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Getting Started

Your first hour with CuePoints, from opening a track to firing cues

CuePoints keeps a cue list locked to your show's timecode: your tracks on a timeline, your cues on the tracks, and timecode going out to everything else in the building.

This page gets you from a fresh install to a working show.

Upgrading from an older version? Projects saved in CuePoints 2 cannot be opened in any earlier version. Back up your projects before you upgrade.

Install And Open

Download CuePoints from cuepoints.com, drag it across, and open it.

The first thing you'll see is the splash screen: your recent projects down one side, and buttons to make a new project or open an existing one.

Signing In

CuePoints runs in Viewer mode until you sign in. Viewer is free, opens any project, and lets you add up to 10 cues, enough to try it properly.

To sign in, click the status indicator at the bottom-left of the splash screen, or choose CuePoints > Account / Sign In…. Enter your email address, and CuePoints sends you an 8-digit code. There's no password and no licence key.

Full details are on the Licences page.

Making Your First Project

  1. Click New Project on the splash screen. If you already have a template of CuePoint Types, pick it here.

  2. Drag your audio or video files onto the track list. Each file becomes a track.

  3. CuePoints asks whether the media already has timecode recorded onto it. If you don't know, it doesn't, leave No LTC selected.

  4. Select a track and press Cmd+E to set its timecode offset and framerate. These have to match the rest of the show.

That's a working project. More in Tracks & Media.

Adding Cues

Put the playhead where you want a cue and press the cue type's number key. That's the whole thing.

Cues live in CuePoint Types: Lighting, Sound, Video, and so on, so each department can show, hide and export its own without wading through everyone else's.

More in CuePoints.

Getting Timecode Out

Open Settings with Cmd+,.

  • Audio Output: choose your interface and set a channel to LTC to send timecode as a sound.

  • Timecode: send MIDI or Art-Net timecode, or follow a clock coming in from somewhere else.

More in Timecode & Routing.

Where To Go Next

  • Playback: the timeline, the transport, and moving around a track fast.

  • Keyboard Shortcuts: the single biggest speed-up available.

  • OSC: let a lighting desk or a Stream Deck drive CuePoints.

  • Recording: capture the show, with your cues landing on the recording.

  • Overlays: put cue names, timers and clocks on your video.

  • Collaboration: work on the same show as your team, live.

  • Backup: worth two minutes now rather than later.

Keeping CuePoints Up To Date

CuePoints updates itself. When one is ready you'll see a notice on the splash screen, and you can read the release notes before you install anything.

Licences