Lesson Description
Plugins
6m 38s
Use custom-designed third party manufacturer Plugins to control specific devices connected to your Q-SYS system.
(Updated September 20th 2018: New Information added for Q-SYS Asset Manager)
Video Transcript
Plugins
6m 38s
0:08
Hands down, the easiest way to control a third-party device through Q-SYS is by using a Plugin that’s…
0:15
Hands down, the easiest way to control a third-party device through Q-SYS is by using a Plugin…
0:20
What you are doing? Teaching the peeps about Plugins. Yeah but you can't just jump in here and
0:25
take advantage of all the planning and scripting it takes to make one of these and then get all the
0:29
credit by doing the easy part! Well, sure I can! It's like I'm a… I'm a plugin! If you take a look at the
0:39
Schematic Library, under a folder called Plugins, you'll find your currently installed plugins.
0:44
They’ll be divided into two categoriers: QSC Managed Plugins are plugins you downloaded from our
0:50
Asset Manager, which we’ll look at momentarily. The User folder will list any Plugins you’ve acquired
0:57
elsewhere. Within either folder you’ll find all the installed plugins, usually categorized by
1:02
manufacturer. Just as an example, let’s take a look at two different Q-SYS plugins.
1:08
I have an NEC MultiSync Display that I want to control… hey Nate, would you mind bringing that
1:13
in for me? Yeah sure whatever you want. I also have a Shure MX Wireless Microphone cradle and
1:19
receiver that I also want to control with Q-SYS. Using a Plugin is exactly as easy as using any
1:25
component in Designer - You're the worst - simply drag it into the schematic and then double-click
1:30
it to open its control panel. For most plugins, all you really need to do is identify the device’s IP
1:36
address on the network, and you are ready to connect. In the case of this display plugin,
1:40
you now have complete access to everything listed on this component.
1:44
Power toggle, input switching, standby mode, you name it.
1:49
Some plugins, like this Shure Microflex Wireless, were designed to provide the control element
1:53
for that particular device, but you’ll need to add the audio portion into your design separately,
1:58
in this case either via AES67 or an optional Dante card.
2:03
You might have noticed that the visual appearance of these two Plugins are dramatically different,
2:08
as Q-SYS plugins are often designed to look very similar to the device’s native control -
2:14
whether those be physical controls on the device, or a web GUI. This is done intentionally so
2:21
you can intuitively find the controls that you’re looking for if you’re already familiar with that device.
2:26
Additionally, this means that you can take any of these controls and integrate them onto your
2:31
user’s UCI. This lets you get very specific with which controls a user has access to, without
2:37
giving them every single control that could potentially confuse them.
2:42
The best way to find and install a Plugin is to use the Q-SYS Designer Asset Manager.
2:47
This cloud-based feature allows system designers to quickly and easily download and install new
2:53
Q-SYS assets, including plugins, without having to wait for a new Q-SYS Designer software release.
3:00
It’s probably obvious but worth mentioning that this cloud-based feature requires an active
3:05
internet connection to work. You can open this interface by either clicking on this cog icon in the
3:10
Plugins folder, or by going to the Tools menu and selecting “Show Q-SYS Asset Manager.”
3:18
This screen has three different lists. The first list will let you Browse all of the available managed
3:24
Plugins, listed alphabetically by manufacturer name. Each plugin includes a detailed description,
3:30
links to relevant product pages, imagery, and access to previous versions of the asset when
3:36
reversion is necessary within a system design. Once you’ve found the Plugin you need,
3:41
simply select Install and it will be added to your Plugins folder. The second list,
3:46
“Installed Packages,” lets you review or remove each of the Plugins you’ve already installed on your
3:51
computer, and the third list will display any pertinent Updates for your Plugins you currently own.
3:57
If this list is empty, then all of your Plugins are up to date!
4:01
you might also acquire a Q-SYS Plugins from a manufacturer’s website or
4:05
or an independent programmer. One of the coolest parts about Q-SYS is the available open API
4:12
that allows any third party manufacturer or an independent programmer the ability to build their
4:16
own integration plugins. These Plugins will come in the form of a single file, usually with the
4:22
filename extension of .qplug If you were to open one of these using a text editor, you’d discover that
4:28
a Plugin is really just a Lua Script, which has been written by a programmer to mimic the behavior
4:33
of a built-in Q-SYS object. To install a Plugin, simply double-click the plugin and it will install itself.
4:41
Alternatively, you could deposit this file into the “Plugins” folder, which you’ll find in your
4:46
computer’s Documents. Just follow the path to Q-SYS Designer. Once you’ve added the Plugin
4:52
to this folder, it will become available for use within Designer.
4:56
If you want to give a Plugin to somebody on your team, you can simply grab the file and attach it to
5:00
an email, upload it to your server like DropBox, or just place it on a USB Drive and hand it to a friend.
5:07
Here ya go Nate. Go away. Now, don’t forget that since this is built in Lua, plugins are actually
5:13
part of the Q-SYS Scripting engine, which is a licensed feature option of the Q-Sys Platform.
5:19
You might have noticed that when we added a plugin to the Schematic, you've got these little
5:22
reminders at the top of the screen and in the Inspector. If you’re using Q-SYS Designer Software
5:28
v7.0 or higher on a newer Core and you’d like to deploy this plugin, chances are you'll need to get
5:36
a feature license. You are still free to configure and test your plugins in emulation mode, but
5:42
make sure you contact your QSC sales partner and purchas a Q-SYS Scripting Engine
5:47
deployment license before you deploy. The ordering process can take a few days to process,
5:52
so don’t wait until the last minute to get your license. For more details, make sure to check our
5:57
licensing tutorials or the Q-SYS Scripting Engine product page on QSC.com.
6:02
Of course, not every device in the world has a Plugin designed for Q-SYS… yet. If you need to
6:08
communicate with a third party device that doesn’t have a Plugin, then you’ll need to find some
6:12
other methods. If you only need to send simple strings to the device you could use the
6:16
Command Buttons, or if you have more complicated two-way communications you may need to
6:22
explore using the Block Controller or writing Script, which we’ll talk about in later videos. Alright
6:28
Nate, take it away! Oh great, yeah! Uhhh, thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.