Sections & Segments

The ForgeAssembler mental model has three levels. Understanding them makes everything else in the UI feel obvious.

The hierarchy

Project
├── Output settings (resolution, channels, audio, metadata)
└── Sections (list, top-to-bottom = playback order)
    ├── Section 1
    │   ├── Leading joiner (cut / fade-to-black from previous)
    │   ├── Segments (your clips, played one after another)
    │   └── Overlays (image, audio, text — see Overlays page)
    ├── Section 2
    └── …

A Section is a logical unit that becomes one chapter in the final MP4. You name it (the chapter name) and you can drop overlays on it that span the whole section.

A Segment is a single clip within a section. Segments inside a section cut straight into each other — no transition between them.

When to start a new section vs extend one

Start a new section when:

• The new clip is a different scene, subject, or beat
• You want a chapter boundary for navigation in your player
• You want a fade-to-black separating it from what came before
• You want a different overlay (image, music, title card) on this stretch

Extend an existing section when:

• The new clip is a continuation of the current scene
• You want the overlays of the current section to keep playing over the new clip
• You want no visible transition between the clips

The five Add Clips modes

The bottom-of-tab Add Clips panel offers five modes. They map directly to the section model:

Mode	What it does
NEW ONE section	All added clips become one new section (single chapter)
SEPARATE NEW sections	Each clip becomes its own section (one chapter per clip)
Into LAST section	Clips cut straight into the bottom section
OVERLAY on LAST section	File becomes an image or audio overlay on the last section
TEXT on LAST section	Opens a text overlay form for the last section

The first two are the workhorses for building a new project. The third is how you extend a section. The last two are for overlays.

Reordering

Section cards are top-to-bottom. Drag isn't wired yet — reorder by editing the project JSON if you need to. The planned Edit mode (see backlog) will give you an ✏ button and a move-up/move-down control on each section.

Per-segment controls

Each segment card exposes:

• ✂ Split — cut the clip at a timestamp into two segments
• ✕ Remove — drop the segment
• Thumbnail + duration + detected funscript channels — read-only

Section naming

Each section has a name input at the top. The name becomes the MP4 chapter title, and it shows in VLC / File Explorer / Plex. Use short, descriptive names — "Opening card", "Pour sequence", "Closer".

Chapter markers in the final output

Every section produces one chapter entry in the MP4 container. VLC briefly overlays the chapter title when you seek into it. If you leave the section name blank, the chapter falls back to Section N.

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Next: Overlays — how to drop an image logo, a music bed, or a title card on top of a section.