Product Update 3.7:
Groups, Custom Fields & Over/Under

← Back · · Lukas Hermann Lukas Hermann

Headings and groups

A long run of show is hard to scan. Now you can put cues into groups and add headings. Cues in a group get sub-numbers: 2.1, 2.2. The group heading shows the start time and the total duration of its children.

To make a group, click Select above the timer list, select the cues and click Group. Groups can have a color and can be collapsed.

Rundown with the heading Main Stage, cue 1, and the violet group Keynotes with cues 2.1 and 2.2
A plain heading and the group “Keynotes” with two cues

The API uses the same numbers now. Send index=2.1 to target the first cue in group 2. Read more in Headings and Groups.

Custom fields

Many of us, me included, used the notes to store extra data for each cue. Now there is a better way. Custom fields add structured data to each cue. Use the simple key-value editor, or paste a full JSON payload.

Open the title/speaker editing area of a cue and click Add custom fields. Type a key and a value. Switch to JSON to paste data or to add nested values.

Timer edit popup with four custom fields: vt, slides, lower_third and auto_go
Custom fields in the timer edit popup

Fields are part of the timer object in the API and in the current_timer and next_timer socket events. Your script gets the data of a cue when the cue starts. We’re working on an update to the Companion module.

JSON export and import keep the fields, and the desktop app has them too. Custom fields are available on all plans. Read more in Custom Fields.

Over/Under element

Version 3.6 showed the over/under in the controller. Now the crew can see it too, with the new Over/Under element. It shows ON TIME or UNDER 2m in green, and OVER 5m in red.

Viewer output with the timer at 12:49 and a red pill that reads OVER 4m 37s in the top right corner
The Viewer with an Over/Under element in place of the logo

It comes as colored text or a colored pill, in your own colors. Green and red follow the room’s tolerance.

⭐️ The Over/Under element is a Premium feature, like all output customization. You can use the $OVER_UNDER placeholder on any plan.

New placeholders

Groups, custom fields and the over/under all come with placeholders. This is where the features come together. I built a stage manager output with four text elements:

$CURRENT_INDEX  $CURRENT_TITLE
$CURRENT_GROUP_TITLE · ends $CURRENT_GROUP_FINISH
VT  $CURRENT_FIELD[vt]   ·   Slides  $CURRENT_FIELD[slides]
Next: $NEXT_TITLE  ·  VT  $NEXT_FIELD[vt]
Stage manager output with 2.1 Opening Keynote, the group Keynotes ending 5:49 PM, OVER 4m 8s, the timer, the VT file and slide count, and the next cue with its VT file
An output for the crew, built from placeholders

You don’t need to remember them. Type $ in a text element or a message, and a list shows every placeholder with its live value.

Text element settings with $GROUP typed and a list of the four group placeholders with their live values
Type $ to pick a placeholder

All placeholders are in Available Placeholders.

A more precise output editor

The output editor now works in pixels. Each element has fields for X/Y position and width/height. Arrow keys move an element by 1 px, Cmd/Ctrl+D duplicates it, and copy and paste work between outputs.

Text, timer, clock and message elements can also have a fixed font size.

Customizer with a text element selected. The settings show a fixed size of 22 and Position and Size fields in px
Fixed size and Position & Size in px

API v0 stops on December 31

If your scripts or devices still call api.stagetimer.io/v0/, move them to API v1 before then.

All changes: Changelog. Questions or issues? Contact support

Cheers,
Lukas

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