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Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

shotcutapp.com

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Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#131

Post by contingencies »

morsch wrote: post #58
nkkollaw wrote: post #52

Shotcut (on Linux at least) just doesn't work. I've used pretty much all amateur video-making software for Windows and some for Mac, Screenflow, FinalCut Pro, etc. The best by far is FinalCut Pro (Mac-only), because it automatically creates proxy files and allows you to edit everything in real time with no lag, even when adding complicated effects. The situation on Linux is dismal. The only good one is https://kdenli…

I recently used Lightworks on Linux. It worked fine. Quite a bit more powerful and hence complicated than the tools I used before. It's proprietary and the free as in beer version is limited to 720p mp4 ("YouTube") export, which was sufficient for my use case.

I was a paying Pro customer for Lightworks but when I had a very important and conceptually simple project come up - conversion of a large archive of globally unique, 8mm film reels that had been pre-digitized in to cut and labelled portions - the software couldn't cut the mustard and they literally came back to me with a reply like "that is not our use case".

The content was super important stuff - early footage of many areas of the world not otherwise filmed - and was destined for Wikimedia Commons.

It was the worst experience I've ever had with commercial software since Windows 'corrected' an NTFS volume in ~2005 and nixxed the lot. From memory it was something to do with the input codec (beyond my control as lossless was a requirement), the output codec, and the aspect ratio. The software just couldn't cut the stuff. I was left to go back to ffmpeg and VLC. I will never again waste time learning a commercial UI.

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#132

Post by oregontechninja »

oregontechninja wrote: post #117
mrguyorama wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at the documentation, I was under the impression that all it could do was basic cutting and simple things like cropping. Can it do simple effects, like video overlays?

Yea, there are lots of effects and tools hidden in there! I've been able to implement every effect I've ever needed without much effort. I actually have been using blender since I was a kid so I know my way around better than most. I'll edit this comment later with some quick tips or examples.

Sorry for the shortness of this, but I know everybody strapped for time and might find this handy.

Things Blender capable of for video:

* Advanced graphical node based compositing

* "Effects Strips": Essentially generates a strip in the sequence editor that you can layer above the target media strip. Like using a Photoshop layer for one specific effect.

* Decent audio mixing capabilities

* Fantastic motion tracking (advantage of being built into your creation suite)

Pro Tip: Make sure your output frame rate is the same as the videos you are going to import. Otherwise the audio gets out of sync.

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#133

Post by pankajdoharey »

snvzz wrote: post #83
pankajdoharey wrote: post #79

Being a hobby blender user i have used many Video editing softwares but i keep coming back to blender as my one stop shop for everything. Effects, Video Editing, Sound sync.. Other editors i use are KDenlive, Pitivi, Openshot and lesser known VLMC from the creators of VLC player.

Did you ever try cinelerra[1]? [1] http://cinelerra.org/

Ohh yes cinelerra too long time back, it is very nice. But as i said Blender i just the stuff for me. Shortcuts and everything.

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#134

Post by _qbjt »

mattl wrote: post #96
nkkollaw wrote: post #52

Shotcut (on Linux at least) just doesn't work. I've used pretty much all amateur video-making software for Windows and some for Mac, Screenflow, FinalCut Pro, etc. The best by far is FinalCut Pro (Mac-only), because it automatically creates proxy files and allows you to edit everything in real time with no lag, even when adding complicated effects. The situation on Linux is dismal. The only good one is https://kdenli…

Blender is the best free software video editor across GNU/Linux, Windows and Mac. I've used it to edit a feature length movie. It's not perfect at all, but doesn't crash and doesn't crap out when you give it a slightly unusual formatted file.

Blender is an amazing piece of software, although I've only used it for the 3D modeling and animation features. The flexibility of the UI is something I wish more software would adopt.

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#135

Post by Joeboy »

dotdi wrote: post #120
dotdi wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a marketing sucker, I'll admit it, and this looks amazing, and it's free.

Forget that. It's not working properly (read: at all) on Linux.

Could you elaborate slightly? I only got as far as discovering it doesn't import h264 files, I'm wondering what issues I'd have if I got beyond that.

I know on some (probably most) platforms you have to symlink some libs to make it run. Are you maybe just talking about that?

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#136

Post by Joeboy »

otterpro wrote: post #108

I've used Shotcut, and it was easy to use, and its simplicity reminded me of iMovie, which I also recommend for beginners. KDENlive was also good enough for most projects. As stated by others, the biggest weakness is that these editors are based on MLT framework. But if you cut videos once in a while, these are fine. As for me, I edit a lot more videos, and I spend a quite of time on doing it. I've tried to work with…

> Some have complained the lack of h264/265 import on Linux version of

> Davinci Resolve, but you can always transcode to "pseudo-lossless"

> codec such as DNxHR/DNxHD (or ProRes if on Mac) using ffmpeg first. This

> step is usually automated using script to convert raw footage. Most pro

> workflow also involves this extra step, because editing on h264 source is

> really painfully slow and inefficient.

The preferred workflow would be import h264, edit using proxies, then render the result from the original files. A pro workflow shouldn't involve a gratuitous transcoding step. Mind you a real pro workflow wouldn't involve ingesting h264 files at all.

But it might be true that I should just get over myself and transcode the files before editing.

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#137

Post by dotdi »

Joeboy wrote: post #135
dotdi wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget that. It's not working properly (read: at all) on Linux.

Could you elaborate slightly? I only got as far as discovering it doesn't import h264 files, I'm wondering what issues I'd have if I got beyond that. I know on some (probably most) platforms you have to symlink some libs to make it run. Are you maybe just talking about that?

I've symlinked everything and I got it to start (at least the welcome dialog).

After that, it just crashes with an assertion. It seems that has to do with missing or wrong configs, but there's not much else to be found on google. My configs are present and look fine.

Also, only rpm based distributions are officially supported, but a lot of people hack around that to get it working on Ubuntu (like me).

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#138

Post by Joeboy »

dotdi wrote: post #137
Joeboy wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate slightly? I only got as far as discovering it doesn't import h264 files, I'm wondering what issues I'd have if I got beyond that. I know on some (probably most) platforms you have to symlink some libs to make it run. Are you maybe just talking about that?

I've symlinked everything and I got it to start (at least the welcome dialog). After that, it just crashes with an assertion. It seems that has to do with missing or wrong configs, but there's not much else to be found on google. My configs are present and look fine. Also, only rpm based distributions are officially supported, but a lot of people hack around that to get it working on Ubuntu (like me).

Thanks! I also installed it on Ubuntu and got at least far enough to attempt to import footage so I guess I dodged whatever bullet you ran into. Doesn't sound encouraging, all the same.

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#139

Post by trynewideas »

helb wrote: post #77
nkkollaw wrote: post #52

Shotcut (on Linux at least) just doesn't work. I've used pretty much all amateur video-making software for Windows and some for Mac, Screenflow, FinalCut Pro, etc. The best by far is FinalCut Pro (Mac-only), because it automatically creates proxy files and allows you to edit everything in real time with no lag, even when adding complicated effects. The situation on Linux is dismal. The only good one is https://kdenli…

Did you try Lightworks[0]? No affiliation with the company, i'm just curious how it compares with the others. [0] https://www.lwks.com/

Lightworks has a very narrow use case, heavily focused on cutting feature films and longform video with a very different workflow than most non-Avid NLEs.

It shines with large video asset databases, and once you get a few weeks of muscle memory behind it (or a few months if you're coming from FCP or FCPX), it's a fast tool when making lots of simple cuts. It has a well-earned reputation for cutting stuff like drama and comedy, where effects and pre-rendered sequences take a back seat to well-timed cuts between takes and fast iterative editing feedback. The node-based compositor is... unique, but I'm not sure I'm qualified to say it's an objectively easier or better workflow than AE — YMMV.

It's also capable of doing other things like handling basic A/V effects and compositing, but not as well as other NLEs or compositors. Its best output formats are behind a licensing wall, though they're still far cheaper than Adobe, Apple, or Avid, and you can do almost all your actual cutting with the free version. While it's more stable than some FOSS NLEs, it's still shakier than Avid or Premiere on well-supported hardware, with the distinct advantage that it's got native Linux support.

The weirdest part, though, was that it was supposed to have been open-sourced after EditShare acquired it, then they didn't, and they've been saying "it'll be open sourced when it's ready" for almost 4 years now.[1]

[1] https://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&c...

Re: Shotcut: Free, open source, cross-platform video editor

#140

Post by neves »

alok-g wrote: post #69
neves wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Missing from your list is HitFilm Express. I really like it. I've learned it in a VFX course and is really excellent for video editing. It is really fun to make some VFX effects in your family videos. Unfortunately, it is Mac and Windows only.

Does it not suffer from crashes problem? :-)

very rare, but my longest movie was 15 minutes.
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