Here is our final feature announcement in our 4 for 4 special: a much improved timeline and new video play-back controls. Many of these features are based on comments and feature requests I've received on this blog. I do listen to all suggestions, so keep them coming! =)
Timeline Improvements:
- Video thread is now initialized when OpenShot starts
- XML is only re-generated when timeline is modified
- Any video changing action (i.e. play button, arrow keys, dragging play-head) updates the preview window. You no longer have to hit the "play" icon to start the preview window.
- Timeline / project length can now be adjusted
- Many optimizations (and some bug fixes) with drawing the timeline and dragging clips and transitions
- Video controls (i.e play button, seek buttons)
- Dragging the play-head
- Dragging the mouse on the timeline ruler
- Using the J, K, and L keys
- Using the arrow keys (left, right, up, down)
- Dragging the slider under the video preview (this is % based). This will always let the user quickly seek from the beginning of the video project to the end (i.e. from 0% to 100%)
[here are the 6 ways to control video play-back]
[project / timeline length can now be adjusted]
Well, this has been fun posting 4 blogs in 4 days. It has helped remind me of how far we've come since starting this project. Just for grins, here are links to OpenShot's first 4 blog entries:
Want to help support OpenShot? The easiest way to help out is to post comments and feedback to this blog. I hope everyone realizes that I really listen to your feedback. If you have no feedback, you can still send us some encouraging words, such as "hell yeah!", or "this rocks!". =)
June 22, 2009 7:13 AM
Thank you for OpenShot. Very nice!
I have two suggestions:
1. Wizard: It would be better if Wizard does not install mtl/fmpeg/frei0r/openshot in the system, but in user's home, like the kdenlive wizard
2. Openshot have about every feature of kdenlive today: it's fantastic! It haven't advanced compositing so, before you start on it, I suggest to make it with editable masks (like cinelerra), not only simple square. I don't know if mtl allows this, but if yes, kdenlive is death for me :)
June 22, 2009 7:48 AM
Oh, wow. I'm impressed. Every now and then I update my knowledge of video editing in Linux and just less than an hour ago I found out about OpenShot via Wikipedia. "Haven't heard about that", I thought. I didn't have much expectations, other than that "OpenShot must be yet another mediocre video editing software, which is in its infancy and developing really slowly". Sorry about that...
Looks like this video editor has huge potential, project leader has right motivation and vision, and the editor is progressing really, really nicely. I must emphasize, I haven't used it at all, so I base my opinion on just the blog postings, which by the way are incredibly useful. More projects should be so active. Excellent work.
Thank you very much for making video editing in Linux better. It's just one of those aspects I'd like to see improved. Doing it right is a huge favor to FLOSS community. Huge. I really love to see choice and little bit of healthy competition.
Last four days of postings were very, very exciting. This sounds almost like I'm not being sincere, but I am. Just really, really excited and anxious to try it myself.
Thank you!
June 22, 2009 12:28 PM
guiodic & tjh - Thanks for the nice feedback! We haven't added in masks yet, but we can certainly do custom masks with MLT... although it might require using another graphics package, such as Gimp or Inkscape to create/edit the mask. I'll add that to "the list".
June 22, 2009 1:58 PM
First of all I want to greet you for your work! It is awesome!
Like much other video artists, I'm happy to see that a linux nle is going ahead! and looks so promising!
If you ask for suggestions, the implementation of butons for marking in/out points in the viewer (or the possibility of changing them into the timeline) would be fine (and the option of exporting "the work area".
And now that we have a title utility, the possibility of making "rolls" or "crawls" for titles would make it better!
After of this, if you are interested on translating openshot, i could help with the catalan!
Xavi
June 23, 2009 4:04 PM
sweet very impressed.
awesome work.
I can't wait for version 1, Since you're in the home stretch I hope it is motivating you to get it done sooner,Pretty soon your app will be shining and for sure be on the pre installed list of distros like ubuntu.
also remember once it gets the attention it deserves there will be a lot more coders out there willing to put in the work to make it go the extra mile. great job again man.
can't wait to try it out on a 23.97 fps progressive video.
June 24, 2009 5:43 AM
Now I've had a chance to try OpenShot and play with its features for couple minutes (no more than ten). Installing on Ubuntu 9.04 went smoothly, nice install wizard. Of course, I'd much prefer that my distribution would package it.
I opened couple video clips, cut them in couple places and added transitions. Without instructions I was able to do basic editing right away. There were some minor problems and the program froze couple times. If I'll see that again, I'll try to find out why, and report a bug - it may have just been that my underpowered laptop was choking.
One feature I immediately missed, or didn't know how to use, was audio track editing (audio track embedded in video) - basic level adjustment on a timeline for each track.
Oh, and I did try title editor. I love how easy it was to use and how it was easy to place the title on a timeline.
What I'd like to see in a video editing software is an easy way to do the most frequent editing. Cutting, trimming, arranging, transitions, some titles (also title screens without video on the background), basic audio track editing, simple but flexible export options (supporting also open codecs). I didn't try exporting, but I've seen the export options and I love it.
So... I have no suggestions - just some feedback. :-) OpenShot is already going into right direction and is already usable for video editing.
I'm wondering if there's any need for scribtability? I don't know. And I'd love to know if there has already been some work, or if there's planned features to integrate with audio editing software like Audacity - or would it be useful (or possible) to be able to use jack audio connection kit with OpenShot. I don't even know use case scenarios, but these thoughts crossed my mind.
Is there a roadmap for 1.0 release? I'm pretty sure people reading your blog would like to know about future plans beyond 1.0. I would. :D
Thank You for your work.
June 24, 2009 6:20 AM
Whaou. Wonderfull project.
I have discovered OpenShot Video Editor by chance, there is two weeks ago on softpedia. And since more 15 days, I am studing your programm.
Thanks thanks a lot. We will have a fantastic editor, simple, beautifull, eyes candy and perform, well integrated with gnome with pygtk. Kdenlive is a great project but it became more and more integrated with KDE and it has a lot of bugs like the youngs programs same if it will be a very good program.
Like you, i have discovered only two videos (on the 5) of Diva's project and I understand why a lot of people have believe in this software . Your project is in the same line.
Sorry for my bad english but I am french and there was a long time than I haven't practise it. I'am thinking than :
First, your project is on the right way, beautifull, perform, simple and evolutif.
Second, you explain the more interresting , it 's "the born of a project and it's more wonderfull than the project himself. This story, step by step, is very rich to understand how to create a new project and the difficulties than cames with it. I'am trying to learn to program in pygtk and we have done the same path (nearly in the same periode) but you have been the more quicker.
I'll tried this version on an old hardy and after, when you 'll have cleaned the code on a intrepid and a jaunty. I can tried it on a Debian lenny and a mandriva spring.
I'am a little disapointed when i have seen than you have switch between gsetreamer to mlt for the reasons than you have explained. Gnonlin is perhaps ready but there is no documentation and only theirs creators knows all his possibilities. It's dammage.
Anothers things :
I'am very interresting by gstreamer, and your first programm call inspector.py is very interresting to study and a good box to devellop and understand a program. But there is a problem, we can't download it.
You have open a account to lauchpad. It's very good because with a ppa you could have all the ubuntu communauty to help you with bugs, ideas, tutorials, etc...
I can and I'll do, that sure, in writing and posting on the planet libre (a planet who touch all the french communiauty and not only ubuntu-fr but also debian, fedora, archlinux, frugalware, mandriva,... ; on the multimedia french (and international with his english version) website Lprod and so I am a member on ubuntu too. Perhaps, I 'll interview you, if you are agree (with gtalk) and published it on the Linux Pratique with another article write by the french spetialise Laurent Bellegarde chiefmaster of the website Lprod.
There is a long time tha I want to participate and I am very enthousiath to help a project in a domaine that I like. I can translate in french your file .po (and I have begin) and In all cases, it would be a great pleasur to help you. Another thing, and that all, like you are a exemple (and i dont have yet studie the code who he is very well explain). You are an exemple to see your progress and I am very pround to help you all I can.
Could you explain more about glade-3 with the main window and the other (i.e. the relation with the window's color for title).
About the features, it would be nice if you could have the possibilities to do:
• an effect call restrictions of the colors: all the videos is in black and white except one in a color.
• Picture in Picture (PIP): I think that you know what is it.
• Resize image : you cut and out the borders but you keep all the rest.
The most important is to tell you thanks for the great work and time than you are putting in to this project. I any case, I hope you achieve what you set out to do.
At last, I have tried the installer on a hardy, and the installation was ok with no problemes (choise 2 for ffmpeg). When I start the programm (in console or in the menu) a new window tried to open and crash after "a new frmain has been created Error of segmentation (core-dumped)". I'll posted it this bug in launchpad soon.
June 24, 2009 10:20 AM
A user friendly and actually working video editing tool for Linux is the one and only think keeping me from switching 100% from Windows and keeping me from recommending other non-geek people from switching.
OpenShot is really shaping up to become the Windows Movie Maker of the open source world.
Thank you for all the skill and effort you put into this project!
June 24, 2009 10:46 AM
Wow! These are some great comments. We have lots of future ideas (i.e. blueprints) documented on LaunchPad at: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/openshot. It's not exactly a roadmap for version 1, but it's some future plans. Soon I will start to arrange the blueprints into releases, and then it will be easier to follow.
As a few people have already hinted, I want OpenShot to really dominate the basic mechanics of video editing (i.e. trimming, arranging, controlling playback, transitions, titles, etc...). And I want it to look good doing it. =) I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working hard to get there.
June 24, 2009 11:29 AM
It looks really really nice. I hope that you will continue to develop this application on Linux because we do not have nonlinear professional editors style.
Thank you very much for your work!
June 24, 2009 11:34 AM
Hey Jonathon,
One question. are the video and audio on different tracks?
I ask this because this is crucial in taking it up to the next level above amateur. Most linux editors have the two on one track and that is disturbingly ridiculously to have. Editors need to be able to edit the audio and video tracks separately if they choose. thanks again
June 24, 2009 1:24 PM
66666er, I 100% agree that OpenShot needs the ability to split the audio and video into separate tracks & clips, so each can be arranged, key-framed, and trimmed independently. In fact, it already works (mostly) the way you describe... and the audio for a clip can be arranged, trimmed, and handled completely independently from the source video clip.
However, I don't visualize it (i.e. draw it to the screen) in the same way Adobe Premiere (and other editors) do. I'll post a blog about audio editing soon. I'll try and address your points and concerns.
Thanks!
June 25, 2009 1:16 PM
I get a seg fault on trying to open a media file. How do I remove the program?
June 25, 2009 1:26 PM
Roger, you can just delete the following folders to remove openshot:
~/openshot
~/mlt
~/frei0r
However, to undo all of the packages the build wizard installs will be more difficult. If you are getting seg faults opening media files in Gnome (or KDE), you might need to re-install FFmpeg from the repository (using Synaptic). That should overwrite anything we installed.
Good luck.
June 25, 2009 4:45 PM
cenwen, I will try and fix the download link for the "Video Inspector", which was posted many months ago on this blog. It might take a few days to find all the files though.
June 26, 2009 9:40 AM
Thanks Jonathan. I am very interrest to studie also the .....player.
June 27, 2009 1:51 PM
Great blog Jonathan! The story of OpenShot Video Editor is really interesting :-) Sometimes it reminds me of my project Running Tracker. I can't wait to try it out now!