Welcome to Vovoid VSX Ultra! <3
I'm Luna of Vovoid - your guide and companion
in this quite tricky piece of software.
Nice to meet you!!
ÿ
I'm gonna tell you how to use VSXu, left-click me
to hear more, right-click to hide me :)
I will always be around to tell you stuff
about VSXu and what you see, so when this
introduction course is finished we can still
hang out and have lots of fun!
ÿ
I hope we'll become friends on the way!
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Hint: If you just upgraded VSXu, maybe you
need to copy over the data files from the
previous version? 
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Now let's begin!
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What you see is the VSXu workspace, looks empty
doesn't it? ;)
Well, everything's hidden, I'll teach
you how to use it.. But first you must learn
how to navigate - it's a 3D work environment
so you can move around, zoom in and
out. This is done with the keyboard.
Try to press
R key to zoom in and W
to zoom out!
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Pretty neat huh?
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Now you can also move sideways - just use:
S + F
and to go up/down:
E + D
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Try to do this (zoom, move) for a while to see
how far you can go in each direction.
All the time when using VSXu, try to have
your left hand on these keys on the
keyboard and the other on your mouse.
Just like playing a game - no functions
will be out of reach for your left hand.
In the beginning this might feel awkward
but ultimately most people love it.
ÿ

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Did you see the screen when you
zoomed in? It's located in the middle of
everything. It has a name - screen0!
You can see that easier if you click on it.
If you have trouble finding it, try
hitting SPACE - I'll take you back to
the middle of whatever you selected.
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By left-clicking on the screen component
you have selected it and
then you can move it around by dragging
it. When we have more modules on the
workspace you can do this with all
of them.
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Another thing that you'll be doing a lot
in VSXu is right-clicking to bring up
contextual menus. Try right-clicking
on the screen - however, it doesn't
have a context menu so nothing happens.
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Most things in vsxu have a right-click
menu of some sort.

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Now we can do some exploration!
Do you see the 2 round discs attached to the
top left side of the screen module?
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These are called "anchors".
This is what modules use to communicate
with other modules or simply to control
the flow of things.
Does this sound strange? It will soon clear
up, bear with me!
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Now let's do something fun. We're gonna create
a white line!
The big patchwork colorful area the screen
is lying on is the "server".
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If you right-click it (anywhere is fine) you'll
get a menu.
Pick the first item,
"module browser..."
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Woah! Now you should see the module-browser.
It's reaaally big! Loads of modules here,
it's hard to use until you get used to it.
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Now, you see that different groups have different
colors. Click somewhere where there is not a box
and drag around to move. The one we want is
a "renderer" so it's in the orange block.
(Look up to the left)
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Now, the branch name is "basic".
and one of its leafs is called "colored
rectangle".
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Position the tree so the [colored rectangle] is close to
the middle of the screen, then left-click and drag
it. You now get the placement cursor,
move it to where you want to put your new module -
I suggest you put it on the left side of the screen.
If you don't see the screen, you can
move around with the navigation keys
on the keyboard while you're dragging
(before releasing the mouse button)
and find where you want to place it.
Then just hit OK when you get to name it.
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Now to get out of the module browser
just hit the right mouse button somewhere
where there's not a leaf (between the boxes).
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Now we have 2 modules, the simple
and the screen. Do you remember about
the anchors? Do you see that there is
a red circle with a white dot in it
on the right side of the simple module
and on the left side of the screen?
If not, zoom in a bit and explore!
(R zooms in, W zooms out, SDFE moves around)
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The different icons on anchors tell you which
type of data it provides/accepts. In this case
it's the [render] data type. Also, when you
see 2 anchors not yet connected - you can
experiment by connecting them and see what
happens. A lot of this kind of exploration
has to be done by you on your own, but I
can tell you all about different modules
and anchor (data) types as soon as this
course is done! You will just click on
something, and if I'm activated I'll
describe it for you. This way you get
to explore the rest of the program in
your own pace.
ÿ

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Now, let's connect these 2 anchors.
Click down on one of them (either is fine)
and drag to get a connection line.
Then continue dragging it until you are
above the other anchor and then just release
the mouse button to form a connection.
Try until it works! You should see
the white line in the preview window!
Maybe you already figured this out -
you are smart - but the
anchors on the left side of a module
are inputs, the ones on the right side
are outputs.
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However, you don't always need another module
to provide data for a module.
With some anchor (data) types you can access
an abundance of tools to control them.
Now we'll play with the angle,
size and color of the white line using
these tools.
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Here's something many have problems with the
first time: understanding nested anchors.
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You see 2 anchors on the left side of the
"simple" module, right?
The first one, with a white + on it is a bit
similar to the one below, but they are not
the same!
The first one with the + is an anchor group.
If you click it you can access its
children! Please do this!
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See all the other anchors that just popped up?
If you move your mouse over an anchor you get to
see its name/value - this is what we're looking for.
You might need to zoom in to see the anchors properly,
but the second anchor in the "spatial" group
which you just opened is called
"angle". 
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Remembering that everything in VSXu has a
right-click menu, the angle anchor definetly does!
In the menu, select Controllers -> knob.
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So, simple.spatial.angle is the path
to find this anchor :)
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Now you have a knob! You can click and drag on it
to rotate it and thus change the angle.
Some modules limit your actions with these
controllers so you can't give values that
would make the module crash.
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Also, try to left-click the text displaying
the value and the knob itself - you can set
the value manually and change the smoothess
factor.
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Now try out the controllers for the rest of
the parameters for this "simple" renderer.
When you're done, we'll do one more step
and then this course is finished :)
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Now let's make something happen on its own.
For this purpouse there are mathematical
modules - which you can use to process
sound or simply generate values. Of these
the oscillator is the most useful one.
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An oscillator is defined as "a device for
producing alternating current". In this
case it produces different values over
time - making things move or rotate.
You can find the oscillator in the
maths section in the module browser.
maths;parameters;oscillators;oscillator is the
standard one.
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Just hook it up to the simple renderer's
angle and it should start moving. Then you
should explore the different parameters
of the oscillator!
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This is the end of this course, it has
gotten you up and running with the basic
tools, from now on i'll help you differently.
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If you want to learn more, just right-click
me and select something from "Courses".
ÿ
If you want me to tell you about everything
you left-click on, put me in
"automatic mode"
- right-click me and choose that from
the menu! Then I'll tell you about everything
you click on that I have some info about.
ÿ
[Tab] to make me smaller.
