Play and navigate

The playlist

The Playlist tab of the Media & Session panel holds the clips of the review, in order.

• Add: the Add menu (or a right-click on the empty part of the list) offers Add Videos / Image Sequences..., Add Folder......, Open File or Sequence... (which replaces the playlist) and Import Shot List......, which reads a list written elsewhere: .bpl, .otio, .csv, .json or .edl. You can also drag files and folders from your file manager.
• Sequences: with Auto-Detect Sequence ticked, a single numbered frame brings in the whole sequence as one clip.
• Order: drag a row up or down, while every clip is shown (no search, no filter).
• Find: the search field filters by name or path; the All, Pending, Not Approved and Approved filters, by status.
• Select: a click on a row shows that clip. Ctrl+click and Shift+click pick several rows, starting from the clip on screen; a right-click on the selection gives one menu: Delete N shots (after a confirmation), Open N folders, Copy N paths and Set N shots to a status.
• Move between clips: Page Up and Page Down, or double-click a row. Continuous Playback (Play All) runs on from one clip to the next instead of stopping at the end of each.
• Remove: Delete or Backspace, with the mouse over the list, removes the selected clips, or the clip on screen when nothing is selected. Notes and drawings follow the media: add the file again and they come back.

A file opened from your file manager (double-click, Open with) goes to the player already open: it is added to its playlist and shown, without starting a second player (Open files in the running player, in Edit > Preferences... > General, turns this off). If no player is open, it starts with a new playlist holding that file alone. An unreadable format is refused and named in the Unsupported Format window.

The timeline

The numbers refer to the capture.

• 1 · The first number on the ruler is the frame number of the clip's first image. A sequence keeps the numbers of its files; a movie, or a sequence whose files carry no number, starts at 1001 (Edit > Preferences... > General > Default Start Frame). Double-click it to change it: this renumbers the whole clip, it trims nothing. The same number is used everywhere: exports, notes, sessions and trackers.
• 2 · The in point and 4 · the out point are the two green bars. Playback loops between them.
• 3 · The playhead shows the frame on screen. Click or drag anywhere on the ruler or on a track to move: a click always moves the playhead, even right next to a green bar.
• 5 · The green line marks the frames already in memory: those play without waiting.

To set the range:

• I or [ sets the in point on the frame on screen, O or ] the out point. \ goes back to the whole clip.
• Bring the mouse close to a green bar: a small tab comes out at the top of the ruler. Drag it. Or hold Alt and drag anywhere: the nearer point follows the mouse.
• Shift+I and Shift+O open a box where you type the frame number (1012) or an offset (+12, -8). Enter applies, Escape cancels.
• A right-click on the ruler offers Type In Point..., Type Out Point..., Reset In/Out Points and Lock In/Out, which stops the mouse from moving the points (the keys still work).

View > Display in Timecode shows time as timecode instead of frame numbers.

Speed, direction and sound

• L or the play button plays forwards, J backwards, K stops.
• The frame-rate field (24.00 fps) changes the speed: drag it, double-click to type a value, or right-click for the common rates. It works the same in Essential.
• An image sequence has no frame rate of its own: it takes Frame rate for image sequences without one (Edit > Preferences... > General, 24 by default) when it is added. Movies keep their own rate.
• The Loop button goes through three modes: Shot (loop the clip), Playlist (loop the playlist) and Off (play once). Ctrl+L turns looping on or off.
• M mutes the sound. In A/B, each track's speaker chooses which sound you hear; Ctrl+click a speaker to hear both.

Zoom, framing and fullscreen

• Mouse wheel: zoom around the cursor. Middle click and drag: pan the picture.
• F fits the picture to the window, Alt+F opens the zoom menu. Alt+1, Alt+2 and 4 zoom to 100%, 50% and 25% (without Shift, even on AZERTY); bare 1 / 2 / 3 set the shot's status (Not Approved / Pending / Approved) and go to the next shot. Home re-centers the picture.
• X flips the picture horizontally, Shift+X vertically.
• F11, the fullscreen button or View > Fullscreen enter and leave fullscreen; Escape leaves it. In fullscreen, T shows or hides the timeline. By default a double-click on the picture never enters fullscreen, so two quick taps of a pen never change the window; Double-click on the picture: fullscreen, in Edit > Preferences... > Appearance, gives it back.

Formats

Technical details Multi-layer EXR, NOVA, camera RAW, Flash and metadata

Multi-layer EXR. A multi-part EXR is detected on its own and a notice on the picture says so. The track's Layers / AOV list picks the pass on screen; switching passes keeps the frames already in memory.

NOVA (.nvfx). The player's review format, which it writes itself on export. A .nvfx sequence opens like any image sequence, with the Layers / AOV list: each layer of a multi-part EXR is kept on its own, and switching layers reads that layer alone. It is not an interchange format: between applications EXR stays the rule, and the export writes EXR back from a .nvfx sequence.

Camera RAW. RED, Blackmagic RAW and ARRIRAW files play without transcoding in the Windows version; Linux and macOS: coming soon. Debayering runs on the graphics card when Enable Hardware Decode (Beta) is ticked (see Memory and performance). Help > About..., section Color and versions, says which RAW SDKs your version carries.

Flash (.swf). A video SWF plays like a movie. A vector SWF (an animatic, an animation test) is first rendered once to frames by Ruffle's exporter, in the background; a notice counts the frames as they are drawn, then the clip appears in the playlist and plays, grades, annotates and exports like a sequence. The installers put the exporter next to the player; Preferences > General > Flash (SWF) says whether one was found and lets you choose another.

Metadata. The Inspector's Metadata tab lists the file's metadata, with a search; in A/B it shows A and B side by side.

Going further: the complete manual, parts 3, 6.1 and 9 (Help > User Guide).