Aether Forge Docs - Aethera.TV

Overview

Aether Forge is a desktop video editor and encoding queue. Import footage, cut it on a multi-track timeline, add effects, titles, color, and captions, then encode upload-ready outputs — all powered by a bundled FFmpeg engine.

Platform: a Windows (x64) desktop app, signed by Aethera.TV.
Account: sign in with your Aethera account to unlock project work and the export queue.
Projects: saved as .avmp files you can reopen later (double-click to open).

Aether Forge is early software (alpha). The editing and encoding workflow described here is real and usable; deeper publishing-to-Aethera integration is still being finished, so treat library upload as in-progress.

Getting started

Download & install. Use the Download button (/downloads/aether-forge/latest); installer details are at /api/downloads/aether-forge/latest. The installer lets you choose the install directory and creates desktop and Start Menu shortcuts.
Sign in. Open the app and sign in with your Aethera account — email and password (with two-step verification if your account uses it), or Continue with Google.
Start a project. From the “Start editing” dashboard, choose New Project or Open Project. Recent projects and autosave recoveries are listed per device.
Import footage. Use Import Media (Ctrl + I), Import Folder (recursive), or drag files and folders onto the Media panel. Large media is referenced in place rather than copied into the project.

Supported import formats

Video: MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV, WebM, AVI, WMV, MPG/MPEG, M2V, MTS/M2TS/TS, 3GP/3G2, MXF, OGV.
Audio: MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, M4A, OGG, OPUS, AIFF, WMA.
Images: PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, TIFF, BMP (image sequences supported).

Some formats import and export fine but need a generated proxy to preview in-app. Proxies can be created on demand or in a batch.

The editor & timeline

The workspace is organized into tabs — Edit, Effects, Transitions, Titles, Color, Audio, Captions, Export, and Settings — with a Source monitor and a Program monitor above a resizable, multi-track timeline.

Timeline editing

Trim and slide. Standard trims plus ripple (gap-closing) trims, and slide-style edits that shift the adjacent clip and later clips on the track — all undoable.
Split & blade. Split at the playhead (Ctrl + B), split all tracks, or split a target track; blade mode previews and blocks unsafe cuts.
Ripple edits. Ripple delete, ripple insert, and ripple replace keep the timeline tight.
Range edits. Mark a range and Lift or Extract it.
Source edits. Insert, Overwrite, Replace, and their ripple variants, with separate video/audio target tracks.
Linked clips. Video and audio stay linked so they move together; link or unlink as needed, and linked transitions create matching audio crossfades.
Retiming. Per-clip speed with retime keyframes (linear and hold), reverse, and pitch-preservation for retimed audio.
Markers. Add markers (M) with optional searchable notes, and jump between them.

The timeline shows video thumbnails behind clips and waveforms on audio. You can set an overlap policy (prevent, allow, or overwrite) in Settings.

Effects, color & audio

Effects. Transform, crop, blur, sharpen, basic correction, and color tint — with per-parameter keyframes — render in both preview and export.
Color. Correction and tint with keyframes, a before/after compare toggle, and .cube 3D LUT support (applied on export; preview is an approximation).
Titles. Add title clips, edit text and transform, and drag the overlay in the Program monitor to position it.
Captions. Add and style captions, import/export SRT, and choose a caption sidecar (default) or burn-in on export.
Audio. Track and clip gain, mute, gain keyframes, fade in/out (Linear, Smooth, or Equal-power), audio crossfades, and live level meters.
Transitions. Cross dissolve, fade to black, and dip to white for video, plus audio crossfade.

Exporting & encoding

Open the Export workspace to queue renders. You can export the selected source (respecting in/out marks), the current sequence, or a batch of files.

Built-in presets

Aethera Upload 1080p — MP4 (H.264), 1920×1080, upload-ready.
Aethera Upload 4K — MP4 (H.264), 3840×2160, upload-ready.
MP4 H.265 1080p — smaller files where the H.265 encoder is available.
WebM VP9 1080p — open-codec 1080p.
Aethera HLS Ladder — an adaptive HLS package (renditions from 2160p down to 360p, 4-second segments) for streaming.
AAC Audio — audio-only (.m4a).
JPG Thumbnail — a single-frame still.

The export queue

Watch progress (percent, encoded seconds, estimated time remaining) with an approximate output-size estimate.
Pause/resume, run all, cancel (partial outputs are cleaned up), and retry failed jobs.
Presets whose encoder isn’t available are disabled before you queue them, so you never start a render that can’t finish.

The Upload presets and HLS ladder are tuned for Aethera. Sending finished exports to your Aethera library from inside the app is still being finalized — until then, export locally and upload through the website.

Settings & shortcuts

Settings worth knowing

Theme: dark (default), light, or high-contrast, with an accent color and density option.
Proxies: on by default (1280px, CRF 28) for smooth preview of heavy media; optionally auto-regenerate stale proxies.
Autosave: on by default, every 90 seconds (adjustable).
Cache: default 20 GB cap for thumbnails, waveforms, and proxies.
Paths: set default project, export, and cache directories.

Default keyboard shortcuts

Play/Pause Space; step a frame ← / →; mark in/out I / O.
Save Ctrl + S; Undo Ctrl + Z; Redo Ctrl + Shift + Z.
Import Ctrl + I; Export Ctrl + E; Split at playhead Ctrl + B.
Delete selection Delete; ripple delete Shift + Delete; add marker M.

Every shortcut is remappable in Settings (duplicates are rejected).