Lighttoys composer

user manual
v3.8
Content
Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 3
System requirements .............................................................................................................................. 3
Visual Poi driver ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Installation & first run ............................................................................................................................. 6
Lighttoys Composer overview ................................................................................................................. 7
Menu options .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Working with the application ................................................................................................................ 10
Toolbar options ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Visualization (Preview window) ............................................................................................................ 15
Image element tuning ........................................................................................................................... 15
Color element tuning............................................................................................................................. 18
Uploading to the device ........................................................................................................................ 20
Starting shows on devices ..................................................................................................................... 22
Grouped tracks ...................................................................................................................................... 24
FPS limiter.............................................................................................................................................. 24
Useful tips & tricks................................................................................................................................. 25
VisualPoi ZONE ...................................................................................................................................... 28
Staying up to date ................................................................................................................................. 28
Firmware update ................................................................................................................................... 28
FT2 control chip setup ........................................................................................................................... 29
FT2 custom track ................................................................................................................................... 32
OSC control ............................................................................................................................................ 33
Afterword .............................................................................................................................................. 36
List of keyboard shortcuts ..................................................................................................................... 37
Introduction
Lighttoys Composer is a light composing software from Pyroterra Lighttoys, created from the ground
up to help you with the design of light patterns and image sequences for your Visual and FT devices.
With its intuitive interface and powerful feature set, we are convinced it will empower you to create
amazing light performances with your Lighttoys equipment!

This manual will guide you through the installation of the software and explain how to use all the
features of Lighttoys Composer (further abbreviated “LtComposer”).

System requirements
LtComposer is available for both Windows and macOS operating systems. Our team successfully
tested its compatibility with the following OS versions:

• Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit) and higher

• Apple macOS 10.13 High Sierra and higher

LtComposer relies on the use of Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) and its shading language. Please
make sure that your graphics card is running the latest driver from the graphics card manufacturer
with a minimum support of:

• OpenGL 3.3

Compatible devices
LtComposer 3.7 is currently compatible with the following products from Pyroterra Lighttoys:

• Visual Poi V3 and V3 MINI

• Visual Poi V4 MINI, CLASSIC, MAXI, Wand
• Visual Hoop
• all Lighttoys FT & FT2 devices
Visual Poi driver
If you plan to use Visual Poi or Wand with LtComposer on Windows OS, you might need to install a
special driver first. If you are running a modern edition of Windows – version 10 or later, you can skip
this chapter. For Windows 7 or 8 please follow the instructions below:

Connect one Visual device with a USB cable to your PC and turn the device on with a long press of its
power button. You should hear the familiar USB sound.

In Windows, click the  button, type “Device Manager” into the search bar (without the “ ”) and hit
the Enter key. A new window will appear. Your connected device will be listed under the section
“Ports (COM & LPT)”. If you see a line:

• Lighttoys Visual Poi (COM) – you have already the correct driver installed, you can skip the
rest of the instructions
• USB Serial Device (COM) – the driver is not yet installed, please continue below:

Right click on the USB Serial Device and select Update driver:

Device manager with attached Visual device and no driver installed yet

If you cannot find the Visual device listed in the Device Manager window like shown above, try disconnecting and reconnecting the
device to your PC and watch for a new item to appear on the list. The new item on the list is your Visual device.

In the next window, select “Browse my computer for driver software”:

Driver installation process #1

In the new window, select “Browse…” and locate the “driver” folder that comes together with the
LtComposer software package, click OK and Next.

Driver installation process #2

A successful installation of the driver

Visual Poi driver should be successfully installed. You can now use LtComposer to control your Visual
devices and upload sequences into them!
Installation & first run
Installation of the LtComposer software is easy and straightforward, as is shown in the steps below
for both operating systems.

Windows PC
First unzip the provided ZIP archive to your favorite location and then simply double-click the EXE file
to run it.

Starting of LtComposer on Windows

MacOS
First unzip the provided ZIP archive and open the included DMG file in the Finder. In the new
window, drag the LtComposer3 icon into the Applications folder in order to install it.

Installation of LtComposer on Mac

After installation, run LtComposer3 from the Applications folder or from macOS Launchpad. During
the first run, you might be warned that the application is downloaded from the Internet. Click
“Open”.

Security warning during the first run of LtComposer

Lighttoys Composer overview
In this chapter we explain the layout of the LtComposer main window and the different tools
available to you as a digital artist.

Layout
• Menu bar – menu commands for manipulation of projects, media and tracks
• Media library – catalogue of all available images in your currently selected Image Library
folder.
• Preview window – displays a nice visualization of the elements on the tracks. There are 3
modes available, representing different situations – Static, Animated, Vertical.
• Toolbar – contains useful tools for playback, zoom, undo/redo, etc.
• Edit pane – is used to fine tune the parameters of the selected element (image or FT
element).
• Track list – a list of all your tracks ordered vertically. One track represents an image sequence
for a single Lighttoys device.
• Music timeline – shows a music waveform of your opened music file. Supported formats:
MP3 or WAV.
• Status bar – shows whether your Lighttoys devices are connected, status messages and other
useful project information.

Menu bar

Media Preview
library window

Toolbar
Timeline

Edit Track list

pane
Music timeline
Status bar
Lighttoys Composer main window layout
Menu options

File menu
All your media files, tracks, elements and markers (including
LtComposer settings) are stored inside an *.ltp project file. You can
save your project for future use and then open it to continue with
your work.

*.vpp project files from older LtComposer 2 are also supported.

The *.ltp project file is a standard ZIP file and its content can be opened and extracted.
The content can be also edited if needed (only recommended for experienced power
users).

The Import command is useful for adding tracks from different project into your current project (to
reuse some content). The menu command “Export .lsf” is used to export your FT sequences for
uploading with the legacy FT Loader application (no longer recommended).

Media menu
Media menu is used to select the active image library (folder with
images for Visual Poi). Supported image formats are: JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF
or TIFF in sRGB color space, otherwise the application won’t show them
in the media Library.

To add a picture, you can use the Import command or add them
manually in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder.

Whenever you add some pictures externally, press Ctrl/⌘ + R key shortcut to reload the
Image Library, to immediately see the new pictures in the list.

Load Music is used to open either MP3 or WAV music file. After opening, a nice waveform will be
shown in the music timeline – this is helpful for placing your elements in sync with the music.

After opening the music file, it can take several seconds to finish the processing of the file and to show the waveform. This is
indicated by the “buffering…” message shown in the music timeline.

Edit menu
Edit menu is useful for undoing / redoing your last step (if you make a
mistake and want to return to a previous state). You will also find the
standard cut, copy, paste & delete commands in this menu.

Split on cursor is a handy tool that splits all selected elements on track(s) at
the current position of the time cursor.

Instead of just using menu options, you can also use keyboard shortcuts, which are generally
faster to use. If a shortcut is available for a respective menu command, it is described in a gray
color text next to it.
Track menu
Track menu is used to place a new track onto the track list, delete or duplicate an existing track. If
you work with many tracks, it may be useful to click the Collapse View command, which will make
the tracks 50% smaller. Click it again to enlarge it back. Also, if you work with many markers, you can
temporarily hide them with the Hide Markers command.

Track menu also enables you to Merge several simple tracks into a
grouped track. You can also Split an existing grouped track into
several simple tracks.

Difference between simple and grouped track

Devices menu
Devices menu lets you check the status of all devices (FT remotes, Visual Pois, FT
props…) connected either via USB cable or via radio (wireless).

You can check the battery status, uploaded shows, firmware version and perform other service
operations with the devices.

Upload menu
Upload menu opens a new window that facilitates the upload of prepared image
sequences into your devices. This functionality will be described in full detail in later
chapters.

Upload dialog window opened

Working with the application

Using tracks
To start composing your light sequence, you need to add at least one track to your
project. This is done by clicking on the button “New track” on the toolbar. From
the drop-down menu, select the type of Lighttoys device you want to use.

There are 2 basic types of tracks – an Image track (used for Visual Poi, Wand and Hoop sequences)
and an FT track (used for FT light sequences).

Each track is identified by its track header, displayed in the top left corner of each track:

Example of Visual Poi V4 CLASSIC and FT track headers

You can change the type of the track at any time by clicking on the track header and then using the
drop-down menu in the Track edit pane on the left side.

To change the name of the track, double click the track header and edit the name to your liking:

LtComposer makes it easy to prepare light sequences for multiple Lighttoys devices, using the robust
multi-track support. To add more tracks to your project, either click the “New Track” button again or
select the menu bar option Tracks > New or press Ctrl/⌘ + T.

To reorder the tracks, click & drag the track header and move it into a new position:

Reordering of tracks by dragging the track header

Using elements
Elements are the basic building blocks that you use to create your light sequence. There are 2 types
of elements, available by clicking on the blue tab under Media Library window:

• Images – bitmap (pixel) images in your currently opened Image library, used exclusively for
Visual Poi, Wand and Hoop sequences
• Colors – special color blocks, can be used both for FT and Visual device sequences.
Use click & drag action to move elements from Media Library to the timeline. When you release the
mouse button, the start point is set, when you move the mouse horizontally and click again, the end
point of the element is set.

click & drag

resize move

Working with elements on the timeline

You can change the position and length of any element on the timeline, in two ways:

• Using the mouse – first make sure the element is selected (click on it). Then click & drag one
of the vertical edges to change the element duration as needed. By clicking inside the
element and dragging you reposition the whole element.

• From the keyboard – it is possible to input precise time values from the keyboard into the
pink colored time boxes on the toolbar. The format of the input is MINUTES : SECONDS :
HUNDREDTHS OF SECONDS. The first box is used to set the element start time, the second
box is used to set the element duration (length):

“Element start” and “Element duration” time boxes (input fields)

Multiple elements can be selected either with the Ctrl/⌘ + click or Shift + click command or by
drawing the selection rectangle by click & drag action of the mouse. The selected elements have a
white outline around them.
 Selection of multiple elements using the area select

If you have a very dense track and you need to start the selection rectangle inside an existing element, hold the Alt key modifier
and then click & drag with your mouse.

You can easily duplicate existing elements to speed up the creation of your light sequences. To
duplicate the selected elements(s), use Ctrl/⌘ + C to copy (or Ctrl/⌘ + X to cut), followed by Ctrl/⌘
+ V to paste, or Ctrl/⌘ + D to duplicate element(s). You can alternatively also hold the Ctrl/⌘ key
and then click & drag the selected element(s) with your mouse.

copy & paste Ctrl + click & drag

Various methods of element(s) duplication

Toolbar options
The toolbar of LtComposer hosts several useful tools for composition and playback control. It is
described below:

LtComposer3 toolbar

You can control the playback of your show sequence by pressing the buttons or spacebar
/ enter key. To move the vertical time cursor, either drag its blue diamond, click onto the timeline or
enter a precise value into the blue time box.

The Run Show button is used to start the selected show 1-4 on all FT devices paired to the
attached FT remote controller, in sync with LtComposer and the music track.

The Brightness button controls the light intensity of the show playback, there are 6 levels to
choose from. This feature is currently available for FT2 and also FT1 devices after a firmware update.
You can zoom in/out by pressing the buttons , - and = keys, or by holding Ctrl/⌘ key while
rotating the mouse wheel. To undo / redo the last operation, use the buttons , Ctrl/⌘ + Z /
Ctrl/⌘ + Y keys or Edit menu.

It’s important to define the show start and end points. This is done by stretching the pink stripe
above the track, either by dragging the pink triangles or by editing the time boxes in the status bar:

start end

Beginning and end of the image sequence

For most situations the left pink triangle will be set to the beginning of the song, but if you plan to start your show from a specific
music cue or sound by ear, you want to move the triangle to this point.

“Sequence repeat” option will make the image sequence loop

indefinitely. This is useful for demo purposes or when you
want to repeat an interesting pattern for the whole show.

When you check the “Realtime” option, elements on all tracks start being displayed proportionally to
the level of timeline zoom. This is helpful for checking number of repetitions of a picture, or if the
pattern is properly aligned to the beats of the music.

Example of Realtime turned OFF, the graphics show like the original

Example of Realtime turned ON, the graphics are stretched according to the level of zoom
Loading music
For most projects, you want to load a music file as a basis for your timing cues. Supported audio
formats are: WAV, MP3.

To load a music file, either click on the icon, or use the menu option Media > Load Music… The
software then starts analyzing the file, displaying message “buffering…” in the music timeline area.
This operation can take several seconds, depending on the track length.

After the loading is finished, a nice waveform with peaks will be displayed:

Markers
Markers are auxiliary vertical lines, that help with placing and alignment of elements on tracks. The
element edge or time cursor will automatically snap to the marker when close to each other.

Example of several markers placed on the timeline

To place a new marker at the current cursor position, press the “M” shortcut key. It is possible to
place markers even when the playback is running.

Example of 4 selected markers

To move the markers, select them by Ctrl/⌘ + click or Shift + click on the yellow diamond heads.
The selection will turn light yellow. Now you can drag the selection along the timeline or hit Delete
key to remove it completely.

To toggle the visibility of markers, press the “H” shortcut key. This is useful for very dense projects with lots of markers, when you
want to get a clearer view of your tracks.
Visualization (Preview window)
Lighttoys Composer offers several unique visualization modes that simulate how your image patterns
will look in real life. When you click an element on the timeline, a preview appears in the preview
window:

modes of visualization: dynamic (stop), dynamic (play), vertical

By clicking on one of the 3 buttons in the top right corner, you can switch between 3 modes of
visualization:

• Dynamic – shows the device in rotation, can be toggled between

playing / stopped state
• Static – shows the device in a static state
• Vertical – shows all devices at once as vertical lines

Dynamic mode is best for simulating how the audience will experience the Visual Poi effect, Static mode for fade and ramp effects,
when the prop is not spun. Vertical mode is useful for checking light effects of all props interacting together.

The speed of the Dynamic preview is set to 140 RPM (rotations per minute) for Visual
Pois and 90 RPM for Visual Hoops. You can edit this value in the bottom right corner.

Image element tuning

Each image element you put onto the timeline can be fine-tuned for optimal display to the audience
in the Edit pane. There are 3 submenus which let you alter the different aspects of your image.

Sizing submenu
The sizing submenu lets you stretch and space the image, so it fits
your desired artistic intent and is synchronized with the tempo of
the music. To size the image, you use two sliders located in the
Edit pane: “Scale” and “Spacing”. Scale is used to stretch or
shorten the image. Spacing is used to set the distance (empty
space) between repetitions of the same image.

You can reset the sliders by double-clicking on the diamonds. You can also input
precise values into the text boxes. Many text boxes can accept larger range of
values, e.g. Scale: 0.01 - 10000.
“Repeats” shows the total number of repetitions of the selected image. When you edit this value
from a keyboard, the app automatically adjusts the Scale value accordingly.

The effect of scale and spacing parameters on the image visualization

To see the effect of Scaling and Spacing on all image elements on the timeline, it is recommend to have the “Realtime” option on
the toolbar activated.

The reset button appears in the header whenever any parameter was changed from default.
Click it to quickly reset all parameters in the submenu back to default.

When moving images from one type of track to another, the number of
repeats changes because of the resolution difference. To prevent that, click
on the padlock icon (or press L key) to active the “Lock Sizing” option.

Also activate this option when you want to have the number of Repeats always fixed when resizing
the image on the track horizontally (changing its duration).

To quickly lock the image to useful Repeat values in the range 1-9, use the shortcut Ctrl/⌘ + 1-9 on
your keyboard:

Example of a triangle image with Repeats locked to 1,2,4 and 8

Lock sizing plays images at the same pixel speed across all types of Visual devices, but at the cost of some aspect ratio
deformations. This option is best used for pulsing graphics (that must be all in sync), for text and logos it is best to leave this option
turned off.

“Repeat V” slider repeats (duplicates) the picture vertically. This is useful for
creating interesting new patterns from the original image or round devices
like Visual hoop.
When you click on the triangle icon, “Keep original resolution” option is activated. This maps the
source picture 1:1 (pixel-for-pixel) to the track resolution without any rescaling and sets the “Repeat
V” value accordingly.

This option is useful when you are working with very small pictures, pixel art or repeating patterns (< 50 px) and you want to retain
the sharpness of the original pixels. Without it, rescaling occurs and the pixels might appear blurred.

Transformations submenu
The transformations submenu lets you perform cool
transformations – flipping & mirroring effects and spacing of top
and bottom edge.

Flip and Mirror can often lead to a more interesting picture than
the original, so feel free to experiment with these checkboxes,
together with the “Repeat V” slider!

“Flip H” option is useful for making sure the text logo is displayed the right way to
the audience when spun, without the need to change the more comfortable
spinning direction for the performer.

Examples of different combinations of Flip and Mirror options

Spacing sliders are useful for cutting unwanted parts of the top and bottom part of an image, or on
the contrary, for adding empty space (extend the background), which can be used for artistic
purposes or to improve readability of texts or logos (by adding positive bottom spacing).

Examples of different combinations of Spacing Top & Bottom sliders

Adjustments submenu
The adjustments submenu lets you change brightness,
contrast, saturation and hue (color) of the picture. This is
useful in situations, when the source picture is of poor
quality or when you want to enhance or boost the picture
artistically.

The Recolor slider is a special extension of the Hue shift

slider. Turn it on by clicking on the “off” button.

Unlike the Hue shift slider, which shifts all colors in the
picture by the same amount, the Recolor slider converts all
original colors into shades of just a single hue.

This is useful in situations where you want to stick to a

specific color theme with your pictures.

Both the Hue shift and Recolor sliders can be combined together. Hue shift
slider changes the contrast of different colors in the original picture, making
them either pop out or suppressed after recoloring. Try it and experiment!

Color change example – original image (left), hue shift (center) and recolor (right)

Example of various adjustments performed on the original image

Color element tuning

Each color element placed from the “Colors” library can be also tuned to suit your preference. When
you click on a color element, the Edit pane changes to show the color edit tools.

Since each type of color element has slightly different settings and options available, we will explain
the Edit pane options with the Gradient element selected.
 Gradient element has two editable colors, accessible by clicking
on the color circles at the top. The larger circle is the one
currently selected (press “X” key to switch selection).

The arrow icon is used to switch the orientation of the

gradient element.

Below lies the color wheel. By clicking on the wheel, you edit the
selected color value, by clicking inside the triangle you change its
saturation and lightness.

Try holding the Shift key to limit the wheel to 12 basic colors (primary + secondary +
tertiary colors).

For precise input, you can also use the RGB input fields at the bottom.

Each time you set a new color it will be added to the recently used color list on the right. You can
recall the previous colors at any time by simply clicking onto the color rectangles in the list.
Uploading to the device
Now having learned the basics, you are ready to upload your first light sequence into your Lighttoys
props and enjoy it in real life! Depending on the type of track, the upload process differs, which we
will show below.

Visual & FT2 devices

Connect your Visual device (Visual Poi, Wand, Hoop) or FT2 device to the computer with a micro-USB
cable and power it on with a long press of the main button.

The device should be successfully detected and the status bar should display a message: Connected
devices: X , where X represents the number of all known attached devices.

If the device is not detected by LtComposer, make sure you have the Visual Poi driver installed (on Windows 7), try a different USB
cable and make sure the device is really turned ON.

Now click on the “Upload” button in the Menu bar or press the “u” key. An upload dialog will appear:

Upload dialog window

First select the track which you want to upload in the first column, then select the device which you
want to upload to in the second column.

When you click on a device in the second column, the corresponding device will blink momentarily in a white color (ping). This is
useful to differentiate one device from another.

At the right side of the upload dialog, you will see the list of available memory banks and if they are
occupied with an image sequence or not.

Click on one of the 4 memory banks on the right. Your sequence will be converted into the Visual Poi
format and then uploaded, showing a nice progress bar in the upload dialog and also on the device
LEDs.
 First 16 characters of the track name are used as the memory bank name, stored in the device together with the image sequence.
You can rename the track, by double-clicking on its name in the left column.

To upload the same track to multiple devices at once, first Ctrl/⌘ or Shift select the devices in the
second column. You can also start a new upload to a different device, even when other uploads are
still ongoing!

Concurrent upload to several devices at once

Once all your image sequences are uploaded, you can close the upload dialog, disconnect the Visual
Pois from PC and enjoy the sequences in real life (using the main power button or paired FT remote
controller).

Managing the banks

You can erase unneeded banks (to save memory space or to prevent user error) by clicking on the
“Erase” button. The bank will be displayed in the list as “Empty”.

To completely format the Visual device memory, press the “Erase all” button. All image sequences will be removed and the file
system rebuilt. This is useful, should the image data get corrupted.

To see how much space each memory bank currently occupies, check the bottom right corner of the
upload dialog with the colored line segments. The device type and firmware version are also
displayed here, e.g. Vpoi V4 MAXI v.0.36:

Memory utilization bar graph

FT devices
Connect your FT remote controller to the computer with a micro-USB cable and power it on with a
long press of the main red button, the blue indicator LED should shine steadily. Make sure at least
one FT device is paired to that remote.

If the FT remote is not detected by LtComposer, make sure you have the mcp2200 driver installed (on Windows), try a different
USB cable and make sure the FT remote is really turned ON (pulsing blue LED indicates charging, but the remote is still turned off).

The FT remote should be successfully detected and the status bar should display a message:
Connected devices: X , where X represents the number of all known attached devices.
Now click on the “Upload” button in the Menu bar or press the “u” key. Again, the upload dialog will
appear.

All FT devices (in a radio range) paired to all currently attached FT remotes via USB cable will be
shown in the device list. Devices which are switched off will display a message “N/A”, devices which
are currently not in range will be shown in a darker color:

Example of in range, out of range, turned off FT device

The rest of the steps is the same as with the Visual device – click on the memory bank on the right
side to upload the FT sequence to the FT device, use “Erase” button to delete it.

The device type and current firmware are displayed in the bottom right corner of the upload dialog,
i.e. Zebra Poi 180813.

You can rename the FT device to your liking by double-clicking on the device name in the second column. This is useful when you
are dealing with many devices of the same type.

Starting shows on devices

LtComposer offers a unique preview feature, which enables you to start light sequences on your
Visual, FT & FT2 devices, perfectly in sync with the timeline and music track.

This is very useful in two distinct scenarios:

• you want to check how your colors and light effects look in real life during the creation of
your light sequence,
• you want to run your light show and music perfectly synchronized from a single digital device
(your computer) in front of the audience.

Diagram of how the run show on devices works

1) First, make sure that all your Lighttoys devices are turned on and paired to a single FT
remote, and this remote is also turned on and attached to the PC via USB cable.
2) Upload the show to all the devices you want to use in the live preview, to the same memory
bank number 1-4
3) Select the same Bank number in the drop-down menu of the Run show button.
4) Press the Run show button (or press “R”).
5) Enjoy!

Run show button and bank number selection

When the Run show is activated, you can even drag the cursor with your mouse or click different parts of the timeline, and the
replay will react and update accordingly.
Grouped tracks
Grouped tracks are special composite tracks, consisting of 2 or more smaller subtracks. Grouped
tracks are especially useful when your LED prop has several distinct physical segments (e.g. juggling
club head & handle), opening new possibilities with your light programming:

Difference between simple and grouped track

Examples of native grouped tracks in LtComposer:

• FT A/B, Club FT2, Buugeng FT2 (full)

Each simple track can be converted to a group track. First

select the track header (click on the track name field) and
then press the “Add subtrack” button in the Edit pane left.

For image tracks, you can also change the vertical

resolution of each subtrack in the input boxes. Press the
“Remove” button to remove the lastly added subtrack.

FPS limiter
Each track has a special selectable option called “FPS limit”. To activate it, first click on the track
header (track name field) and enable the checkbox in the Edit pane on the left:

Once activated, all image data in the track will be recalculated to

lower rendering speed once uploaded. This dramatically reduces
show size & upload speed.

It is recommended to enable the FPS limiter for all static or slowly moving Visual / FT2 devices: stage
lights, costumes, juggling sticks, etc. with negligible quality impact.

FPS limiter effect on the image data

Use the slider to fine tune the FPS limiter to your liking – lower values improves the upload speeds and memory footprint even
more, but the quality is reduced. Experiment and find the best setting for your scenario!
Useful tips & tricks

Expansion / cloning of elements

To quickly fill gaps between neighbor elements, double-click on the element’s vertical edge that you
want to expand to its neighbor. To clone the element vertically over all empty (sub)tracks, double-
click on the element’s horizontal edge.

double-click
double-click

Expanding elements by double-clicking on the edge

To create cascading effects that evolve diagonally over multiple tracks, click & drag the horizontal
edge of the selected element(s) and start moving it up, down or diagonally. Release the mouse
button once you are satisfied with the effect.

click & drag

Vertical / diagonal cloning of elements using the edge click & drag

For animated elements, you might want to stretch the pattern over several (sub)tracks. This is done
by holding the Shift key and clicking & dragging the element’s horizontal edge.

Shift +
click & drag

Stretching of elements over multiple (sub)tracks using the Shift key modifier
Proportional resize
Sometimes, parts of your show might be either too long or short for the music beat and you may
want to stretch all elements in the selection proportionally. This is done easily by holding the Shift
key and clicking & dragging the vertical edge of the selection.

Shift +
click & drag

Proportional resize of elements using the Shift key modifier

Razor tool
Razor (split) tool may come handy if you need to split existing elements into two parts, at a precise
point on the track line. The tool is activated with the “C” key at the current time cursor position.

press “C”

Razor tool in action

If you want to perform the split action only on some tracks, preselect the elements that should be split, position the time cursor
and press the “C” key. Only the elements in the selection will be split.

Magic corners
To speed up the work with color elements, LtComposer offers a unique productivity feature – magic
corners. With magic corners, you can quickly create new color elements right on the timeline,
without the need to go to Colors library.

Example of several FT elements created using magic corners

When you hover the mouse over the top corner of a color element, the cursor changes. Click & drag
to the left/right and a new logical color element will be created, based on the type and color of the
original element and the adjacent area.
Filtered Views
For larger projects with many tracks, the Views functionality will come
handy. Filtered Views enable you to create several different subsets of the
original tracks and then quickly switch between them.

This removes visual clutter and unnecessary vertical scrolling through the
track list. This functionality is accessed from the status bar.

Click on the “View: All” button, then select “+ New View”. A new window will appear:

Create View window

Give this new View a descriptive name, select which tracks will be included in the View and click
“Create View”.

The new View will become available in the menu list, easily activated by a
mouse click or a numerical shortcut 0-9. When a filtered View is active,
the Status bar text turns blue color, showing the current View name, and
the number of tracks the View contains / number of all tracks, for example
View: Visual Pois (2/5).

The current active View can be edited, removed or duplicated by selecting

the menu option “Edit Active View”.

You can reorder the tracks in each View differently and that ordering will be remembered. You can use this feature to better
visualize the props on stage using the Vertical preview option.
VisualPoi ZONE
Pyroterra Lighttoys has created a community-based web portal, where you can share and download
hundreds of pictures for your Visual Poi, Wand and Hoop. All for free! Don’t miss it and check it out:
http://www.visualpoi.zone/

Looking for pictures for you Halloween party? Searching for Christmas patterns? Or just curious what others
have recently uploaded? Head over to VisualPoi ZONE!

Staying up to date
To enjoy the latest and greatest version of Lighttoys Composer from Pyroterra Lighttoys, please
check the latest official release available from our support page:
https://www.lighttoys.cz/support/#downloads

If you would like to follow the bleeding-edge development, please also join our Lighttoys Composer
user group.

Firmware update
Starting with LtComposer version 3.4, the software can perform a complete firmware update of your
Lighttoys devices. It also detects if the firmware running in the connected Lighttoys device is out of
date (needing update), indicated in the status bar in yellow color:

To learn how to perform the firmware update process, please check our PDF manual “Firmware
update guide” available from our support page:
https://www.lighttoys.cz/support/#manuals
FT2 control chip setup
FT2 control chip from Pyroterra Lighttoys is a versatile chip designed to control various digital pixel
LED strips available on the market, opening an exciting world of your own custom LED props,
costumes & decorations!

For detailed instructions on how to mechanically assemble & electrically connect the FT2 chip, please
follow our FT2 chip manual first. Once finished, continue here with the configuration setup.

FT2 device configurator

First, make sure the FT2 chip is attached to your computer with a USB cable and turned on. The chip
should be detected in the status bar of LtComposer with a green text:

Then click on the

“Devices” menu at the
top, select the FT2 chip in
the list and click on the
“Device Config” button:

A new FT2 device configurator window will appear, where you perform your initial setup of the FT2
chip:

FT2 device configurator window

We will now describe all the functions in greater detail.

You can you give the FT2 chip your default factory name in the
Device name field.

Use the LED strip drop-down menu to select the specific digital
LED strip type you are using. The available options are listed
below:

• APA102 (compatible variants: SK9822, APA107,

HD107s)
• WS2812B (compatible variants: SK6812)
• WS2812Binv (swapped R and G color channels)
• WS2813 (compatible variants: SK6822)

AB type lets you select the preferred spatial

configuration of the A and B segments.

The AB split point defines the proportions

between A and B segments (the position of the
dividing point).

AB type and AB split point don’t affect the programmed sequences and are not related to (sub)tracks with elements in any way.
They only come into action when using the solid colors and dynamic modes on the FT remote controller.

The Brightness setting enables you to lower the maximum global brightness of the FT2 chip. This is
useful, when you are running very long strips and experiencing color fading or when the battery is
too weak to take the full shine.

When the number of total configured LEDs exceeds 150, the FT2 device configurator starts to slowly limit the Brightness value, in
line with the maximum current rating of the FT2 chip. You can override this limit, but you risk shutting off of the chip during use.

Run time shows the total aggregate time the LED prop was running (turned on) since the
manufacture. The Product date is the date when LED props was first initiated (manufactured).

LED strip mapping

The right side of the configurator window is used to map the image data to the physical pixels (LEDs)
on the LED strip.

The top Resolution line represents one

vertical column from the source image
data (rotated 90° clockwise).

The line dynamically changes based on your numerical input in the digital output fields below.

Use the Start # and End # fields to

define how the source image data will
be distributed across the physical LED
strip.

The simplest example with only Digital output 1 active is shown above.
 We use the programmer’s style of counting LEDs, starting from 0 instead of 1. So in the above example with a LED strip consisting
of 60 LEDs, the first LED starts at #0 and ends at #59.

To quickly switch the flow (direction) of the data, click on the double-arrow icon:

Here follows a more complex example,

using both the Digital output 1 and 2. In
real life, this configuration could
represent e.g. a digital LED staff with
the chip mounted in the handle:

Hover your mouse cursor over any of the rainbow lines, to see a nice dynamic effect of the data flowing from the lowest to the
highest pixel!

In some situations, you might need to map the source image data multiple times over the full digital
LED strip length, e.g. a digital pixel pole with several parallel strips around the pole doing the same
effect in unison.

In that case select the “Advanced” checkbox on the left:

Now you can create multi-mapping

using the small + and – buttons on the
right. Here we show the digital pixel
pole example with 4 LED strips (30 pixel
each) doing the same effect, physically
connected in a zig-zag style:

Uploading the config

Once you are finished with the LED strip mapping, it is time to upload your configuration to the FT2
chip! For that purpose, there are 4 buttons at the bottom of the window:

”Apply to device” – click to upload the configuration to the FT2 chip.

Once finished, the Status bar will say “Configuration loaded”. Unplug
the FT2 chip from the USB, turn if OFF and ON. It is ready to be used.

“Load from device” – use this button to load the current config stored in the FT2 chip.

“Load from file” – reads your previously stored configuration from the computer.

“Save to file” – saves your FT2 chip configuration to your computer for future use.
FT2 custom track
Before you can start programming shows for your newly configured FT2 chip,
you also need to spend few moments setting up the FT2 custom track for it.

FT2 custom track is a special flexible track, letting you set many parameters of
the track behavior & preview type to your liking, in tune with your planned FT2
chip use.

To add a new FT2 track to your track list, click on the New track button on the
toolbar and select FT2 custom.

First, click on the orange color track header (track name field) to
activate the track options in the left edit pane:

In the Number of LEDs field, fill in the same number as the

Resolution of the FT2 chip you have set up before.

Use “Add subtrack” button to add extra subtrack(s) if needed.

Set up default duration of each pixel (rendering speed) using the

Scale 1 field. The absolute minimum for FT2 chip is 1000 μs (1
ms), for longer LED strips this number might need to be
increased substantially.

The goal of the Scale 1 setting is to find a value, which makes pixels approximately
square in shape during spinning. For that purpose a checkerboard image is best.
For fast spinning devices, we recommend value 1500-3000 μs, for slowly spinning or
static devices about 5000 μs.

FPS limit is activated by default for FT2 custom tracks, since the
majority of DIY FT2 props will be static. Change if needed.

The Preview setting lets you setup the behavior of the preview window. Fill in the LED density of
your digital LED strip in LEDs/meter, the First LED distance from the center of rotation and the
Preview type (Visual Poi, Buugeng or Hoop).

For a complete setting, also do not forget to set the RPM (rotations per minute)
in the Preview window, according to the speed of rotation of your LED prop:

Example of a properly set up Scale 1 (pixels are roughly square in the preview)
OSC control
Open Sound Control (OSC) is a modern protocol for interconnecting various multimedia devices using
the UDP/TCP data packets. OSC is quickly gaining ground and becoming the successor to the MIDI
standard.

LtComposer supports the OSC protocol in the “listen mode”, expecting other devices in the “send
mode” to send OSC messages that the LtComposer then interprets.

For maximum compatibility with external devices and applications, LtComposer accepts two methods
of OSC message formatting:

1. OSC address + OSC arguments – standard method of input, where address and arguments
are transferred separately. Arguments are written down in this document as
<data_type:value>, for example: <integer32:6> <float32:0.6279> <string:Hello>

2. OSC address inlining – both the address and argument values are chained together using just
the address space of the OSC message.

OSC Message examples – method #1:

• /lighttoys/ping – sends PING to all FT devices

• /lighttoys/brightness <int32:6> – sets brightness to the 6th level (maximum)
• /lighttoys/start <int32:1> – starts show #1 from time 0:00
• /lighttoys/stop – stops the running show
• /lighttoys/start <int32:2><int32:2000><int32:5000><int32:1> – starts show #2 from time
2000 milliseconds with 5 second countdown timer and the lowest brightness.

OSC Message examples – method #2:

• /lighttoys/ping – sends PING to all FT devices

• /lighttoys/brightness/6 – sets brightness to the 6th level (maximum)
• /lighttoys/start/1 – starts show #1 from time 0:00
• /lighttoys/stop – stops the running show
• /lighttoys/start/2/time/2000/delay/5000/brightness/1 – starts show #2 from time 2000
milliseconds with 5 second countdown timer and the lowest brightness.

The ordering of OSC arguments must be followed for method #1, the optional arguments can be omitted from the right side to
the left. When using method #2, the order of optional arguments (e.g. /time/2000, /delay/5000, /brightness/1) is irrelevant and
can be swapped.
Currently, LtComposer supports the following OSC commands. The compulsory part of the command
is denoted in a bold text, the rest is optional. Parentheses e.g. (1-4), denote the accepted range of
the value:

OSC command OSC command

Description
(method #1 - arguments) (method #2 – address inline)
Sends out the PING command
/lighttoys/ping /lighttoys/ping
to all paired FT devices.
Turns off the LED output of all
/lighttoys/blackout /lighttoys/blackout
paired FT devices.
Brings all paired FT devices to
/lighttoys/standby /lighttoys/standby
the standby mode.
/lighttoys/start
/lighttoys/start/(1-4)
<int32:show(1-4)> Starts the show on all paired FT
/time/(int32)
<int32:time> units. Time and Delay
/delay/(int32)
<int32:delay> arguments are in milliseconds.
/brightness/(1-6)
<int32:brightness>
Sends out a command to stop
/lighttoys/stop /lighttoys/stop
any running show.
/lighttoys/brightness Sets the brightness level 1-6 on
/lighttoys/brightness/(1-6)
<int32:level(1-6)> all paired FT units.

Consult your other controlling software application how to implement the OSC functionality and
configure it per the table above.

To enable the OSC protocol in LtComposer and start using it, first go to the menu Tools and select
Use OSC. Active listening to OSC messages will be shown in the status bar:

To configure the OSC local port number and to debug OSC messages & check them for possible
errors, open the OSC Console in the same Tools menu:

OSC console with several valid and one invalid command received
TouchOSC app
Our team has prepared a simple OSC control interface for the popular TouchOSC software, which can
be run on mobile phones, tablets or desktops across various platforms. TouchOSC is a paid software,
but we are convinced that the low entry cost is well worth the powerful features.

Lighttoys OSC control v1.0 interface

You can download the Lighttoys OSC control v1.0 from here. Please refer to the official TouchOSC
manual how to setup the connection. In the Connections window, please make sure the UDP
protocol is selected, IP address of the host (the computer running LtComposer) is correctly filled in,
and that you are using the same Port number in TouchOSC and LtComposer OSC console:

Example of configured OSC connection in TouchOSC

After proper setup, when you run the OSC interface using the play button at the top ribbon, clicking
on the buttons should register in LtComposer OSC console. The TouchOSC interface is then ready to
use.
Afterword

“Team Pyroterra Lighttoys wishes you a lot of fun and amazing acts
created with the Lighttoys Composer!”

www.lighttoys.cz
List of keyboard shortcuts

Windows

General:

F1 show help
ctrl + n new project
ctrl + o open project
ctrl + s save project
ctrl + shift + s save project as
ctrl + i import project
ctrl + r refresh image library

Composition:

ctrl + t add new track

delete (backspace) delete element(s)
ctrl + delete (backspace) delete track(s)
ctrl + click add to selection
shift + click range selection
ctrl + a select all elements
ctrl + z undo last step
ctrl + y redo last step
ctrl + shift + z redo last step (secondary)
ctrl + c copy element(s)
ctrl + v paste element(s)
ctrl + x cut element(s)
ctrl + d duplicate element(s)
ctrl + mouse drag duplicate element(s)

Timeline:

spacebar pause / play

enter pause / play (with cursor return)
s / shift + spacebar stop / play from top

arrows select element

ctrl + arrows move element
ctrl + shift + arrows resize element
alt + left/right precisely move the cursor

page + up/down scroll timeline

home / end go to beginning / end
mouse wheel scroll timeline to the left / right
shift + mouse wheel scroll timeline vertically

ctrl/alt + mouse wheel, alt + up/down zoom in / out

m add marker to the cursor position

h hide / show markers
v collapse / expand tracks
c split elements on time cursor
x toggle edited color
shift + x switch element colors
r run on devices
l toggle lock sizing
k toggle keep original size
0-9 select active view
ctrl + 1-9 set number of repeats to 1-9x

Preview:

p cycle preview styles

\ pause / play dynamic preview

Upload:

u open upload dialog

1-4 upload to bank 1-4
up / down select track

Color picker:

shift + mouse drag limit hue to primary + secondary + tertiary colors of the RYB
color model only

MacOS

General:

F1 show help
⌘+n new project
⌘+o open project
⌘+s save project
⌘ + shift + s save project as
⌘+i import project
⌘+r refresh image library

Composition:

⌘+t add new track

delete (backspace) delete element(s)
⌘ + delete (backspace) delete track(s)
⌘ + click add to selection
shift + click range selection
⌘+a select all elements
⌘+z undo last step
⌘+y redo last step
⌘ + shift + z redo last step (secondary)
⌘+c copy element(s)
⌘+v paste element(s)
⌘+x cut element(s)
⌘+d duplicate element(s)
⌘ + mouse drag duplicate element(s)

Timeline:

spacebar pause / play

enter pause / play (with cursor return)
s / shift + spacebar stop / play from top

arrows select element

⌘ + arrows move element
⌘ + shift + arrows resize element
alt + left/right precisely move the cursor

page + up/down scroll timeline

home / end go to beginning / end
mouse wheel scroll timeline to the left / right
shift + mouse wheel scroll timeline vertically

⌘/alt + mouse wheel, alt + up/down zoom in / out

m add marker to the cursor position

h hide / show markers
v collapse / expand tracks
c split elements on time cursor
x toggle edited color
shift + x switch element colors
r run on devices
l toggle lock sizing
k toggle keep original size
0-9 select active view
⌘ + 1-9 set number of repeats to 1-9x

Preview:

p cycle preview styles

\ stop / play dynamic preview

Upload:

u open upload dialog

1-4 upload to bank 1-4
up / down select track

Color picker:

shift + mouse drag limit hue to primary + secondary + tertiary colors of the RYB
color model only