simpleVIS is a lightweight real-time lighting visualiser. Import an MVR, take live levels over Art-Net, sACN, USB DMX or CITP, fly a camera around the rig, and see your programming in volumetric haze.
It is for seeing what a rig will do before you are in the room with it — checking looks and coverage against a real patch, without a visualiser licence and without modelling the venue by hand.
Before you rely on this: the import chain, DMX evaluation and protocol parsers are tested against real files and real packet layouts. The full 119-fixture MA Demostage renders at 60–70 fps, and the receive path is verified over real sockets.
No real console and no DMX interface has driven it yet — every packet so far has come from a test that wrote it, or from the built-in demo source. CITP has had first contact with a real peer (Capture 2026), but Capture is a DMX consumer like simpleVIS, so levels and patch from a real console remain unverified.
This project was built with AI assistance.
Two builds, and why
Art-Net and sACN are UDP, and a browser cannot receive UDP — there is no flag, polyfill or workaround. So simpleVIS ships two targets from one codebase:
| Build | What it is | Live input |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop (Tauri v2) | the real tool | Art-Net, sACN, USB DMX, CITP |
| Hosted | offline previz and plot viewer in a tab | none — built-in demo look |
The shared code is identical; only the transport differs. The hosted build hides what it cannot do rather than offering controls that fail.
Importing a rig
MVR (.mvr), including the GDTF fixture definitions embedded inside it — geometry tree, DMX
modes, beam angles, colour mixing.
Import only. simpleVIS never writes MVR. Nothing you do here can damage the file the desk gave you.
Pixel-mapped fixtures work properly. An MVR whose LED wall declares four template channels
across a hundred GeometryReferences is resolved to its real 300-channel footprint, one DMX
slot per pixel — rather than being taken at face value as four channels.
Live input
| Protocol | What’s covered |
|---|---|
| sACN (E1.31) | Priority arbitration, CID source identity, multicast group joins per patched universe |
| Art-Net 4 | ArtDmx, and ArtPoll replies so consoles list simpleVIS as a node |
| USB DMX | Enttec DMX USB Pro only. An Open DMX USB has no receive path and cannot be an input at all |
| CITP | Peer discovery (PINF), levels (SDMX), and fixture patch from the console (FPTC) |
Two sources per universe are merged HTP or LTP with a 4-second timeout. A third is refused and reported rather than silently dropped — so a mystery universe is a message, not a guess.
What CITP does and doesn’t cover
Three layers are implemented:
- PINF — peer discovery.
- SDMX — levels. It does carry them, as channel blocks; a common misconception says otherwise.
- FPTC — fixture patch, so the patch can follow the desk without re-importing an MVR.
SXSr is honoured, so a console that says “take my levels from Art-Net” is not also counted as
a CITP source and double-merged.
MSEX and CAEX — thumbnails and viewport streaming — are not implemented. simpleVIS will not stream its viewport back to the desk.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| No live input options in the browser | Correct — a browser cannot receive UDP. Use the desktop build. |
| USB DMX interface not receiving | An Open DMX USB has no receive path at all. Only the Enttec DMX USB Pro can be an input. |
| A universe won’t take a third source | By design — two sources merge, a third is refused and reported. |
| Levels stopped after a source disappeared | The merge has a 4-second timeout before it drops a stale source. |
| LED wall renders as four channels, not per pixel | Shouldn’t happen — GeometryReference expansion is tested. Worth reporting with the MVR. |
| Console doesn’t list simpleVIS as a node | Art-Net discovery is ArtPoll/ArtPollReply; check the desk is polling the right subnet. |
| CITP peer found but no levels | The peer may be a consumer rather than a console — a visualiser sends neither levels nor patch. |
| Desk can’t see simpleVIS’s viewport | Not implemented. MSEX/CAEX viewport streaming is out of scope for now. |
| Fixture renders but doesn’t move | Check the DMX mode the MVR declared matches what the desk is patched to — a mode is a template, not a footprint. |