Glossary
Every word you meet in Storm Studio, in plain terms. If you see a word in the app and it is not here, that is a gap in the manual — please tell us.
Each entry says what the word means, where you meet it in the app, and what to read next.
A
Action safe
The outer safe area. Anything important inside it will be seen on almost every television. Storm Studio uses 93% of the frame by default (the EBU R95 standard).
Advisory
An official forecast for a storm, issued by the National Hurricane Center or the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, usually every six hours. Each one is numbered. Your video always shows one advisory, and says which and when.
Animation
The part of the video where the storm moves. Its length is set in the transport bar, between Hold at start and Hold at end.
Area history
A small badge that says how many storms have passed near a place since a given year. Off in every project until you switch it on.
AUTO
See Automatic rendering.
Automatic rendering
Making videos on a schedule, without you, every time a new advisory comes out or at set times. Needs the helper running on your computer.
B
Basemap
The map under everything: land, sea, borders and coastlines.
Brand
Your own identity on the video: logo, bug, watermark, colours and fonts. A brand stays with a project whatever look you choose.
Bug
A small, usually see-through logo that sits in a corner for the whole video, as on most TV channels.
C
Camera template
A ready-made way for the video to move — Forecast track, Full track build-up, Landfall close-up, Past track recap, Full track (static) or Social vertical. Choosing one builds the whole camera move for you.
Caption
A short line of text on the video, tied to a moment. One of four kinds of text.
Category
A hurricane's strength on the Saffir–Simpson scale, from 1 to 5, by its strongest sustained wind. Weaker storms are tropical storms and tropical depressions.
Cone
The official forecast cone. The centre of the storm stays inside it about two times in three. It is not a map of where damage will happen — a storm's winds usually reach well outside it.
Cross-fade
A soft change from one picture to the next, instead of a cut.
D
Display and units
Wind and pressure units, the language of the graphics, and the time zone.
E
EBU R95
The European standard for safe areas: 93% action safe, 90% graphics safe. Storm Studio's default.
Eye
The centre of the storm, drawn as a symbol on the track. Its look and how see-through it is are set in Design.
F
Forecast track
The path the storm is expected to take, drawn as a dashed line with a dot for each forecast time. Also the name of the camera template that flies along it.
Full screen
Text that fills the whole frame for a moment — a title card. One of four kinds of text.
G
Graphics safe
The inner safe area. Storm Studio keeps every graphic inside it, so nothing is cut off on any screen. 90% of the frame by default. Sometimes called title safe.
H
Headline
A line of text above the ticker and lower third, for the main message. One of four kinds of text.
Helper
A small program that runs on your computer and makes videos for your schedules while the app is closed. Started with setup-helper.bat.
Hints
Short explanations that appear as you work. Switch them off once you know your way around.
Hold
A still moment at the start or end of the video, before or after the storm moves. Hold at start and Hold at end are set in seconds in the transport bar.
Home screen
Where Storm Studio opens: live storms, your recent projects, and your projects folder. Click the logo to come back to it.
I
Intro, Outro
A picture or video clip at the very start or end of your video — a title, a sting, a channel ident.
K
Key messages
Two or three short lines of text in a panel, for the points that matter. One of four kinds of text.
L
Lane
See Row.
Latest Advisory
Brings in the newest advisory for the storm you have open.
Layout check
A line at the top of the Design list that says whether every graphic fits, or names the ones that do not.
Legend
The key that explains the colours and lines on the map — cone, past track, forecast track, wind.
LIVE
On a storm: it is happening now, and the data is the latest official advisory. On a schedule: it is switched on and will make videos.
Location line
The line under the storm's name that says where it is — "325 mi WSW of Acapulco, Mexico".
Lock
On a schedule: stops it being changed or deleted by accident. Unlock it to edit.
Look
How the whole video is drawn: colours, type, which graphics appear and where. You can change looks freely; your storm, timeline and brand stay.
Loudness
How loud the whole video sounds, measured in LUFS. Storm Studio can set it to a broadcast or online target in one step.
Lower third
A strap of text across the lower part of the frame, as used for a presenter's name.
LUFS
The unit for loudness. Broadcast uses −23 LUFS in Europe (EBU R128) and −24 in North America; most social platforms are around −14.
M
Media folder
A folder called media next to your project file, holding copies of its video clips, music and voice-over. Keep it with the project.
Mirror for right-to-left
Flips the graphics' corners for Arabic and Urdu, so they read from the right.
P
Past track
Where the storm has been, drawn as a solid line with a dot for each past position.
Pin
A marker you place on the timeline to change how the video plays from that moment — pause on the storm, zoom in, slow down, or jump ahead. A pin is tied to a moment in the storm's story, so it stays in the right place if you change the video's length. There are several kinds: Wait (pause, key P), Zoom (Z), Storm close-up of the eye (S), Speed (R) and Skip (K).
Playhead
The red line on the timeline that shows the moment you are looking at. New pins and texts are added there.
PNG sequence
The video saved as one picture per frame, with a see-through background. Used to put Storm Studio's graphics over other footage in an editing or finishing suite.
Presenter space
Room left on one side of a widescreen picture for someone to stand in front of. The camera keeps the storm on the other side. Widescreen 16:9 only.
Project
One file, ending .stormproj, that holds everything about a video so you can open it again.
R
Replay
A video of a past storm, made from the historical records. Always labelled "Replay" on the video.
Row
One line of the timeline for one kind of thing — Media, Story, Camera, Text, Music or Voice-over.
S
Safe area
The part of the frame that every screen will show. Television sets crop the edges, so Storm Studio keeps graphics inside a safe area.
Schedule
A set of instructions for automatic rendering: which project, which storms, when, in which frame sizes, and where the videos go. In the app's files it is called a show.
Skip pin
Jumps the storm forward in time, with an optional flash or cross-fade.
Source credit
The line at the bottom that names where the data came from and when — "Source: NOAA NHC · Data as of…".
Speed pin
Makes the storm move faster or slower for a while.
Storm close-up pin
Flies the camera in to the storm's eye.
Story
The row of the timeline that holds the storm's own animation and the holds before and after it.
T
Test data
Made-up storm data used for trying things out. Always labelled "Test data" on the video.
Text
Words on the video at a chosen moment: key messages, a headline, a full-screen card or a caption.
Ticker
A strip of text along the bottom, still or scrolling, typed in or read from a file.
Timeline
The rows along the bottom of the editor, showing everything in your video in order.
Track points
The dots along the track, each marking the storm's position and strength at one time.
W
Wait pin
Pauses the storm on a moment while the graphics or a presenter catch up. Key P.
Watermark
A see-through image over the whole picture, usually a logo.
Wind radii
How far winds of a given strength reach from the centre: tropical-storm force (34 knots), 50 knots, and hurricane force (64 knots).
Z
Zoom pin
Zooms the camera in or out, on the centre or off to one side.