ACMXVK Controls

This document is the runtime control reference for ACMXVK. Controls that depend on an optional feature are active only when that feature was compiled and enabled. Most toggles respond once per key press; the continuous 3D movement controls respond while a key is held.

Shader, playlist, and playback controls

Input	Action	Notes
Up / Down	Select the previous or next shader	When playlist mode is active, these select playlist nodes instead.
Shift+Up / Shift+Down	Select the previous or next post-shader	Changes the final shader appended after an active playlist or multipass chain.
Left / Right	Select the previous or next CUDA filter	Requires a CUDA build with the acidcam-gpu filter engine active.
Space	Bypass or enable shader effects	The change uses the selected crossfade.
P	Toggle playlist mode	If no playlist was loaded, pauses or resumes video/graphic input instead. Camera input cannot be paused.
L	Freeze or resume the input and shader animation	Available for video and graphic input; camera input cannot be frozen.
M	Toggle the configured multipass chain	Has an effect only when shader passes were configured.
J	Toggle random autopilot	Playlist mode must be active.
Y	Toggle sequential autopilot	Playlist mode must be active.
N	Toggle random XFade selection for autopilot	Changes whether autopilot chooses a new XFade style automatically.
K	Lock or unlock shader and playlist selection	Useful while performing with a selected effect.
[ / ]	Select the previous or next XFade style	These keys are reserved for XFade selection and do not resize a 3D model.

Shader time and audio controls

Input	Action	Notes
T	Toggle shader-time advancement	Freezes or resumes the normal shader clock.
U / I	Step shader time forward or backward	Each press changes shader time by 0.05.
Page Up / Page Down	Increase or decrease shader-time speed	Changes the multiplier by 0.1; these keys repeat while held.
Q	Toggle audio-reactive shader time	Requires an audio-enabled build and an open audio source.
Home	Toggle audio delta-time scaling	Scales reactive time and amplitude using frame delta; requires audio.
End	Toggle spectrum sensitivity scaling	Applies sensitivity to FFT and FFT-history data; requires audio.
Insert / Delete	Increase or decrease live-audio sensitivity	Changes sensitivity by 0.1; requires live audio input.

Window, HUD, and capture controls

Input	Action	Notes
F	Toggle fullscreen	Switches the ACMXVK window between windowed and fullscreen modes.
F9	Show or hide the ACMXVK runtime HUD	The HUD is preview-only and is not encoded into the output video. It starts hidden when --use-watermark is configured; if shown with the watermark, it begins one line lower.
F12	Show or hide MXVK's FPS counter	This is the renderer-level counter supplied by MXVK.
E	Show or hide the watermark	Available when watermark text was configured. The watermark is part of the encoded result.
Z	Save a processed PNG snapshot	Saves beneath the directory selected by --prefix. Snapshot writing runs in the background.
4	Save a processed lossless TIFF snapshot	Requires a build configured with -DTIFF=ON; uses the same destination and background queue as PNG snapshots.
5	Save a processed lossless WebP snapshot	Requires a build configured with -DWEBP=ON; uses the same destination and background queue as PNG snapshots.
6	Save a processed raw RGBA snapshot	Writes tightly packed, top-to-bottom RGBA8 pixels to a headerless .raw file using the same destination and background queue. The resolution is included in the filename.
F10	Save an MXVK screenshot	Requires --enable-screenshot.
Escape	Quit ACMXVK	Closing the window also quits.

3D model controls

These controls require --enable-3d and a model loaded with --model.

Input	Action	Notes
3	Toggle between 2D sprite and 3D model rendering	Preserves the current model view.
W / S	Look up or down	Active while automatic view rotation is disabled. Hold to move continuously.
A / D	Look left or right	Active while automatic view rotation is disabled. Hold to move continuously.
= or keypad +	Move backward along the view direction	Hold for continuous movement. The = key is the unshifted key commonly shared with +.
- or keypad -	Move forward along the view direction	Hold for continuous movement.
Shift+= / Shift+-	Increase or decrease model scale	Changes scale by 0.05, between 0.05 and 20.0. On most keyboards Shift+= is +.
1 / 2	Increase or decrease movement sensitivity	Hold to adjust the 3D camera movement speed.
V	Toggle automatic view rotation	Manual W/A/S/D look is suspended while this is active.
, / .	Decrease or increase automatic rotation speed	Changes the speed by 5 degrees per second.
O	Toggle camera-distance oscillation	While active, manual distance, scale, sensitivity, and mouse-wheel changes are suspended.
C	Toggle three-axis model wave deformation	Applies ACMX2-compatible animated model deformation.
X	Reset the model view	Restores the centered skybox view, default orientation, distance, and model scale.
Left mouse drag	Look around	Also updates the mouse state exposed to shaders.
Mouse wheel up/down	Move forward/backward along the view direction	Distance is clamped to the supported model-camera range.

The left mouse position and button state are supplied to compatible fragment and compute shaders even when 3D mode is not active.

MIDI controls

MIDI support requires an ACMXVK build configured with -DMIDI=ON. List input ports with --list-midi, select one with --midi-device, and load an ACMX2 mapping file with --midi-map:

./build/acmxvk/acmxvk \
    --graphic image.png \
    --shaders ./build/acmxvk/shaders \
    --midi-device 0 \
    --midi-map controller.midi_cfg \
    --midi-monitor

ACMXVK recognizes the following ACMX2 MIDI-map action codes:

Action code	Keyboard equivalent	Action
32	Space	Toggle shader bypass
260 / 261	Insert / Delete	Increase or decrease audio sensitivity
262 / 263	Right / Left	Next or previous CUDA filter
264 / 265	Down / Up	Next or previous shader/playlist node
266, 504 / 267, 505	Page Up / Page Down	Increase or decrease shader-time speed
268	Home	Toggle audio delta-time scaling
269	End	Toggle spectrum sensitivity scaling
500 / 501	U / I	Step shader time forward or backward
506:507	3D model X rotation	Rotate the model forward or backward around X
508:509	3D model Y rotation	Rotate the model forward or backward around Y
512:513	3D model Z rotation	Rotate the model forward or backward around Z
514:515	3D model scale	Increase or decrease model scale
510 / 511	3D rotation sensitivity	Increase or decrease manual model-rotation speed
44 / 46	, / .	Decrease or increase 3D rotation speed
51	3	Toggle 2D/3D rendering
67	C	Toggle the 3D wave effect
79	O	Toggle 3D camera-distance oscillation
86	V	Toggle automatic 3D view rotation
88	X	Reset the model view
91 / 93	Shift+- / Shift+=	Decrease or increase model scale
69	E	Toggle the watermark
74	J	Toggle random autopilot
78	N	Toggle random XFade selection for autopilot
75	K	Toggle shader lock
76	L	Toggle rendering freeze
77	M	Toggle multipass rendering
80	P	Toggle playlist mode or input pause
81	Q	Toggle audio-reactive shader time
84	T	Toggle normal shader time
89	Y	Toggle sequential autopilot
90	Z	Save a processed PNG snapshot
298	F9	Toggle the preview-only runtime HUD
52 / 53	4 / 5	Save an optional TIFF or WebP snapshot
54	6	Save a processed raw RGBA snapshot
70	F	Toggle fullscreen
73 / 85	I / U	Step shader time backward or forward
600:601 through 606:607	Custom uniform sliders 1-4	Map absolute MIDI values to slider1 through slider4.

Paired action mappings use a centered controller value: 64 is neutral, and distance from the center controls how often the action repeats. Slider pairs and direct --midi-cc [channel:]CC=uniform mappings instead normalize the controller's 0-127 range into the custom uniform range declared by library.json.

The Qt MIDI-map editor under ACMX2/interface/midi-map provides separate ACMX2 and ACMXVK target profiles. Select ACMXVK before capturing or loading a map to see only supported actions and ACMXVK-specific meanings.

Feature requirements at a glance

Control group	Build/runtime requirement
CUDA filter selection	Configure with -DWITH_CUDA=ON and run with the acidcam-gpu engine available.
Audio controls	Configure with -DAUDIO=ON and open a live, file, or source-audio input as appropriate.
MIDI controls	Configure with -DMIDI=ON, then use --midi-device, --midi-map, or --midi-cc.
3D controls	Start with --enable-3d --model <file>.
Playlist and autopilot	Load a playlist and enable playlist mode with P.
Multipass toggle	Configure one or more shader passes.
4 TIFF snapshot	Configure with -DTIFF=ON and install libtiff development files.
5 WebP snapshot	Configure with -DWEBP=ON and install libwebp development files.
6 raw RGBA snapshot	No optional build dependency is required.
F10 screenshot	Start ACMXVK with --enable-screenshot.

Run acmxvk --help for the full command-line option reference.