Live Preview
Live Preview is exactly what you'd hope: hit Play in the editor, the show plays on your real hardware, in real time, while you keep editing.
It's the fastest iteration loop in show control. Edit a control point, hit play, watch the result. Adjust an audio clip's volume, hit play, hear the result. No deploy, no rebuild, no upload.
Starting Live Preview
Live Preview works on a show that targets a single controller. If your show targets more than one controller, deploy it to test on hardware instead.
Click Live Preview in the timeline editor's toolbar (it reads Stop Preview while active). The controller stops whatever it was playing and the status LED switches to a fast orange blink for as long as Live Preview is on. Every indicator light is switched on for the session, even if you normally keep the lights off.
The button is disabled when the show has no controller target or the controller is offline.
Live Preview takes the controller over the same way Manual Control does: triggers, rules, and other controllers can't start a show on it until you leave, and its own physical inputs only update their indicators.
Hit Play in the transport. The first Play loads the show onto the controller (the button reads Buffering… while it does), then the show plays on the hardware, synchronized with the editor playhead. While the controller is loading the show and any audio it doesn't have yet, its status LED blinks purple, the same pattern as a show download, and goes back to orange when it's ready. On the first Play after adding new audio that can take a few minutes; it isn't a fault.
While Live Preview is running, the controller ignores its own physical inputs, including one wired as a Stop, Safety Lock, or Hard Lock (emergency stop). Don't rely on a wired safety stop on the controller you're previewing on. A stop or lock sent from a different controller, or latched from IgorBox Studio, still works. See Manual Control for the full list of what's ignored.
What you can do during Live Preview
Anything you'd do while editing. Live Preview doesn't lock the editor.
- Edit clips, envelopes, and colors: moves, resizes, splits, and lighting changes all apply on the next Play.
- Click in the ruler to seek: while stopped, the hardware follows right away. While playing, the controller picks up from the new position after a short hold.
- Toggle tracks: a muted track is left out on the next Play.
- Set a loop region: the controller loops that region on the hardware.
Audio during Live Preview
During Live Preview, audio plays from your controller, through the controller's output, and the browser's own audio is muted until you stop. The controller downloads only the audio it doesn't already have, so the first Play after adding or changing a clip's file can take a while; later Plays are quick.
Ending Live Preview
Click Stop Preview. The sound stops and the outputs stay where the preview left them. When you leave Live Preview, DMX channels return to their resting defaults, relay and dimmable outputs keep their last value until a show drives them, and the controller starts its ambient routine again if it has one. A show that was running before you started is not resumed.
Live Preview also ends on its own when you leave the editor or close the tab, when you save the show's settings, or when someone with control permission clicks Stop Live Preview on the controller's page or takes the controller over. If your connection to IgorBox Studio drops, the preview stops and the controller returns to normal within about a minute.
Good to know
- Live Preview plays the current draft, not the deployed version, so you can test before you deploy.
- On firmware 2.2.0 and newer, long shows preview too.
- DMX recording can't run during Live Preview; stop the preview first.
- Live Preview uses the same permissions as Manual Control: you need permission to control your controllers.
Live Preview vs. Manual Control
Both drive a controller in real time. They're different tools:
- Manual Control drives channels directly from sliders. No timeline.
- Live Preview plays a timeline show on the hardware.
They can't run at the same time. If someone holds Manual Control on the controller, the editor warns you when you start Live Preview and, if you confirm with Take over & preview, their session ends. The other way round, Manual Control can't start while a Live Preview is running; stop the preview first.