Quick Start

Quick Start

The five-minute version of "what happens when you open Understudy." We'll go from a fresh install to a working three-mark blocking, with one performer hitting marks and firing cues.

What you'll need

• An iPhone running iOS 17 or later (any model from the iPhone 12 onward works great).
• Optional but ideal: a second iPhone, or an Apple Vision Pro for the director side.
• About 2 metres of clear floor in front of you.
• The app, installed from TestFlight once we ship a public build — for now, build from source.

You do not need a script handy, headphones, or any QLab setup. Ten plays come bundled.

---

1. First launch — pick a role

When you launch on iPhone for the first time, you'll see the role picker:

What brings you to the stage? 🎤 Perform — Walk the blocking. See cues as you arrive. ✏️ Author — Build the blocking. Drop marks where you stand. 🎟️ Audience — Take the tour. The show finds you.

For this tutorial, pick Author. (You can switch later from Settings.)

The next screen will ask permission to use the camera. Allow it. The live camera feed appears behind a soft dark gradient — you're now standing in your living room with theatrical lighting.

If this is your first time in Author mode, a welcome card walks you through three ideas in 20 seconds. Read it, dismiss it.

---

2. Drop three marks

Point your phone at the floor. Wherever you tap on screen, a glowing cyan disc appears — that's a mark, a blocking position.

Walk a couple of steps and tap again. Walk again, tap again. You should now have three marks roughly in a triangle on your floor.

What just happened: Each tap raycast through the camera into the real world and dropped a mark at the closest horizontal surface. Marks have a sequence number (1, 2, 3) and a 0.6 m radius — close enough to the centre and you've "arrived."

Don't worry if the marks aren't perfectly placed. You can drag them in the editor, or just drop more.

---

3. Add a line to the first mark

Tap the first mark (the one labelled "Mark 1"). The mark editor sheet slides up.

You'll see sections for:

• Mark — name, radius, position.
• Lines — the dialogue this mark fires.
• Sound, Light, Beat — non-dialogue cues.
• All Cues — the running order, with a ▷ preview button on each.

In the Lines section, tap the purple Pick from script… button.

The Script Browser opens with ten plays bundled — Hamlet, Macbeth, Three Sisters, Salomé, Ghosts, the rest. Pick Hamlet, then in the scene menu pick Act I, Scene I.

Tap any line — say "Who's there?" — and a green checkmark appears. That line is now attached to your mark.

Tap Save to close the editor.

---

4. Switch to Perform and walk to your mark

Tap the gear icon → Settings → Mode → Perform. Tap Done.

The screen reorganises itself. You're now looking at the live AR camera feed with:

• A guidance ring in the centre that shrinks as you approach the next mark.
• Text at the bottom showing distance: "1.4 m to Mark 1".

Walk towards Mark 1.

When you cross into the disc, three things happen at once:

1. Haptic pulse. Your phone buzzes once.
2. Light cue. The screen flashes (no light cue authored, so this is muted, but try adding a .light cue to see it).
3. Line displays. "Who's there?" appears in big serif type at the top of the screen.

You just authored a one-line blocking and walked it. That's the core loop.

---

5. Drop a whole scene

The fastest way to feel Understudy's range: switch back to Author mode, tap any mark to open it, hit Pick from script…, and at the top of any scene tap Drop scene.

Understudy auto-lays out a zig-zag path of marks — one beat per speaker turn, max 4 lines per beat — with every line pre-populated. A 20-beat scene becomes a walkable blocking in under a second.

Switch to Perform, walk the path, and the show plays itself.

---

Where to next

• Director's Guide — running rehearsal in Vision Pro with multiple performers. → Director-Guide
• Author's Guide — finer control over cue editing and the script library. → Author-Guide
• Camera & Film Mode — same app, lens specs and viewfinder for film pre-viz. → Camera-and-Film-Mode
• Connecting Multiple Devices — if you have two iPhones, or want to bring an Android in. → Multiple-Devices
• Troubleshooting — when something doesn't work. → Troubleshooting

---

Tip: Every mode has its own teleprompter button (📜 / quote icon at the top). Open it for a karaoke-style scrolling script that follows the performer's voice or auto-scrolls at theatrical pace. See Performer-Guide § Teleprompter.