Custom Router can help you build focused routing panels with the controls operators need. You choose the controls, their appearance and position, and how people move between groups. The enclosing Custom Router owns the panel's current selections and displayed state so the controls work together.
This page builds a panel like this one: three sources, a destination, and Take and Clear Selection buttons.
Warning
A Custom Router can change real signal paths. Build and operate this example with non-production ATEM destinations.
Choose ATEM destinations that are not carrying production signals.
This example builds a day-to-day panel with a small group of ATEM sources and destinations, deliberate Take operation, and controls grouped in a folder or popover.
A newly created Custom Router is an empty section that owns the routing state for everything placed inside it. That state includes the selected source and destination, enabled levels, selected routing Preset, label choices, and recent take result.
Controls inside the section read and update the same state. A source button changes the selected source, a destination button changes the selected destination, Take acts on those selections, and Clear Selection discards them. This shared owner is what lets you mix and match source, destination, Preset, label, level, and utility controls instead of using a fixed router layout.
Folders, popovers, and shared sections can organize those controls without splitting the panel. As long as they remain inside the Custom Router, their routing buttons still use the state owned by that Custom Router. A routing button moved outside it no longer has a Custom Router to operate on.
Selection represents the route the operator is preparing. Active state represents what the controlled system currently reports. With a separate Take button, selecting a source and destination does not change the route until the operator takes it.
In the position editor, select the canvas cells that should contain the panel.
Right-click the selection, then choose Create... → Custom Router.
Select the new Custom Router to open its inspector.
Under Take Behavior, set Auto Take Mode to Off (Require Take Button).
Under Source Selection and Destination Selection, leave Control Mode set to Editable.
Under Levels, choose the signal levels this panel should route. For an ATEM bundle that should keep picture and embedded audio together, enable Video and Audio. Include only levels that exist in the routing resources you intend to use.
Under Source Label Default and Destination Label Default, choose the Label Type and Fallback Strategy that make the endpoints recognizable to the operator. See Understand physical routing.
With Off (Require Take Button) selected, the panel separates route selection from execution. The After Successful Take setting controls whether the panel keeps both selections, clears both, or clears only the selected source after a successful take.
No setting is right for every panel, so choose deliberately:
After Successful Take
Suits
Watch out for
Keep Selection (default)
Panels where the operator repeats or adjusts the same route, such as switching one destination between a few sources in quick succession.
The route stays armed. The next Take, or with Auto Take Mode on a single press, acts on the selection that is still lit, which can surprise an operator who thinks the panel is idle.
Clear Selection
Panels where every route should be a fresh, deliberate choice.
The operator selects both sides again for each route.
Clear Selected Source
Panels where the destination stays the same and the operator only picks sources.
The destination stays selected, so the next source press is ready to route to it.
Use either Auto Take Mode or a Take button, not both. With Auto Take Mode on, routes happen when the selection is complete, and a Take button on the same panel lights up for routes that have already happened, which is confusing.
Open the Routing sidebar in the position editor. Its panel is titled Routing Presets.
Set Source Button Type and Destination Button Type to Normal Selection.
Expand Physical Source, then drag the ATEM sources needed for this panel into the Custom Router. For example, add Camera 1, Camera 8, and Camera 9, or whichever sources your ATEM has.
Expand Physical Destination, then drag in the non-production destinations the operator should control, such as an available M/E or auxiliary destination.
Expand Utilities, then add Take and Clear Selection.
Arrange the controls so their source and destination roles are clear.
Select Apply to save the panel.
Normal Selection buttons can show selected and active routing state, compatibility, source contribution, and tally marks when the corresponding information is available. The labels and state come from the enclosing Custom Router and the routing resources, not from the button's position on the canvas.
Tip
Keep Take and Clear Selection visible while sources or destinations are inside folders and popovers.
A very common variation keeps the destination as a selection, but lets each source button route straight away:
In the Routing sidebar, set Source Button Type to Direct Take (Highlight Active), and leave Destination Button Type at Normal Selection.
Drag the sources and destinations into the Custom Router as before. You don't need a Take button for this pattern.
The operator selects a destination once, then presses a source to route it to that destination immediately. The source currently routed to the selected destination is highlighted with a full background, so it's always clear what's on air. Use this for panels where speed matters more than a separate confirmation step.
This panel also adds Video and Audio level buttons, so the operator can choose which levels a press routes, and Clear Destination and Clear Selection from Utilities.
Create folders and popovers inside the Custom Router when the panel needs more controls than should remain visible at once.
Use a Folder Section for navigable groups such as Studio sources, Remote sources, and Playback.
Use a popover for occasional choices that should open temporarily without replacing the current group.
Place the generated routing buttons inside those nested elements. Moving a folder, popover, shared section, or routing button outside the Custom Router disconnects it from the state owned by that Custom Router.
A saved routing Preset can appear alongside individual source and destination controls.
In the Routing sidebar, expand Routing Presets.
Set Preset Button Type to one of these behaviors:
Select Preset adds the Preset to the Custom Router's current selection. The operator then uses Take to execute it.
Direct Take executes the Preset immediately.
Drag the Preset into the Custom Router or into a folder or popover nested under it.
Select Apply.
Use Select Preset when the panel should preserve deliberate selection followed by Take. Direct Take is intentional one-press execution and can change several destinations at once.
Open the position on an operator surface or in the live position view.
Select an ATEM source. Its button should display the selected state.
Select a non-production destination. The source and destination now represent the prepared route.
Select Take.
Observe the destination and the connected ATEM. The panel should display the active route reported by the routing system; its selected state follows the configured After Successful Take behavior.
Select Clear Selection when you need to discard the current choices without taking another route.
If After Successful Take is set to clear a selection, the corresponding source or destination indication clears after the successful take. This does not undo the active route.
A generated routing button has no selection or routing effect.
Confirm that the button, or the folder, popover, or shared section containing it, is mounted under the intended Custom Router.
Selecting a source and destination does not change the ATEM route.
Check Auto Take Mode. With Off (Require Take Button) selected, use the panel's Take button.
An expected ATEM endpoint is not available in Routing Presets.
Confirm that the connection exposes the corresponding routing resource, then clear the sidebar search and expand the appropriate physical source or destination group.
Select the source that was active before the test, select the same non-production destination, and choose Take. The displayed active state should return to the original source reported by the ATEM.
