Anytime. Anywhere. Minimum friction.
FlexViz is browser-based lighting previsualization, presentation and collaboration software for concerts, events and theatre. It opens the MVR and GDTF files your planning tools already write, shows the scene as a 2D lighting plot and a lit 3D view, and takes live Art-Net or sACN from your console. Your team edits the same scene together, and a client or venue tech watches in their own browser. It sits next to Vectorworks, Capture and your desk.
The rig is clear in your head. It is not clear to anyone else.
You send the plan as a PDF at 14:00. The rig changes at 15:00.
On the 16:00 call you show the scene itself, as it is at 16:00.
The customer asks what it will actually look like in the room.
They join from a link and see the lit scene in their own browser, following your camera or looking around on their own.
The person you need an answer from does not own the software it was drawn in.
They need a browser and the link you send them. That is all.
None of that is a drawing problem, and drawing faster will not fix it. That handoff is what FlexViz is for, which is why half an hour with one of your own projects is worth more before the next show than after it.
Between the tools you use and the people you have to explain them to.
Drawing the rig is usually not the hard part. Getting it in front of a client, a venue, a colleague on a laptop or a supplier who doesn't own the software is.
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01 · UPSTREAM
Your existing plan
Rig data drawn in Vectorworks or a comparable tool, fixture profiles from GDTF libraries, patch from the console.
MVR GDTF -
02 · FLEXVIZ
Open, check, visualise
Import the scene in a browser tab. Work in the 2D plan or the lit 3D view, patch fixtures, set positions and gel, and watch live levels while the desk runs.
Art-Net sACN -
03 · DOWNSTREAM
Everyone else
Walk a client or a venue through the scene live, keep versions of what was agreed, and take patch lists back into your own paperwork.
Present Versions
Three parts you can use today.
A 2D lighting plot, in metres and degrees.
Top, front, left and right plan views on a metric grid, with fixture symbols, truss and the selected fixture's universe, DMX address, position and rotation in a properties panel. The same scene switches to the lit 3D view without a re-import.
- Patch tree grouped by fixture type, with per-fixture universe and address.
- Fixture library with conventionals, LED, strobes, moving heads, scanners and blinders.
- Every fixture draws the direction it points, so the plan shows aim as well as position.
A 3D stage lighting visualizer that follows the desk.
Shaded, wireframe and rendered views of the scene, with beams, working light and haze you can pull down to judge a look. Intensity and colour follow incoming DMX when the Bridge is connected, so you can check a state before it goes in front of an audience.
A small app next to the desk.
The Bridge runs on a machine on your lighting network, finds Art-Net nodes and forwards Art-Net or sACN to your browser tab over a websocket. It is a single portable binary for Windows and Linux, with macOS planned. Start it when you need live data. Quit it when you don't.
Also a planning tool you can take anywhere.
FlexViz doesn't need a file from somewhere else. Start an empty scene, hang fixtures from the library, patch them and light them, all in a browser tab on the laptop you already carry: on the beach, in the bunk of a nightliner, wherever the next project gets your time. It is a simpler planner than a full CAD package, and it needs a current browser and a connection, nightliner Wi-Fi permitting.
Start from an empty scene
Fixtures from the library or GDTF-Share, truss and positions in metres, patch with universe and address.
Same project, any machine
The scene saves to your account as you work, so what you started in the office opens on the laptop in the van.
Ready when the client is
When it is time to show the plan, it is already where you can present it.
The best view your hardware can handle.
FlexViz picks the rendering path the device can actually run. Current GPUs get WebGPU with raymarched beams; older or unsupported ones fall back to WebGL2 with simpler beams. The fallback runs on the integrated graphics of a 2013 laptop.
Built on the formats the industry already agreed on.
MVR and GDTF bring the rig in with its geometry, patch and fixture data, so nothing gets redrawn. Patch lists and images go out today; MVR export is in progress.
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MVR
Scenes travel
Import a rig with its geometry and patch instead of redrawing it. Export back to MVR, for the tool that owns the drawing, is in progress.
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GDTF
Real fixture data
Fixture profiles carry modes and channel layouts, so the patch and the visualisation match the physical fixture.
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Art-Net · sACN
Any console
Live levels come from grandMA3, ChamSys MagicQ, ETC Eos, Avolites, QLC+ or any other desk or software that sends Art-Net or sACN on your network.
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No lock-in
Keep your toolchain
Keep Vectorworks, Capture and your console. FlexViz is the layer that makes the scene easier to review and show to other people.
Present to clients. Plan with your team.
Send a link, let them in once, and they see the rig in their own browser: live with you, following your view and the desk, or on their own time from a release you pinned. Your team works in the same scene at the same time. Nobody installs anything.
Live or on their own time
Live, guests follow your camera or switch between plan and 3D. Later, they open the pinned release and call up up to ten saved looks.
Version history
Keep the states a plan passed through, and go back to the one that was signed off.
Real-time collaboration
Invite collaborators to the project and edit the same scene at the same time, with internal or public comments on fixtures, truss and props.
Where the build stands today.
FlexViz is a working application in a closed beta. Some parts are done, some are being built, and the rest is a plan.
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WORKING NOW
- MVR / GDTF import
- Plan mode: top, front, left, right
- Live 3D: shaded, wireframe, rendered
- Patch with universe and DMX address
- Art-Net / sACN via FlexViz Bridge
- Adaptive rendering: WebGPU with WebGL2 fallback
- Real-time collaboration: teams, invites, shared editing
- Presentations, live or on the client's own time
- Comments on scene, fixtures, truss and props (internal or public)
- Version history
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IN PROGRESS
- Broader fixture library coverage
- Truss and rigging editing
- Export back to MVR
- Performance on large rigs
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PLANNED
- MVR-xchange, to sync scenes with consoles and CAD on the venue network
The Bridge runs on the machine at the desk.
The FlexViz Bridge takes Art-Net or sACN off your network and hands it to the browser. Download it on a machine that can see the console and run it. There is no installer.
What people ask before they try it.
- What is FlexViz?
- FlexViz is a browser-based tool for event-lighting designers. It opens MVR and GDTF files, shows the rig as a 2D plan and a lit 3D scene, takes live Art-Net or sACN from a console through the FlexViz Bridge, and lets you present the scene to people who don't own lighting software.
- Is FlexViz lighting design software or a lighting visualizer?
- Both, at the lighter end. It is a planner for placing, patching and lighting a rig, and a 3D stage lighting visualizer that follows live DMX from your console. It is not a CAD package and not a photoreal renderer.
- What file formats does FlexViz open?
- MVR scenes and GDTF fixture profiles, the files your planning tools already write. A rig imports with its geometry and patch instead of being redrawn, and GDTF profiles carry modes and channel layouts, so the patch and the visualisation match the physical fixture.
- Can I use FlexViz on its own, without Vectorworks or an MVR?
- Yes. Start an empty scene, add fixtures from the library or GDTF-Share, place them on truss and patch them. It is a simpler planner than a full CAD package, and truss and rigging editing are still in progress, but it runs anywhere you have a browser and a connection.
- Does the person I show a scene to need to install anything?
- No. You send a link, they open it in their browser and you let them in once. They need no licence, no install and no account. In a live session, DMX comes from the Bridge on your side, so they see the desk levels without running anything themselves.
- Can someone look at the scene when I am not online?
- Yes. A guest you have admitted once can open the shared scene any time until the link expires. They see the release you pinned, not your working version, and can call up the looks you saved with it. Collaborators invited to the project can open and edit it whenever they like.
- How does FlexViz receive live DMX from a console?
- Through the FlexViz Bridge, a small app on a machine on your lighting network. It finds Art-Net nodes, receives Art-Net or sACN (E1.31) from whatever desk or software already sends it, and forwards the levels to your browser tab over a websocket.
- Which operating systems does the FlexViz Bridge run on?
- Windows and Linux, as a single portable binary for each. Download it and run it; there is no installer. macOS is planned.
- Do I need a high-end workstation to run it?
- No. FlexViz picks the rendering path the device can run: WebGPU on current GPUs, WebGL2 with simpler beams on older ones. The WebGL2 path runs on the integrated graphics of a 2013 laptop.
- Does FlexViz replace Vectorworks or Capture?
- No. Keep your drawing tool and your console. FlexViz sits next to them and makes the rig easier to review and to show to everyone who has to understand it.
- Is FlexViz finished?
- No. It is in a closed beta. MVR and GDTF import, plan and live modes, patching, Art-Net and sACN through the Bridge, real-time collaboration, presentations live or on demand, comments and version history work today. Truss and rigging editing, MVR export, broader fixture coverage and large-rig performance are in progress.
Test it on a real project.
I'm looking for lighting designers, operators, technical leads and event-technology companies who will open one of their own MVR files in FlexViz and tell me where it gets in their way. Rough edges are expected. Bug reports go straight to me, Hauke, the person who fixes them.