6. Creating cues

Your lights are focused, your layout is completed, and you're ready to create (plot) cues! 

Step 1. Press Clear. 

Step 2. Create a new cuelist.

Click "New" at the centre top of the screen. 

We are still working in the Fixture Chooser view, but a different tab. 

In the top left of the screen, you will see some new items:

You are now working in a tab called "1: List." This is showing that this is cuelist number 1, and its default name is List. Generally you will only have one cuelist so there is no need to rename it.

There are playback controls to navigate between the cues you are about to make.

There is a tile indicating that you are working in the first cue. New tiles will be created for each new cue.

And there are bars reading "Up" and "Down." More on these later.

Step 3. Build the first cue. 

Using the same methods as before to control the lights, create the lighting look you want onstage. 

You may wish to change some of the information about the cue as displayed in the blue tile. Double-click on the appropriate area to change it. The top number is the cue number (in this case, 1). "Cue" is its default name. It can be useful to change this to another short name, like "Wash," "Scene 1," or "Blue." The next number is the fade time, default 2 seconds. When adding a new time, you don't need to type the S for seconds - Vista assumes you mean seconds. If you want a fade time in minutes, type an m after the number, eg "3m" for 3 minutes. The red H and "Halt" indicates that the cue will execute, then nothing will happen until you press the button for the next cue. More on this later.

Step 4. Build the next cue. 

Click the green + (Plus) button towards the top right. This will add a cue. Another tile will appear next to the first one. Again, create the lighting look you want. Change the name and fade time as desired.

Step 5. Build the rest of your cues.

Continue building cues by pressing the plus button to add each new cue and creating each look.

Step 6. Save your work.

It is not necessary to press "Save" after creating each cue. Think of it like a Word document - you don't need to save every word you type, but you do want to save your work frequently. it is also strongly advised to make a backup copy on a thumbdrive. Do this by copying the folder within Windows Explorer rather than doing a File --> Save As in Vista, as this can complicate the file path. 

Click the "Save" icon in the top centre of the screen. Alternatively, press Control+S on your keyboard or go File --> Save Show in the toolbar.

Step 7. Close your finished cuelist.

When you have finished building your cuelist, close the tab. You can either press "Close" in the top centre of the screen or click the cross on the tab next to the list's name. Your list will close but the show file will stay open, and your list will be accessible later.

Step 8. Release your cuelist.

When you close your list, you may be asked if you want to Save, or Save And Release. You will also see a Release button in the top centre. Releasing stops your cuelist outputting. It doesn't damage your cuelist in any way. Press Release, or Save & Release, to stop outputting. You need to clear/release all outputs before turning off the Vista. 

Up next... Programming in detail