What is Ateliere?

Ateliere Creative Technologies is a cloud-native media production and supply chain platform used by broadcasters worldwide. Their flagship product, Ateliere Live, is a GPU-powered cloud production platform that combines live editing, mixing, graphics, and effects in a single software environment. It supports remote and distributed production workflows.

Cuez is one of the launch integration partners of Ateliere Live.

Find more information about Ateliere on their website.

What does the Cuez Automator do with Ateliere?

Cuez Automator sends production control commands directly to Ateliere Live. This covers the full production chain — vision mixing transitions, source selection, keying and compositing, layer transforms, audio routing and mixing, HTML graphics rendering, and media player control — all triggerable from your Cuez rundown.

Ateliere can also handle media from the rundown. When configured as a media handler, the Automator downloads clips and assets from the Episode to the folders you configure, ready for playout.

Adding an Ateliere device to the Automator

In the top right corner of the Automator, click 'Devices' — this shows red or green depending on the status of your configured devices. Click it and select 'Add device'.

Next, select 'Ateliere' from the 'Device type' dropdown list, then give it a name.

Once selected and named, you'll see all the fields needed to configure the device.

Basic device configuration

You can enable or disable the Ateliere device and enter the following settings:

'Host name' — the IP address or hostname of the machine where Ateliere is running. The default is localhost.
'TCP Port' — the port Ateliere listens on for control commands. The default is 7000.

Once these settings are entered, the device should show as 'online' (green) in the top right corner.

Cuez Automator connects to Ateliere over a TCP connection and sends plain text commands. No API key or credentials are used. The device shows as online while the connection is open.

Media handling configuration

Ateliere can handle media coming from the rundown. To enable this, go to the Downloader tab in the device configuration and check the 'Handle Media' box.

Download folders

The 'Download folder' is the folder where Ateliere will download all media to, with its location seen as from the Automator. If Ateliere and the Automator are installed on the same computer, then this will be a local folder. If Ateliere and the Automator are on separate devices, this will be with an IP address on the local network.
The 'Device media folder' is the folder where Ateliere will download all media to, with its location seen as from Ateliere itself. This is most likely just a local folder on the same computer.

Keep file names

Automator offers the option to keep the original filenames of the media that will be downloaded from the Episode into the download folder. By default, Automator saves the files with a unique ID. In case you want to manually check the files in the download folder, it can be helpful to check the box to keep the original filenames to have the files be more recognizable.

Automatically delete files

We can also set files to be automatically deleted after 24 hours or a week. This way you don’t keep all downloaded media in case it is not needed anymore.

Define Blocks with media

Finally we can configure which Blocks will need their media downloaded for our Ateliere. For this, click 'Add media field' at the bottom, select your Block configuration (for example 'Clip') and then the field name of the media (usually 'Media'). Repeat this step for all Block configurations that need their media downloaded by the Ateliere you are configuring.

As soon as these final settings have been configured, the media from the Episode will start downloading to the folders that were defined. A green checkmark next to a thumbnail (in the Script) indicates the media was successfully downloaded.

Configuring actions

Ateliere has a large function set covering the full production chain. Functions are grouped below by category. In the Automator, each function name starts with its category, for example Transition - Cut. For more on configuring actions per Item or Block, see this article.

Factors are numbers between 0.0 and 1.0.
Durations and times are in milliseconds (ms).
Input slots are numbered from 1 to 99. Input strips and output buses are numbered from 0.
The Automator sends commands without waiting for a reply, so a command Ateliere can't carry out (for example an input slot that doesn't exist) does not show an error in the Automator.

Transition

Controls how the vision mixer switches between inputs and handles mix effects.

Function	Description
Cut to input slot	Cuts the program output to the given input slot. The preview output is not affected.
Cut	Cuts between the current program and preview outputs, swapping their places.
Preview	Sets the given input slot on the preview output.
Panic	Cuts both the program and the preview output to the given input slot.
Set transition type	Sets the transition type: Fade, Wipe left, or Wipe right.
Auto	Runs an automatic transition from program to preview over the given duration (ms), using the transition type that is currently set.
Set factor	Sets the position of the transition by hand, from 0.0 (before the transition) to 1.0 (finished). Setting 1.0 swaps program and preview. Sending it interrupts any automatic transition that is running.

Select

Function	Description
Cut	Chooses which input slot to forward. The change looks like a cut.

Fade to Black

Function	Description
Set factor	Sets the blackness by hand, from 0.0 to 1.0.
Fade to	Fades to a fully black output over the given duration (ms).
Fade from	Fades back to a fully visible (non-black) output over the given duration (ms).

Key Fill

Controls alpha keying and compositing on layers.

Function	Description
Alpha combine color	Sets which input slot the Alpha combine node copies the color data from.
Alpha combine alpha	Sets which input slot is used to create the alpha channel of the output.
Alpha combine mode	Sets how the alpha channel is produced: Copy R, Copy G, Copy B, Copy A, or Average RGB.
Alpha over factor	Sets the transparency of the overlay by hand, from 0.0 (invisible) to 1.0 (fully visible). The default is 0.0.
Alpha over fade to	Fades the overlay from its current factor to fully visible over the given duration (ms).
Alpha over fade from	Fades the overlay from its current factor to fully invisible over the given duration (ms).

Chroma Key

Fine-grained chroma key setup — set once during configuration or trigger adjustments live from the rundown.

Function	Description
Set Red / Green / Blue Component	Three separate functions that set the red, green, and blue values of the key color.
Set Distance	Sets the distance parameter of the chroma key.
Set Falloff	Sets the falloff parameter of the chroma key.
Set Spill	Sets the spill reduction of the chroma key.
Color Picker	Sets the key color by sampling the pixels inside a square area. You set the X factor, Y factor, and square size.
Alpha as Video	Shows the alpha value as the RGB value, creating a grayscale image of the mask.
Show Key Color	Draws a 100x100 box in the upper left corner showing the current key color.
Show Color Picker	Draws a pink border around the area the color picker will sample.

Transform

Controls the position and scale of layers.

Function	Description
Scale	Sets the size of the output as a factor of its original size.
Set X Offset	Sets the horizontal position of the top left corner of the output.
Set Y Offset	Sets the vertical position of the top left corner of the output.

Audio Router

Controls how audio from input slots is routed into the strips of the audio mixer.

Function	Description
Map Mono	Maps a channel from an input slot as a mono channel into an input strip of the audio mixer.
Map Stereo	Maps the left channel and the channel after it from an input slot as a stereo pair into an input strip.
Reset	Removes the current mapping from the given input strip.

Audio Mixer

Full per-strip audio control, from basic level and pan to EQ, filtering, and dynamics. Gain, threshold, and make-up gain are in dB, frequencies are in Hz, and attack and release are in ms.

Function	Description
Set Gain	Sets the pre-gain of an input strip, in dB.
Set Volume	Sets the volume of an input strip for an output bus, in proportion to its original strength.
Set Master Volume	Sets the master volume of an output bus.
Volume Auto Transition	Fades the volume of an input strip to a level over a set transition time (ms).
Master Volume Auto Transition	Fades the master volume of an output bus to a level over a set transition time (ms).
Mute	Mutes or unmutes an input strip for an output bus.
Master Mute	Mutes or unmutes all audio on an output bus.
Set Panning	Pans the mono or stereo input of a strip to the left or right.
Set LPF Frequency	Sets the cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter of a strip.
Set LPF Q-value	Sets the Q-value of the low-pass filter of a strip.
Set HPF Frequency	Sets the cutoff frequency of the high-pass filter of a strip.
Set HPF Q-value	Sets the Q-value of the high-pass filter of a strip.
Set EQ Frequency	Sets the frequency of a band of the parametric equalizer. You choose the band by its index.
Set EQ Gain	Sets the gain of an EQ band.
Set EQ Q-value	Sets the Q-value of an EQ band.
Set EQ Filter Type	Sets the filter type of an EQ band: None, Low-pass, High-pass, Band-pass, Low-shelf, High-shelf, Peak, or Notch.
Set Compressor Threshold	Sets the level at which the compressor engages.
Set Compressor Ratio	Sets the compression ratio for audio above the threshold.
Set Compressor Knee	Sets the width of the soft knee, in dB.
Set Compressor Attack	Sets the attack time of the compressor, in ms.
Set Compressor Release	Sets the release time of the compressor, in ms.
Set Compressor Gain	Sets the make-up gain applied after compression, in dB.

HTML Rendering

Controls HTML-based graphics running inside Ateliere Live.

Function	Description
Create	Creates a new HTML browser on an input slot, with a canvas width and height.
Close	Closes the HTML browser on the given input slot.
Load URL	Loads a URL in the HTML browser on the given input slot.
Execute JavaScript	Runs JavaScript in the HTML browser on the given input slot.
Reset	Closes all open HTML browsers.

Media Player

Controls media playback within Ateliere Live. Media is referenced by file name.

Function	Description
Create	Creates a new media player on an input slot with the given media file.
Load	Loads another file into the existing media player on the given input slot.
Close	Closes the media player on the given input slot.
Play	Starts or resumes playback of the loaded file.
Pause	Pauses playback.
Seek	Jumps to a time point, in ms.
Set Start	Sets the start time of the looping section, in ms.
Set Duration	Sets the duration of the playing or looping section, in ms.
Set Looping	Sets whether the media loops from the start time when it reaches the end of the section.
Reset	Closes all open media players.

Troubleshooting

Device shows as offline?

Verify the host name of the machine where Ateliere is running
Check that the TCP port in the device configuration (default 7000) matches the port Ateliere listens on, and that it is not blocked by a firewall
Make sure Ateliere is running and the Automator has network access to it

Device shows as online but a function does nothing?

The Automator sends commands without waiting for a reply, so it does not show an error when Ateliere can't carry one out. Double-check the input slot (1–99), input strip, and output bus numbers (from 0) used in the action

Media not downloading?

Confirm the Handle Media checkbox is enabled in the Downloader tab
Check that the Download folder path is reachable from the Automator

Ateliere and the Automator