Teleprompter

A Teleprompter is an input that shows your script as large scrolling text. The script moves past a reading line, and the line you should be reading sits on it. Because it is an input, you put it on Preview or Program, send it to any output, show it in a Multiview, or use it as a layer in a scene. It is drawn by the same engine as titles and uses the same fonts.

Add a Teleprompter

A new Teleprompter has the default look (white text on black) and stands at the top of the script, paused. It counts as one source, like any input, so a plan with a limit on Studio sources can refuse it. See Plan.

The script

Type or paste your script into the Script box.

• Line breaks. Each line of the script is a paragraph. Long lines wrap to the width of the picture, less the margins.
• Sections. A line that starts with # (a hash and a space) is a section. Studio draws it without the # and dimmed, so you can use it as a heading the reader skips. Sections are what the section keys jump between. A section can have no name: it is then called "Section 2", "Section 3" and so on.
• Length. A script can have up to 262,144 characters (256 Ki), about four hours read aloud.
• Plain text only. The script has no bold, colours or sizes of its own. The whole script uses the Look settings.

Example:

# Welcome
Good evening and welcome to the show.
# Guest one
Our first guest needs no introduction.

Import

Choose Import... (Windows: Import... in the Script group) and pick a plain text file such as a .txt. It replaces the script. Studio drops a byte order mark and turns every line end into a normal line break.

A script over 256 Ki characters is refused. Word, RTF, PDF, Pages and OpenDocument files (.docx, .doc, .rtf, .pdf, .pages and .odt) are not supported: Studio refuses them with a notice that says only plain text scripts import. Save them as plain text first, or copy and paste.

Look

The Look group sets how the script is drawn.

The defaults are the Cliqer brand font, size 72, line spacing 1.4, left and right margins of 10 per cent, no top or bottom margin, white text, a black background, a reading line a third of the way down, the marker on and a start speed of 60.

Drag a slider and the picture changes as you drag. The whole drag is one step in Studio's undo.

Fonts that are missing

A show does not carry fonts. If the chosen font is not on the computer, the Teleprompter draws in the system font. See Fonts.

Speed and direction

The Teleprompter group of the inspector (Windows: Transport) runs the scroll.

The scroll stops at the end of the script, and at the top when it runs in reverse.

Jump

The Transport row (Windows: Jump) has five keys:

Sections

When the script has sections, the Sections group lists them as "1. Welcome", "2. Guest one". Click a name to go to that section. Previous section and Next section (under Jump) step through them. Previous section from the top of a section goes to the one before it.

Live, not saved

Play, speed, direction and position are live, like a Take. They are never an undo step and are not saved with the show. A show that you open starts every Teleprompter at the top, paused. Editing the script or the look is a normal edit: one undo step each (Undo Teleprompter, Undo Teleprompter Script, Undo Add Teleprompter), and undo leaves the scroll where it is.

The scroll keeps going whether or not the Teleprompter is on Program, so you can cue it on Preview and take it already moving.

The cue timer

Time left shows how long until the script ends at the current speed, as m:ss. It counts down by itself. It reads 0:00 when the scroll arrives at the end.

• With Reverse on it shows the time to the top.
• It shows - when nothing is scrolling: paused, speed 0, or standing at the end already.
• Change the speed, seek, play, pause or reverse and it works out the time again at once.

Mirror

A prompter in front of a camera is often read through a beam-splitter glass, which flips the picture. Cliqer can mirror in two places. They do different jobs.

Mirror one Teleprompter

Every output that shows this Teleprompter is then mirrored, the Preview and Program monitors too. A mirrored Teleprompter used as a layer in a scene is mirrored as one whole picture. See Effects.

Mirror one output

Only that output is flipped. Everything else keeps the picture the right way round. One flip is one undo step (Edit > Undo). Like other output settings, it is refused while the show is locked.

Mirror is the only part of Projection that is free. Slice, corner pin, edge blend and the other projection settings still need the plan that has output warp, see Plan.

Edit while on air

A Teleprompter follows Preview then Take like a title. When it is on air and Edit Live is off, a change to the script or the look goes to Preview and waits for the Take. Program keeps what it has. With Edit Live on, or when the Teleprompter is not on air, the change shows at once.

Play, speed, direction and position never wait: they act on Program the moment you press them.

External Control

Nine Teleprompter actions are in the Action list of External Control, so you can run them from a keyboard, from MIDI, from OSC, from a Stream Deck or from Companion. Each one takes the Input: the Teleprompter's number or id.

A good first setup: a Level on a fader for Prompter speed, Prompter play on one key, and Prompter move with page_forward on a foot pedal. Over OSC the address is /cliqer/ and the id with its dots as slashes, for example /cliqer/studio/prompter_speed prompter:1 120. See OSC.

Editing the script and the look has no External Control action. Only the live controls above do.

Plan

• Adding and editing. The Teleprompter is part of Studio titles. It is on the free trial, Ultra, Studio and Enterprise, and not on Pro. Without the plan, adding one is refused with the usual plan message, and so is every action except pausing. Pausing never asks, so a lapsed plan can always stop the scroll.
• Sources. The Teleprompter counts against Studio sources like any input.
• Mirror. Mirror horizontal and Mirror vertical on an input are free on every Studio plan. Mirror left-right and Mirror top-bottom on an output are free too: they do not need the plan that has output warp and edge blend. Ultra has titles but not output warp, so on Ultra you can mirror an output but not slice or pin it.
• Control surfaces. Keys are open to every Studio plan. MIDI input and Stream Deck buttons need Studio control surfaces.

See Plans and limits.

Not built

• Word, RTF and PDF import. Only plain text imports. Copy and paste works for any source.
• Formatting in a script. No bold, colours or per-line sizes. The only mark-up is # for sections.
• Control from the Cliqer Remote phone app. The Teleprompter actions are not on the phone's list yet.

Windows and macOS

The Teleprompter does the same on both. What differs:

Related