Working with Cuelists

Once you’ve set up your patch, arranged your fixtures, assigned them to groups, and created the presets you want, you’re ready to create a Cuelist.

This is where the Vista differs in a big way from traditional keypad-controlled lighting consoles, because instead of telling it what you want by entering strings of numbers, you do it all visually, on a large screen using the pen or mouse and the hardware controls.

Vista also offers three ways to start a new Cuelist, you can either:

• Store a cue directly to one of the playback controls with as few as three button presses. With this method the cuelist is automatically given a name and number and the cue you’ve stored is ready to play. Later you can add more cues to the same cuelist, change fade times and modify other settings by opening it in the editor
• Use either of the two Store buttons in the main toolbar to store directly to a playback or to an existing cuelist. Store Look is easy to use and automatically sets the most popular options. Store Part provides access to more advanced options.
• Open a new, empty, cuelist in the editor and store one or more cues to it. With this method you can store and edit as you go refining the cue fade times and every other aspect of the cuelist. After you save the cuelist you can switch to the Console window and drag it onto one of the playback controls.

Vista is a Tracking Console

When you store a cue this way only the settings that are changing are saved in a cue. For example, if a fixture is set to 50% Intensity in cue 1 and is not changed until cue 5, there won’t be any Intensity events stored in cues 2-4 for that fixture. That means if you change the intensity for that fixture in cue 1 will affect the look of cues 2-4.

The important difference in a tracking system is that if no level is stored no change will happen.

Store All

There are several important features of ‘Store All’:

• all the settings that the console is sending to your fixtures are saved. The settings could be coming from the Live tab or any other Cuelist being edited, a playback or any other control on the console.
• Store All does not save settings for fixture features that are at their default. For example if a fixture has 100% intensity, and in colour blue, Store All saves those settings but doesn’t save anything for Gobo, Position or any other feature of the light. This means that if you play the cue back it’s possible that another cue will influence what you see.
• when you Store All the default operation is to append a new cue at the end of the last cuelist you saved to.
• if you choose to store to an existing cue it will be replaced. For example if a have a Cuelist with 10 Cues, Store Look will default to saving to Cue 11. If you choose to save to Cue 4 whatever was in that cue will be replaced when you store.
• if you insert a cue before an existing one it’s settings will not change the look you’ve have saved in the existing cue. This is called ‘Cue only’ and means that any settings in the inserted cue are automatically undone in the following cue.
• when you Store All directly to a Playback it will immediately take control of the cue and any setting coming from the Live tab will be cleared. Because Store All includes all output of the console, this won’t change anything the fixtures are doing – just where the control is coming from.

Storing a look in 3 clicks

If you have the Fixture Chooser window open and you are working in the Live tab you’ve probably already selected some lights, given them Intensity, Colour and so on. To create a new Cuelist fast, you do this:

1. Click on the ‘Store All’ button or select the Store All option on the Tools menu. Vista displays the Store All window with all the store options preset but just leave everything as is for now.
2. Double-tap on the select button of an empty playback on your console. If you are using the PC version, switch to the Console window and double click one the select button there.



3. The new Cuelist is ready to use and you can move the fader to bring the level down and back up.

• When you Store All this way the console fader is automatically set to be a Submaster.

Storing a look with options

When you want to adjust the timing of a cue or give it a new name or number before storing you use the Store All window. To do this:

1. click on the ‘Store All’ button or select the StoreAll option on the Tools menu. Vista displays the Store All window:





2. Vista sets the ‘Store to’ cuelist to the cuelist you last saved. If you want to store to a new cuelist or another cuelist you’ve already started you can either:
• type a new number, or
• type a few numbers or letters from the name and select the cuelist you want from the popup window. Vista displays all the cuelists that include the letters or numbers you type:





3. Vista sets the ‘Store to’ cue to a new cue number at the end of the cuelist you last saved. If you want to a different cue number or store over an existing cue number can either:
• type a new number or,
• type a few numbers or letters from the name and select the cue you want from the popup window. Vista displays all the cues that include the letters or numbers you type:



4. If you want to store to an existing cuelist but aren’t sure of it’s name or number. Click the ‘Open Cuelist’ button. Vista displays the Cuelist and Cues window where you can select from all your saved cuelists:



This option…	does this…
All	Filters the browser to show all the cuelists you’ve recorded
Recent	Filters the browser to show just the last few cuelists you’ve stored.
Playing	Filters the browser to show just the cuelists that you are playing back.
Console	Filters the browser to show just the cuelists that you are visible on the console – i.e. cuelists that are on the playback pages you can see.
New	Creates a New cuelist with the next available number.
Cuelist number field	Displays the cuelist number to save. You can enter a new number in this field.
Search (cuelists)	Typing a few letters or numbers in the search box filters the browser to show just the cuelists that match what you type.
Select Cue	Displays all the cues already stored in the selected cuelist. Normally the ‘New Cue’ line will be highlighted indicating that you will be storing to a new cue at the end of the cuelist. To store over an existing cue highlight the one you want.
	Inserts a new cue before the line the icon is on.
Search (cues)	Typing a few letters or numbers in the search box filters the browser to show just the cues that match what you type.

5. click on the icon in the ‘Cue Start Mode’ section to set how the cue will start, the options are:
• Halt – Press the Go button to play the cue
• Follow – Play ‘n’ seconds after the previous cue has ended.
• Start – Play ‘n’ seconds after the previous cue has started.
• Timecode – Play at the specified Timecode (i.e. 01:02:03:04 would start the cue when timecode 1 Hour, 2 Minutes, 3 Seconds and 4 Frames is received)
6. If you’ve made the cue start mode ‘Follow’ or ‘Start’ enter the time, in seconds, after the previous cue has ended or started to start this cue.
7. Set the fade times for the cue. To do this you can either:
• set the in and out fade time by typing in the time box. For example typing 2/3 sets the Infade time, for all features to 2 seconds and the outfade time, for Intensity to 3 seconds or,
• click on the timing drop down and select from the list of preset times. For more information on Timing see page xxx or,
• click on the timing bars and drag them to the fade times you want or,
• click on the expand icon to reveal the detailed timing panel:


In the detailed view you can set a fade time, delay time and fade curve for each of the six feature types – Intensity (in and out), Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam and Miscellaneous channels. To set times either type in the boxes or click on the timing bars and adjust them. To change the fade curve click on the icon and select from the popup list

1. If you’re are storing to a New Cuelist, you can give it a title, in the Cuelist Name box
2. If you’re are storing to a New Cue, you can give it a title, in the Cue Name box.
3. Click OK to complete the Store Look operation or double-tap on a playback ‘Select’ button to Store the cuelist to that playback.
4. Check the buttons for the classes or types of events you want Vista to display.
5. Type a name for the filter.
6. Click the ‘Close’ button. Vista adds this filter to the drop-down filter list.
• Hold down the Yellow modifier (Ctrl on a keyboard) on the console and press the Select button on an empty playback to Store your look and open the cuelist in the Editor window.

Store Part


Store Part is Vista’s advanced recording method. It provides several options, not available with Store Look.

If you’ve created information in the Live tab of the Editor (or another cuelist), you can add it or merge it into an existing cuelist, or use it to replace a cue altogether. You can also start a new cuelist using the Store Part method.

To store this way you do this click on the ‘Store Part’ button or select the Store Part option on the Tools menu. Vista displays the Store Part window:


Selecting the Cuelist to Store to

Vista automatically sets the ‘Store to’ cuelist to the last cuelist you saved. If you want to store to a new cuelist or another cuelist you’ve already started you can either:

• click on the ‘New’ button in the cuelist panel to start a new cuelist.
• tap on a console playback ‘Select’ button to select the Cuelist on that playback or,
• click on the Cuelist you want in cuelist panel, which displays all your saved items.

To help find a particular cuelist you can filter using the source and search options:

This option…	does this…
All	Filters the browser to show all the cuelists you’ve recorded
Recent	Filters the browser to show just the last few cuelists you’ve stored.
Playing	Filters the browser to show just the cuelists that you are playing back.
Console	Filters the browser to show just the cuelists that you are visible on the console – i.e. cuelists that are on the playback pages you can see.
New	Creates a New cuelist with the next available number.
Search (cuelists)	Typing a few letters or numbers in the search box filters the browser to show just the cuelists that match what you type.

Selecting the Cue and store options

You can add a new cue, or merge to or replace the contents of an existing cue. When you first open the Store Part window the Cue ‘Add’ button will be selected automatically. The Merge and Replace options will not be available unless you select an existing cue first.

1. If you are adding a new cue you can either accept the cue number Vista suggests or type a number in the Cue Number box or click on one of the insert icons in the list of cues to set the insert location.
   
   – insert cue icon

2. If you are Merging or Replacing you can either type a number in the Cue Number box or click on any cue in the cue list panel.
3. For a new cue enter the cue number and name.
4. click on the icon in the ‘Cue Start Mode’ section to set how the cue will start, the options are:
• Halt – Press the Go button to play the cue
• Follow – Play ‘n’ seconds after the previous cue has ended.
• Start – Play ‘n’ seconds after the previous cue has started.
• Timecode – Play at the specified Timecode (i.e. 01:02:03:04 would start the cue when timecode 1 Hour, 2 Minutes, 3 Seconds and 4 Frames is received)
5. If you’ve made the cue start mode ‘Follow’ or ‘Start’ enter the time, in seconds, after the previous cue has ended or started to start this cue.
6. Select the timing option to apply to the cue, the options are:
• Destination – use the timing of the cue you are saving to
• Custom – use the timing from the Editor or set it manually.
7. Select the fixtures to include when storing:

This option…	does this…
All Fixtures	Includes settings for all fixtures with output coming from the Live tab, or any other cue that’s open in the editor [TBC]
Selected Fixtures	Only includes fixtures that are selected in the Live tab or cue being edited.

8. Select the parameters to store using the filter bar. Click on any of the Intensity, Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam or Miscellaneous icons to mask or un-mask that parameter.
9. Select the Store Source options.

This option…	does this…
Current Editor tab	Automatically set to ‘Live’ or the Cuelist being edited
All Output	Select this button to store all information, from both the editor and any active playbacks.

10. Select the tracking options

This option…	does this…
Cue only	Click this checkbox to undo any changes in the following cue. This option will not have any effect unless there is at least one cue after the one you are editing

11. Select the Blocking options.

This option…	does this…
No Blocking	The cue is stored normally
Normal Blocking	Ensures that events that are tracking through to the cue being stored will not be changed even if they are modified in the earlier cue(s).
Super Blocking	Not implemented

Opening a Cuelist in the Editor


The ‘Store Look’ and ‘Store Part’ methods let you store cues to an existing (or new) cuelist, without first opening the cuelist in the editor.

You can also start a new cuelist from scratch or open an existing one in the editor. To do this click on the New Cuelist button (normally F2) or select the ‘New Cuelist option from the Components menu.

Whichever method you choose, Vista creates a new Cuelist tab and displays the Editor window.

Layout View


In the ‘Layout’ view:

• the cues are laid out end to end, in timeline view. Cues that are set to start before the previous cue finishes overlap and appear on a separate line.
• the selected cue shows with an outline and white text. Click on a row to select a cue, shift-click or ctrl-click to select a range or group of cues.

You can double-click on a tile’s name and enter a new value. To move a cue click and hold while dragging the cue to the left or right.

Adding and deleting cues

A cuelist can contain as many cues as you like. To add a new cue at the end of the cuelist you are working on you:

• click on the ‘New cue’ icon at the end of the cuelist scrollbar, or
• choose the ‘Tools > Cues > Append at end’ option from the Cuelist menu.

You can also insert cues before or after an existing cue by first selecting a cue then clicking and holding the ‘New cue’ icon until the insert popup appears.

The popup provides option to:

• insert a new cue before the selected cue
• insert a new cue after the selected cue
• append a new cue at the end of the cuelist.

These options are also available on the ‘Tools > Cues submenu on the Cuelist menu.

Deleting cues

To delete a cue, first select it then:

• click on the ‘Delete cue’ icon at the end of the cuelist scrollbar, or
• choose the ‘Delete Cue’ option Tools > Cues submenu on the Cuelist menu.

Merging cues

Sometimes it’s useful to merge the contents of two or more cues. To do this:

1. Select the cues with the pen or mouse. Shift-click or ctrl-click to extend the selection.
2. Choose the ‘Merge cues’ option from the Tools > Cues submenu on the Cuelist menu.
• Cues always merge to the lowest cue number.

Moving and copying cues

Often you’ll have an effect in one of more cues of a cuelist that you’d like to use in another place or another cuelist. You can do this using the cuelist navigator panel.

To do this:

1. Select one or more cues by clicking on the cue tiles.
2. Choose the Copy or Cut option from the Edit menu or right-click on the cue(s) and select Copy cue or Cut cue from the popup menu
3. Click on the cue before the location you want to move or copy to

Choose the Paste option from the Edit menu or right-click on the cue(s) and select Paste from the popup menu. The default paste action will restore the look of the copied cue by inserting release events for any features added in the intervening cues. To paste just the events or an alias of the cue, use the ‘paste special’ option.

• You can also copy cues by dragging and dropping cue tiles in the cuelist navigator.

Paste options

If you want to move or copy just the events in the original cue, without releasing any other events that occur in previous cues you can use the ‘paste special’ option on the edit menu.

The cue scrollbar includes buttons to switch the navigator view and to add or delete cues.

This option…	does this…
Paste the entire look.	Restores the look of the original cue by inserting release events for any features added in the intervening cues..
Paste only the events	Pastes the events in the original cue, without adding and release events
Alias cue	Pastes an alias of the original cue.

Alias cues

If you want to use the same cue, in a cuelist, several times you can make an ‘Alias’. This way if you update any one of the associated alias cues they will all update.

To create an alias cue

1. Copy the cue by selecting it and choosing the copy option from the edit menu.
2. Navigate to the cue before the position you want the new cue to appear.
3. Choose the Paste special option from the edit menu. Vista opens the Paste Special window.
4. Select the Alias cue option and click OK. Vista pastes an Alias cue after the selected cue.

Alias cue tiles are marked with a small ‘Alias’ icon and you can view the cues that are aliased to each other in the ‘Aliased cues’ section of the Cue properties window.

• When two or more cues are aliased to each other any one can be changed and all the other will also change. There is no ‘master’ cue in an alias set.

Removing the link to an Alias Cue

An Alias cue can be changed to normal cue. To do this:

1. Select the Cue tile to be changed.
2. Select the ‘Remove Cue Alias’ option from the edit menu, or, right-click’ on the cue tile ‘Remove Cue Alias’ option from the popup menu

Making changes to a cue without affecting the next cue

It’s often useful to make changes to cue without those changes tracking through to the following cue. For example, you might have a cuelist where the lights change to colour blue in cue 1 and stay that way until they change to red in cue 10. If you then decide you want them to be yellow in just cue 5 you could make that change but since there are no colour events in cues 6-9 the lights will stay yellow when you really want them to revert back to blue in cue 6.

For this situation Vista provides a method to make changes to a cue only. To do this:

1. Edit a cuelist and make the changes.
2. In the timeline select the events – they will normally be highlighted already.
3. Click on the ‘Untrack’ button on the toolbar or select the ‘Un-track events (cue only)’ option from the Tools menu. Vista inserts events in the following cue to set the lights back to the state they were in before the change. If there were no events of that type originally, Vista inserts release events instead.

Blocking a cue

Vista is a tracking console, which means that only changed information is stored in any cue and that any information in a cue tracks forward until it is replaced by a new event or cleared. Sometimes it’s useful to ‘block’ a cue so that any changes that are subsequently made to previous cues will not affect the final look of the chosen cue.

To do this:

1. Select the cue with the events you want to keep exactly as they are. You can select the cue by clicking on the cue tile or playing the cuelist until you reach it.
2. Choose the ‘Block’ button on the toolbar (normally Ctrl F9) or select the ‘Block cue ’ option from the Cuelist menu or right-click on the cue tile and select Block from the popup menu. Vista duplicates all tracked information into the selected cue.

Cue Properties

Each cue has a number, name and fade time that you can set by clicking on the cue tiles and editing the fields. You can also set these properties and other advanced options more in the Cue Properties window.

To do this:

1. Select the cue you want in the Cuelist navigator.
2. Choose the Cue Properties option from the edit menu or right-click on the cue tile and select the Cue properties option from the popup menu.

Modifying cue name, duration, and end of cue action

The cue’s name, number and how it starts are set in the properties section of the window:


This option…	does this…
Cue name	Sets the name that appears in all windows for this cue
Cue number	Sets the number that appears in all windows for this cue The cue number cannot be changed to a value that would mean changing the order of the cue tiles.
Follow Time (Cue Start Mode)	sets how the cue will start, the options are: (Halt) Press the Go button to play this cue (Follow) Play ‘n’ seconds after the previous cue ends (Start) Play ‘n’ seconds after the start of the previous cue. (Timecode) Play when the timecode is received.
Follow time (Timecode)	Sets how long after the start or end of the previous cue that this cue starts. This field can only be edited when the cue start mode is set to Follow, Start or Timecode.
Default timing	Sets the timing for all events that have not been manually adjusted. The popup window lets you select from the saved timing sets or customise a new one.
Ignore Learn Timing	Tick this checkbox to ignore this cue when using the ‘Learn Timing’ feature.

Making a cue loop back and repeat previous cues

A cue can be set to loop back to a previous cue and to repeat the loop any number of times. ‘Looping’ is set in the loop section of the window:


This option…	does this…
Loop iterations	Sets how many times the loop will repeat before the cuelist proceeds normally
Loop to cue	Sets the cue that will play next.
Loop tracking	Sets whether the events stored in the cues after the ‘Loop to cue’ will track through to the loop cue
Loop direction	Sets the direction of the loop. The options are: Forwards – loops from last to first Backwards – loops from last to previous. Bounce – loops backwards then forwards. Random – loops to a random cue between the first and last cue in the loops

• Cues that are set to loop don’t play automatically, like a chase. If you want any of the cues in a loop to play without pressing Go you have to set the cue start mode.

Alias cues

Alias cue tiles are marked with a small ‘Alias’ icon and you can view the cues that are aliased to each other in the ‘Aliased cues’ section of the Cue properties window:


Tracking

Normally features that are stored in any cue track forward until they are replaced by a new event or cleared. If you only want some events to play in one cue and not track forward you can turn tracking off for one or more cues. To do this open the Blocking / Tracking section of the Cue properties window and tick the ‘Non-Tracking’ checkbox:


Blocking

Normally only changed features are stored in any cue and information tracks forward until it is replaced by a new event or cleared. Sometimes it’s useful to ‘block’ a cue so that any changes that are subsequently made to previous cues will not affect the final look of the chosen cue.

To view or modify the blocking for a cue open the ‘Blocking’ section of the Cue properties window:


This option…	does this…
None	The cue is stored normally
Blocking	Ensures that events that are tracking through to the cue being stored will not be changed even if they are modified in the earlier cue(s).
Super Blocking	Ensures that events that are tracking through to the cue being stored will not be changed even if other cuelists, that include the same feature types are played prior to this cue being played.
Block Features	Sets which feature types are blocked. Click on the Intensity, Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam and Miscellaneous icons to turn that feature on or off.
Block Fixtures	Sets which fixtures are blocked. You can choose either ‘All Fixtures’ or the ones you have selected in the editor.

Free Effects mode

In Vista effects can either have a ‘basepoint’ or be ‘free’. A Free effect is designed to run on top of a feature setting. For example a free circle effect will cause fixtures to move in a circle around whatever position has been set by another cue or setting from the console.

To view or modify the Event mode for a cue open the ‘Free effects’ section of the Cue properties window:


This option…	does this…
Events provide Basepoint	Events in the cue will be used as a base point for any baseless effects that are running.
Events stop Free effects	If the cue includes an event that a baseless effect would act on the effect will be stopped.

Audio Playback

To add and play an audio file, when the selected cue plays click on the ‘Audio Playback’ heading to open that section.

This property…	does this…
Browse	Opens the ‘Select Audio’ window where you can choose an audio file.
Clear	Removes the audio file from the cuelist

• To add an audio file that plays through all cues use the Cuelist Properties window.

Cue Defaults

If you have a set of Cue properties that you use frequently you can save them as your ‘Show’ default and they will be used for all future cues. You can also quickly reset a Cue’s properties to the factory defaults or to your show defaults.


This option…	does this…
Reset to show defaults	Reset all cue properties to the settings you have saved as the show defaults (see below).
Reset to factory defaults	Reset all cue properties to their standard (factory) settings.
Save as show defaults	Saves the current cue settings as a default for all new cues.

Cuelist Properties

Each cuelist has a set of properties that control how it plays back and interacts with other cuelists. You can also set these properties in the Cuelist Properties window.

To do this:

1. Open the cuelist in the editor.
2. Select the Cue Properties option on the Edit menu.



This property…	does this…
Name	Sets the name for this cuelist.
ID	Sets the number for this cuelist. This field is not editable.
Priority	Sets the priority for the cuelist. A cuelist set to High priority can’t be overridden by normal or low priority cuelists. Only a cuelist set to Programmer priority can override the Editor (aka Programmer)
Play at end option	Determines what happens after the last cue is played and fully over-ridden. The options are: Restart – the Cuelist starts again at the first cue. Release – the Cuelist is released. Ignore – do nothing
Ignore Release All	The cuelist will ignore the release all command.
Ignore Snapshots	The cuelist will not be affected by a snapshot being loaded.
Release in Black	Releases cuelists when they are no longer contributing to intensity output
HTP Enabled	Causes the intensities of a cuelist to activate as soon as you move the playback fader from 0.
Fader Type	Normally the fader on a playback set will adjust the Intensity of a cue list. To fade all features (Intensity, Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam and Custom) in or out with the slider set this property to “All Features”
Fader Auto Play	Sets the fader play and release actions. The options are: None – the fader only controls intensity. Auto Play – raising the fader above 0% also plays the cue. (aka ‘Go on fader up’). Auto Play & Release – raising the fader above 0% also plays the cue. (aka ‘Go on fader up’). Lowering the fader to 0% releases the cue (aka ‘Release on fader down’). Auto Release – lowering the fader to 0% releases the cue (aka ‘Release on fader down’).
Fader Intensity mode	Sets the fader precedence and actions. Normal – the fader is in normal LTP mode. Submaster – the fader is HTP and will go on fader up and release on down if there is only one cue.
Release on Override	Releases a cuelist that is completely over-ridden. (i.e. is not contributing to the console output.)
Auto Move in Black
Minimum MIB cue length

Cuelist Timing

To set timing properties click on the ‘Timing’ heading to open that section.

This property…	does this…
Release Timing	Sets the fade time when the cuelist is released.
Playback rate %	Playback rate for the cuelist. Normally 100%

Cuelist Timecode

To set timecode properties click on the ‘Timecode’ heading to open that section.

This property…	does this…
Mode	Sets how the cuelist responds to timecode input. Disabled – timecode is ignored. Enabled – timecode will be followed if the cuelist is ‘Armed’ (see the next property. Locked – timecode will always be followed
Armed	If the cuelist is set to timecode ‘Enabled’ it will not respond to timecode until it is armed. To arm the cuelist either set this property to ‘Armed’ or press the play button on the cuellist.
Offset	Add the offset time to the cue trigger times. For example if the offset is 01:00:00:00 (1hr) and a cue trigger time is 00:00:10:00 (10 secs) the cue will go at 01:00:10:00 (1hr 10secs)

Cuelist Audio Playback

To add and play an audio file click on the ‘Audio Playback’ heading to open that section.

This property…	does this…
Browse	Opens the ‘Select Audio’ window where you can choose an audio file.
Clear	Removes the audio file from the cuelist

Chase properties

To set a cuelist to chase and adjust the chase properties click on the ‘Chase’ heading to open that section.

This property…	does this…
Chase Enabled	Turns chase mode on or off.
Chase direction	Sets the step order for chases. Can be set to forward, backward, bounce or random.
Chase Tracking	Turns tracking, within the cuelist on or off. For a chase tracking is normally set to ‘Not Tracking’.
Chase rate	Chase rate when in chase mode, expressed as steps-per-minute.
Chase crossfade %	Proportion of time spent fading vs. time spent at each step of a chase.
Playback rate BPM	Playback rate for the cuelist.

Cuelist property defaults

The properties you set for a cuelist can be used as the default settings for all new cuelists. You can also reset a cuelist to the (factory) standard properties or your own show defaults. To do this click on the ‘Defaults’ heading to open that section.

This property…	does this…
Reset to show defaults	Reset all properties to the settings you have saved as the show defaults (see below).
Reset to factory defaults	Reset all properties to their standard (factory) settings.
Save as show defaults	Saves the current settings as a default for all new cuelists.

Midi Notes

You can set a set a cuelist to be controlled by Midi Note messages sent from an external source . To do this click on the ‘Midi notes’ heading to open that section.

This property…	does this…
Play	Sets the Midi Note that will Play the next Cue in the Cuelist.
Release	Sets the Midi Note that will Release the Cuelist.
Play / Release	Sets the Midi Note that will Play the next Cue in the Cuelist or Release the Cueist if it is already playing.

Setting the Midi note.

To set the Midi note you can either:

• Click in the ‘Note’ field and select from the popup list, or
• Click the ‘Learn’ button to open the Midi Learn window. You can then play a note on your Midi device and the note will be automatically entered.

To clear the Note field click the [X] icon.

• The Midi port and Channel number may need to be configured before you use midi notes with your console or control surface. To do this see xxx on page nnn

Cuelist Notes

You can add notes about a cuelist and these will display in the Playback window. To do this click on the ‘Notes’ heading to open that section.

The Timeline panel

The main section of the timeline is used to control the crossfade times for all the features that you apply to your fixtures. Unlike other consoles where you can only see these times as numbers, in Vista you can see everything laid out on a timelines so you know exactly how when changes will occur in relation to each other.

This panel includes:

1. The default timing section where you set ‘master’ fade times for all feature types (Intensity, Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam, Misc).
2. The detailed timing section where you can set individual fade times for every feature being used on your fixtures.
3. The Filter bar that you use to limit the timeline display to just the fixtures or features or events that you want to work with.

Default times

At the top of the timing section there’s a timeline ruler that controls the over all fade times for all events in a cue – except the ones you explicitly set elsewhere as explained below. When you first open the Timeline (or Chooser) window the ruler will be in it’s collapsed form, as shown here:

The ‘up’ time determines how long it will take for all feature types to fade from their previous value to the value in this cue.

The ‘down’ time is only used for Intensity events where fixtures are fading out (i.e. getting darker or turning off). It determines how long it will take for Intensity to fade from their previous value to the value in this cue.

To adjust the up or down fade time click on the on the end point of the bar and when the cursor changes to a double arrow drag to increase or decrease the time:

To set a delay time click on the bar and when the cursor changes to a hand drag to move the bar so that it starts after the 0s mark of the cue:


• You can also set the up and down fade time by typing in the Timing box. For example typing 3 / 4 sets the Up (or infade) time to 3 seconds and the Down (or outfade) time to 4 seconds.

To expand the default times ruler, click on the arrow icon.

Expanded Default time view

You can set individual default fade times, delay times and fade curves for the different feature types (Intensity, Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam, Misc) in the expanded default time view.

To do this:

1. Click on the expand arrow at the left end of the ruler bar. Vista displays the expanded view:



2. To adjust a feature type fade time click on the on the end point of the bar and when the cursor changes to a double arrow drag to increase or decrease the time. Or type a value in the corresponding ‘Time’ box.
3. To adjust a feature type delay time click on the bar and when the cursor changes to a hand drag to move the bar so that it starts after the )s mark. Or type a value in the corresponding ‘Delay’ box.
4. To adjust a feature type fade curve click on the fade icon and select from the drop down list

This icon…	does this…
Linear	Sets the curve to a normal linear fade. The feature fades evenly from the old setting to the new setting over time.
Damp	The fade is slower at the start
Snap start	The feature goes to the end state very quickly.
Snap end	The feature doesn’t change until the very end of the fade time.
Square law	The feature starts with a delay, then slides up to the end state.
Inverse square la	The feature starts quickly and the finishes slowly.
Switch	The feature goes to the end state very quickly.
Hot power	The feature goes to the end state very quickly.
Flourescent
Sinus

• If you make any adjustment the default time for Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam or Miscellaneous that feature type will no longer be changed when you adjust the ‘Up’ fade time in the condensed timeline ruler.

Saving and re-applying timing configurations

When you’ve set up a set of default fade times that you like, you can save it so you can apply it to other cues.

Saving timing sets

To save a default timing set:

1. Click on the arrow in the timing drop down box:



2. Click on the ‘Custom Timing’ option. Vista opens the Custom timing window:



3. Adjust the feature type fade times using the timing bars or by entering values in the time and delay boxes.
4. Click on the ‘Save as’ button
5. Enter a name for the timing set in the popup box and click OK.
6. Click OK to close the Custom Timing window.

Applying saved timing configurations

To apply a timing set to a cue:

1. Select the cue.
2. Select the timing set you want from the Timing drop-down list.
3. Vista applies the thing set to the cue. This will not change the timing of any event in the cue that has already adjusted in some way.

Modifying the cue number, name and duration

To change cue name, duration, and end of cue action of a cue, in the tiles or layout view:

1. Select the cue with the pen or mouse. Shift-click or ctrl-click to extend the selection.
2. Double click on number, name or duration field. The field switches to edit mode:



3. Enter a new value and press Enter on the keyboard.

About the timeline

The Vista uses a ‘timeline’ concept that will be familiar to you if you’ve used any modern sound or video editing software on a personal computer. When you store into a cue Vista creates an ‘event’ for each feature of each fixture that you use in the cue. The events are placed, on the timeline, in the cue you working on and when you add more cues they strung together in a cuelist.

The idea is simple: you create a series of lighting ‘events’ that occur in sequence when you hit the ‘Play’ button. With the Vista you can move back and forth through this piece of time and edit any aspect of the events that occur, in much the same way as you could drag a tape back and forth across the play head of an analogue tape deck.

Events on the Timeline

The default timing section lets you set the timing for all the fixtures in a cue but when you want to make timing changes for individual fixtures or events you work in the timeline panel. When you select a fixture, in the editor and set Intnsity, Colour or any other feature Vista creates a horizontal ‘event’ bar on the timeline. These are the commands Vista is sending to your fixtures.

The event bars represent the activities of those fixtures over time. As you can see in this example, the bars go from the ‘0s’ point on the timeline scale to the ‘2s’ point. This means that these fixtures are moving to a new setting over two seconds:

The settings you’ve applied to these fixtures on the palettes (e.g. intensity, colour and position) control the fixtures themselves. The timeline simply tells those fixtures to accept those commands, and the event bar represents the length of time it will take those fixtures to get to the desired state.

Once the fixtures get to that state they will stay like that until they receive another command telling them to do something else (e.g. change to another colour or fade out).

By placing the event bars where you want them on the timeline you’re giving commands to those fixtures that tell them how long a parameter will take to fade in. The parameter is determined by the palettes; the timeline only controls when the fade starts and ends.

Using the summary views

You can view the events on the timeline in several ways:

• summarised by feature, i.e. intensity, position and colour
• summarised by fixture type
• filtered by feature type (Intensity, Position, Colour etc) or Fixture type
• filtered by fixture selection
• filtered by fade path, event type and event timing

You choose these views from the Filter view drop-down menu at the left hand end of the ruler bar. You can also switch between the minimised/maximized setting of each summary view using the + and – buttons beside the feature or fixture names in the left column.

Summary by feature

This view shows a set of fixtures by their attributes:

By default, the view shows each bar minimised. To expand each attribute and see the details, click the ‘+’ symbol beside the attribute name (e.g. ‘colour’). Vista displays the details of that attribute:


Summary by fixtures

The fixture type view shows the same information but sorted by fixture rather than attribute:

The default fixture view has all the features minimised. To expand each fixture bar and see the details, click the ‘+’ symbol beside the fixture you want to see. Vista displays the details of that attribute:


Filtering the All Events view

As well as displaying the Feature and Fixture views, you can also choose to filter out different classes of information on the timeline. To do this, choose an option from the list below the line in the View drop-down menu:

When you choose a filter, Vista displays only those types of events.

You can create your own filters to show only those combinations of events you want to see. To create a filter:

1. Choose the ‘Custom View Filter’ option from the menu. Vista displays the Custom Filter window:


With this window you can filter by fixtures, event features and advanced options:

This option…	does this…
View Type Fixtures	Shows fixtures in the left column
View Type Features	Shows feature types in the left column
All	Filters the timeline to show All fixtures
Selected Fixtures	Filters the timeline to show only the fixtures that are selected in the Chooser window
In the Current cue	Filters the timeline to show only the fixtures that have programming in the current cue.
With New Programming	Filters the timeline to show only fixtures that have new have been edited since the cue was last saved.
Groups	Shows just the fixtures, in the groups that are ticked. This filter is applied after the other Fixture filters.
Event Types	Filters the timeline to show only the feature types that are ticked. Click on the ‘+’ sign beside a feature type to select just a subset of that feature.
Fade Path	Filters the timeline to show only events that are (or are not) set to a particlular fade path (i.e. Linear, Snap, etc)
Event type	Filters the timeline to show only events that are (or are not) a particlular type (i.e. Preset, Release, Move in Black, etc)
Event Timing	Filters the timeline to show only events that are (or are not) set to: • Follow the default times • A Zero fade time

2. Click on the ‘Save As’ button. Vista shows the ‘Save As’ window
3. Type a name for the filter.
4. Click the ‘OK’ button. Vista adds this filter to the drop-down filter list.

Managing your saved Filters

You can rename, duplicate or modify a saved filter. To do this select the ‘Manage View Filters’ option from the Filter drop down list. Vista opens the Manage View Filters window:

To modify one of the built in filters or a custom sort you’ve saved:

1. Select the Filter name in the left-hand panel.
2. Modify the View type, Fixture selection, Event types and advanced event options.
3. Click the ‘Save’ button.

Renaming a Filter

You can rename a sort by double clicking on the name, in the left column, and typing a new name.

Duplicating a Filter

To make a copy of a filter, select it and click on the ‘Duplicate’ button.

Deleting a Filter

To delete a filter, select it and click on the ‘Delete’ button.

One click filters

At the bottom of the timeline screen there is a set of filter buttons that provide quick access to four popular filters.


This icon…	does this…
All	Shows all fixtures in the cuelist
Selected	Shows just the selected fixtures.
Cue	Shows the fixtures in the current cue. Useful for removing ‘white space’ in the timeline
New	Shows just the fixtures with new programming.

Zooming in and out

At the bottom of the timeline screen there is a set of zoom buttons that let you control the size of the events in the timeline.

This icon…	does this…
All	Zoom out to show more of the cuelist
Selected	Zoom in to show more detail
Cue	Zoom to show a single cue
	Zoom out to show all cues in the cuelist
New	Zoom to show the selected cue(s)
Auto	Toggles auto zoom on or off. This means that whatever cue is elected is automatically zoomed to fit the window.

• The zoom options are also available on the View menu.

The Editor Status bar

Below the cuelist navigator there’s a status bar that shows details about the cuelist you are working on and the cue that’s being edited and played:

In the status bar the three fields show:

• the Cuelist that is open in the editor, this field will correspond to the selected tab.
• the Cue that is being edited, this field will correspond to the cue that you have selected in the Cue navigator bar.
• the cue, in the cuelist you are working on, that is playing and contributing to the console’s output.

The buttons on the status bar control how the editor interacts with the console’s output and playback:

This button…	does this…
	Link joins the editor and and any playback (of the cue being edited) to the cue you’re editing. This means that when you select a cue, in the editor it will play. Likewise if you play a cue, from the cuelist being edited it will change the cue selection in the editor. If you want to edit a cue without seeing it on stage ‘Link’ should be de-selected. When you turn Link off and select a cue an alert appears in the status bar to inform you that you are: “Not editing the stage cue”
	Clicking on ‘Sync’ sets the cue showing in the editor to match the cue being played. Then, as you play other cues the editor will automatically follow the cue that’s playing. However if you select a different cue, in the editor, playback will not be affected and Sync will automatically turn off. This means you can make a change to an upcoming cue without changing the look on stage then click Sync again to bring the editor in line with the playback.

The progress indicator

When you hit Play, the blue line starts moving from left to right across the event bars in the timeline panel. This line shows where you are up to in this cue. If you hit Pause, the line stops wherever it is on the timeline; if you hit Play it starts from the same spot.

Timeline events

You can create any number of cuelists, each of which can consist of any number of individual lighting events. You can then combine these cuelists and ‘play’ them interactively to produce your overall lightshow.

Adding events to the timeline

Whenever you store a cue, using ‘Store Look’ or ‘Store Part’ you create events on the Cuelist’s timeline. To work with those events and make timing adjustments you open the cuelist in the editor and select the ‘Timeline’ window.

You can also create a new Cuelist, from scratch, in the editor and work with the events straight away. To do this:

1. Click the ‘New’ cuelist icon or select the ‘New’ option on the Cuelist menu.
2. Select the icon on the main toolbar to display the Fixture Chooser window.
3. Choose the fixtures you want (or select a group of fixtures by clicking on one of the Group icons).
4. On the Intensity palette, turn up their intensity to a level above zero. You can also set any of the other features, such as position and colour on the other palettes if you like.
5. Select the Timeline icon on the main toolbar at the top of the screen. Vista displays the timeline window with the features you used shown in the left column and the timing events for those features to the right.

About the Event bars

The timeline event bars are labelled and include graphics to identify their function and edit status.

Feature summary event

Feature events are coloured to indicate their type (Intensity, Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam or Miscellaneous).

The event label shows:

• the number of fixtures the event applies to
• the fade time.

Feature detail event

You can open a feature summary event by clicking on the ‘+’ button, beside the feature name in the left column.

The event label shows:

• the event setting. In the example above the event shows the CMY settings and an icon of the colour. Not all event types include icons.
• the fade time.

Snap events

Events that are set to a zero second (0s) fade time are shaped like a banner with an arrow at the left end:

When you select a snap event there is only one selection handle (the aqua coloured square). When you click on the handle you can drag in either direction and once the event has a length a second handle will appear.

Changed events

Events that you’ve edited, since the cue was last saved, show with a hatched pattern:


Moving events around

Each event has three attributes: a start point, duration and a finish point. The event bars on the timeline show you where each event starts and finishes and how long it will take to reach its end point:

To adjust the start or end point of an event, select the event and drag it along the timeline to the left or right. Note that the grid has an automatic ‘snap-to’ feature that makes it easy to align start and end points.

To change the duration of an event, click on it and select the ‘handle’ (aqua square) on the right-hand end and drag it left to shorten the event, or right to lengthen it.

Note that in the example shown above three separate attributes of the event have different timings:

• the Intensity event starts at 0s and is complete at 2s
• the Position event starts at 0s and is complete by 1s
• the Colour event starts at 0s and is complete at 1.5s
• the Beam event starts at 0s and is complete at 1.75s.

Working with selection handles

A quick and easy way to create dynamic lighting effects is to ‘skew’ the events on the timeline. When you select a group of events, Vista displays a selection box around them with aqua /black squares on the corners and sides known as ‘handles’:

You use these handles to change the duration of the selected events. In this example, the Intensity events of a set of fixtures are selected. By selecting a handle and dragging it you can change the start or finish point of the selected events. In the example above the fixtures will fade in over 1s

In the next example, we’ve selected the middle handle on the lower edge of the selection and dragged it right to fade the events over 2 seconds, offsetting the start and end fade times while retaining the 1 second fade time for the individual fixtures:

Using the selection handles in this way you can utterly transform the attributes of the selected events with just a few quick clicks. You can also adjust any of the intensity, colour and beam attributes at any time while adjusting the timeline events.

Making precise timing adjustments

If you want to set the start and end times and durations of events to a precise point on the timeline you can either zoom right in and line them up visually, or enter the actual time values.

Using the set timing window

You can set event timing and optionally scale events using the ‘Event timing’ window. To do this select the event(s) and select ‘Set Event Timing’ option from the Timeline menu. You can also right-click on select the event(s) and select this option from the popup menu.

Vista displays this screen:


This option…	does this…
Start	Select to set the start time of an event
Middle	Select to set the mid point of an event
End	Select to set the end time of an event.
TIme Start / Mid / End	Enter a time to set the start mid or end of an event to that position on the timeline. If you enter a number with no units Vista assumes seconds. Use h for hours, m for minutes, e.g. 1h2m3.5s
Duration	Enter a time to set the duration (or length) of an event(s). If you enter a number with no units Vista assumes seconds. Use h for hours, m for minutes, e.g. 1m2s.
Scale Events	Select this option if you want all selected events to be scaled when the duration is increased or decreased. Scaling is based on the longest event. If this box is not ticked all events will be set to the same duration

Aligning start and end points

You can also align the start and end times of selected events. To do this, select the events and then select the ‘Align Start’ or ‘Align End’ option from the Timeline menu.

You can also right-click on select the event(s) and select these options from the popup menu.

Resetting events to follow the default times

When you adjust the time of an individual event it no longer follows the cue’s ‘default times’. To reset an event so that it follows the default, select the event and choose the ‘Reset to default timing’ option from the Timeline menu.

You can also right-click on select the event(s) and select these options from the popup menu.

Setting the event fade curve

Vista automatically selects the most suitable fade curve for each feature type but you can choose from a set of pre-defined fade path shapes to set how an event will progress.

Select the ‘Fade Curves’ option from the Timeline menu or right-click on the event(s) and choose the Fade Curves option to display the fade path options:

The shapes in this menu depict the fade paths you can choose:

This icon…	does this…
Linear	Sets the curve to a normal linear fade. The feature fades evenly from the old setting to the new setting over time.
Damp
Snap start	The feature goes to the end state very quickly.
Snap end	The feature doesn’t change until the very end of the fade time.
Square law	The feature starts with a delay, then slides up to the end state.
Inverse square	The feature starts quickly and the finishs slowly.
Switch	The feature goes to the end state very quickly.
Hot power	The feature goes to the end state very quickly.
Flourescent
Sinus

• Instead of making an event very short, you can just set it to Snap at Start.

Creating Release events

Sometimes it’s useful to have a cue release control of a feature. For example a cuelist might set some lights to point downstage in the first cue but in the second cue you want the lights to revert to whatever position they were in previously. To do this you need to store a ‘Release’ event(s) for the fixtures and features you want to the cue to relinquish control of.

You can also right-click on select the event(s) and select these options from the popup menu.

Un-tracking events

You can also right-click on select the event(s) and select these options from the popup menu.

Muting events

If you want to temporarily prevent an event from being played back you can ‘mute’ it. To do this select the event(s) and choose the ‘Mute event option from the Events menu. The event bar will be greyed and when the cue is played the event will be ignored.

To un-mute an event choose the ‘Unmute’ event option from the Events menu.

You can also right-click on select the event(s) and select these options from the popup menu.

Stopping effects overriding an event

‘Baseless’ effects are designed to run on top of a feature setting. For example a baseless circle effect will cause fixtures to move in a circle around whatever position is been set in a cue. If you want to stop a baseless effect running on an event, right click on the event and select the ‘Stop free effects’ option.

Updating Presets and Cuelists during playback

When you make changes in the Programmer Live tab while a cuelist is being played back, you can make those changes apply to the presets from which you constructed the cuelist, or just make the changes to the cuelist itself.

• Update is designed to change settings that are already in a Cuelist and does not automatically add new events or fixtures to a Cuelist, but you can open a Cuelist and add new information in the programmer window on the Update window.

Existing information

To update existing information:

1. While a cuelist is playing, go to the Live tab in the Programmer window and select the fixtures you want to change.
2. Make the adjustments you want using the palettes or hardware controls.
3. Click the Update icon , or choose the Update option from the Tools menu.
4. Vista displays the Update window:


Here you can choose whether to apply the changes to Cuelists or Presets if they are in use. You can also filter the changes by fixtures and parameter. By default, Vista selects the presets.

5. To make the changes to all Fixtures in the Cuelist or Preset, click the ‘All fixtures’ button. To make the changes to just the selected fixtures click ‘Selected fixtures’ button.
6. You can use the parameter filter icons to select or de-select the features you want to include in the preset – Intensity, Position, Colour, Gobo, Beam and Misc. For more information about the parameter filter bar refer to Presets on page 5-46.
7. To apply the changes to presets, click the checkboxes beside the preset names in the Presets pane or, click the checkboxes beside the cuelist names in the Cuelists pane to apply the changes to one or more cuelist rather than to the presets.
8. When you’ve defined how you want to apply your changes, click the OK button to return to the Programmer screen.