Clocks

“Clocks” are graphic overlays that are used to display the current time on-air.

To create a clock, select New –> Clock from the Overlay tab.

HC New Overlay Menu

You can start by selecting a Preset Type from the pull-down (Basic Clock with a background color in one of the corners, or an existing Clock Overlay you have already designed).

HC Clock Overlay Presets

This will pre-populate fields to match the preset, which are then easy to customize to your specifications. Here are the choices you can make:

  • Background Properties
    • Choose None, Image, or Color:
      • “None” will have no background. You should use drop shadow text with contrasting colors for the Text Properties if you have no background to make sure your clock is visible no matter what video content is playing behind it.
      • “Color” allows you to choose a color band, plus an optional border, and set the width, height, and placement of that band of color. As with the “tickers”, you get color choices for Background and Border. You can set the transparency of the background band using the slider widget in the color picker.
      • “Image” allows you to upload your own background as a .png file that also supports alpha channel. You can drag the color band or image on the stage to position it, or set the X and Y coordinates directly in the Background Properties.
HC Clock Overlay Background
  • Text Properties
    • The Text field will accept a mix of plain text, and time variables such as Hour, Minute, and AM/PM designation.
    • Click on the “Insert Variable at Cursor” link, and the list of preset variables will pop up.Click on the desired variable to insert where the cursor is in the Text field.
    • For example, if you want your clock to show HH:MM with AM/PM designation, the variables would be: %I:%M %p
    • Time variables are populated at the time of starting a Clock overlay, and will be updated in real-time.Check on the Remove Leading Zero checkbox if you want 08:00 AM to show as 8:00 AM for example.
    • Check on the Convert Variables checkbox to show how your selected variables will look when actually displayed on air.
    • HC Clock Overlay Convert
    • Other fields include Text Justify, Position (X and Y), Font/Weight/Size/Color, and optional Drop Shadow settings.
    • You can drag the Text field on the stage to position it, or set the X and Y coordinates directly in the Text Properties.
HC Clock Overlay Text
HC Clock Overlay Drop Shadow

When saving changes, click the Save For All Resolutions to apply your changes for all stages. Otherwise any changes will only save for the resolution on which you are working.

Once created, a Clock Overlay can be scheduled like any other graphic overlay as follows:

  • As a scheduled event by choosing the “Add Overlay” option in Programming → Classic View.
  • Automatically through Overlay Rules.
  • You can also manually turn Clocks on and off on the Overlays tab by clicking the slider for the Overlay on the desired channels. Note that if you manually turn on a Clock, it will remain on-air until you manually turn it off.