Front Button Modes

The hardware side of the front button is documented in Front Button. This page covers the Studio side: how to configure it, when to use each mode, and how it interacts with shows and Logic Rules.

Setting the mode

1. Open the controller in Studio.
2. Configuration tab → System Configuration → Front Button Mode.
3. Pick a mode. Save.

The new mode pushes to the controller right away.

The four modes

Stop (default)

A short press stops the currently playing show on this controller and returns to the ambient routine.

This is the safest default. It's an "emergency stop" that anyone can press without doing damage. Useful for installs where staff need a fast way to kill a single controller's show.

Use when: you want a kill button that any operator can use; you want a way for a tour guide to stop a specific controller without affecting others.

Trigger

A short press acts like a wired input — it fires whatever you've wired the front button to.

When you set this mode, the front button shows up as an input in the Logic Rules editor (and in a show's Triggers editor). Wire it to a show — or to anything else — and a press fires it. There's no separate "show to fire" picker on the front-button setting itself; you choose what it does by wiring it in a rule.

Use when: you want demo modes ("press the button to see a sample of every effect"), walkthrough rehearsal cues, or a manual-fire backup for a sensor that's acting up.

Safety Lock

A short press toggles a lock that immediately stops the currently running show and prevents new shows from being triggered on the controller. Press the button again to unlock — but this only works if the button is what locked it. If the controller was locked another way — for example, by a Trigger set to lock it — pressing the button will not unlock it.

The status LED indicates the locked state, and Studio shows the controller as Locked.

Use when: maintenance windows, daytime hours in a haunt, walk-throughs where you don't want sensors firing scenes. Like a software lockout/tagout flow.

note

This pauses everything exactly where it's at. All channels are held until released.

Hard Lock

A short press engages a stronger lock: all playback stops immediately and nothing can play. Even Manual Control and Live Preview are blocked. Unlike Safety Lock, a Hard Lock is not cleared by pressing the button again — the controller stays locked until it's rebooted (power-cycled).

Use when: you need to stop the controller completely requiring manual intervention. Emergency stops, fire alarms, etc.

note

You can choose what each output does while the controller is locked, hold its current state, or switch off. This is set per channel in Studio. This is set with Safe States on the channels.

Safe States

In the channel configuration tab, when hard lock is active, you'll see "Safe State" for each channel. The default is to hold like the Safety Lock does. This will pause all action exactly where it is when the Hard Lock is activated.

Unlike a Safety Lock, you can override this. You can force something to "off" or 0. This can be a logical off state like "Off" on an inverted channel would turn it "On"... or a true power off state like a maglock that is on an inverted channel actually is powered off and safely opens. You can also choose a specific setting you want the channel to go to. This can be useful for turning on lights to full brightness or parking an animatronic in a safe way.

Interaction with Logic Rules

When the mode is Trigger, the front button shows up as an input in the Logic Rules editor. You can use it as the input to any rule, just like a wired input.

When the mode is anything else, the front button is filtered out of the Logic Rules input picker — you can't accidentally bind a rule to a button that's set to do something else. If you change the mode back to Trigger, any rule that was previously bound to the button will need to be re-wired.

Interaction with Manual Control

While Manual Control is active, the front button does nothing on the controller — it won't Stop, Safety Lock, or Hard Lock, and it won't fire any Logic Rules. You're driving the channels directly. The press is simply reported back to Studio.