How to trim, arrange and export video on Melius

A good clip isn't a finished video

Start with the sequence, because the shot that looks best on its own isn't always the shot the edit needs. An opening has to earn the next few seconds. A product detail has to arrive when the voice mentions it. A closing frame needs enough time to read. None of those decisions gets made by generating another attractive clip.

Melius includes an in-app multi-track editor for turning individual assets into a cut. You can trim and split clips, arrange them on a timeline, layer picture and audio, change playback speed and apply effects or transitions. The finished sequence renders through Stitch and can be downloaded as an MP4.

The reason to do that beside the canvas is practical. If one shot misses, the source is still part of the same workspace. You can work on that shot without making the entire project a round trip between a generator, a downloads folder and an editor.

Keep the useful part of each take

Most clips have a usable section and some time around it that the edit doesn't need. A camera move settles late, a hand leaves frame awkwardly, or the final second repeats information the viewer already has. Trimming is how you keep the section that does the job.

The Melius timeline supports trimming clip boundaries and splitting a clip at a point in time. Use a trim when you only need a shorter section. Use a split when the two parts need different treatment or another shot belongs between them.

Those are editorial decisions, not requests for a model to recreate the footage. If the image is right and the timing is wrong, change the timing. Generating again gives you another performance to review when the existing one may already contain everything you need.

Arrange the shots around the idea

A useful first pass is deliberately plain: put the shots in order, get the lengths right, and watch the whole thing without dressing up the joins. If the story only works with a transition hiding every cut, the order may be the problem.

Melius lets you move clips along the timeline and work across tracks. Video, still images, text and audio can contribute different parts of the sequence. A product still can hold while a voice finishes a sentence. A text layer can carry the offer without asking the generated footage to render the words correctly.

For a short product video, start with the opening, the demonstration and the closing frame. Move them until the viewer receives each piece of information in the right order. Add another shot because something is missing, not because another generation is available.

Manipulate the clip without losing the cut

Once the sequence works, the editor has controls for playback speed, clip transforms, effects and transitions. Use them to solve a specific problem: shorten a slow movement, change a clip's placement in the frame, or soften a join that shouldn't read as a hard cut.

Speed deserves a separate check. Changing it changes how long the clip occupies the timeline, which changes when everything around it is seen. The editor's speed handling preserves audio pitch; making a clip faster isn't a way to make a speaker's voice higher.

Sound needs its own pass. Melius supports clip volume adjustments and working with detached clip audio, so a noisy source recording doesn't have to compete with the voiceover. Balance the voice, music and original sound against one another while watching the picture. Listening to each track alone won't tell you whether the mix works.

Save the edit, render the deliverable

The timeline is retained on the canvas node, so the working sequence isn't just the last file you downloaded. Rendering through Stitch produces the assembled video, and the download control becomes available for the rendered result.

The verified video output here is MP4. Choosing a different aspect ratio or resolution changes the picture, not the file type. This workflow shouldn't be described as a choice of MOV, WebM or other video exports unless those options are actually available in the product.

If a handoff requires another file type or a particular codec, plan for that requirement separately. Renaming an extension doesn't convert a file, and delivering a different format is not the same thing as delivering a differently sized video.

Building the cut, step by step

1. Bring your selected assets into the editor. Start with the takes you intend to use, plus the voiceover, music or stills the sequence needs.
2. Make the rough cut. Arrange the shots, trim the unused material and split clips where the structure calls for it.
3. Finish the picture. Adjust framing, text, speed and transitions once the order and timing work.
4. Mix and review. Balance the audio, check the output ratio and resolution, and watch from the first frame to the last.
5. Render with Stitch and download. Review the exported MP4 as the deliverable, while keeping the canvas timeline for later revisions.

Why generation and editing belong together

Melius is the Agentic OS for creative work, with a node-based canvas that keeps the steps behind an asset open. The editor gives that workflow somewhere to finish: generated material becomes a sequence instead of a set of unrelated outputs.

That doesn't make every editing task disappear. You still decide which take works, where the cut belongs and when a shot has said enough. The advantage is that making those decisions doesn't require moving the whole project somewhere else.

For the generation side, see AI video generators for filmmakers. For maintaining a look across the shots before they reach the edit, see building a fashion campaign video.

Frequently asked questions

Take three clips into Melius. Cut them into one sequence before generating a fourth.