Adjusting Timing in the Timeline

Adjusting Timing in the Timeline

This section describes how to adjust slide durations, audio fade-ins/fade-outs, audio volume and sync
images to audio.

Adjusting Duration Manually

The Timeline view displays slides as a rectangular bar the width being proportional to the slide
duration. The longer the duration, the wider the rectangular bar. Where a slide overlaps with the next
slide, a “stair step” shape is displayed. This stair step is called a Transition Interval. The middle of the Transition Interval displays as an icon that indicates the type of transition. When you drag the lower half of the vertical edge (A), you adjust the duration of the slide. When you drag the upper half of the vertical edge (B), you adjust the transition duration.

To adjust durations in the Timeline:

1. Select a slide in the Timeline.

2. Use the Timescale slider to enlarge the slide in the Timeline. This will help to precisely click and
drag the edges of the slide to adjust the duration.

3. To see the duration change in real-time, click the Options button in the toolbar to open the Options Inspector.

4. To adjust the duration of the transition, click the upper half edge (B) and drag to the left or right.
The cursor changes to a directional arrow as you drag, and the width of the transition interval
changes. In the Options Inspector, the transition duration changes as you drag to the left and right.

5. To adjust the duration of the slide, click the lower half edge (A), and drag to the left or right. The
cursor changes to a directional arrow as you drag and the width of the slide changes. In the
Options Inspector, the slide duration changes as you drag to the left and right.


Working with Audio in the Timeline

The Timeline displays audio waveforms, which helps to visually sync your slideshow with your audio. In addition, you can precisely and easily sync audio by using audio markers directly in the Timeline.
You can change audio fade-ins or fade-outs by dragging the left or right edges of audio in the
Timeline view to change the fade-in or fade-out offsets, change the length of the audio item, and
adjust the volume.

By default, the audio fade-ins and fade-outs are determined automatically - depending on the chosen
visual transition between slides. To use custom fade-ins or fade-outs, either drag the left or right
edges of the audio, or deselect the Automatic checkbox in the Audio Options Inspector and use the
offset and duration sliders.

The following example shows the Timeline view displaying an audio waveform in a music track with red vertical lines indicating audio markers, and some voiceover (with waveforms) in the narration track
selected with the volume envelope displayed (yellow line with the dots).

To adjust the audio fade-in and fade-out and adjusting volume:

1. In the Timeline view, select an audio item. The audio item highlights in blue and a yellow line with
two dots at each end appears.

2. Click the Options button to show the Audio Options in the sidebar.

3. You can uncheck Automatic next to the Fadein and Fadeout options, or as you drag the yellow dots in the Timeline, the Automatic option is turned off. This allows you to manually adjust the offset and the duration of the audio fade-in or fade-out with the sliders.


If you want to go back to the default settings anytime, check the Automatic option again.

4. To adjust the fade-in duration, click and drag the left yellow dot horizontally. To adjust the fadeout duration, click and drag the right yellow dot horizontally.

5. To adjust the audio volume, click and drag the yellow horizontal line up or down. Dragging up
increases the volume, dragging down decreases the volume.

Syncing with the Audio Waveform and Adding Audio Markers

The audio waveform in the Timeline view displays a sample plot of the volume (amplitude) of an audio file. Waveforms display for all audio tracks (music, effects, narration) in the Timeline.

This visual representation of the audio waveform allows you to locate certain points of a song (effect or narration) by identifying big amplitudes (louder sounds) or low amplitudes (softer sounds). You can then match slide durations to beats in the audio. For example, you might want to start a title at a
certain point when the audio increases in volume. The waveform helps you to visually pinpoint the
exact location. As you locate and sync these locations in the waveform, you can add an audio marker
to indicate a specific location.

You can add an audio marker by right-clicking in the waveform and selecting Audio Marker > Add
from the context menu or by pressing the M key in the Timeline while the slideshow is playing. An
audio marker in the Timeline is indicated by a thin red vertical line.
For more information see Audio Markers.

To sync your audio:

1. With audio and images loaded in your slideshow, click the Timeline button.
The audio waveform displays in the audio tracks. If you don’t see all the tracks of audio displayed,
click the Audio tracks icon at the bottom of the Timeline or press Ctrl A . a blue icon indicates
that the tracks are expanded, a grey icon indicates that the tracks are collapsed.

2. Select a single audio item (by clicking on it), and then click the Preview button in the toolbar to start playing the slideshow.

3. While the slideshow is playing, press the M key with the beat of the music.
Each time you press the M key, an audio marker is created at the current time. A red vertical line
appears as an audio marker. The slide’s Continue type is automatically set to “At Audio Marker.”

4. Stop playback of the slideshow by clicking the Stop button in the toolbar.

5. Click on an audio marker (red line) and drag it left or right to move it to the desired location, if it
was not precise enough before.

6. Double-click an audio marker (red line) to display an information popover.

7. Enter a name for the audio marker.
You can also adjust the timecode if needed, by clicking the up and down arrows in the Audio
Marker window. Click outside the popover to close it.

8. Add additional audio markers by right-clicking in the waveform and selecting
    Audio Marker >  Add from the context menu.

Audio Markers

Audio markers are used to synchronize slide transitions with the beat of the music or with certain parts of recorded narration. Authoring of audio markers has been moved from the Audio Options Inspector to the Timeline view. Creating and editing audio markers requires the following steps:

-- Select a single audio item in the Timeline and preview your slideshow. When you want a transition
to occur, press the M key. This adds a new audio marker. The marker is displayed as a red line in
the audio waveform.

-- Another method to add an audio marker is to select a single audio item, then click and drag the
playhead to scrub through the slideshow. When the playhead is at the desired location over the
audio waveform, press the M key to add an audio marker, which appears as a red line.

-- Alternatively you can right-click on a location in the audio waveform and select Audiomarker >
Add from the context menu (if you are not currently previewing the slideshow).

-- To remove an audio marker, right-click an audio marker in the Timeline and select Audiomarker
> Delete from the context menu.

-- Once you are done setting all your audio markers drag the playhead to the beginning and play
again to review the markers. The LCD view will flash in red when an audio marke5 is passed.

-- If an audio marker is not set correctly, you can adjust its position by dragging it to the correct
location in the waveform or by editing its timecode. Double-click a red line in the Timeline to open
a popover and edit the timecode.

-- Markers can also be given a name. Double-click a red line in the Timeline to open a popover and
simply type the name in the popover. The name is for reference only and does not have any
influence on playback.

-- Once you are satisfied with the audio markers, go to the Slide Options Inspector and set the
Continue Type of the slides above the audio item to Continue at Audio Marker.

With audio markers you can synchronize slide transitions with the beat of your music. If audio markers are placed fairly close together, exact timing cannot be guaranteed. FotoMagico
needs to load media files for the next slide before it can proceed to this slide. If an audio
marker was missed in the process, the transition to the next slide will occur when another
audio marker is passed.

This limitation only applies to a live presentation. When exporting your slideshow to a
QuickTime movie, the exact timing is always respected.


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Text copied from: http://81.169.140.228/download/boinx/fotomagico/FotoMagico4-Manual.pdf
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