Table of Contents > Workspaces
QLab Documentation
This page last modified: 19 Jan 2009 01:41:35 PM.

Workspaces

 Related Tutorial 


Tutorial 1-4: The Workspace

Each document in QLab is called a workspace. A workspace is composed of a collection of cue lists, which are in turn composed of a collection of cues.
Pictured below is a simple workspace with only two audio cues.
[A QLab workspace.]
A simple workspace with two audio cues.
The workspace window is divided into seven parts:
  1. The toolbar.
  2. The GO / On Deck / Notes panel.
  3. The toolbox.
  4. The current cue list.
  5. The active cue panel.
  6. The cue list drawer.
  7. The inspector panel.
[The components of a workspace.]
The components of a workspace.
The currently selected cue list is displayed in the center of the workspace window (#4). Pressing the "GO" button fires the cue list, causing the cue at the current playback position to be triggered and the playback position to advance. By default, pressing the space bar is equivalent to pressing the GO button. (You can change the GO key in the workspace preferences.)
You may have more than one workspace open at a time. You may cut and paste (or drag and drop) cues from one workspace to another.
Workspace Subtopics:

Adding cue lists

A workspace may have an unlimited number of cue lists. Cue lists may be viewed in the cue list drawer, which is accessed by pressing the drawer toolbar button (). Cue lists may be added and removed using the plus and minus buttons in the cue list drawer.
You may convert a Group Cue into a cue list by dragging the Group Cue into the drawer. All the cues that were in the group will become part of the new cue list. Similarly, cue lists dragged into other cue lists are converted into Group Cues. (Learn more about groups with the Group Cue documentation.)

The cue list drawer.

Adding cues

New cues are added using the toolbox. See the toolbox documentation for details.

The components of a cue row

Each row of a cue list displays information about one cue. This information includes the cue's status, type, number, name, target, timing and duration information, and continue mode.
The status of the cue may be one of four values:
Status Icon Meaning
Running The cue is currently running or waiting.
On Deck The cue has been loaded and is ready to be fired.
Broken The cue has an invalid or incomplete setting and can not be played.
Blank (no icon) The cue is not running, loaded, or broken.
The status may also indicate that the cue is the current playback position of the cue list:
Status Icon Meaning
Running Playback Position Same as table above, but the cue is also the playback position for this cue list.
On Deck Playback Position Same as table above, but the cue is also the playback position for this cue list.
Broken Playback Position Same as table above, but the cue is also the playback position for this cue list.
Playback Position The cue is the current playback position. The cue is not running, loaded, or broken.
The other cue properties displayed in a cue row are described in the Cue documentation.

Ordering cues

Cues may be reorganized within cue lists by dragging and dropping them to new locations. If a dragging operation is invalid, such as attempting to drag a Group Cue within itself, QLab will not allow the operation. You may select multiple cues to drag at once by holding down the shift key or the command key as you click each cue you want to drag.
Dragging operations, along with all other changes to the cues in a QLab workspace, are undoable.

Changing the time display mode

The three columns in the workspace that display time information can display it in one of two modes: time elapsed () or time remaining (). Click on the time mode button in the column header to toggle the display mode for that column.

Setting targets

Many cues in a workspace have targets. The exact meaning of the target depends upon the type of cue, but no cue may have more than one target. For cues that have targets, the target is either a file or another cue. This target represents the object upon which the cue acts in some way. For example, a Start Cue will start its cue target and an Audio Cue will play its audio file target.
You can set a target in several ways. For cues that operate upon other cues, you can either drag the desired target cue onto the receiving cue, or you can enter the number of the target cue directly via the keyboard.
For cues that operate on files, you can drag the file from the Finder onto the receiving cue to set the target. Alternately, you can click on the arrow button () in the cue row. This will bring up a dialog box through which you can pick the file you want to use for the cue.
By default pressing 'T' on the keyboard will edit the target of the currently selected cue.
Cues will attempt to determine if they can accept the target you are dropping on them. In the case of a Audio Cue, for example, it will attempt to determine if the file you are dropping is an audio file of a type that the cue can play. If the Audio Cue can handle the file, a blue rectangle is drawn around the row in the cue list indicating that the file will be accepted. If the file cannot be handled, no such rectangle will be drawn and the drop operation will not be permitted.

Navigating the cue list

Several key commands are available to make navigating the cue list easier:
Select the next cue (only when the cue list is selected).
Select the previous cue (only when the cue list is selected).
+Move to the top of the next sequence.
-Move to the top of the last sequence.
Expand the currently selected Group Cue.
Collapse the currently selected Group Cue.
>Expand all Group Cues.
<Collapse all Group Cues.
Command-↓Select the next cue.
Command-↑Select the previous cue.
Command-→Select the next inspector tab.
Command-←Select the previous inspector tab.
Option-Command-↑Move the playback position up.
Option-Command-↓Move the playback position down.

Bundling a Workspace

In the process of building your workspace, you may have used media files from a variety of locations on your computer. This can make it difficult to transfer your workspace to a new computer, or archive it for later use.
To address this problem, QLab offers a feature called "bundling". You may bundle any workspace using the "File" → "Bundle Workspace..." menu item. When you bundle a workspace, QLab will first prompt you to enter a name and destination for your bundled workspace. This name is used to create a new folder for your workspace. Your workspace file and every media file referenced in your workspace are then copied to this new folder. All cues are updated to use these new media files. The bundled workspace can then be easily transferred to a new machine.

The Toolbar

The workspace toolbar offers several useful controls for the workspace. You can customize the controls displayed in the toolbar by selecting "View" → "Customize Toolbar..." or by right-clicking or control-clicking on the toolbar and selecting "Customize Toolbar..."

Inspector Button

The Inspector Button displays or hides the cue inspector panel.

Toolbox Button

The Toolbox Button displays or hides the cue toolbox.

Active Cues Button

The Active Cues Button displays or hides the active cues panel.

Resetting the workspace

The "Reset All" toolbar button stops every cue in the workspace, resets the playback position of every cue list to their first cue, and loads the first sequence of every cue list.

Stopping all cues

The "Stop All" toolbar button stops every cue in the workspace but does not alter the cue list playback positions.
Pressing the escape key is equivalent to pressing the "Stop All" toolbar button in every open workspace.

Loading a sequence

The "Load" toolbar button causes the sequence of cues starting at the currently selected cue to be loaded. The "Load to Time" toolbar slider allows you to "fast forward" through the sequence at the playback position so it is loaded to particular time.
A loaded cue has been prepared in every way possible to be started immediately. An Audio Cue, for example, will load part of its sound file into a buffer to enable immediate audio playback.
When a cue list is fired and the playback position is advanced, the next cue sequence is loaded automatically.
Cues that are loaded and "on deck" display a yellow circle () in their status column.

Refreshing targets

The "Refresh Targets" toolbar button causes all media files in the workspace to be reloaded. This can be helpful if you are editing your media files in external applications while building the workspace.

Showing/hiding group outlines

The "Show/Hide Group Outlines" toolbar button allows you to...you guessed it, show and hide the group cue outlines. This option is also available from the "View" → "Show/Hide Group Outlines" menu item.

Locking the workspace

You can use the "Lock" toolbar button to lock or unlock a workspace. When locked, you cannot change the workspace.
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