Grid Merge Mode
Pictures on a grid slide together in pairs and become the next one up, until one final form is left. Every control in Grid Merge settings, explained. (Creator)
What Grid Merge Does
A grid of the first piece sits on a plain black board. Two of the same that sit next to each other slide together and become the next piece up the chain, with no change in size. The biggest piece stays in the middle of the grid. Every phase merges down to one piece in the middle, and only then do the cells around it refill.
New pieces start bigger in each later phase, so a run always ends the same way, with one final form on the board and nothing left over. A chain of six takes three phases and 23 merges. With the default settings that takes about 23 seconds, and the final form then holds for just over a second.
Tip
- The panel shows the pieces, the merges and the seconds your current settings add up to.
- Pieces slide along the grid, so gravity and bounce do not reach them. Time Scale still changes their pace.
Plans and Basics
Grid Merge settings is one panel in Engine and needs Creator. Anyone can open Grid Merge, watch it and record it on its default settings.
Technical parameters
- Basics shows: Rows (1 to 6), Columns (2 to 6), Pieces in the chain (3 to 8), Wait between merges (0 to 2), Each piece shows and Merge sound. The Engine panel allows more.
Grid
The shape and look of the board. The grid fits every video shape.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video shape | The shape of the video. The same setting as the one in the Recorder. | Default whichever shape you already use | Square makes the grid fill the whole frame. |
| Rows, Columns | How many cells the grid has. | Rows 1 to 6, Columns 2 to 6, both default 3 | The grid needs at least one cell per piece in the chain. |
| Grid size | How big the grid is compared with the arena. | 0.4 to 1.6, default 1.11 | The default fills the short side of the video. |
| Space between cells | How far apart the cells sit. | 0.5 to 1.2, default 1 | |
| Board colour | The colour behind the grid, across the whole video. | Default black | Use the global background to show your own background. |
| Show cell lines, Cell line colour, Cell line width | Draws a box round every cell. | Default on, grey, width 1.5 | Switch them off for a clean board with no boxes. |
Evolution Chain
What the pieces are. Every extra piece adds one phase to the run.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pieces in the chain | How many steps there are up to the final form. | 2 to 12, never more than the grid has cells, default 6 | Six runs about 25 seconds, and each extra piece adds about 9. |
| Each piece shows | An emoji or your own image, a number that doubles each merge, or just the ball. | Default An emoji or your own image | Choose all your images at once to fill the chain in one tap. |
| Remove image backgrounds | Cuts a plain backdrop away from your images. | Default on | |
| Piece colours | Own colour per piece, or your global ball colour. | Default Own colour per piece | |
| Piece size | How big a piece is. The same setting as your ball size. | 1 to 150, default 50 | A piece never grows past its cell. |
| Size growth per merge | How much bigger each step is than the one before. | 1 to 1.5, default 1 | At 1 every piece stays the same size. |
| Show the ball | Draws the ball with its skin and effects behind each picture. | Default off |
Merges and New Pieces
How a merge moves, and how the empty cells fill up again.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Which pair merges next | Smart plans the whole run so every merge is between neighbours: a piece moves once, to the next box, and the biggest piece stays in the middle. The others can slide across the grid: mostly small with a bigger pair sometimes, the smallest, the biggest, the closest, or any pair. | Default Smart | Whichever you pick, the run ends on one final form. |
| Slide time (sec) | How long one piece takes to slide onto the other, whatever the distance. | 0.05 to 3, default 0.43 | |
| Wait between merges (sec) | How long the grid rests after a merge. | 0 to 5, default 0.5 | |
| Slide motion, Hop while sliding | How the speed changes during a slide, and how high the piece hops on its way. | Defaults Steady speed, 0 | |
| How empty cells refill | Row by row, all at once, or one cell at a time. | Default Row by row | |
| Wait before a refill, Time between rows or cells, Wait after a refill | The timing of a refill, in seconds. | Defaults 0.63, 0.24, 0.24 | |
| How a new piece appears, Fade time | Instantly, fading in or popping in. | Defaults Instantly, 0.2 | |
| Last piece fade | For the orders other than Smart: when the run's last piece arrives alone, it fades in over this long. | 0 to 5, default 1.45 | |
| Closing merges slow down | How many times slower the last merges play as they climb to the final form. | 1 to 3, default 1.22 |
Merge Effects
All off by default, for a clean look. Add only what you want.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pop on landing | How much a new piece swells for a moment on a merge. | 0 to 1, default 0 | |
| Merge effect, Effect size, Effect pool | A burst on each merge: a random one from your pool, one per size, or none. | Default None | |
| Final form effect | A burst when the final form appears. | Default None | |
| Flash, Shock ring, Shake on big merges | A flash, a ring that spreads out, and a shake on the last few merges. | All off | |
| Final form lands in the centre | The last two pieces always meet in the middle of the grid. | Default on | |
| Restart after the final form (sec, 0 = keep going) | How long the final form holds before the preview starts again. A recorded video holds it to the end. | 0 to 30, default 1.1 |
Sounds
Every event has its own sound, and each one can be any sound from the library or your own upload.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merge sound | A sound per piece, one sound played faster on small merges and slower on big ones, or the global bounce sound. | Default A sound per piece | |
| Source, Main sound, Melody | What a merge plays when it has no sound of its own. | Default Chirp 1 | |
| Small merges take turns | The two smallest merges alternate between their two sounds, which makes a little tune out of the run. | Default on | The closing merges still climb one by one. |
| Change speed and reverb, Speed of the first merge, Speed of the final form, Reverb on the slow merges | Shapes the sound by the size of the merge. | Default off, 1, 2, 0 | |
| New piece sound, Play the new piece sound | A sound when new pieces appear: once per refill, on every row, or for every piece. | Defaults on, Once per refill | |
| Last piece sound, Final form sound | Their own sounds for the run's last piece and for the final form. | Both on | |
| Volume | How loud all of this mode's sounds are. | 0 to 2, default 1 |
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Guides, plans and answers for making your videos.