Getting Started: Your First Video in 3 Minutes
Workshop Studio turns text into cinematic video. There is no timeline, no layer panel, and no keyframe editor. You describe what you want, and the compiler handles layout, animation, and timing automatically.
This guide walks through the core loop: write, preview, render.
Opening the Studio
When you first load Workshop Studio you will see a welcome screen with two options:
- Watch Demo — a guided walkthrough that types a sample script and shows each feature in action.
- Start Blank — drops you straight into an empty canvas.
Choose either one. If you pick the demo you can always clear the canvas afterward from the overflow menu (⋯ → Clear Canvas).
The Canvas
The canvas is a vertical stack of blocks. At the top sits a Film block that holds project-wide settings — mood, aspect ratio, and tempo. Below it you add Scenes, and inside each scene you add content: text, images, numbers, shapes, and more.
An empty canvas shows a blinking cursor and the hint:
Type / to begin — or press Space for AI assistance.
Step 1 — Create a Scene
Click into the insert point and press /. A palette appears listing every block type you can add. Select Scene. A new scene container appears with a title field and an empty body.
Give it a title — for example, type The Problem.
Step 2 — Add Content
Inside the scene, press / again. Choose Text. An input appears. Type your line:
Your current workflow is costing you hours every week.
Press / once more and add another Text block:
There's a better way.
That is a complete scene. Two text elements will animate in sequence — the first enters, holds, exits, and then the second follows.
Step 3 — Add a Second Scene
Below the first scene, press / and add another Scene. Title it The Solution. Add a text block:
Meet Apex — the platform that does it for you.
You now have a two-scene script. The compiler will auto-assign intents, pick entrance animations, and derive colors from the mood.
Step 4 — Configure the Film
Click the Film block at the top. You will see:
- Mood — a dropdown pair. The base mood sets the overall personality (colors, fonts, animation curves). The overlay blends a second mood on top. Start with
confident. - Aspect — choose
9:16for a vertical short or16:9for widescreen. - Tempo — controls pacing.
measuredis a safe default.
Step 5 — Preview
Click Preview in the toolbar. The studio compiles your script and opens a side drawer with a scaled-down animation. You can scrub through scenes and verify timing.
Preview is nearly instant. Use it to iterate on timing and layout before committing to a full render.
Click Make Video. A dialog tracks progress through three phases:
- Preparing Assets — uploads any local files referenced in your script.
- Rendering Video — the server renders and encodes the final MP4.
- Video Ready — an inline player appears with a Download button.
Rendering typically takes under two minutes depending on video length and complexity.
What Just Happened
Behind the scenes, Workshop Studio:
- Parsed your text into a structured document (Film → Scenes → Elements).
- Inferred narrative intent for each scene.
- Selected entrance/exit animations, font sizes, colors, and positions from the mood profile.
- Automatically laid out every element within the scene.
- Rendered and encoded the final video.
You did not manually set a single animation keyframe, font size, or color value. The compiler made those decisions based on the mood, intent, and content you provided.
Next Steps
- Add settings — click the + on any block to add overrides like
size: hero,enter: pop, orcolor: accent. - Upload assets — add image, video, or logo blocks and upload files directly.
- Use AI — press Space on an empty canvas to describe what you want in plain English.
- Explore moods — switch from
confidenttodramaticorplayfuland preview the difference.
You now know the full write → preview → render loop. Everything else in Workshop Studio is a refinement of this flow.