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Your first project: one clip, a title and an export.

This guide builds a ten-second opening from a single clip. You will place and trim the footage, add a title, animate it, fade the sound and export an MP4. It takes you through each part of the editor once.

Install and open Grapple

  1. Download the Windows x64 ZIP from the download page.
  2. To check the file, run Get-FileHash .\Grapple-<version>-Windows-x86_64.zip -Algorithm SHA256 in PowerShell and compare the result with the checksum on the download page.
  3. Extract the whole ZIP into a folder of your own, such as C:\Apps\Grapple. Keep the files together; the application needs the libraries and resources beside it.
  4. Run bin\grapple.exe.

If Windows SmartScreen asks whether to run the app, compare the checksum before you continue. Grapple doesn't need a Grapple account. You can do everything in this guide without connecting a model; Ape and Create need one, which the model setup guide covers.

Start a project

Grapple opens with a new project. Projects are folders, and new ones are created in Documents\Grapple as Untitled, Untitled 2 and so on. Changes are written to the project folder as you work. If a save ever fails, Grapple shows a Retry Saving Project action.

To work on an existing project, choose File > Open Project and pick its folder. To set the frame size, frame rate or name of the composition, choose Edit > Composition Settings…. For this guide, 1920×1080 at the frame rate of your footage is a good start.

Find your way around

Grapple has four workspaces.

Create Alt+1
Storyboards and model operations for generating images, video and sound.
Edit Alt+2
The timeline, the Stage and Properties. Most of this guide happens here.
Animate Alt+3
The Graph editor for keyframes and curves.
Deliver Alt+4
Export settings and finished exports.

The Window menu shows and hides panels such as Project, History, Effects, Scopes and Ape. If a layout gets cluttered, Window > Layout > Reset Current Layout puts it back. Press Ctrl+K at any time to search for a command by name.

Place a clip

  1. Choose File > Import Media… and pick a short clip, ideally something between ten seconds and a minute.
  2. Select the clip in the Project panel and choose Place.
  3. In the Source preview, press Space to play. Press I where your opening should start and O where it should end. Aim for about ten seconds.
  4. Leave Include set to Video and audio, and the destination at the start of the composition.
  5. Choose Place.

The clip appears on the timeline. Press Space to play the composition, and , and . to step back and forward a frame.

Trim the opening

If the clip starts a moment too early, put the playhead on the first frame you want and press Q to trim the start to it. W trims the end the same way. To remove a stretch from the middle, split at both ends with Ctrl+B, select the middle part and press Shift+Delete, which removes it and closes the gap.

To change which part of the source plays without moving the clip, choose the Slip tool (Y) and drag the clip left or right. The editing guide covers the other trim tools.

Add a title

  1. Press T and click on the Stage where the title should go. Type the title and press Ctrl+Enter.
  2. With the text selected, choose a font in Properties and set its size and colour. Add a shadow if the footage behind it is busy.
  3. Open the Align and distribute menu in the Stage toolbar and choose Align horizontal centers, with Composition as the reference.

To change the wording later, select the text and press F2.

Animate the title

  1. Move the playhead to where the title should be in place, around two seconds in.
  2. In Properties, click the key button beside Position. The property is now animated, with a key at the playhead.
  3. Move the playhead back half a second, click the key button again to add a key there, and drag the title a little way down on the Stage.
  4. Do the same for Opacity: a key at 100% at two seconds and one at 0% at one and a half.
  5. Play it back. The title rises and fades in.

Now make it settle rather than stop. Switch to Animate (Alt+3), select the Position keys, and set the first key's easing to Ease out. The movement slows as it arrives. The animation guide explains the other easing options and the Speed view.

Fade the sound

Select the clip's audio in the timeline. In Properties, set Fade in to half a second and Fade out to one second, or drag the fade handles at the ends of the clip. If the sound is too loud, lower the Clip level.

Export the opening

  1. Switch to Deliver (Alt+4).
  2. Choose the composition, H.264 · MP4 and SDR · BT.709 output colour.
  3. Set the range to Entire composition, and leave the frame rate at the composition's rate.
  4. Choose Export. When it finishes, choose Open folder.

Play the file in a video player to check it. Keep the project folder as well as the MP4; the next change to the title starts there.