Quick start: your first video in 10 minutes

This walk-through makes a 30-second episode from an industry template, previews it without a recording, then adds your voice and renders. You need ReelForge installed and reelforge doctor passing. Commands use reelforge; on Windows type reelforge.cmd, on macOS and Linux ./reelforge.

1. Create an episode from a template (1 minute)

reelforge new clinic-intro --pack healthcare --template patient-journey --lang en

This writes episodes/clinic-intro/episode.yaml with a script, scenes and estimated (draft) cues, so the episode previews immediately. Use --lang ar for an Arabic voice-over. The pack catalog lists every pack and template, and the dashboard offers the same choice under + New episode → Start from template.

Prefer a blank start? reelforge new ep10 --series "SYSTEM DESIGN" creates a commented template, or click + New episode in the dashboard (start.bat / ./start.sh).

2. Open the editor and make it yours (4 minutes)

reelforge edit clinic-intro

• In the Script tab on the left, edit the lines. Keep one spoken sentence per line, about 2.3 words per second. Line 1 is your hook.
• Click an element on the canvas and change its text in the inspector, or double-click to edit in place. Words between ** get the accent color: **Duplicate** Charge.
• To make an element appear on a word, put the playhead on that word and click the target button next to Enter at. The editor writes a time such as l3:'desk', which stays on the word after you re-record.
• Insert adds a component (or drag one onto the canvas). Drag clips on the timeline to retime them; they snap to your words.

Everything is saved to episode.yaml as you go, with comments kept.

3. Check it (1 minute)

Switch to Review (Alt+3). Each issue, such as text that overflows or an element under the platform buttons, comes with a fix hint; click it to jump to the element. From the command line:

reelforge validate clinic-intro
reelforge snap clinic-intro l1+1 l3+1        # PNG frames in episodes/clinic-intro/out/snaps

4. Record and align (3 minutes)

Record yourself reading the script with any app (phone, Audacity, OBS…), leaving a short pause between sentences. In the dashboard click Upload voice (WAV, MP3, M4A, OGG, OPUS or FLAC are converted to voice.wav), or save the file as episodes/clinic-intro/voice.wav. Then mark the cues:

reelforge align clinic-intro

Open Cues mode (Alt+2), listen through once and fix any line by ear (press Space at the start of a line). Timing, cues and alignment explains the details.

5. Render (1 minute to start)

reelforge render clinic-intro

Or click Render (⌘/Ctrl+Enter) in the editor. When it finishes, upload episodes/clinic-intro/out/clinic-intro.share.mp4 with the caption and hashtags from out/publish.md. No recording yet? reelforge render clinic-intro --silent renders a preview with the draft timing.

Prefer working with an AI assistant? See AI integration. An assistant can write the script, build the scenes and check the frames for you through the MCP server.