off a busy background.
- Text size is set from the top bar (A- / A+), independently of the theme.
Show the logo as a watermark
If your church has a logo, you can show it discreetly as a watermark in a corner of the screen. Enable the watermark, then adjust its opacity so it stays present without hindering reading.
Note: the watermark only appears if a logo is set for your church. Set it in the church settings if needed.
The congregation's language
Everything that is projected - verses, the Bible reference, "Word of God", the preacher's name - appears in your church's language, whatever the projection device. Your own operator controls stay in your language.
Bilingual projection
For assemblies where two languages live together - Belgium is full of them. No other church projection software offers it.
Available languages
Fifteen versions, added in this order: French, Portuguese, English, Spanish, Dutch, Lingala, Swahili, Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Italian, Hausa, Yoruba, German, Polish.
The selector names them by language then version: "Dutch (Staten Vertaling)", "Swahili (Neno: Bibilia Takatifu)". The most recently added language sits at the bottom of the list.
Every one of these translations is in the public domain or published under a Creative Commons licence. The version name is projected with the verse: a congregation has the right to know what is being read to it.
Kikongo, Tshiluba, Kitetela, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi are not on this list yet. No complete, freely redistributable translation exists today in those languages; the request has been started with the Bible Societies.
In the appearance panel, Bilingual projection block:
- Choose the second Bible version.
- Choose the layout: side by side, or one above the other.
- Turn on Prophet quotes too if you wish.
- Say what the live stream receives.
Your church language always comes first: on the left side by side, on top when stacked.
The rule that protects you
Never two different texts side by side. Verses were numbered in the 16th century and two traditions coexist: the Hebrew one, followed by Louis Segond and the Staten Vertaling, and the Greek and Latin one, followed by the King James. Job 41:1 reads "None is so fierce that dare stir him up" in one and "Canst thou draw out leviathan" in the other.
Before showing two columns, Sanctumel checks that both versions number that chapter identically. Otherwise the screen switches to one language and tells you so.
Note: 8.4% of chapters differ between French and Dutch, but only 4 out of 260 in the New Testament - Mark 9, Mark 10, 3 John and Revelation 12.
Prophet quotes
This is a separate choice, deliberately. One section groups two to five paragraphs: the text is far longer than a verse and must fit in two columns. Judge it on your own quotes.
When active, both languages come from the official VGR source, the only way to get exactly the same passage. An untranslated sermon simply shows in the church language.
On the live stream
A lower third does not have the height of a hall screen: doubling it ends up covering the speaker. By default the stream receives the church language.
Second language only makes possible what nobody does: a church running two streams serves each audience in its own language, from the same control desk.
Note: never an empty half. Missing verse, untranslated sermon, source unavailable: the screen returns to full screen on its own, in the church language.