‹ Plugin Player docs

Plugin Player — start here

What it is. A Windows desktop app that plays RexAffects scenes without Resolume. Scenes sit in a grid like game cartridges. You pick one, it crossfades onto the output, you step through its presets with a controller or the keyboard. Fullscreen to a projector, or Spout into Resolume (built in).

New here? BETA.md is what is in the beta, in one page.

Support. There is no help desk. This folder is the manual, written so an AI assistant can read it. Feed this folder to your AI assistant; it knows the whole app. Point it at FOR_YOUR_AI.md first.

The 5-minute first run

1. Install and open Plugin Player. See FIRST_RUN.md.
2. The window opens fullscreen. If a second display is plugged in, it opens there. The first scene is already playing.
3. Wait for the grid at the bottom to fill. On first launch every scene compiles in the background. Big scenes take up to 20 s cold. The top-right badge on the monitor reads COMPILING while that happens.
4. Three tabs at the top: PERFORM (the show, where you start), MAP (put the picture on the wall), CONTROLS (the pad, MIDI and OSC: MIDI_OSC.md). F1 / F2 / F3 switch them; so does holding + on the pad.
5. Arrow keys move the amber focus across the cards. Enter plays the focused scene. It crossfades in.
6. X or Space = next preset. Z = previous preset. 0 = reset the preset.
7. N / P = next / previous scene.
8. F = the picture fills the screen. G = hide the chrome. F11 = fullscreen on / off, Esc leaves it; close the window to quit.
9. Plug in your controller (Xbox, PlayStation or 8BitDo Micro) and press any button: it works straight away. On the 8BitDo Micro, slide its switch to D first and pair it. Bluetooth step by step: CONTROLS → CONNECT A CONTROLLER, or CONNECT_A_CONTROLLER.md. See CONTROLLER.md.
10. Music: audio reactivity is coming in a later beta update, so the ♪ AUDIO chip is gray for now.
11. Scenes that use a picture play on the demo clip (someone waving at a webcam) until you press V: the webcam turns on and drives them. To switch any time, use INPUT ▾ and the buttons at the top of the monitor: CAMERA · SPOUT · VIDEO FILE · DEMO. See CAMERA.md.

New versions download by themselves and install when you quit (the UPDATE chip): INSTALL.md §Updates.

Cube Bloom is free. Every other scene plays clean in the app, with a watermark on full-screen output until you unlock it. How: UNLOCK.md.

While it loads you see the RexAffects control room: the big monitor types a hello, the two small monitors count the scenes getting ready (FIRST TIME ONLY: later launches take about a second), and when the app is ready the camera moves into the big screen and the app appears. Nothing to press.

The Effect Layer (a fluid over any scene)

The EFFECT LAYER card (or the centre button of your controller, CONTROLLER.md) lays a fluid over whatever is playing: four buttons (on the controller: ✕ shockwave, ○ ink burst, △ electric, □ reaction pattern; + = on, − = off in the effect channel), − / + for how strong it is, OFF.

SOURCE says what the fluid comes from:

• AUTO (the default): off you while your camera is on the scene; off the scene itself when it is not (the scene's moving edges shed the fluid, like a fluid effect on a clip, and the scene stays on top).
• SCENE: always off the scene. YOU: always off the camera (the person it sees; with no camera, the demo clip stands in).

The small picture on the card shows what the fluid is reading: the scene in SCENE, "what the camera sees as you" (white = you) in YOU. If the fluid barely shows on you, see LEARN BACKGROUND in CAMERA.md.

Make the layout yours

Every panel on the PERFORM screen is a slot you can move: the live viewport, TRANSITION, EFFECT LAYER, CONTROLLER, SCENE and PRESETS.

• Move a panel: grab its title (the viewport: hover it and grab the LIVE VIEWPORT pill at the top) and drag. Before you let go, dashed boxes show where every panel will land. Drop on the middle of a panel to swap with it, on its top or bottom to go above or below it, on its left or right edge to make a new column beside it (three columns at most). Esc cancels.
• Resize: drag the thin line between two panels. Drag the viewport's right edge, bottom edge or bottom-right corner to make it bigger: the other panels squeeze a little, never vanish. Drag the line above SHOW to give the top or the library more room.
• SHOW and LIBRARY: drag the SHOW title onto the library (or the other way) to swap them.
• Hide panels: the VIEW button (top of the slim rail on the far right, or in the open shelf) ticks panels on and off.
• RESET LAYOUT (in the VIEW menu) puts everything back where it started. Your layout is remembered for next time.

The parameters shelf. Click PARAMS on the far-right rail. The playing scene's settings appear in the same groups as the plugin's Resolume dashboard (Speed, Palette, Camera…), each one live. BUTTONS lists what every controller button does in this scene; where a button has an amount (how far, how fast) you can type your own. RESET TO PRESET puts every setting back to the preset that is playing. ▸ folds the shelf away.

Range brackets. Every slider has a small bracket at each end. Drag a bracket in and the controller, RANDOM and the slider itself stay inside that range. Example: pull Cube Bloom's Speed bracket up a little, and "speed all the way down" on the controller slows the cubes but never stops them. Double-click a bracket to free the whole range again. Brackets are remembered per scene.

Show night: checklist, guest mode, recording

Show checklist. Click CHECK in the header before you go live. Each row ticks itself while the panel is open: PROJECTOR (a second display, the output full screen on it), MAPPING (which saved mapping preset is on the wall), CONTROLLERS (which controllers are live; Windows does not report their battery, so charge them first), CAMERA (on the scene), BACKGROUND (learned), EFFECT LAYER (on / off and what drives it), POWER (on the charger: the graphics card slows down on battery), SLEEP and SPOUT. Rows with something to do have a button: OPEN MAP, CONNECT A CONTROLLER, ⧉ INPUT, PUT CAMERA ON, LEARN BACKGROUND, KEEP SCREEN AWAKE, FX CHANNEL. The chip says READY, CHECK (amber: works, have a look) or N TO FIX (red). Windows sleep cannot be read by an app: KEEP SCREEN AWAKE keeps the screen on while Plugin Player runs, and the row tells you where to set Windows itself (Settings › System › Power › Screen and sleep › Never when plugged in; closing the lid › Do nothing; Focus on so no pop-ups land on the projector).

Guest mode. Handing the controller to friends? Click Plugin Player ▾ at the top left and pick LOCK AND PASS THE CONTROLLER…: it asks first and says how to get out. A GUEST MODE badge appears on the monitor and the app stays on PERFORM: the controller does everything a performer needs (next scene, presets, every scene button, the Effect Layer, camera on / off the scene, LEARN BACKGROUND, SAVE PRESET), but tab switches, MAP, CONTROLS, turning the camera off, closing the app, leaving fullscreen and renaming or deleting presets are refused with a short message. To leave, 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. Every refused message says so too. Guest mode is never remembered: if the app restarts, it comes back unlocked.

Recording. Click REC in the header to record the picture the projector shows (the scene, the Effect Layer and your mapping: never the app's buttons) to a video file. The chip turns red and counts the time; click it again to stop. The file lands in Videos\Plugin Player as an MP4 (H.264, 60 fps, the output resolution), named with the date and time, and a SAVED bar offers OPEN FOLDER. There is no sound in the file (lay your track under it in your editor). Scenes that are not yet yours keep their RexAffects mark in the recording, exactly as on the wall. A recording stops by itself after an hour. About 30 MB per 10 s at 1080p.

Send feedback or a request

The FEEDBACK / REQUEST button at the bottom of the window is always there (PERFORM, MAP and CONTROLS, and on the loading screen). Pick Bug, Idea, Request a controller or Other, write your message, add your email if you want a reply, and press SEND. It goes straight to RexAffects: the panel says Sent ✓ Thanks! Include support info (on by default) adds the app version, Windows version, graphics card and the last log lines, with licence keys, emails and your user name removed. A very long message or report is shortened to fit, and the panel says so. The Tell us link on the CONTROLS tab opens the same panel on Request a controller.

If it can't send (no internet, or our side is down for a moment), nothing is lost: the panel says Couldn't send right now. Copied it. Your note and the support info are on your clipboard: paste them into an email to feedback@rexaffects.com. If it says Too many messages, try again in a few minutes, wait a few minutes and press SEND again (your text stays in the box).

Where everything else is

Version this bundle describes: Plugin Player v0.2.0 (Windows + Mac), 2026-11-11.