Terminology

To better understand the documentation, here are some key terms you should know:

• Asset: A serializable object containing the location and mime type of a file.
• Source: A class that prepares an asset for rendering, it will cache data and can be used to share resources between multiple clips.
• Composition: The root object that contains all objects to be rendered in a single video.
• Layer: A chronological sequence of clips of the same type (e.g., video clips).
• Clip: An object that contains specific rendering information, such as position and duration of visibility within the video.
• Framerate: The rate at which frames are displayed, measured in frames per second (FPS). If not specified otherwise, Diffusion Studio uses a default frame rate of 30 FPS.
• Encoder: A tool that compresses the size of each frame within the sequence, using common codecs such as H.264/AVC1 or H.265/HEVC.

Time Units

When working with time units, you can use the following formats:

• 2 (seconds), 2ms, 2s, 2f (frames), 3.5min, 2:35 (MM:SS), 4:32:12 (HH:MM:SS)

Steps to Render a Video

1. Create a Composition
2. Load an asset using a Source
3. Add a Layer to the composition
4. Create a Clip using the Source
5. Add the Clip to the Layer
6. Create an Encoder using the Composition
7. Render to a file or stream

That’s enough theoretical background. Now lets start hacking!