Quick Start

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Next: Installing Isadora

Quick Start

If you don’t like reading manuals, here is a quick tour illustrating the essential things you need to know to use Isadora.

Regardless, it is essential that you configure your system correctly. At the very least, follow the instructions regarding under the “Preparing Your Computer” and the “Stage Setup” section of this Tutorials chapter below.

Interface Tour

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There are four main areas to the Isadora interface:

• The Toolbox and Toolbox Filter found along the left.
• The Media Panel found along the right, split with the Information Panel.
• Spanning the bottom of the window are the Scene List, Audio View, and Status Bar. (The Audio View is shown in the image above but not visible by default).
• The Scene Editor takes up the central part of the window, with Scene Snapshots shown above and Scene Settings shown below.

Toolbox The actors used to create a Scene are found in the Toolbox. There are several groups of actors within the Toolbox that can be selected by clicking the Toolbox Filter. Just click on the icon of the group of actors you wish to display. Scene Editor Each Isadora Scene is a complete program, made up of one or more modules (called an actor in Isadora parlance) that manipulate video, sound or data. To bring an actor into the Scene Editor: Click on the module name in the Toolbox. The cursor will change into a plus sign to let you know you’re about to add an actor. Then, move the mouse into the Scene Editor area on the right. When the new module is positioned where you want it, click again to deposit it into the scene. To delete an actor: select it and then choose Edit > Clear or press the delete key. You may select multiple actors by holding down the shift key while clicking, or select a group of actors by clicking on the Scene Editor background and dragging – a selection rectangle will appear, and all actors under the rectangle will be selected when you release the mouse. To send data from the output of one module to the input of another: Click the output (the blue dot). A connection or link anchored to the output will now track your mouse movements. Click on the input (again, the blue dot) next to the input to which you want the data sent. When data flows through the link, its color will change from red to green. Note that video and sound outputs cannot be connected to number inputs or vice-versa. To delete a link: Click on it and choose Edit > Clear or press the Delete key. Point the mouse at a link that is carrying video and a small window will appear, displaying the video moving through that connection. This is quite useful when you have a complicated video patch and you want to see the video as it moves from actor to actor. To show help for an actor, or one of its inputs or outputs: Right-click an actor to display a pop-up menu and choose “Show Actor Help in Browser”. This action will take you to an Isadora generated browser page providing information about the actor and its properties. Additionally, within the Scene Editor pressing the Command-Option (macOS) or Control-Option (Windows) keys and clicking an actor or its properties will provide details of its function.

To access an actor’s hidden properties:
 An eye icon located next to an actor’s name indicates that there are hidden properties which provide additional user options. Double-click the eye icon to access these properties and select which are displayed when the actor is shown in the Scene Editor. Parameters can be hidden if they are used less frequently, this makes the actor more user-friendly and less complex. Scene List

To insert more scenes: Click to the right of the last scene in the Scene List at the bottom of the window. When you see the blinking cursor, choose Scenes > Insert Scene. A new, empty scene will appear. To delete a scene: click on the scene and chose Edit > Clear or press the Delete key. To activate a different scene: Click on it in the Scene List. The old scene will be deactivated, and the new scene and its actors will be shown in the Scene Editor. You can jump from one scene to another using the Jump actor found in the “Control” section of the Toolbox Filter. Media Panel Isadora allows you to process both live and prerecorded images and sound. If you want to use prerecorded media, you will need to import it into Isadora. Isadora can play and manipulate five types of files: Digital Video Files, Digital Audio Files, Pictures, Standard MIDI Files, or 3D Object Files (3DS). To import a media file into Isadora: Choose File > Import Media. A file selection dialog will appear. Find the “dancer.mov” movie in the “Isadora Tutorials” folder. The movie will be imported into Isadora and appear in the Media Panel as shown below.

Status Bar Information The status bar displays information about Isadora’s current data processing load. Here is an explanation of what each item on the status bar indicates, from left to right: Communications Activity Input activity for Open Sound Control, MIDI, Serial, and TCP/ IP data. An arrow will appear indicating when new data is received.

Loaded Media Loaded Media shows how many media objects are currently active in your patch

Timecode Current Time Code Position shows the most recently received Midi Timecode location. If you aren’t receiving any MTC data, it will appear as dashes:

Stage Status
 Indicates the visibility of the Stages within an Isadora file. Stages in full screen mode are represented by the text “FULL”. Stages in preview mode are represented by the text “PREV”. Stages not visible are represented by the text “OFF”.

Cycles Indicates how many times per second Isadora can process all active scenes in all currently open show documents. Higher numbers indicate less load on the computer. When the complexity of your patch is not taxing your computer’s hardware, this number will approach the value specific by the “General Service Task” rate in your Isadora Preferences. As the complexity of your patch increases, this number will go down. You should not be too concerned until this value goes below twice the current frame rate. FPS (Frames Per Second) Indicates the current frame rate. When your patch is running well, this should closely match the “Target Frame Rate” as specified in your Isadora Preferences. However, if your patch is too “heavy” you may see this value go below the target frame rate. There are many factors which can cause this, the most common being playing too many movies of too high a resolution. If this value goes below your desired framerate, you should find ways to lessen the load on your hardware, such as reducing the number of movies you are playing, lowing their resolution, on changing to a codec that requires less disk bandwidth. Frame Rendering Load Indicates how long it is taking to render each frame, specified as a percentage of the available time per frame at the Target Frame Rate. When your patch is running smoothly, this indicate will be green and the percentage value will be somewhere below 50%. If your patch is starting to reach the limits of your computer’s hardware capabilities, you will see this number rise and the indicator turn yellow. If this indicator turns red and the percentage is near or above 100%, you should revise your patch to lessen the load on your computer.

Enhancing Isadora

Isadora patches can be enhanced via downloads from the TroikaTronix website: https://troikatronix.com/add-ons/ Isadora Add-Ons consist of additional plugins, User Actors, and example patches. The TroikaTronix Add-Ons webpage is the central location for both official TroikaTronix Add-Ons and a growing collection of Add-Ons created by the Isadora community. Please refer to page [???] of this manual for description of each official TroikaTronix Add-On.


Additional Plugins

These modules bring enhanced capabilities to Isadora, extending the user’s palate of tools to interact with and manipulate media or communicate with the outside world.

User Actors

Isadora offers users the ability to build their own actors, generated when combining a group of pre-existing modules together as a User Actor. User Actors can be shared amongst the community via the Add-Ons page.

Example Patches

Just as User Actors can be shared amongst the community so can patches. Patches that have been created by a user may offer instruction and guidance for a particular Isadora feature or offer demonstration and showcasing of new functions.


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Troikatronix Website