This page covers the program’s own clock: a source you put in a scene that counts down, counts up, or shows the time. It is what a “we start in ten minutes” screen is made of, and it needs nothing outside the program.
Adding one
In the scene builder, add a source of the clock type. Its properties open straight away.
The five modes
| Mode | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Count down (from duration) | From a length you give, down to zero. |
| Count down (to a time) | Down to a moment on the calendar: today at 10:00. |
| Count up | From zero upwards — how long something has been running. |
| Current time (clock) | The time of day. |
| Current date | Today’s date. |
Count down from a duration is for “ten minutes from when this goes on screen”. Count down to a time is for “until the service starts at 10:00” — the difference matters when the cue goes up earlier or later than planned.
The settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Duration | HH:MM:SS or MM:SS, for the duration mode. |
| Target time | YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM, for the target mode. |
| Target = now (then adjust) | Fills in this moment so you can nudge it, rather than typing a date. |
| Clock/date format | For the clock and date modes: %H:%M, %d-%m-%Y, and so on. |
| Text at 0 | What appears when the countdown reaches zero. Empty shows 00:00. |
| Always show hours | Keeps 00: in front, so the width does not jump when it passes an hour. |
| Fixed width | A width in pixels, 0 for automatic. |
| Font, colour, outline | The look of the digits. |
Two settings worth explaining
Text at 0. A countdown that reaches zero and then shows 00:00 looks like a clock that stopped. Something like Starting shortly or We begin now reads as intentional. Whatever you put there is what the audience sees at the moment everybody is looking.
Fixed width. Digits in most fonts are not the same width, so a countdown jitters as the numbers change. Setting a fixed width holds it still. Set it a little wider than the widest reading you expect.
What happens around it
The clock stays frozen until the cue goes live. It starts when the audience sees it, not when you armed it — which is exactly right for a countdown, and the reason the scene builder shows a still moment rather than a running clock.
A scene with a countdown gives the cue its duration. The rundown reads the length from the clock, so you do not set the same number in two places, and the cue’s own countdown on the transport bar agrees with the one on screen.
Colours as the end approaches
The countdown on the transport bar turns amber and then red at thresholds you set under Settings → Cue list. That is the operator’s warning; the clock on screen keeps the colour you gave it, because the audience does not need to be told the presenter is late.