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Output Triggers — Cues, Auto-Repeat, and Bulk Retiming

This guide controls signals that Flair sends to external equipment at chosen move frames. A trigger is a short electrical or network command. A cue is the programmed event that sends it. RPN maths is Flair's bulk-edit tool: it applies one calculation to every selected trigger time, so save the job before using it.

BOTH

Flair's Output Triggers dialog has two underused tabs — Cues and Auto-Repeat — that make it far quicker to set up complex trigger patterns. This guide covers both tabs plus the RPN calculator trick for bulk-retiming all triggers at once.

Opening the Output Triggers Dialog

Flair Classic: Setups → Output (from the main menu)

Flair 7: The Output Triggers button is in the move editor toolbar, or accessible via Setups → Output.

The dialog has three tabs: the main triggers list, Cues, and Auto-Repeat.

Trigger Box Hardware (Quick Reference)

The trigger box itself is a simple device (sometimes external, sometimes built into a case) with three connections: power (5V, from USB), data (Ethernet, from the Flair computer), and a set of relay outputs plus a couple of inputs for triggering moves from external switches. For the full hardware walkthrough see the 10 - Triggers Box and Bloop tutorial below.

Basic Trigger Fields — On/Off Frame, Duration, and Active

Before using the Cues or Auto-Repeat tabs, it helps to understand the fields they generate into on the main triggers list:

  • On frame / Off frame — the trigger fires (goes on) at the first frame and clears (goes off) at the second. You can enter either an off frame or a duration, not both — e.g. "on at frame 10, off at frame 20" is equivalent to "on at frame 10, duration 10."
  • Fractional frames are allowed (e.g. 20.5) for sub-frame timing accuracy.
  • Repeat — a trigger's on/off pattern (including a multi-pulse pattern, such as on at frame 5–7 and again at 18–20 within one trigger) can be set to repeat automatically at a fixed frame interval, without needing the separate Auto-Repeat tab for a simple repeating case.

A trigger must be set Active or it will not fire

Every trigger row has an Active/Inactive state. A newly created or renamed trigger is inactive by default and will not fire even if the move runs and the timing looks correct — you must explicitly set it to Active. This is an easy step to miss when testing a new trigger.

Dry-running near pyro or other hazardous triggers

There is a master Triggers on/off control (separate from the per-trigger Active state) that disables all physical trigger outputs at once. If a trigger is wired to something hazardous — fireworks, air mortars, or similar — turn this master control off before dry-running or rehearsing a move, so nobody can be surprised by an accidental firing. Turn it back on only when the crew is ready and clear.

The Cues Tab — Automatic Countdown Beeps

The Cues tab generates a countdown beep pattern before a main trigger cue — the classic "beep-beep-BEEP" that alerts crew that a trigger is about to fire.

Setup

  1. Open Output Triggers.
  2. Click the Cues tab.
  3. Set:
  4. Main cue frame — the frame on which the trigger fires.
  5. Number of pre-cues — how many beeps before the main cue (typically 2–3).
  6. Duration — length of each beep pulse.
  7. Gap — time between beeps.
  8. Click Apply.

Flair automatically places all pre-cue triggers at the correct frames and updates them when you change the main cue frame — no need to adjust each trigger manually.

"Adjust cue frame → all pre-cues update automatically." — Simon Wakley

The Auto-Repeat Tab

The Auto-Repeat tab lets you repeat a trigger at regular intervals throughout the move. Flair generates all the trigger entries automatically.

Setup

  1. Open Output Triggers and click the Auto-Repeat tab.
  2. Set:
  3. Start frame — the first frame at which the trigger fires.
  4. Interval — how many frames between each trigger.
  5. Number of repeats — how many times the trigger fires total.
  6. Click Apply.

Flair calculates all trigger frames from the start frame and interval, and adds them all to the normal triggers list. You can review and edit them there.

Tip

Auto-Repeat is useful for strobe lighting, repeating effects (pyro, air puffs), or any trigger that needs to fire on a regular cadence throughout the move. For irregular spacing, use the Cues tab instead.

Both Cues and Auto-Repeat entries are created in the normal triggers tab, so you can see and fine-tune them there after generation.

Bulk Retime All Triggers with RPN Maths

Flair uses a Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) calculator in numeric fields. You can use this to multiply or offset all trigger times at once:

  • Double all trigger times: type 2* in the first trigger time field — all entries are multiplied by 2.
  • Add 10 frames to all: type 10+.
  • Shift earlier by 5 frames: type 5-.

This is the fastest way to re-sync all triggers after changing move speed or duration.

"Maths in trigger times: type '2*' in first trigger to multiply all by 2 (ripple retiming)." — Simon Wakley

Which Output Does the Cue Beep Use?

The Cues tab generates triggers on a specific output channel — whichever output you assign the beep/bloop to in your trigger setup.

  • The Bloop button in the Test Output Triggers dialog uses the ribbon plug connection on the Flair computer back panel (the built-in speaker/beep output). This is the default bloop output.
  • If you are using a separate trigger box (hardware relay), first check which output number is connected to your audible device (Setups → Output → Test Output Triggers). Then set your Cues tab trigger to that output number.

"Pull up the outputs test (setup menu) and see which output you are using for bloop. Then in outputs you need to activate the relevant one and enter frame etc." — Peter Constan-Tatos

Only 3 Cue Sets Available on Classic — Workaround for a 4th

The Cues tab only supports 3 sets of cue beeps on Flair Classic — there's no built-in way to add a 4th set for shots that need more than 3 distinct beep patterns (e.g. multiple part runs each needing their own cue, or several cued events like people/objects entering frame at different points).

"Is there a way to add more cues to a trigger on flair classic? We want 4 sets of beeps and are having to use the table instead of cues method because there's only 3 available." — community, 2026-06-27

Workaround — use the 3 generated cues, then extend the table manually:

"No, there's just 3 sets, but you can use the 3 cues, it generates the table, and then add one more to the table. You could also use a different output with a different beeper." — Simon Wakley, 2026-06-27

Steps:

  1. Set up your 3 cue sets normally in the Cues tab — this auto-generates the underlying trigger table.
  2. Manually add a 4th row to that generated table for the additional cue you need.
  3. Alternatively, route the 4th cue through a different output with its own separate beeper, rather than trying to fit it into the same Cues-tab-generated table.

Simon noted the 3-set limit exists in part to avoid overflowing the event buffer — a 4th built-in set could be added in a future release, but wasn't available at time of writing. If your use case is click-track/counted-audio-file based cueing instead, be aware that doesn't work well when your shot has multiple part runs (the click track has no way to resync to a part-run boundary) — a second physical beeper on a separate trigger output is usually more reliable for that case.

Input Triggers — Starting a Move from an External Switch

Flair 7

Shown in Flair 7

This is demonstrated in Flair 7. It is not confirmed whether Flair Classic's Input Triggers UI is identical, though the underlying trigger-box hardware is the same.

Input Triggers are the reverse of Output Triggers: instead of Flair sending a signal out, an external switch closure wired into the trigger box's input ports can control Flair. The trigger box has (at least) two input ports for this.

An input trigger can be configured to do one of several things when the switch closes:

  • Trigger the entire move to run.
  • Stop the move from running.
  • Trigger just the camera to start recording, without moving the rig.
  • For stop-frame animation: take one frame, move to the next step position, ready for the next trigger — each closure advances the sequence by one frame (see Running Only Part of a Long Timelapse and stop-motion stepping for the related Forward Step workflow).

Edge setting: each input can be set to trigger on the rising edge, the falling edge, or both. If you are unsure which edge your external switch produces cleanly, setting both is a reasonable default.

Which input starts the move: you must explicitly tell Flair which input bit is the one that starts the move (there can be more than one input wired up for different functions). Once this is set and applied, running the move puts Flair into a "ready to shoot" state where it waits for either an operator button press or the configured external trigger input — whichever comes first.

Menu location

The demonstration does not show the exact menu path for Input Triggers on every Flair version — look for an Input Triggers tab or dialog near Output Triggers in Setups if it is not immediately visible.

The Bloop Light — Purpose and Controls

A bloop light is a light (and optionally a buzzer) that flashes to mark a specific frame during recording. Its purpose is editorial sync: when you shoot multiple passes of the same move, the bloop flash appears at the identical position in every pass, which makes it fast to line up all the takes against each other later in the edit suite.

Physical setup:

  • The bloop light is normally used on a long extension cable so it can be held in front of the camera lens while it flashes, rather than on its short factory cable.
  • It has a buzzer that can be switched on independently of the light, for an audible cue as well as a visible one.
  • A test button on the unit fires the light (and buzzer, if enabled) on demand, useful for checking it is working before a take.
  • It also has a built-in laser for situations where holding the light in front of the lens isn't practical (limited space, or the camera position is hard to reach). The laser can be mounted on a small stand via a quarter-inch thread and pointed at a fixed position, so it marks the moment the rig reaches that position rather than needing to be held by hand.

Configuring it as a trigger: the bloop is just another output trigger (see "Which Output Does the Cue Beep Use?" above) — typically set to fire for one frame, or less than one frame, at frame 0/1 for a mark at the start of the move. You can instead place it at the end of the move so the flash marks the moment all the action in the shot has finished — useful when you want to composite multiple takes and need a clean sync point after the action rather than before it.

Tutorial Video

Gordon Eschke's Flair 7 Quick Tips video on Output Triggers covers the dialog in full:

▶ Output Triggers — Flair 7 Quick Tips

YouTube 10 - Triggers Box and Bloop Flair Classic

▶ 02:25 — Trigger Box and Bloop hardware setup, covering which output the audible cue beep uses

YouTube 25A Output & Input Triggers & the Bloop Light Flair 7

▶ 01:06 — Creating an output trigger for a move ▶ 04:55 — Setting up an input trigger ▶ 06:52 — Bloop Light setup