‹ Plugin Player docs

First run — install, launch, play, projector, quit

Short version: install, open, wait for the grid, press Enter, press X. Everything below is the long version.

1. What you need

• Windows 10 or 11.
• A GPU that does WebGL2 with float render targets. Any recent NVIDIA, AMD or Intel chip qualifies. On a laptop with two GPUs Plugin Player asks Windows for the fast one on its own.
• Nothing else. (Spout to and from Resolume is built in: OUTPUT.md §4.)

2. Install (Windows)

Full steps, with the blue SmartScreen box and how to uninstall: INSTALL.md. Short version:

1. Download Plugin-Player-Setup-<version>.exe and double-click it.
2. Windows says "Windows protected your PC": click More info, then Run anyway (the beta is unsigned).
3. No setup pages: a few seconds later the app opens by itself. It also lands in the Start menu and on the desktop as Plugin Player.

3. First launch

1. Open Plugin Player. A loading screen comes up (Loading the Plugin Player by RexAffects) while the first scene gets ready, then the view dives into the monitor and Cube Bloom is playing.
2. The window is a normal window with a title bar (maximized). It opens on your main screen even with a projector plugged in: the projector output is something you turn on (§6, OUTPUT.md).
3. Your first show is made for you: MY SCENES, every scene, in the strip above the library.
4. On the first launch the other scenes are prepared in the background; a scene that is not ready yet waits a few seconds while the current one keeps playing. Heavy scenes are prepared by a hidden helper so nothing freezes (SECURITY_PROMPTS.md §3 if your antivirus asks about it). Later launches are fast.
5. If a scene shows SHADER ERROR on the monitor when you play it, see TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

Quick tips (first launch only). Once the loading screen is gone, six small tips point at the real screen, one at a time: YOUR SCENES (the show strip), YOUR LIBRARY (click a scene to fire it; L2 on the controller plays the next one), OUTPUT (the ⧉ OUTPUT button: send it to your TV, monitor, projector or LED wall), PARAMS (the ◂ PARAMS tab on the right edge: pull it out for every setting of the playing scene, laid out like its Resolume plugin; R2 + ▼ rides them from the controller), L2 AND R2 (L2 walks through the scenes, R2 walks the favorite presets of each scene) and CONTROLLER (plug one in and press any button). NEXT (or Enter, or the controller's right face button) goes on, SKIP TIPS (or Esc, or the controller's lower face button) stops them, and any controller button on the last tip ends them. They never come back by themselves; CONTROLS › SHOW THE QUICK TIPS AGAIN shows them again.

What the screen is, top to bottom:

• Header: Plugin Player ▾ at the far left (click it for the show file: new, save, save as, load, guest mode; your show's name sits under it), the PERFORM / MAP / CONTROLS tabs, the ⧉ INPUT button (Connect your camera and controllers: your camera in two clicks, and a status light for your controller; it shows what is live, it never folds away), the orange ⧉ OUTPUT button (Output to extra screens, projectors, LED walls: §6; it never folds away), then ⋯ when some chips fold, then the chips: OUT (render size; MAP opens mapping), CH SCENE / FX (what the face buttons drive), CHECK (the show checklist), REC (record the output). On a narrow screen some chips fold into ⋯.
• Left: the big program monitor with the LIVE badge, the scene's name and the preset's name. The line under the name also shows the fade: FADE 1.20 S MIX. Click FADE to show the crossfade dial, click MIX for the next curve (or [ ] and C on the keyboard).
• Right: PRESETS on top (the scene's presets as pictures, SAVE PRESET in its corner), then EFFECT LAYER (the fluid on top of any scene) and CONTROLLER (plate + what every button does in this scene).
• Bottom: the SHOW strip (tonight's order) and the LIBRARY (everything; ALL / FLUID / CUBES / STACKS filter it). Hover a library card for its family and preset count.
• Right edge: PARAMS opens the playing scene's sliders. The VIEW button above it shows or hides panels: TRANSITION (the crossfade dial) and SCENE (about the playing scene) are there, off to start with, and RESET LAYOUT puts everything back.
• Your own word on Custom Particles: open PARAMS while Custom Particles plays. CUSTOM TEXT sits at the top of MAIN: type up to 16 letters (A to Z and spaces; a number or a symbol becomes a space) and the particles spell it as you type. Enter (or clicking away) keeps it, Esc puts back what was there, an empty box goes back to YOUR TEXT. Typing switches the scene to letters so the word shows at once (Y on the controller cycles the style back). Your word is remembered on this computer, every preset spells it, and SAVE PRESET keeps it with the preset. While you type in the box, the keyboard shortcuts (Space, Z, 0, F11…) stay off; the controller keeps working.
• Footer: the global buttons, FEEDBACK / REQUEST, fps, render size and the version.

No controller yet? The CONTROLLER card says NO CONTROLLER with a HOW TO CONNECT button next to it: step-by-step pairing for PlayStation, Xbox and 8BitDo (CONNECT_A_CONTROLLER.md). A controller that is already paired shows up after its first button press.

Scenes that react to a picture (Goop (fluid dynamics), Custom Particles, Blob Tracking v3, Frame Stack, Cube Stack, Pixel Smear, Flashpoint, Machine Vision, Typewriter Terrain) play on the demo clip, someone waving at a webcam, until you turn your camera on with V or + on the controller (CAMERA.md). No webcam? ⧉ INPUT → USE YOUR PHONE AS THE CAMERA.

Use your own camera (or Spout, or a video file). While the app loads, the console screen on the right says Searching for controller and camera input…, then what it found: Camera found · HD Pro Webcam C920, Spout found · Arena, or Camera input: none yet · using the demo video. It only reads the list of plugged-in cameras: no camera turns on to find out.

The input control stays on the monitor, on every scene, for good: INPUT: <what is live> ▾ next to LIVE (click it for the full ⧉ INPUT list), and under it CAMERA · SPOUT · VIDEO FILE · DEMO with the live one lit. On the demo clip the INPUT button pulses until you pick something, or press DEMO to say you meant it.

The first time the scenes play the demo clip, that row is worded louder:

PLAYING THE DEMO VIDEO · use your: CAMERA · SPOUT · VIDEO FILE · KEEP THE DEMO

• CAMERA: with one camera plugged in, it is turned on at once (the first time, Windows / macOS asks whether Plugin Player may use it). With several, or none yet, the ⧉ INPUT list opens at CAMERAS: plug one in and it shows up there by itself. USB webcams, HDMI capture cards and phone-as-webcam apps all work, on Windows and Mac.
• SPOUT (SYPHON on a Mac): the picture from another app on this computer (Resolume, TouchDesigner, OBS…). With one sender it is used at once; otherwise ⧉ INPUT opens at SPOUT.
• VIDEO FILE: pick a clip on this computer (.mp4, .mov, .webm; locked in GUEST MODE); it loops as the picture. It is for this session only: the next launch starts on the demo clip again, and never turns a camera on.
• KEEP THE DEMO: the line folds to the plain row of buttons.
• DEMO (on the plain row): back to the demo clip at any time. A camera stays warm, off the scene, so CAMERA brings it back at once.

Hover the ? for a short help card. ⧉ INPUT glows once. Your picture stays on this computer: nothing is uploaded. When it is live, ⧉ INPUT lights up with its name and your picture replaces the clip. All of this is only on your preview, never on the projector, Spout / Syphon or a recording. Once you have used your own camera, sender or clip on this computer the louder wording does not come back; the plain row always stays.

4. Pick a scene and play it

1. Press ← → ↑ ↓. The amber focus moves across the show strip and the library cards.
2. Press Enter. The scene crossfades in over the dial's fade time (1.20 s by default).
3. The SCENE panel on the right switches to ● LIVE.
4. N / P jump to the next / previous scene in the show. On the controller: L2.

5. Presets

Every scene ships with presets: Cube Bloom has 32, Goop has its 10 favorites.

• X or Space = next preset. Z = previous preset. 0 = back to the scene's default preset. On the controller: R2.
• The PRESETS strip under the monitor shows them; the active one is outlined. ★ marks your favorites; SAVE PRESET keeps what you dialled in. Each preset you save gets its own little picture in the strip, taken the moment you save it (presets you saved before this version get theirs the first time you play them).
• Click a preset to jump straight to it. Double-click a preset's name to rename it (any preset, the scene's own included): the name is selected, type, Enter; Esc keeps the old name. Your names stay after a restart; the scene's own presets are never changed underneath.

6. On the projector

The quick way: plug in the TV, monitor, projector or LED wall (HDMI / USB-C), press Windows + P › Extend, then click ⧉ OUTPUT in the header. A box opens and you click the screen; nothing goes out until you do. With none a panel says how to plug one in (plus FULL SCREEN ON THIS SCREEN and a test window). Once on, the button reads OUTPUT ON · SCREEN 2; click it for OUTPUT OFF · ONE WINDOW, another screen, or MAP IT ONTO THE WALL. Your pick is remembered on this computer. Step by step, the long way:

1. In Windows, set the projector as an extended display (Win+P → Extend).
2. Click ⧉ OUTPUT, then the screen. The projector shows the picture only (no buttons); you work on the laptop window, which has a live preview. Next time that screen is on top of the box, marked LAST USED: one click. It never turns on by itself. ⧉ OUTPUT › OUTPUT OFF goes back to one window. Sending to Resolume over Spout instead? You need no output window at all: the SPOUT switch is at the bottom of the ⧉ OUTPUT box.
3. With only one screen: G hides the buttons and panels so the picture fills the window, G again brings them back. F11 toggles fullscreen.
4. Not a flat wall? The MAP tab bends the picture onto it (MAPPING.md). Before the doors open: CHECK in the header (SHOWS.md).

More in OUTPUT.md.

7. Quit

Close the window (the × in its title bar, or Alt+F4): the whole app quits, the projector picture and Spout included. Esc only leaves fullscreen; it never quits. Save your show first: the show's name at the top left shows a • when there are unsaved changes. In GUEST MODE closing is refused until you leave it: press Ctrl+G (Cmd+G on a Mac), or click the GUEST MODE badge on the monitor and hold the on-screen EXIT button for 2 seconds.

The colours

Plugin Player is orange on black.