Singular terminology

A glossary of common Singular concepts

Here's a quick reference of definitions for some common Singular terms.

App

See control application.

App token

A token that is used to authorize access a specific app instance.

App instance

An instance of an app. It has a unique app token, a shared API URL, and an output URL. This allows users to update a particular instance of an app without altering the app template or other app instances.

Bug

A small text box that sits in the upper right or left corner. Bugs are often be used to show the date, time, or location of the video, or in sports where the score is displayed.

Composition

A collection or package of overlays that share a visual theme. Each control application is connected to a specific composition that it can access and control.

Control

Adding content to overlays and playing them on and off air at the appropriate time.

Control application

Used to add content to overlay templates and trigger their animation on screen. They also allow you to build playlists to set up automation and streamer overlays live on air.

Control node

A feature in Composer that allowed widget properties to be edited in a control application. Once a control node is added to a widget, it will appear in your control application as editable fields within the overlay editor panel.

Dashboard

It serves as your file manager within Singular. Here you can create new compositions or control applications, organize them into folders and access existing work within your account.

Dashboard inspector

This Dashboard panel reveals info about your Singular assets, including asset URLs, asset thumbnails, details about creation time, updated time, and more.

Full screen

An overlay that takes up most or all of the screen. Full screens are used for sharing a lot of detailed information or large visual elements.

Layer

A set of overlays that are positioned in the same area of the screen. Layer logic prevents multiple overlays from the same layer from being on screen at the same time.

Logic layer

Assigning a logic layer to an overlay allows control apps and the Singular APIs to smoothly replace overlays in the same layer instead of displaying them on top of each other.

Lower third

A type of graphic/overlay that resides in the lower third portion of the screen space and typically displays information central to the content such as names or topic text.

On air

This means that you're streaming your overlays to a live source. Your updates and overlays will be visible to your audience.

Output

The final on-air product of Singular. You control overlays and play them on air to an output, which is what your viewers see. Singular’s output is simply a URL that you can use to embed over video.

Output URL

A Singular Output URL is a webpage that displays only the overlays currently on-stream/on-air from your control application.

Overlay

A graphical element that can sit on top of a video source to present data or add visual interest.

Page

Another term for an overlay in a control application that typically already has specific content entered into it. You can have multiple pages from the same overlay type or template within your playlist each with different content.

Panel

Also called a "slab" or "sidebar," a panel is a larger vertical overlays that sits on the left and right side of the screen. Panels are for displaying either images or information that don’t fit on a lower third.

Play

Another term for take.

Preview

A window in Studio and Uno that shows you what an overlay looks like before it is taken on air.

Share

To stream your output.

Show

An instance of a control application used for a livestream event. A show is created by creating a new control application and assigning a composition to it.

Sub-composition

A sub-composition is essentially an overlay that is read by a control app. A sub-composition can consist of widgets, groups, and even other sub-compositions to create an overlay.

Take in/take out/take air

Triggering an overlay to animate live on air.

Ticker

A type of overlay that typically sits along the bottom of the screen. Also referred to as a “crawl” or “crawler,” it can display static or scrolling information.

Topic bar

A kind of lower third that is used in long discussions to let viewers who are just joining in know what is being talked about.

Widget

The building blocks of an overlay. Each visual and functional component of an overlay is a separate widget that are combined together to make up an overlay.