Studio: Every Feature, Step by Step

Studio is for layered compositions: many visualizers, pictures, videos, shapes and text stacked and animated over a whole track, driven by the music through bindings and a node graph. Every section has a (?) on its header; this guide covers each one.

1. The layout

• The canvas in the middle. Drag the bar under it to share the space with the timeline, as in Classic.
• Left: Layers, Assets and Tools.
• Right: Settings (the canvas, a tool, or a selected tool asset), Layer (the selection) and Guide; the Canvas tab holds Keyframes, Motion and effects, and Backgrounds.
• Below: the timeline, with a keyframe lane under every layer.

2. Layers

1. Add a layer with the buttons at the top of Layers: visualizers, pictures, shapes and logos.
2. Click a layer to select it everywhere; drag rows to reorder them.
3. Group layers to move and animate them together.
4. The Layer inspector holds every setting of the selected layer, and what drives it.

3. Select and move on the canvas

Click any layer on the canvas to select it: handles move it, size it from a corner and turn it with the round handle; arrow keys nudge it; it snaps to the centre, the edges and other layers (Alt moves freely). A canvas pick opens the Canvas tab with that layer's settings. The Selected and Apply to dropdowns name the layer and switch to another.

4. Keyframes

• Pick the layer in Apply to, move the playhead and press the diamond beside a value; change the value later in the song for the next keyframe.
• Auto-key adds a keyframe for every change at the playhead.
• Motion presets (the twelve starters first) add a ready-made animation at the playhead; your own presets are under Mine.
• On the timeline: drag a diamond to move it, Delete removes it, right-click sets its easing. Moving a clip moves its keyframes with it.

5. Bindings and the node graph

• In the Layer inspector, connect a setting to the music with a binding: choose an audio band, the beat or time, and how strongly and smoothly it moves the setting.
• Choose a Binding style to fill the selected layer's audio bindings in one go (Revert audio bindings undoes them), and Add LFOs to selected layer for motion that follows the tempo, with its own LFO motion style, rate and depth (Revert generated LFOs undoes them).
• The Graph builds more: audio bands, envelopes, LFOs and maths nodes feeding layer inputs. Add a node, then drag from an output to an input.
• LFOs can follow the song's tempo (per bar, or 2, 4 or 8 times a bar); they keep their rhythm when the tempo estimate settles, and play the same in the export as on screen.

6. Assets and backgrounds

• Assets holds your library, the free library and this composition's files. Import a file, or use one from a library; add it to the canvas or make it the background.
• Canvas > Backgrounds holds several backgrounds that change over the track.

7. The character rig

A Character Motion layer in a 2D puppet or 3D mode has a skeleton: select it and open the Rig panel to place joints, set skin weights, add two-bone IK and constraints, and add clips that play on the music.

8. Tools inside Studio

Editor tools opens every creation tool as a tab over the canvas, with its settings on the right; what it makes goes into this composition. Close the tab (X, Ctrl+W or Escape) to come back. Send to carries a finished file from one tool to another.

9. Export and render

• Download .novusvis keeps the editable composition to reopen or share (reattach its music and pictures on another device).
• Render video in Classic opens the composition in Classic, which renders the video on your device; Cancel export there stops it after asking.
• The Guide tab lists what the composition still needs and opens the place that fixes it.