The log window in PIXERA Control displays messages from Control modules and Lua scripts. Use it to check incoming values, follow the execution of an Action, and investigate warnings or errors while building a project.

You can write messages by connecting Actions to the Logger module or by adding logging commands directly to your Lua code.

Opening and Positioning the Log Window

Open the Control tab and click the Show Log button, represented by a sheet of paper at the top right of the workspace. A small layout selector lets you choose where the log appears.

The placement buttons are arranged from left to right: below the workspace, on the left, and on the right.

Drag the divider between the log and the workspace to adjust the space available to each pane.

Using a Separate Window

The log supports PIXERA's pane management. Right-click the divider next to the log and use the pane's Detach option to move it into a separate window. This is useful when you want to keep the log visible on another monitor.

You can also open a separate log window directly: when the log is closed, hold Shift and click Show Log. This shortcut opens a new window only when no log pane is already open.

To return to a docked layout, close the separate log window, click Show Log, and choose a placement again.

Logging with the Logger Module

The Logger module writes values received through the node system to the log. It provides three Actions:

Example: Logging a Text Value

1. Search for Logger in the Control Library and drag it into the workspace.
2. Add a SendText module from the Library.
3. Enter Hello in its Text field.
4. Connect the output of sendText() to the Logger's info(...) input.
5. Trigger sendText() using the trigger button next to the Action.

The log displays the text at the Info level. Connect to warning(...) or error(...) to write the same value at a different level.

In this example from the recording, SendText is connected to warning(...).

The Logger also accepts multiple parameters. This makes it useful for inspecting the values passed between connected Actions without adding logging code to each Action.

Logging Directly from Lua

Use the following functions inside a Control Action:

Select the Action and open its Code tab in the Inspector. Enter the logging calls, then trigger the Action to write their messages to the log.

pixc.log("Hello")
pixc.warning("World")
pixc.error("Error")

Running this example produces these messages:

LUA Info: Hello
LUA Warning: World
LUA Error: Error

You can log variables and pass several values in one call:

local cueNumber = 12
local isReady = true

pixc.log("Cue", cueNumber, "Ready", isReady)

The values are converted to text and separated by a comma and a tab in the log output.

Reading Log Messages

A message contains a source, a log level, and the message text. For example, LUA Warning: World identifies a Lua message at the Warning level with the text World.

Alongside messages you create, Control can display internal status messages. Entries such as Lua allocated., Lua freed., and Script loaded. can appear when scripts are created or reloaded. Their presence alone does not indicate an error; check the level and the surrounding messages.

The numbers beside the text are line numbers in the displayed log.

Error Indication

If an Error message arrives while the log is closed, the Show Log button changes to its error icon. Open the log to inspect the message. Opening a docked log through the placement selector resets this indication.

Following New Messages

When you are at the bottom of the log, the view follows newly appended messages automatically. Scroll upwards to inspect older messages without continually jumping back to the newest entry. Scroll to the bottom again to resume following new output.

Copying Messages

Select the required text and press Ctrl+C, or right-click and choose Copy. Use Ctrl+A or Select All from the context menu to select the displayed contents before copying.

Clearing and Hiding the Log

Hold Alt and click Show Log to clear the displayed messages and the in-memory history used when reopening the log. You can do this while the log is visible or closed.

To hide the log, click Show Log and select Hide Log. Hiding the pane keeps the in-memory history. Messages can continue to arrive while the pane is closed, and reopening it shows the retained history.

Log History and Saved Log Files

The visible log keeps a limited amount of text. During live logging, if the displayed content exceeds 1,000 lines, the oldest 500 lines are removed. The separate in-memory history used to reopen the pane is also limited, so older messages can eventually disappear.

For a longer record, Control also writes messages to control_log.txt in PIXERA's log directory. In a standard Windows installation, this is:

C:\ProgramData\AV Stumpfl\Pixera\logs\control_log.txt

The location can differ when running a development build. Older files are rotated into numbered archives such as control_log-1.txt.

The saved log adds timestamps and can include function information that is omitted from the pane. Repeated identical messages can be summarized, and long messages can be shortened in the file. The pane and the saved log therefore need not be identical line for line.

Clearing the pane with Alt+Click does not delete the saved log files.

Related Articles

• Control Basic Overview
• pixc LUA Functions
• PIXERA 26.2 Overview and Changelog

PIXERA 26.2 | 5. November 2026 | J.B.