Looks
3 min readDesktop App
A Look is the named, reusable output state your cues fire. One noun, one screen: the Palette holds protocol looks and pixel looks in banks.
What a Look Is
A Look is a named, reusable output state your cues fire, built on the Palette screen (Create group, View → Palette, ⌥⌘L). Author it once, reference it from any number of cues, pads and AutoPilot moments, then repoint it at something else mid-show without touching a single cue. Available in all editions.
A note on names. The screen is called Palette and its items are Looks. On ETC Eos, Avolites Titan and ChamSys MagicQ a palette is an attribute preset (a colour or a position) — CueSync does not send or edit those. "Scene" keeps two other meanings in CueSync: the middle number in
Act.Scene.Cue, and a row of Cue Pads fired together.
One screen, every protocol
The Palette has two modes, switched by Edit | Perform at the left of the toolbar (⌘L): Edit is where you build looks, organise them into banks and set up the pixel wall; Perform is the run console you fire them from.
- Protocol looks fire something on another system — a grandMA3, grandMA2, Eos, Avolites or MagicQ cue or playback, a DMX look, a Resolume, disguise, Pixera, VIOSO, TouchDesigner or Unreal cue, a QLab cue, or a Pangolin BEYOND laser cue.
- Pixel looks drive CueSync's own pixel wall; its designer sits in the Edit sidebar under PIXEL WALL.
A bank can mix both kinds. Looks are fired from cues, pads or Auto Pilot, and released back to the prior state when they end.
Firing several protocols at once
Choose Bundle from ＋ New Look (under Advanced). A Bundle holds children across any mix of connected systems and fires them as a unit. Reference the Bundle from the cue rather than adding a separate action per protocol.
Common Tasks
- Create a grandMA3 Look — In Edit mode, click ＋ New Look, pick the grandMA3 sequence-cue or executor starter under Lighting consoles, and set the sequence, cue or executor.
- Create a Look for any other protocol — Click ＋ New Look, pick the starter for your protocol (Resolume, QLab, Eos, a DMX look…), then set its address.
- Test-fire — Right-click a tile → Test Fire; output fires immediately and a success or failure toast appears. A Bundle fires every child at once.
- Check usage — The number badge on each tile shows how many cues or pads fire it (right-click → Used By lists them). A zero count means nothing will fire it during the show.
Tips & Gotchas
- A deleted Look fails loudly, not quietly. A cue that still fires a deleted Look reports "Look not found" at fire time. The usage badge and a delete confirmation help you avoid this.
- Auto Pilot picks from every bank. Set a Look's phrase, energy and BPM affinity to let Auto Pilot choose it for a musical moment. A Look with no affinity is deliberately excluded from automatic selection — it stays manual-only (cues and pads can still fire it), so adding affinity is the opt-in.
- Test-fire always works, even with Auto Pilot paused. Auto Pilot's paused state only suppresses its own automatic firing.
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