Understanding Effects

An effect is a real-time change applied to a cue during playback. Add effects from the Effect menu, then animate them by placing tween points along the cue.

Position, scale, rotation, opacity, blur, volume, crop, corners, linear wipe, and the color adjustments are all effects. An effect left at a single value holds that value for the whole cue.

Two effects are not tweenable: Chroma Key and Key & Fill. You set these in the cue's Properties rather than the Effect menu, and they hold for the whole cue. See Non-Tweenable Effects below.

This page covers tweening — animating an effect's value over time. Tweening builds a curve of values across the duration of a cue, controlling how a property transitions from one state to another — fading content in, sliding it across Stage, shifting color, or revealing a crop.

WATCHOUT provides more than 40 tween types organized into groups. Some effects control a single value (such as Opacity or Brightness), while others involve multiple coordinated channels (such as Position, which has X, Y, and Z axes, or Corners, which has eight channels for the four corner points). Every tween type has its own default value, permitted range, and unit. The editor enforces these bounds.

How Tweening Works

A tween curve is a sequence of tween points (keyframes) spread across the duration of a cue. Each tween point defines a specific value at a specific time. Between tween points, WATCHOUT interpolates smoothly according to the selected transition type (easing curve), producing continuous animation from one value to the next.

A tween curve can consist of a single tween point. The effect then holds that value for the whole cue. To create a transition, a tween curve needs at least two tween points: a start value and an end value. For example, an Opacity effect might start at 0% at the beginning of a cue and reach 100% halfway through, producing a fade-in over the first half of the cue's duration. More complex animations use additional tween points to create multi-stage transitions — a value that rises, holds, then falls, or that follows a specific rhythm synchronized to other show elements.

Every tween point has three core properties:

• Time from Start of Cue — when this point occurs, measured from the beginning of the cue.
• Value — the property value at this moment. The label, unit, and permitted range depend on the tween type (for example, "Percentage" for crop effects, "Position X / Y / Z" for position effects, or "X Value / Y Value" for scale effects).
• Transition Type — the easing curve used to interpolate from the previous point to this one.

Tween Types

Effects are organized into groups in the tween area beneath each cue, matching the structure of the Effect menu. Every tween type, with a brief description:

You can expand or collapse tween groups using the Show Tweens / Hide Tweens controls in the tween group header.

Non-Tweenable Effects

Chroma Key and Key & Fill are effects too, but they are not tweenable — they have no tween points. You set them in the cue's Properties instead of the Effect menu, and they hold for the whole cue. See Adding Media Cues.

The Effect View

When a cue with effects is selected, the Effect View appears beneath the cue in the Timeline window. It uses a two-panel layout:

Left panel — Effect list. A collapsible list of all effects applied to the cue. Each row shows:

Right panel — Curve area. Displays the tween curves and their keyframe points. This is where you visually create and edit animation:

• Single-click on a curve to add a new tween point at that position.
• Drag a point to move it in time (horizontal) or value (vertical).
• Draw a selection rectangle by clicking and dragging on an empty area to select multiple points at once.
• Multi-select points (via selection rectangle, or Ctrl+click) to move many points simultaneously — useful for shifting an entire section of animation in time or value.

Adding Effects to a Cue

To add an effect to a cue:

1. Select one or more cues in the Timeline.
2. Open the Effect menu and click the desired effect. The menu items act as toggles. Clicking an effect adds it if not present, or removes it if it is.
3. The effect appears in the tween area beneath the cue, within its corresponding group.

Many tween types have keyboard shortcuts for quick access:

Some effects are added as a complete group. For example, selecting Corners from the Effect menu adds all eight corner channels at once, and selecting Linear Wipe adds all four wipe channels together. Individual crop sides can also be added separately through the Effect > Crop submenu, or all four at once with Alt+C.

Editing Tween Points

Once an effect is added, you work with it by adding, moving, and adjusting tween points:

• Adding a point — place the time needle at the desired moment and add a tween point using the context menu or by double-clicking on the tween curve in the tween area.
• Selecting a point — click a tween point to select it. Its properties appear in the Properties panel.
• Adjusting the value — edit the value directly in the Properties panel. For position effects, you also see Position X, Position Y, and Position Z fields. For scale effects, you see X Value and Y Value along with their computed X Pixel Value and Y Pixel Value.
• Moving in time — drag a tween point horizontally in the tween area, or edit the Time from Start of Cue field in the Properties panel.

Transition Types (Easing Curves)

The Transition Type property on each tween point controls how the value interpolates from the previous point to the current one. WATCHOUT provides 31 easing curves organized into 11 families:

Each family (except Linear) has three variants:

• In — the effect is applied at the start of the transition (slow start, fast end).
• Out — the effect is applied at the end of the transition (fast start, slow end).
• InOut — the effect is applied at both ends (slow start, slow end, fast middle).

The default transition type is Linear, which produces constant-speed interpolation. For natural-looking motion, Quadratic InOut or Cubic InOut are common choices. For attention-grabbing effects, Bounce Out or Elastic Out add playful character.

Tween Value Reference

Every tween type has a defined range, default value, and unit. Some effects enforce hard limits (you cannot enter values outside the range), while others allow values beyond the listed range for creative flexibility. Position, Scale, Rotation, Hue, Saturation, Gain, Wipe Feather, and Corner effects accept values beyond their default display range.

Tween Expressions

Any tweenable effect can optionally be driven by a mathematical expression instead of (or in addition to) its keyframe points. When an expression is set, the tween value is computed at playback time from show variables and the keyframe value.

For single-value effects, the Properties panel shows an Expression field. For multi-axis effects like Scale, you see X Expression and Y Expression. For Position, you see X Expression, Y Expression, and Z Expression.

Expressions drive interactive shows, data-driven animation, and external control. For full details, see Tween Expressions.

Practical Advice

• Start simple. A two-point tween curve (start value and end value) is often all you need. Add intermediate points only when you need the value to change direction or hold at a specific level.
• Match easing to intent. Use Linear for mechanical or technical motion. Use InOut curves for natural movement. Use Bounce or Elastic sparingly, for moments that benefit from playful emphasis.
• Keep tween density low. Many closely spaced tween points are hard to edit and rarely produce better results than fewer well-placed points with appropriate easing curves.
• Preview on target output. The Stage view gives a good approximation, but always verify tween behavior on the actual display hardware, especially for subtle effects like color shifts or blur.
• Use the Effect menu toggles. Remember that the Effect menu items are toggles — clicking a tween type on a cue that already has it will remove it. This is the quickest way to clean up unused effects.

Related

• Position and Movement — animating cue placement on Stage
• Scale and Size — growth, shrink, and zoom effects
• Rotation Effects — 2D spin and 3D rotation
• Opacity and Fades — transparency animation plus the Fade-in, Fade-out, and Cross-fade convenience transitions
• Color Adjustments — brightness, contrast, hue, and per-channel corrections
• Tween Expressions — driving effects with mathematical expressions