Live Shift Pro — User Guide

Getting Started

Live Shift Pro turns a computer into a virtual lighting / video-wall console. You build and run shows on the Control UI (the app), while a full-screen Stage window on a second display outputs the finished picture — fed to a video-wall controller or projectors.

Sign in

Open the app in Google Chrome (required — only Chrome can auto-place the Stage window on a second display). Sign in with your account. The demo ships with two logins:

• admin / admin — Admin: builds and configures everything.
• operator / operator — Standard: runs an already-built show live.

The Stage window

On login the app opens the Stage window. With an external display connected and the one-time Chrome “manage windows” permission granted, it auto-fullscreens on that display. Otherwise it opens as a pop-up you drag to your second screen and fullscreen with F11. You can reopen it any time with the 🖥 Stage button in the top bar or in Settings.

Core Concepts

Stage, Layout & Fixtures

The Stage is the whole output picture. A Layout divides it into a grid (1×1 up to 3×3). Each cell is a Fixture — a virtual moving-head/laser/video panel you control independently.

Content types

Every fixture plays exactly one of three content types:

• Digital Gobo — a mask-based light look: a vector stencil cut out of a round aperture over a colored background, with rotation, strobe, prism and shape controls.
• Laser — parametric beam art (fans, Lissajous, tunnels, liquid sky, crosshair…) with color, scan, flicker and thickness.
• Video — a video clip with loop/scrub/volume.

The four layers

What you see on the Stage is composed top-to-bottom:

1. Selection overrides — live tweaks on the fixtures you’ve selected.
2. Global overrides — blackout, color wash, master intensity.
3. Active Scene — the “look” recalled by the last fired Cue.
4. Loaded project — the designed show (queues, presets, groups).

Only the bottom two are saved. Overrides are runtime-only — they never change your show file, and clearing them (or reloading the project) returns to the designed state.

User Roles

Admin designs the show: layouts, media, presets, scenes/cues, playlists, schedules, users and settings. Standard runs a built show: load it, fire cues, select fixtures, and apply live overrides — but can’t restructure the show or the system. The navigation only shows the screens your role can use.

The guiding rule: Standard operators can do anything reversible and “in the moment”; Admins can change what the show is.

Dashboard & Projects

The Dashboard lists your saved shows and shows what’s currently on Stage. From here you can:

• Load & Go — click anywhere on a show card to load it and jump to the Live screen (it opens in STANDBY — press GO to start).
• + New Show (Admin) — create a project, choosing its grid.
• Edit (Admin) — open the Layout Editor; or delete a show with the 🗑 button (a confirmation appears first).

A project is a portable JSON file containing the layout, per-fixture content, groups, scenes, cue lists, playlists and schedules.

Layout Editor Admin

Define the grid and what each fixture plays.

• Grid — pick the grid type. A numbered preview shows which section is which number (0-based, left→right, row by row) — the same numbering used on the Stage mini-map and Identify.
• Fixtures table — per fixture: Label, Type (Fixture vs Video Wall — label only), Content (Digital Gobo / Laser / Video), its Source (preset or media), and Fit (cover/contain/fill, for video).
• Fixture Groups — named multi-fixture selections (e.g. “Front Row”) for fast batch control while performing.
• Scenes — listed here; capture them live from the Performance screen (see Scenes & Cues).

Click 💾 Save to write changes to the project. If the project is live, edits apply immediately.

Media Library Admin

Upload and manage videos, images (for PNG gobo import) and audio (for playlists/timelines). Use ⬆ Upload, filter by type, mark clips loop-ready, and delete with ✕. Uploaded files live alongside the app and are referenced by fixtures and playlists.

Animation Presets Admin

Browse and author the Digital Gobo and Laser library (toggle with the Gobo/Laser switch). Each preset shows a live thumbnail.

• + New Preset — pick a pattern and color, name it, save.
• Duplicate — copy a built-in to a custom preset you can edit.
• ⬆ Import PNG (Gobo) — turn an image into a gobo stencil: choose a file, set the Threshold (which areas become transparent), optionally Invert, pick an export size, and add it to the library. High-contrast images (black-on-white) work best.

Live Performance — Overview

The board you run shows from. Top to bottom:

• Master transport — Play/Pause, Previous/Next cue, mode indicator (STANDBY until the first GO, then Manual/Auto), current project, and Blackout.
• Fixture Groups — click a group to select all its fixtures (shown above the mini-map).
• Stage Mini-Map — a live mirror of the Stage; click cells to select fixtures.
• Selected Fixtures panel — controls for the current selection (gobo/laser/video + position).
• Cue Console — GO / Prev / Release; fire your programmed looks.
• Global bar — Master Intensity, Color Wash, Identify, Clear all overrides.

Selecting Fixtures & Groups

• Click a mini-map cell to select one fixture; click it again to deselect.
• Shift-click additional cells for a multi-selection.
• Click a Group chip to select all its fixtures; All selects everything.

Any adjustment you make applies to every selected fixture as a live override — whether or not a cue is active. The panel shows controls for the content type(s) in your selection.

Digital Gobo Controls

• Pattern — pick a stencil from the thumbnail grid (53 built-ins).
• Background — Solid / Gradient / Rainbow, with a color swatch row.
• Iris — brightness 0–100%.
• Rotate — speed (0–10 rpm), CW/CCW, and ▶/⏸ play-pause.
• Shutter — Full or Strobe (with a rate slider).
• Prism — On/Off; when on, choose Facets (3/6/8/16), spin speed, CW/CCW and play/pause.
• Softness — hard-edged stencil → soft wash.

Laser Controls

• Pattern — Sine Fan, Line Fan, Dot Matrix, Lissajous, Tunnel, Spiral, Liquid H, Liquid V, Cross Hair.
• Color — swatches (incl. white) and Solid/Cycle.
• Scan — animation speed (0–30).
• Height — curve amplitude (Sine Fan and Liquid patterns).
• Stretch — fill the full cell width vs keep a square aspect. Off by default for radial patterns (Line Fan, Tunnel, Spiral) so they don’t look squashed.
• Lines (Cross Hair) — turn the Horizontal and/or Vertical line on/off, for a full + or a single bar you can position.
• Thickness — line weight.
• Flicker — refresh/redraw simulation, up to 20 Hz.
• Density — number of beams/lines.

Video Controls

• Transport — ▶/⏸ play-pause, and Black (pauses and hides the clip; press again to restore and resume).
• Scrub — drag to seek; the time readout shows position / total.
• Loop — checkbox to repeat the clip, or uncheck to play once.
• Volume / Mute — per-fixture audio level.

Position & Movement

Move and animate a gobo or laser beam within its cell — like pan/tilt and internal-effects macros on a real moving head.

• 2D pad — drag the dot to position the beam on X/Y. ⌂ Re-center returns it to center.
• Scale — beam size within the cell (smaller = more room to move).
• Macro — automated path: Circle, Figure-8, Pan/Tilt sweep, Wave, Bounce, Spiral, Box, Random, etc. Set Speed (up to 10), Size (amplitude) and ▶/⏸.
• Spread (2+ fixtures) — stagger the macro across the selection (Sync / Linear / Reverse / Random) for chase effects.

Scenes & the Cue Console

A Scene is a saved “look” across some fixtures. A Cue recalls a Scene. Cues live in an ordered Cue List.

Standby & firing cues

• When you load a show it starts in STANDBY — the Stage is black until you start it.
• GO — fire the next cue (the first GO reveals the show). ⏮ Prev — step back. Tap any row to jump to that cue.
• ⏏ Release — clear the active cue and return to STANDBY (black); the next GO restarts from the first cue. (Your live overrides are kept; use Clear all overrides for those.)
• Save look as Scene (Admin) — capture the current rig as a new Scene; Bake also folds in your live busked values.

Iris fades (per scene)

Each Scene has an Iris Fade In and Iris Fade Out time (seconds, 0 = instant cut), set in the Save-as-Scene dialog or edited in the Layout Editor’s scene list:

• Fade In ramps the scene’s lit fixtures (iris > 0) up when the cue fires.
• Fade Out ramps them down to black when the scene is replaced by the next cue.
• If a fixture leaves a scene with a Fade Out and enters one with a Fade In, it dips to black then back up. Fixtures already at 0% aren’t touched.

Scenes are partial: a cue only changes the fixtures its Scene lists; everything else keeps playing, and only addressed fixtures fade.

Overrides, Blackout, Wash & Identify

• Master Intensity — dim the whole Stage.
• Color Wash — tint all fixtures; click the checker swatch to clear.
• Blackout — instantly kill all output; press again to restore.
• 🔢 Identify — flash large fixture numbers + labels on the Stage for 10 seconds (then they fade) to map sections to physical projectors. The program output never shows labels otherwise.
• ⟲ Clear all overrides — drop every live tweak and return to the cued/designed state. (Per-selection Reset clears just the selected fixtures.)

Playlists, Timelines & Schedules Admin

Drive a show automatically from audio.

• Playlist — an ordered list of audio tracks with Loop and Shuffle. ▶ Start now plays it on the Stage; ⏹ Stop returns to manual.
• Timeline (per track) — open ✎ Edit Timeline to place cue markers on the waveform. Play the track and hit ⌖ Tap to Cue (or T) to drop a marker on the beat for the armed cue; drag markers to retime; zoom with −/+.
• Schedule — start a playlist automatically at a date/time, optionally repeating. The app must already be open and logged in at that time.

When a playlist is running, its timeline fires cues automatically and the Cue Console updates in real time. Looping replays the playlist (re-shuffling each pass if Shuffle is on).

Settings Admin

• Stage Output — resolution and frame rate (60 fps default, or 30 fps to match a 30 Hz video-wall input).
• Performance Lock — simplify Standard operators to the Live screen only.
• Users — add users, set roles, reset passwords, deactivate.
• Audit Log — what happened during shows (cues, overrides, schedule triggers).
• 🖥 Re-open Stage window — relaunch the output window.

Build Your First Show

1. Sign in as admin. On the Dashboard click + New Show, name it, pick a grid (e.g. 3×3), Create.
2. In the Layout Editor, check the numbered grid preview, then label each fixture.
3. For each fixture set Content (Digital Gobo / Laser / Video) and choose a Source preset/clip.
4. Optionally add Fixture Groups (e.g. “Front Row”).
5. Click 💾 Save, then go to Live and confirm the Stage window shows your fixtures.

Add a Looping Video

1. Go to Media → ⬆ Upload and select a video file.
2. Open the Layout Editor, set a fixture’s Content to Video and pick your clip as the Source.
3. Save. On Live, select that fixture — use the Video panel to Loop, scrub, or set volume.

Import a PNG Gobo

1. Go to Presets, make sure Gobo is selected, click ⬆ Import PNG.
2. Choose image — a high-contrast logo/shape works best.
3. Adjust Threshold (and Invert if needed) until the preview shows the shape cut out.
4. Name it and + Add to Library. Assign it to a fixture in the Layout Editor.

Program a Scene & Cue

1. On Live, set the rig to the look you want (select fixtures, adjust gobo/laser/position).
2. Click Save look as Scene (use Bake to include busked values), name it.
3. Repeat for each look. Cues that recall these Scenes appear in the Cue Console.
4. Run the show with GO / Prev, or tap a cue row to jump.

Build an Audio Timeline

1. Upload an audio track in Media.
2. Go to Playlists, add a playlist, add a track and select your audio.
3. Click ✎ Edit Timeline. Play the track; arm a cue; hit ⌖ Tap to Cue (or T) on each beat to drop markers. Drag to fine-tune.
4. Save timeline. Start the playlist — cues now fire automatically in sync with the music.

Schedule an Automated Show

1. In Playlists, scroll to Schedules and + Add schedule.
2. Pick the playlist, set the start date/time, and choose Repeat/Shuffle.
3. Save. Leave the app open and logged in with the Stage window live — the show starts itself at the set time.

Busk a Live Look

1. Select one or more fixtures (or a Group) on the mini-map.
2. Adjust pattern, color, rotation, position/macros — changes apply live to the whole selection.
3. Use Color Wash, Master Intensity and Blackout for show-wide moves.
4. Done? ⟲ Clear all overrides to snap back to the designed look — your show file is untouched.

Reference

Laser patterns

Sine Fan · Line Fan · Dot Matrix · Lissajous · Tunnel · Spiral · Liquid H · Liquid V · Cross Hair.

Movement macros

Static · Circle CW · Circle CCW · Figure 8 · Pan Sweep · Tilt Sweep · Diagonal · Wave · Bounce H · Bounce V · Spiral · Box · Tilt Track · Random.

Gobo background modes

Solid · Gradient (linear/radial) · Rainbow (conical/grid/bars), with optional rotation.

Troubleshooting

• Stage window won’t auto-place — use Chrome, connect the external display, and grant the “manage windows” permission. Otherwise open it with 🖥 Stage and fullscreen with F11.
• Everything looks dim or wrong-colored — a cue (e.g. an Intro or Blackout scene) may be active, or Master Intensity is down. Load the project again to reset to the designed state.
• A change isn’t showing on Stage — overrides and cues are live; if the Stage looks stale, refresh the Stage window (it auto-reconnects).
• No audio — set your macOS system output device; clip volume/mute is per-fixture in the Video panel.
• Strobe/flicker looks coarse — at 30 fps very high rates can’t render distinctly; raise the Stage frame rate to 60 fps in Settings, or lower the rate.