Splash Screen Settings

With Rhino 7.39, 8.25, and the latest 9 WIP, the splash screen will make a web request to rhino3d.com to query a settings file named settings.json. Based on these settings, the splash screen decides whether to show the News & Tips section or swap it out with a carousel of images, each image associated with a web URL. Clicking on these images will open a browser and take the user to the associated URL. These settings can be adjusted independently by Rhino license type.

Utility Commands

TestOverrideSplashSettings

To test splash settings before publishing to rhino3d.com, run TestOverrideSplashSettings in Rhino and choose your local settings.json file. To cancel the override, run the command again and cancel the file select dialog (or delete Rhino.Splash.SettingsOverride in Rhino advanced settings)

Once you have chosen a settings override file, you can keep running Rhino or About command in Rhino to open the splash screen and check your changes.

SplashCards

To opt out of seeing splash cards, use this command toggle off the cards. To cancel the override, run the command again and toggle cards back on (or delete Rhino.Splash.ShowCards in Rhino advanced settings)

Settings File Layout

The overall JSON object for splash settings looks like this. It is fully empty in this example; therefore, the Rhino splash screen follows its predetermined default settings, matching current splash screen behavior.

{
  "$schema": "https://files.mcneel.com/schemas/splashSettings.schema.v1.json",
}

The splashSettings.schema.v1.json schema file linked in the $schema property of the JSON object helps discover auto-completion settings when editing the settings.json file in VS Code or other compatible JSON editors:

Marcom Settings Layout

Marcom splash settings JSON object looks like this:

{
  "showNewsTips": false,
  "showGettingStarted": false,
  "cards": [
    {
      "uri": "https://www.rhino3d.com",
      "image": "RhinoMarcom.png",
    }
  ]
}

“showNewsTips”

This is the News and Tips list of links that currently shows up on the right side of the splash screen. Boolean value "showNewsTips" can be set to toggle this section. The default value is true to match existing splash screen behavior. When a carousel of marcom cards is defined, enabling showNewsTips will include News and Tips in the carousel, making it randomly show up when Rhino is launched.

“showGettingStarted”

This is the red banner that scrolls into view on the splash screen for evaluation licenses. Boolean value "showGettingStarted" can be set to toggle this banner. The default value is true to match existing splash screen behaviour.

Marcom Settings By License

Marcom splash settings are set by the Rhino license on the main splash settings. Valid property values are:

  • marcom.default: Default settings for any license type. This is overridden by more specific license types listed below.

  • marcom.beta: Settings for beta licenses.

    This includes Beta and BetaLab.

  • marcom.commercial: Settings for commercial licenses.

    This includes Commercial, Corporate, NFR, and NFRLab.

  • marcom.educational: Settings for educational licenses.

    This includes Educational and EducationalLab.

  • marcom.evaluation: Settings for evaluation licenses.

    This includes Evaluation and EvaluationTimed.

    Evaluation licenses can have finer adjustments by remaining days on the evaluation period:

  • marcom.evaluation.half: Only half the evaluation time remains.

  • marcom.evaluation.2week: Only two more weeks of the evaluation time remain.

  • marcom.evaluation.1week: Only one more week of the evaluation time remains.

  • marcom.evaluation.2day: Only two more days of the evaluation time remain.

  • marcom.evaluation.1day: Only one more day of the evaluation time remains.

Example of specifying Marcom splash settings for commercial and beta licenses independently:

{
  "$schema": "https://files.mcneel.com/schemas/splashSettings.schema.v1.json",
  "marcom.commercial": {
    "showNewsTips": true,
    "cards": [ ... ]
  },
  "marcom.beta": {
    "showNewsTips": false,
    "cards": [ ... ]
  }
}

Marcom Cards

The "cards" property in the Marcom settings object defines a carousel of cards, each having its associated settings. Each card settings object looks like this:

{
  "uri": "https://www.rhino3d.com",
  "image": "RhinoMarcomVideo.png",
  "image.hover": "RhinoMarcomVideoHover.png",
  "border.hover": 2,
  "showLearnMore": false,
  "showLearnMoreLabel": "Learn More..."
}

“uri”

This is the link that opens in a browser when the card (or Learn More button) is clicked. This is a required property.

“image” and “image.hover

This is a relative or absolute URI of the card image and is a required property. An optional "image.hover" is a relative or absolute URI of an image that is displayed when the mouse is hovering over the card.

“border.hover”

Sets the thickness of the border when the mouse is hovering over the image. Setting the value to 0 hides the border. This border is also disabled when showLearnMore is true since the button has its own hover behavior. Since it is graphically better to provide a hover image, the default border value is 0 to disable the hover border.

“showLearnMore” and “showLearnMoreLabel”

When set to true, a Learn More button is shown over the Marcom image. Clicking the button will open the associated URL. In this mode, full-image click and hover borders are disabled. Default value is false (therefore, full-image click with hover border)

When "showLearnMore" is set to true, the "showLearnMoreLabel" option is used to localize the learn more button label. Default value is “Learn More …” in English.

One or More Cards

When more than one card is listed in the cards property, the splash screen will randomly choose one when opening:

{
  "cards": [
    {
      "uri": "https://www.rhino3d.com",
      "image": "RhinoMarcomVideo.png",
      "image.hover": "RhinoMarcomVideoHover.png",
      "showLearnMore": false,
      "border.hover": 2,
    },
    {
      "uri": "https://www.rhino3d.com/8/new/",
      "image": "RhinoMarcom.png"
    }
  ]
}

Troubleshooting

  • If you have modified the setting.json file but the splash screen does not behave as expected, make sure you are using your custom settings file using the TestOverrideSplashSettings command.
  • Make sure the JSON file does not have syntax errors. Using a code editor like Visual Studio Code makes this part very easy, and it shows all the syntax errors as well as providing auto-completion.
  • If nothing else fixes the problem, contact ehsan@mcneel.com