The last of my feature announcements is some additional video clip settings that enables all sorts of strange and wonderful things.
[Additional video clip settings - on clip properties window]
Video Settings
- Fill - Make a clip fit the screen (without changing the aspect ratio)
- Distort - Make a clip fill the screen (edge to edge, no matter what)
- Composite - Mix the clip with the tracks below it (i.e. enables key-framing, alpha channel, etc...)
- Horizontal & Vertical Alignment - left, right, center, top, bottom, etc... This is where MLT starts your clip. The X and Y start from this setting. It defaults to centered on the screen.
- Video Fade-In / Fade-Out (no transitions required)... these settings move with the clip, and act like a simple dissolve transition
- Fade amount - How many seconds to fade in and out
To zoom into a clip (up to 300%), set Distort = Yes, and then change both the Height and Width to 300. Again, if you set the "End of Clip" to 300, and the beginning to a smaller number, it will animate between them. Combine this with the X and Y, and you've just created a simple Kens Burns effect.
Want to fade between 2 images, but they are different sizes. This can sometimes look strange because of the auto-compositing. In other words, the bigger image might suddenly appear before the other image has faded. To fix this use set Composite = No, and each clip not show the track (i.e. other image) behind them. However, in most cases you should leave Composite = Yes. Just about every cool feature requires this setting to be Yes.
Want to have a simple fade in & out on a clip, but don't want to go through the trouble of having to add transitions? Just set the Fade Video In / Out settings to Yes. This makes it much easier to move your clip around... without having to move the transitions also.
This concludes my 4 feature announcements... although I'm pretty sure I mentioned more than 4 features. =) I'm going to spend the next week building .DEB install files for OpenShot (if everything goes smoothly). Just to be clear, I'm not releasing version 1.0 next week. I'm merely preparing for the alpha / beta phase of this project.
Also, I will be working on bug fixes, and trying to tie up all the loose ends. Some of those loose ends are translation related. Thanks!
July 17, 2009 2:07 AM This post has been removed by the author.
July 17, 2009 2:09 AM
fyi a bug that occurs to me and starting to affect others... importing clips crashes the program. especially mpeg files (mp4, mpeg2)
July 17, 2009 3:29 AM
Wow, having a deb file to run OpenShot Video Editor would really be awesome!
July 17, 2009 3:56 AM
Hello 66666er
If you are experiencing crashes, please report the problem on our bug tracker.
Give as much information as you can.
I've been testing version 0.9.3, and the formats and codecs I've been using include mp4, mpeg2, AVCHD straight from my camera, etc.
I am using the latest stable version of Ubuntu 9.04 amd64
It is preferable to use the 64 bit version if you have a 64 bit computer.
I know some people have been experiencing problems on Ubuntu 9.10, but 9.10 is not a stable release yet, and anything can and will happen!
Helen
July 17, 2009 5:25 AM
na i'm still on a p4 so i'm using 32 bit. 9.04.
Yea I already submitted it. a week ago or so.
July 17, 2009 6:00 AM
Hello again 66666er
Jonathan is looking into the problems with running on 32bit systems. Cenwen has been helping him.
This appears not to be so much a problem with OpenShot, but merely the difficulty in getting the very advanced libraries used, to compile properly on a 32bit machine.
So in reality this is an upstream problem in those libraries. It may be that they require the 64bit instruction set to be able to perform some of the advanced features.
Throughout the development of computers, as technology has advanced it has become impossible to backport new advanced technology onto legacy machines.
I have an old AMD Athlon 32bit computer which I built in the last century. It dual boots an old version of Debian and an old version of Ubuntu. I can't upgrade it because newer software needs more resources than that computer has.
I cannot do any video editing or playing on that computer because it has insufficient resources.
This is why there are cut-down versions of Debian and Ubuntu available for machines of limited resources.
I hope this helps
Helen
July 17, 2009 7:00 AM
Hi J
I've been extremely impressed so far, but can't help wondering if this is taking things too far away from a GUI approach and towards text-based commandline-ism :)
If users will need to edit values like this instead of dragging and resizing things graphically, I think it's a shame.
At the very least I hope your descriptions pop up in 'tooltips' to explain what's going on, because otherwise I'd suggest renaming some of the options.
F'rinstance, Fill and Distort could just as easily be Fill with a second option to Maintain Aspect Ratio
Composite isn't immediately obvious without an explanation either.
The alignment options are crying out for a simple graphical choice mechanism, picking from icons for example.
Each tab of this dialog should be available quickly from a right-click menu to keep us Windows folk happy... would that be reasonable?
I appreciate it's a first draft and functionality is the main thing at this stage, but urge you to maintain the ease of use that sets your project apart from so many others.
Well done!
July 17, 2009 7:10 AM
I'm really excited about OpenShot!
I have a question: are you going to set up the translation tools on Launchpad?
July 17, 2009 8:31 AM
Hello Luca Andrea,
As far as I understand it, Jonathan wants the translation to be done through Launchpad.
I'm working on the Manual with Olivier. We are integrating the Manual with the Gnome Help (Yelp) system. The intention at the moment is to produce a separate .deb package for the documentation. We have a basic structure plan for the Manual, which I am currently updating with details of the new functionality.
Olivier and I are both having to learn to use the Docbook XML and Gnome Help utilities to produce the Manual. When we have the first version ready, it will be already in English and French, and we will later be able to integrate .po language files from Launchpad to add more translations to the Manual.
I've just been trying out the new zooming functions. All these new compositing functions make OpenShot by far the most flexible non-linear editor I have tried on Linux.
I now need to get on with the Manual, or Jonathan will be chasing us for it.
Helen
July 17, 2009 11:11 AM
ah thanks for the explaination helen now I see what it is. Gives me something to chew on. about upgrading.
July 17, 2009 11:39 AM
Hello
@ luca andrea. Jonathan wish to use launchpad for the translations. When we are ready, we tell us, i'm wainting for the french translation, i have done something but i'm not satisfait.(it's for the italian traduction, i suppose )
@6666er Yes we have a problem with the version 32 bits like have said Helen (please see at launchpad for the bugs).
We have a lot of ideas (and a lot of work !!!) and the manuel will occuped a lot of our time.When it will be finshed, it will be easy to install, use and traduce in others languages but for the moment, be patient. Work is in progress.
@ Helen, i have send you 2 bigs emails, les as-tu vu ?
Olivier
July 17, 2009 11:41 AM
I 've just see that the page on Lprod is created.That's cool, i've just finished the article for.
July 17, 2009 2:26 PM
Hey Jonathan, how is the progress on the PPA coming along?
And I've been wondering... If I could provide a Finnish translation?
July 17, 2009 3:04 PM
Sorry for this double comment, but I'd like to point out that the Yes/No drop boxes in the clip properties would be easier to use as check boxes.
And now I got this working again. But there is an odd bug that causes the clip to be invisible when Composite is checked.
July 17, 2009 5:42 PM
Hello Hohoo,
Your "invisible" composite clip will simply underneath another clip.
I don't know which version you are using. Jonathan has been steadily improving the key-frames feature.
A simple cure which will work in any of the versions using key-frames is to have the upper layers above the lower layers on the timeline.
ie; have your base layer on the lowest track on the timeline.
A Finnish translation sounds fun. Finnish has I think the longest words of any European language.
I agree with you about the check boxes being more natural than Yes/No drop downs. I think Jonathan might consider it a fairly low priority at present because of the enormous amount of work we are all involved in.
Why don't you visit the OpenShot site on Launchpad, and make your suggestion in the "Answers" section?
Helen
July 17, 2009 5:45 PM
Bonjour Cenwen,
I enjoyed your article on the French Lprod site.
Tchao, Helen
July 17, 2009 6:15 PM
I'm using the latest version.
Even if there is only one clip on the timeline, it is still black:
http://kahvi.nurkka.us/i/3xhaggis_4a61056e73de8.png
I have done nothing but dropped it onto the timeline.
July 19, 2009 1:54 AM
Thomas, the speed of result in the development of OpenShot you obtain is quite impressive ! This application rocks ! We love your work...
July 19, 2009 2:30 AM
Hello hohoo
Don't worry for the translation and for the .deb.
it takes some time and we want to do the things good. When we will be ready, you will know. We are putting some bases which we will alowed to do the things after more quickly.
July 19, 2009 5:34 AM
I don't worry for them - I worry for the composition glitch.
July 19, 2009 8:12 AM
Hello Hohoo,
You should be posting questions like this on our answers page on the OpenShot site on Launchpad.
The image you gave a link to looks correct.
The viewer is in preview mode and has not run a preview. To preview the clip you need to right click on it and select to preview it.
Both the Project Files clip, and the clip on the timeline have both been correctly read by OpenShot, because they both display the thumbnail image generated by OpenShot.
If you click on the timeline and then move the cursor, you should see the image in the viewer change.
Then press the run button in the viewer, and you should see the video run.
Helen
July 19, 2009 9:05 AM
I actually have moved the cursor.
July 19, 2009 5:07 PM
In all your dialogs, I've noticed, they have the same usability problem: please allow 12 pixels around all widgets! Right now, your widgets are all mashed up together in the edges! It doesn't look very good. All widgets/text must have 12px of free space around them.
Also, please don't center the dialog's text, align it on the left instead. This is what the Gnome HIG asks for too, and I am not writing this because the HIG says so, but because it does look cleaner and better and more consistent that way. Thx.
July 20, 2009 10:11 AM
Thanks for the comments everyone! It's exciting to see so many people interested in OpenShot!
I will take into consideration all of the UI suggestions, such as simplifying the clip properties window, adding many of those options to the right click context menu, and padding.
On a side-note, I have OpenShot running on both 32 bit versions and 64 bit versions of Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10, and 9.04. If you are seeing OpenShot crash, seg fault, or only show black, it's because of something not installed or configured correctly. I will soon be releasing .DEB installers, so hopefully this will be a more reliable way to install OpenShot.
Translations will be done via LaunchPad, as soon as I'm done with the .DEB installers. When we're ready for translators (in any language), I will let everyone know.
Also, as you might have already heard, we are working on a help manual as well that will need some translation help. I'll keep you posted when we are ready for help here.
Again, thanks for all the support!
July 20, 2009 12:00 PM
Wow, I stumbled upon OpenShot yesterday and am blown away. I wish you all the best success in this and will be following along and updating as you progress. Thank you so much!!!!! This app is really exciting.
July 20, 2009 1:01 PM
The Help Manual is coming on nicely.
When I've got bzr configured properly, I'll be pushing the first draft to Launchpad for Jonathan and Olivier to inspect.
At the moment I'm just cleaning up the screenshots and sizing them correctly so it all fits to the exact Gnome Help style.
Eugenia's comments on Gnome styling are much appreciated.
The Help Manual is all being written in Docbook XML in the Gnome Documentation Project style for Gnome Help.
I'm testing it out in Yelp at every stage.
It will be initially packaged in its own openshot-docs.deb package, so that development of this will not impact on Jonathan's work on the other .deb packages.
Congratulations to Jonathan for getting OpenShot working properly on 32bit machines. That was a major piece of work!
Helen McCall
July 22, 2009 10:22 AM
I've just added some additional HDV profiles to OpenShot.
These are:
hdv_1080_25p_1920x1080
hdv_1080_25i_1920x1080
These allow you to edit and render in full HD 1920x1080 resolution.
The interlaced version hdv_1080_25i_1920x1080 is for rendering to AVCHD disks which will play on Blu-Ray players connected to a TV.
I am still working on the AVCHD disc format, and gradually working out the formats for all the files needed.
If anyone can help with decoding/hacking the formats of the various files on an AVCHD disc, please contact me.
Helen
July 22, 2009 11:14 AM
please make your next release a deb package .
I will then try this software that seems so useful for editing all my recorded stream from the freebox in h264/aac and lot of other tricks!
...by the way i wonder if it is possible with the hardy heron/medibuntu version of ffmpeg (3.0.cvs20070307-5ubuntu7.3+medibuntu1) , if somebody can tell me about ?
July 22, 2009 11:15 AM This post has been removed by the author.
July 22, 2009 1:46 PM
Hello yvmars,
We are all working on producing .deb packages at the moment.
Olivier and I are working on the new Help Manual (integrated with Gnome Help), and developing packages for that as openshot-docs package. We will probably have that in a simple all architecture .deb, and another all architecture .rpm
Olivier, Andy and Jonathan are working on producing .debs for the main openshot package. Olivier has also produced an rpm package for that, but it needs a lot of testing first.
Olivier and Jonathan are looking into whether we can use any pre-packaged versions of the various libraries needed.
Helen
July 23, 2009 1:33 PM
well done . I will wait your release .
I would like to help you .
Maybe if you needed a french translation, it would be an honor for me to be involved....
just tell me .