The Program settings refer to the basic settings of the entire program and not to individual projects, which you can find under Project / Settings (more on this in the "Project settings" chapter).

Call up the Program settings via the Extras menu. Here you can, among other things, adjust the User interface to your preferences or set the behavior of the program to your system environment.

With the clock icon at the bottom left of the Program Settings window, you have the option to reset the program settings to the factory defaults.

1 Language

The AquaSoft Vision and Stages can be used in different languages. Select the desired language and confirm with OK. Afterwards a restart of the program is necessary.

2 Add files

Allows you to specify the insertion order and position.
If you add several files at the same time, specify in the Sort section  beforehand according to which options the files should be sorted.

You can sort files already inserted into the project under Edit / Sort.

3 User interface

Here you will find further setting options for the user interface. Deactivate the Tooltips if you do not want them to be displayed in the program interface.

You can choose from different skins (surface colors) for Display. Choose the color of the symbols(Monochrome, Black or White or Skin colors, i.e. colorful).

Via Action on double-click you can set what happens when you double-click on an image in Timeline, Storyboard or Image list. The possible actions correspond to the menu items in the main menu of the program.

If you activate Synchronize controls, then an image that you select in the Timeline will also be selected in the Storyboard and vice versa. It can be useful to change the behavior, then each control has its own selection. It is then possible, for example, to move images from the Storyboard to different chapters in the image list without changing the other control in each case when selecting the images.

The Number of recently opened projects refers to the display in the menu under File / Open and the project list in the Welcome dialog.

4 Confirmations

In AquaSoft Vision and Stages there are some dialogs and hint windows. You can activate or deactivate them here.

5 Automatic update

Every user who has purchased a full version has free access to updates after registering the license key. The updates can contain improvements for possibly existing errors or new program functions.

Set here the interval in which the application should check whether a new update is available. A connection to the Internet is required for the check.

6 User directories

User data directory: You can create your own templates, which are displayed in the Toolbox directory. These are stored in a folder that you can define yourself at this point. This has the advantage that you no longer have to search for your own templates if you want to archive them or pass them on.

Temporary directory: AquaSoft Stages briefly requires space for temporary files on the hard disk for certain operations. Here you specify the directory in which temporary files may be temporarily stored. Video creation may require a lot of disk space. If the temp directory does not provide enough space, you can specify another directory here that is located on a different disk.

Video output directory: The stored directory is then used if you select automatic file name assignment for the video export. Alternatively, you can also specify your own name during export and specify a different destination directory.

Download directory: Files that are imported via Add / Import / From web address are saved in this directory . Alternatively, you can specify a different destination directory during import.

Select your preferred directory using the folder icon. You can use the arrow symbol to replace the default directory. The eye symbol shows you the stored directory in the Windows Explorer.

7 Record sound

You can use the Sound Wizard to record spoken comments about your images via a connected microphone. Define the settings for the recording here.

8 Default image settings

Determine here with which default settings image objects and text objects are to be inserted. You can set default values for your text options and default blending here.

In the AquaSoft Photo Vision, fewer options are available here.

More complex default settings can be implemented using your own objects.

9 Package management

Here you can see which program packages (e.g. Intelligent Templates) and extension packages are enabled or disabled in the program. You can use the checkmarks to turn them on and off. Restart the program to apply the changes to the program.

10 Proxy editing  

Specify how proxy videos are created and where they are used. Proxy files are proxy copies of large video files. This allows large 4K video files, for example, to be converted and played and edited easily even on weaker computers. As soon as an export is due, the original video files are used again instead of the proxy files.
 
At each video object can be activated in the properties whether proxy files should be generated. This is done according to the settings made here.

11 Memory usage

Here you can set the maximum amount of working memory (RAM) of your computer that can be used by the program for caching files. The specified available RAM is 30% of the physical RAM.

12 Sound system

The Sound system takes care of playing the music included in the project. By default, find best output mode automatically is set . If you have problems playing the music, select here Windows Multimedia and then restart AquaSoft Stages.

13 CD/DVD/BD burner

The detected CD/DVD/BD burners are displayed here. If no burner is installed or no external burner is connected, the two fields remain empty.

Select the burner to be used and set the burning speed. Please note that a high burning speed can result in poorer burning quality (depending on the type and brand of the blank disc, among other things). If you have problems reading the burned media, try a slower burning speed. If no burner is displayed, try a different interface.

14 Automatic backup

Specify here whether and how often backup copies should be created automatically while you are working on a project. Your original project will not be overwritten during this automatic backup. Under File / Restore you can call up an older status of your work.

15 Storyboard

Make settings for the Storyboard here.

16 Layout designer

You can make settings for the Layout designer here.

Under Objects simultaneously you define up to which number of objects are displayed simultaneously in the Layout designer. For complex collages, it may be necessary to increase this value. A high number of simultaneously displayed objects costs correspondingly more computing power and RAM.

Furthermore, you can specify whether you want to display the Paths and motion marks for selected objects only and central object handles.

In a submenu you can define more precisely how the grid should look like and how the objects should react to the grid. You can learn more about the grid in the "Layout designer" chapter.

17 Timeline

Define the settings for the Timeline here.

If you want to work very precisely, the "Exact (tight)" style is recommended, because it leaves no optical gaps for the discreet shadow between the objects.

Under Video thumbnails, specify how many thumbnails should be used to display video objects in the Timeline. For slower computers, we recommend "At the beginning and at the end", where the first and last video frames on the object are shown as thumbnails.

For Tracks in chapter, specify how many permanent tracks the start chapter should have, which you will find in the Timeline when you create a new project. With the value 0, no start chapter object is created.

If Show tooltips is activated, you will get hints about objects, e.g. duration, start time, filename, when you move the mouse over them.

If Use large placeholder tracks is checked, the note "Drag here to create new track" appears in the Timeline. This is for better orientation for inserting into new tracks. If the item is unchecked, only a minimized placeholder is visible.

Other objects can be used as a snap-in aid and/or the Timeline time scale.

Select your preferred behavior for the Playhead, especially for controlling the "Play from here (Playhead position)".

•Does not change on object selection: The Playhead always stays where you place it in the Timeline timescale.

•Always jumps to the selected object: The Playhead places itself at the beginning of an object that you select in the Timeline.

•Jumps to the selected object when live preview is not active: The Playhead only places itself at the beginning of an object that you select in the Timeline until you activate the Live preview.

Audio scrubbing

In a submenu you can make settings for audio scrubbing. Specify when and how the audio of objects with sound is played when you move the playhead and/or mouse over them. The specified clip length corresponds to the minimum duration heard.

Sound preview on the playhead is done by hovering the Playhead over an object that contains sound. This feature can be set to Off, On, or restricted so that you hear sound only when Live Preview is enabled in Layout designer.
 
It is also possible to play sounds by hovering over them in the Timeline (without pressing a mouse button) while holding the key that is set here. This function can also be deactivated.

18 Image list

Select here which information should be displayed in the Image list.

19 Hardware acceleration

Videos are decoded faster with suitable hardware. If you observe jerking in the inserted videos during playback or if you use an older graphics card, the hardware acceleration should be deactivated.

20 Remote control

Check the box in front of "Enable remote control" to control a presentation via app. Learn more in the chapter Use remote control or presenter.