OSC

CuePoints > Settings… > OSC

OSC is a way for machines on a network to send each other short messages. This pane lets you send and receive OSC over the network to trigger cue points and consoles.

Two things it gets you:

• Your lighting or media console can control CuePoints: press GO over there, a cue appears over here.

• CuePoints can control the console: fire a cue here and the console jumps to it.

Connections

You can have up to five connections at once: one to the lighting desk, one to the video server, one to a tablet, and so on. They're listed at the top.

• Add a connection makes a new one.

• Remove the selected connection deletes the one you've got selected. You'll always keep at least one; the last one can't be removed.

• Click a connection to select it. Everything below the list belongs to that connection.

Each shows whether it's Running or Not Connected, so you can see at a glance which links are live.

Setting Up One Connection

PRESET: start here. A preset fills in the right message wording for a known console, so you don't have to type anything. Pick your console if it's listed; pick Custom to do it yourself.

NAME: what you call this connection. Name it after the machine it talks to, Lighting Desk, not Connection 2.

HOST ADDRESS: the network address of the other machine, like 192.168.1.50. The other machine's own settings screen will tell you what it is.

PORT: the numbered port OSC arrives on. Both ends must use the same number; your console's manual says which one.

PROTOCOL: how the messages travel:

• UDP: fast, simple, and what almost everything uses. Start here.

• TCP: a checked connection. Some consoles need it. Only use it if the manual says so.

FRAMING (TCP): only matters on TCP. It's how the two ends agree where one message stops and the next starts.

• None, Length Prefix, or SLIP. The console's manual will say which. If it doesn't say, try SLIP first.

NETWORK INTERFACE: which network card to use. Leave it on the default unless your computer is on two networks at once (Wi-Fi and a wired show network). Then pick the wired one by name so the messages don't go out of the wrong door.

The list is refreshed every time you open it, so plugging in a dock or a network adapter shows up immediately.

Connect starts the connection.

Message Routing

Four switches that decide what this connection is allowed to do:

• Receive commands: the console can control CuePoints.

• Send commands: CuePoints can control the console. Turn this on for CuePoints sends OSC when a cue point fires, so firing a cue here jumps the console there.

• Send status messages: CuePoints continuously reports its transport, playhead and record state, about ten times a second. Turn this on for a tablet or a status display that needs to show where the show is. Turn it off if you don't need it, it's a steady stream of network traffic.

• This connection can trigger CuePoints: lets this connection create cues in your project. Leave it off for anything you only want to watch the show.

Turn on only what you need. If a console should watch but never change anything, Receive commands off is the switch that guarantees it.

Cue Trigger Actions

This decides what a cue trigger does in each transport state: in other words, what happens when the console presses GO.

It matters because you usually want two different things: while you're recording a show you want a cue created, and while you're just playing back you usually don't.

When not recording: four choices:

• Console Triggers CuePoints: the console's GO makes CuePoints jump to the matching cue. Use this when the desk is in charge.

• Do Nothing: ignore it. The safe setting while you're building a show and don't want stray cues appearing.

• Create New CuePoint: drop a new cue at the playhead every time the console fires.

• Run Cues On Console: the other way round: CuePoints is in charge and drives the desk.

When recording: two choices:

• Do Nothing

• Create New CuePoint: this is the one you want while capturing a show. Every GO on the desk lands as a cue in CuePoints, at the right moment.

Going To A Cue

• OSC Go trigger: the exact message that means "go" from your console. A preset fills this in. Otherwise, watch the MESSAGE LOG while someone presses GO, and copy what appears.

• CuePoint type for Goto: which kind of cue the console's GO should look for.

  • All Types matches anything.

  • Or pick one of your own cue types, so a lighting desk only ever jumps to Lighting cues and ignores everyone else's.

Message Log

The log at the bottom shows OSC going past, live. This is the tool that solves nearly every OSC problem.

• The filter shows All, In only, or Out only. Set it to In only when you're trying to work out what a console actually sends.

• Clear empties it so you can watch one thing happen on its own.

How to use it: clear the log, press GO on the console once, and look at what appears. That is the exact message the console sends. Copy it into OSC Go trigger and you're done.

When It Isn't Working

Nothing in the log at all. The message isn't reaching CuePoints. Check the port number matches at both ends, check both machines are on the same network, and check the network interface isn't pointing at Wi-Fi when the desk is on the wired network.

Messages appear but nothing happens. The messages are arriving but they don't match what CuePoints is listening for. Check the preset, and check Receive commands is on.

Cues appear when you don't want them. Set When not recording to Do Nothing.

Stop the console from changing anything. Turn off This connection can trigger CuePoints.