Guide
A straight walkthrough from install to export. Follow it once and the product stops feeling abstract.
Pre-flight
This guide works best when you keep the first run small, local, and concrete. You are trying to finish a believable first pass, not stress-test every edge case on day one.
Walkthrough
Each step answers two questions: what happens now, and what should you do next.
Start with a project you can finish. Quartz is easiest to understand when you are using a real wedding folder, not a synthetic demo. Confirm the machine is signed in, the footage is local, and you have room for working files before you create anything.
Check the reference page if you need to confirm storage, GPU, or desktop setup before you begin.
Open docsInstall Quartz Desktop, launch it, and make sure the app reaches a normal signed-in state. The goal here is not speed. It is simply to confirm the environment works before any project-level troubleshooting starts.
Once the desktop is stable, move directly into a project instead of exploring every surface first.
Open downloadsCreate a fresh project against a single wedding folder and let Quartz inspect the media. At this stage you are mostly validating that the folder structure, storage path, and project state make sense together.
If the scan or setup looks off, stop here and fix the environment before you add more media.
Let Quartz finish the mechanical passes first: scan, sync, transcript, and the early structural work. Resist the urge to edit while the project is still being stabilized. You want the system to produce a usable base before you judge the result.
Give the first run time to complete, especially if models, caches, or proxies are still being initialized.
Review the outputs as an editor, not as a benchmark. Check whether the dialogue anchors are usable, the selects are cleaner than the raw footage, and the structure gives you something to refine instead of a blank timeline.
Use support only after you know which stage output is wrong or missing.
Open supportOnce the structure is credible, move into export and handoff. This is where Quartz should leave you with something concrete to carry into your NLE or final delivery workflow, not where it should decide the creative finish for you.
If you want to see the end-state more clearly, compare your result to the dedicated wedding editor surface.
See wedding editorAfter the first export
Once you have one real project through the pipeline, the next step should be specific. Pick the surface that answers the problem you actually have.
Use the docs when you need operational answers about stage outputs, hardware expectations, exports, or local dependencies.
If a real project is stuck, take the shortest route to support with a clear description of which stage blocked and what you already checked.
Use the wedding editor page when you want the product framing and end-state to feel concrete again after the technical setup work.