How to use the abby.

1. Before you start

What you need

• A Mac running macOS 14 or later.
• An AJA capture interface. the abby. is developed and tested on the AJA Io X3 (four SDI connections over Thunderbolt).
• AJA Desktop Software from aja.com, which installs the driver. Allow its system extension in System Settings → Privacy & Security, then restart.
• A fast drive for recordings. An external SSD is ideal.

Install and license

1. Download the abby. and drag it to your Applications folder.
2. Open it. Your first day is free, with every feature switched on.
3. To keep going, open Settings → License (⌘,), press Copy next to your Mac ID, and buy a Day, Week or Month on the licenses page.
4. Paste the key from your email into Settings → License and press Use this key.

No internet on set? No problem. Licenses are checked on the Mac itself. When a license ends, only recording stops. Watching, playback and crew monitors keep working, and every take stays on your drive.

2. Connect your cameras

1. Quit AJA Control Room or any other app using the AJA box.
2. Plug camera A into SDI 1, camera B into SDI 2, and C and D into SDI 3 and 4 if you have them.
3. the abby. finds each input by itself. SDI 1 to 4 fill cameras A to D, and the assignments are remembered next time.

Each input follows format changes and signal loss without restarting. A camera with no picture shows a Please Stand By card instead of black. The Health bar at the top shows each input's signal, the recording drive and free space at a glance.

Tip: send HD over SDI. 4K inputs aren't supported yet.

3. The Shoot screen

This is where you'll spend the day. The big picture is the stage. Below it, the take strip shows today's takes, and the Deck holds your tools.

• Easy and Pro. Easy shows only what you need to record and play back. Pro adds the full toolbars.
• Layouts. Keys 1 to 8 pick A/B, single camera or four-up, live or playback. D switches single and dual. F shows the monitors only.
• Live stays live. Choosing a playback layout cues playback (the monitors say P/B CUED). Nobody sees playback until you press play.
• Router bar. If you use a video router, its routes sit in the top bar. See Outputs and routing.
• Profiles. Each operator can keep their own layout and settings. Switch from the top-bar menu.

4. The slate

Type the scene, take and roll once. Every recording is stamped with them, and the take number goes up by itself after each take is saved. Start a new scene and the take resets to 1.

the abby. can also read the clapper. In the first seconds of a take, it looks for the slate in the picture and offers what it reads. It only suggests, and never changes your slate on its own.

Locked while rolling. The slate and inputs can't change while a take is starting, recording or saving, so a take is never half-labelled.

5. Recording

By hand

Press R to record and R again to cut. Recording always starts from live. Every connected camera records at once, each to its own movie file.

Automatically, with the camera

Press A to cycle each input's auto-record:

• SDI FLAG follows the camera's record signal. ARRI and RED cameras work straight away.
• REC RUN records while the camera's timecode is running. Use it for Sony, Canon, Blackmagic and others set to REC RUN timecode.
• OFF is by hand only.

REC SYNC makes every input follow camera A, so one change sets them all. A take starts when the first camera rolls and ends when the last one cuts.

Teach it a new camera

Open Inputs and choose Learn flag for that input. Leave the camera stopped and press Next, roll and press Next, then cut and press Next. the abby. remembers that camera's record signal. If the camera sends none, it tells you. Turn on the camera's SDI record trigger, or use REC RUN.

Where recordings go

Choose a folder or drive in Settings → Storage. If that drive is missing when a take starts, the abby. records to the Mac and warns you. The status bar turns amber below 20 GB free.

Your take is safe. the abby. won't quit while a take is recording or saving. Finish the take first. Abort throws away a take you don't want and reuses its number.

6. Playback

• T plays the last take.
• Space plays and pauses. Click a clip once to cue it; double-click to play.
• ← → step one frame, and with ⇧ a bigger step. ↑ ↓ go to the previous or next clip.
• I and O mark in and out. ⌫ clears them. K loops.
• [ and ] change speed.
• 9 goes back to live, from anywhere.

Turn on Play the take back on cut in Settings → Recording if your director always wants to see it straight away.

7. Clips and notes

• C circles a take. = and − change its rating. N adds a note.
• One search box finds clips by scene, take, camera, clip name or note, in both the clip list and the take strip.
• Camera report. At roll, the abby. reads the frame rate, shutter, EI, ND and white balance from each camera's picture and keeps them with the take.
• Watch folder. Point it at a folder in Settings → Storage, and new movie files show up in their own bin, untouched.
• Import brings in movie files or a folder exported from another abby. with its notes intact.

8. Crew monitors

The director, script supervisor and clients watch on iPad or iPhone with Abby Monitor, the free crew app. It works over the set network, with no internet needed.

1. In the abby., choose Start sharing.
2. Crew open Abby Monitor and pick your Mac, or scan the project's QR code.
3. Each device waits until you approve it. You can remove anyone at any time.

Viewers and admins

When you approve a device, choose its level. You can change it any time.

• Viewer: watches live, switches cameras, and sends quick notes and reactions.
• Admin: everything a viewer gets, plus messages and encrypted group chats (and can start new groups), take requests if you allow them, and talk-back to video village on the set's Wi-Fi.

What they can do

• Follow me. Viewers see what you see: live while you're live, and your playback once you press play. You can also pin a viewer to one camera.
• Take requests (admins). They can ask for a take. The request waits for you. Nothing plays until you approve it, and requests hold while the camera is rolling. An approved take plays privately for the person who asked.
• Notes and reactions land with the take and go into your wrap report. Group chats (admins) are encrypted end to end, and are cleared when you end the session.

The operator stays in charge. Crew can't play back takes themselves. That's on purpose.

9. Outputs and routing

A clean monitor

Open a projection window, drag it onto any monitor or projector connected to the Mac, and make it full screen. It shows the program picture only, with no buttons.

Video routers

the abby. controls AJA KUMO and Blackmagic Videohub routers over the network. Use Find switchers, connect, then save routes as presets in the Router bar. the abby. reads the router back every few seconds, so the screen always matches the hardware.

10. Picture and sound

• Picture tools live in the Deck: colour and LUTs, crop, mask, overlay, wipe and mix against a reference frame, and a clip bank.
• Frame lines for 2.39, 2.35, 2.00, 1.85, 16:9 and 4:3, with shading, centre cross and safe area (Settings → Display).
• Sound. Pick any audio input on the Mac. Each take records its sound and plays it back in sync. Auto mute live silences live sound during playback.

11. Wrap and export

Select the takes you want and choose Export. the abby. copies them to any folder or drive using your filename pattern, with a report (a spreadsheet of every take, camera settings and crew notes) next to them. It never overwrites a file that's already there.

Email makes small copies of selected takes, respecting in and out points, and opens a new message with the take list.

12. Keyboard shortcuts

These are the defaults. Change any of them in Settings → Keyboard.

Typing and shortcuts. While you're typing in a box, keys type letters. Press Esc to get your shortcuts back. The status bar tells you which mode you're in.

13. Troubleshooting

No picture from a camera

• Check that AJA Control Room and other video apps are closed.
• Check that the AJA driver is installed and allowed in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
• Make sure the camera is sending HD over SDI, and try another cable.

It doesn't roll with the camera

• Turn on the camera's SDI record trigger in its menu.
• Run Learn flag for that input (Inputs room).
• Or set the camera to REC RUN timecode and use REC RUN.

"This key is for a different Mac"

Each key works on the Mac whose ID was given at checkout. Check the Mac ID in Settings → License and contact us, and we'll sort it out.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with what you see on screen. If the abby. shows a crash report, press Send. It comes straight to us.