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 / Theater

Light, project and cue the play from one file.

Model the set and see the rig before load-in. Patch and program the lights, put pictures on the scenery and build the sound cues, then run the whole show from the booth.

  • Lighting designers
  • Programmers
  • Projection designers
  • Sound designers
  • Stage managers
Download for macOS 0.5.0See the work
from the stalls: the projected sky and the light cue fade from dusk to night
the graph behind it
ImageShader→3DGeoLightUpdate→3DGeoSceneRenderToImage→ImageBloom
Art-Net and sACNMIDI Show ControlLTC and MIDI timecodeQLab over OSC
The work

The jobs on a production.

From the first model to the last tech, every job lives in the same show file, and that file opens on any laptop in the room.

  1. 01Design
    A model of a stage set: white flats, an arch and a platform, with a projector throwing the northern lights across all of them
    the set model, with one projector across the flats

    Model the set and light it in 3D

    Build the flats, platforms and masking in the viewport, then hang a projector and a few lights and see how the picture lands before anything is built. Bring the plot in from an MVR file and every fixture shows up where it hangs.

    3DGeoBox+3DGeoLightCreate+DmxMvrImport+3DGeoFixtureSet
    Model in the viewport →
  2. 02Load-in
    The patch table: eight fixtures with labels, personalities, universe and start address, and the universe map below
    the patch table, eight fixtures on universe 1

    Patch the rig

    Pick each fixture from more than 1,500 profiles, or point it at a GDTF file, and give it an address. Then print the patch for the crew.

    DmxPatch+DmxFixtureMap+DmxPatchExport
    Patch a small rig →
  3. 03Plotting
    A cue list from pre-show wash and house out to curtain call, with fade times per cue and fade splits for each part of the look
    a cue list from pre-show wash to curtain call

    Program the cues

    Build each look in the programmer and record it as a cue. The cue list tracks, so a cue keeps only what changed, and each part can fade on its own time: intensity over three seconds while color snaps. Mark a cue to follow on its own, like the blackout after the last line.

    DmxProgrammer+DmxCuePool+SAcnSendInterface
    Program the cues for a play →
  4. 04Projection
    the window masked, so no light lands on the glass

    Put pictures on the set

    Pin a picture to every flat, doorway and window. Corner pins for a tilted flat, a grid warp for a curved one, soft edges where two projectors overlap, and masks that keep the light off a window or a doorway. A camera can line the projectors up for you.

    ProjectionMapper+ImageHomography+ImageGridWarp+ImageEdgeBlend
    Mask a window out of a wall →
  5. 05Sound
    a creaking hinge, reversed and stretched into a swell

    Build the sound cues

    Trim each effect, set its fades and loop the room tone for as long as the scene runs. Each cue plays on the GO, on a marker in the timeline or from OSC. A creaking hinge, reversed and stretched, becomes the swell under a scene change.

    InputAudioFile+AudioFade+AudioClipPlayer
    Build a sound cue for a show →
  6. 06Tech
    The Stream Deck layout window: keys 1 to 8 each send a cue over OSC, with back and go on the bottom row
    one key per cue, sent over OSC

    Take the GO from anywhere

    Fire the show from a GO on the booth panel, a Stream Deck key, a phone, MIDI Show Control from the desk or a QLab cue over OSC. Or lock the whole show to the sound desk's LTC, with an offset so 01:00:00:00 lands on your first frame.

    MidiShowControlIn+OSCReceive+MidiLtcDecode+DmxCuePool
    Lock the show to timecode →
07Opening night: run it from the booth ↓
What Kinematic adds

Follow the actor.

A camera on the stage finds the actor's body in the picture, with no suit and no markers. The follow spot engine turns that into pan and tilt for a moving head, one engine for each head, and the 3D preview shows where the beams land before you try it on the rig. A depth camera can cut the actor out of the room, so the projector lights them and nothing behind. Already tracking with PosiStageNet? Kinematic reads that too.

VideoCaptureInterface+LocalAIImageToBodyPose+DmxFollowSpotEngine+DmxPsnReceive
Follow a dancer with a moving head →Light only the dancer →
three moving heads follow the performer, in the 3D preview
the body, found in the picture
the projector lights only the performer
fire and smoke, simulated on the graphics card
a fire on 640 lights over DMX
a flag in the wind
sparks, each with a trail
What Kinematic adds

Fire and smoke for the set.

Kinematic simulates fire, smoke, liquids, cloth and particles on your graphics card, in the same file as the cues. Render a loop for the projector, or run the sim live with its strength on a fader.

Send the fire's own colors to the lights through Image to DMX, and the stage flickers with the flames. No second program, and no file to hand across.

3DGeoFluidSimpleSolver→3DGeoFluidRender→ImageToDmx→SAcnSendInterface
Make fire and smoke →Everything in Simulate →
Opening night

Run the show from the booth.

Press F1 and the editor steps aside. The stage picture goes to each projector you pick in the Outputs window, and you can give the booth a panel of its own: the cue that is up, the one that is next and a fader for each part of the look. Show lock stops a stray click from moving the timeline, and if the sound desk's timecode drops out, Take control lets you run it by hand until it comes back.

Run a live show →
A booth panel in Perform Mode: the stage at night with the moon and a special on the actor, Now Q15 Night falls, Next Q16 Dawn, a fade bar, and faders for Wash, Sky, Special and Haze
the booth panel in Perform Mode: the stage, the cue that is up and next, and a fader for each part of the look

Hold at the top of the show

Open the show paused at its start, so nothing moves until the call.

terminal
$ kinematic show.kin --perform --start-paused

Restart after a crash

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

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

A panic button for the stage manager

One press fades the rig to black, and it stays there until you release it.

DmxPanicCue

A backup machine standing by

A second machine listens for the first one's heartbeat. If it stops, the backup takes over the rig, and hands it back when the first returns.

DmxFailoverArbiter
How it fits

Gear, protocols and files.

Keep the desk, the sound system and the projectors in the building. 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
    The plot from your drawing program, and fixture profiles beside the 1,500 that come with the app.
  • 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.
  • Patch reportsOut
    A fixture list for the crew, as a spreadsheet or a page to print.

Show control and time

  • MIDI Show ControlIn and out
    Take GO, STOP and LOAD from a desk, or send them to one.
  • QLabIn
    Its cues fire scenes, looks and lights over OSC on TCP.
  • OSCIn and out
    UDP or TCP. Move a fader in another app to learn its address.
  • LTCIn
    SMPTE timecode read off an audio input, and chased by the timeline.
  • MIDI timecodeIn and out
    Chase it from the sound desk, or send the timeline out to gear down the line.
  • Art-Net timecodeIn and out
    Chase the lighting network, or be the clock everyone else chases.
  • 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 and projection

  • Projectors and screensOut
    A window per output on any display, with corner pins, grid warps and soft edges.
  • Projector alignmentIn
    Patterns go out, a camera watches, and the projectors line up on their own.
  • 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.
  • Video filesIn and out
    MP4, MOV, MKV and WebM play in. Record H.264, H.265 or ProRes.
  • Capture cardsIn
    Cards that show up as a webcam work like one.

Sound and control

  • Sound filesIn and out
    WAV, FLAC, MP3 and OGG play in and record out. AAC plays, AIFF records.
  • Audio interfacesIn and out
    Record from an input, and play out to your speakers.
  • Stream DeckIn and out
    Cues on the keys, with tally, over USB or through Bitfocus Companion.
  • MIDI controllersIn and out
    Move a knob to map it. Ready-made profiles for nine popular controllers.
  • Phones and tabletsIn
    A touch page served from the show itself, or TouchOSC.
Coming fromTouchDesigner

The projection and show control you know, with the set model, the lighting cues and the sound in the same file.

Read the guide →Coming fromCinema 4D

Model the set and make the projection content, then play it live on the night.

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 · 10 minMap moving patterns onto three panelsTutorial · 7 minLine up a projection on a wall from the sideTutorial · 8 minTurn a creak into a whooshTutorial · 8 minMake a voice sound like an old radioTutorial · 10 minLight a torchTutorial · 10 minModel a little hut

Demos

Projection mapper multi-textureStripes, dots and a star, each mapped onto its own panel of a set.In the Demos browserProjection mapper freeformA pentagon and a triangle mapped as free shapes. Drag their corners to fit your scenery.In the Demos browserSwirls on a projectorThree swirls sent to a projector on its own display, with a preview in the app.In the Demos browserCampfireA steady fire between three logs, cooling into thin smoke.In the Demos browserBillowyThick smoke rolling upward in slow, rounded billows.In the Demos browserHidden face effectA face vanishes on camera while hair and clothes stay. A classic trick for a haunted mirror.In the Demos browser
Every Perform tutorial and guide →Every Play tutorial and guide →Browse every demo →
Not yet

What it does not yet do.

Better to know now. Missing something your show needs? Reach out.

  • A sound cue listThere is no cue list made for sound, with a level for every speaker. Sound cues play as clips from the timeline, a lighting GO or OSC, and the audio matrix routes four inputs to four outputs.
  • LTC outKinematic reads LTC but does not write it. MIDI timecode and Art-Net timecode go both ways.
  • Plots and paperworkThe 3D Viewer shows the rig from above and from the front, and the patch prints as a list. There is no drafting of a light plot for print.
  • A full lighting visualizerThe 3D preview draws a beam for each fixture you give one, aimed by the values you wire in. It does not draw a whole rig straight from incoming DMX.
  • 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.

Download Kinematic.

Free. No account, no license key. Put it on every machine in the building, on macOS, Windows and Linux.

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