Understand how a linked Brain Brand can supply the Compositor’s VIDEO design tokens, when an existing design-system choice is preserved, and how to show or hide the viewer’s paused preview readout.
Where: Link a Brain Brand in project settings, then open the native Video Editor. Use the Viewer toolbar to toggle Preview performance.
Before you start
- Link the intended Brand to the project. The Brand must contain a usable video design-system master or video CSS/token payload.
Key ideas
- Compositor projects use the Brand VIDEO master: The Compositor adopts video design tokens from the linked Brand, rather than applying the web master to a timeline/shot-based document.
- Explicit design-system choices win: A connected design-system input, library selection, or URL-loaded system is treated as an intentional choice and is not silently replaced by the linked Brand.
- The viewer readout is diagnostic only: Preview performance displays seek/render timing and preview scale while paused. It is a local viewer preference and does not set or reduce final render quality.
Steps
- In project settings, link the Brain Brand whose video rules should guide the edit. Confirm the correct record before opening the Compositor.
- Open the native Video Editor project or Flowgen Video Editor node. If the editable document has no explicitly attributed design system, its writable session can adopt the Brand VIDEO master as design tokens.
- Open the Design System panel and inspect the selected system and its source. A system connected by a design_system_in wire, selected from a library, or loaded from a URL should remain the chosen system.
- Apply or inspect tokens through the Compositor’s design-system controls. The renderer reads a validated native token snapshot; the source CSS rules are not executed as page styles.
- In the viewer toolbar, toggle Preview performance to show or hide the diagnostic overlay. The preference is saved for that viewer on the local device.
- Pause or seek the timeline to see the readout. It can show seek milliseconds and preview scale; while playback is running it hides itself so it does not cover motion.
- If the viewer reports that it is preparing a smooth preview, wait for the editing copy to finish. Full preview and final rendering continue to use the original source.
- Render using the normal Render controls and inspect the exported result; the preview readout does not control output resolution or quality.
Brand-to-Compositor precedence
- A linked Brand can contribute the VIDEO master: the video CSS/payload is reduced to validated design tokens for the native renderer.
- A user-selected, wired, or URL-loaded design system retains its explicit attribution and is not overwritten.
- The automatic adoption is for writable documents and does not turn a read-only session into a write.
- A rejected or invalid Brand token payload should not prevent opening the editor; inspect the panel and correct the source if expected values are missing.
Preview performance overlay
- Shown by a Viewer toolbar toggle and stored as a local preference.
- Hidden during playback; seek diagnostics are shown while paused.
- May report seek time, render time, preview scale, decode/cache details, or a background smooth-preview preparation state.
- The overlay is informational and does not alter composition, source media, or final render settings.
Caption styling defaults
- Generated caption layers use the supplied style values where present and preserve native defaults for style properties the request omitted.
- Inspect the created caption layer in the timeline and Properties before export; defaults are not a substitute for checking readability, safe area, or timing.
Tips
- Use the video-specific Brand master for Compositor work and the web master for website work.
- If your tokens look unexpected, check the Brand link and the Design System panel attribution before changing the token values.
- Hide the diagnostic overlay during visual review if it overlaps a title or scene detail.
Limitations and important notes
- A linked Brand only helps when the project is linked to the intended record and the record contains the relevant video system fields.
- Compositor renders do not execute arbitrary CSS from the Brand stylesheet; only the validated native token snapshot is used.
- The readout covers viewer performance, not the quality or correctness of the final encoded export.
Troubleshooting
The compositor still shows the old web colors.
Confirm that the linked Brand has a VIDEO master, then inspect the Design System panel source. A manually selected or wired system takes precedence over automatic adoption.
Preview performance disappears.
The viewer hides its readout during playback. Pause or seek, then enable the toolbar toggle if needed.
I see “Preparing smooth preview.”
Wait for the background editing copy to finish. It is a viewer proxy; the original remains the source for full preview and render.