Replay 360: Working with the Timeline

In this tutorial, you’ll learn to use the timeline in Replay 360 to rearrange media clips on two tracks, add media mixes, and display lower thirds.

Watch this video demonstration, then follow the activities below to practice.

Practice Activities:

1. Rearrange Media Clips
2. Add Media Mixes
3. Add Lower Thirds

Practice Activity: Rearrange Media Clips

Let’s begin by rearranging a few objects on the timeline.

1. Open the Replay_360_Practice.replay project in your practice files.
2. Reverse the order of the media clips in the timeline so the title-screen image is at the beginning of the timeline and the desktop screencast and webcam video are at the end.
   
   Tip: First, drag the screencast/webcam object to the end of the timeline, then drag the title screen to the beginning.
3. Then drag the objects together on the timeline until a diagonal line appears between clips.
   
   Tip: The diagonal line means the adjacent clips will smoothly fade from one to the next. Vertical lines between clips mean the transition will be abrupt and immediate.

To learn more, see these user guides:

• Rearranging Objects on the Timeline
• Adjusting the Timing and Duration of Objects

Practice Activity: Add Media Mixes

Use media mixes to control how videos and images on both tracks interact with one another. Flip smoothly between the tracks or show both tracks at the same time with a picture-in-picture mode. Let’s pick up where we left off in the previous activity (see above).

1. To mix videos and images effectively, you need to have them on both tracks in the timeline. Let’s drag the Video.mp4 object down to the beginning of track B so it’s beneath the title-screen image.
2. Then move the screencast/webcam object to the left until a diagonal line appears between it and the Video.mp4 object.
3. Now we’re ready to add mixes. Mixes always get added at the point on the timeline where the playhead is currently located. Move the playhead to the beginning of the timeline, then click the A+B mix button. This makes track A fill the canvas (in this case, the title-screen image) and track B appears in the corner of the stage.
4. Click the A+B mix that you just added in the timeline to select it. (It’ll be light blue when it’s selected.) Then select one of the picture-in-picture quadrants to control where track B appears on the canvas. Fun, right?
5. Now move the playhead to the end of the title-screen image and click the B mix button. This fills the stage with the Video.mp4 object when the title screen disappears.
6. Let’s add one more mix. Move the playhead to the beginning of the desktop-screencast object and click the A+B mix button.
7. There’s probably an A mix at the end of the timeline in the sample project we’ve been using in this activity. It might work well in this case, but if you don’t want it, just right-click it and choose Delete selected items.
8. Preview your project to see how it looks with the media mixes you added. Move the playhead to the beginning of the timeline and click the play/pause button above the timeline. If you want to tweak the timings of your mixes, just drag the diagonal lines between mixes. So easy!

To learn more about mixing media in Replay 360, see this user guide.

Practice Activity: Add Lower Thirds

Lower thirds are semi-transparent graphics that overlay the bottom of your project. They display brief comments or supporting information.

Let’s add a lower third to the beginning of our project to introduce the video topic.

1. Click the timeline around the 1-second mark. The playhead will move to the point where you clicked.
2. Click Lower Third on the ribbon. A lower third will be added to the timeline where the playhead is located.
3. Lower thirds default to 5 seconds in duration, but you can adjust them. Drag the right end of your lower third until it’s 4 seconds long and ends at the same time as the title-screen image.
4. Use the Lower Third Properties panel on the right side of the screen to give your lower third a title, subtitle, logo, and transition type (animation).
5. Now see how your lower third looks in action. Move the playhead to the beginning of the timeline and click the play/pause button above the timeline to preview your project.

To learn more about lower thirds, see this user guide.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned how to use the timeline in Replay 360 to control the placement and timing of objects, add media mixes, and display lower thirds.

In the next tutorial, we’ll use the new editing features to tweak our media clips.