Composition Settings
Composition settings are its own parameters: name, duration, frame rate, behavior at the end of playback, a comment, and color filtering by fixture channels. Each composition in the project has its own settings, and they are saved together with the project. Fixtures, layouts, and the size of the work area are shared across the whole project and are not part of the composition settings.
How to Open the Settings
- Open the Compositions window.
- Double-click the composition you need — it becomes the current one and opens on the Timeline.
- Its parameters appear in the Properties window — the General and Color Filtering sections.
If the Properties window currently shows the parameters of an effect, a fixture, or a layout, you can bring the composition settings back by double-clicking the composition again in the Compositions window.
Some settings are duplicated elsewhere so you don't have to open the composition again:
- Right-click a composition in the Compositions window → Set Duration — opens the duration window for that composition.
- F2 or right-click → Rename in the Compositions window — renames it right in the list.
- On the Timeline playback panel, next to the current time, there is a loop button, an underlined duration value (clicking it opens the same duration window), and an infinite playback button.
"General" Section
| Parameter | What it sets |
|---|---|
| Name | The composition's name. It also becomes the cue file's name on export. |
| Duration | A button showing a value in hours:minutes:seconds:frames format. Clicking it opens the Set Duration window. When infinite playback is on, it shows 00:00:00:00. |
| Infinite | Playback of the composition never ends. Duration is not set in this case, and Loop is locked. |
| Loop | When the composition reaches its end, it starts over. Enabled by default. |
| Comment | A free-form note for the composition, a multi-line field. |
Composition Name
The name must be unique within the project: if you set a name that's already taken, the program appends a number to it. The name length is limited — it must be under 40 characters.
The service characters / \ : ; * ? " < > | # @ ! $ % & ( ) + , { } [ ] ^ and the apostrophe are not kept in the name — the program removes them automatically. The restriction exists because the composition name is used as a file name — in the Export window, the composition is automatically given the file Name.cue. Rename the composition and the export file name changes too.
Duration and Frame Rate
Both settings are set in the same window — Set Duration. Its title shows the name of the composition you're configuring:
| Field | Values |
|---|---|
| Hours | 0 to 24 |
| Minutes | 0 to 59 |
| Sec | 0 to 59 |
| Frames | 0 to the "frames per second" value minus one |
| Frames per second | 1 to 999 |
The OK button or the Enter key applies the values; Esc closes the window without changes.
A new composition is created with a duration of one minute. The frame rate of new compositions is taken from the Frames per second for the project field in the project creation window; the default is 40 frames per second.
A lot depends on these two values:
- the length of the Timeline ruler equals the composition's duration — shorten the composition and the tail of the timeline disappears;
- effects that end up past the end of the composition are not played back and are not included in export (they are not deleted, though — restore the duration and they will play again);
- the number of frames in the cue file equals the duration multiplied by the frame rate, so changing either of these parameters recalculates the approximate file size in the Export window;
- the frame rate is the smoothness of the animation: the higher it is, the smoother the motion, and the larger the file size and the rendering load.
It makes sense to set the same frame rate for all compositions in the project and not change it once the effects have been placed in time.
Infinite and Loop
Loop is the normal mode for light shows: on reaching the end, the composition immediately starts over and runs in a circle. If the setting is off, the composition plays through to the end once, stops, and the time cursor returns to the beginning.
Infinite is a mode for compositions that run in real time and aren't meant to have a specific duration. Playback in this mode never ends: the duration value becomes unavailable and is shown as 00:00:00:00, and Loop is disabled as unnecessary. Effects that are stretched to the very end of the timeline keep playing after it ends; effects that end earlier play once and go dark.
Color Filtering
The Color Filtering section has four sliders: Red, Green, Blue, and White. Each works as a multiplier for the corresponding fixture channel: a value of 1 (default) passes the channel unchanged, 0.5 dims it by half, and 0 mutes the channel completely. Values range from 0 to 1 in steps of 0.01; an exact number can be entered next to the slider.
The White slider affects the white channel of RGBW fixtures: the program calculates the white channel itself from the pixel color, and the filter reduces the resulting value.
The main thing to know about this setting: the filter is applied to the signal sent to the fixtures — both when the program sends Art-Net and when the composition is exported to a cue file. It does not affect the picture in the Mapping and 3D View windows: the color on screen stays the same, only what the fixtures see changes.
This setting is useful when fixtures "lie" about color — for example, giving a white that's too cold or too red — or when one composition needs to be made calmer in the brightness of a single channel without redoing its effects. The filter is set separately for each composition, so you'll need to dial in the values in each one.
If you need to dim the entire show at once rather than a single composition, there's a general opacity master on the Timeline playback panel for that — it's not part of the composition settings.
Good to Know
- Composition settings are saved in the project and carried along with it; only the duration and frame rate remain in the cue file itself.
- The comment is shown nowhere except the Properties window — it's a note for yourself and for colleagues working on the project.
- If color filtering is turned all the way down to 0, the composition will look normal in the program while the fixtures stay dark. Check this first if the animation shows on screen but not on the object.
- It's convenient to set the duration before placing effects — that way you won't have to re-fit them in time afterward.