Puffin Ship Docs

Recording in the browser

Puffin Ship can stop a run and ask you to record a take on the spot, with a teleprompter, and then carry on with your recording in the edit. Nothing to install: it uses your browser's camera and microphone.

Setting it up

Add an av_recorder step where the recording should appear in the video. Give it the script as an input if you want a teleprompter:

- id: record_intro
  processor: av_recorder
  input:
    - id: script
      step: write_intro     # any step that produces a script
  output:
    timeline: main

The script input is optional. Without one you get a freeform recording with no teleprompter.

A common pattern is to have an AI step write the script, review it at a review gate, and then record it: you approve the words before you read them aloud.

Recording a take

When the run reaches the step it pauses, its status becomes awaiting recording, and the recording panel opens with:

  • Shot direction, a one or two sentence note on what this take should be, written from your script.
  • Camera and Microphone pickers, if you have more than one. Your choice is remembered for next time.
  • Rotation controls: how the finished video should be rotated, and separately how the preview and teleprompter text are oriented. These matter when recording portrait video on a rotated display.

Start Recording gives you a three second countdown, then records. If you have a script, it fills the screen as a teleprompter while you speak. The teleprompter bar adjusts font size and scroll behaviour:

  • ⏱ WPM scrolls at a fixed pace you set in words per minute.
  • 🎤 Speech listens and follows along with you, so it waits when you pause. This needs a browser with speech recognition; it is hidden when unavailable.
  • Auto-format breaks the script into teleprompter-friendly lines.

Reviewing and using a take

When you stop, you can play the take back and then:

  • Re-record and try again. Nothing is kept until you accept a take.
  • Download a copy for yourself.
  • Use this take, which uploads it and lets the run continue with it.

There is also Upload file on the recording screen, for when you have already recorded something better with a real camera. It is used exactly as a browser recording would be.

Practical notes

  • The run waits as long as you need. Take an hour to get it right; the run resumes where it left off.
  • Your recording becomes an ordinary clip in the edit, so later steps can transcribe it, cut it, put b-roll over it, and caption it.
  • Once a take is accepted, the step is done and re-running the pipeline reuses it. To record again, use the ↩ control on that step in the run view.
  • Grant your browser camera and microphone permission for the site. If the preview stays black, that permission is the first thing to check, followed by another application holding the camera open.
  • To lock the output rotation so every take comes out the same way regardless of what you pick on the day, set the rotation parameter on the step.

Next