Adding Media Cues
A media cue is the main visual or audible element on a WATCHOUT timeline. Every image, video, audio clip, composition, NDI® capture, and virtual display playback on stage comes from a media cue. This page covers how media cues are created, their default values, and the properties that control them.
What Is a Media Cue
A media cue combines two sets of information: timeline-level properties that position the cue in time and on a layer, and media-level properties that describe what content to play and how to play it.
The timeline-level properties include:
- Start time — where on the timeline the cue begins.
- Layer — which layer the cue occupies (see Working with Layers).
- Locked state — whether the cue is protected from edits.
- Color — an optional color tag.
- Condition — whether the cue is Enabled, Disabled, or governed by an expression (see Conditional Cues).
The media-level properties carry the content itself: source, duration, position, orientation, fades, blend mode, playback speed, looping, and more.
Media Sources
Every media cue has a media source that sets where its content comes from. The source is set automatically when you place an asset on the timeline. Change it in the Properties panel.
| Source Type | Description | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|
| Asset | Links to an asset in the Asset Manager by ID | Most common-images, videos, audio files, SVG shapes, 3D models |
| Composition | Plays a composition (nested timeline with synchronized tracks) | Multi-track video+audio content; see Compositions |
| Virtual Display | Captures the rendered output of a virtual display | Re-compositing display outputs within the show |
| NDI / Capture | References a capture source (NDI, webcam, or other live input) | Live camera feeds, external application capture |
| None | No media source assigned | Placeholder cues or cues that have had their source removed |
The capture source type covers all live inputs — NDI, webcam, capture card, or another application's output — not only NDI streams.
Adding a Media Cue to the Timeline
The standard workflow for placing a media cue:
- Import or locate the asset in the Assets window. If the asset has not been added yet, drag the source file into the Assets window or use the import function. Wait for optimization to complete-assets in the
OptimizingorFailstate cannot be reliably placed. See Asset Types for supported formats. - Open the target timeline. Navigate to the main timeline or a composition timeline where the cue should appear.
- Drag the asset from the Assets window toward the timeline area.
- Position the cue by hovering over the desired start time and layer. WATCHOUT shows a preview of where the cue will land. Snapping guides appear when the cue aligns with nearby cue edges or the playhead (see Snapping During Placement below).
- Drop the cue to commit the placement. The cue is created with default values derived from the asset type and show defaults.
- Adjust as needed. Move, trim, or edit properties. Add effects for motion and animation. See Adjusting Timing for timing operations.
Hold Shift while dragging to disable snapping temporarily. This gives you free placement when snap targets would otherwise pull the cue to an unwanted position.
The show defaults for auto-fade, image duration, and fade curves apply to all newly created cues. Changing these defaults does not retroactively modify existing cues. Configure them early in your show build via the show settings to avoid repetitive manual edits.
Auto-Adjust Duration
The Auto-Adjust Duration setting controls whether a cue's duration updates automatically when related properties change.
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Off | Duration is fixed. Changing playback speed or replacing the asset does not alter the cue's duration. This is the default. |
| Match Asset | Duration matches the asset's intrinsic duration. If the source asset is replaced with one of a different length, the cue duration updates to match. |
| Proportional | Duration adjusts proportionally when playback speed changes. Doubling the speed halves the duration, keeping the same amount of source media visible. |
When Auto-Adjust Duration is set to Asset or Proportional, editing the playback speed or swapping the asset can shift the end point of the cue, potentially overlapping with subsequent cues. Verify your timeline layout after making speed or asset changes on cues with auto-adjust enabled.
Fades and Transitions
Fades control how a media cue appears and disappears. Each cue can have an independent fade in and fade out, configured through the cue's tween settings.
How Fades Work
- Fade In ramps a property (typically opacity or volume) from zero to full over a specified duration at the start of the cue.
- Fade Out ramps the same property from full to zero over a specified duration at the end of the cue.
- Each fade has a type (Opacity, Volume, or Generic), a transition curve (easing), and a span that can be either a fixed duration or an overlap for cross-fades.
Show Defaults for Fades
When auto-fade is enabled in Show Settings (the default), every new media cue receives:
- Fade in: 1 second.
- Fade out: 1 second.
These defaults come from the Fade In Duration, Fade In Curve, Fade Out Duration, and Fade Out Curve settings in Show Settings. Disable auto-fade for hard cuts by default.
Free-Running Mode
When Free Running is enabled on a media cue, the media playback position follows the system clock, not the timeline transport. The media keeps playing at its natural rate even when the timeline is stopped, paused, or scrubbed.
Use free-running mode for:
- Live clocks and timers that must advance in real time regardless of timeline state.
- Ambient background loops that should not jump or restart when an operator pauses the timeline.
- Synchronized external content where the media must track wall-clock time rather than show time.
Free-running cues ignore timeline stop and pause commands. If you stop the timeline during rehearsal, free-running cues will continue advancing. This is intentional but can be surprising during debugging. Disable free-running on a cue if you need it to respond to transport controls normally.
Looping
Looping repeats a region of a media cue's source media. The loop is defined by a start and end point within the source media:
- Loop Start — the offset into the source media where the loop begins.
- Loop End — the offset where the loop resets back to Loop Start.
When looping is active, playback proceeds normally from the cue's In Time until it reaches the Loop End point, then jumps back to Loop Start and repeats. The loop continues for as long as the cue is active on the timeline.
If no loop points are set (the default), the cue plays through its source media once and holds on the last frame (for video/image) or ends (for audio).
Set the cue duration longer than the loop region to let the loop repeat. The loop cycle length is Loop End minus Loop Start; the cue plays as many full cycles as fit within its duration.
In Time
The In-time property sets an offset into the source media where playback begins. Set it to 1 second to skip the first second of a video. Use it to trim a countdown leader from the head of a clip, or to create several cues from different sections of one long asset.
With looping active, only the first loop iteration is trimmed by the In-time offset. Later iterations play the full loop region.
Playback Speed
The Speed (%) property scales playback rate. The range is 25 to 400 percent. The default is 100 percent. 50 percent plays at half speed; 200 percent plays at double speed.
Speed interacts with duration through Auto-Adjust Duration: in Proportional mode, changing the speed rescales the cue duration so the same portion of the asset plays.
Extreme speed values can drop frames on complex compositions or high-resolution assets. Test at your target frame rate before using non-standard speeds in a live show.
Pre-roll
The Pre-roll property sets how far ahead of the cue's start time WATCHOUT begins loading the media into memory. Specify it as a time offset before the cue's start time.
When the playhead reaches the pre-roll point, WATCHOUT starts buffering the media so it is ready at the cue's start time. For most assets, the default pre-roll is sufficient. Increase it for large media files (high-resolution video, long image sequences) that need more time to load from disk or network storage.
If you observe a brief stutter or delay when a cue begins playing, increase the pre-roll value to give WATCHOUT more time to buffer the media before playback starts.
Presentation Properties
In addition to the core timeline and media properties described above, media cues expose several presentation properties that control how the content is rendered on stage.
Frame Blending
When enabled, Frame Blending blends the two neighboring source frames for any output frame that falls between them, smoothing playback when the source frame rate does not match the show's output rate. It is on by default and has an effect only when the rates differ.
Use it for:
- Mismatched frame rates — 24 or 25 fps film in a 50 or 60 fps show; removes the pulldown stutter.
- Slow-motion or variable-speed playback — fills the gaps between source frames when a speed change plays the media at a non-integer ratio.
Avoid it for:
- Text and sharp-edged graphics — the crossfade can ghost high-contrast edges during motion.
- Rapid cuts or flashes — blending across a hard cut briefly double-exposes the two frames.
Frame Blending crossfades pixel values (not optical-flow interpolation) and holds two adjacent frames in memory per cue, roughly doubling that cue's texture memory. On systems with limited GPU memory, enabling it on many concurrent cues may impact performance.
HW Acceleration
HW Acceleration enables hardware-accelerated video decoding on supported codecs and GPU hardware. It is on by default. When enabled, video decoding runs on the GPU, freeing the CPU.
HW Acceleration is not supported for all codecs. HEVC (H.265) playback may not be compatible with hardware acceleration on all GPU configurations. If you experience playback issues with HW Acceleration enabled on HEVC content, disable this setting and rely on software decoding.
Render Surface
The Render Surface property controls which sides of a 3D surface are rendered when content is mapped onto geometry.
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Inside | Only the interior-facing side of the geometry is rendered |
| Outside | Only the exterior-facing side of the geometry is rendered |
| Both Sides | Both the interior and exterior faces are rendered |
Stacking
The Stacking property sets the order in which overlapping cues render.
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
| By Layer | The layer number sets render order. Layer N renders before layer N + 1. |
| By Z | The cue's depth (distance to the camera) sets render order. |
Show on Stage Tiers
Controls which stage tiers the cue is visible on. Restrict a cue's output to specific tiers when your show uses a multi-tier stage.
SDR White Point
The SDR White Point property sets the luminance (in nits) that represents white for SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) content on an HDR-capable output. The valid range is 80 to 10000 nits. This controls how bright SDR content appears relative to HDR content.
Blend Mode
The Blend Mode property sets how the cue's pixels composite with the layers below it. The default is Normal (standard alpha compositing). These modes are available:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Normal | Standard alpha compositing-the cue's pixels replace or blend with lower layers based on opacity |
| Add | Pixel values are added to the layers below, producing a brightening effect |
| Multiply | Pixel values are multiplied with the layers below, darkening the result |
| Screen | Inverse of Multiply-brightens the image by screening pixel values |
| Lighten | For each pixel, the maximum of the source and destination values is used |
| Darken | For each pixel, the minimum of the source and destination values is used |
| Linear Burn | Adds the source and destination values and subtracts white, producing a darker result than Multiply |
A blend mode combines a cue with whatever is already rendered below it. The result therefore depends on rendering order: layer order within a timeline (the bottom layer renders first), the stacking order across timelines, and the cue's own Stacking setting.
Common techniques:
- Light and glow overlays — Add or Screen layer light effects, particles, fire, or haze over base content; dark areas stay transparent.
- Texture and shadow overlays — Multiply darkens base content with shadow maps, grunge, or vignettes without touching bright areas.
- Selective compositing — Lighten or Darken combine the brightest or darkest elements from multiple sources.
Anchor Point
The Anchor Point defines the reference point on the cue used for position, rotation, and scale. The Properties panel has a widget with directional arrows for setting the anchor to any corner, any edge midpoint, or the center.
Changing the anchor point does not move the cue on stage. It changes the origin around which transformations apply. For example, setting the anchor to the top-left corner makes rotation pivot around that corner.
Chroma Key (Per-Cue)
Media cues have per-cue Chroma Key settings to key out a target color directly on the cue. Use this to remove green-screen or blue-screen backgrounds from video.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Toggles chroma keying on or off for this cue |
| Visualize Key | Shows the key mask instead of the final composite, for tuning |
| Target | The color to key out. Green and Blue presets, plus a color picker for a custom color |
| Tolerance Min | Lower bound of the target color range to remove |
| Tolerance Max | Upper bound of the target color range to remove |
| Spill Removal | Amount of color spill removal applied to edges of the keyed area |
Chroma keying compares against the target color in Rec.2020 YUV. The tolerance range defines a band around the target color: pixels inside it become transparent, pixels near the edge become partly transparent. The default target is green, with Tolerance Min 0.4, Tolerance Max 0.5, and Spill Removal 0.5.
Enable Visualize Key while adjusting Tolerance and Spill Removal. The mask view shows exactly which pixels are keyed out.
See Chroma Key for the concept and clean-key tips.
Key and Fill (Per-Cue)
Visual media cues expose a Key & Fill section. This sets the cue's fill side, separate from the layer's key side described in Working with Layers.
| Setting | Effect | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | Turns key and fill on for this cue | Off |
| Invert | Inverts the fill | Off |
| Visualize Key | Shows the key signal instead of the composite | Off |
| Channels | Selects key channels 1-4 | Channel 1 |
See Key and Fill for the concept and use cases.
Channel Mapping (Audio)
Cues that carry audio expose a Channel Mapping matrix that routes input channels to audio buses.
- Rows are the input channels read from the source.
- Columns are the audio buses each channel routes to.
- Each cross-point holds a value. The default is the cueVolume variable, which tracks the cue's Volume tween.
Set a cross-point to a static value, another variable, or an expression. Use Copy and Paste to reuse a routing layout across cues.
3D Model Properties
When a media cue references a 3D model asset, additional properties specific to 3D rendering become available in the Properties panel.
Size and Scaling
By default, WATCHOUT scales a 3D model so its largest dimension becomes 1000 units, preserving aspect ratio. Two scale modes are available:
| Scale Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| To Size | Scales the model to fit specified width, height, and depth dimensions |
| By Factor | Applies a multiplicative scaling factor to the model's original size |
Surface Properties
Each mesh within a 3D model has surface properties that control its appearance:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Mesh Name | The name of the mesh as defined in the source 3D file (read-only in Producer) |
| Asset | The texture asset applied to the mesh surface |
| Remove Texture | Removes the currently assigned texture from the mesh |
Mesh names are defined in the source 3D model file and cannot be edited within WATCHOUT Producer. To rename meshes, modify the model in your external 3D modeling software (e.g., Blender, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D) and re-import the asset.
SVG Render Resolution
A cue that carries an SVG asset shows an SVG render resolution section. SVG is vector art, so WATCHOUT rasterizes it to a fixed pixel size for playback.
- Set Width and Height in pixels. Render at the size you display the SVG, to keep edges sharp.
- Use the lock toggle to keep the aspect ratio while resizing.
- Reset returns the resolution to the SVG's intrinsic size.
Snapping During Placement
When you drag a cue onto the timeline, WATCHOUT snaps its edges to nearby cue edges and the playhead. Hold Shift to suppress snapping. See Snapping for the full behavior.
Related
- Adjusting Timing — move, trim, snap, loop, and speed
- Working with Layers — which layer a cue occupies
- Cue Sets and Variants — switch a cue's media source at runtime
- Conditional Cues — control whether a cue renders
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