Basic concepts
SenSei application
The SenSei application, built with Unreal Engine, handles all visual generation, mixing and manipulation. To launch the SenSei application, add the SenSei Control + Main Camera plug-in to your Live Set. The plug-in will launch the application automatically.
The application runs in the background in a separate instance from Ableton Live, so all video processing is done outside Ableton Live to maximise performance and reliability. The SenSei application is controlled by the SenSei plug-ins in Ableton Live.
Use the SenSei Control + Main Camera plug-in to adjust the render quality and anti-aliasing quality. These settings allow you to balance visual fidelity and system performance. It significantly affects how elements such as lighting, shadows, transparency, reflections, motion blur, and depth of field are rendered and it also has a major impact on GPU performance.
By default, the render quality is set to Medium. In this mode the output is adaptive, meaning that Unreal Engine will automatically reduce or even disable certain expensive effects (like Depth of Field, motion blur, bloom, lens effects, shadow mapping) depending on the window size. In any case, setting SenSei’s output window to full-screen will give the best results, because the engine then stops applying certain adaptive/performance-saving shortcuts, so the scene looks higher-quality and more cinematic, including better Depth of Field.
In the Window section, you can control the output window: set its size and position and make it stay always on top of other windows.
Note for Mac users: macOS Sonoma introduced Game Mode, which automatically activates when the system detects a game is running in full screen (SenSei is classified as a game). Game Mode reallocates system resources to improve performance and responsiveness by giving the foreground “game” higher CPU priority, deprioritizing background tasks, and optimizing GPU scheduling and latency. However, this also means that Ableton Live, EboSuite, and other real-time audio or video applications may receive fewer system resources and perform noticeably worse. To prevent this, disable Game Mode via the macOS main menu.
Video Input
Most SenSei plug-ins can have video applied to them. You can stream video directly from EboSuite sources (e.g. eSession, eISF, eVideoIn, eSimpler) or from any other video application that supports Spout/Syphon (e.g. Resolume, VDMX, TouchDesigner) using the Video Route plug-in. To do this, just add an EboSuite source plug-in or the Video Route plug-in in front of a SenSei plug-in that supports video.
In the Video Canvas folder you’ll find a dedicated collection of plug-ins for displaying video. The most basic plug-in is the Plane plug-in. A special category are the 3DFX plug-ins, these are planes that can be distorted and manipulated in many creative ways. SenSei is also equipped with 60 2DFX, to manipulate the incoming video texture (from EboSuite or external video applications) before it is used in the SenSei plug-in.
The plug-ins
SenSei includes a wide range of plug-ins, here are a few key ones:
Cameras
The Camera is the most important plug-in, as it determines how you view and navigate your scenes. You can add as many cameras as you like and switch between them using the Activate button. Use the Overview Map to get a top-level view of all elements in the scene. Take advantage of Depth-of-Field, Scene Light, and the built-in Post-Processing effects to shape your visuals. Switching cameras will also change these settings, allowing you to create very different and unique scenes or views.
Lights
Use lights to illuminate your scene. Without them, nothing will be visible. You’ll find three types of lights in the Lights folder. Another way to light your scene is through the Scene Light in the Camera plug-ins, which interacts with the Sky plug-in.
If the Sky plug-in is included in your Live set, it controls the sun’s direction and brightness to create a realistic day/night cycle. The Sky plug-in also adds an option for Sky Light, which provides gentle, ambient illumination across the entire scene, even in darker areas where no direct light reaches, making everything look more natural.
Video Canvasses
Video Canvasses are a dedicated collection of plug-ins for displaying video, found in the Video Canvas folder. You can stream video directly from EboSuite sources or from any other video application that supports Spout/Syphon using the Video Route plug-in. The most basic plug-in is the Plane plug-in.
Post-Processing
Post-processing effects are visual effects applied to the final rendered image in real time. They’re used to enhance the overall look. You’ll find them in the camera plug-ins. Creative post-processing effects (data-moshing and feedback), you’ll find in the Post-Process folder.
Mesh Loader
Use the Mesh Loader plug-in to add any mesh into your scene.
Text
Use the Text plug-in to add 3D text to your scene. Take advantage of the built-in 3D FX for extra creative control.
Assets
SenSei includes many plug-ins for building scenes. Combine them to create your own unique compositions.
Presets
Seamlessly add scenes to your Live set by dragging grouped plug-ins (including cameras, lights, and more) into your set. Use the Macro Mapper plug-in to automatically map controls to your MIDI controller, Envelope Follower, automation, and other sources.
Plug-in interface
Each plug-in has a Transform section to adjust position, rotation, and scale. The position of a plug-in in the 3D scene is determined by its origin and the position offset from that origin. You cannot automate or map the origin parameter, but the offset parameters are fully automatable and mappable.
Each plug-in has an opacity slider to fade it in and out. Note that the fading may appear dithered, this is necessary for Unreal to render it in the main render thread with correct depth sorting. In some plug-ins, you can control this by switching between Masked and Translucent modes. Translucent provides smoother fades and better alpha, but can produce artifacts when depth sorting is critical (e.g. for shadows, intersections, or depth-of-field).
Each plug-in can either move to the camera’s LookAt point or bring the camera’s LookAt to make it visible in the camera view. Moving to the LookAt changes the plug-in’s position in the scene, while bringing the LookAt moves the LookAt point itself, adjusting the camera’s viewing direction. Use the Focus in Overview button to enlarge the plug-in’s icon within the camera’s Overview Map.
Most plug-ins support video input.
