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HD Video Editing with Blender

Posted by timothy on from the like-riding-a-bike-on-a-camel dept.

Posthis writes "While the VSE sequence module has been part of Blender for a while, the upcoming version v2.46 comes with some new powerful video editing features, like Proxy editing, optimized FFmpeg support, and more. Not many use Blender strictly as a video editor because it's not very straight-forward, but given the fact that it now deals with HDV and 24p footage much more comfortably compared to other OSS video editors, it makes it a sound contender. This new tutorial shows the basics of how to use it as a video editor and put your masterpiece together."

3 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Now if only I could find ... by Saval · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... a video input/output card for Linux that supports component (YPbPr) video.

    There are lots of products from several manufacturers to choose from:

    Deltacast

    AJA

    Bluefish444

    They are high quality professional grade cards and the price range is also high.

    --
    --Saval
  2. Re:The real question is... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Informative

    Is it still insanely counter-intuitive and hard to learn?

    For the 3D part? Probably. But the video editing was (surprisingly) a snap. Just follow Eugenia's instructions and you'll be up and running in no time flat!

    If you don't believe me, check this out. After seeing this story, I downloaded the latest Blender and got cracking. A short time later I had this video uploaded to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUzVi_f5kyE

    All the source videos were fairly large clips that Blender handled without issue. With only a smidge of practice, I was able to clip them to size and add transitions. So I'm pretty happy with the result. Especially since I have absolutely NO video editing experience. If I had a bit more time with this tool, I imagine I could whip up a pretty good promotional video.

    I didn't bother with the audio tracks on my first run-through, but it doesn't appear to be too difficult to include them. The one issue I'm concerned about is if there is support for a decent mixer. (e.g. Could I play background music, then at some point fade it to a less audible level, play the original speech/effects, then adjust the BG music back to full volume?) Worst case, that's probably something I could work out in an audio editing program, but it would be a major pain.

    I can't complain, though, given what I paid for Blender. (i.e. Nothing!) It's possibly the best FREE video editing tool I have ever seen. Which probably says more about the lack of such tools than about the brilliance of Blender, but I'm still happy. :-)

    Feel free to give it a go yourself. If you need some footage to mess around with, the stuff I used can be found here: http://blog.wiicade.com/?p=177
    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  3. Re:Now if only I could find ... by Saval · · Score: 4, Informative

    AJA has linux support, drivers and SDK for (at least) their OEM boards: http://www.aja.com/html/products_oem.html

    and Bluefish444 has Linux SDK available to registered OEM customers: bluefish444 OEM

    We are about to try those for use in our product in Q4/08 (hopefully)... If anyone knows other possibilities we would like to know!

    --
    --Saval