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Recipes

Short, complete workflows. Each panel page also has a recipe for each control.

Render the loop

  1. Leave Frame Start, End, and Frame Rate as Marble Studio set them: the range is exactly one loop.
  2. Render as you normally would (Render > Render Animation, Ctrl+F12). If you may want to move the start frame later with Reorder Frames, render an image sequence such as PNG or EXR: Reorder Frames works on image sequences, not on a video file.
  3. Optional, and only if your video editor cannot start the clip where you like: set the loop start in the Render Loop section and press Reorder Frames... on the render folder. See Reorder Frames.

Rendering straight to a video file (FFmpeg Video) works too; set Audio Codec to AAC in the Encoding panel to include the song's audio for the loop, or add it in your editor (below).

Into a video editor

  1. Import the image sequence at the course's frame rate.
  2. Import the loop's audio: loop_audio.wav from the render folder if you used Reorder Frames (it is written when the song's audio is loaded). Otherwise, in Blender choose Render > Render Audio... with the frame range as Marble Studio set it: it writes the song's audio for exactly one loop, starting on the first frame. (The song's own audio file is not cut to the loop, so it does not repeat in step with the frames.) Line its start up with the first frame.
  3. Put the clip and the audio on the timeline and repeat them back to back. There is no cut to hide: the last frame flows into the first.

Tip: to check the loop, place two copies end to end and scrub across the join. If you see a jump, check the frame range was one loop when you rendered (Course Check shows a red Range not one loop row if not).

Vertical Shorts framing

  1. In Output Properties > Format, set the resolution to 1080 × 1920.
  2. Look through the camera (Num 0). The looping camera keeps following the marble, but a tall frame shows more above and below.
  3. Frame the marble for the tall shot with the Camera view settings: raise Distance or Height, or change Tilt. In Pro, the Camera Director Pro can drop points of interest instead.
  4. With Seam Mirror on, check the start and end of the loop through the camera: raise the depth if empty space shows at the top or bottom.
  5. Wall Surface: if the wall's edge shows, press Build Wall (it sizes itself to the camera; Course Check shows Wall out of date when it needs it).

Redo a song

  • Another layout, same song: Next Seed. Every press is a new arrangement; type a seed into Seed to come back to one.
  • Start the edits over, keep the layout: Re-solve from Scratch re-lays the course from the current key angles; or re-Generate with the same seed (it is on the "made with" line) to get the original layout back.
  • A different frame rate: the rate is locked once the course exists. Start a new file (File > New > General), choose the new rate, and Generate the same MIDI with the same seed.
  • The MIDI changed: press Generate Course from MIDI and pick the new file. The course is replaced; your own objects stay.

Multi-track MIDI

A MIDI with several parts (melody, bass, drums) gives you a choice of which part the marble plays:

  1. Press Generate Course from MIDI and highlight the file.
  2. The file window's side panel, "Which part to play:", lists the parts by number and name. Set Part to the part you want.
  3. Confirm. The Generate section's MIDI line shows the file and its parts, and Course Check keeps a plain-fact row, More MIDI parts ("This MIDI has 3 parts; Generate used part 1 'Bass'.").

For drums, export the drum part on its own from your music software if the marble should hit only one drum. Notes that fall on the same moment are struck once.