Studio Mode

Overview

Studio Mode is the main window of Onset Engine. It provides library management, timeline visualization, real-time previews, and batch rendering with granular control over every parameter.

Layout

Area	Description
Header	Version badge, then (right to left) DJ MODE, 🚀 AUTOPILOT, ⚙️ Preferences, ? documentation, ℹ About & Updates, 🕶 Discreet Mode, 🌙/☀ theme, 🏠 welcome launcher, and your licence-tier badge
Left panel	Tabbed library browser (Video Bin / Audio Bin) with thumbnail cards + 📥 INGEST
Center	Video player preview with transport controls + Welcome Launcher
Right panel	Inspector tabs (General, Advanced, Autopilot) + Action Block
Bottom	Timeline with clip blocks, audio waveform, and the console log

The console at the bottom shows a filtered view of the render log. A complete log — including a system-information header and per-line timestamps — is written to render.log in the project’s output directory. Attach that file when reporting a render problem.

Two-Step Workflow

Studio Mode uses a deliberate two-step workflow:

Step 1: ⚡ Generate Timeline

Runs clip selection in draft mode (~30 seconds). The engine:

Analyzes your music track (beats, energy curve, drops)
Matches clips to energy tiers using driver scoring
Places clips on the timeline with transitions
Displays the result in the timeline panel

Library and track fit

Before it starts placing clips, the engine works out how many cuts your track needs at the current pacing, and compares that against the footage actually available for this edit. If the two do not fit, it says so in the console and suggests what to change — longer holds, a slower track, or roughly how many more clips would cover it.

It stays silent when the match is fine, and never blocks a render.

Step 2: 🎬 Render Final Video

Once you’re happy with the timeline, click Render to produce the final video:

Full-quality rendering at your chosen quality tier
VFX pipeline applies all preset effects (signature VFX, depth, optical flow, grading)
Audio mixing — blend your clips’ own audio with the music at levels you set
Progress tracked via Crate Digger minigame

Render Queue & Blocking:

Concurrent render blocking prevents starting multiple renders at the same time.
A dialog offers to “Add to Queue” if you attempt to render while another is running.
Pending queue items feature a red X remove button for easy cancellation.

Clip Direction

Studio Mode offers progressive disclosure for clip direction:

Text Descriptions (Simple)

Two text fields at the top of the Clip Direction section:

“During quiet parts, focus on:” — purple-accented, maps to low energy tiers
“On the heavy drops, focus on:” — pink-accented, maps to high energy tiers

These auto-generate a 4-tier driver behind the scenes.

Driver JSON (Advanced)

Below an ”── OR ──” divider, the advanced Driver section lets you:

Browse for a custom .json driver file
Open the ✨ Create wizard to build a driver visually
Clear the driver with the ✕ button

Priority: Driver JSON overrides text descriptions. When a driver is loaded, the text fields dim.

Export Settings

Two dropdowns in the Action Block control the output.

Format — Standard (16:9), Triptych (3-Panel), Vertical Teaser (9:16), or Highlights Only. See Render Formats.

Quality — the options offered depend on your licence tier. Options above your tier are still listed, marked with a 🔒, so you can see what an upgrade would unlock:

Your tier	Available
Demo	720p 30fps
Core	1080p 30fps, 1080p 60fps
Studio	1080p 30fps, 1080p 60fps, 4K 30fps, 4K 60fps

Higher resolutions and 60fps both increase render time substantially. See Render Benchmarks for real numbers.

Narrative Arc Modes

The Narrative dropdown controls how energy is mapped across the edit:

Mode	Behavior
Buildup → Drop	Escalates through the energy tiers on the way into the track’s main drop, then holds maximum intensity from the drop onward
Flat (constant)	Holds one mid-level energy for the whole edit, ignoring the music’s dynamics
None (follow music)	Follows the music’s own energy curve — the default

UX Features

Vision Matrix

A live 3×3 thumbnail grid that appears during ingest, showing AI analysis tags as each video file completes.

Crate Digger

A star-rating minigame that starts when you click Render. Rate unrated clips while you wait — curate your library during downtime.

Welcome Launcher

A 3-card zero-state shown in the player area when no project is loaded. Cards for Autopilot, DJ Mode, and Studio — dismissed on first interaction.

Timeline Zoom

The timeline is drawn at a fixed scale, so how much room each clip gets depends on how many clips there are. A fast-cut edit can pack every shot into a handful of pixels, too narrow to show a thumbnail.

Use the − / + / Fit controls above the timeline, or hold Ctrl and scroll over it.

− / + step through zoom levels, from a quarter of the default out to 13x.
Fit picks the largest zoom at which the whole edit still fits the window.

On a 175-clip edit, zooming in takes the typical clip from about 16 pixels wide to 86, at which point nearly every shot shows a thumbnail. The waveform follows the same scale, so cuts stay lined up with the audio at every level.

Save / Load Projects

Projects are saved as JSON files in the jobs/ directory:

jobs/job_MyProject.json

All settings are persisted: preset, driver, quality, text descriptions, audio file, collection filter, narrative arc mode, and VFX options.

Advanced Tab: VFX Options (Core+)

The Advanced tab includes a VFX OPTIONS section with opt-in effects. All VFX require Core tier or higher — checkboxes are disabled on Demo.

✨ Cutout Pop Transitions — The subject is cut out of one scene and pops into the next. Requires a one-time ~170MB model download, installed automatically on first render. Adds roughly 5% to render time.
Beauty Mode — AI skin smoothing, with an intensity slider.
Subliminal Text — Flashes words on the beat. Only active with the Hypnosis preset; enter your words comma-separated.
Smooth Motion (60fps Interpolation) — Generates in-between frames for smoother 30→60fps motion. Adds significant time after the render itself finishes.
Depth Effects — AI depth estimation driving parallax and rack-focus effects, with an intensity slider. One-time ~50MB model download.