Getting Started
Millumin is a professional solution to create audiovisual shows for theaters, dance shows, videomappings and interactive installations, …
It can control video, audio, lights and lasers on stage. It has been designed to be intuitive and quick to learn, while providing many advanced features.
You can easily test Millumin by downloading the free trial. There is no limitation during 30 days, then a watermark (white lines) on the outputs, but you can still open/save a project and use all the features of Millumin.
Interface
There are 4 main areas in Millumin’s window (that can be resized at your convenience) :
- The library, where your media and files can be organized
- The workspace, where you can manipulate your content and see its preview
- The properties-view, where you can adjust various parameters of your content
- The dashboard, where you write and play your show
The dashboard is a sequencer : each column of the dashboard represents a moment/event of your show. Thus, you can easily play your show by going from one column to the next one.
The basic workflow is very simple :
- drag-and-drop a file from the Finder into a layer
- this file will become a media (listed in the library)
- click on this media to play it (or launch its column)
- adjust its position, size, … in the workspace
- tweak more in the properties-view
- repeat this process on several columns of the dashboard to write your show
- then play your show by pressing
SPACE
Of course, more advanced workflows are discussed later in this documentation. But keep in mind that even a simple workflow as this one can be very efficient.
Your First Show
Once you downloaded Millumin, run it and create a new project.
Then, drag a file from the Finder to the first layer :
Now launch the column to play this media :
Of course, you can select multiple files and drag them in Millumin : they will be added successively. You can also add more layer by pressing the + button on the bottom-left corner, to play multiple media at the same time. To remove a layer, select it (so it is appear orange) then press ⌫.
By pressing SPACE, Millumin will launch the next column, so you can advance in your show easily :
By default, there is no transition between your columns (the media switches directly). But you can add some fades. To do so, first click on edit board button (or press CMD+E) :
Then set a duration for your transition, so it fades when launching it :
You can find more info about transitions in this article : Animate
Organizing your board is also important. In such edit-mode, you can also move a media by dragging it, extending it over several columns or deleting it by pressing ⌫ :
And if you want to reuse a media, you can find it in the library :
Learn more about the dashboard in this article : Dashboard
Setup your Display
Once you wrote your first project, it is time to connect your computer to a second display, typically a video projector or a big screen.
It is very common to use an HDMI cable to do so. An HDMI port looks like this :
But if you only have USB-C or Thunderbolt ports, you would need an adapter for HDMI, DisplayPort or DVI (depending on the connectivity of your display).
Once the second display is connected with the right cable and/or adapter, it is recognized by your computer and macOS. If ok, your main display and this second display do not show the same image : it is very important so you could show Millumin’s interface on your main display, and the image of your project on the second display.
If it is not the case, disable mirroring from macOS System Preferences :
Now that your second display is correctly setup, go back to Millumin and check that your project is using it. By default, Millumin automatically selects a second display for your project, but you can select another one from the Output popup :
If everything is correctly setup, you will see the image shown in the workspace on your second display, fullscreen.
Learn more about outputs in this article : Outputs
Simple Videomapping
Depending on your situation, you may need to map your video output to the stage set.
First, be sure to place your projector in a stable position, cover your stage set and adjust the focus of your projector so the image looks sharp. Use the test card to help you (activate it from the Output popup or from the Output menubar) :
Now let’s focus on one cube and map some content on its 3 faces :
Play some media on a layer, and adjust its position and scale so it roughly fits the first face of the cube :
Then select the mapping tool (or press M) :
And adjust the four corners of the layer, so it perfectly fits the first face of the cube :
And let’s repeat the process with another layer until we mapped the 3 faces of the cube. During this process, you can use the arrows key, maintain SHIFT to snap corners together or press TAB to select another corner :
Once the mapping accomplished, you may see such a result :
As you can see, the mapping on the top face is looking bad : this is because pixels are stretched there. Indeed, the video projector was not high/close enough to cover the top face correctly.
This may be or may be not a problem depending on where your audience is located. Be sure to think about pixel density before placing your projector for good.
Also, you may have notice that we used a squared media to match the ratio of the cube. As mapping perserves perspective, it is a good practice to have media with a ratio matching the ratio of your projection surface.
Learn more about mapping in this article : Mapping
Slicing
Sometimes, you want to map a whole image onto several surfaces. For example an image of the whole cube :
Consequently, only one media will be used to map the 3 faces of the cubes (instead of having a different media on each face).
To do so, open the slice editor popup from the Window menubar, by clicking the ad hoc button in the properties-view or by pressing CMD+J :
The slice editor will allow you to split one media in several parts, and map these individually.
First, change the shape of your slice by selecting the quad one :
Then adjust the area in the slice editor, so only the first face of cube is selected :
Finally, in the workspace, map your content just as we did before.
And repeat the process with a new slice by clicking the add slice button :
You will end up with your content nicely spread on the 2 faces of your cubes as below :
