Zenith FAQs

The Zenith Starter package is the smaller, compact, refined version of the Residential & Commercial packages. It is designed to be an introduction to working with the software and with Zenith. We understand that some automation projects don’t have all the fancy integrations and instead just have the fundamentals – lighting, blinds and climate control. So, Zenith Starter is made for these smaller projects with a simpler navigation, refined object list and easier editing. It still features all the custom CSS/javascript & scripting, and still includes all the Zenith icons. It also includes 60 stock photo backgrounds for both homes and venues, so Zenith Starter can be modified to suit either. It does not include the custom smartphone project from the Zenith complete packages, but is instead preprogrammed to be displayed on the default smartphone visualisation app.

It is essentially a smaller, simpler version of Zenith but still with all Zenith’s awesome design features – just less page inclusions and preprogramming.

The design and navigation of both device formats are relatively identical, with the page size being the notable difference. Zenith iPad packages are suitable for display on Apple iPads, with page sizes and background images at 1024×768. These pages will scale to fit any iPad. Zenith Touchscreen packages are for display on touchpanels such as the Clipsal Ethernet Touchpanel. The pages and backgrounds are made to suit screen sizes of 1280×800. Both iPad and Touchscreen packages include an identical smartphone project.

SVG format icons display incredibly high-definition on screens, no matter how big or small they are resized. As such, Zenith SVG format icons are used for the iPad & Smartphone projects. Unfortunately, the Clipsal Ethernet Touchpanels have a scaling issue with SVG icons, so the Zenith Touchscreen format uses PNG icons instead. The PNG icons are still high quality and look great, but will distort slightly upon major resizing.

Included in the cost is your chosen Zenith Sample Project in your selected format and all its components. This sample project replicates a home or commercial automation system with sample pages for commonly automated features.

A one-time payment gets you unlimited access to this sample project so you can use it on as many of your projects as you like. Also included in your download is the SVG icons, PNG icons, backgrounds and images, the Zenith pages exported separately to the sample project, and the stock library of home or venue related photo backgrounds. Having access to so many background images means you can modify the project to suit any space you’re working on. You also receive the Zenith user manual which includes many pages of knowledge about working with the Configurator and page-by-page instructions of editing Zenith to suit your job. Zenith is the result of many months of programming and designing and includes years of knowledge and practice of working in automation and graphic design to create a project that exceeds what has been done before with a Clipsal SHAC/NAC. Every microdetail of the design has been tried and tested to ensure the user-experience of the interface is positive, intuitive and beautifully simple. It truly will take hours of work off your shoulders and transform the automation systems you’re developing.

Whilst the design is near identical across iPad and touchscreen formats, it is quite a time consuming process to modify the interface to suit the correct device since every icon has to be changed format and every page and widget size adjusted. As such, we recommend purchasing both formats if you sometimes use different devices for your installs. And of course, if you are an integrator that programs home and commercial systems, it is a worthwhile investment to purchase both the residential and commercial packages. An automatic discount will be applied to your cart when multiple formats are added.

Zenith makes working with the Configurator as simple as possible, however, the packages are developed expecting you to have some prior knowledge of working with the software. We’re confident that Zenith includes all the design components you could possibly need to create a full automation system though, so we encourage you to challenge yourself if you don’t have much experience. Our Zenith Starter package is the perfect way to get an introduction to the software as it is a smaller, simplified sample project. Of course, the more you work with Zenith and get to know it’s inclusions, the easier it becomes, so invest some time to see how every button works and look through all the icons and images. The user manuals also hold invaluable information that will greatly expand your knowledge. Overall, the sample projects are pre-programmed as much as possible so that your automation experience doesn’t matter, but it is the further programming to get everything functioning where your prior experience helps. Zenith is for visualisation purposes – to learn more about programming, refer to Clipsal training or other automation educative platforms. Ryelec can also offer additional support should you require it.

The sample project (gz Archive file type) was developed on the Clipsal by Schneider 5500SHAC or NAC web configurator. However, since the purchase of a Zenith package includes the backgrounds, images, icons and stock background library separately to the sample project, you are welcome to import these icons and backgrounds into any other automation softwares and use them to develop your own pages. We are so far unaware if the sample project file can be properly imported into other automation softwares.

Please let us know if there are any softwares you would like to see a Zenith-compatible package created for, or if you have success using Zenith with other softwares!