Version: 6.0.0 # Clip Playback Options Every Clip carries its own set of playback settings: where it starts, what it does when it reaches the end, how fast it runs, how it arrives on stage, and how it fills the frame. Set them once and they travel with the Clip. Right-click a Clip thumbnail in the Controller to open its [Clip Editor Panel](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/editors/clip-editor-panel/), where all of these live. Select several Clips first and the panel edits every option they have in common at once. Two shortcuts save a lot of clicking once you have one Clip dialed in. **Copy Clip Options** captures everything on the Clip except its media, and **Paste Clip Options** applies that set to the whole current selection. Both are in the Clip Editor Panel and in the [Clip menu](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/menus/menu-clip/). ## In and out points A video Clip does not have to play the whole file. The **In / Out** row picks the section you want, and everything else about the Clip works from there: looping returns to the In Point, and the progress bar measures the trimmed section rather than the file. --- ![The In / Out row and its panel with In Point and Out Point fields in the Clip Editor Panel](https://manual.spaceage.tv/images/clip_trim_points-6.0.png) In Point and Out Point pick the section of the file the Clip plays. --- The row shows both times side by side. Open it and the panel holds an **In Point** field and an **Out Point** field: click a value to type an exact time. Leave a point alone and the Clip uses the natural edge of the file. There is a faster way to set them while the Clip is playing. Let it run to the frame you want, then choose **Set In Point at Playhead** or **Set Out Point at Playhead**. Both rows appear only while the Clip is playing or paused, and only when a single Clip is selected. **Clear Trim** removes both points and returns the Clip to the full file. tip Trimming is the quickest fix for a downloaded loop with a few dead frames at the head or a logo sting at the tail. Set the points, and the Clip behaves as if the file had been cut. ## End Action **End Action** decides what happens when the Clip reaches its out point. The default is Loop, so a Clip keeps playing until you move on. End Action needs a Clip that has an end. A video or audio Clip ends at its out point. An image, Camera or Visualizer Clip has no length of its own, so it ends only when you give it a **Duration** in the Clip Editor Panel. Until then, its End Action row is grayed out. Bounce and Freeze are not offered for these Clips. See [Duration](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/editors/clip-editor-panel/#duration). An icon in the bottom-right corner of the thumbnail shows the current choice, in both the Song row and the Preview. --- ![Clip thumbnails in the Preview showing the end behavior icons](https://manual.spaceage.tv/images/end_behavior_icons-6.0.png) End behavior icons on Clip thumbnails. --- | Icon | Name | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | | Loop (default) | The Clip starts over. | | | Bounce | The Clip reverses direction at each end. | | | Stop (One-Shot) | The Clip plays once and stops. The output returns to black or the Background Clip, and the audio stops. | | | Freeze | The Clip holds on its last frame. | | | Start Next Clip | The next Clip starts playing. | | | Cue Next Song | The next Song is activated but does not start. | | | Start Next Song | The next Song is activated and starts playing. | | | Return to Previous Clip | The Clip that was playing before this one starts again. | | | Random Clip | A random Clip from the same Song starts playing. | | | Random Clip (All Songs) | A random Clip from any Song starts playing. | | | Random Song | A random Song is activated and its first Clip starts playing. | **Return to Previous Clip** is for a stinger: a short Clip you fire in the middle of something else that should hand the show back when it is done. When it ends, Visibox goes back to the Clip it interrupted, even one in another Song, and crossfades the way Start Next Clip does. The Clip it returns to picks up according to its own [Resume Action](#resume-action). When there is nothing to go back to, it acts like Stop (One-Shot). That happens when nothing else was playing when the Clip started, when the Clip it replaced has been deleted or disabled, or when the Song uses [Poly Mode](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/poly-mode/). It is not offered on the Background Clip. The three random End Actions keep an unattended show moving without repeating itself. Each one deals its picks like a shuffled deck: every Clip, or every Song, plays once before any plays again, and the one that just ended is never picked next unless it is the only choice. Disabled Clips are skipped. When **Random Clip (All Songs)** lands on a Clip in another Song, that Song becomes active and its audio starts with it. **Random Song** picks a different Song from the one that is playing whenever there is one. None of the three is offered on the Background Clip. --- ![The End Action list open, ending with Return to Previous Clip, Random Clip, Random Clip (All Songs), and Random Song](https://manual.spaceage.tv/images/clip_end_action_return-6.0.png) Return to Previous Clip and the three random End Actions sit at the bottom of the list. --- The **Play Random Clip** action fires the same pick on demand, from [MIDI](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/settings/midi/#the-table), [OSC](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/integrations/osc/#clips), a [Song Timeline](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/editors/song-timeline/#playback-actions), the [CLI](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/integrations/cli/#playback), or the [API](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/integrations/api/#navigation). It deals from the same deck as the End Actions, so a button press and a Clip that ends never repeat each other. When the playing Clip is the only one to pick, it carries on playing. note **Stop (One-Shot)** is the End Action value: the Clip plays through once and stops on its own. **Stop** is a separate value in [Retrigger Action](#retrigger-action), where it means a second press stops the Clip. The two are different settings with similar names. ## Retrigger Action Retriggering means triggering a Clip that is already playing. **Retrigger Action** decides what that second press does. --- ![A Clip thumbnail with the retrigger icon below the progress bar](https://manual.spaceage.tv/images/retrigger_icon-6.0.png) The retrigger behavior appears below the progress bar on the playing Clip. --- | Icon | Name | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | | Restart (default) | The Clip plays from the beginning. | | | Stutter | The Clip jumps back about a second. | | | Scratch | The Clip shuttles back and forth at speed, like a record scratch. | | | Reverse | The Clip reverses its current direction. | | / | Pause/Resume | The Clip pauses. The next press resumes from that point. | | / | Pause/Restart | The Clip pauses. The next press restarts it. | | | Stop | The Clip stops and the output returns to black or the Background Clip. | | No icon. | Do Nothing | The press is ignored. Use this to protect a Clip from an accidental retrigger. | Setting a Clip’s [Launch Mode](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/launch-modes/) to Toggle overrides this: a second press always stops a Toggle Clip. The Clip Editor Panel grays the Retrigger Action row in that case and shows Stop as the value in effect. ## Resume Action The first time you play a Clip it starts at the beginning. **Resume Action** decides where it picks up after you have played something else and come back. The choice shows as an icon in the lower-left corner of the Clip thumbnail, visible on hover or while the Clip is active. | Icon | Name | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | | Restart from Beginning (default) | The Clip plays from the start every time. | | | Resume from Last Point | The Clip picks up where it left off. Good for a long video you keep cutting away from. | | | Sync to Song Position | The Clip stays locked to the Song’s audio timeline. See [Sync to Song Position](#sync-to-song-position). | ### Sync to Song Position Sync to Song Position keeps a video or Audio Clip’s position matched to the Song’s audio track at all times. Seek the Song audio to 1:30 and the Clip jumps to 1:30 with it. On an Audio Clip, this is how a stem or backing loop stays locked to the track. --- ![Resume Action options showing Sync to Song Position](https://manual.spaceage.tv/images/sync_to_song_menu-6.0.png) Sync to Song Position is one of the Resume Action choices. --- While a Clip is synced: * The video tracks the Song audio the whole way through. * You can cut away to an unsynced Clip, such as a camera, and when you cut back the synced Clip is at the position it would have reached had it never stopped. * Some options are restricted, because the Song is deciding the position rather than the Clip. Retrigger Action, End Action and Direction each fall back to the value that sync allows, and Loop Crossfade is grayed. * A clock icon () stays on the thumbnail so you can spot synced Clips at a glance, whether or not you are hovering. This is what you want for music videos, timed sequences, and anything where the picture has to stay with the track. --- VIDEO: Sync to Song Position in action, cutting to a camera and back. Recorded in Visibox 5. [YouTube link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3sPAs-9mSM) --- ## Loop Crossfade Most loops do not wrap cleanly. The last frame and the first frame rarely match, so a looping Clip shows a visible jump every time it comes around. **Loop Crossfade** blends the end of the loop into its beginning. Set a duration in seconds and Visibox prepares a version of the Clip whose tail dissolves into its head, so the wrap point stops reading as a cut. A second or two is usually enough. The row appears only when **End Action** is set to Loop, since a Clip that stops or freezes has no loop point to hide. It is shown but grayed for a Clip playing backward or set to Sync to Song Position, because neither of those can use the prepared version. Visibox prepares the crossfaded version in the background. Until it is ready, the Clip loops with a hard cut as it always did, then picks up the crossfade on its own. ## Speed **Speed** changes how fast a video or Audio Clip plays without touching the file. The slider runs from 0.0625x to 4x, with snap points at 0.25x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x and 4x. Click the value to type an exact number, including one past the ends of the slider, from 0.0625x up to 16x. Double-click the slider to return the Clip to 1x. Speed keeps the original pitch, so a Clip at 2x sounds faster but not higher. Turn on **Speed Changes Pitch** for the sound of a tape or record played at the wrong speed: slow motion sounds slowed down, and a fast Clip sounds higher. Play one sample at several speeds and it becomes a playable instrument. The **Scratch** Retrigger Action follows the same setting. ## Direction **Direction** sets a Clip to play **Forward** or **Backward**. Playing backward uses a reversed copy of the media that Visibox prepares in the background, sound included. A Clip playing backward cannot use a Loop Crossfade. On an [Audio Clip](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/adding-clips/#audio-clips), **Backward** stays grayed out until the reversed copy is ready. ## Fit Mode Most video for a live show is there to give the stage texture, not to be watched as a film. So by default Visibox crops Clips to fill the Output edge to edge, and you can drop in footage of any shape without editing it first. --- ![A video at its original dimensions next to the cropped view in the Output window](https://manual.spaceage.tv/images/output_cropped-6.0.png) The 4:3 source on the left, and the same frame cropped to fill a 16:9 Output on the right. --- **Fit Mode** overrides that per Clip: * **Default** uses the Project’s own Fit Mode, set in the [Project Settings](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/project-settings/) window (⇧⌘,). * **Crop** fills the Output edge to edge and cuts off whatever does not fit. * **Letterbox** shows the whole Clip, adding black bars to keep its shape. * **Stretch** fills the Output with no bars, which distorts the shape. Fit Mode belongs to Clips that carry an image: video, image and camera Clips. Visualizer and Color Clips render to the frame rather than into it, so they have no Fit Mode. --- ![A square image in the Output window with black bars on both sides preserving its aspect ratio](https://manual.spaceage.tv/images/output_letterbox-6.0.png) A Clip set to Letterbox. --- tip Projectors, televisions and monitors rarely match the shape of your footage, so leave Letterbox off unless a Clip has something near its edges you cannot afford to lose. Most background video survives a little cropping, and Crop means you never spend a soundcheck working out why the house projector is 16:10 instead of 16:9. ## Rotate and Flip **Rotate** turns a Clip to any angle. Drag the slider anywhere from 0 to 360 degrees, or click the value and type an exact one. The slider snaps at 0, 90, 180 and 270 so the square turns are easy to hit, and any angle between them is available for a tilted or diagonal look. **Flip** mirrors the Clip: **Normal**, **Horizontal**, **Vertical** or **Both**. Both settings are live, so the original file is untouched. Neither applies to a Color Clip, since turning or mirroring a solid color changes nothing to see. ## Transitions **Transition In** and **Transition Out** decide how a Clip arrives on stage and how it leaves. Each one carries a shape and a duration together. --- ![Transition In options showing the transition shapes and a duration slider](https://manual.spaceage.tv/images/transition_submenu-6.0.png) Each transition sets a shape and a duration in one place. --- The shapes are: * **Fade** dissolves between the two Clips. * **Wipe Up**, **Wipe Down**, **Wipe Left** and **Wipe Right** reveal the incoming Clip across the frame, with the outgoing Clip staying put underneath. * **Push Up**, **Push Down**, **Push Left** and **Push Right** slide the incoming Clip in and carry the outgoing one off with it. Wipes and pushes are named for the direction the incoming Clip travels toward. Push Left brings the new Clip in from the right and carries the old one off to the left. A duration of zero is a cut, whatever shape is selected, and the row reads **None**. Transition In also sets the crossfade time between the previous Clip and this one, and it takes precedence over the previous Clip’s Transition Out. If the Project has a Background Clip, a Clip transitions to and from that rather than to black. For a video Clip with an audio track, the audio fades with the picture. note A Clip with a Transition Out keeps playing for the length of that transition after you stop it. ## Velocity Sensitivity **Velocity Sensitivity** lets a MIDI controller’s playing dynamics reach the Clip’s audio. Hit the pad harder and the Clip’s audio plays louder. The slider is per Clip, video and Audio Clips only, and set to 0 by default, so nothing changes until you ask for it. At 0 the Clip always plays at its Volume setting. Turn it up and a MIDI note’s velocity scales that level, with the full response at 100%. Volume stays the Clip’s level in your mix. Velocity Sensitivity decides how far a single hit is allowed to move it. Triggers that carry no velocity of their own play the Clip at full level whatever the setting: the mouse, the keyboard, a Stream Deck, OSC, the API and the Song Timeline all behave this way. note With **Retrigger Action** set to Stutter, Scratch, Reverse or Do Nothing, velocity applies only to the first hit. Every hit after that keeps the level the first one set, for as long as the Clip keeps playing. The Clip Editor Panel captions the slider **First hit only** when that is the case. ## Where else these settings appear * The [Clip Editor Panel](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/editors/clip-editor-panel/) is the full set, with sliders and pickers. * The [Clip menu](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/menus/menu-clip/) handles the Clip itself: duplicating, moving, deleting, and copying and pasting its options. **Edit Clip…** opens the panel where the settings above are set. * [Launch Modes](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/launch-modes/) covers what the trigger gesture itself does, which is a separate decision from any of the above. * [Poly Mode](https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/poly-mode/) covers what happens when several Clips in one Song play at the same time. Source: https://manual.spaceage.tv/6.0.0/clip-playback/