Adjusting Timing in the Timeline
This section describes how to adjust slide durations, audio fade-ins/fade-outs, audio volume and sync images to audio.
Adjusting Duration Manually
The Timeline view displays slides as a rectangular bar the width being proportional to the slide duration. The longer the duration, the wider the rectangular bar. Where a slide overlaps with the next slide, a “stair step” shape is displayed. This stair step is called a Transition Interval. The middle of the Transition Interval displays as an icon that indicates the type of transition. When you drag the lower half of the vertical edge (A), you adjust the duration of the slide. When you drag the upper half of the vertical edge (B), you adjust the transition duration.

To adjust durations in the Timeline:
- Select a slide in the Timeline.
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Use the Timescale slider to enlarge the slide in the Timeline. This will help to precisely click and drag the edges of the slide to adjust the duration.
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To see the duration change in real-time, click the Options button in the toolbar to open the Options Inspector.
- To adjust the duration of the transition, click the upper half edge (B) and drag to the left or right. The cursor changes to a directional arrow as you drag, and the width of the transition interval changes. In the Options Inspector, the transition duration changes as you drag to the left and right.
- To adjust the duration of the slide, click the lower half edge (A), and drag to the left or right. The cursor changes to a directional arrow as you drag and the width of the slide changes. In the Options Inspector, the slide duration changes as you drag to the left and right.
Working with Audio in the Timeline
The Timeline displays audio waveforms, which helps to visually sync your slideshow with your audio. In addition, you can precisely and easily sync audio by using audio markers directly in the Timeline.
You can change audio fade-ins or fade-outs by dragging the left or right edges of audio in the Timeline view to change the fade-in or fade-out offsets, change the length of the audio item, and adjust the volume.
By default, the audio fade-ins and fade-outs are determined automatically - depending on the chosen visual transition between slides. To use custom fade-ins or fade-outs, either drag the left or right edges of the audio, or deselect the Automatic checkbox in the Audio Options Inspector and use the offset and duration sliders.
The following example shows the Timeline view displaying an audio waveform in a music track with red vertical lines indicating audio markers, and some voiceover (with waveforms) in the narration track selected with the volume envelope displayed (yellow line with the dots).

To adjust the audio fade-in and fade-out and adjusting volume:
- In the Timeline view, select an audio item. The audio item highlights in blue and a yellow line with two dots at each end appears.
- Click the Options button to show the Audio Options in the sidebar.
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You can uncheck Automatic next to the Fadein and Fadeout options, or as you drag the yellow dots in the Timeline, the Automatic option is turned off. This allows you to manually adjust the offset and the duration of the audio fade-in or fade-out with the sliders.
If you want to go back to the default settings anytime, check the Automatic option again.
- To adjust the fade-in duration, click and drag the left yellow dot horizontally. To adjust the fade-out duration, click and drag the right yellow dot horizontally.
- To adjust the audio volume, click and drag the yellow horizontal line up or down. Dragging up increases the volume, dragging down decreases the volume.
Syncing with the Audio Waveform and Adding Audio Markers
The audio waveform in the Timeline view displays a sample plot of the volume (amplitude) of an audio file. Waveforms display for all audio tracks (music, effects, narration) in the Timeline.
This visual representation of the audio waveform allows you to locate certain points of a song (effect or narration) by identifying big amplitudes (louder sounds) or low amplitudes (softer sounds). You can then match slide durations to beats in the audio. For example, you might want to start a title at a certain point when the audio increases in volume. The waveform helps you to visually pinpoint the exact location. As you locate and sync these locations in the waveform, you can add an audio marker to indicate a specific location.
You can add an audio marker by right-clicking in the waveform and selecting
For more information see Audio Markers.
To sync your audio:
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With audio and images loaded in your slideshow, click the Timeline button.
The audio waveform displays in the audio tracks. If you don’t see all the tracks of audio displayed, click the Audio tracks icon at the bottom of the Timeline or press Ctrl A. a blue icon indicates that the tracks are expanded, a grey icon indicates that the tracks are collapsed.
- Select a single audio item (by clicking on it), and then click the Preview button in the toolbar to start playing the slideshow.
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While the slideshow is playing, press the M key with the beat of the music.
Each time you press the M key, an audio marker is created at the current time. A red vertical line appears as an audio marker. The slide’s Continue type is automatically set to “At Audio Marker.”
- Stop playback of the slideshow by clicking the Stop button in the toolbar.
- Click on an audio marker (red line) and drag it left or right to move it to the desired location, if it was not precise enough before.
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Double-click an audio marker (red line) to display an information popover.
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Enter a name for the audio marker.
You can also adjust the timecode if needed, by clicking the up and down arrows in the Audio Marker window. Click outside the popover to close it. - Add additional audio markers by right-clicking in the waveform and selecting > from the context menu.
Audio Markers
Audio markers are used to synchronize slide transitions with the beat of the music or with certain parts of recorded narration. Authoring of audio markers has been moved from the Audio Options Inspector to the Timeline view. Creating and editing audio markers requires the following steps:
- Select a single audio item in the Timeline and preview your slideshow. When you want a transition to occur, press the M key. This adds a new audio marker. The marker is displayed as a red line in the audio waveform.
- Another method to add an audio marker is to select a single audio item, then click and drag the playhead to scrub through the slideshow. When the playhead is at the desired location over the audio waveform, press the M key to add an audio marker, which appears as a red line.
- Alternatively you can right-click on a location in the audio waveform and select > from the context menu (if you are not currently previewing the slideshow).
- To remove an audio marker, right-click an audio marker in the Timeline and select > from the context menu.
- Once you are done setting all your audio markers drag the playhead to the beginning and play again to review the markers. The LCD view will flash in red when an audio marke5 is passed.
- If an audio marker is not set correctly, you can adjust its position by dragging it to the correct location in the waveform or by editing its timecode. Double-click a red line in the Timeline to open a popover and edit the timecode.
- Markers can also be given a name. Double-click a red line in the Timeline to open a popover and simply type the name in the popover. The name is for reference only and does not have any influence on playback.
- Once you are satisfied with the audio markers, go to the Slide Options Inspector and set the Continue Type of the slides above the audio item to Continue at Audio Marker.
With audio markers you can synchronize slide transitions with the beat of your music. If audio markers are placed fairly close together, exact timing cannot be guaranteed. FotoMagico needs to load media files for the next slide before it can proceed to this slide. If an audio marker was missed in the process, the transition to the next slide will occur when another audio marker is passed.
This limitation only applies to a live presentation. When exporting your slideshow to a QuickTime movie, the exact timing is always respected.
Editing Video by Cutting Slides
While scrubbing in the the timeline, you can cut the slide that is currently visible in the Stage into two separate slides by pressing the C key. The slide will the cut into two separate slides at the playhead time.
This is especially useful for editing long video sequences. Simply place a long video clip into the timeline. Then click on the playhead and start dragging it to scrub through the video. The Stage will display the video image at the current playhead time. Whenever you wish to cut the video, press the C key. You can do this multiple times. When you are done, release the mouse button. You now have multiple slides instead of the initial single slide. You can now select and delete the slides whose video segments you do not want.
This techniqhe is not restricted to slides with video. You can also cut slides that contain images or titles.