‹ Plugin Player docs

Plugin Player beta: read me first (testers)

This is Beta 1.8 (the app's About / footer says v0.1.8-beta).

Thanks for trying this. It is a beta: it works, we use it at shows ourselves, and it still has rough edges. Everything in it is unlocked for you, no sign-in, no keys, no marks on the picture. Please tell us what breaks and what you wish it did.

What it is

A Windows app that plays live visuals. Plug in a game controller and you are playing them in seconds: every button does something, the scenes react to the music and to your camera, and the picture goes to a projector, a TV or into Resolume.

What is in it

• 12 scenes, each with its own presets: Cube Bloom (glossy cubes you fly through and barrel-roll), Corridor Panels (a tunnel of panels, flashes carry your picture down it), Frame Stack (your picture as a timeline in space), Goop (fluid dynamics) (ink, water, fire, smoke, metal driven by your motion), Plane Drift, Cube Stack (a stack of old monitors, every screen playing you at its own delay), Custom Particles (particles born where you move), Blob Tracking v3 (finds the people in the camera and draws the tracking live), Pixel Smear (your own picture smeared and melted wherever you move), Flashpoint (fire driven by your motion), Machine Vision (a tracking HUD that locks onto your picture).
• Controllers: PlayStation 4 / 5, Xbox, 8BitDo Micro, most USB controllers. Every button can be remapped.
• Camera: any webcam, or your phone. Without a camera the scenes play on a demo clip.
• Effect Layer: a fluid on top of any scene from the controller's centre button.
• Music: audio reactivity is coming in a later beta update, so the ♪ AUDIO chip is gray for now.
• Projector / Spout: the ⧉ OUTPUT button in the header opens a box where you choose your TV, monitor, projector or LED wall; the MAP tab pins it to a wall; Spout into Resolume is built in: the switch is at the bottom of the same box.
• MIDI / OSC: built in, off until you turn them on (CONTROLS › MIDI · OSC): learn any knob, fader or pad (MIDI_OSC.md).
• Show tools: SHOW (tonight's scenes in order), CHECK (a show checklist), GUEST (lock it so anyone can hold the controller), REC (record what the projector shows), FEEDBACK (always at the bottom).

Before you install: what you need

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. (Mac: not in this beta.)
• A graphics chip from the last several years (NVIDIA, AMD or Intel). A laptop with a dedicated NVIDIA / AMD GPU is best for the fluid scenes.
• 8 GB of RAM or more, about 400 MB of disk space.
• No admin password: it installs for your Windows user only.
• On the first run Plugin Player checks the computer once (graphics, RAM, frame rate on the first scene). If something is short it shows one line, "This computer's graphics may struggle with these scenes", and keeps running. Click × and it won't show again.

Install

1. Download Plugin-Player-Beta-1.8-Setup.exe (about 130 MB). If the browser says the file "isn't commonly downloaded", choose Keep (Edge: the … next to the download → Keep → Keep anyway).
2. Double-click it. Windows shows a blue box: "Windows protected your PC". That is expected: the beta is not digitally signed yet (signing is in progress). Click More info, then Run anyway. No More info link? Right-click the file → Properties → tick Unblock → OK, then run it again.
3. There are no setup pages. A few seconds later Plugin Player opens by itself, with a scene already playing. It is also in the Start menu and on the desktop.

If Windows says "Smart App Control blocked an app"

Some Windows 11 PCs (mostly ones that came with Windows 11 preinstalled) have Smart App Control on. It refuses every unsigned app and has no "run anyway" button. Windows 10 does not have it. Check yours: Settings › Privacy & security › Windows Security › App & browser control › Smart App Control settings (On / Evaluation / Off).

If it blocked the installer, it is your call:

• Turn Smart App Control off on that page, then run the installer again. Be aware: it can only be turned off once. Windows will not turn it back on without resetting or reinstalling Windows. If you rely on it, don't.
• Or try the beta on another PC (any Windows 10 PC, or a Windows 11 PC with Smart App Control off).
• Or wait for the signed build; it goes through without any of this.

Either way, tell us it happened (below). The full list of Windows / antivirus / camera prompts and their fixes: SECURITY_PROMPTS.md.

First launch: what to expect

• A loading screen (once per launch), then Cube Bloom is playing within a few seconds. Its little console screen on the right says whether your controller was found.
• Quick tips, once, on your very first run: here are your scenes, here is your library (click one to fire it), here is your output, here is the PARAMS shelf (every setting, laid out like the Resolume plugin), here is your controller. Click through them (or away); they don't come back.
• The other scenes get ready in the background. On the very first launch the heaviest four (Custom Particles, Blob Tracking v3, Pixel Smear, Flashpoint) take up to a minute; a scene that is not ready yet waits while the current one keeps playing. Plugin Player also starts a hidden second copy of itself for about a minute to prepare the heavy scenes once and save them; if your antivirus or firewall asks about it, it is the same Plugin Player.exe from the install folder, choose Allow. Every launch after that: everything is ready in about a second.
• The scenes play on a demo clip (someone waving at a webcam) until you turn a camera on. While it plays, the preview says PLAYING THE DEMO VIDEO · use your: CAMERA · SPOUT · VIDEO FILE: one click swaps it for your own picture, or use ⧉ INPUT at the top at any time (KEEP THE DEMO shrinks the line; the ? next to it has help). It goes away for good once your own camera, sender or clip has played.
• The screen: the picture on the left, PRESETS, EFFECT LAYER and CONTROLLER on the right, your SHOW and the whole LIBRARY along the bottom. The crossfade dial and the scene info panel are one click away: VIEW at the right edge (then TRANSITION / SCENE). If you moved panels around in an earlier beta, your layout is kept; VIEW → RESET LAYOUT gives you the new one.
• Keyboard, until your controller is connected: Space or X = next preset, Z = previous preset, N / P = next / previous scene, V = camera on / off the scene, F11 = fullscreen (Esc leaves it). Close the window to quit.

Connect a controller

New to this, or paired it before and now it won't connect? The step-by-step Windows guide, from cable to first scene: CONNECT_CONTROLLER.md.

When the app opens with no controller, a small card on the picture says PLUG IN ANY GAME CONTROLLER AND PLAY: every button is already mapped. It goes away by itself the moment your controller connects (any key or a click hides it too); HOW TO CONNECT on it opens the step-by-step guide.

Open Plugin Player first and leave it open. Then:

The CONTROLLER card says LIVE · PLAYSTATION (or your controller) and the app draws your controller with every button named. Step by step with pictures of what to look for: CONNECT_A_CONTROLLER.md. Stuck? CONTROLS → CONNECT A CONTROLLER inside the app.

Controller won't connect

While it fixes a controller by itself, the app says so over the picture ("Fixing your 8BitDo's Windows pairing… keep it switched on" → "Paired ✓ Press any button on your 8BitDo" → "8BitDo connected ✓"); that takes about 10–20 s. If it says Couldn't reconnect:

1. 8BitDo Micro: slide the switch to D (in K or S the app sees nothing).
2. Hold PAIR 3 s until the light blinks fast, then put it down and wait.
3. Still dropping? Charge it, or plug it in with a USB cable (it works over the cable straight away).

Same on every scene: L2 = next scene (double-tap = back), R2 = next preset, + / − = your camera onto / off the scene, the centre button (PS / Xbox / ⊡) = the Effect Layer (then + = the effect on, − = off, ◀ ▶ walk the fluids, ✕ = a shockwave, ○ = ink burst, △ = electric, □ = reaction pattern). The face buttons, d-pad and shoulders do each scene's own tricks (barrel roll, spin, flash, fluid styles…): every button in every scene is in CONTROLLER_MAP.md. Remap anything on the CONTROLS tab.

A controller that is already paired just works: press any button.

Camera

• Plug a webcam in (or use the laptop's), click ⧉ INPUT at the top, then your camera. The button lights up with its name and the live picture drives the scene. V takes it off and puts it back.
• Windows gives a camera to one app at a time. If the button says BLOCKED, close Zoom / Teams / OBS / Resolume / a browser call, then TRY AGAIN.
• No webcam? ⧉ INPUT → USE YOUR PHONE AS THE CAMERA (Android, iPhone or a cable, free apps; the panel walks you through it).
• Effect Layer not following you? It learns the empty room on start. Step out of frame, press LEARN BACKGROUND (⧉ INPUT), step back in.
• Everything about it: CAMERA.md.

Projector, TV, Resolume

Plug the projector / TV / LED wall in, set Windows to Extend (Win + P), then click ⧉ OUTPUT in the header: the big screen gets the picture only and your laptop keeps the app. Two or more screens? It asks which one. Only one screen? It tells you how to plug one in. Click ⧉ OUTPUT again to turn it off. Switching is instant: the app never restarts and the intro does not play again. Minimizing the laptop window does not stop the big screen. F fills the screen, G hides the chrome. MAP pins the picture to a wall or a box. Resolume users: Spout is built in, both ways (OUTPUT.md §4).

Send feedback

FEEDBACK / REQUEST is always at the bottom of the window. Pick Bug / Idea / Request a controller, write what happened, tick include support info (your log, with emails and keys removed). Press SEND: it goes straight to RexAffects and the panel says Sent ✓ Thanks! If it can't send right now, it says Copied it: your note is on the clipboard, paste it into an email to feedback@rexaffects.com (or a reply to the email this beta came in). That is exactly what we want to read: what you pressed, what you expected, what you saw.

If the app won't open at all: CONTROLS → HELP → COPY SUPPORT INFO next time it does, or just tell us which file Windows blocked.

Known limits (honest list)

• Unsigned. Windows asks once ("More info → Run anyway"); Smart App Control PCs refuse it (above). A signed build is in progress.
• First launch is slow for the heaviest scenes (up to a minute, in the background); the hidden helper copy may trip an antivirus question.
• Updates: this build looks for updates by itself, but the update feed is not live yet. Until it is, new versions come to you the same way this one did (a fresh installer; your shows and settings stay).
• Feedback sending goes straight to RexAffects; until our mail side is switched on (any day now) it may say Couldn't send right now. Copied it.: paste it into an email (above).
• MIDI / OSC out: not yet (MIDI and OSC in work). Mac: not in this beta.
• Blob Tracking v3 and Custom Particles want a real GPU; on a weak laptop they may run slowly.
• The camera picture is capped at 1280×720 inside the scenes.

Everything else about the app, written so your AI assistant can read it too: start at README.md and BETA.md. Install / uninstall details: INSTALL.md. Something wrong: TROUBLESHOOTING.md.