Specimen plates

Lay a tracked subject out like a field-guide plate, with moving technical widgets, insets, titles and connections.

A specimen plate frames your camera, video or image like a page from a field guide: lettered points on the subject, panels of moving graphs and zoomed insets, a title, and small technical widgets that move with the music. It is part of TRACK in the FX Rack, so it follows a face, hands, a body or the picture's outlines.

How do I lay my subject out as a specimen plate?

Open FX Rack in Performer mode, then under LOOKS choose FIELD GUIDE, LAB TERMINAL or LIVE READOUT. FIELD GUIDE lays the flower out as a field-guide plate, with technical widgets in molecular-biology words down the left and a dithered zoom of one point on the right. LAB TERMINAL boxes the face under a quantum-physics readout, with a new set of widgets cutting in on every beat. LIVE READOUT runs an amber plate along the bottom of the frame whose numbers are the music's own readings, names the track and the visualizer in turn, and swaps in a new row of widgets every 16 beats.

FIELD GUIDE: a specimen plate over the flower, its widgets and panels moving with the music

LAB TERMINAL: tracking boxes and a readout that deals new widgets on every beat

LIVE READOUT: the title rotates between the track and the visualizer, and a new row of widgets swaps in every 16 beats

To build your own, add TRACK. Its Specimen controls are arranged in focused groups:

Open SPECIMEN, set it to ON, then press ROLL THE DICE until a composition fits your picture.
Open TITLE & TOPIC, directly below it, to set the title, subtitle, title entrance and topic.
Under WIDGETS, press + to add a widget, the arrows to reorder and × to remove. Choose placement under LAYOUT.
Use WIDGET MOTION for SHOW, SWAP SETS, CYCLE and text animation.
Open INSETS for the zoomed panels and their effects. SPECIMEN STYLE holds color, glow and decorative animation; TARGETS holds target timing and close-up visibility.

Opening an effect or option group folds the previous one by default. Remember last selection is an optional preference for keeping several groups open.

What is on the plate?

Lettered squares mark points down the subject, and leader lines run from them to four panels on the right: the bass, mids and highs as moving line graphs, a zoomed inset, the subject's points as a slowly turning cloud, and the spectrum as a scatter of dots. Each panel has a live label above and coordinates below.

Columns of coordinates roll at the bottom left, an info card carries a barcode drawn from the spectrum, and a ruler down the right edge has a marker that rides the music. Words, insets and braille rows change on staggered beats, so the plate never changes all at once.

The inset fills its panel without stretching and follows one point on the subject. A small canvas bracket marks the exact area it magnifies. When it finds a new target, the bracket tightens over 0.7 seconds as the inset zooms in; its dashed leader stays attached to a bracket corner. The zoom reading follows the current magnification.
INSETS (1 to 4) adds more, each following its own point and taking the cloud's, the scatter's and the graph's panels in turn. ROLL THE DICE always deals one zoom inset, leaving the other panels available for their graphs.
INSET EFFECT (and INSET 2, 3 and 4 EFFECT) runs each inset through ASCII, DITHER, THERMAL, INVERT, DUOTONE, POSTERIZE, GRADIENT MAP or RANDOM, with their own INSET settings (for example INSET THERMAL PALETTE).
BRAILLE FIELD fills the space behind the subject with braille that spells phrases from the chosen TOPIC, at BRAILLE OPACITY (10% to start).

For an animated model visualizer such as Model Pulse, choose FOLLOW: CONTOURS so the plate and inset connections follow detail in the rendered model. DIM PREVIEW dims annotation lines when music stops; zoomed pictures retain their SPECIMEN OPACITY, so dark surface detail stays visible. IN SILENCE defaults to FULL, keeping the annotations at full strength too while music is paused.

How do I keep the lines and insets on one target longer?

Under TARGETS, raise TARGET HOLD (0–32) and choose TARGET HOLD TIMING → SECONDS or BEATS. Each widget follows its chosen point for at least that interval before selecting another. Insets keep their crop and leader line on the same moving point. If a point disappears or the view changes too far to follow it, tracking selects a visible point immediately.

The default is 0, which keeps the original switching behavior. SECONDS counts drawing time; BEATS counts shared beat events and waits while music is paused. For example, choose 4 and BEATS to hold each target across four beats. These controls save with your look and support the rack’s MIDI, keyboard, OSC and modulation controls.

How do I roll a new plate and keep the parts I like?

ROLL THE DICE (the dice button at the top of SPECIMEN, or a MIDI pad or OSC message you learn to it) deals a new composed set of widgets, layout, words, accent, glitch, insets and sometimes connections, often as FIELD LINES, on every press. Anything you like saves as a look.

To keep one widget through a roll, press the padlock beside it in WIDGETS. It stays in its place while the rest are dealt around it.
KEEP PLACEMENT ON ROLL: ON, beside the roll controls, keeps the placement and the SPECIMEN ADVANCED fit through a roll. It does not freeze an orbiting layout.
UNDO ROLL (or a MIDI pad or OSC message learned to it) brings back what you had before the last roll.

How do I set the title and numbers?

Use TITLE & TOPIC for words and title entrances, and SPECIMEN STYLE for number flashes and the plate intro.

TITLE and SUBTITLE set the plate's words. Leave TITLE empty for a random title from TOPIC, dealt every eight beats; typing a title overrides that automatic name. An empty subtitle reads SPECIMEN ID.
TITLE FROM puts the name of the audio playing (AUDIO) or of the visualizer (VISUALIZER) on the plate instead, or ROTATEs through the topic title, the audio and the visualizer every eight beats. ROTATE is the default; a typed TITLE replaces the topic title in that rotation.
TITLE IN brings the title and subtitle in whenever they change: SCRAMBLE (random characters settling into the name), TYPE, FLASH (a fluorescent strike), FADE, GLITCH (red and cyan ghosts that settle), SCAN (a bright line wiping the name in) or MIXED, the default, which chooses an entrance for each change.
NUMBER FLASH makes the number columns flash in every four beats, at FLASH SPEED. It works by ROWS, COLUMNS, LINES (one number at a time), DIAGONAL, RANDOM, STACK (rows dropping in and piling up from the bottom) or FLUORESCENT (each number flickering on like a tube).
INTRO strikes each element on like a fluorescent tube when SPECIMEN appears and after every roll: SEQUENTIAL in reading order, RANDOM, or OFF.

Which widgets can I add?

WIDGETS → UI STATS (on to start) adds small technical widgets, all of them moving. WIDGETS lists which ones show and in what order: browse the available widgets alphabetically in Thumbnails (the default) or List view, then press + on any of the 68 to add it, the arrows to move it and × to remove it. The view choice is remembered in this browser. Selected widgets keep their drawing order. Point at a selected widget in the list and it is outlined on the stage with its name, so you can tell which is which.

To find a widget quickly, type part of its name in Search widgets..., or press a family button (ALL, DIALS & 3D, STRIPS or PANELS & CHARTS) to browse one family. While a filter is on, the number of matches shows under the buttons; press × in the search field (or Escape) to clear it. Filtering never changes which widgets are selected or their order.

The pointer on READOUT RING in the WIDGETS list outlines the readout ring on the stage and labels it — Point at a row in WIDGETS and its widget is outlined and named on the stage

SWAP SETS every 4 beats, TITLE FROM: ROTATE with TITLE IN: SCRAMBLE, and NUMBER FLASH: FLUORESCENT

The widgets include:

Dials and rings: a DATA DIAL reading SYSTEM.STAT with numbers ticking around its rim, a READOUT RING with braille spelling its status, GAUGES whose needles follow the bass, mids and highs, a RADAR, a PROTRACTOR and a GEAR.
Text and data: LETTER LAMPS lighting one per beat, a MODULE LOG typing in ping replies and traceroute hops, a TERMINAL, a BIG NUMBER, a LEVEL METER, a PROGRESS BAR and a CAPSULE.
Shapes in motion: a GLOBE, a NODE GRAPH whose pulses run out on the beat, a HEX CLUSTER, a DOT MATRIX whose dots breathe and scroll a hidden code between beats, BLOBS, SPARKLE, a LISSAJOUS 3D (Scope's 3D curves turning in space, a beam tracing them), a DNA HELIX and a MOLECULE turning in 3D.
Blueprint marks: DIMENSIONS and a SECTION MARK.
Infographics that move with the music: DIVERGING BARS, RING STATS, a LINE CHART, STOCK CANDLES, AREA WAVES, BIG STATS, a TIMELINE, RADIAL BARS, DONUTS, a BAR CHART, a PICTOGRAM of people, a dotted WORLD MAP with pings and links, and a RADAR CHART.
Labels: a HAZARD LABEL, a BIOHAZARD LABEL, a RADIOACTIVE LABEL, a LABEL CARD and a QR CODE. The codes on the label card and the QR code scan to their words.

STOCK CANDLES draws a stock-style chart with candle bodies, high/low wicks and volume bars. Each beat forms a new candle at normal UI SPEED; REACT controls how the music moves the newest candle. Filled candles rise and outlined candles fall. This is a music-reactive graphic, not live market prices. Add it through WIDGETS, or choose STOCK CANDLES under PANELS & CHARTS when adding a UI STATS layer in Studio.

BIOHAZARD LABEL adds the three-part biohazard symbol and UNIVERSAL PRECAUTIONS caption. RADIOACTIVE LABEL uses the radiation trefoil and IONIZING RADIATION caption. Each symbol pulses with the beat while the warning stripes crawl at UI SPEED; REACT controls the pulse. Both use your line and accent colors.

Rings, arcs and lines draw on as a widget appears. Every widget draws in TRACK's line color.

Press the sliders icon beside a selected widget or on its browser card. The card flips over to show that widget's options; DONE or Escape returns to the front. Options apply immediately and save with your FX look.

OPACITY fades that widget. CUSTOM INK exposes its own INK color.
Widgets with words offer TEXT SOURCE. Choose CUSTOM WORDS to enter comma-separated WORDS, or FOLLOW SPECIMEN to use the plate's topic.
Relevant widgets offer motion speed, AUDIO RESPONSE, and a count such as chart bars, rays or surface points. A speed of 0 holds that widget's idle movement; audio response is separate.
DOT MATRIX adds DOT SHAPE and HIDDEN CODE. Warning labels add HEADLINE and CAPTION.
RESET WIDGET resets only this widget's options. It keeps the selected widgets and their order.

How do I keep the whole model visible during a close-up?

With Model Pulse selected, add 3D MODEL OVERVIEW under WIDGETS. It shows the complete animated model independently of the main camera, so an extreme close-up can retain an overview of the subject.

Open its sliders card for MODEL VIEW → FRONT, LEFT, RIGHT, BACK or 360 ROTATION. Rotation exposes ROTATION SPEED (0–3). Toggle SCANNER, CAMERA AREA and HUD GUIDES independently; CAMERA AREA marks the main view on the overview. SURFACE POINTS sets its detail from 256 to 4,096, starting at 2,048.

Choose this widget explicitly: automatic rolls and random widget deals keep using the other widgets. Outside Model Pulse, its card explains which visualizer to select. The model overview is not offered as a standalone Studio UI STATS layer. It is included in Model Pulse video and print exports.

Which widgets combine diagrams and technical labels?

Eight compositions pair moving diagrams with compact readouts and original label text:

Widget	What it draws
FIELD COIL	Curved field loops with a band meter rail
ORBIT SEAL	A rotating wire globe with orbital marks and a serial strip
VECTOR COMPASS	A bearing dial with an audio-responsive needle and tilt marks
PHASE WHEEL	A sixteen-sector beat wheel with a central phase readout
SIGNAL MANIFEST	An inspection card combining status, band ticks and a barcode
BAND LEDGER	Indexed horizontal bands with linked annotations
RELAY CIRCUIT	A circuit of nodes with traveling signal markers
SEQUENCE TRACE	A nested signal itinerary with a moving cursor and band graph

Use TOPIC or YOUR WORDS for the changing text, REACT for audio movement, and UI SPEED for idle travel. The diagrams remain visible in silence and use your line and accent colors. They are decorative music graphics; the compass and manifest are not navigation or physical measurements. You can also add each composition as its own UI STATS layer in Studio.

Which widgets react to HIT?

Eight instrument widgets move with the music and also answer HIT, a trigger you fire from a MIDI pad, an OSC message or a modulation route:

Widget	With the music	On HIT
PLATTER	A turntable whose grooves ripple with the bass (outer) to the treble (inner); the strobe dots flash on the beat and the tonearm walks inward over 64 beats	The platter jolts backward and settles, like a scratch
SEGMENT DECK	A hi-fi display with faint unlit segments: a word, a counter, a segmented spectrum whose caps hold on the beat, and BEAT, BASS and SIGNAL lamps	The word changes to `>>HIT<<` and the HIT and REC lamps light
GRAVITY WELL	A wire funnel that deepens with the bass while rings flow into it; a small mass spirals in over each bar and is captured on the downbeat	A second mass drops in, highlighted in the accent color
ELEMENT CARD	A periodic-table tile and its atom: electrons orbit, the bass lifts the outer electron and it gives off a wavy photon after the beat; the element changes every 16 beats	The outer electron leaves and the symbol takes a plus
HARMONIC STRING	A string between two clamps whose shape mixes six harmonics, one per part of the spectrum, with its nodes, half wavelength and amplitude marked	The string is plucked
POCKET LCD	A pixel screen with signal bars, a counter, bar and beat numbers, a menu whose cursor moves on the beat, and a pixel spectrum	REC blinks; a full-strength hit flashes the screen inverted
SPECTRAL TOPOLOGY	A 3D field of stems whose front row is the live spectrum, with a wave rolling back from it	A ring of raised stems spreads across the field
LIGHT CONE	A spacetime diagram: every beat is a point that falls through the observer on that beat, with smaller points for eighth notes; the cones open as the music gets louder	A ring of light opens along both cones

To fire HIT in the FX Rack, open SPECIMEN STYLE, set WARNING ACCENT → ROUTED TRIGGER, then assign WARNING TRIGGER to a MIDI pad, an OSC address or a modulation source. The same trigger also flashes the warning labels. WARNING STRENGTH scales it. In Studio, the HIT slider appears for these widgets and the warning labels; assign it the same way as other layer sliders. REACT scales the music response and UI SPEED the idle motion (the platter's turn and the counters); at 0 the idle motion holds. The tilt reading, counters and atoms are music graphics rather than measurements, although the element cards show each element's real atomic number, weight and electron shells.

How do I swap the widgets on the beat?

SWAP SETS trades the widgets for a different set every 2, 4, 8 or 16 beats, every few seconds, on HIT or on a bass hit. It starts at every 16 beats in random order; OFF keeps one set. The old widgets flash out one by one, then the new set flashes in.

SWAP ORDER sets the order they flash in: IN ORDER (top to bottom, or left to right in a row), REVERSE, RANDOM or CENTER OUT.
SWAP FROM picks where each new set comes from: ANY WIDGET, the SAME SHAPE (the layout holds still), the SAME FAMILY, or SHUFFLE MINE (your own widgets in a new order).
A widget you lock with its padlock in WIDGETS stays in its place, lit, through every swap.

CYCLE swaps single slots instead of whole sets: EVERY FRAME for one-frame flashes, EACH BEAT, EVERY 4 BEATS, at CYCLE RATE per second (assign it to the music or a knob), or on TRACK's HIT. CYCLE SHARE sets how many slots swap, and CYCLE POOL draws from widgets of the SAME SHAPE, the SAME FAMILY (dials, text blocks or strips) or ANY. ROLL THE DICE sometimes deals a cycle too. UI LAYOUT: RANDOMIZE deals a new set every sixteen beats instead of using the list.

How do I bring widgets in one at a time?

SHOW keeps every widget up (ALWAYS) or brings one in at a time on EACH BEAT, a BASS HIT, TRACK's HIT from a MIDI pad or OSC, or MIDI PADS. With MIDI PADS, each widget waits for its own pad: learn UI STAT 1 to UI STAT 8 under FX · TRACK in MIDI Learn. A widget holds for HOLD seconds, then fades.

TEXT ENTRANCE sets how words arrive: SCRAMBLE (random characters landing on the word), TYPE, CUT or MIXED.
FLICKER moves more of the words onto fast changes, some every frame and some every beat.
GLITCH (off to start) breaks a widget up for a frame or two as it comes in and on every fourth beat: INVERT, CHANNEL SPLIT or MIXED.
REACT sets how far the needles, rings and rays follow the music, and UI SPEED how fast they turn and tick.

Where do the widgets sit?

UI PLACEMENT puts the widgets in the LEFT COLUMN, a TOP ROW or a BOTTOM ROW, spaced evenly and sized so none overlap. ORBIT sets them around the subject and CORNERS at the corners of its box. STUDIO LAYOUT puts them where they sit in a launched scene's Studio layout; turn on STUDIO LAYOUT UNDER THE RACK so the layout's UI STATS widgets get SPECIMEN's leader lines to the subject.

Widgets never cover the title, the insets and panels on the right, the ruler or the number columns. That holds in every placement, after SPECIMEN ADVANCED moves or scales them, and for a widget you drag: one dropped on them moves to the nearest free spot. Widgets also stay off the subject and each other while there is room; around a subject that fills the picture, ORBIT and CORNERS keep them full size and let them sit over its edges. CALLOUTS controls their leaders to the subject, while CONNECTIONS adds links between widgets. SPECIMEN ADVANCED fine-tunes the set with UI X, UI Y and UI SCALE.

To place widgets one by one:

Set DRAG WIDGETS to ON. Each widget shows a dashed outline.
Drag a widget on the picture to move it, or drag its bottom-right corner to make it bigger or smaller.
Turn DRAG WIDGETS off when you are done. The widgets stay where you put them and save with your look.

RESET POSITIONS puts them all back in the automatic layout.

How do I arrange the callout lines around my subject?

Open TRACK → CALLOUTS to shape the leaders from the subject to the plate’s widgets and right-side panels.

ARRANGEMENT chooses FREE, ORDERED, GOLDEN ANGLE, RADIAL FAN or BRANCHING. Try ORDERED for a quieter top-to-bottom grouping, GOLDEN ANGLE for a spiral-like spread, RADIAL FAN for spokes, or BRANCHING for repeated proportions. These arrangements choose among the tracked points; they do not measure a subject’s proportions.
TARGET SPACING spreads the selected targets apart in every arrangement except FREE.
CALLOUT ANCHOR snaps the widget end of each leader to a corner or edge center. AUTO chooses the nearest one; TOP, MIDDLE and BOTTOM use the widget’s left edge. TOP + BOTTOM joins its two left corners to one subject point, forming a triangle. An inset’s crop guide stays attached to its capture bracket.
CALLOUT LINE chooses the line style. FOLLOW PLEXUS shares Plexus’s current style, flow, colors, opacity and weight without switching its nodes on. CALLOUT OPACITY and CALLOUT WEIGHT fine-tune the leaders.
END TIP marks the tracked end with CIRCLE (the default), SQUARE, +, TRIANGLE, DIAMOND or NONE. END TIP SIZE changes its size.

Use TARGETS → TARGET HOLD to keep those subject points for a duration in seconds or beats, and TARGET TRANSITION to ease to their replacements. Callout circles are separate from the square tracking landmarks and crop indicators.

How do I connect the widgets with lines?

CONNECT draws lines from the widgets TO SUBJECT (each to the nearest point on the face, hands or body), BETWEEN WIDGETS, or BOTH. AUTO keeps the dashed leader lines ORBIT, CORNERS and STUDIO LAYOUT draw, and OFF draws none.
LINK SYSTEM joins widgets in a CHAIN, each to its NEAREST, all to the first (HUB) or ALL to each other.
PORTS sets where a line leaves a widget: NEAREST EDGE, CORNERS or CENTER.
LINE STYLE offers straight, curved, snake, lightning, dashed, right-angle ELBOW and FIELD LINES. FOLLOW PLEXUS shares Plexus’s current line appearance. Other styles have their own FLOW, field-color and hue controls. LINE OPACITY, LINE WEIGHT, END TIP and END TIP SIZE shape these connections separately from the callout leaders.
CONNECT REACT lets the mids add and drop links between widgets, and LINE LABELS: DISTANCE prints each line's length.
KEEP CLEAR (on to start) leaves out a line between widgets that would cross another widget or the subject. Widgets and inset panels always stay in front of tracking lines, even with KEEP CLEAR off: a line that passes behind a widget continues through it faint and softened, so you can still follow it to its point without it crossing the widget's drawing. Moving a widget also moves the clear area around it; the source picture remains visible through its transparent parts.

What words and numbers do the widgets show?

TOPIC picks the words: SYSTEM, TIME TRAVEL, QUANTUM PHYSICS, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, ELECTRICITY, PHOTOGRAPHY, ASTRONOMY, FINANCE, CLIMATE, POPULATION, HEALTH or MIXED. Three more topics take your own material or the music's:

CUSTOM uses YOUR WORDS, separated by commas.
YOUR DATA shows your own figures in the charts and logs. Type rows in YOUR DATA as LABEL, VALUE, UNIT, separated by semicolons, and add , MIN, MAX to set how full a row's bar is.
LIVE AUDIO shows the music's own readings: the tempo, the bass, mids and highs, how fast the sound is changing (FLUX), how bright it is, and the loudness in LUFS with the true peak and loudness range. These are the same figures the Loudness tab shows; in a render, the loudness lines show the level instead.

TOPIC: LIVE AUDIO: the widgets show the music's own readings

PALETTE sets the line color and accent together in one press: LAB, FIELD GUIDE, PHOSPHOR, AMBER CRT, BLUEPRINT, INFRARED, CYAN + MAGENTA or LIME. AS SET leaves your colors as they are. ACCENT (off to start) adds a second color, ACCENT COLOR, for what is lit and for the beat's flash.

Can I send the widgets to a laser?

EXPORT ILDA saves the chosen widgets as a four-second looping laser file (specimen-ui-stats.ild) in TRACK's line color, moving at the session tempo, for a laser player or the ILDA Viewer. A laser draws a frame as one moving beam, so each frame is simplified to what it can scan at 30 frames a second: the outlines first, then words large enough to read. Choose two or three widgets for the most detail.

This is a standalone 2D loop with default widget appearance. EXPORT ILDA explains what to change when the selected set includes 3D MODEL OVERVIEW or configured widget options: remove the overview or reset those widgets' options. Use RENDER to preserve the full scene and configured design in video, or choose PRINT in Model Pulse for a still with crisp vector HUD text and lines.

Where do I go next?

Return to the FX Rack overview to choose another task, or open tracking, windows, and masks for TRACK's other looks.

Specimen plates