Scene settings

The top of the Scene settings panel describes the selected scene: its name, its label, how you leave it (on Go, automatically or chained), the fade to the next scene, the loop, the message shown to the operator and the commands to run when it starts. The bottom of the same panel (fixture selection, sliders, final state) is described in Selecting fixtures and adjusting the light.

To open it: select a scene in the Scenes panel; its settings appear in the Scene settings panel (in the middle of the main screen in the default layout).

The mode banner

At the very top of the panel, a banner reminds you what the light settings change:

• “Sequence mode — the settings define the lighting of the scene” (grey background): this is the normal mode. The sliders and the palette write into the final state of the selected scene.
• “EFFECT MODE — “name”: the settings change the effect, not the sequence” (orange background): you are editing an effect from the library (double-click an effect in Libraries). See Libraries.
• “TRAJECTORY MODE — “name”: the settings change the selected key frame” (orange background): you are editing a keyframe of a trajectory. See Trajectories.

In both orange modes, a ✔ Finish editing the effect button appears on the right of the banner; it takes you back to sequence mode.

The settings line

All these fields are saved in the show as soon as you change them (the show is marked “*” until the next save). They can only be edited if a scene is selected.

Scene:

• Scene: the name of the scene, free text. It appears in the Scenes list, in the cue list and in the log. The list updates with every keystroke.

Label:

• Label: a short, stable name for the scene, for example pluie or final (tooltip: “Short, stable name of the scene (e.g. rain): jumps and parallel sequences target it by this name, even when scenes are inserted or moved”).
  • It is shown in square brackets in the Scenes list: 4 · Orage [pluie].
  • Spaces at the start and end are removed, as is an “@” at the start (in blocks, a label is written @pluie).
  • Empty = no label.
  • Two scenes must not have the same label: otherwise the first one is targeted, and the log reports it.
  • See Jumps and scene labels and Parallel sequences.

Trigger:

The Trigger: list says how you leave this scene for the next one. Three choices:

• Manual GO (default value): the scene waits for the operator to press Go. Nothing happens by itself.
• Auto: the scene moves on to the next one by itself after the delay given in the small box just to the right (tooltip “Auto delay (s)”, 2 by default). The delay is counted in seconds from the start of the scene's timeline, that is once the incoming fade is over (a scene's timeline starts at the end of the fade leading to it). Both comma and full stop are accepted as the decimal separator. An unreadable value counts as 2 seconds.
• Chained: the scene moves on to the next one by itself as soon as its timeline has finished, that is at the end of the block that ends last. A chained scene with no blocks at all moves on to the next one immediately (as soon as its incoming fade has finished).

The small delay box stays visible whatever the choice, but it is only used with Auto.

In every case:

• when leaving the scene, it is its fade (Fade to the next (s)) that applies;
• Auto and Chained have no effect on the last scene of the show;
• Auto and Chained are suspended when the Disengage auto-fade box is ticked (timeline toolbar, or cue window): you then only move on with Go;
• a Go is still possible on an Auto or Chained scene, as soon as its timeline has finished (see The Scenes panel).

Fade to the next (s):

• Fade to the next (s): the duration, in seconds, of the fade applied when leaving this scene (on Go or when chaining automatically), towards the final state of the next scene. Tooltip: “As in ppshow: length of the fade applied when LEAVING this scene (on GO or automatically), towards the state of the next scene. The timeline of the next scene starts when the fade ends.”
  • 0 (default) = instant change.
  • Comma or full stop accepted. An unreadable value is ignored (the old value is kept).
  • The timeline of the next scene (sounds, videos, blocks, extra commands) only starts at the end of the fade.
  • The first Go from the “Ready” state arrives on scene 1 with no fade. A click in the Scenes list in the editor is instantaneous too.
  • How each type of channel goes through the fade (intensity, colour, position, shutter…) is detailed in Fades and mixes.

Loop

• Loop (check box): the scene's timeline automatically starts again from the beginning when it reaches its end (the end of the block that ends last), until Go, or until the maximum length. Tooltip: “The timeline loops automatically until GO (or until the maximum length)”.
  • On each pass, all the timeline's events play again: sounds and videos restart from the beginning, the extra commands are run again.
  • A looping scene ignores its Auto or Chained trigger: you leave it with a Go, or through the maximum length.
  • Go is always possible on a looping scene, even in the middle of a pass.
  • A looping scene with no blocks at all does not loop (there is nothing to replay): its Trigger applies normally.

max length (s):

• max length (s): can only be edited if Loop is ticked. Tooltip: “Empty = loops until GO; otherwise the scene chains to the next one after this total time”.
  • Empty (or 0): the scene loops until Go.
  • A duration: after this total time (all passes counted, from the start of the timeline), the scene moves on to the next one like an Auto scene, with its fade. This move is also suspended by Disengage auto-fade.

The “not listed = to zero” reminder

On the right of the line, the grey reminder “not listed = to zero (winch: kept)” sums up an important rule of the final state: a fixture that has no setting in a scene's final state is set to zero (switched off) there. Only fixtures set to “hold” in the venue (the “If not mentioned in a scene” field in Fixtures, addresses, positions, typically a winch) keep the value of the previous scene.

Cue message:

• Cue message: free text, on several lines, shown large in the cue window during this scene. Tooltip: “Shown large during this scene in show mode — what to expect before pressing GO”. For example: “GO when the actress sits down”. See Show mode and the cue window.

Extra commands:

• Extra commands: a text area (fixed-width font) for commands run when the scene starts. The syntax is that of the ppshow software.

When they run

• They go out at the start of the scene's timeline, so once the fade leading to it has finished.
• Only during playback: a scene that is merely selected in the editor, with the timeline paused, does not run them. They go out on Go, when chaining, or when you start playback (▶) with the red line at the beginning.
• A Loop scene runs them again on every pass.

Syntax

• One command per line.
• A line that starts with ; or # is a comment, and is ignored.
• Empty lines are ignored.
• The keyword, in upper or lower case, is followed by = and its value.

The keywords of ppshow's legacy hardware (SMOKE=, MISC1= to MISC4=, LOAD=, MATRIX=, RANDOM=…), and more generally any unrecognised line, do nothing: the log shows “Unsupported ppshow command: …” at the moment the line should have run.

AMBILIGHT in detail

A video is marked by adding (AMBI) to its file name, for example ouverture (AMBI).mp4 (see Sound and video on the timeline). When the video player plays such a video, it sends DreamShow the dominant colour of the left and right of the picture. AMBILIGHT= says which fixtures take these colours.

• Before the /: the fixtures that take the left colour; after the /: those that take the right colour.
• Each fixture is given by the DMX address of its red channel, in the first universe; green and blue follow at the next two addresses.
• W just after the address: the fixture also has a white channel (at address +3), set to the minimum of R, G, B.
• @<master>: the address of the fixture's master intensity channel. Its level, set by the scene, scales the colours, and the channel itself is pushed to full.
• Several fixtures on the same side are separated by ;.
• AMBILIGHT=OFF turns the tracking off.
• The setting is kept from scene to scene until a new AMBILIGHT= line.
• When no fresh colour arrives (more than half a second without a marked video), the fixtures go back to what the scene gives them.

Example: AMBILIGHT=1W@5;20/40;60 — on the left, an RGB+W fixture at address 1 with its master intensity at 5, and an RGB fixture at address 20; on the right, two RGB fixtures at addresses 40 and 60.

REPLAYDMX in detail

• The file is a raw DMX recording in ppshow's format, read at one frame every 10 ms, on the first universe.
• During playback, it replaces everything the scene computes on that universe, until the end of the file. The log announces the start (“REPLAYDMX: playing …”) and the end.
• A pause freezes playback; a reset of the show stops it.

Step by step

A pre-show scene that loops until Go

1. Select the pre-show scene in Scenes.
2. Place some music and a few light blocks on its timeline (see The scene timeline).
3. Tick Loop; leave max length (s): empty.
4. In Cue message:, write “GO when the house is full”.
5. Set Fade to the next (s): to 5.
6. During the performance, the music and the blocks loop; Go starts a 5-second fade to the next scene.

Chaining three scenes on their own

1. Scene 1: Trigger: Auto, delay 10: it moves on to scene 2 ten seconds after it starts.
2. Scene 2: Trigger: Chained: it moves on to scene 3 at the end of its last block.
3. Scene 3: Manual GO: it waits for the operator.
4. To test without the scenes chaining, tick Disengage auto-fade in the timeline toolbar.

Starting a program when a scene starts

1. In Extra commands:, type for example: ``` ; ouvre le diaporama de l'entracte EXEC="C:\Programmes\Diaporama\diapo.exe" entracte.txt ```
2. Start the scene (Go or ▶ at the start of the timeline): the program starts, and the log shows “EXEC: …”.

Good to know

• The trigger says how you leave a scene, and the fade also belongs to the scene you are leaving (as in ppshow). To adjust the arrival on scene 5, set the fade of scene 4.
• To keep a scene on a fixed state for a long time without playing anything, leave it on Manual GO with no blocks: it holds its final state until Go.
• Waits for a time, a date, a key or sunset are not set here but with timeline blocks: see Waits.
• The CHAIN=, AMBILIGHT= and REPLAYDMX= commands only run in the main cue list, not in a parallel sequence.
• EXEC= starts any program on the PC: check the line before the performance, and look at the log if in doubt.

See also

• The Scenes panel
• Selecting fixtures and adjusting the light
• Fades and mixes
• Jumps and scene labels
• Parallel sequences
• Waits (key, time, date, sun)
• Show mode and the cue window
• Sound and video on the timeline