Tempo and Timing

Workshop calculates timing automatically from your content. It counts syllables, estimates reading speed, applies tempo scaling, and snaps every value to exact frame boundaries. You can override any timing value, but the defaults are designed to feel natural.

Tempo Levels

Tempo scales all timing uniformly. Set it in the Film block.

Tempo Multiplier Effect
rapid 0.6x All durations shortened to 60%
upbeat 0.8x Slightly faster than default
measured 1.0x Default — balanced pacing
deliberate 1.3x Slower, more breathing room
glacial 1.7x Very slow, contemplative

A beat 1s at rapid tempo pauses for 0.6 seconds. At deliberate tempo, it pauses for 1.3 seconds. Entrance and exit durations scale the same way.

Psycholinguistic Pacing

The compiler counts syllables in your text and calculates hold duration based on reading speed. Longer text holds longer. This prevents the common problem in motion graphics where text disappears before the audience finishes reading.

The formula accounts for syllable count per word, number of words, and a base reading speed adjusted by tempo. The result is a hold duration that gives the average reader enough time to absorb the content.

Language-Aware Timing

Different languages have different syllable densities. Setting language: in the Film block adjusts the timing engine:

text
Film "Intro"
  mood: confident
  language: ja

Supported languages: en (English), es (Spanish), fr (French), de (German), ja (Japanese), zh (Chinese), ko (Korean).

Japanese text, for example, has fewer syllables per character but characters carry more meaning — the timing engine adjusts accordingly.

Frame-Level Precision

Every timing value in the compiled RenderGraph snaps to an exact frame boundary. At 30fps, the smallest time increment is 33.3ms. This eliminates sub-frame artifacts and ensures deterministic playback.

Explicit Duration Overrides

Override calculated timing at any level:

Scene duration: Scene "Quick" [3s] — forces the scene to exactly 3 seconds.

Beat duration: beat 1.5s — explicit pause length (still scaled by tempo).

Default beat: beat — uses the mood's default pause duration, scaled by tempo.

Next Steps