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Editing a surface together

Shape the same 3D surface as someone else at the same time, see where they're working, and avoid overwriting each other.

Most things in Moonshine can be edited by one person at a time, protected by a lock. The 3D surface in the Scene tab is the exception. Alignment is often the slowest part of a load-in, and it splits well between people (one takes the left wing, another the right), so everyone can shape the surface at once.

What "shared" means here

There is one surface. Everyone in the project sees the same geometry, and when one of you moves a point, it moves for everyone, live.

Two things stay personal:

  • Your camera. Where you orbit to is yours alone, unless you're following someone.
  • Your selections. Selection sets belong to the selected projector. As long as you and the other person are on different projectors, your named sets and current selection are your own. Moonshine moves each person to a free projector when they sign in, so this is the usual case. You can both have a set called "Left column", and they'll be different sets of points.

What you see of their work

The Scene tab with Point Select on: your selection set on the left of the surface, and Alex's pointer with its name pill and Alex's selected points, in pink, on the right of the same surface

While someone else works on the surface, you see these markers in their color:

Marker Meaning
Camera outline with a name at the tip Where they're looking from
A dot with a name tag on the surface Where their pointer is right now, on the geometry
Small faint dots The points they have selected
A cluster of dots that moves The points they're dragging right now

The dots sit on the surface and move with it, so you see their points move and the geometry follow as they work. You don't need to refresh anything.

Note

Only the first 256 points of a selection are shown to others. If someone has selected two thousand points and you see a couple of hundred dots, their edit still moves every point they selected.

How simultaneous edits resolve

Moonshine resolves edits point by point.

  • Different points at the same time: both edits apply. This is the usual case and needs no coordination.
  • The same point at the same time: the most recent change wins. The surface always ends up the same on every screen, but one of the two pulls is lost.

If two of you drag overlapping areas, one person's work is overwritten a moment later. The tips below help you avoid that.

Staying out of each other's way

  1. Agree who works where. "You take stage left of the doorway, I'll take stage right." Agreeing out loud is the most reliable way to avoid overlaps.
  2. Look before you drag. Their colored dots show where they're working. If their dots are inside the area you're about to grab, wait or work somewhere else.
  3. Mind your falloff. A wide soft radius reaches well beyond the highlighted points. When you're working near someone else, shrink the radius so your edit doesn't spill into their area.
  4. Work in short pulls. Small, frequent drags reach the others sooner and overlap for less time than one long drag across half the surface.
  5. Use follow to show someone a spot. To get a second opinion on a seam, have them follow you instead of describing where to orbit.

Tip

If someone's pointer dot keeps landing in the patch you're working on, you're both on the same few centimeters of surface. Agree who takes it.

Undo with other people on the surface

While you're shaping the surface, undo (Ctrl+Z, or Cmd+Z on a Mac) puts back only the points you moved in your last pull. It doesn't roll back the whole surface or reverse anyone else's edit. Others see the points snap back when you undo, as they saw them move.

If someone has since moved a point that your undo also touches, the most recent change wins, and your undo is the most recent change.

Actions that are not shared

Shaping is shared, but three buttons under Warp Settings in the sidebar change what everyone works from. Agree on who presses them, and when:

Button Effect Protected?
Bake Warp Records the current shape as the one the show machine restores when the project opens Disabled while someone else holds that surface's warp lock
Revert to Source Discards the bake. Appears only once the surface has been baked Disabled while someone else holds that surface's warp lock
Reset Warp Clears all warp changes Not protected. It asks Reset all warp modifications? This cannot be undone. and then resets. The same action on a Warp node in the scene graph doesn't ask first.

Take the most care with Reset Warp: you can't undo it, and other people's work doesn't block it. Tell everyone before you press it. See Baking and reverting for what each button does.