HD Video Editing with Blender

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."

Comments

Re:With that UI..

[Max Littlemore]

I'm usually pretty quick to defend the Blender UI, I'm one of those people who understands how quick and powerful it really is, but this time I have to agree.

Any tutorial on video editing in Blender should be akin to a tutorial on cleaning teeth which starts with:

First off, you'll need to remove all of your teeth so you can get a really good angle with the brush.

Otherwise, it's lying or incomplete.

Yes, the UI sucks.

[Animats]

I've used Blender extensively. I've even used the Game Kit and extended Blender in Python.

Even after you know it, the UI still sucks. There's not enough feedback, it's too modal, the tools for aligning objects are weak, the keyboard shortcuts manual is over forty pages, and things that aren't implemented just silently don't work. Other than that...

Re:Now if only I could find ...

[Saval]

... 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.

Re:The real question is...

[AKAImBatman]

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

Re:Now if only I could find ...

[Saval]

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!

3D kits are difficult to handle. Quit wining.

[Qbertino]

Once again lots of Blender UI bashing from the less knowledgable here. Please listen to this:

3D kits are difficult to handle. Period. That goes for Maya, Softimage, Lightwave, 3DSMax, Houdini and Blender. That even goes for Cinema 4D, allthough they claim to be the easiest to use in the pro legue.

Pro-level 3D with pro-level tools is a non-trivial task, and trying out every feature in each of these packages and learning to use it takes well over a year, a stack of books and porbably even some hands on training by a professional. Somebody who is good at operating a 3D kit usually knows nothing else about computers. These software behemoths are like Emacs with the brakes removed - allmost an operating system by themselves.

That you need a stack of tutorials to get going with a full-range 3D package is the *norm*, not an exception. Blender has some unusual UI concepts (most of which make perfect sense and actually are and allways were innovative) but it is definitely not any more difficult to handle than Lightwave or 3DSMax. Take that from someone who has a full commercial license of Lightwave 8 *and* has been using Blender since 1.8.

Re:3D kits are difficult to handle. Quit wining.

[chammy]

That you need a stack of tutorials to get going with a full-range 3D package is the *norm*, not an exception. Blender has some unusual UI concepts (most of which make perfect sense and actually are and allways were innovative) but it is definitely not any more difficult to handle than Lightwave or 3DSMax.

Finally somebody says it. 3D graphics have been a hobby of mine for the past 10 years, so I've played with quite a few trials of various editing packages. NONE, I repeat, NONE of them are "pick-up and learn" tools. The sheer amount of information you work with when modeling in 3D makes any sort of editor horribly complex (or horribly simplified).

I like to think of Blender as "GIMP for 3D" because people like to complain about the UI. It seems complex, but once you get to know it you see how incredibly flexible it is. After several years of using an old Maya license, I actually prefer Blender because I can customize panes and save views into what my "ideal" 3D package would look like. There are also quite a few tools and scripts I can't live without (brush vertex selecting, anyone?).