Timers

TL;DR — Timers count up or down between two moments. Pick a target time, pick a format, bind to a text layer.

#What a timer does

A timer in Quadraviz shows the time between now and a moment you set. It can run:

Down — toward a future moment (countdown to kickoff)
Up — from a past moment (elapsed match time)

The dashboard recalculates the display every tick. No manual updates needed once it's running.

#Create one

Open your animation in the node editor.
Click User Inputs → Timer.
Name it. Examples: Match clock, Intermission, Round timer.
Pick the display format.
Bind it to a text element in your Rive file.

#Format options

| Format | Example | Use case | |---|---|---| | mm:ss | 02:35 | Short rounds, intermissions | | HH:mm:ss | 01:02:30 | Full match durations | | mm:ss.SS | 02:35.12 | Speedruns, milliseconds visible |

Pick the shortest format that fits your show. Less digits, less noise.

#Live control

Once the timer is running, the controller exposes:

Start / pause / reset — manual control during the broadcast
Set target time — change the countdown destination on the fly
Auto-play — automatically start when the scene goes live

#Pair with a state machine trigger

To make the animation react when a timer hits zero (a flash, a winner reveal, a fade-out), wire a state machine trigger in Rive and fire it on the timer's end event.

#Recommendations

mm:ss for game rounds and competitive matches
HH:mm:ss for full event durations or stream length
Auto-play on for opening countdowns; off for clocks the producer starts manually

#Next steps

Buttons and toggles — Manual triggers and switches
Set up the Live Controller — Drive timers from the dashboard