Kinematic 0.5.0 is out. Modeling and sculpting in the viewport, a timeline on every graph, photo and sound editing. What's new
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Kinematic / Who it's for / Concerts and tours

Previz, program and run the tour in one file.

Build the stage in 3D, make the content for the LED wall, pixel-map it to the rig and lock it all to the band's timecode. Then take the same file on the road and run the night in Perform Mode.

  • Lighting designers
  • Video and content designers
  • Show programmers
  • Touring crews
Download for macOS 0.5.0See the jobs
Art-Net and sACNLTC and MIDI timecodeNDI in and outFree to use
the stage in Perform Mode: an LED wall, beam fans and moving heads over the crowd
the graph behind it
3DGeoBeam→3DGeoSceneRenderToImage→ImageBloom→ImageDisplay
The work

The jobs on a tour, in Kinematic.

From the pitch to the first show, each job is part of the same show file, and that file opens on any laptop in the production office.

  1. 01The pitch
    The editor with the concert stage in its viewport, the band and crowd listed in Objects, and the render chain on the canvas
    the stage in the editor: viewport, objects and the render chain

    Previz the stage in 3D

    Build the set, the riser and the LED wall, hang beams over the band and fill the floor with a crowd. Bring the plot in from an MVR file and every fixture shows up where it hangs. Orbit the camera and walk the band through the room before load-in.

    DmxMvrImport+3DGeoFixtureSet+3DGeoBeam+3DGeoSceneRenderToImage
  2. 02Content
    a shader look, drawn live

    Make the content for the LED wall

    Write a shader, run a simulation, cut clips or set type, at the wall's own resolution. Play it live on the night, or record each song out as H.265 or 10-bit ProRes for the media server.

    ImageShader+InputVideoFile+OutputVideoFile
    Write shaders and looks →
  3. 03Programming
    Master Live: a song-by-song cue list with Go, Back and Stop, and a bank of submasters
    a song-by-song cue list with submasters

    Program the songs and lock them to timecode

    Patch from more than 1,500 fixture profiles, build looks in the programmer and record cues with fades, song by song. Feed in LTC or MIDI timecode from the playback rig and the timeline chases it, with an offset so 01:00:00:00 on the desk can be the top of the show.

    DmxPatch+DmxProgrammer+DmxCueStack+MidiLtcDecode
    Lock the show to the band →
  4. 04Pixel map
    a clip on a 64 by 40 pixel grid, 40 universes

    Pixel-map video across the LED fixtures

    Every pixel of the picture becomes a light. Kinematic samples the frame at each fixture, one universe per Image to DMX node, and sends it out over Art-Net or sACN.

    InputVideoFile+ImageToDmx+ArtNetSendInterface
    Play video across an LED wall →
  5. 05Rehearsals
    three moving heads follow a dancer, in the 3D preview

    Follow the singer with moving heads

    Point a camera at the stage and track the performer's body. The follow spot engine works out pan and tilt for each head, and the 3D preview shows where the beams land before you try it on the rig. Positions can also come from a PosiStageNet tracking system.

    VideoCaptureInterface+LocalAIImageToBodyPose+DmxFollowSpotEngine
    Follow a dancer with a moving head →
  6. 06IMAG
    a performer on both side screens, previewed in 3D

    Put the cameras on the side screens

    Bring a camera in from a capture card, or over NDI from another machine, give it a look and send it to the side screens. Steer PTZ cameras from a panel, and follow the vision mixer's tally from an ATEM or vMix.

    StreamingNDIReceiveInterface+ImageDisplay+StreamingPtzControl
    Bring in a camera from across the room →
07Show day: run the night in Perform Mode ↓
What Kinematic adds

A fire simulation, pixel-mapped onto the rig.

Fire, smoke, liquids and particles run on your graphics card in the same file as the lighting. Here the fire feeds Image to DMX: every frame is sampled at 640 RGB fixtures across four universes and goes straight out over Art-Net. There is no render to wait for and no file to hand across.

3DGeoFluidSimpleSolver→3DGeoFluidRender→ImageToDmx→ArtNetSendInterface
Make fire and smoke →
the firethe same frames on 640 RGB fixtures

Right: four DMX universes of 160 fixtures each, drawn back from the DMX values.

a song's loudness and hits driving a particle burst
strobes on the kick
A panel of clip pads for Live's intro, verse, chorus and drop clips, with a Stop all button
Live's clips on a panel
What Kinematic adds

The music drives the lights and the screens.

Feed in the desk's audio or a playback track. Drum hits fire the strobes, the loudness pushes particles, and any setting can follow a channel of the music while the show runs.

With Ableton Live on the playback rig, tempo, beat, bar and clips come in through the free AbletonOSC script, so cuts land on the one. MIDI clock from a drum machine or a DAW sets the tempo too.

drivers on the particle node in that clip
emission_rate  #channel("fit_emit", "output")
gravity        #channel("fit_grav", "output")
turbulence     #channel("fit_turb", "output")
AudioCaptureInterface+AudioOnsetDetect+ChannelDataToDmx+AbletonLiveLink
Make the strobes hit on the kick →Cut visuals on the downbeat →
Show day

Run the night in Perform Mode.

Press F1 and the editor steps aside: the show fills the screen, and each output goes to the projector or screen you pick in the Outputs window. Give the operator a panel of faders for the wall, the beams and the haze. Show lock is on, so a stray click cannot move the timeline, and if timecode drops out, Take control lets you run the show by hand until it comes back.

Run a live show →
F1: the panels step aside and the stage fills the window
An operator panel in Perform Mode: the stage picture, faders for Wall, Beams, Fans and Haze, a wall look switch, a strobe toggle and a beat light
an operator panel: wall, beams, fans and haze

Open straight onto the screens

Launch in Perform Mode on the display you name. The editor stays out of sight.

terminal
$ kinematic tour.kin --perform --display 1

Nothing paints over the picture

A node error is still logged and badged in the editor, but the audience never sees it.

terminal
$ kinematic tour.kin --perform --error-strip off

Back on its feet after a crash

It restarts on its own, and the timeline starts where the show would be now.

terminal
$ kinematic tour.kin --perform --restart-on-panic 3 --resume-timeline auto

Run it from front of house

Start the show machine with a control port, then switch it into the show or recall a saved state from another machine.

terminal
$ kinematic ctl tcp:192.168.1.20:9797 state recall verse
How it fits

The gear, protocols and files it talks to.

Keep the desk, the playback rig and the cameras you tour with. Kinematic sits beside them on the network.

Lighting

  • DMX over USBIn and out
    Enttec DMX USB Pro, DMXking ultraDMX and other adapters, one universe per adapter.
  • Art-NetIn and out
    Many universes over the network, with device discovery and ArtSync.
  • sACNIn and out
    E1.31 streaming DMX, with per-address priority.
  • MVR and GDTFMVR in and out, GDTF in
    Rig scenes from a visualizer, and fixture profiles beside the 1,500 that come with the app.
  • PosiStageNetIn
    Performer positions from the tracking system already in the room.
  • Patch reportsOut
    A fixture list for the crew, as a spreadsheet or a page to print.

Time

  • LTCIn
    SMPTE timecode read off an audio input, and chased by the timeline.
  • MIDI timecodeIn and out
    Chase it from a playback rig, or send the timeline back out to gear down the line.
  • Art-Net timecodeIn and out
    Chase the lighting network, or be the clock everyone else chases.
  • MIDI clockIn and out
    Follow a drum machine or a DAW: tempo, start and stop.
  • MIDI Show ControlIn and out
    Fire cues on consoles and playback systems, with MMC for transports.
  • Cue lists from a spreadsheetIn and out
    A CSV of names and timecodes becomes markers on the timeline, and goes back out the same way.

Video

  • NDIIn and out
    Video and sound over the network. Swap a source mid-show while receivers stay connected.
  • SyphonIn and out, macOS
    Share frames with other apps on the same Mac.
  • Capture cardsIn
    Cards that show up as a webcam work like one.
  • Screens and projectorsOut
    A window per output on any display, with edge blends, corner pins and grid warps.
  • PTZ camerasOut
    Pan, tilt and zoom over NDI, VISCA over IP or ONVIF.
  • Vision mixersIn
    Follow program and preview on an ATEM or in vMix, and light the tally to match.
  • Video filesIn and out
    MP4, MOV, MKV and WebM play in. Record H.264, H.265 or 10-bit ProRes.

Control

  • Lighting consolesOut
    Fire cues on an ETC Eos, a grandMA3 or a Hog 4 over OSC, and set levels or type commands on the first two.
  • OSCIn and out
    UDP, or TCP for QLab, so its cues can fire scenes, looks and lights.
  • MIDI controllersIn and out
    Move a knob to map it. Ready-made profiles for nine popular controllers, most with LED feedback.
  • Stream DeckIn and out
    Cues on the keys, with tally, over USB or through Bitfocus Companion.
  • Phones and tabletsIn
    A touch page served from the show itself, or TouchOSC.
  • Ableton LiveIn and out
    Tempo, beat, bar and clips, through the free AbletonOSC script.
Coming fromTouchDesigner

The live patching you know, with modeling, simulation, sound and lighting in the same file.

Read the guide →Coming fromCinema 4D

Cloners, fields and splines for the screen content, rendered live and driven by the music.

Read the guide →Every format and protocolWorks with

Files, gear and the other apps on your desk, with what each one does in and out.

Look up your gear →
Where to start

Tutorials and demos.

Each tutorial takes under fifteen minutes and starts from an empty file. The demos come with the app: open one, press Play, then take it apart on the canvas.

Tutorials

Tutorial · 9 minPlay a video on a wall of LED lightsTutorial · 8 minFlash a light on every beatTutorial · 10 minMap moving patterns onto three panelsTutorial · 7 minLine up a projection on a wall from the sideTutorial · 12 minMake a visual that pulses to your musicTutorial · 12 minPaste in a Shadertoy and give it sliders

Demos

Shader volume bloomThree glowing rings whose size and color follow the volume of a microphone.In the Demos browserThree pass neon bloomNeon rings with a three-pass bloom, all inside one shader.In the Demos browserAudio glitch pipelineA live camera glitched by the music: pixel sorts pulse with the volume and hits fire color shocks.In the Demos browserProjection mapper multi-textureStripes, dots and a star, each mapped onto its own panel of a set.In the Demos browserNeon rainStreaks of cyan and magenta light falling over deep navy, with a pulsing glow.In the Demos browserDJ performance controllerA performer's panel: pads, a crossfader, a step sequencer, beat lights and live meters.In the Demos browser
Every Perform tutorial and guide →Browse every demo →
Not yet

What it does not yet do.

Better to know now. Missing something you need on the road? Reach out.

  • LasersThere is no ILDA or other laser output.
  • LTC outKinematic reads LTC but does not write it. MIDI timecode and Art-Net timecode go both ways.
  • A full lighting visualizerThe 3D preview shows where fixtures hang and where beams point, one beam node per fixture, driven by the values you wire to it. It does not draw a whole rig from incoming DMX on its own.
  • SDI output cardsPictures leave through a screen output, NDI or Syphon. There is no direct output to an SDI card.
  • SpoutSharing video with other apps on Windows is on the roadmap. NDI works on every platform today.
  • Ableton LinkLeft out on purpose because of its license. Share tempo over OSC or MIDI clock instead.

Download Kinematic.

Free. No account, no license key, no dongle. The same show file opens on macOS, Windows and Linux.

Download for macOS 0.5.0Reach out
Every field→Everything in Perform→Read the docs→