Nodaro DocsAdjust Speed
Change a video's playback speed from 0.05x to 100x, play it in reverse, keep or shift the pitch, add smooth slow motion, or ramp the speed with segments.
The Adjust Speed node changes how fast a video plays. It slows a clip down or speeds it up, plays it backwards, and can synthesize new in-between frames for smooth slow motion. For shots that change speed along the way, such as normal, then slow motion, then normal again, it plays the clip through a series of speed segments.
Adjust Speed changes the frames of a rendered video. The Temporal picker is different: it adds motion words such as "slow motion" to the prompt of a generation node.
When to use it
- Turn an action moment into a slow-motion highlight.
- Compress a long clip into a time-lapse or a hyperlapse.
- Play a shot in reverse, for example for a psychological or science-fiction sequence.
- Ramp the speed for a music video: normal, slow motion on the drop, then normal again.
- Fix the pace of a generated clip that feels too fast or too slow.
Quick start
Add the node
Press Tab on the canvas and choose Video › Cut & Assemble › Adjust Speed.
Connect the video
Wire the clip into the Video input.
Set the speed
Open the settings panel and move the Speed slider, for example to 0.5x for slow motion. For slow motion, set Frame quality to Smooth.
Run it
Click Run on the node. The speed-adjusted video appears on the node.
Inputs
| Input | Accepts | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Video | Video nodes, such as Generate Video, Trim Video and Upload Video | The clip to change. Required. |
The output, Video, is the adjusted MP4.
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Speed | The constant speed. The slider goes from 0.1x to 10x, and 1x is normal speed. The default is 1x. The setting is ignored while speed ramps are set. |
| Reverse playback | Off by default. Plays the clip backwards, after the speed change. In the two pitch modes, the sound is reversed too. |
| Audio mode | Pitch preserved (natural voice), the default, keeps voices natural. Pitch shifted (chipmunk / giant) raises the pitch when the clip is faster and lowers it when the clip is slower. Drop audio removes the sound. |
| Frame quality | Fast, the default, repeats frames. Smooth uses motion interpolation to synthesize in-between frames for cleaner slow motion, and takes about 5 to 20 times longer to render. |
| Speed ramps (variable speed) | Segments with their own speeds. See Speed ramps. |
From the API, the constant speed accepts any value from 0.05x to 100x.
Speed ramps
Click + Add segment to add a segment. Each segment has a start and an end, in seconds of the input clip, and a speed from 0.05x to 100x. Segments must be in time order and must not overlap.
For example, these three segments slow down the middle two seconds of a 5-second clip:
| Segment | Start | End | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 s | 1 s | 1x |
| 2 | 1 s | 3 s | 0.25x |
| 3 | 3 s | 5 s | 1x |
While ramps are set, the constant Speed is ignored and the sound is dropped. Adjust Speed cannot stretch the sound segment by segment, so add music afterwards, for example with Merge Video & Audio.
Credits
| Frame quality | Credits per run |
|---|---|
| Fast | 20 |
| Smooth | 50 |
Tips
- Use Smooth for slow motion. At 0.5x, Smooth looks closest to a high-frame-rate shoot, and Fast looks choppy. Below 0.5x, Fast shows visible frame holds, so use Smooth for anything below 0.7x.
- Time-lapse with Fast. For a time-lapse or a hyperlapse, use 4x to 10x with Fast and Drop audio.
- Rewind fast. Combine a speed of 2x with Reverse playback for a fast rewind.
- Keep dialogue clear. Pitch preserved (natural voice) keeps speech intelligible between 0.7x and 1.5x. Use it for voiceover.
- Play with the pitch. Pitch shifted (chipmunk / giant) gives a chipmunk voice at high speed and a giant voice at low speed, for comic or character moments.
- Ramp with 2 or 3 segments. Two or three segments give the classic action-camera beat.
- Loop a very short result. Above 10x, the clip becomes very short. Wire it into Loop Video to make it longer.
- Change only one section. Cut the section out with Trim Video first, then adjust its speed.
- Change only the sound's speed. The node also works for sound: wire in a video that carries the audio track.
Frequently asked questions
Related
Trim Video
Loop Video
Temporal
Combine Videos
Merge Video & Audio
Last updated on
Assemble Narrated Video
Fit each voice take to its video clip and join the blocks into one narrated MP4. Short voices are centered, long voices slow the clip, and no voice is ever cut.
Loop Video
Repeat a short video a set number of times or until it reaches a target length, and cut it at its cleanest loop point first so that no repeat shows a jump.