Exporting Compositions

Export is the final step in working on a project. Finished compositions are calculated frame by frame and saved to *.cue files — these are the files later loaded into Light Stream Player so the object can glow without a running computer. In the same window a composition can be output 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 isn't visible, enable it in 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 into converter ports — the data for the cue file is taken 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 has a Light Stream Player device — the cue file is built 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 so they'll be easy to find in Player — the composition's name becomes the file name by default;
the program is activated. Without a license, export will still run and files will be created, but the data in them will be empty.

The "Export" window

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

Column	Meaning
Output	Checkbox: whether the composition will be included in the export. The checkbox in the column header checks and unchecks all compositions at once. The checkbox states are saved with the project
Name	Composition name. Not editable here — rename compositions in the Compositions window using F2
Duration	Composition duration in hours:minutes:seconds:frames format
File Name	Name of the future cue file. By default matches the composition name. The field is editable: click it and type your own name
Size, MB	Approximate size of the cue file. Calculated from the composition's duration and the number of universes used, so it changes when duration or patching changes. If the project has several Light Stream Player devices, the sizes are listed separated by commas — one per player
Progress	Bar and calculated frame number for this composition during export

Below on the left a preview picture is shown: during export it plays what is currently being calculated — it lets you see right away which animation will end up in the GIF preview. Before the first run, a grey rectangle is shown in its place.

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

Element	Purpose
Export Mode	CUE files — calculating compositions into `.cue` files for Player. Video render* — calculating compositions into video files
Gear button	Opens the Export tab in the program settings: GIF preview parameters and video render parameters
Select view	Where the picture for the GIF preview and video comes from: Mapping preview — a flat image of the Mapping field; the other list items — views from the cameras of the 3D View window, including cameras you created in the project
Path	The folder where files are saved. It can be typed in manually or chosen with the Open button. The path is saved with the project
Start / Cancel	Starts the export; while running, turns into a cancel button

Below the button, during export a shared progress bar appears for all checked compositions, and below it — time in elapsed / estimated total time format. The same overall progress is duplicated on the program's icon in the Windows taskbar, so you can follow the export without expanding the window.

Exporting to cue files

Open the Export window and in the Export Mode list select CUE files.
Check the boxes in the Output column for the compositions you need to export. It's better to uncheck draft compositions — they only lengthen the calculation.
If needed, adjust the file names in the File Name column.
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.
Set the folder in the Path field or choose it with the Open button. In a new project, an Export subfolder next to the project file is already inserted there.
Click Start.

The calculation begins. Playback in the program stops for this time, compositions are calculated one by one from top to bottom, the current frame is shown in the preview picture, and the Progress column shows the calculated frame number. The export is finished when the preview stops moving, the progress bars are full, and the button is again called Start.

How long this will take can't be said in advance: the time depends on the duration of the compositions, the frame rate, the number of fixtures, and the complexity of the effects. It's easier to go by the estimate under the overall progress bar — it gets refined as work proceeds.

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 one Light Stream Player, cue files are saved directly into the selected folder.
If there are several players, subfolders named after the players are created in the folder, and each is filled with its own set of cue files. This is convenient: each player is later loaded with its own subfolder.

Files don't pile up: on re-export, 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 along with the data. It's this animation that Light Stream Player shows in the list of animations, so there's no need to prepare and load 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 — with the gear button next to the Export Mode list. These parameters are covered in detail in the article Настройки GIF превью.

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.

Exporting to a video file

The Video render mode doesn't record data for fixtures, but a picture — the same image as in the GIF preview, but at full resolution and for the composition's full length. Such a file is needed for presentations and approvals; it isn't loaded into Player.

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

the file name is taken from the composition name, not from the File Name column;
the extension depends on the selected codec;
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	Prints the composition name right into the frame — convenient when there are many clips
Font size	Size of this text
Title position	Corner of the frame for the text: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right
Video codec	H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) — `.mp4` file, opens everywhere; Apple ProRes* — `.mov` file for editing; Lossless AVI* — `.avi` file without quality loss and a very large size; PNG Sequence* — not a video file, but a folder with individual frames
Profile	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, Mbit/s	Only for H.264 and H.265: 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, Kbit/s	Sound quality, from 32 to 320 Kbit/s

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

If something went wrong

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.
Files were created, but the fixtures on the player don't light up — most likely the fixtures aren't patched into 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 that's looking past the object, or there's nothing to show in 3D View. Choose Mapping preview or another camera.
The composition came out shorter than expected — exactly the duration set for the composition is exported; effects that go beyond its boundary on the timeline aren't included in the file.
Export is taking a very long time — reduce the frame rate of the compositions or uncheck compositions that aren't needed right now.