One of the Action Figures, Sam Kusnetz, also works as a sound designer and associate sound designer in New York and around the US. Over the years, he’s developed a set of AppleScripts which he uses in tech rehearsal to help program shows as quickly and cleanly as possible.

This section of the manual will walk you through these scripts and explain what they do and how to use them.

The workspace has three cue lists: Main Cue List, which is where your cues go, Scripts, which is where the script cues live, and Script Variables which is where a few settings for the scripts are stored.

Some of these scripts are built upon concepts or whole scripts created by Rich Walsh, Mic Pool, and Chris Ashworth.

Level scripts

Make Fade In

• Cue number: FI
• Hotkey: ⌃I

This script creates fade-in cues for all selected Audio, Mic, Video, Camera, and Text cues. The duration of the fade is set using the name of cue “FItime” in the “Script Variables” list.

Make Fade Out

• Cue number: FO
• Hotkey: ⌃O

This script creates fade-out cues for all selected Audio, Mic, Video, Camera, and Text cues. The duration of the fade is set using the name of cue “FOtime” in the “Script Variables” list.

Main level change

• Cue number: L
• Hotkey: ⌃L

This script sets or changes the main audio level of selected Audio, Mic, Video, and Fade cues.

To set a specific level, enter an asterisk (*) followed by a level, including a + or - sign. For example, if you enter *-12 this script will set the master level of all selected cues to -12.

To add to or subtract from the current levels of the selected cues, enter either a + or - sign followed by a number. For example, if you have two cues selected whose master levels are currently -20 and -5, and you enter +5, the master levels for those cues will become -15 and 0.

Time scripts

Pre-wait change

• Cue number: EWC
• Hotkey: ⌃E

This script sets or changes the pre-wait of the selected cues. If you enter a number, the pre-wait of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the pre-wait of all selected cues.

Post-wait change

• Cue number: PWC
• Hotkey: ⌃W

This script sets or changes the post-wait of the selected cues. If you enter a number, the post-wait of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the post-wait of all selected cues.

Duration change

• Cue number: CD
• Hotkey: ⌃D

This script sets or changes the duration of the selected cues, assuming the selected cues have editable durations. If you enter a number, the duration of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the duration of all selected cues.

Rate change

• Cue number: CR
• Hotkey: ⇧⌃R

This script sets or changes the rate of selected Audio, Video, and Fade cues. If you enter a number, the rate of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the rate of all selected cues.

Geometry Scripts

Opacity change

• Cue number: OC
• Hotkey: ⌃Y

This script sets or changes the opacity of selected Video, Camera, Text, and Fade cues. If you enter a number, the opacity of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the opacity of all selected cues.

Layer change

• Cue number: LC
• Hotkey: ⌃R

This script sets or changes the layer of selected Video, Camera, Text, and Fade cues. If you enter a number, the layer of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the layer of all selected cues.

Scale X change

• Cue number: SXC
• Hotkey: ⌃S

This script sets or changes the X scale of selected Video, Camera, Text, and Fade cues. If you enter a number, the X scale of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the X scale of all selected cues.

If the selected cues’ scale ratio is locked, setting the X scale will also set the Y scale and vice versa.

Scale Y change

• Cue number: SYC
• Hotkey: ⇧⌃S

This script sets or changes the Y scale of selected Video, Camera, Text, and Fade cues. If you enter a number, the Y scale of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the Y scale of all selected cues.

If the selected cues’ scale ratio is locked, setting the Y scale will also set the X scale and vice versa.

Translation X change

• Cue number: TXC
• Hotkey: ⌃T

This script sets or changes the X translation of selected Video, Camera, Text, and Fade cues. If you enter a number, the X translation of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the X translation of all selected cues.

Translation Y change

• Cue number: TYC
• Hotkey: ⇧⌃T

This script sets or changes the Y translation of selected Video, Camera, Text, and Fade cues. If you enter a number, the Y translation of all selected cues will be set to that many seconds. If you enter a + or - sign followed by a number, that many seconds will be added to or subtracted from the Y translation of all selected cues.

Next Blend Mode

• Cue number: BMN
• Hotkey: ⌃B

This script sets the selected Video, Camera, and Text cues to use the next blend mode. You can learn more about blend modes from the Blend Mode Demo tutorial.

Previous Blend Mode

• Cue number: BMP
• Hotkey: ⇧⌃B

This script sets the selected Video, Camera, and Text cues to use the previous blend mode. You can learn more about blend modes from the Blend Mode Demo tutorial.

Workflow Scripts

Finish all fades

• Cue number: FF
• Hotkey: ⇧F

This script causes all running Fade cues and Light cues to rush to completion. The duration of the rush is set using the name of cue “FFtime” in the “Script Variables” list.

Sub-number cues in a group

• Cue number: SNC
• Hotkey: ⌃N

This script numbers all selected cues within a Group cue using the format “x-y”, where “x” is the cue number of the enclosing Group cue, and “y” is an integer starting from 1 and counting up to the number of selected cues.

Revised May 2023.