Regia

The simulated stage and the tutorial

The simulated stage is a 3D theatre inside Regia: stage floor, wings, curtain, a screen on the backdrop, trusses with fixtures, a house with seats and speakers. It behaves like a real theatre: fixtures light up with the DMX commands Regia sends, the projector throws its output's picture on the screen, the speaker LEDs move with the sound. Press GO and see what would happen on stage, even with no gear connected.

Opening it

  • The Stage workspace, in the top bar next to Timeline, shows the stage full size, with the settings panel on the right.
  • The Stage button at the top right (or Ctrl+0) opens it in a window that stays on top of any workspace, show mode included. Drag the window by its header, resize it from the top-left corner and make it full size with the arrows button.

Moving around the room

  • Drag to orbit around the stage, right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom.
  • The views at the top take you straight to the Stalls (what the audience sees), the Balcony, From above (the trusses and where each fixture hangs) and From the side, from the wings.
  • The # button shows or hides the fixture numbers, the same as on the plot and the desk.

Connecting your gear to the stage

The stage only receives what is connected, like a real theatre.

  • Lights. Each DMX universe goes out through an interface. In Lights › DMX outputs choose Simulated stage to send the universe to the fake fixtures. If a universe goes nowhere, the stage says so with the “Lights not connected” warning and the Connect to the stage button. With a real interface (USB, Art-Net, sACN) the stage still shows what you send.
  • Projectors. Each video output is a projector. In the Video workspace the On the simulated stage switch turns it on in the stage; if you open the output's real window, the stage shows the same picture that goes to the real projector.
  • Speakers. Sound comes out of your computer's speakers; on the fake speakers the LEDs follow the level.

Fixtures

The fake fixtures read the DMX bytes at their address and behave like real ones: intensity, colour (colour wheels and CMY too), pan and tilt of moving heads (which turn at a limited speed), zoom, iris, strobe and shutter. Halogen lamps warm up in colour as you dim them. If the address in the patch is wrong, the fake fixture does not respond: just like in a theatre.

Click a fixture to see its name, type, address and how bright it is. In the panel on the right:

  • Height: how high it hangs, in metres. The higher it is, the wider its pool on the floor.
  • Aim: fixed fixtures look at a point on the floor. Move it by dragging the blue ring; Automatic sets it back. Moving heads aim with pan and tilt, from the programmer or your looks.
  • Hold to light it: the fixture goes to full white while you hold.
  • Open in the programmer: takes you to the Lights workspace with the fixture already picked.

With Move fixtures on you drag a fixture along its truss: it moves on the plot too. The plot and the stage are the same thing seen two ways: the backdrop at the top, the audience and the house trusses below the line.

Haze and work light

  • Haze: how much fog is in the air. More haze makes beams more visible. If your patch has a smoke machine or a hazer and you switch it on from a look, the haze builds up slowly and then fades, as in a theatre.
  • Work light: the white light of the get-in, to see the stage with all lights off. Turn it down to see your looks as the audience will.

Projectors

Click the projector (or pick it in the panel) to set it up:

  • Placement: In the house projects on the backdrop screen; Above the stage projects on the floor.
  • Side offset, Height, Distance from screen and Image width, in metres.
  • Tilted towards the screen: a straight projector shifts its lens and the picture stays a rectangle even when it hangs high up. Tilted, like a projector set down at an angle, the picture becomes a trapezoid. It is the best way to practise mapping: in the Video workspace drag the 4 corners until the picture on stage is straight again.
  • Straighten puts the projector back as it was.

Several outputs share the screen from left to right, as in the projector assistant.

The interactive tutorial

The interactive tutorial teaches you Regia by doing. You open it:

  • at the end of the first-time overview, with Open the interactive tutorial;
  • from the first page of the guide;
  • from the logo menu › Interactive tutorial;
  • from the show list.

Pick your kind of show: Theatre, Dance recital, Concert, Conference and event, Video mapping, Museum and installation. Each path has its own sections (the basics, connections, the stage, lights, sound, video, phone, show time and the ones typical of your show) and works on its own practice show: your real shows stay untouched.

At each step Regia lights up the spot on screen it is talking about and explains what it does, with technical words translated in What it means. In Your turn steps you do the action and the step ticks itself off. You can go Back, Skip a step or a whole section, and leave with the ×. Each finished section gets a green tick in the path; repeat it whenever you like. Start over resets the practice show to new.