Getting started
Install Cue, make a project, bring in your footage and learn where things are in the editor.
Install
- Download Cue for your computer from the download page: a disk image for Mac (Apple Silicon or Intel), an installer for Windows, an AppImage or .deb for Linux.
- On a Mac, drag Cue to Applications. On Windows, run the installer; on Linux, make the AppImage executable and run it, or install the .deb.
- Open it. The Mac app is signed and notarised by Apple, so it opens like any other app. The Windows installer isn't signed yet: if Windows says it protected your PC, choose More info, then Run anyway.
Cue runs on macOS 12 or later, Windows 10 and 11, and 64-bit Linux. ffmpeg is bundled, and editing needs no account or API key. From 0.2.2 Cue updates itself: it checks for new versions and asks before downloading one (or does it for you, in Settings → General → Updates). Older copies need 0.2.2 downloaded once by hand.
Your first project
Choose File → New Project… (⌘N) or New project in the projects overview. The dialog asks for:
- Name, used for the project's folder and file.
- Frame size: HD 1080p, 4K UHD, HD 720p, Vertical (1080×1920), Square (1080×1080) or Portrait (1080×1350).
- Frame rate: 24, 25, 30, 50 or 60 fps.
- Start from a video (optional). The video goes on the first video track and the frame size matches it.
- Location. By default each project gets its own folder in your projects folder (
~/Movies/Cue), which you can change in Settings.
You can change the frame size, rate and background colour later in the project settings (the Project button at the bottom of the sidebar). File → Show All Projects (⇧⌘O) goes back to the projects overview. See Projects and history.
Importing media
- File → Import Media… (⌘I) or Import media in the Media panel adds video, audio and image files to the project.
- Drag files from Finder straight onto the timeline to import and place them in one go.
- In the Media panel, filter by All, Video, Audio, Images or Takes, add an item at the playhead, or double-click it to open it in the source monitor (see three-point editing).
Media is linked where it is on disk, not copied. Large videos get lightweight playback copies (proxies) for smooth scrubbing when Settings → General → Playback copies of large videos is on; exports always use the originals.
The editor
| Area | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Header | Back to all projects, the project name, undo and redo, whether an agent is connected, the workspace menu, and Export. |
| Sidebar | Panels: Media, Voiceover (the script), Transcript, Text, Mixer, Generate, History and Agent, plus project settings. Clicking the open panel's icon folds the sidebar away. |
| Viewer | The picture at the playhead. Tabs above it switch between the timeline and a clip open in the source monitor. Double-click a title to type into it. |
| Dock | An optional pane beside the viewer: the mixer, scopes, the agent, history or the markers list. |
| Inspector | Settings for the selected clip, in collapsible sections (Timing, Audio, Transform, Colour, Text, Mask, Effects and more). |
| Timeline | Sequence tabs, the ruler and markers, and the tracks. Picture tracks (video and text) always sit above sound tracks; upper tracks draw over lower ones. |
Each track header has a name you can type over, buttons to mute, solo, lock and hide the track, and a menu to move it, set its volume, make it the voiceover track, duck it under the voiceover or delete it. Drag the bottom edge of a track header to resize the track; double-click the edge to reset it.
Pages
Cue has a page for each job, in the bar along the bottom of the window. The same project flows through all of them. Most pages lay the editor out for their job; Motion and Deliver are screens of their own.
| Page | Keys | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Edit | ⌥1 | Cut the story: media, timeline and viewer. |
| Motion | ⌥8 | Design one motion graphic: its layers, text, colours and timing, with a large preview. |
| Titles | ⌥5 | Titles, captions and text on screen. |
| Colour | ⌥3 | Grade shot by shot with scopes and before/after. |
| Audio | ⌥2 | Mix, clean up and level the sound. |
| Voice | ⌥4 | Script and voiceover takes, with a teleprompter. |
| Review | ⌥7 | Watch it through and leave notes. |
| Deliver | ⌥9 | Export for the web, a master, variants or sound. |
| Agent | ⌥6 | Work with your agent, with the history beside it. |
The layouts behind the editor pages are workspaces: panel sizes, what is docked beside the viewer, how tall each kind of track is, which viewer overlays are on and which inspector sections are open.
| Workspace | Keys | What it sets up |
|---|---|---|
| Editing | ⌥1 | The default layout: media on the left, viewer, inspector on the right, timeline below. |
| Audio | ⌥2 | The mixer docked beside the viewer, tall audio tracks with waveforms and volume lines, low video tracks. The inspector opens on Audio and Timing. |
| Colour | ⌥3 | Scopes docked beside the viewer, a hold-to-compare button on the viewer, and the inspector open on Colour, Effects, Mask and Chroma key. |
| Voiceover | ⌥4 | The script panel with takes per line, a script prompter on the viewer, tall audio tracks. The inspector is hidden. |
| Titles | ⌥5 | The title template gallery, safe-area guides on the viewer, tall text tracks, and the inspector open on the text sections. |
| Agent | ⌥6 | The agent chat in a wide sidebar and the history docked beside the viewer, so you can follow what the agent changes. |
| Review | ⌥7 | A large viewer with the sidebar and inspector hidden, a short timeline and the markers list docked beside the viewer. |
Changing and saving a workspace
The workspace menu also chooses what is docked beside the viewer (nothing, mixer, scopes, agent, history or markers) and what is drawn on the viewer (safe areas, the script prompter, the before/after button). Drag the dividers to resize panes. Save current as… keeps the whole layout under a name, including track heights and overlays. The current layout is remembered between launches.
set_view, for example to show you the Colour page after grading or open a graphic on the Motion page.