Operators

Operators are powerful processing units that modify video or audio content—or leverage media data to perform actions and calculations. From color correction to chroma keying, operators give you precise control over every aspect of your composition.

Common operators include Color Curves, Vibrance, and Chroma Key. While many operators function as visual or audio effects, others perform utility operations that extend beyond direct media manipulation.

How Operators Work

Operators are applied to layers within a scene. You can stack multiple operators on a single layer, and even apply the same operator type more than once for cumulative effects.

Operators are processed from top to bottom. Each operator calculates an outgoing RGBA value, which is then passed to the next operator in the pipeline.

Below are two examples of operators applied to a scene layer:

Working with Operators

Operators are located in the Operators tab on the left side of the interface.

Adding an Operator

Select a Layer in your Scene, then use the Add Operator menu to apply an operator. The currently selected layer is displayed beneath the dropdown.

Managing Operators

• Drag and drop operators to reorder them in the processing pipeline.

• Click the yellow arrow-icon to expand or collapse an operator's settings.

• Toggle the yellow checkbox next to an operator's name to enable or disable it.

Context Menus

• Right-click on an existing Operator to open its context menu. Ex:
  

• Right-click on an empty area to open the columns context menu. Ex:

Copying, Pasting, and Duplicating

• To copy properties between operators of the same type, right-click the operator name and select Copy operator properties. Then right-click the destination operator and choose Paste Properties.

• To duplicate an operator, right-click it and select Duplicate operator

• Use the Copy Operators and Paste Operators buttons to transfer all operators from one Scene Layer to another. This feature uses your system clipboard, making it easy to copy operators between servers.

Deleting Operators

• To delete a single Operator, select it and press the [DELETE] keyboard button, or right-click the operator name and choose Delete Operator

• To delete all Operators at once, right-click on an empty area and select Delete all operators

Presets

Operator configurations can be saved as presets, allowing you to back up your pipeline or reuse it across multiple projects.

You can save/load presets in two ways:

• Single Operator

  Save or load the configuration of an individual operator.

  • Save - Right-click on the selected operator and select Preset  → Save as preset from the context menu.

  • Load -  Right-click on the target operator and select Preset  → Load from preset from the context menu.
    

  Single operator presets are, by default, stored in: C:\Program Files\RealSprint AB\Vindral Composer\Operators\[OperatorName]

• All Operators (LayerOperators)
  Save or load the complete operator pipeline for the selected layer.

  • Save - Right-click on an empty area in the Operators column and select Save Operators as Preset. Choose a location to save the .layerpreset file.

  • Load - Right-click on an empty area in the Operators column and select Load Operators from Preset to load your .layerpreset file.

  LayerOperator presets are, by default, stored as .layerpreset files in: C:\Program Files\RealSprint AB\Vindral Composer\LayerOperators

Extract To Window

Moves the selected operator into its own separate, floating window outside the main Composer interface.

💡Tip:

Extracting the window is useful when you want persistent access to an input’s settings or controls while working elsewhere in Composer, such as editing scenes, layers, operators, or targets. The extracted window remains visible and usable independently of the main UI, improving workflow efficiency on multi-monitor setups.

The input continues to function normally and remains part of the project — only its user interface is detached from the main window.

Custom Operators

Composer features a plugin-based architecture that supports the development of custom operators, inputs, and targets. Custom operators can be designed and built to meet your specific requirements, including:

• AI-powered image analysis for object recognition and tracking

• Third-party system integrations

• Bespoke visual effects

Custom operator development is available through Professional Services provided by RealSprint. Contact RealSprint for more information.