Project framerate

In LightAct all the Timelines have the same framerate. This framerate is set up in Project settings in the General tab.

When you set a specific Project framerate:

• Timeline increments: the vertical lines in the Timeline editor window will adjust so that each line shows one frame. You can see this if you zoom into a Timeline all the way.

• Playhead progression: when a Timeline is playing, the Playhead will proceed from frame to frame as per the Framerate setting. So if you have Project framerate set to 30, playhead will make 30 increments between each second.

• Snapping: snapping in the Timeline editor window is based on these vertical lines, which means when you create any timeline objects (layers, markers or sections) they will be created relative to the Project framerate you have set.

Good to know: Project framerate is in most cases set to the framerate of the content or multiple of 2. So if your content is 25FPS, project framerate should be set to either 25 or 50.

Changing Project framerate

If you change Project framerate during the project (after you've programmed your Timelines), nothing in your Timeline should change. However, the moment you start moving timeline objects around, say, moving a layer left and right, the snapping will work relative to the new framerate, so you might not be able to move the layer back to its original position.

Application framerate ≠ Project framerate

Application framerate is the framerate at which LightAct is currently running at. This framerate is determined by one of the following:

1. the refresh rate of your displays.

2. If performance load is too heavy and LightAct cannot follow the refresh rate of your displays, then the Application framerate is going to be determined by the performance load.

Force Project framerate

When LightAct doesn't have any outputs enabled yet, the user interface is, by default, synced to the refresh rate of the UI display.

This means that if Force Project framerate is set to false and the refresh rate of your UI display is 60, LightAct's Application framerate is going to be 60.

If you enable Force Project framerate and you don't have any outputs enabled, then LightAct's Application framerate will always be equal to Project framerate.