Export Cue Sheets and Console Files
3 min readDesktop App
Cue sheets as PDF, HTML, CSV or Markdown for every department, a USITT ASCII cue list for a lighting desk, and a grandMA3 Timecode XML for USB.
Cue Sheets
Choose File → Sync, Import & Export → Export Cue Sheet… (it is also Export… in the Show Editor's cue list toolbar, and in ⌘ K). Pick four things, then Export… and choose where to save:
- Source — Theatre Show (the Show Editor's Parts) or DJ Cue List (the Cues list).
- Layout — the document to write (below).
- Department — for the Department layout: the lane, or the cue group, the sheet is for.
- Format — PDF (the default), HTML, CSV or Markdown.
| Layout | Who it's for |
|---|---|
| Operator list | The operator: what each cue sends, and whether it has been checked |
| Calling script | The stage manager calling the show |
| Running order | The director and anyone following along |
| Department | One lane or one cue group |
| Lighting, Media, Sound | The desk, video and sound: the cues on lanes named for each (LX, VX, SFX and the like) |
Every file opens without CueSync. A cue fired by hand reads STBY in the Call column, so a standby call is never missing from the paper. Give a cue a Page (the Inspector's Notes tab) and every layout gains a Page column for the prompt book. Disabled cues are listed and struck through, not hidden. CSV opens straight in Excel, accented and non-Latin cue names included.
USITT ASCII for a Lighting Desk
For the Lighting layout of a Theatre Show, Format also offers USITT ASCII: a cue list in the console interchange format, with cue numbers and labels, ready for the LD to bring into the desk. It carries no channel levels — the LD programs the looks against those numbers.
USITT has no timecode keyword, so each timecode cue's time is written into the file as a comment for whoever builds the desk's show-control list.
grandMA3 Timecode XML
For a desk that runs the show from its own clock, the Sync to grandMA3… dialog (File → Sync, Import & Export) has Export Timecode XML (USB)…. It writes a native grandMA3 Timecode object, with a README of the same name that prints the import line. The object carries an event for each cue CueSync fires from timecode; GO, standby and follow cues get none, so the desk never fires a cue the stage is not ready for. Import it into an empty pool slot.
The file is written for one grandMA3 software release — the current one by default, or the one a connected bridge reports — because the Timecode format differs between releases. Choose one clock owner: if the desk fires those cues from its Timecode object, do not also send them from CueSync.
The same dialog writes the cue list as a grandMA3 macro for USB, and Send to grandMA3… pushes it over the network instead — see the grandMA3 integration.
A grandMA2 Macro and a Desk Timecode CSV
In Theatre and Production, File → Sync, Import & Export has two more desk files:
- Export GrandMA2 Macro… writes a macro that builds a Theatre cue list on a grandMA2, with cue numbers, labels and fade times, for the LD to program the looks against. Run it once into a scratch sequence: it stores every cue it carries.
- Export Desk Timecode CSV (MagicQ, Hog 4, Titan)… writes one Part as a marker file with the ruler in hours, minutes, seconds and frames, which ChamSys MagicQ, Hog 4 and Avolites Titan each import. Every cue CueSync fires from the clock becomes a marker at the time it fires, on the house clock; GO, standby and follow cues are left out.
For the Sound Department
Export Reaper Markers… writes the cue positions as REAPER markers, and Import Reaper Markers… brings a session's markers in as a new Theatre track, so the two lists are never retyped.
Before You Rely on a File
Do one test import on the desk during prep, on the software version the show runs. Every export that writes a file for a desk needs a working licence; on a read-only install it says so before it asks for a folder.
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