Quick Start Tutorial

In this hands-on tutorial you will launch Exaplay 3, load a video, and play it back on a connected display. By the end, you will have a saved project file and a clear understanding of the basic workflow.

Time required: about 10 minutes

What You'll Build

A single-screen project that plays a video file on a connected display. Simple, but it covers every core step you will use in every future project.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

• [x] Exaplay 3 installed and licensed — see Installation
• [x] At least one display output connected (your primary monitor works fine for learning)
• [x] A video file to play (MP4, MOV, HAP, or any other supported format)

Don't have a test video?

Any MP4 file will work — a phone video, a free stock clip, or a screen recording. For best results, use a file with at least 1920×1080 resolution.

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Step 1 — Launch the Application

Start Exaplay 3 from the Desktop shortcut. The web-based editor opens automatically in a WebView2 window. You should see an empty workspace that looks like this:

Take a moment to orient yourself. The interface has these main areas:

Area	Location	Purpose
Header Bar	Top	Project name, screen tabs, show-mode toggle
Canvas	Centre	Visual preview of the selected screen
Inspector	Right side	Properties panel for the selected item
Timeline / Playlist	Centre	Arrange media clips in time or as a list of cues
Media & Live (File Browser)	Bottom	Media thumbnails, live feeds, targets, visualizer
Transport	Top bar	Play, pause, stop, and timeline position

First-time blank slate

On first launch the canvas is empty because the default Timeline has no media on it yet. That is normal — you will add some starting in Step 3.

If the Setup Wizard opens first

You can use it to create a starter project, or close it and continue with this hands-on tutorial. Either approach works.

Step 2 — Your Timeline Is Already There

Exaplay 3 doesn't ask you to build anything before you can start: every new project already has one Screen and one matching Composition — a Timeline — ready to use. You don't create either one by hand.

1. Look just above the canvas, in the composition strip — there's already one tab open and ready for media. That's your Timeline.
2. This Timeline isn't bound to a physical display yet. That's fine for now: the canvas preview in the centre of the editor always shows the active Timeline's content directly, regardless of display binding, so you can finish this tutorial without touching Outputs at all.
3. If you later want the video to go fullscreen on a specific monitor in Show Mode, open the OUTPUTS tab and bind a display to the screen — see Output Setup.

Need more than one screen?

Additional screens (e.g. one per projector) are created from the OUTPUTS tab, under Screens & Fields → New Screen. Each new Timeline you add afterwards (via the + in the composition strip) needs its track pointed at that screen's Field in the Inspector before its content renders there. You'll do exactly this in the next tutorial, Your First Project.

What happens behind the scenes when a project starts?

Starting a new project automatically:

1. Creates a Screen and its matching Field — the target a Timeline's tracks can render to
2. Creates a Composition — a Timeline with an empty track, already open in the composition strip

Step 3 — Browse for Media

Now you need to find a video file to play.

1. Look at the Media & Live panel at the bottom of the editor (the File Browser).
2. Click the folder icon (📁) to open a directory picker.
3. Navigate to the folder containing your video file and select it.
4. The browser now displays thumbnails for all supported media files in that folder.

You should see your video file appear as a thumbnail. Hover over it to see its filename, resolution, duration, and codec.

Organise your media early

A good practice is to keep all media for a project in a single folder (or sub-folders within it), and place that folder inside Documents\Exaplay3\media\. This makes projects portable and avoids missing-file warnings.

Step 4 — Add the Video to the Timeline

With your video visible in the File Browser, it is time to add it to the composition:

1. Click and drag the video thumbnail from the File Browser.
2. Drop it onto Track 1 in the Timeline panel.
3. The clip appears as a coloured block on the track, showing its duration.

The canvas now shows the first frame of your video. You have just added a media clip to Layer 1 of your composition.

What is a Track?

Each track in the timeline corresponds to a layer in the composition. Track 1 is the bottom layer, Track 2 sits on top, and so on. Layers higher in the stack draw over lower layers, which is how you composite titles, graphics, and effects on top of background video.

Position clips visually with the Layout Designer

Once a clip is on the timeline, open the Output Preview (🖥 in the header) and click Layout Designer to drag, resize, and rotate items directly on top of the live output. Full reference: Layout Designer.

Step 5 — Play the Video

Now for the satisfying part — seeing your video play:

1. Press Space on your keyboard, or click the ▶ Play button in the Transport bar at the bottom.
2. The playhead moves across the timeline and the video plays on the canvas preview.
3. If you have Show Mode active (or toggle it with Shift+Escape), the video also appears fullscreen on the assigned display output.

Playback controls to know:

Action	Keyboard	Mouse
Play / Pause	Space	Click ▶ / ⏸ in the Transport
Stop (return to start)	Escape	Click ⏹ in the Transport
Scrub through timeline	—	Click or drag the playhead

Press Space again to pause, and Escape to stop and return to the beginning.

Step 6 — Save Your Project

Save your work so you can pick up where you left off:

1. Press Ctrl+S or choose File → Save.
2. Enter a project name — e.g. My First Project.
3. The project is saved as a .vpp file in Documents\Exaplay3\.

Media files are referenced, not embedded

The .vpp file stores references to your media files by their file path. If you move the media files to a different folder, Exaplay 3 will show missing-file warnings. Keep your media in a stable location.

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✅ Checkpoint — What You've Accomplished

Congratulations! You have completed the essential Exaplay 3 workflow:

• [x] Launched the application and oriented yourself in the interface
• [x] Located your project's automatically-created Timeline
• [x] Browsed for media in the File Browser
• [x] Added a video clip to the Timeline
• [x] Played the video back with the Transport controls
• [x] Saved the project as a .vpp file

This is the foundation of every Exaplay 3 project. From here, everything builds on these same concepts — more screens, more layers, effects, Playlists, and operator controls.

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What's Next?

You are ready for a more involved project. Continue to Your First Project where you will:

• Set up two screens for a dual-projector setup
• Use multiple layers for background loops and title graphics
• Create Playlists for operator-driven control
• Share a Control View URL for your show operator

Other Useful Links

• Key Concepts — Review the terminology if anything was unclear
• Interface Overview — Deep dive into every panel and tool
• Output Setup — Configure multi-monitor and multi-projector rigs
• Media Playback — Supported codecs, performance tuning, looping options