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 your default web browser, unless you chose an app window under ☰ → Settings → Startup. 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 and save state, Undo / Redo, Vio, MUTE and BLANK (with its fade menu), Preview, the SHOW OFF / SHOW ON toggle and the ☰ menu (with Fullscreen)
Tabs	Below the header	STAGE (screens and outputs), PRODUCE & PLAY (the editor), CONTROL, NETWORK
Composition strip	Above the Transport	One tab per composition, and + to add one
Transport	Below the composition strip	Play, pause, stop, time display, previous / next cue, composition volume
Timeline / Playlist	Centre	Arrange media clips in time or as a list of cues
Inspector	Right side	Properties panel for the selected item
Media browser	Bottom	Tabs Media, In Project, Live Feeds, Watch, Generators, Effects

First-time blank slate

A new project starts with one composition tab, New Composition, that asks: Please select the type of composition you want to create. That is normal — you will choose one in Step 2.

If the Welcome screen opens first

Click Get started to continue with this tutorial, or Explore tutorials to open the built-in tutorials.

Step 2 — Create a Timeline

Every new project already has one Screen (Screen #1) — you don't create it by hand. What you choose is the kind of composition:

1. In the New Composition tab, click Timeline. The tab becomes Composition #1 and shows an empty timeline: Right click to add a track or group or drag and drop your media here.
2. A new composition plays on the first screen by default (the Inspector's Plays on), so your clips land on Screen #1 without further setup.
3. Exaplay assigns Screen #1 to an output automatically when it can (the only connected display, or the first secondary one on a multi-monitor PC). To check or change that, open the STAGE tab — see Output Setup.

Need more than one screen?

Additional screens (e.g. one per projector) are created from the STAGE tab, with the + after the last screen card. A Timeline you add afterwards (via the + in the composition strip) still plays on the first screen, so set its Plays on — or one of its tracks' — to the new screen in the Inspector. You'll do exactly this in the next tutorial, Your First Project. Alternatively drag a file onto the new screen's card on the Stage — see Content onto a screen.

What happens behind the scenes when a project starts?

Starting a new project automatically creates a Screen — the target a composition's tracks play on. Compositions are created by you: Timeline or Playlist from the New Composition tab or the + in the composition strip.

Step 3 — Browse for Media

Now you need to find a video file to play.

1. Look at the media browser at the bottom of the editor, with its Media tab selected.
2. It starts at Home, which shows folder tiles such as Exaplay3, Documents, Desktop, Videos, Pictures, Audios and every drive of the Exaplay PC.
3. Click your way to the folder containing your video file. The bar at the bottom shows where you are; click Home there, or the back button at the top left, to go back.
4. The browser now displays thumbnails for all supported media files in that folder.

The file is on another computer?

If you are using the editor from a different computer than the Exaplay PC, open a folder and use + Add → Upload media… (or drop files onto the browser) to copy the file to the Exaplay PC.

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

Organise your media early

A good practice is to keep all media for a project in a single folder (or sub-folders within it) next to the project file, and not to move it afterwards. With ☰ → Settings → System → Portable media paths switched on, media inside the project folder is saved relative to it, so the whole folder can move to another drive or machine — see Media Playback.

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 media browser.
2. Drop it onto the empty timeline. Exaplay creates a track for it.
3. The clip appears as a coloured block on the track, starting where you dropped it and as long as the video.

You have just added a media clip to the first layer of your composition. To see it, open the Preview with the monitor button in the header (Toggle Preview (Composition / Output)) and pick Screen #1 in its screen selector.

What is a Track?

Each track in the timeline corresponds to a layer in the composition. The top track in the list is drawn in front; each track below it is drawn behind the one above. A new track (from + or from dropping media on empty timeline space) is added at the bottom, behind the others — drag a track header to reorder. This is how you composite titles, graphics, and effects in front of background video. See Timeline → Tracks.

Position clips visually with the Layout Designer

Once a clip is on the timeline, open the Preview (monitor button in the header) and click Layout Designer to drag and resize items directly on top of the live picture. 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 above the timeline.
2. The playhead moves across the timeline and the video plays in the Preview.
3. If Show Mode is on (the SHOW OFF / SHOW ON button in the header), the video also appears fullscreen on the output assigned to Screen #1.

Playback controls to know:

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

Press Space again to pause, and click ⏹ 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 click the save icon in the project box at the top of the header.
2. The first save of a new project opens Save project, starting in Documents\Exaplay3\projects. Enter a project name — e.g. My First Project — and click Save project.
3. The project is saved as a .vpp file. Later saves (Ctrl+S) write to the same file; ☰ → Save Project As saves a copy under a new name.

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] Created a Timeline for your project's automatically-created screen
• [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
• Add a cue with a hotkey 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