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Reel settings

The settings panel on a reel tab has two parts. Selected Clip, at the top, is about whatever you selected on the reel timeline; with nothing selected it reads Nothing selected. This Reel, under it, holds the settings for the whole reel, and they stay put whatever you select.

This Reel

Setting Does See
When shortening Which part of a shot a shortened clip keeps: its start or its middle. Holds and shortening
Start replacements at the marked interesting point A longer shot that replaces a clip starts at its first interest point. On by default. Where interest points come in
Snap while dragging (N) Trims, rolls and slides snap to other clips' edges, beats, interest points and the budget line. Snapping
Timeline length How much time the reel timeline shows. Timeline length
Limit to The reel's length budget. Set a length budget
Show frame count instead of timecode Time readouts on the tab count frames instead of minutes, seconds and frames. How times read
Show interest points on clips Draws each shot's interest points on its clip, and lets trims and slides snap to them. Interest points

Under the settings, a summary gives the shot count, the reel's length and its frame rate, plus the budget when there is one. Anything wrong with the reel is listed under the summary.

The Export part at the bottom holds Format, Export Timeline… and Export Video…. See Exporting.

When shortening, Start replacements at the marked interesting point, Timeline length and Limit to are saved in the reel. Snap while dragging, Show frame count instead of timecode and Show interest points on clips are yours: Shotwork remembers them for every reel.

Tip

Press N to turn snapping on or off without reaching for the panel, or hold Shift during one drag to reverse it for that drag only.

Timeline length

Timeline length is how much time the reel timeline shows: 30 seconds on a new reel. It grows by itself when the reel gets longer, and never shrinks by itself, so set it shorter when you want the edit to fill the reel timeline again. A value shorter than the reel is allowed and cuts the view off; a value under one second is refused.

Type a length and press Enter, or middle-drag across the field: one second per step, or one frame with frame counts on.

How times read

Positions on a reel read as minutes, seconds and frames: 1:23:07 is 1 minute and 23 seconds in, plus 7 frames into the next second. With Show frame count instead of timecode on, they read as a running frame count instead.

Lengths, such as how long a shot has available, read as seconds and frames: 10s 15f, or 1m 05s 15f past a minute. They never read as a fraction of a second.

To type a position, enter minutes, seconds and frames, such as 1:23:07. A part you leave empty counts as zero: select the 23 in 1:23:07, delete it and press Enter, and the field reads 1:00:07. With frame counts on, type a whole number. Anything else puts the field back to what it was.

Frame size and rate

A reel has one frame rate. Shotwork uses the rate most of its clips already have, the higher one on a tie, and 24 fps while the reel has no clips. The frame size is chosen the same way: the size most of the clips are, or 1920 by 1080. A reel you start empty keeps following its clips as you add and remove them. A draft reel, or a reel an AI assistant builds, keeps the rate it was built with.

A clip at a different rate is placed exactly and flagged in the problems list, for example Shot 052: 23.976 fps on a 24 fps timeline; your editor will conform it on import. Shotwork does not retime it on the reel. Export Video converts it to the reel's rate, and Export Timeline leaves that to your editor.

How the rate is stored

The reel stores its frame rate as an exact fraction, 24000/1001 rather than 23.976, so it can never read back as 23.976000000000003 and flag footage that actually matches. A reel with no stored rate follows its footage.

Exports in the File menu

Not built yet

Moving the reel's exports to the File menu is not built. Roadmap, reel feature backlog, Reel settings, "Rework the reel settings panel's Export section".

The Export part of this panel is gone. On a reel tab, File › Export… (Ctrl+E) exports the reel as video, and File › Export Timeline… exports it as a timeline, choosing the format as it goes. See From the File menu.

Output presets

Not built yet

Output presets are not built. Roadmap, reel feature backlog, "Reel settings: presets".

Output, under This Reel, sets the reel's frame size, rate and shape from a preset: 1080p24, 2160p24, 9:16 for vertical, or 1:1 for square. Clips fit into the preset's frame, letterboxed where their shape differs, and each clip's Scale crops in from there. See Clip picture.

Frame-rate conform

Not built yet

Frame-rate conform is not built. Roadmap, reel feature backlog, "Frame-rate conform".

A clip at a different frame rate plays at its real speed and length at the reel's rate. Shotwork drops or repeats the nearest frames to fit, the same way every time, so nothing is slowed down or sped up, and the problems list notes each clip it conformed.