The design editor is the central hub of the Studio platform. It is a fully featured video editor, allowing you to arrange your assets on the timeline, create complex animations, and configure all your dynamic fields. The editor consists of three main sections:
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The Canvas
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The Timeline
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The Properties Panel
If you've used a video editor like Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, or After Effects you'll see that the Studio design editor has everything you need to quickly create dynamic videos, without any of the unnecessary complicated features.
A key difference between standard desktop video editors and the Studio editor is the ability to make any part of your video dynamic. This gives you the flexibility to generate multiple videos from one design.
All generated videos and video assets are 25 frames per second, and the time format used is mm:ss:ff.
Tip
If you make a mistake while editing a design and want to undo, use the shortcut CMD/CTRL Z.
The canvas is where you preview what you will see in your video, and has a number of key features.
Zoom
Use the zoom controls to adjust the view of the canvas. By default the zoom level is set to fit so we use the maximum available space.
You can change the zoom level in multiple ways:
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By clicking on the + or - buttons to zoom in or out
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By selecting a zoom level using the menu
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By pressing CMD on your keyboard + scrolling the mouse wheel
Tip
When zoomed in, hold down the CMD key to navigate around the canvas.
Elements
An element is effectively a placeholder for your dynamic content. When generating videos, text, image, and video elements can be changed to create new videos using the same design.
Click an element on the canvas to select it. You can then drag & drop and resize elements on the canvas.
Guiding & Snapping
Guides are horizontal or vertical lines that appear automatically on the canvas to help mark where elements can be placed. This can be the horizontal or vertical center, one of the sides, or you can use guides to align between elements.
When you drag an element around on the canvas or drag to resize it, it will automatically snap to a nearby guide.
Sizes
In the Sizes dropdown you can create a new size and select which size you want to display in the canvas.
Click the button to access the quick action menu. Here you can rename, duplicate, or delete the selected size as well as reset all the overrides you made for the selected size.
Save
Go to Options > Save to save your work allowing you to continue at a later stage.
Tip
Use the shortcuts Ctrl +S (Windows) or ⌘ Cmd + S (Mac) to save your design.
Play Preview
Navigate to Options > Preview to render a preview of your video. We recommend making use of the Play Preview instead.
Note
Save your design before previewing to see your latest changes.
Publish
Click Publish to publish your video. Once published, videos can then be generated from the design.
Do you need to create the same video in different sizes? For example for different social media platforms. Save yourself time and add multiple designs to your design in Studio.
Our system uses an algorithm to automatically readjust and reposition the video elements for the new size. If you're not fully satisfied with the automatic generated layout you can still make some customizations yourself by overriding the suggested layout.
In the Sizes dropdown you can create a new size and select which size you want to display in the canvas. When adding new sizes you can choose from our available formats or set up a custom format.
You first have to select a different size before you can customize the design elements for this size. Follow the steps below to select a different size.
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Click the Size dropdown in the top left corner of your canvas.
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Select one of the available sizes.
The size will be displayed in the canvas. You can now customize the design elements for this size. Read more about customizing sizes here.
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Click the Size dropdown in the top left corner of your canvas and click + Add new size.
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Enter a name for your new size in the Name field.
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Select one of the available preset formats in the format dropdown.
Tip
Select Custom if you want to to create your own format. Enter the desired dimensions in the width and height fields.
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Click Add Size to add your size.
When creating a new size, our system uses an algorithm to automatically readjust and reposition the video elements so that they will work well with the new size.
If you're not fully satisfied with the automatic generated layout you can still make some customizations yourself by overriding the suggested layout.
Tip
Do you want to revert all customizations that you've made for a custom size?
Click the button and click Reset all overrides. The custom size will revert to its original state.
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Click the Size dropdown in the top left corner and select the size you want to customize.
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Make the necessary customizations in the timeline or right sidebar.
Note
Some buttons and options are not available when editing a custom size and will be greyed-out.
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Click Options > Save to save your changes.
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(Optional) Click Publish to publish your changes.
The timeline is where you arrange your elements, and manage effects and transitions.
Tip
The timeline height can be resized by dragging the area between the canvas and timeline.
When moving or resizing elements, a red indicator will show if the edge lines up with items on the timeline.
Add Assets and Presets
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Drag and drop the playhead in the timeline to the position where you want to add an asset.
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Click Add Asset to add video, image, text, shapes or presets to the timeline. When adding a video, image or preset use the popup to search the item you want to add, select it and click Add asset to add it.
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Video Assets
When adding a video drag the Video duration slider to select the part of the video you would like to insert and click Trim video to add it to the canvas.
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Text
After adding your Text asset make sure you're in the Layer>Text tab of the right sidebar and enter your desired text in the Text field of the right sidebar. Use the available options in the Texttab to set the font, font color, text alignment, text spacing and placement.
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Shapes
After adding a shape make sure you're in the Layer>Shape tab or the right sidebar. Learn more about the possible customizations below.
Corner Radius
Use this option to add rounded corners to your rectangle shapes. This option isn't available for Ellipse shapes
Fill color
Use this option to fill the shape with a color. Enter the hex code of the fill color in the Fill color field and optionally set the transparency in the % field. Set the transparency to 0% if you don't want to fill the shape with a color. If you have set Brand Colors to your account you can apply those here by following these steps.
Click the dropdown orand select Configure fill color styles to allow your content creators to change the fill color. Check the box next to the brand color that you’d like to make available.
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Border color Use this option to set the border color. Enter the hex code of the preferred border color in the Border color field and optionally set the transparency in the % field.
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Border weight Use this option to set the width of the border in pixels and use the dropdown to select the placement of the border.
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Tip
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When adding a video asset, the video will be added to the canvas in the same resolution as the canvas.
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When adding a video asset, the default crop mode of the video will be set to Covert.
Scenes
In the Studio editor a timeline is divided into individual scenes, which are displayed at the top of the timeline. These scenes are created automatically by detecting the number and placement of elements on the timeline.
Splitting a video into scenes is important for the generation phase of a design. In the on demand and batch generator screens, the scenes are used to help organize the content.
When users add a new design all editable fields for the scene are displayed in the panel on the right. In the batch generator each scene has its own column and all fields in that scene are displayed underneath.
Playhead
In the design editor there are two types of playheads; one for each scene, and one for the timeline.
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Scene playheads The shot playhead allows you to select which poster frame will be used for the canvas in the generate screens.
This is particularly useful where there are overlapping elements in one area of the scene. This way, you can ensure that the scene playhead is positioned at a point where the overlapping elements are not shown.
Note
The scene playheads are only used to determine the poster frame. All unlocked elements in the scene will be shown and editable in either the on demand side panel, or as individual fields in the batch generation screen.
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Timeline playhead The timeline playhead allows you to quickly see any frame on the canvas, allowing you to quickly check edits.
Tip
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Hover over or move the playhead to see the current video position.
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Use the arrows on your keyboard to quickly move the playhead forwards and backwards frame by frame.
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Tracks and Elements
Elements can be added to any track. Drag and resize them on the timeline to get the perfect edit. Multiple elements can be added to the same track, making it easy to arrange your project in a way that works for you.
Each track is effectively a layer, where the top track is the layer at the front, and the bottom track is the layer at the back. This works in a similar way to many other image and video editing suites.
When an animation or transition effect has been added to a group or element, the effect icon will be shown. Clicking this will expand the effect time option, where you can adjust the length of each transition and animation directly on the timeline.
Tip
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Double click an element to rename it (max 128 characters).
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You can also edit these values in the property panel of each element.
Groups
To create a group, hold CMD/CTRL and select multiple elements on the timeline. With the elements selected, either click in the timeline's left sidebar or use the keyboard shortcut CMD/CTRL G.
Your elements are now grouped and can be moved around the timeline. You can also add effects & animations to a group.
Tip
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You can drag an element in or out of a group and add groups inside other groups.
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Press Shift + Crtl + G (Windows) or Shift + ⌘ Cmd + G (Mac) to ungroup elements.
Presets
To create a preset, select a group in the timeline and click the icon in the timeline's left sidebar. Presets are available under Add Asset, and can be used across all designs. When browsing presets, double click on one to rename it. Presets are a great way to save a company logo, animation effect, call to action or any combination of elements, groups and effects which you want to reuse. You can even save a whole video as a preset!
Element Visibility
With an element selected, clicking the icon in the timeline's left sidebar bar will hide the element on the canvas. This is useful when working with multiple elements and layers, where you want to edit an element on the canvas that is under another element.
Tip
Hiding an element with this option will stop it being rendered in the final video.
Lock
Once a design is published, users can create videos based on a design . If an element or group is locked, they won't be able to edit it. The icon will be shown on the layer in the timeline. This can be useful if you have elements that you don't want to be dynamic, for example company logos or tag-lines.
Select the element or group and click the icon in the timeline's left sidebar to lock or unlock the element(s).
The lock option also allows you to apply changes made to a design that has already been published. If you change text, choose a new image or video asset for an existing element, locking the element will apply the change to all existing videos.
Note
If you do not lock the element, the updated text, image or video will not be applied to existing videos when you republish the design.
Locking an element will also propagate any changes to the element's dynamic content to all existing videos. This makes it easy to quickly update multiple videos at once.
Duplicate
Easily duplicate any element or group by clicking the icon in the timeline's left sidebar, or using the shortcut CMD/CTRL D.
Delete
Delete selected groups or elements from the timeline using the icon in the timeline's left sidebar, or CMD/CTRL BACKSPACE.
Timeline Zoom
The horizontal scroll bar has a number of flexible zoom functions to help you navigate easily.
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Zoom in/out by adjusting the end points of the scroll bar.
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Double click on scrollbar to zoom to show full global time on timeline.
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Double click on scrollbar a second time to show all elements on the timeline, even if they fall out of the global time.
Note
Any elements that are outside the global time will be greyed out.
Click the Play Preview button, which you can find between the canvas and timeline, to preview your video instantly. Use the and
buttons to jump to the beginning or end of the timeline. Use the volume slider to adjust the volume of the playback. The preview will play in the actual canvas.
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It may take a few seconds to load your preview if your design contains a large number of HD assets.
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The playback performance depends on the capabilities of the machine you're working on.
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Motion blurs won't be visible in the preview. They'll be visible in the final render.
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Flip animations won't be visible in the preview. They'll be visible in the final render.
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Cornerpin animations won't visible in the preview. They'll be visible in the final render.
Audio
Here is where you add your audio track. The selected audio will play from the beginning of the video.
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Click the Browse button in the Audio section.
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Search for the audio file that you want to add, click it and click Add asset.
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Drag the slider to select the part of the audio you would like to use.
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Click Trim audio to add the audio.
Background Color
Click the Background Color field and use the color picker to choose the background color of your design. Next to the background color field, there is a field to adjust the color opacity on a scale from 0-100%. To create a fully transparent background (for images only), set the percentage to 0.
Note
This color will be used throughout the image or video where no elements cover canvas.
Poster Frame
Here you can choose which frame from your video will be used as the poster frame (also known as thumbnail or preview image).
Tip
When using your videos for Facebook placements, the poster frame can have a dramatic effect on performance as often this is the image the customer sees if they have auto-play videos turned off. Try experimenting with different poster frames to see which performs best.
Duration
The overall length of your video. (Max supported 3 minutes).
Format
Select one of the available formats in the dropdown. Alternatively you can create a custom aspect ratio by manually assigning the width and height and clicking Apply.
Asset
Click Browse to select an asset from the DAM to fill the selected element with.
Note
By default, the source of an image or video element is set to All files. This means that users can use any file they have access to in the Asset Bank.
You can restrict this by linking the element to a collection. This will only allow them to add an image or video from the linked collection.
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Crop Mode and Align
Choose how your asset will be contained in the bounding box on the canvas. Select one of the following options:
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This mode allows you to resize the asset without cropping any parts. The aspect ration of your video will be respected. Optionally, you can use the Align Horizontal and Align Vertical bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
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Cover
This mode will crop the asset so that it fills the complete bounding box. Optionally, you can use the Align Horizontal and Align Vertical bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
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Width
In this mode the asset will be fit to the width of the bounding box. Optionally, you can use the Align Horizontal and Align Vertical bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
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Height
In this mode the asset will be fit to the height of the bounding box. Optionally, you can use the Align Horizontal and Align Vertical bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
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Free
This mode allows you to crop the asset freely. Drag the handles of the bounding box to crop the asset to your liking.
Optionally, you can use the Scale bar to manage the zoom of the asset within the bounding box and the Horizontal Offset and Vertical Offset bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
Asset
Click the video thumbnail below Asset to replace the video. Search and/or filter for the video you're looking for, select the video and click Add asset. Drag the Video duration slider to select the part of the video you would like to insert and click Trim video to add it to the canvas.
Trimming videos
Click the button in the video thumbnail to trim the video. The trim video screen allows you to select the start and end points of your video.
Hovering over the in and out indicators will show you the timestamp, while preview will play the selection you made.
Click Trim video to trim the video.
Slip editing
The trim screen also has the option to slip edit a video. Simply move the selection slider to the desired point. Your element will remain in the same place on the timeline, while the in and out points will automatically be adjusted. Click Trim video to trim the video.
Crop Mode and Align
Choose how your asset will be contained in the bounding box on the canvas. Select one of the following options:
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This mode allows you to resize the video without cropping any parts. The aspect ration of your video will be respected. Optionally, you can use the Align Horizontal and Align Vertical bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
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Cover
This mode will crop the video so that it fills the complete bounding box. Optionally, you can use the Align Horizontal and Align Vertical bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
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Width
In this mode the video will be fit to the width of the bounding box. Optionally, you can use the Align Horizontal and Align Vertical bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
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Height
In this mode the video will be fit to the height of the bounding box. Optionally, you can use the Align Horizontal and Align Vertical bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
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Free
This mode allows you to crop the video freely. Drag the handles of the bounding box to crop the video to your liking.
Optionally, you can use the Scale bar to manage the zoom of the asset within the bounding box and the Horizontal Offset and Vertical Offset bars to move the asset within the bounding box.
Use Audio
Open the dropdown to configure whether you want to use the audio of the selected video. Select Yes to use the audio and No when you don't want to use the audio.
Use the text editor to add regular, bold or italic text using the shortcuts CMD/CTRL + B or CMD/CTRL + I. (The option for bold or italic depends on the fonts installed to your account during setup).
Studio only supports left-to-right languages. The following right-to-left languages aren't supported.
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Arabic
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Aramaic
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Azeri
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Dhivehi/Maldivian
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Hebrew
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Kurdish (Sorani)
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Persian/Farsi
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Urdu
Typeface:
Select your font
Font style:
Select the style of font
Size:
Adjust the size
Color:
Adjust the color
Opacity:
Adjust the opacity
Align
Aligns the text within the bounding box
Text Spacing
Adjust the height and width spacing of the text
Placement
Fit: The text will be resized in order to keep it within the bounding box. The line breaks in the text input area will be reflected on the canvas.
Wrap: The text will automatically be wrapped with line spacing to fit the bounding box.
Visibility control: Allow creators to hide/show elements during the variation creation process.
Note
- Only individual elements, not groups, can have the visibility control enabled.
- You can still enable the visibility control if a layer is locked. If it’s locked, the user will be able to hide the element but won’t be able to make any additional edits.
When a group is selected, the X and Y positions can be adjusted from the properties tab.
Element
In addition to the X and Y positions, the width, height, rotation and opacity of an element can be adjusted from the properties tab.
For detailed editing, the duration and start frame of an element can also be adjusted.
Tip
The start frame refers to the frame of the global video time.
Dynamic content
By default content creators can only replace existing video elements with a video of the exact same duration. With dynamic scene lengths you give your content creators the flexibility to create videos of different durations using the same template. At the same time you can ensure that all other elements in the template are repositioned and behaving accordingly.
Read more about dynamic content here.
You can apply blend modes to image, video, text, and shape elements. By default the blend mode is set to Normal however you can change the blend mode by following these steps:
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Select the element.
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Navigate to the sidebar Settings Pane to the blend mode section.
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Select one of the blend modes from the dropdown menu.
Studio supports the following Blend modes:
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Normal
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Darken
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Multiply
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Color burn
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Lighten
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Screen
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Color dodge
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Overlay
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Soft light
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Hard light
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Difference
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Exclusion
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Hue
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Saturation
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Color
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Luminosity
The styling tab is where you can add transition effects and animations to elements or groups.
Shadow
Angle: The angle of the shadow measured in degrees
Offset: The distance of the shadow to the element
Blur: Softens the edge of the shadow
Color: Choose the color and opacity of the shadow
Transition Effects
Below we will go through the transition effects and the unique controls for each.
Fade and blur in/out
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Blur from: The amount of blur the element has at the beginning of the effect.
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Blue to: The amount of blur the element has at the end of the effect.
Fade in/out
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Fade from: The amount of fade at the start of the effect.
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Fade to: The amount of fade at the end of the effect.
Fade and move in/out
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Direction: Which direction to move the element during the effect.
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Distance: The amount the element moves during the effect.
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Mask: With mask selected, the element will not be shown outside of the bounding box
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Motion Blur: This option allows you to enable or disable motion blur. Disable motion blur if you want to make elements, such as text better readable
Fade and scale in/out
Flip in/out
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Direction: Which direction the element animates.
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Bounce: Adds extra movement at the end of the effect (only available for flip in).
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Breakup: The amount of sections to break the element into
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Motion Blur: This option allows you to enable or disable motion blur. Disable motion blur if you want to make elements, such as text better readable
Iris in/out
Move in/out
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Direction: The direction the element moves
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Distance: The amount of distance the element moves
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Mask: With mask selected, the element will not be shown outside of the bounding box
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Motion Blur: This option allows you to enable or disable motion blur. Disable motion blur if you want to make elements, such as text better readable
Pop in/out
Scale in/out
Wipe in
Blink
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Blinks: The amount times the elements blinks on and off
Corner pin
Import Data
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Import a csv file with X & Y offset values to create complex move animations.
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CSV must contain 2 columns
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1st column must have heading horizontalPositionOffset
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2nd column must have heading verticalPositionOffset
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Each row represents the X & Y offset values per frame
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The duration of the element must match the number of frames in the csv
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Each frame supports up to 3 decimal places
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Motion Blur: This option allows you to enable or disable motion blur. Disable motion blur if you want to make elements, such as text better readable
Move
Pop
Rotate
Scale
Tip
Once an effect has been added, an indicator will be shown on the group or element. Clicking this will open the transition & animation editor on the timeline, where you can easily change the timings.
Timing
Changing the timing of a transition can help to make the effect more natural.
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Action |
Shortcut Windows |
Shortcut Mac |
Information |
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Save |
Ctrl + S |
⌘ Cmd + S |
The changes to the design will be saved |
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Undo |
Ctrl + Z |
⌘ Cmd + Z |
Undo the last action |
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Duplicate |
Ctrl + D |
⌘ Cmd + D |
Duplicate the selected element |
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Delete |
Ctrl + Delete |
⌘ Cmd + Delete |
Delete the selected element |
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Multi-select |
Ctrl + Left mouse click |
⌘ Cmd + Left mouse click |
Select multiple elements at once |
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Group |
Ctrl + G |
⌘ Cmd + G |
Add all selected elements to a group |
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Ungroup |
Ctrl + Shift + G |
⌘ Cmd + Shift + G |
Ungroup the selected group |
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Navigate the canvas while zoomed in |
Spacebar + Drag and drop your mouse |
Spacebar + Drag and drop your mouse |
Navigate through the canvas when you're zoomed in |
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