Documentation

Everything you need to know to create AI-powered videos with Trumbone.

Getting Started

Trumbone turns your ideas into professional videos using AI. Here's how to get up and running in minutes.

Create an account

Create a new project

From your dashboard, click New Project. Give it a name and choose your mode: standard video or music video.

Describe your vision

Write a brief description of what you want your video to be about. The AI will generate a scene-by-scene script for you.

Generate, edit, and export

Generate storyboard images, create video clips, arrange them on the timeline, and export your final video as MP4.

Projects

Projects are the top-level container for all your video work. Each project has its own script, storyboard, characters, and timeline.

Project settings

Name — A title for your project visible on the dashboard.
Mode — Choose Standard for general videos or Music Video to sync visuals to a song.
Style description — Describe a visual style (e.g., "cinematic noir", "colorful anime") that the AI applies to all generated images.
Aspect ratio — Choose 16:9 (landscape) or 9:16 (portrait/vertical).
Voiceover — Enable narration to have the AI include voiceover text for each scene.

AI Script Writing

The AI script generator takes a description of your video concept and creates a structured, scene-by-scene script.

Enter your concept

Describe what you want your video to be about. Be as specific or as broad as you like — for example: "A 30-second product ad for wireless earbuds featuring a runner in a city at sunset."

Set the duration

Choose your target video length. The AI will scale the number of scenes to match.

Generate the script

Click Generate Script. The AI creates scenes with image prompts, camera directions, and optional narration text.

Review and edit

You can edit any scene's prompt text, reorder scenes, or delete scenes you don't want before moving to storyboarding.

Characters

Characters help the AI maintain visual consistency across scenes. Define your characters once and they'll appear consistently throughout.

Adding characters

Go to your project's Characters tab.
Click Add Character and give them a name and description.
Upload a reference image for the best visual consistency.
The AI will use character descriptions and references when generating storyboard images.

Storyboard

The storyboard turns your script into a visual preview. Each scene gets an AI-generated image that matches its prompt.

Accept your script

Once you're happy with your script, accept it to move to the storyboard phase.

Generate images

Click Generate All to create images for every scene, or generate them one at a time. The AI uses your style description and character references for consistency.

Regenerate if needed

If an image doesn't match your vision, click the regenerate button on that scene. You can also edit the prompt before regenerating.

Save style presets

Found a style you love? Save it as a preset to reuse across projects.

Video Generation

Transform your still storyboard images into dynamic video clips with motion and cinematic effects.

Generate video clips

From the storyboard, click Generate Videos to turn each image into a video clip. The AI adds natural motion and camera movement.

Review clips

Preview each generated clip. The AI uses the scene's motion prompt to determine camera movement, zoom, and animation.

Send to timeline

Once you're satisfied, send the clips to the timeline editor where you can arrange, trim, and enhance them.

Timeline Editor

The timeline is a professional multi-track editor where you arrange your video clips, add audio, transitions, and fine-tune your final video.

Timeline basics

Tracks — Your timeline has multiple tracks. Video tracks layer on top of each other; audio tracks mix together.
Playhead — The vertical line showing the current position. Click on the ruler area to move it. The preview updates in real-time.
Zoom — Use the zoom controls or scroll wheel to zoom in/out on the timeline.
Snap to grid — Clips snap to other clip edges and the playhead for precise alignment.

Range selection (In/Out points)

Drag the purple triangle handles on the ruler to set In and Out points. This defines the playback range and the portion of the timeline that gets exported.

Working with Clips

Clips are the building blocks of your video. Here's how to select, move, trim, and manage them.

Selecting clips

Click a clip to select it.
Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) and click to add clips to your selection.
Click and drag on an empty area of a track to box-select multiple clips.

Moving clips

Drag a clip left or right to reposition it on the timeline.
When multiple clips are selected, dragging one moves them all together.

Trimming clips

Hover over the left or right edge of a clip to see the trim cursor.
Drag the edge inward to trim the clip's start or end.

Clip properties

Select a clip to see its properties in the toolbar: volume, opacity, fade in/out duration, and more.

Audio & Music

Add background music, sound effects, or custom audio to your video.

Adding audio

Click the Add Audio button in the timeline toolbar.
Upload an audio file (MP3, WAV, etc.) from your device.
The audio clip appears on an audio track and can be moved and trimmed like video clips.
Adjust volume on individual clips using the clip properties panel.
Mute entire tracks by clicking the mute button on the track header.

AI Voiceover

Generate natural-sounding voiceovers from text using AI text-to-speech.

Open the audio menu

Click the Add Audio button in the timeline toolbar, then select the Voiceover tab.

Enter your text

Type or paste the narration text you want converted to speech.

Choose a voice

Pick from several built-in voice options, each with a distinct tone and character.

Generate and add to timeline

Click Generate Voiceover. The AI creates an audio clip that's automatically added to your timeline.

Music Video Mode

Music Video mode lets you create visuals synced to a song. Upload your track and the AI analyzes beats, lyrics, and song sections.

Create a music video project

When creating a new project, select Music Video mode.

Upload your song

Upload an audio file of your song. The AI analyzes it to detect lyrics, BPM, beats, and song sections (intro, verse, chorus, etc.).

Generate a synced script

The AI creates a scene-by-scene script timed to your song's structure, matching visuals to lyrics and energy levels.

Generate visuals and export

Generate storyboard images and video clips as usual. The timeline will be pre-arranged to match your song's timing.

Exporting

Export your finished video as an MP4 file directly from your browser.

How to export

Click the Export button in the timeline toolbar.
Set your In and Out points on the ruler to define the export range, or leave them to export the full timeline.
The export processes your video in real-time and downloads an MP4 file when complete.
Works on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and other modern browsers.

Tips for best results

Preview your entire video before exporting to catch any issues.
Make sure all video clips have finished loading (check for loading indicators).
For longer videos, the export may take a few minutes — don't close the tab.

Tokens & Usage

Trumbone uses a token system for AI-powered features. Each generation action costs a set number of tokens.

Token costs

Script generation

Tokens per generation

Storyboard image

Tokens per image

Video clip generation

Tokens per clip

Voiceover generation

Tokens per generation

Your current token balance is shown in the dashboard. Purchase additional tokens from the settings page.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Speed up your workflow with these keyboard shortcuts on the timeline.

SpacePlay / PauseDeleteDelete selected clip(s)Ctrl + ZUndoCtrl + Shift + ZRedoCtrl + ClickAdd clip to selectionDrag on trackBox-select multiple clips

Need more help?

Can't find what you're looking for? Reach out and we'll help you get started.