AI assistant (set the scene)

Describe the light you want in a few words, for example “a full blue wash covering the right half of the stage”: the assistant sets the selected scene with your real fixtures. It uses Claude, Anthropic's AI, and DreamShow's own tools: covering an area with the moving heads, aiming at a point, colours, intensities, zoom, strobe, palettes. It never sees a DMX address and never touches maintenance channels (reset, automatic programs, sound mode).

To open it: menu File > AI assistant (set the scene)…. The assistant requires an Internet connection.

Before the first request: your API key

The assistant works with your own Anthropic API key:

1. Create an account on console.anthropic.com, then a key in the API Keys section.
2. In the assistant, click API key…, paste the key and click Save.

Usage is billed by Anthropic on your account, a few cents per request. After each request, the bottom of the window shows the tokens sent (including those served from the cache, which cost less) and received.

The key is encrypted by Windows for your user account: it never appears in clear in the settings, and it is only sent to Anthropic. Delete the key removes it.

Making a request

1. Select a scene in the scene list. The top of the window shows “Scene: …”.
2. Type your request and press Enter (Shift+Enter for a new line), or click Send.
3. The changes show at once in the simulation and in the scene's final state.
4. Click Keep to validate them, or Undo the changes to put the scene back exactly as it was before the assistant.

Examples:

• “A full blue wash covering the right half of the stage.”
• “The moving heads in amber on the downstage area, at 60 %.”
• “All the moving heads on centre stage, tight beam, at face height.”
• “Add a fast strobe on the front moving heads.” then “Stop the strobe.”
• “Turn off the backlights.”

The conversation keeps track: after “a full blue wash stage right”, you can say “a bit brighter” or “the same on the other side”. New conversation starts again from scratch.

What the assistant understands

• Right and left are as seen from the audience: right = “cour”, left = “jardin”. For the opposite, say “actor's right”. The assistant says in its answer which side it took.
• Areas: it knows the stage width and depth and the position of every fixture. To cover an area, it spreads the moving heads over it and adjusts their zoom. Fixed fixtures do not move: it picks those that already light that area.
• Names: it only uses the venue's group and fixture names. An unknown name is refused without changing anything.
• Palettes: it can apply the venue's colour, position or beam palettes.
• When a request is ambiguous, it asks a question instead of acting.

What it does not do (yet)

The assistant sets one scene at a time. It does not create scenes, does not touch the timeline (blocks, fades, dynamic effects, sounds, videos) and does not change an effect being edited: close the effect to use it.

If something goes wrong

• “API key rejected by Anthropic”: the key is wrong or was deleted; paste it again with API key….
• “No Internet connection”: the assistant needs Internet; the rest of DreamShow works without it.
• “Too many requests for this API key”: wait a minute.
• On any error, the scene is put back as it was before the request.

See also: Creating a show with an AI, Palettes, Selection and light settings.