8 Quick Start VisualShowDirector

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VisualShowDirector 8 Quick Start

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Introduction

Supporting Document for VisualShowDirector 8.
This guide will get you started quickly using VisualShowDirector.

For a complete guide visit: https://www.infinityvisions.net/software/documentation
We recommend that after you get started you review completely or as needed the User’s Guides.

How to Use this Guide:

This quick start guide takes you from the very basic of downloading and installing your software, to working on a demo project, to all the basic steps for setting up and scripting your own show project in Visual Show Director. Some of the steps will only need to be done once ( example: Installing software and establishing Project Files Folders ). You can jump ahead to the instructions as needed, and come back to reference certain instructions in the future as needed (example: downloading a 3D model from Google). For complete detailed User’s Guides, including shortcuts, advanced features etc. please refer to our User’s Guides.
This Guide is based on using the Demo Project files that you will download in the next steps in this document. The first time you use this guide please follow along as instructed using these Project Demo files.

Now let's get Started!

  1. Installation Instructions.
  2. Tool Bar Layout
  3. Opening a New Script
  4. Importing / Setting up Effects Library
  5. Organizing multiple Windows “Tile Horizontal” and save Layouts.
  6. Importing Visual Library File.
  7. “3D Position Editor”: 3D IMAGES Import an Image, Adjust in your Site, Camera Views
  8. “3D Positions Editor”: Placing Positions in in your Site.
  9. Create Visual Script: Importing your Positions Site  to your Visual Show Director Project Script.
  10. Capturing Cues on Audio Soundtrack.
  11. Placing Effects into Cues in the Script.  View/Test Effects. Shortcuts.
  12. See your Project in the Viewer. Camera angles and saving views.
  13. Editing your project.

Installation Instructions

http://www.infinityvisions.com/showdirector/download_sd.htm

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Installation

You will be asked to choose between the update patch (if you currently have a  version 8.2.9 or after of ShowDirector software installed) or the full version if this is your first installation or a version installed pre 8.2.9. For a complete full installation select the first link  "Download the full ShowDirector install":

Then Run the installer(setup.exe) in the directory created or chosen from the previous step (run as administrator):

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Otherwise leave it checked and it will install automatically from the new chosen location.

Activation of the software

When you run your product for the first time (or if you select Menu->Help->Enter Activation) you will be presented with the Activation Form. Use this form to  register and activate your product.


How the Activation Form Works


Activation Form

ShowDirector is an unlimited time product. Visual ShowDirector is an unlimited time product that includes all of the Visualization Components. Both of these products also come in a 'Buy time as you go' version labeled 'Online'. When you purchased your product, if you purchased it based on a time frame (Month, Quarter or Year) you have the Online Product.

Activation Form

When you purchased your product, you were sent an email with your Serial Number included. Put this value into the Serial Number entry box. We suggest you 'cut and  paste' the value to make sure you don't have any errors . After entering the Serial Number , press the 'Activate' button. Now Internet Explorer (or whatever you are using for your default web browser) will take you to a page on the Infinity Visions website where you must register. It is important to put a valid email on your registration as that is how we will send you your unlocking code information.

Activation Form

After completing  the Registration Form, your successful registration will generate your Unlocking Code and send you a confirmation email. This code is very important so please keep it in a safe place.

Confirmation Page

Copy the  Unlocking Code from the confirmation page or from the confirmation email you received, and paste it into the Unlocking Code entry box. Press the 'Ok' button to unlock and activate your program.

Activation Form

If all the information was entered correctly, you will now have unlocked and activated your program.

Common Issues with Activation

If you receive an error after you press the 'Ok' button, check the following:

  • You did not select the correct product from the Products drop down. Check that the one you have selected matches the product you purchased.
  • You mis-typed the Unlocking Code that you received. Check the confirmation email and make sure you typed it in correctly.
  • You have correctly registered and activated your product, but this is the alternate machine for this Serial Number and it has not been the full hour between the last time you were running the primary machine. Make sure the primary machine is no longer running ShowDirector, wait a full hour and then try again to run ShowDirector on the second machine. It will likely startup fine or it may bring you back to the Activation Form where you may need to press 'Ok' again.

http://www.infinityvisions.com/showdirector/ivActivationHelp.asp

Language Selection

Before starting the software it is possible to change the software language. The Default will be  English. Show Director scripting software is only in English. All the Visual applications and PyroCreator are in multiple languages.

To do so launch the"shortcut 'Language Selector and select the desired language:

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YOUR VISUAL SHOW DIRECTOR IS READY TO RUN!
But Before…

It is VERY IMPORTANT to create and maintain a logical folder structure that can be

Shared with other users within a company and to store the production show

Files in a logical order.

Show Director Files Directory Structure

You can start by using the same root drive C: or D:

In C: or any drive, create a root folder for the Visual Show Director software files.

The following is just an example. You decide what kind of order and folder names are best for

you.

Example:

There will be common files used in every project: Effects Manager, Visual Libraries, Sorts and Filters, Custom Reports,Layouts, Sites, Music,  that can be located in dedicated folders as common shared resources.

If you create a Template project that will always open these common files, you will need to add only Script and Wave, for every new show, if using the same Effects Manager.

Starting Up Visual Show Director

Double click in the ShowDirector icon in your desktop.


Setting up your Toolbar Layout

Opening the Practice Project

Click on the tab "File" in the upper toolbar, and click " OpenProject", found in the directory

 " ShowDirector " created earlier in the root of the disk D:\

·      Go to the Project directory named "MONTREAL2017” and select MONTREALl2017.pyr. The project will open.


 


The Project will open like this. This project is in a 1920x1080 screen resolution.
If your computer has less resolution it may not open the same way and you may need to rearrange the windows. To learn how to do this watch this
Video Tutorial . You  will need this later in this Guide.


Now Open the Viewer.  Click on the “ V” icon.


Click on the Street Light or (F2) to turn it to Green and Press Play.

The Viewer will open. If you have a second monitor ( good idea) use its window  for the Viewer.
After you have learned the basic steps in this Quick Start Guide, you can return to this project, where you can Play with it and add some new Cues and Effects,etc.  This is a good place to experiment with the many options explained in detail in  the User Guide.

Get familiar using this Demonstration Project on how a show is organized and scripted and how the User Interface can be configured and personalized.

But now let's continue and you will learn how to create a NEW project...

Creating a New Project

Complete information about creating a Project is in User Guide
Save and Close Demo Project if you have it open. Click on the "File" tab in the upper toolbar, and click "New Project." Save this to the main folder D:\SHOWDIRECTOR\PROJECTS\ created earlier.
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In the following Steps, we will open all of the Files required for making a Project:

Import Audio .wav File : User Guide Chapter

Next step is to open your audio file (music).
Show Director plays 16bit wave format. Wave Files made at 32 bit will need to be converted to 16bit.  
From File Menu/Wave File, Select an audio file from your computer in .wav format. In this example we will use the SOUNDTRACK.wav audio file in D:\SHOWDIRECTOR\MUSIC:

Effects Manager is one of the most useful and time saving  features in  the software. You will insert effects in the script without the need of typing them. Creating your Effect Manager will only need to be done once and after that you will  just choose and insert from it by Ctrl-E .

Now let’s open an Effects Library project. File Menu/Effect File/Open
For this example we will use an existing database, called
"SUPERLIBRARY.efx". From the folder D:\SHOWDIRECTOR\PRODUCTS\EFFECTS MANAGERS previously created

NOTE: You can continue to use our existing database for future Projects, or you can build your own Effects Library based on your inventory or criteria. This only needs to be done one time, if you establish your own Effects Library. Then you can use it each time you script a New Project. . To make your own Effects database from your existing Excel inventory reference this Video Tutorial

Open Sorts and Filters for Script and Effects Managers:

Having Sorts and Filters in place, will help you immensely to navigate through long Scripts and Effects Managers, organize the view and find anything easily.

From File Menu open each of the files in the folder :D:\SHOWDIRECTOR\SORTS FILTERS

Organizing the Windows

Watch this  Video Tutorial to see how to do the organization in detail.
When all the windows are open some may mask  the other windows: Use “Tile Horizontal” to order them. Then reshape them from the borders.

➢ Position the display windows so as to obtain the following interface:
Save

YOUR SHOW DIRECTOR PROJECT IS READY TO USE. IF YOU ARE NOT SCRIPTING WITH VISUAL EFFECTS YOU ARE READY TO SCRIPT.

THIS GUIDE IS FOR VISUAL SHOW DIRECTOR SO NOW LET’S DO VISUAL!


Visual Simulation

The Visual Files. User Guide

In order to play a show in the Viewer, Visual Show Director needs to have a set of 3 files.

VERY IMPORTANT If one or more of these files are missing, it will be impossible to start the Viewer and the system will warn you of the missing files.

Open Visual Script File:

  1. In VisualShowDirector, import this file to the project by clicking the  "File"  tab and selecting "Visual Script File":
  2. Select the file, MONTREAL.chr or give a New Name and open it to include into  the project:

Open  Visual Library File:

  1. Next we will choose our visual library with the simulation effects. We will use the Library ALLEFFECTS022017.lib in : D:\SHOWDIRECTOR\PRODUCTS\VISUAL EFFECTS\VISUAL LIBRARIES

Visual Position File: Next we have to create our visual position file with the site and positions.

Create a site with 3D Position Editor

Create a Site

Open "3D Position Editor": Make a new Site Folder for the image

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Placing positions in your Site

Here we will put 15 positions placed in the floating Ramp 3.
Zoom in on
"Top View" enough to see the precise location:

Check Lasso Tool option to place Number of desired positions.
Enter Count: 15

Angle vectors positions. Pan and Tilt:  Pan’ =vertical and ‘Tilt’ =horizontal  Enter ‘Custom’. With these values, 0 to 89 degrees angle will be pointing to right, 90 straight up and 91 to 180 to the left.

Enter Pan=270, Tilt=90

 Optional: ‘Change Tools Colors’ in Edit/Preferences :In order to easily see the commands, you may want to change colors of the tools

Placing Positions with Simple Lines Tool. Now Add positions A00 to A09 in the water. 
Choose ‘ Make Positions Line’ and’ Simple Lines’, Count :10. To make 10 positions, ‘Left” Click 10 times in the water area in random positions,  Left Click then Right Click for the last position. You will see your positions are shown where you clicked.

Placing 1 Position only:

We will now place a single position. To do so click on the shortcut tool for adding a ‘Single Position’, from the toolbar: The "optional tools" window will appear on the right. Enter the following settings: Location name. We will call it  "C" for example.  Enter Pan and Tilt Vector and Angles of the position

WE HAVE PLACED OUR POSITIONS AND ARE READY TO START SCRIPTING OUR SHOW.
Go back to Show Director and in File Menu choose this site as Visual Position File. Location is where you put  
D:\SHOWDIRECTOR\SITES\ModelLaRonde\LARONDE.pos

Now with all the files selected our Project Library ( File Menu) should look similar to this with the file names that you have given:

See  your Project in Viewer

Now we will take a look at our project so far. To view a model of the project, launch the viewer via the ‘V’ icon (the viewer window may take a few seconds to open )
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Camera Viewer Angle User Guide

Capture Cues in the Audio File:

Here we will see how to Capture Cues in our audio file.  The Cues will be used to match with effects shot from any desired position. Click on the  "capturecues" icon (the light turns green when capture is On:

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Placing Effects into Cues in the Script:

Here we will experiment with a few effects so that you can  understand the harmony between audio and effects, your final choice in your projects depends on you. Also this Demo Project uses only a few positions, you may have many more in your future projects.

Importing an effect, Place "Aquatic Spider" 100 caliber, in the first cue.

  1.  Select the effect in the "Effect Manager"  window and a Cue line in the Script Manager. Press the key “Ctrl” and letter “E” and the effect will be placed.
  2. Type a position name in the POS column in the cell of the new cue and type a shooting angle in the TILT column. A  number 00 to 180. (180 to 359 will shoot underground) 

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➢ In “POS” 2  enter  the position ‘A01’ :

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i

Adjust Script, add more positions and effects; If you see that  a product needs adjusting or changing. Just go back to your script file, change caliber, angles, time, etc in the corresponding columns until you get the desired effect. Add or change effects from the Effects Manager.  Add more positions in the POS column, etc.

Import Cues

Another way to insert premade sequences of cues is using Import Cues. In the Folder D:\SHOWDIRECTOR\PROJECTS\MONTREAL2017\SEQUENCES you can find a few for demonstration.

Select a Cue line first in your Script. Then Go to Cues menu/ Import Cues and make your selection, You will see that an entire sequence of pre saved Cues has been entered into the Script. You can adjust Positions as needed for your stage. This is a great option for Sequences that you use often.

 

Visualize your project

Press the beginning of the soundtrack and you will see your script so far:

 

OK. Now you know everything needed to use Visual Show Director to Script your own Project.

You have learned:  How to set up a site.  Enter positions. Enter cues. Choose effects and Place effects. Test and Watch your effects in the Effects Manager,  then in the Script and finally  in the Viewer .

 Continue to practice by adding  cues, using all positions on the  Demo Project  site.  Experiment with placing different effects in  your script  until you are familiar with all the basic commands and  features.  You can also go back and add more positions in your 3D Position Editor for more complexity.  

Study the User Guides and watch our Video Tutorials.

Enjoy!