Getting started/Your First Show

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Your First Show ​

In about ten minutes, you'll build a small show from scratch: two PARs, a group, a red look, a pulsing effect, and a chase that plays them in time. Open Studio next to this page: the

live demo runs in your browser with nothing to install, or

use the desktop app.

You don't need any lights: Studio's visualizer shows what they would do. Each step links to the page that explains it in full, with live demos on the manual's demo rig.

1. Start a Blank Show ​

In the toolbar, open File and pick New Showfile. Choose the Blank template and press Create. The show has four empty universes and four empty groups.

2. Patch Two PARs ​

  1. In the Patch Bay on the left, unfold Universe 0. The universe view opens at the bottom.
  2. In its Fixture Pool, press Add.
  3. In the popup, unfold Bundled (GDTF) and pick Generic PAR RGBW. Keep its first Fixture mode (6 channels).
  4. Set Amount to 2 and Offset X to 3, so the two PARs stand side by side.
  5. Press OK.

With Amount 2, Studio patches both at once, one after the other in the universe, each Offset X further along.

The two PARs appear in the fixture pool, the patch bay and the visualizer. More in Patching fixtures.

3. Make a Group ​

  1. In the Group Pool, press New.
  2. Tick Check All to take both PARs, name the group Front, and press OK.
  3. Click the group's column: the group view opens at the bottom.

The group is what the next steps program: its cues and chases only ever touch its fixtures. More in Groups.

4. A Red Scene ​

  1. In the group's Cue Pool, double click the first empty slot.
  2. Keep scene, name it Red, press OK. The scene is selected, and its widgets open on the right of the group view (scroll the strip sideways to reach them).
  3. In Scene Fixtures, click the first PAR.
  4. In Channels, tick the box under CH1 (the dimmer, with the half-filled circle icon), then type 255 above its fader or push it to the top.
  5. In the Color Picker, drag the hue to red, or type 0, 100 and 100 in its hue, sat and val fields.
  6. Click the second PAR in Scene Fixtures and repeat steps 4 and 5.

Click the scene's body in the cue pool: both PARs fade to red over one bar (its Duration), then the scene stops and the red stays. Only ticked channels are part of the scene: anything you leave unticked keeps whatever another cue gave it. More in Scenes.

5. A Pulsing Effect ​

  1. Double click the next empty slot of the Cue Pool, choose effect as Cue type, name it Pulse, press OK.
  2. In Modulated Channels, press Add. In the Add Modulated Channel popup, unfold Dimmer, pick dimmer and press OK.
  3. Click Dimmer in Modulated Channels, then in the Effect Tool set Phase stop to 180: the two PARs now pulse in turn.

Play it from the cue pool to see it, then click it again to stop it. With Phase stop at 0 both PARs would pulse together; at 180 the second is half a cycle behind the first, so one is bright when the other is dark. More in Effects.

6. A Chase ​

  1. In the group pool, double click the first empty chase slot of Front. The chase view opens.
  2. Set its Duration to 2 bars.
  3. In the timeline, double click the Red lane at its start (1.0 on the ruler), then the Pulse lane at 2.0. Each item lasts its cue's duration: one bar.

Lanes are the group's cues, in cue pool order. An item plays its cue from its left edge for its length; a scene item fades in over its cue's duration and keeps its look until the next item changes it. More in Chases.

7. Play It ​

In the group pool, click the chase's play button. It starts on the next bar: one bar of red, one bar of pulse, again and again. Change the BPM in the toolbar, or tap it with Tap Tempo: the chase follows.

Click the play button again to stop. More in Playing a show.

8. Save It ​

Press Ctrl+S (File → Save Showfile Locally) to keep it in Studio, or File → Export Showfile to download it as a file. Studio doesn't save on its own.

Next ​