This article will walk you through the setup process for video templates.
If you don't want to have to go through the process of setting up a template, we have some preset templates to choose from. Select one or more of these to get up and running without getting into the more advanced template builder.
Simply select the Select from Template Library button, select a template, and then click the Save button.
All these preset templates have been created using the same template builder you have access to, so anything that these templates can do, you can do in your own templates too. You can even go through the settings for each of these presets to see how they were put together so that you can use similar techniques for your own templates. Or you can modify the settings of the template if it does mostly what you want, but just isn't quite there.
Creating/Editing an Existing Template
Click on Create New Template to set up a new template, or select an existing template from the list to edit the settings for that template. That will bring up the template editor, which looks like this:
The builder consists of 3 tabs for editing the different aspects of the template:
Master Settings: This tab allows you to edit the general settings that apply to the whole video.
Recordings: This tab allows you to edit the number of recordings the app will capture, as well as the settings for each recording.
Timeline: This tab allows you to specify how to put the video together after the app has recorded all the necessary videos.
When your template is ready, click the Save button at the top right corner. When saving your template, if you have the Save to Library option selected, the template will be saved under the Preset section of the template library for easy access for future events.
The following sections will cover each tab in the template editor and how you can use them to edit the different aspects of the video template.
Master Settings Tab
This tab allows you to edit the general settings that apply to the whole video, including all the clips set up in the timeline. Each block in this page allows you to control a different aspect of the template, described below.
1. Resolution
This controls the resolution of the final video. The choices are square (1:1), landscape (16:9), or portrait (9:16).
2. Overlay
This allows you to add a .png or .apng overlay that gets placed over the entire video (all clips in the video will have this overlay). The overlay should have the same aspect ratio as the selected resolution.
3. Preview Video
You can upload your own preview video that is shown in the app in the template selection screen when your guest is choosing their template.
4. Soundtrack
Upload a .mp3 or .m4a audio track that will play over the whole video. If the Play preview while recording option is selected, the audio track will be played on the iPad while the videos are being recorded. This will play through a Bluetooth speaker if one has been paired with the iPad, otherwise it will play through the iPad speakers.
Recordings Tab
This tab allows you to configure each video the app will record before creating the final video. Please note that adding a recording does not mean that the recording will be used in the final video. You need to add a clip in the timeline that uses the recording in order for it to appear in the final video.
Each recording you add will have its own block, where you can specify the settings specific to that recording. In the screenshot below, the template is configured to take 2 recordings. The first one will be 2 seconds long, and the second one will be 5 seconds long.
1. Countdown Text
Set the text shown during the countdown before the video is recorded. If this is left blank, only the countdown numbers will be shown.
2. Countdown Interval
Adjust the amount of time to count down before starting the recording.
3. Auto Start
Tick this box if you want the iPad to auto start the countdown for this recording.
4. Recording Duration
Use this to adjust the duration of the recording (i.e how long the app will record for this recording). If you select the Activate confessional video option, that will allow the guest recording themselves to decide how long to record for. You can specify a minimum and maximum recording length, and the app will show a stop button allowing them to stop recording when they are ready.
Note that recordings with the Activate confessional video option are not compatible with some timeline clips. They can only be used with the Confessional timeline clip type.
Timeline Tab
The timeline is used to put clips together, and specifies how all the clips are joined up to make the final video. Each clip will play in the order specified in the timeline. In the screenshot below, the timeline has an Uploaded Video clip, and an App Recorded Video clip. This will produce a video that first plays an intro video that you upload, and then plays one of the videos recorded by the app.
The order of the clips in the timeline can be changed by clicking and dragging a clip, and you can add as many clips as you want, up to a maximum of 30 seconds for the final video. The current duration of the video is shown to the right of the timeline, and the duration of each clip is shown in the lower right corner of each clip in the timeline.
This allows you to put your video together however you see fit. You can have an intro/outro video playback at any point in the video and choose where you want each video recorded by the app to play.
Add clips using the ‘Add’ button at the top right-hand side of the timeline. Each clip type has its own settings that can be adjusted to change how that clip is placed in the final video.
The next section will go through the options for the App Recorded Video clip, but we will be adding articles that go through the options for the other clip types.
Select a clip in the timeline to adjust the settings for that clip. For example, selecting clip number 2 (App Recorded Video) as in the timeline in the screenshot below, the settings for an App Recorded Video will show.
Among other options, you can select which recording this clip will play, add a preset effect or build your own custom effect, and upload an overlay image that will be placed over this clip. Note that all these options only apply to this clip, not the entire video.
Another article will go through how to set up effects, and what kind of effects you can accomplish using VideoFX.
When you want more control, and you're ready to adventure into the App Recorded Video advanced settings, click the Advanced Settings section to expand it and expose some more options.
The advanced section of the App Recorded Video clip will allow you to configure the following settings:
1. Reverse Playback
This can be used to change the direction the recording is played back.
2. Playback Range
This lets you specify which part of the recorded video to playback. For example, if you have a 5-second recording selected, and you selected a range of 1s to 3s, the first second of the video will be skipped, and it will play from 1 second in until 3 seconds in. Then this clip will be 2 seconds long, and skip the last 2 seconds. If the Reverse checkbox is checked, this will play backwards from 3s down to 1s.
3. Speed Multiplier
This lets you change the playback speed of the recording. To play back at normal speed, select a speed multiplier of 1x. To speed up the video, select a speed multiplier greater than 1x. For slow-mo, select a multiplier less than 1x.
Note that at the moment, only the back camera of all iPad models is capable of true slow-mo. You can still do slow-mo with the front camera, but the final video will not play smoothly.
4. Recording Volume
This allows you to specify how loud the audio from the recording is in the final video. Set this to 0 to mute the sound. Note that this setting, like all the others in this section, only affects this clip. If you want to mute the sound for all clips, you must also set the volume to 0 in those clips.
5. Video Frame
This allows you to change the frame of this clip in the final video.
6. Overlay
This allows you to upload a .png image to use as a static overlay, or a .apng image to use as an animated overlay. This overlay will only be placed over this clip.