From Markdown to Video

From Markdown to Video

Video Puppet makes it easy to script videos using plain text (Markdown) files.

Getting started

You can use Markdown, YAML or JSON format to create the script. We recommend using Markdown for manually created files (as it’s human-friendly), and JSON or YAML for automatically created script files (more machine-friendly). When working with Markdown files, make sure to name the file so it has the .md or .mkd file extension.

Note: If you are not familiar with editing plain text files, create videos from PowerPoint presentations instead.

Start by creating a .md text file and add some images or text into it. Upload the script file and the assets to Video Puppet.

Quick example

Check out thissample script file. Video Puppet created the video below based on that script. Tweak the file then create a new video byuploading the modified file to the script wizard.

Check the examples on GitHub for ready-made demonstration scripts for key features.

Common tasks

Here is how to perform some common tasks as you start experimenting with Video Puppet:

Adding videos or images

You can add images or videos by using the standard Markdown syntax.

![](london.jpg)

Adding narration

Video Puppet automatically generates narration from the text in the markdown file. The following scene will include an image, and automatically generated voice narration:

![](london.jpg)

Welcome to London

Control pronunciation and add pauses in the narration

Add a pausestage direction between the paragraphs. The instruction should be in brackets, followed by a colon ( : ) and a number of seconds you want to wait. It’s important to add this into a separate paragraph, so there needs to be a blank line between the instruction and the rest of the text. For example, to add a pause of 3 seconds between two sentences, add this to speaker notes:

First sentence, something very
interesting and amusing.

(pause: 3)

Second sentence, even more amusing.

Check out the Narration format reference for more information.

Using your own audio

Instead of automatically generated narration, you can add your own audio files, with recorded voice, music or something else to play during a scene. To do so, just add (audio: file) in a separate paragraph. For example, this scene will show an image from london.jpg and play the audio from london-audio.mp3 :

![](london.jpg)

(audio: london-audio.mp3)

Adding more scenes

To add more scenes, use three or more dashes ( --- ) as a separator. The following script file creates two scenes:

![](london.jpg)

Welcome to London

---

![](berlin.jpg)

Welcome to Berlin

Change the voice for a particular paragraph

Add a voicestage direction between the paragraphs in your speaker notes to set the voice for the following text. The instruction should be in brackets, followed by a colon ( : ) and a number of seconds you want to wait. It’s important to add this into a separate paragraph, so there needs to be a blank line between the instruction and the rest of the text. For example:

First sentence, in the main video voice.

(voice: Brian)

Brian will read this sentence.

Check out the Narration format reference for more information.

Change the global video voice

You can add global video properties in thescript header, starting the script file with a scene separator ( --- ). The following script file sets the global voice for all scenes:

---
voice: brian
---

![](london.jpg)

Brian will read this scene

More examples

This is just a start. For a detailed list of things you can achieve with Video Puppet scripts, check out theformat reference. Also, check the examples on Github for ready-made demonstration scripts for key features.