Zones

zonesbreakoutmediascreen shareaudio isolationeditor

Zones are rectangular regions on your canvas with special behaviour. There are two types: breakout zones for audio isolation and media zones for screen share display areas.

Zone Types

Breakout Zones

Breakout zones create audio-isolated groups within your Ripple. Drops placed inside a breakout zone can only hear and see other participants in the same zone. This is perfect for small group discussions, workshops, and activities where you want parallel conversations happening simultaneously.

Key behaviours:

  • Participants inside a breakout zone only hear others in the same zone
  • Screen shares can also be isolated within zones
  • The host can broadcast across zone boundaries
  • Breakout isolation can be toggled on and off during a live session

Media Zones

Media zones are designated areas where screen shares and media content appear. When someone shares their screen, the content displays inside the media zone rather than taking over the full screen.

Key behaviours:

  • Screen shares render inside the zone area
  • Clicking a media zone expands the content to fullscreen presentation mode
  • Multiple media zones are numbered — screen shares auto-assign in order
  • Useful for creating stage-like areas with a defined presentation space

Creating a Zone

  1. Click the Zone tool in the toolbox to place a zone in the centre of your view, or drag it from the toolbox onto the canvas
  2. Resize and position it using the handles
  3. In the zone properties panel, set the Type (Breakout or Media) and optionally add a Label

Assigning Drops to Breakout Zones

Place Drops inside a breakout zone's rectangular area. Participants occupying those Drops will be part of that zone's audio group. You can have multiple breakout zones on the same canvas for parallel group activities.

Zone Properties

  • Label — a name shown on the zone (optional)
  • Zone type — media or breakout
  • Audio isolation — whether audio is isolated within the zone (breakout zones)
  • Screen share isolation — whether screen shares are confined to the zone (breakout zones)

Zones and Scenes

Zones can be:

  • Global — active across all scenes
  • Scene-specific — only active in assigned scenes

This lets you set up breakout groups for a workshop scene while keeping the main scene as a single open space.

Breakouts Active by Default

In Ripple settings, you can control whether breakout isolation is active by default when participants join. The host can toggle breakout isolation on and off during the session, regardless of the default.

Visual States

Zones support visual states that change their appearance based on the current breakout status:

  • Breakout inactive — default appearance when isolation is off
  • Breakout active — appearance when isolation is enabled
  • Breakout hover — hover state while breakout is active

Use these states to give participants a visual cue about whether groups are isolated.

Tips

  • Use breakout zones for workshop activities where small groups need private conversations
  • Place a media zone on a "stage" area so screen shares appear naturally in the layout
  • Combine breakout zones with snapshots — rearrange Drops into groups, then enable breakout
  • Make zone labels descriptive (e.g., "Group A", "Group B") so participants can identify their group