Dramatic Help Guide / User’s Manual

Dramatic is a script-based tool that you can use to manage your lights and audio while giving professional presentations.

Glossary:

Light - 1 Hue or LIFX light, or a set of Nanoleaf panels connected to a single controller.

Light Zone - A group of lights acting together when presenting effects, usually defined by location within the room. The app uses "Presenter", "Audience", and "Background" as hypothetical locations. The app has a fixed limit of 3 Light Zones.

Home Color - Each Light Zone includes a default color that the lights will tend to transition to while idle. For a daytime presentation this might be an incandescent white. For a dark show this is might be off (black), or any other color. Your use case will determine the best color preference for each zone. Tap the Home icon anywhere in the app to quickly stop the current effects and return all lights to default.

Script - A list of Acts and Scenes. Add a new Script from the main Scripts screen. Tap the Edit button, then tap '+' to add a new Script.

Scene - A set of light and audio instructions, performed in an instant. Each Scene includes 3 Scene Zones, one for each Light Zone. Scenes may also include metadata like titles, text descriptions, images, and transition instructions.

Scene Zone - Light and audio instructions for one Light Zone. Light instructions can include color transitions, Effects, or Audiovisuals.

Act - A visual header to help you organize your Scenes in the app. Acts and Scenes can be added from the '+' button within each Script view.

Effect - A lighting effect that may occur over a fixed duration, or as a loop.

Audiovisual - An Effect paired with a sound. Dramatic has over 150 professionally-designed Audiovisuals included with the app.

Light Organization - A custom set of data including all connected lights, each assigned to one of 3 Light Zones (or inactive), Home Colors, Zone Labels, and Icons.

Default Light Organization - A Light Organization that will apply to all Scenes unless otherwise overridden. Light Organization Overrides are available for Scenes, Acts, and Scripts (in that priority order).

Getting Started:

1. Download the Dramatic Light Presentations app from the App Store (iOS only).

2. Connect each of your lighting hardware devices. You can add new devices in Settings.

   • Philips Hue: After connecting to your Hue Bridge, select a Hue Entertainment area or individual lights to add them to the available light pool.

   • Nanoleaf: Follow the pairing process, then adjust Device Brightness if desired.

   • LIFX lights connect automatically. Tap the LIFX option in settings to enable individual lights.

3. Configure your Default Light Organization in Settings:

   • Tap Configure Light Organizations -> Edit -> Tap the default group or create a new one.

   • By default, all new lights are added to the Inactive Zone. Inactive lights will display their Home Color, but are otherwise ignored by the app.

   • Drag lights from the Inactive Zone to one of the other 3 Light Zones to arrange your lights for your use case.

   • Tap on the Color Picker for each Light Zone to set its Home Color.

   • Tap the Labels button to edit the default zone icons and labels used throughout the app (optional).

   • Tap Rename to apply a title that you can use to reference this Light Organization in the app.

   • Light Zones may be empty. Empty zones can be hidden from view in Script Settings.

4. Your lights are ready to use. Read the rest of this guide to learn more about the app, or check out the Sample Scripts for examples, included with a fresh install.

Script Views:

Dramatic includes a variety of customizable views and operation modes to design, edit, and present your scripts:

• List view - This is the default mode for viewing and editing scripts. List mode supports all editing functions (add, modify, move, duplicate, delete).

• Grid view - A good option if you're creating a sound board. Grid mode supports most editing functions (not move), and performing scenes. Cell size and metadata are configurable.

• Full-screen view - An option suitable for storybooks or screen mirroring. This is a view-only mode; scenes cannot be edited. Metadata and gestures are configurable.

Operation Modes:

Tap the Mode Toggle at the top-right of the main Script View to change the current Operation Mode. Available modes:

• Edit Mode (pencil & paper):

  • Tap a Scene to edit its properties.

  • Tap an Act header to edit its label.

  • Tap "+" to add a new Scene or Act header.

  • Long-press on a Scene to open the copy/paste/delete context menu.

  • Long-press then drag to rearrange Acts and Scenes.

  • Swipe left on a Scene to delete it.

• Perform Mode (microphone):

  • Tap an inactive Scene to start it. Tap an active Scene to stop it.

  • Scenes may run concurrently, as long as instructions don't conflict.

  • Last tapped Scene takes precedence and will stop any currently running audio/effects on that Zone.

Scene Editing:

Tap a Scene Zone to edit its properties. Users may edit Scenes with as much or as little content as desired, including Title, Display Text, and Images, which will be applied as a cell background in List and Grid views, or displayed during Full-screen view.

• Auto-transition options include:

  • Transition to the Next Scene in the list

  • Transition to a specific Scene

• Transitions may occur:

  • After a specific duration (hours, minutes, seconds)

  • After the last audio in the Scene finishes playing

    • Note: Looping audio will prevent this feature from operating

Scene Zone Editing:

Users may select an audio effect from the library of sound effects, select a track from Apple Music, or import your own .mp3 and .wav files by placing them in the Dramatic folder in the Files app. Users may also select to loop an audio track, disable audio on this zone, or select No Change to skip audio for this Scene Zone. Users are presented with following light effect options:

• Color - Lights in the group will transition to the selected color. The transition time is configurable.

• Effect - Lights in the group will perform a visual effect. Some effects are limited to a single color, while others allow for multiple palette editing; the app will always display the correct editor for your selected effect.

• Audiovisual (AV) - Lights in the group will perform an effect with audio and visual components. Selecting an AV will overwrite the current audio selection.

• No light action - When this Scene is activated it will not change any other running light effects on this Light Zone. If you'd like to stop a running effect/AV, use the Color transition option set to the Home color.

Lighting Hardware Details / Limitations:

Dramatic makes it easy to combine and control multiple lighting hardware from different manufacturers.  The app recognizes two types of lighting: Entertainment Lights and Basic Lights. Due to the demanding nature of live visuals, Audiovisuals and Effects are only supported on Entertainment Lights. Basic Lights are limited to simple color and brightness transitions only. The app supports the following:

• Entertainment Lights:

  • Nanoleaf Light Panels

    • Lines

    • Shapes (hexes, large & small triangles)

    • Elements (wood hexes)

    • Canvas (squares)

    • Aurora (older triangles)

  • Philips Hue v2 Bridge with Entertainment Area

    • Select an Entertainment Area from your Bridge connection in Settings to enable advanced effects.

    • Entertainment Areas are limited to 10 lights by the manufacturer. Only 1 Entertainment Area can be controlled by a bridge at once, but the app allows you to combine bridges to control multiple Entertainment Areas. (If you experience performance issues when using multiple bridges, try changing each bridge to a different Zigbee channel - you can set this in the Hue app bridge settings.)

• Basic Lights:

  • LIFX

  • Philips Hue (v1 or v2 bridge)

    • Selecting Individual Lights will limit all lights on the bridge to simple transitions. This option may be desirable for people wanting to control more than 10 lights or who don't want to block the bridge during operation.

Lights may be grouped in any combination. The following limitations apply:

• Basic Lights stagger their transitions due to bulb network limitations.

• If Basic Lights are grouped with Entertainment Lights performing an Audiovisual or Effect, the Basic Lights will perform a simple color transition using the color and duration as defined by the Scene Zone properties. The Scene Zone Editor will display a notification when this is active.

• LED strips (Hue and LIFX) operate in single-color mode.

• Individual lights within a zone cannot be independently controlled. For Audiovisuals and Effects lights/panels are chosen at random.

Cloud Services:

Simply create or sign-in to your account to enable cloud services. These operations happen automatically in the background so that you always stay current:

• Backup purchases - Your purchases and subscriptions are available from any iOS device. Just log in with your Dramatic account on the new device to unlock the app.

• Content backup and sync - Access your scripts from any device. Multiple users can access the same account and work on scripts together.

Hardware Remotes:

You can control the app using any Bluetooth game controller or media remote - if it can pair with your iOS device it will probably work with the app. Dramatic should detect your controller automatically but if it doesn't you can manually start the discovery process by tapping the 'add' icon in settings. Media remotes are paired in iOS Settings and are not displayed in the app.

Each of the buttons on your remote can be assigned a command. There are commands for changing scenes, increasing or decreasing brightness, navigating full-screen mode, and setting the lights to the home colors. Controller bindings can be configured in app settings.

Bluetooth remotes may disconnect if left idle for too long to save battery life. Depending on the remote, this timeout may be as little as a few minutes. If your remote disconnects during your presentation, simply restart it and it should reconnect to the app.

When deciding on a hardware remote to use, it's important to note these crucial differences:

Game controllers:

• Only works when the screen is on and the app is active

• No volume control (iOS limitation)

• Full, extended-gamepad capabilities

• Recommended devices:

• 8BitDo Zero 2 - A tiny controller that can fit in the palm of your hand

• Most modern gaming controllers that support Bluetooth, including Xbox, PS4, and Nintendo Switch

Disclaimer: If you purchase something through a link on this page the developer will receive a small portion of the sale as commission. The developer makes very little money doing this, but hey, every bit helps, right?