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Showsync Support Documentation

website·Indexed 33 days ago

https://support.showsync.com

Technical documentation and support for Showsync products, including Videosync for video playback and plugin development, Beam for Max and Beam for Live for lighting control integration, and a suite of Sync Tools for live shows and installations.

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What's inside Showsync

  1. Overview of Beam for Live lighting control

    Beam for Live provides professional lighting control integrated directly into Ableton Live. It allows users to design sequences of fades and movements using MIDI notes and automation on a musical timeline, leveraging Live's signal flow tools. It supports controlling multiple groups and types of fixtures simultaneously using descriptive parameters rather than individual fixture channels in real-time.

  2. Overview of the Videosync Plugin SDK

    The Videosync Plugin SDK allows developers to create custom image effects and generators. Plugins are built using a combination of a Max For Live (M4L) interface, a GL Shader Language (GLSL) engine, and the Interactive Shader Format (ISF) standard. For users who do not need a custom user interface, the ISF Shader device is the recommended simpler alternative.

  3. Overview of Beam for Max

    Beam for Max is a set of externals for fixture-oriented DMX lighting control. It translates MSP/MC audio signals into lighting parameters, handles pixel mapping via Jitter matrices, and merges lighting signals. It supports flexible I/O routing through Art-Net, DMX-USB devices, and CITP.

  4. Overview of Videosync core features

    Videosync provides video playback, warping, and looping within Ableton Live. Key capabilities include processing video via visual effects and instruments, mixing with various blend modes, alpha channel support, and frame-accurate video presentation. The system supports a number of tracks and devices limited only by the computer's hardware performance.

  5. Overview of ISF Shader device

    The ISF Shader device allows users to load and interact with Interactive Shader Format (ISF) shaders within Live. It supports two types of shaders:

    • Generator-type shaders: Generate visuals independently and overwrite any incoming textures.
    • Effect-type shaders: Manipulate textures fed into the device.

    ISF Shader devices can be chained together, allowing generator-type shaders to be processed by effect-type shaders or other Videosync effects.

  8. Understand the Beam plugin architecture

    A Beam plugin consists of several key components to communicate with the Beam system:

    1. lightDevice abstraction: The primary element used to communicate all changes to and from Beam.
    2. Parameter Controls: Use live.x control objects. Prepend the output with the parameter name (e.g., dim, pan, tilt) as defined in the fixture profiles.
    3. Color Control (rgbw): A special parameter tag rgbw followed by 4 float values. This controls red, green, blue, and optionally white (for LED profiles) or cyan, magenta, and yellow (for continuous color wheel profiles).
    4. tagChooser abstraction: Used with a dropdown object to manage tags. Prepend the output with the tag keyword. The dropdown updates automatically when Beam signals changes to the patch list.

  9. Understand DMX lighting control and fixture addressing

    DMX is a protocol consisting of 512 values (ranging from 0 to 255) transmitted 30 times per second. Lighting fixtures are connected in a daisy chain via XLR connectors. Each fixture is assigned a fixture address (an offset) that determines which of the 512 values it uses to control its internal channels. To avoid overlapping control, fixtures must be patched sequentially based on the number of channels each fixture requires.

    Example Patch List:

    FixtureNumber of channelsAddress
    Moving head 1151
    Moving head 21516
    Strobe 1431
    Strobe 2435

  10. Use the Tabula visual instrument

    Tabula is a visual instrument that allows users to map MIDI notes to brightness levels and customize colors for those levels. Key features include:

    • Lookup Table: Map MIDI notes to brightness levels and assign colors.
    • Modulation: Control Opacity and Note Width (the brightness range triggered by a note) using two separate envelopes with an optional envelope-looping feature.
    • Sidechain Input: Use another video signal as a sidechain input to color and trigger brightness levels via MIDI notes.
    • Envelope Timing: Envelopes can be configured to use either beats or seconds for their duration.

  11. Navigate the Beam for Live application interface

    The Beam application interface is organized into several key views to manage lighting setups and DMX communication:

    • Fixture Patch: The initial view used to define the lighting fixtures being used in the setup.
    • Inputs/Outputs: Used to specify the DMX interface(s) Beam uses to communicate with the lighting fixtures.
    • Devices (Live): The interface used to actively control fixtures during a live session.
    • Monitor: A view used to preview the real-time DMX values that Beam is sending to fixtures.
    • Console: A window that displays system warnings and errors.
    • Settings: A window for managing general application settings and software licenses.

  12. Understand Videosync device types

    Videosync provides three primary categories of devices for real-time video processing and generation, which are automatically installed to the User Library. Most Videosync devices are visually identified by yellow line(s) at the bottom of the device interface (excluding Simpler and Status devices).

    • Effects: Used to modify an incoming video signal originating from a track or an instrument.
    • Instruments: Used to generate new video content.
    • ISF Shader: Used to implement filters, generators, and transition shaders.