Video editing software

[Bucic]

Related topic: Audio editing software - free and open source

Related topic: RECORD AVI - a Mission Editor tool - RAT

 

Can anyone recommend a somewhat established simple video editor (non-linear), preferably freeware? I'm not going to record anything today but after getting gray hair :wallbash: assembling my first few videos

in infamous VirtualDUB I'd like to avoid that mistake in the future.

 

I did some small research. Here's what I found:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_video_editing_software

 

Freeware

VideoSpin pinnacle http://www.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Pinnacle-VideoSpin-Screenshot-93527.html

VLMC http://blog.l0cal.com/

trakAxPC http://www.trakax.com/software/pc/

 

Payware

Vegas Movie Studio

 

 

 

I need a video editor that basically allows for efficient making of similar videos

 

that is featuring at least

1. minimum preview capabilities of the output
   
2. custom video frame size, FPS and ratio
   
3. custom fitting of video materiall in different ratio than video frame (black bars, cutting, stretching)
   
4. usage of any codec installed on my system (x264 and DivX at least) within the most popular containers (avi, mp4 at least). Or at least a lossless output in HuffYUV or similar codec so I will be able to compress in an external application without quality loss.
   
5. despite possibly available HD 720p - a control over the output video bit rate
   .
   
6. basic sound track replacement (I can do the rest in Audacity if I have to)
   
7. inserting custom frames - few seconds of information screen for example
   
8. inserting PNG graphics (I can create it myself) as an overlay (pointers, arrows etc.)
   
9. has some basic set of filters (greyscale, old movie, color correction)
   
10. split-views (like in Frazer's demo) highly desirable
    

 

What I don't want

Windows Movie Maker

:gun_rifle: VirtualDUB or Avidemux

 

 

 

Now, as you can see I don't want to compete with Hollywood.

 

VideoSpin is simply a more advanced alternative to Windows Movie Maker and it was almost a perfect solution for me but it does not provide features 3 to 5 without the codec pack you have to pay $15 for.

 

VLMC looks promising but it hasn't been released yet.

 

trakAxPC is the only contender now even though it has a cheesy GUI and looks overcomplicated to my needs.

 

Vegas Movie Studio looks like a perfect solution (oscar for the GUI!) but the cheapest version is ~40 euros! A solid no-go.

Edited June 24, 2011 by Bucic

[Glowing_Amraam]

Well bucic, this is the world of movie making, in any shape or form.. At some point you're just going to have to face it: The free editing software out there are quite limited with features.

 

Why not think like this:

"Sure for now, i dont need anything *too* complicated, but it cant be too limited either. But what about the future? What if i suddenly need some of the more advanced features??"

 

Well, think of it as an investment, and Sony Vegas Movie studio might be a very good choice for you, despite the cost. Just ask yourself this: Is it worth it in the end? :)

* and sorry i can't be of more help, i really have no clue what other options there are out there, since ive been using sony vegas since 2004. (and yes, im talking about the simple, more affordable products, not stuff like premiere etc)

Edited May 17, 2010 by Glowing_Amraam

[graywo1fg]

No matter what version of sony vegas you have, that program can pump out some kick A$$ movies, the amount of tracks and the quality of video and audio, and effects. if you get Vegas you will have it for a long LONG time :) a great investment..... btw i'm not working for sony vegas advertising :P

[Bucic]

It's just the price. I won't make a penny back playing with the software so it's not much of an investment :) I'm not really able to do any "for the future" purchases. I'll investigate the freeware options first namely if there is no way around the payware codec set required for VideoSpin. If it only can export raw material I will be able to live with it by using VirtualDUB just for compression.

 

Edit:

gray,

 

I need only two video tracks and some 3 effects at best :D

[Glowing_Amraam]

Well, if it's as basic as possible:

 

You could always make still images, with the appropriate text/arrows etc, and use them in your movies. No need for overlay or anything.

[Bucic]

Well, if it's as basic as possible:

 

You could always make still images, with the appropriate text/arrows etc, and use them in your movies. No need for overlay or anything.

There is a need of overlay if I need an arrow or other mark over a playing video (like in my Bf-109 tutorial). Otherwise I would have to paint the marks over every frame of the few seconds part :) I could of course go for still images in the moments where I need some markers painted over, you are right.

[CAT_101st]

I use MAGIX Movie Edit Pro wile not as good as Sony it is very powerfull for the price. 64 movie tracks and 32 sound editing tracks. With more features than I know about or have the time to test out.

[Bucic]

The best freeware non-linear video editing app I've found so far - kdenlive http://www.kdenlive.org/

 

Linux only :/

 

[c0ff]

kdenlive does work on apples as well (as many other open-source packages)

[Bucic]

Just an update:

After reading the article "What's up with free multimedia production tools in 2010" http://libregraphicsworld.org/articles.php?article_id=26

 

It still seems that the best choices for free non-linear video editing are:

• kdenlive http://kdenlive.org/
  
• OpenShot (simpler) http://openshot.org/
  

 

Neither of these is available for windows so one would have to use VirtualBox http://www.virtualbox.org/ This scenario would still be the best option for Windows users! This will not change until the slowly developing VLMC comes out... http://trac.videolan.org/vlmc/

 

 

[ReaperLV]

Well, WMM :D

You can download 30day trial version of sony vegas.

[revalence]

Well, WMM :D

You can download 30day trial version of sony vegas.

 

Ahh! Windows Movie Maker! I did a trailer with this same program.... not too bad, no music and such.... Now that I mention it, the new Live WMM works perfectly fine when making tutorials, trailers, etc. Except for fully fledged movies ( *Cough* Glowing Amraam! *Cough*) it simply doesn't have the niceties needed. However, I like to pre-render and resize it in WMM, and add text and some blur through black and whatnot to start off hassle-free (Newer movie-editing software just simply don't have old style-transitions, except for Vegas WAX plugins). Afterwards, I edit in After Effects and Sony Vegas 7. Very reliable, very user-friendly, and extremely affordable on Amazon. Plus, it has all the necessary component for stuff like color correction, blurring, lighting, shake effects, lens flare, stuff like that.

 

Hope this will help :D

 

-Andrew (Revalence)

Edited June 8, 2011 by revalence

[revalence]

WMM is much more versatile than most people are accustomed too... It's no longer a program where you have silly titles and so forth, it is a good program to just start off any movie... and another God-given aspect...... ITS FREE!!!

 

-Andrew (Revalence)

Edited January 15, 2011 by revalence

[Bucic]

I have one linux machine now (laptop) so I think I'll give kdenlive and OpenShot a try this year. I see no problem in exchanging data between Linux and Windows systems.

 

EDIT:

Hoooooly...! I've just discovered that both kdenlive and OpenShot come also as LiveDVD versions!

It means that you can try them out and even use them for your tasks without any operating system installed on your PC!

 

http://www.kdenlive.org/user-manual/downloading-and-installing-kdenlive

http://openshot.org/download/

http://www.bandshed.net/AVLinux.html

 

Both USB key and DVD allow to read and write to a Windows 95/XP/Vista/7 hard drive.

 

Edited January 27, 2011 by Bucic

[Headspace]

Before anyone rides me out of here on a rail, you might actually look into Blender's video sequence editor, if:

 

- You have a passing familiarity with 3d modeling

- You aren't afraid of lower level MPEG related stuff and understand how it works

- You are prepared to deal with a very steep learning curve.

[Bucic]

Before anyone rides me out of here on a rail, you might actually look into Blender's video sequence editor, if:

 

- You have a passing familiarity with 3d modeling

- You aren't afraid of lower level MPEG related stuff and understand how it works

- You are prepared to deal with a very steep learning curve.

Interesting...

[Bucic]

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/linux-video-editor-kdenlive-updates-with-rotoscoping-stop-motion-light-graffiti-effects-and-more/

[Bucic]

Heads up! Academy® and Emmy® award-winning Lightworks non-linear video editor (NLE) has gone Open Source! http://www.lightworksbeta.com/

 

Do Aviator, Gangs of New York and Pulp fiction film titles ring a bell? ;)

 

Topic: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1214161

Edited June 10, 2011 by Bucic

[Bucic]

Kdenlive example - Compositing Multiple Videos Together

 

 

Edited June 10, 2011 by Bucic

[RoaringBones]

I have a question,When you Save Tracks in FC2? is there a way to get or change the .TRk file to work with Vegas stuido????

[Bucic]

I have a question,When you Save Tracks in FC2? is there a way to get or change the .TRk file to work with Vegas stuido????

Please use the forum search function http://forums.eagle.ru/search.php or start a new topic. A topic on TRK -> video conversion: RECORD AVI - a Mission Editor tool

[Heli Shed]

I have a question,When you Save Tracks in FC2? is there a way to get or change the .TRk file to work with Vegas stuido????

 

Shortanswer?

 

no.

 

Replay the track and record using FRAPS (for example). Then 'import' into editing suite.

 

'T'

[Bucic]

Using Kdenlive of a bootable USB drive

 

 

4 part basic Kdenlive tutorial

[Helios]

I wish I had found this thread before just spending hours yesterday figuring how to make my first multi-track video, and butting my head against various codec problems. There really is a lack of good free video-editing tools out there. As a recording and video editing rookie my workflow is probably far from optimal, but I can at least share some comments about a procedure that worked for this

.

 

Screen recording with Fraps (the paid version). No chance I would be able to record 1080p on my HW (at least to the regular HDD and SSD not big enough). DCS: A-10C doesn't provide 720p screen resolution out of the box - I did see a forum post somewhere about tweaking options.lua to hardcode that resolution, but I didn't want to mess up my installation so I went with 1280x1024 instead.

 

For video editing I concluded as others have on this thread that Kdenlive is the way to go. I already have a Ubuntu 11.04 (Linux) installation so for me that worked fine. One may need to install some packages like libavcodec-extra-52, x264, etc. to get all the required codec support - don't remember exactly what packages I ended up installing.

 

One problem is the Fraps codec did not play nice with my Ubuntu and Kdenlive 0.7.8, with problems moving the transport/guide. When trying out another editing SW "Lives" it did not want to even import the recorded tracks. Second problem was I could not figure out a good workflow for resizing imported clips to 720p in Kdenlive.

 

My solution was to install avidemux, and to use it to resize to 1280x720 and to convert all recorded .avi files to another format. I ended up with FFVHuff for encoding, which worked with Kdenlive. Initially I tried converting everything to huffyuv, only to learn that Kdenlive did not recognize the format. Doh ...

 

Inside Kdenlive it's mostly good, but there is the occasional crash at least with my version, so Sierra adventure game philosophy applies - save early and save often. Initially I used the "group" feature for clips quite a bit, but it seemed to cause bugs with moving groups and reopening the project, so I would be careful about using that feature.

 

Also, I had a problem rendering the project to .mp4 as H.264 using x264, the video was just fine but the audio got all messed up. Seems there is some problem at least in my combination of Kdenlive and decoders/encoders with the AAC encoding. As a workaround I edited the x264 rendering profile, replacing aac with the the option to render as MP3 ('libmp3', 'libmpeg3' or something like that) - which produced a file which played just fine and which youtube accepted.

 

Hopefully some useful tips here for other video editing newbies :-)

 

/ Helios

[Bucic]

Well done!

 

Screen recording with Fraps (the paid version). No chance I would be able to record 1080p on my HW (at least to the regular HDD and SSD not big enough).

Check out the RAT (RECORD AVI Tool) then! RAT will blow your mind It will open new horizons for you when it comes to video recording! Not to mention the whole topic is a valuable resource on basic video editing.

 

DCS: A-10C doesn't provide 720p screen resolution out of the box - I did see a forum post somewhere about tweaking options.lua to hardcode that resolution, but I didn't want to mess up my installation so I went with 1280x1024 instead.

Again - RAT will blow your mind

 

For video editing I concluded as others have on this thread that Kdenlive is the way to go. I already have a Ubuntu 11.04 (Linux) installation so for me that worked fine. One may need to install some packages like libavcodec-extra-52, x264, etc. to get all the required codec support - don't remember exactly what packages I ended up installing.

AFAIR Kdenlive asks for automatic packages installation on first startup. Really convenient.

 

One problem is the Fraps codec did not play nice with my Ubuntu and Kdenlive 0.7.8, with problems moving the transport/guide. When trying out another editing SW "Lives" it did not want to even import the recorded tracks.

I have no experience with Kdenlive+FRAPS. I think it's a good idea to sign up to Kdenlive forums if one is planning on using Kdenlive.

 

Second problem was I could not figure out a good workflow for resizing imported clips to 720p in Kdenlive.

Here's a rather comprehensive guide on resizing and cropping videos by yours truly http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1135123#post1135123

 

I ended up with FFVHuff for encoding, which worked with Kdenlive. Initially I tried converting everything to huffyuv, only to learn that Kdenlive did not recognize the format. Doh ...

You should try Lagarith http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1136928.html

 

Inside Kdenlive it's mostly good, but there is the occasional crash at least with my version, so Sierra adventure game philosophy applies - save early and save often.

Doesn't Kdenlive have an automatic session restoration same as Blender?

 

the video was just fine but the audio got all messed up.

Same for me. I'm not sure which input/output formats combinations are affected but this is a really serious bug. We need to hit Kdenlive forums.

 

Hopefully some useful tips here for other video editing newbies :-)

Indeed. Thanks for sharing your initial experience. Initial guidelines are what's most important to newcomers.