Jumps and scene labels

A jump takes the cue list from one scene to another at the moment the red line reaches it, without a GO: to go back, skip a passage, or loop several scenes. A scene's label is a short, stable name that lets jumps (and parallel sequences) always target the right scene, even when scenes are inserted or moved. This page also presents the two ways of making a loop.

To open it: drag Go to scene… from the Others list (Libraries panel) onto a track of the Scene timeline panel. The label is set in Scene settings, in the Label: field.

The “Go to scene…” block

Creating it

1. Drag Go to scene… from the Others list onto a track, at the moment of the jump.
2. A small Go to scene window opens: “Jump to scene:”, with the list of scenes (“3 · Final”). The scene that follows the selected scene is suggested.
3. Choose the scene and click OK. Closing the window without OK cancels: no block is created.

The block (teal) shows the target scene like the Scenes list: “→ 3 · Final [final]” (number, name, and label in square brackets if there is one).

Setting it

Double-clicking the block (or right-click > Properties…) opens the Go to scene window:

• Start (s): moment of the jump.
• Target scene: the scene targeted.

It is an instantaneous event: only its start matters.

What happens at the jump

• As soon as the red line reaches the block, the current scene is left immediately and the target scene starts at 0 s.
• The jump is instantaneous, with no fade: the light switches at once to the final state of the target scene. To soften it, give a fade in to the blocks at the start of the target scene, or use an automatic chain (Auto or Chained, which apply the Fade to the next) when the aim is to go to the next scene.
• Blocks placed after the jump in the scene being left are never played.
• As with a GO: the videos of the scene being left stop, the sounds carry on.
• A jump to the scene itself makes it start again at 0 s.
• In the editor and in Show mode, the selection in the Scenes panel follows the target scene (in the editor, when the LIVE button is lit).

Broken jump

If the target scene no longer exists, the block turns red with ⚠ and shows “→ scene? (not found)”. When it is reached, the jump is ignored and the Log says so (“Jump to “…”: scene not found — ignored.”). Double-click the block to choose another scene.

A scene's label

The Label: field is next to the scene's name, in Scene settings. Tooltip: “Short, stable name of the scene (e.g. rain): jumps and parallel sequences target it by this name, even when scenes are inserted or moved”.

• Write a short word: “rain”, “final”, “waiting”. Capital letters do not matter. An “@” typed at the start is removed.
• The label appears in square brackets in the Scenes list and in the scene choice lists (“5 · Storm [storm]”).
• Leave the field empty for a scene that is the target of no jump.

Why it matters

A jump keeps hold of its target scene in two ways:

• by its label, if the scene had one when you confirmed the block: the jump always targets that scene, wherever it is in the list;
• by its number otherwise. DreamShow updates these numbers when you add (+), duplicate (⎘) or delete (−) a scene. But not when you move a scene with ↑ or ↓: the jump then targets the scene that has taken that place.

So give a label to every scene targeted by a jump or a parallel sequence.

Switching an existing jump to the label

A jump created before the target scene had a label stays attached to the number. To attach it to the label:

1. Give the target scene a label.
2. Double-click the jump block, check the Target scene, then OK: the block now records the label.

Renaming, deleting, duplicating

• Changing a label: the jumps that used the old label turn red (⚠). Reopen them and confirm them again.
• Deleting a target scene: a jump by label turns red; for a jump by number, DreamShow warns (“N “go to scene” pointed at the deleted scene: to be fixed (shown in red ⚠ on the timeline).”).
• Duplicating a scene (⎘) also copies its label: two scenes then carry the same one. The Log flags it (“Label “…” used by several scenes: the first one (…) is kept.”) and jumps target the first one. Change or clear the copy's label.

Loops

A scene that loops on itself

In Scene settings:

• Loop: “The timeline loops automatically until GO (or until the maximum length)”. When the red line reaches the end of the last block, the timeline starts again from 0: the blocks replay, the sounds and videos restart (on each turn, the sounds and videos in progress are stopped first).
• max length (s): “Empty = loops until GO; otherwise the scene chains to the next one after this total time”. The time is counted over all the turns; when it runs out, the scene moves on to the next one with its Fade to the next, even in the middle of a turn.

GO is always allowed on a looping scene: it leaves it at any time. Chained makes no sense on a looping scene (it never ends): only GO and the max length take it out. The cue window shows the current turn (“↻ loop 3 (max 600 s)”). See Scene settings.

A loop of several scenes

To loop a series of scenes:

1. Give a label to the first scene of the cycle (for example “cycle”).
2. Set the scenes of the cycle to Auto or Chained, so that they follow on by themselves.
3. In the last scene of the cycle, place Go to scene… at the end of its timeline, targeting “cycle”.

The cue list then runs endlessly: scene 1, 2, 3, jump to 1…

Such a loop cannot be left with GO: GO is only allowed at the end of the timeline, and the jump goes off at that moment. To get out, jump directly to another scene from a remote (web, OSC, MIDI), or reset the cue list. If the cycle must be left on GO, prefer a single scene set to Loop.

Step by step

Replaying a passage until the director's signal

1. Scene 4 “Rehearsal”: set Loop, leave max length (s): empty.
2. During the show, the scene loops; on the signal, GO moves to scene 5, with scene 4's fade.

Skipping a scene on certain evenings

1. Scene 6 “Short scene”: place Go to scene… at 0 s targeting scene 9 (give it the label “after-scene”).
2. On the evenings when the full scene is played, delete the jump, or move it past the end of the timeline.

A shop-window animation that runs endlessly

1. Scenes 1 “Red”, 2 “Gold”, 3 “White”: Auto trigger (for example 30 s), Fade to the next (s): 5.
2. Label “window” on scene 1.
3. In scene 3, place Go to scene… targeting “window” at 30 s.
4. The Red → Gold → White cycle runs indefinitely; the return from White to Red is instantaneous (it is a jump). For a fading return, add to scene 1 a light block with a fade in.

Good to know

• Placed in a scene played by a parallel sequence, a jump makes the sequence itself jump, without touching the main cue list; that jump has no fade either (see Parallel sequences).
• The end of the show (“END OF SHOW” in the cue window and the Log) is noted when the cue list arrives on the last scene of the list by a GO or an automatic chain.
• Export for a standalone player calculates the show in advance, scene after scene: a jump to a scene that has already been played ends the export after a single cycle, which the player replays in a loop from the start of the clip. See The standalone player.

See also

• The scene timeline
• Scene settings
• The Scenes panel
• Parallel sequences
• Architectural lighting
• Fades and mixes
• The web remote