Icareus Studio Timeline Guide: Tracks, Clips and Editing Tools

Timeline

Introduction

The timeline is where you arrange, edit, and control the timing of all elements in your project.

Videos, images, text, and audio are placed on the timeline as clips. You can adjust their duration, layering, and playback timing to build your final render.

The timeline consists of these key areas:
  1. Timeline Toolbar
  2. Time ruler
  3. Playhead
  4. Tracks
  5. Clips
  6. Track controls

Timeline Toolbar

The toolbar above the timeline contains editing and playback controls.

Editing Actions

  1. Undo / Redo – Revert or restore your most recent action.
  2. Split selected item at playhead – Split the selected clip at the current playhead position.


Playback Controls

  1. Playback speed – Adjust the preview playback speed (e.g., 1x).
  2. Play / Pause – Start or pause playback.
  3. Jump to start / end – Move the playhead to the beginning or end of the timeline.
  4. Timecode – Displays the current playhead position and total project duration.

Timeline View Controls

  1. Zoom slider – Zoom in or out on the timeline to adjust the level of detail.
  2. Reset zoom – Adjust the timeline zoom to fit all clips from start to end within the visible workspace.

Time Ruler

The time ruler is located at the top of the timeline.



It displays time markers (s=seconds, m=minutes, h=hours) to help you position clips accurately. The scale adjusts when you zoom in or out with the Zoom Slider or Reset Zoom.

Playhead

The playhead is the red vertical line that indicates the current playback position. 
When you hover over the timeline, a blue indicator shows where the playhead will move if you click.



Playhead functions:
  1. Drag the playhead or click on the timeline to preview a specific point in the video.
  2. Press Play to start playback from the playhead position
  3. The preview canvas shows what your video looks like at the current playhead position on the timeline
  4. Split selected item at playhead occurs at the playhead location

Tracks

Tracks are horizontal rows on the timeline that organize clips.
When a clip is first added to the timeline, it appears on its own track. You can then move it to another track if needed.
Different types of media (video, image, text, audio) can be placed on the same track.
If a track has no clips on it, it is automatically removed.

Working With Clips

Moving a Clip on the Track (Left and Right)

To reposition a clip on the track, drag the clip left or right from its middle. Dragging from the left or right edge will resize the clip instead (depending on the media type).

Notes
When moving a clip, a guide line appears if the left or right edge aligns with the edge of another clip on a different track. These guides help you align clips precisely for accurate timing.



Moving a Clip Between Tracks (Up and Down)

To move a clip to a different track, drag the clip upward or downward. Release it on an existing track to place it there.

Creating a New Track for a Clip

When you drag a clip between tracks, a blue line indicator may appear. This indicates that a new track will be created at that position.

Release the clip while the blue line is visible to create the new track and place the clip on it.



Resizing Clips

Drag the left or right edge of a clip to change its duration.
  1. Drag inward to shorten the clip
  2. Drag outward to lengthen it (if supported)
All clips can be shortened.
Only some clips can be lengthened:
  1. Video or audio clips that were previously trimmed or split (up to their original full length)
  2. Images and text clips, which can be extended freely

Removing Gaps

If there is empty space between two clips (or the timeline start and a clip), it creates a gap. Gaps result in no visual or audio content playing during that time unless another track contains media.

Click the gap to remove it.



This shifts all clips to the right of the gap leftward to close the empty space.


Duplicating Clips

To duplicate a clip, right-click it and select Duplicate.


When you duplicate a clip, the copy appears on the same track in the first available position to the right where it fits completely.
Free space next to clip

No free space next to clip

 

Splitting Clips



To split a clip, move the playhead to the desired position. Then either click Split selected item at playhead on the Timeline Toolbar or right-click the clip and select Split at playhead.





Deleting Clips

To delete a clip, right-click it and select Delete.


Layering Order

Clips on higher tracks appear on top of clips on lower tracks in the final video.

This allows you to:
  1. Layer text over video
  2. Place images above backgrounds
  3. Combine multiple elements visually
Notes
Overlapping audio clips play simultaneously unless muted.

Track Controls

On the left side of each track, you can access track-level controls.



These allow you to:

Reorder Tracks



Grab this and drag a track up or down to change its order.
Tracks placed higher in the timeline are displayed in front of tracks below them in the preview and in the final video.
For example, if a text clip is on a track above a video clip, the text will appear on top of the video.

Enable Magnetic Timeline


Enable the magnetic option to automatically align clips to the left.
When enabled, clips placed on this track will move as far left as possible, removing any gaps between them.



Delete Tracks


Delete the entire track and all clips placed on it.

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