Regions and Markers

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Regions and Markers

Regions are integral to the Strata workflow. In REAPER, regions define passages in tracks, and markers function as bookmarks. Strata subprojects use regions and markers to apply structure to layers as follows:

Regions define specific sounds of one or more layers and subtracks and have different durations depending on the layer and sound. For example, in the Historical Firearms collection, each subproject represents a different type of firearm and each layer has multiple variations of a firearm shot. Regions separate each shot so that you can play and experiment with each composite shot sound, or each layer that forms part of the composite sound.
Markers indicate starting points of different sets of layers. In the Historical Firearms colllection, there is a marker at the beginning of each shot, so you can use markers to quickly navigate from one shot to another.

Markers and regions also use the custom SWS colors for organizational purposes:

Markers are colored sequentially to reflect their positions in the timeline.
Regions are colored according to a combination of timeline sequence and RenderMatrix Track Layer Output. Refer to the individual collection documentation for specific details.

Set Region and Marker Preferences

There are several ways to interact with regions and markers in REAPER. Use the following short procedures to set REAPER preferences recommended for use with Strata.

To set region and marker options:

In the REAPER menu bar, click View > Region/Marker Manager. The Region/Marker Manager window opens.
Select the Regions and Markers checkboxes. All regions and markers are listed in the table in the window. Regions are indicated with an R in the # column, and markers are indicated with an M.
Right-click any region or marker and ensure that the following options are selected:
- List markers, regions, and take markers separately
- Show track render menu nested by folders
- Seek playback when selecting a marker or region
- Dock Region Manager in Docker
Right-click the ruler, then click Ruler layout and ensure that the following options are selected:
- Display project markers in lanes
- Display project regions in lanes
Click and hold the top of the track window near the bottom of the ruler and drag down to expand the ruler and display more regions, as demonstrated in the following image:

Region and Marker Names

The region names in Strata subprojects are designed for use when rendering sounds into output files that you can then use in other software such as Wwise. Most of the region names are part of the FXName portion of the UCS file naming convention used for all audio files in Strata.

The start, end, and length of the regions facilitate the rendering of each layer of a sound.

Using Search Filters with Regions and Markers

You can use the search filter in the upper left of the Region/Marker Manager to filter the list by name, which can be useful if your subproject contains a large number of regions and markers. Enter all or part of the marker or region name to filter the list:

Data Regions

In Strata subprojects, the black regions at the top of the ruler are known as data regions and are used to automatically name rendered audio files. If you configured REAPER as described in this document, you can see the data region in the ruler as shown in the following image:

Data regions encompass and provide information for all other regions. Data region names include text that provides values for wildcards when you use the REAPER File, Render command, as well as the metadata that is embedded when you use the Project render metadata command.

The following image of the Region/Marker Manager shows how different regions and data are used when rendering in REAPER. For more detailed information about rendering options, refer to the REAPER User Guide.

	The data region contains the information that will form part of the file name as well as the embedded metadata and Rendered subfolder structure. Add values to the UserCategory or UserData section of this region to customize your file name and maintain a rendered file name with a UCS structure. If you add a value after UserCategory=, start it with a dash (-). If you add a value after UserData=, start it with an underscore (_). The - and _ are used to delimit sections of the UCS file name their use is very specific. To insert UserCategory or UserData into the filename one needs to use the - and _ characters as specified, to maintain a UCS filename structure. The following sections of this document contain more information about data regions and UCS names.
	Regions selected to render. The region name becomes part of the file name. Note that the colors correspond to the layers and regions displayed above the timeline.
	Regions are assigned to Render from the Output of the assigned Region Matrix Layer(s)/Track(s).