How everything works.
23 short guides, one task each. The answer comes first, then the steps, in the same words you will see on screen.
Getting started
Your first animated board, and how a move is built out of phases.
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How to make an animated football tactics board
Pose your players for one moment, add a phase, move them to where they end up, and press Play. Total Football Studio works out the movement between the two poses, so there is no timeline and there are no keyframes to learn.
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Phases: building a move, reordering it and setting its pace
A phase is one moment of the move. You build the same board again for the next moment, and the studio animates the difference. How long each phase holds, and how long the move between phases takes, are two separate controls under Pace.
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Building a board
Arrows, shading, writing, the pitch, the camera, your kit and your squad.
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Passes, runs, carries, presses, lofted balls and lines
Pick Pass, Run, Carry, Press or Loft at the top, tap the player it starts with, then tap where it goes. Drawn with two taps, the next phase is posed for you; dragged instead, the arrow is drawn on its own and moves nobody.
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Shading a block, a danger area or a zone, and writing on the pitch
Block shades the space behind a line of players and stays tied to them. Danger area shades a space gold and Zone shades it grey. Text writes on the grass. All four are on Amateur and Pro.
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The pitch view, markings, surface and camera
Pitch view sets how much of the pitch you see, Markings rules thirds, channels or numbered zones onto it, Pitch sets what it is drawn on, and Camera chooses between a fixed view and one that follows the ball.
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Formations, your kit, bibs, and your own players
Pick a formation to line your eleven up, add the opposition on the phase that needs them, and set your kit colours. Your own kit colours and bibs are on Amateur and above; player names and photos from a saved squad are on Pro.
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Cones, mannequins, training gear and match balls
Open Equipment, press a piece of gear to put it down, drag it where you want it, then size and turn it. Gear belongs to a phase and moves between phases on Play. Training gear and every match ball are on Amateur and above.
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Saving a movement once and reusing it
Save a range of phases as a named sequence in My Sequences, then apply it to any later system. Names and faces are stripped when it is saved, so it works with any squad. Saved sequences are on Pro.
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Plans, trials and billing
What each plan includes, the free trial, changing plan and paying.
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Beginner, Amateur and Pro: what each plan includes
Beginner is free and has the whole animation engine with 25 boards on the web. Amateur (€11.99 a month, or €8.99 a month billed yearly) adds every arrow, shading, text, training gear, your kit, unlimited boards and 1080p60 video. Pro (€18.99 a month, or €15.99 a month billed yearly) adds player names and photos, saved sequences and 4K images. Nothing is added at checkout.
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The 7-day free trial of Amateur or Pro
Yes. You can try Amateur or Pro free for 7 days, with up to 10 boards while you try. A card is needed to start, nothing is charged until day 8, and cancelling before then costs nothing. There is one free trial per account, and one per card.
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Changing plan, moving to a team, and cancelling
Yes, any time, in Settings under Billing. Moving up, or to yearly, happens straight away and is prorated. Moving down, or to monthly, waits for the end of the period you paid for. Cancelling keeps the plan until the end of that period and then stops.
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Paying: prices, business purchases, payment methods and invoices
Every price is in euros and is the full price, so the number on the page is the number you pay. You pay on our own checkout page, and your invoices, card and plan are in Settings under Billing. The iPhone and iPad app takes no payments: a plan bought on the web applies there too.
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What happens to your boards if you stop paying
Nothing is deleted and nothing is rewritten. A board that uses a paid tool locks until you upgrade again, and then opens exactly as you left it. Or make a free version: a copy with the paid work taken out, while the original stays untouched beside it.
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Your affiliate link and dashboard
Open Settings, then the Account tab, then Affiliate programme and press Join the programme; your link appears with a button to copy or share it. The same panel counts clicks, signups and first payments, and shows each commission from being checked to approved, when you can move it to your wallet at once or take it to your bank after 30 days.
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Your wallet: credit off your next payment
You do not have to do anything. Credit in your wallet comes off your next payment by itself (a renewal, an upgrade or more seats) before your card is charged, and anything left carries to the payment after.
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Teams and clubs
Team plans, inviting coaches, and joining a team.
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Team plans for clubs and academies
A team plan pays for 3 or more coaches on one invoice and one card. Every coach gets a full Amateur or Pro account of their own, the owner included, and each seat costs less with every coach you add from 3 to 8. The owner invites coaches by email or @handle and they accept from their own account.
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Inviting coaches to your team, and managing seats
Open Settings, then the Account tab, then Team, type a coach’s email or @handle, press Find, then Invite. We email them the invite; they need an account to accept, and the free plan is enough.
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Joining a team you have been invited to
Open the link in the invite email, sign in (or make a free account) with the address it was sent to, and press Accept in Settings, then the Account tab, then Team. The team pays for your seat; you get every tool of the team’s plan on your own account.
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Something not covered? The questions page has short answers to everything else, and the Studio has its own help: press ? at the top and type what you are trying to do. Recommending the Studio to other football professionals? The affiliate programme explains how you earn on their first payment.