> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://memorystring.codebyz.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://memorystring.codebyz.com/build-your-movie/preview.md). # Preview The big stage is where you watch what you’re making — the movie someone opens on a phone after dinner. Import lives in the Library; order and trim also use the Timeline. ![Preview transport: time, slide counter, Warm Now](/files/XWHAJeUL73BicOGSYGW5) ## Playback Hit **Space**. Scrub. Nudge. Does the toast land before the song swells? * **Space** or the Play/Pause control * Click or drag the playhead / time ruler to scrub * Hover the ruler for a ghost preview before seeking * **←** / **→** nudge; **⇧** for larger steps * **⌘→** / **⌘←** next / previous slide; **⌥⌘←** go to start The clock is `current / total`. Beside it, **1 of N** counts every photo card (including each seat in a group). Workbench **ambilight** (color on the chrome) is display-only. Soft color from the playhead slide lights the title bar, Timeline bed, and Inspector seam — never the photo, never the export. The title bar settles a beat later (one flat color only). ## Live, baked, and export Edit wants instant. Share wants smooth. Export wants the file. | | What it is | | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Live preview** | The stage while you edit. Motion, Looks, and captions update immediately. Can hitch on a heavy show. | | **Scrub** | Drag the playhead or ruler. Hover the ruler for a ghost frame before you commit. After a bake, scrub uses that smooth pass; moving the playhead drops any paused cover so the head stays honest. | | **Baked (smooth play)** | A pre-encoded pass so **Space** and scrub stay fluid. Finished segments stay on disk; reopen restores them if nothing changed. Play switches to this pass as soon as the first slides (or the whole show) are ready — it should not stay on the live, laggy preview. | | **Export** | The H.264 MP4. Same choreography, framing, and audio as the baked show (preview seed matches export). Ambilight is not in the file. Format in the Export dialog can differ from the live preview swatch. | MemoryString does **not** bake in the background while you edit. Edits appear live; style and framing keep updating the live stage while a bake catches up. ## Smooth play (warming) A heavy anniversary album should not stutter for the person who matters. **Essential** warms automatically when you press **Play**, and shows **Stop** while a warm is running. On a cold show, Play briefly blocks with **Preparing smooth playback** until the next couple of *photo* slides from the playhead are ready (intro title and the closing MemoryString card do not hold the gate), then starts on the baked pass. If that short lead takes too long, Play starts anyway and warming continues in the background. **Studio** adds controls on the transport row beside the slide counter: * **Auto-warm on Play** (off by default) — start warming from the playhead when you press **Space**, without blocking the workbench * **Warm Now** — bake only segments that are not ready yet (already-warm slides are skipped). Blocks the workbench with a progress dialog until those dirty segments finish, or until **Cancel** / **Esc**. Disabled when everything is already warm * **Stop** — cancel an in-flight warm (Play warm or Warm Now) A champagne **working-status pill** under the preview covers, in this order: 1. Export — *Edits paused while creating memory* 2. Bake — *Warming k/n* (Play / Auto-warm / Warm Now) or *Updating k/n* (a look/edit refresh of a finished bake) 3. Asset / **Loading music…** **k/n** matches the slide counter (every photo seat). Quiet stage means ready — no idle “Smooth play ready” message. Silence is the compliment. See [Essential and Studio](/get-started/essential-studio.md#what-changes). ## Center of interest The small round ring on a **paused** photo is **center of interest** — where motion aims so faces stay framed, not cropped at the ear. Originals never modified. **Auto (on import):** every photo and video gets one — **largest face** (near the eyes), else **main subject**, else **middle** of the frame. Videos sample several frames in the trim window. Full order: [Auto detection](/build-your-movie/auto-detection.md#center-of-interest). **Manual override:** pause and click (*Tap photo to set focus*). Ring jumps; status shows **Focus · 62%, 38%** (example). Drag pans and leaves focus alone. Each change its own **⌘Z**. **Reset Center of Interest** (right-click the paused photo) drops the override, re-runs detection, restores the import pick. ![Paused preview: Rotate, Flip, Reset Center of Interest](/files/3oDDDZQAP6EUegojQ5hR) **What it aims:** Ken Burns and punch-in end here; blurred backdrop follows; Photo Stack, Carousel, 3D Ribbon, Perspective Pair, Filmstrip cards use it too. Depth dissolve, card flip, slide rotate, spiral-in, and reveal from depth show the whole photo — they ignore it. On the **intro**, a single click on the still (or title) sets the same aim; **double-click** the title to edit text. Framing aim, not caption position. ## Rotate while paused Sideways phone photos happen. Fix here; originals stay untouched. Right-click the paused photo or video (not the intro) → **Rotate Right** / **Rotate Left** / **Flip Horizontal** / **Flip Vertical**. Hidden while playing. Paused on the intro: **Set Intro Title**, **Set Background Image**, **Disable Intro Slide**, and (Studio) **Lens Effect**. While paused, **double-click** intro text to edit inline. Captions: single click selects; **double-click** hands off to the caption field. Captioned slides get a small blue speech-bubble badge on the Timeline. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://memorystring.codebyz.com/build-your-movie/preview.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.