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User guide

Timeline

Preview the full editorial order, check subtitles and narration, and export MP4.

Timeline

Timeline plays your song mix against the shot order and durations from Project Plan’s locked Shot scaffold — same waveform + beat context you tuned in Audio analysis, then preview, optional accessibility narration, and Export to a stitched file.

Open it from the top bar (Timeline). The mix (which song / project you’re editing) is whatever you last chose from Projects or the studio shell — Timeline does not pick a different file by itself.

Goal

Audition the full cut on the real beat clock, toggle lyrics and AD overlays on the preview frame, tune narration generation, then Export MP4 — optionally burned-in Subtitles, or a ZIP bundle with an .en.srt sidecar via MP4 + .en.srt (ZIP) when Audio analysis has transcript timing.

Before you start

  1. Select a project with a locked song attached. Without one, Timeline shows the project picker until you choose.
  2. Finish Shot scaffold and downstream steps far enough that shots exist with media you care about (still or clip per shot depending on your workflow).
  3. Keep Audio analysis locked so the beat grid behind the waveform does not change under you.

If shots are still empty, the page asks you to open Project Plan and lock Shot scaffold first.

What’s on screen

AreaPurpose
Page headerTimeline title and counts (shots, rendered). On the right: export toggles AD audio, AD visuals, Subtitles, MP4 + .en.srt (ZIP) — then the primary Export button.
Preview chrome (above the frame)Status chips for the active shot, Shot n of N, Show details (opens that shot in Gallery), and fullscreen when available.
Preview framePlays the active shot’s clip or still (quality follows Preview below). Click the picture to play / pause. Karaoke Subtitles and AD overlays draw on top when enabled.
Transport rowRestart · jump to start · previous / next section · Play · elapsed / total time · Mix (volume for the song file) · Preview (Auto / Quality / Speed) · AD (opens narration dialog) · AD text · AD voice · Subtitles (preview only — same green checkboxes as export).
Timeline cardWaveform plus beat ticks; shot strip — one column per shot (read-only: id, section label, duration); draggable playhead; Zoom widens the strip — scroll horizontally when zoomed above 1×.

Shot timing and order are edited in Project Plan (scaffold and earlier steps), not by dragging clips here — this surface is for review and export.

Playback and navigation

Scrub and play

  1. Drag or click on the waveform / shot area to move the playhead (playback resumes if it was already playing).
  2. Use Restart to go to the top and start playback, or Back to start to jump to the first frame without forcing play.
  3. Skip back / forward move by song section boundaries (same sections as the scaffold strip labels), not arbitrary frames.

Keyboard (when the timeline strip is focused)

  • Space — play / pause
  • Arrow left / right — same as section skip buttons
  • Home — restart from the beginning

Elsewhere in the window, Space still toggles play/pause unless focus is in a button, link, or field.

Fullscreen

Enter fullscreen from the preview header for a larger picture. A scrub bar appears at the bottom; exiting restores the normal layout. Fullscreen tends to turn Subtitles on automatically so you can read lyrics — closing fullscreen restores your previous subtitle setting.

Mix slider

Mix is only playback volume for your song. It isn’t a music-versus-narration balance knob.

Preview quality

Preview → Auto, Quality, or Speed trades sharpness versus how quickly clips load while you work. Your final Export uses the usual render settings — this control is only for Timeline playback while editing.

AD narration (dialog)

  1. Click AD on the transport row to open AD narration.
  2. Pick Voice and Accent — they affect generated narration used when you export with AD audio / AD visuals.
  3. Preview plays a short canned line with the current voice/accent (click again to stop).
  4. Generate narration builds the narration audio the app uses for previews and exports that include AD. You need this before AD audio / AD visuals options mean much on export. Scripts come from Project Plan Accessibility (step 14); Timeline is where you create and refresh narration when you’ve changed wording.

Transport toggles AD text and AD voice are for previewing placement and synthesized speech — they are not extra download formats by themselves.

Export

  1. In the page header, enable AD audio, AD visuals, Subtitles, and/or MP4 + .en.srt (ZIP) as needed — each uses the same solid green square checkbox as Project Plan (checked = green fill, unchecked = dark gray). AD options require generated narration; Subtitles needs transcript timing from Audio analysis.
  2. Click Export to render one stitched MP4 with the selected options. With MP4 + .en.srt (ZIP) (and lyric timing from Audio analysis), your browser downloads a ZIP: the rendered MP4 plus a timed subtitle file to open together in any player that supports separate subtitles from the MP4 (many desktop and mobile viewers do — check your app’s “add subtitle track” menu).
  3. Wait for progress on the Export button — errors surface there too.

If export feels early or late

Use the same project / mix you listened to while previewing. Switching songs without reloading the session can cause tiny drift — pick the intended mix from Projects, reload Timeline if needed, then export again.

Screenshots

Click the image for the full-page capture. Scroll to zoom and drag to pan.

After scrolling the page — same lightbox controls.

AD opens this dialog; Escape closes it.