Relackout

3D Stage Preview: program without the rig

Place your patched fixtures on a stage plan, give them height and angle, then open the Stage Visualizer to program scenes and cues in 3D before load-in.

The only thing a 3D preview needs is to know where your lights are. Using the nine Demo Venue fixtures you already patched, this guide places them on a stage plan, gives them height and angle, and opens Relackout’s own Stage Visualizer so you can program scenes and cues in 3D before a single light is hung.

Open Stage Layout and read the plan

  1. Click the Fixture Control card on the home screen.

    Home screen, Fixture Control card not yet clicked

  2. Switch to the Stage Layout tab.

    Stage Layout canvas open, nine fixtures lined up unpositioned in the top left, drag hint visible at the top

This plan looks down on the stage from above, but the 3D view looks at the stage from the bottom edge — so put the front of the stage at the bottom of the plan and the back at the top. Each grid square is one meter.

Place the fixtures on the stage plan

Drag the fixtures into place. The measurements don’t need to be exact, but the closer they match your venue’s plan, the more realistic the preview gets. Whenever you move a fixture, the ones that still don’t have a position reflow to the top left, so the next one to place is always right there.

  1. Drag the four front PARs (Front 1–4) one by one onto the bottom row of the canvas, about five grid squares apart.

    Four front PARs lined up along the bottom row of the canvas, five fixtures still unpositioned in the top left

  2. Drag the two back lights (Back 1–2) to the top of the canvas, at the back of the stage.

    Two back lights placed at the top of the canvas, front PARs along the bottom

  3. Drag the two moving heads (Spot Left and Spot Right) to either side of the canvas.

    Spot Left and Spot Right placed on either side of the canvas

  4. Drag the strobe to the middle of the canvas.

    All nine fixtures placed on the stage plan, none left unpositioned in the top left

Set height and angle

Now for the third dimension.

  1. Click Front 1 on the canvas.

    Front 1 selected on the canvas, side panel open with Yaw, Pitch and Height fields all at 0

  2. Type 160 into Height (Z), and -35 into Pitch (°).

    Side panel with Height 160 and Pitch minus 35 filled in for Front 1

  3. Click Back 1 on the canvas; type 180 into Yaw (°), 160 into Height (Z), and -45 into Pitch (°).

    Back 1 selected, panel filled with Yaw 180, Height 160 and Pitch minus 45; the direction arrow on the canvas now points toward the audience

  4. Click the strobe on the canvas; type 160 into Height (Z).

    Strobe selected, panel with Height 160, Yaw and Pitch left at their defaults

  5. Click Save at the top right.

    Save button now dimmed, no unsaved changes left

Height (Z) uses the same scale as the plan: forty units is one meter, so 160 puts a fixture four meters up, on the truss. Pitch (°) is how far the light tilts down or up — a negative value tilts it down. With Yaw (°) at zero, a light faces the top of the plan, toward the stage; the back lights get 180 so they face the audience instead. Apply the same two values from step 2 to the other three front PARs (Front 2–4), and the same three values from step 3 to Back 2. The spots stay on the stage floor, so their orientation fields are left untouched.

Open the Stage Visualizer

  1. Click Visualize in the top bar.

    Stage Visualizer opened in its own window, 3D view, fixture bodies in place, lights still dark

  2. In the visualizer window, click 2D view at the top right.

    Visualizer in 2D top-down view, fixtures in the positions set earlier

  3. Click 3D view to go back.

    Visualizer back in 3D view

The buttons next to the view toggle switch the Grid and the Labels on and off, and Full screen makes the window full screen. If a second display is connected, the Monitor list sends the window there, so it can stay open while you program.

Program it, see it instantly in 3D

  1. Switch back to the Controls tab; in the Patched devices list, check Front 1–4 and Back 1–2.

    Device list with Front 1 through 4 and Back 1 and 2 checked, the spots and strobe left unchecked

  2. In Intensity, click 100%; in Color, click the Magenta swatch.

    Intensity at full and the Magenta color swatch selected in the controls panel
    Visualizer window showing the six PARs lit magenta

  3. Uncheck the six PARs; check the two spots (Spot Left and Spot Right); click 100% in Intensity.

    Only the two spots checked in the device list, intensity set to full
    Visualizer window showing both moving head beams turned on

  4. In Position (Pan / Tilt), switch to Joystick; drag the knob toward the upper right, then back to the center.

    Joystick knob moved toward the upper right in the Position box
    Visualizer window showing the moving head beams aimed to match the joystick position

You can see whether a beam lands on the stage or in the audience’s eyes before load-in. When you like a look, save it as a scene, just like on the scenes and fades page.

Play a cue in 3D

  1. Click Clear in the top bar.

    Clear button in the top bar, releasing the values set by hand

  2. Click Back, then click the Cue Stacks card on the home screen.

    Cue Stacks screen open, step loops list visible

  3. Click Dance Chase in the Step Loops list.

    Dance Chase selected in the step loops list

  4. Click GO.

    Cue stack status showing Playing after GO
    Visualizer window with Dance Chase playing, the PARs lit in the current step's color

Ready-made cues play in the same window too — you can tune the speed, order and colors here, before a single light is hung. See the cue lists page for building your own.

Load-in day: just fine-tuning

So what happens when you actually get to the venue? The scenes and cues you built at home run just the same, as long as the patch addresses match the real lights. Load-in day is left for fine-tuning — fixing an angle here, adjusting a color there — not for rebuilding the show from scratch.

What’s next

To sum up: place your fixtures on the plan, give them height and angle, save, open the visualizer, and program your show without the rig. Next, design your own touch control surface on the Mixer Designer page.

Updated: October 8, 2026

Related guides