🚧 Work In Progress

Note: Omnitool is under development. Expect breaking changes, evolving APIs, and experimental features.

✅ What this library is

• API for building and rendering timelines in the browser
• Uses WebCodecs, Web Workers, and the File System Access API for export
• usage is currently JavaScript/TypeScript only, cli soon

🚀 Install

npm i @omnimedia/omnitool

📦 Quick Start

Declaring the timeline

import {Driver, Omni, Datafile} from "@omnimedia/omnitool"

const driver = await Driver.setup()
const omni = new Omni(driver)

const {clip} = await omni.load({
	clip: Datafile.make(file) // file is a File or Blob
})

const timeline = omni.timeline(o => {
	const caption = o.text("Hello world", {
		duration: 1500,
		styles: {fill: "white", fontSize: 48}
	})
	const xfade = o.transition.crossfade(500)
	const softened = o.filter.blur.make({strength: 8, quality: 4})

	return o.sequence(
		o.stack(
			o.video(clip, {start: 0, duration: 3000, filterIds: [softened.id]}),
			caption
		),
		o.gap(400),
		xfade,
		o.video(clip, {start: 5000, duration: 2500}),
		o.audio(clip, {start: 5000, duration: 2500})
	)
})

Declarative helper style (no explicit o in timeline declarations):

import {
	Driver, Omni, Datafile,
	timeline, stack, video, audio, text, gap, transition, filter
} from "@omnimedia/omnitool"

const driver = await Driver.setup()
const omni = new Omni(driver)
const {clip} = await omni.load({clip: Datafile.make(file)})

const timeline = timeline(
	stack(
		filter.blur(
			video(clip, {start: 0, duration: 3000}),
			{strength: 8, quality: 4}
		),
		text("Hello world", {duration: 1500}),
	),
	gap(400),
	transition.crossfade(500),
	video(clip, {start: 5000, duration: 2500}),
	audio(clip, {start: 5000, duration: 2500})
)

🎛 Filters

Filter application:

const timeline = omni.timeline(o =>
	o.stack(
		o.filter.blur(
			o.video(clip, {duration: 3000}),
			{strength: 8, quality: 4}
		),
		o.filter.glow(
			o.text("Hello world", {duration: 3000}),
			{distance: 12, outerStrength: 2, color: "#ffffff"}
		)
	)
)

Reusable filter items:

const timeline = omni.timeline(o => {
	const blur = o.filter.blur.make({strength: 8, quality: 4})

	return o.stack(
		o.video(clip, {duration: 3000, filterIds: [blur.id]}),
		o.text("Caption", {duration: 3000, styles: {fill: "white"}})
	)
})

Filter metadata for UI:

import {
	filters
} from "@omnimedia/omnitool"

const available = Object.entries(filters)
const blur = filters.blur
const schema = blur.schema

🧭 Spatial Transforms

const timeline = omni.timeline(o => {
	const move = o.spatial(o.transform({
		position: [120, 40],
		scale: [0.6, 0.6],
		rotation: 12
	}))

	const title = o.text("Lower third", {
		duration: 2000,
		styles: {fill: "white", fontSize: 36}
	})
	o.set(title.id, {spatialId: move.id})

	return o.stack(
		o.video(clip, {duration: 4000}),
		title
	)
})

Animations:

const timeline = omni.timeline(o => {
	const fadeIn = o.animate.opacity.make("easeIn", [
		[0, 0],
		[700, 1],
	])
	const slideOut = o.animate.transform.make("linear", [
		[0, o.transform({position: [0, 0]})],
		[1000, o.transform({position: [400, 0]})],
	])

	const title = o.text("Lower third", {
		duration: 2000,
		styles: {fill: "white", fontSize: 36}
	})
	o.set(title.id, {animationIds: [fadeIn.id, slideOut.id]})

	return o.stack(
		o.video(clip, {duration: 4000}),
		title
	)
})

Built-in transform animations:

const animOut = {
	duration: 500,
	offset: item.duration - 500,
}
const slideIn = o.animate.presets.slideIn.make()
const slideOut = o.animate.presets.slideOut.make(animOut)
const spinIn = o.animate.presets.spinIn.make()
const spinOut = o.animate.presets.spinOut.make(animOut)
const zoomIn = o.animate.presets.zoomIn.make()
const zoomOut = o.animate.presets.zoomOut.make(animOut)
const bounceIn = o.animate.presets.bounceIn.make()
const bounceOut = o.animate.presets.bounceOut.make(animOut)

Built-in scalar animations:

const fadeIn = o.animate.presets.fadeIn.make()
const fadeOut = o.animate.presets.fadeOut.make(animOut)

Animation application:

const timeline = omni.timeline(o => {
	const title = o.animate.opacity(
		o.text("Lower third", {
			duration: 2000,
			styles: {fill: "white", fontSize: 36},
		}),
		"easeIn",
		[
			[0, 0],
			[700, 1],
		]
	)

	return o.stack(
		o.video(clip, {duration: 4000}),
		title
	)
})

Reusable animation:

const timeline = omni.timeline(o => {
	const fadeIn = o.animate.opacity.make("easeIn", [
		[0, 0],
		[700, 1],
	])

	const title = o.text("Lower third", {
		duration: 2000,
		styles: {fill: "white", fontSize: 36},
	})
	o.set(title.id, {animationIds: [fadeIn.id]})

	return o.stack(
		o.video(clip, {duration: 4000}),
		title
	)
})

Animation metadata:

import {animatableProperties, animationPresets} from "@omnimedia/omnitool"

Object.entries(animatableProperties).forEach(([property, meta]) => {
	console.log(property, meta.type, meta.defaultTerp, meta.channels)
	// transform transform linear [...]
	// opacity scalar linear [...]
})

Object.entries(animationPresets).forEach(([preset, meta]) => {
	console.log(preset, meta.type, meta.label, meta.defaults)
	// slideIn motion Slide in {...}
	// slideOut motion Slide out {...}
	// spinIn motion Spin in {...}
	// spinOut motion Spin out {...}
	// zoomIn motion Zoom in {...}
	// zoomOut motion Zoom out {...}
	// bounceIn motion Bounce in {...}
	// bounceOut motion Bounce out {...}
	// fadeIn scalar Fade in {...}
	// fadeOut scalar Fade out {...}
})

Animatable properties describe what can be keyframed, such as transform and opacity. Animation presets describe built-in recipes, such as slideIn and fadeIn. Use animationPresets to list available recipes, and o.animate.presets to create animation items. Use o.animate to create or apply animation items.

Preset options:

• duration sets the animation duration, defaulting to 700.
• offset shifts generated keyframes in item-local time. Useful for out animations: item.duration - 500 starts slideOut 500ms before the item ends.
• from sets the start value, like opacity 0 or position [-400, 0].
• to sets the end value, like opacity 1 or position [0, 0].
• terp sets interpolation, defaulting to the preset's terp.

Utils:

import {resolveScalarAnimation, resolveTransformAnimation} from "@omnimedia/omnitool"

const transform = resolveTransformAnimation(localTime, transformAnimation)
const opacity = resolveScalarAnimation(localTime, opacityAnimation)

resolveTransformAnimation resolves an animated transform at the given local time. resolveScalarAnimation resolves an animated scalar value at the given local time. localTime is time relative to the item being resolved. clamp is the default and currently only extrapolation mode, holding the first or last keyframe value outside the authored range.

Worker URL notes:

• Driver.setup() defaults to /node_modules/@omnimedia/omnitool/x/driver/driver.worker.bundle.min.js.
• If you serve the worker from a different location, pass workerUrl:

const workerUrl = new URL(
	"/path/to/driver.worker.bundle.min.js",
	window.location.href
)
const driver = await Driver.setup({workerUrl})

▶️ Playback

const player = await omni.playback(timeline)

document.body.appendChild(player.canvas)
player.play()

Notes:

• Call await player.update(timeline) if you update the timeline.

📤 Export

await omni.render(timeline, framerate)

🧩 Timeline Format (TimelineFile)

All durations and timestamps are in milliseconds.

{
	"format": "timeline",
	"info": "https://omniclip.app/",
	"version": 0,
	"rootId": 123,
	"items": [
		{"id": 123, "kind": 0, "childrenIds": [456, 789]},
		{"id": 456, "kind": 2, "mediaHash": "...", "start": 0, "duration": 3000},
		{"id": 789, "kind": 4, "content": "Hello", "duration": 1500}
	]
}

Timeline items:

• 0 Sequence
• 1 Stack
• 2 Video
• 3 Audio
• 4 Text
• 5 Gap
• 6 Spatial
• 7 Transition
• 8 TextStyle
• 9 Filter

🗺️ Roadmap

• CLI commands:

# build a reusable template from a timeline
omnitool build-template promo.json
# validate a timeline file
omnitool validate promo.json
# export a timeline to a video file
omnitool export promo.json --output final.mp4
# batch export multiple timelines
omnitool batch-export ./projects/* --output-dir ./exports
# headless timeline viewer
omnitool preview promo.json
# auto-fit timeline elements
omnitool optimize promo.json
# prompt-to-timeline generation
omnitool ai "make a 15s promo for tea"

• smooth seeking
• keyframes
• custom filters, likely via driver-side registration with timeline sugar such as:

// Register custom filter
driver.registerFilter({
	type: "vhs",
	make: params => new Filter(/* ... */),
	schema: {
		intensity: {type: "number", min: 0, max: 1, default: 0.5},
		scanlines: {type: "boolean", default: true},
	},
})

// Use custom filter
const timeline = omni.timeline(o =>
	o.filter.custom(
		"vhs",
		o.video(clip, {duration: 3000}),
		{intensity: 0.8}
	)
)

• server-side, not just browsers