Overlays

An overlay is information laid over your video: the current cue, a countdown, the running timecode, a clock, a logo. It is what turns a video feed into something a stage manager or a performer can actually work from.

Build overlays in Settings > Overlay Editor. This page is about where they appear and how to switch them on.

Turning An Overlay On

Right-click the video area to show the overlay, hide it, or jump straight to the editor.

Hiding an overlay does not change it. Everything you built is still there when you turn it back on.

Where Overlays Appear

One overlay, several destinations. Each one decides for itself whether it carries the overlay.

On screen in CuePoints

Over the media in the main window, and in the media popout window.

The standalone Overlay Window

A window showing only the overlay, on a black background. Put it on a second screen, or capture it, when you want the information without the picture behind it.

Over the network

The NDI pane has Broadcast media with overlay. Turn it on for a monitor feed that people read from; leave it off when the picture is going to a projector or into a mix.

In recordings

The Recording pane has an Overlay setting with three choices:

• None: a clean recording.

• Current: whatever overlay is on screen at the time.

• A saved preset: the recording gets its own overlay layout, whatever the live output is doing.

That last one is the useful one. The live feed can stay clean while the archive recording carries cue names, timecode and the date burnt in.

The overlay's timecode clock runs correctly on recordings, so a recorded overlay shows the real time as it was.

In exported video

You can bake a chosen overlay preset into exported video, so the file you hand over already has the information on it.

What You Can Put On One

Up to 20 items, in any combination:

• Text: anything fixed.

• CuePoint: the current or next cue, with a countdown or a count-up.

• Timecode: striped, incoming, or the playhead position.

• Timestamp: the real date and time.

• Image: a logo or a mark.

There is also a separate watermark, kept apart from the ordinary items so a layout change can't remove it by accident.

Full details of every item and its settings are on the Overlay Editor page.

Making An Overlay Readable

Text over a moving picture is the hard part. Three things do most of the work:

• Give it a background. A dark panel behind the text at around 25% opacity keeps words legible whatever is happening behind them.

• Check it against the real picture. The editor's preview has Show the camera behind the preview for exactly this, text that looks perfect on black can disappear over a bright stage.

• Leave a margin. Use the padding controls so nothing is jammed against the frame edge, where a screen or a projector may cut it off.

Presets

Save a whole overlay layout under a name and switch between shows in one click. Presets are also what you pick when you want a recording to carry a different overlay from the live output.