Automation

Automation moves a setting by itself: an LFO sways a look's scale, the bass pushes its brightness, the beat flips a switch, a random value gives every surface its own colour. You pick a source, and shape how the setting follows it in the Response block, with live pictures of the sound and the result.

1Sources and routes

• A source is something that changes over time: an LFO (a wave), the music, a ramp, a random value. One source can move many settings; change the source and they all follow.
• A route connects one source to one setting, with its own response: which part of the source counts, how far the setting moves, how fast, along which curve.
• The setting keeps its own value. A route moves it from where you set it, so dragging the slider still changes the look. Several routes on one setting add up.

2The sources

3Add automation

There are three ways to start, and they all make the same kind of route.

The wave button

1. Select a surface and open its look panel (E). Every setting that automation can move has a small wave button on its right (the layer's Layer opacity in the inspector has one too).
2. Click it. The popover Modulate Setting opens, with the surface, layer and look under its title.
3. Under Move it with, click a quick source: LFO (a slow sine, 0.25 Hz), Beat (one cycle per beat), Random (smooth random wandering), Sound level, Bass, Kick or Beat pulse. More sources has every other one, and Or a source you have reuses one.
4. The route appears above, already moving. Shape it (next sections), then click outside or press Esc.

The right-click menu

Right-click any setting (or press and hold, or Shift + F10) ▸ Modulate ▸ LFO ▸ a shape, Beat-synced ▸ a division, Audio ▸ a feature, Ramp, Random per surface, or A source you have. When the setting is on screen, its popover opens on the new route.

Live control ▸ Automation

Add automation at the top of the Automation tab asks for the Surface, Layer, Setting and what it is Moved by. Useful for a surface you can't easily click.

4A route

Each route is a card in the setting's popover:

• Listens to (a sound route: which part of the music) or Source (which LFO, ramp or random).
• Bypass keeps the route but lets it move nothing; Solo lets only this route move the setting; the bin removes it.
• The Response block: see the next section.
• More: the source's own settings (an LFO's shape, Hz or Beats, rate and phase; a ramp's duration and loop), or another source for a sound route. When a source is shared, it says how many routes use it: changing it changes them all.

5The Response block

The Response block shapes how the setting follows its source, and draws it live so you can see what each change does. It works left to right:

Presets set the attack, release and curve in one click (the output range stays):

• Custom curves: pick Custom, then drag the points. Double-click the square to add a point (up to 12); right-click a point or press Delete to remove it; + adds one from the keyboard.
• Exact values: every handle has a field beside it. Type a number and press Enter (Esc puts it back).
• A warning appears when the setting already sits at the end the route pushes towards, for example “Brightness is at its maximum: the bass can't move it further that way”. Lower the setting, or turn the range round with Invert.
• Every change is one undo step, named after what it did (“Change the attack of the bass on scale”).

6Colours, switches, choices

Numbers simply move. Other kinds of setting have a mode just above the Response block:

7Smooth speeds

Every look has a Playback speed (0 to 4×, 1.00× by default) under its settings. Automating it changes the pace smoothly: the animation carries on from where it is, only faster or slower. Most looks' own Speed settings work the same way.

• A speed that can't be changed smoothly (a few rate settings) warns in its popover: Moving this speed makes the animation jump. Click Move Playback speed instead.
• Restart on cue, under Playback speed, makes every scene or cue that shows this layer play its animation from the start: one-shot wipes, “goo starts dripping”.

8Live control ▸ Automation

The Automation tab lists everything that moves a setting, grouped by surface ▸ layer ▸ setting.

• Each setting shows what the projector gets now (a bar, a colour chip, an on/off dot), ↗ to show it in the inspector, and ⋯ for its right-click menu.
• Each route is one line with a small picture of its response. Click its name to open the full editor; the move icon sends it to another setting; Bypass, Solo and the bin work as in the popover.
• MIDI and OSC controls and triggers that set the setting are listed with it.
• Search finds surfaces, settings, sources and inputs. Show in Live control in a setting's menu narrows the tab to that setting (Show all goes back).
• Sources: + LFO, + Audio, + Ramp, + Random, and a card per source with how many settings it moves. Deleting a source deletes its routes.

9Automation in scenes and cues

A scene or cue decides what happens to the automation when it fires. Open its options (the ✎ on its tile) and find Automation in this scene:

A new scene keeps the automation that runs when you save it (Its own); a new cue starts on Keep. A cue only ever touches routes on the settings it holds. See Scenes and cues.

10Hints and tips

• One source, many settings. Use Or a source you have to drive several settings from one LFO: change its rate once and everything follows.
• Phase for waves across a wall. Give surfaces the same LFO with different Phase values and the movement travels from one to the next. Or use Random per surface.
• Beat-synced beats Hz for music. An LFO in Beats follows the tempo, lands on the beat on wireless projectors, and keeps time in silence.
• Gate out the mush. Raise the input range's amber handle until only the kicks cross it: the setting moves only on the strong hits.
• Solo to find a culprit. With several routes on one setting, Solo one to see what it does alone.
• Remove it all in one go. Right-click the setting ▸ Remove automation (n) removes its routes, MIDI / OSC controls and triggers; Ctrl + Z brings them back.

11When something looks wrong

12Mouse and keyboard

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