Exporting Compositions

Export is the final step of working on a project. Finished compositions are rendered frame by frame and saved as *.cue files — these are the files you later load into Light Stream Player so that the object lights up without a running computer. In the same window, a composition can also be rendered not as a cue but as a regular video file — for showing to a client or for a presentation.

All of this is done in the Export window. If it's not visible, enable it via the Window menu → Export.

What to Do Before Exporting

Export simply records what is already set up in the project, so before starting it's worth checking:

• fixtures are placed in the Mapping window and patched to converter ports — the data in the cue file is taken exactly from the device universes, and fixtures that aren't assigned to any port won't be written to the file, see Patching Fixtures;
• the project contains a Light Stream Player device — the cue file is assembled for a specific player;
• compositions have their final duration and frame rate set: changing them after export means recalculating everything from scratch, see Composition Settings;
• compositions are named in a way that's convenient to find in Player — the composition name becomes the file name by default;
• the program is activated: without a license the Start button in the Export window is inactive and rendering won't start.

The "Export" Window

The upper part of the window is occupied by a list of all project compositions — in the same order as in the Compositions window.

Column	What it means
Output	A checkbox: whether the composition will be included in the export. The checkbox in the column header checks or unchecks all compositions at once. The checkbox states are saved together with the project
Name	The composition's name. It can't be edited here — rename compositions in the Compositions window using F2 or Right-click → Rename
Duration	The composition's duration in the format hours:minutes:seconds:frames
File Name	The name of the future cue file. By default it's the composition's name with the .cue extension. The field is editable: click it and type your own name. A custom name is valid until the project is closed — the next time it's opened, the column will again show the composition's name
Size, MB	The approximate size of the cue file. It's calculated from the composition's duration and the number of universes in use, so it changes when duration or patching changes. If the project has several Light Stream Players, the sizes are listed separated by commas — one per player
Progress	A bar and the number of the rendered frame for this composition during export

Below on the left, a preview image is shown: during export it plays back whatever is currently being rendered — it lets you immediately see what animation will go into the GIF preview. Before the first run, a gray rectangle is shown in its place.

To the right of the image are the export settings and the start button.

Element	Purpose
Export Mode	CUE Files — render compositions into *.cue files for Player. Video Render — render compositions into video files
Gear button	Opens the Export tab in the program settings: GIF preview, video and audio parameters
Select View	Where the picture for the GIF preview and video comes from: Mapping Preview — a flat image of the Mapping field; Perspective — the perspective camera view of the 3D View window; below that, cameras you've added to the project are listed. Front views (top, front, and the rest) don't appear in this list
Path	The folder where the files are saved. It can be typed manually or selected with the Open button. The path is saved with the project
Start / Cancel	Starts the export; while running it turns into a cancel button

Below the button is an overall progress bar for all checked compositions, showing the time in the format elapsed / estimated total time. The same overall progress is mirrored on the program's icon in the Windows taskbar, so you can keep track of the export without expanding the window.

Exporting to Cue Files

1. Open the Export window and select CUE Files in the Export Mode list.
2. Check the boxes in the Output column for the compositions you want to export. It's better to uncheck draft compositions — they only lengthen the render.
3. If needed, adjust the file names in the File Name column.
4. In the Select View list, specify where to capture the GIF preview from: Mapping Preview or one of the 3D View cameras. The preview is later shown in the Player interface, so choose a view where the object is recognizable.
5. Set the folder in the Path field, or select it with the Open button. In a new project, an Export subfolder next to the project file is already filled in there.
6. Click Start.

Rendering begins. Playback in the program is paused for this time, compositions are rendered in order from top to bottom, the preview image shows the current frame, and the Progress column shows the number of the rendered frame. Export is finished when the bars in the Progress column are full for all checked compositions and the button is called Start again (the overall bar under the button resets to zero at that point).

It's impossible to say in advance how long this will take: the time depends on the duration of the compositions, the frame rate, the number of fixtures, and the complexity of the effects. It's more convenient to go by the estimate on the overall progress bar — it gets refined as the process runs.

Export can be interrupted with the Cancel button: progress is reset, and compositions that weren't finished need to be exported again.

Where the Files Go

• If the project has a single Light Stream Player, cue files are saved directly into the selected folder.
• If there are several players, subfolders named after the players are created inside the folder, and each one gets its own set of cue files. This is convenient: each player is later loaded with exactly its own subfolder.

Files don't accumulate: when exporting again, a composition with the same file name is written over the old one.

GIF Preview

A short GIF animation is written into each cue file together with the data. This is exactly what Light Stream Player shows in the animation list, so there's no need to prepare and upload a preview separately.

The preview is taken from the middle of the composition, and its duration, quality, and number of colors are set on the Export tab in the program settings — via the gear button next to the Export Mode list, in the GIF Settings group. These parameters are covered in detail in the GIF Preview Settings article.

The boundaries of the area that will be captured in the preview when shooting from a 3D camera can be shown directly in the 3D View window: menu View → 3D View → Show 3D GIF Bounds (key F5).

Exporting to a Video File

Video Render mode doesn't record data for fixtures, but rather an image — the same picture as in the GIF preview, but at full resolution and for the entire length of the composition. This kind of file is needed for presentations and approvals; it is not loaded into Player.

The procedure is the same as for cue: check the compositions, select a view, set the folder, and click Start. Differences:

• the file name is taken from the composition's name, not from the File Name column;
• the extension depends on the selected codec;
• a GIF preview is not created in this mode;
• if there are audio tracks on the composition's timeline, they are mixed into the finished video.

Video parameters are set on the Export tab in the program settings, in the Video Export Settings and Audio Export Settings groups.

Parameter	Value
Width, Height	Video resolution in pixels
Show Composition Name	Burns the composition's name directly into the frame — useful when there are many clips
Font Size	The size of this text
Title Position	The corner of the frame for the text: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right
Video Codec	H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) — an *.mp4 file, opens everywhere; Apple ProRes — an *.mov file for editing; Lossless AVI — an *.avi file with no quality loss and a very large size; PNG Sequence — not a video file, but a folder of individual frames
Profile	Appears only for Apple ProRes: from ProRes 422 Proxy to ProRes 4444 XQ — the higher the profile, the better the quality and the larger the file
Bitrate, Mbps	Appears only for H.264 and H.265: the data budget per second of video. The higher it is, the cleaner the picture and the heavier the file
Audio Codec	MP3 or AAC — what to compress the composition's sound with
Bitrate, Kbps	Sound quality, from 32 to 320 Kbps

Frames for PNG Sequence are saved into a separate folder inside the same export folder: its name is the composition's name with a VideoSequence suffix, and inside it are numbered files 000000.png, 000001.png, and so on. Sound is not saved in this mode.

If Something Went Wrong

• The "Start" button is inactive — the program is not activated. Enter a license key: export doesn't run without a license.
• The message "No write access" appeared — the program doesn't have permission to write to the selected folder. Choose another one, for example in Documents.
• The files were created, but the fixtures don't light up on the player — most likely the fixtures aren't patched to converter ports, or the project has the wrong Light Stream Player. Check the Fixtures window and export the compositions again.
• There's a black square in the preview on the player — the GIF was captured from a 3D camera pointing away from the object, or there's nothing to show in 3D View. Choose Mapping Preview or a different camera.
• The composition came out shorter than expected — exactly the duration set for the composition is exported; effects that go past its boundary on the timeline are not included in the file.
• The export is taking a very long time — reduce the frame rate of the compositions, or uncheck compositions that aren't needed right now.

See Also

• Compositions
• Composition Settings
• GIF Preview Settings
• Importing Cue Files into Player
• Patching Fixtures
• Terminology