Basic Editing

This section describes the minimal workflow for making a movie using only a single track.

Creating a New Project

Flowblade Movie Editor saves work in project files.

To create a new Project:

Menu: Select File -> New from menu.
Keyboard Shortcut: Press Control+N.

A project contains:

one or more Sequences of edited media
a collection of Media Files stored in Bins.

There are two parameters that can be selected for a new project:

Project Profile Project Profile determines frame rate per second, image size in pixels and pixel aspect ratio.
Tracks count Select the number of video and audio tracks that are used in the project. This can be changed later, but the operation destroys the Undo / Redo stack and all the Timeline Clips that do not fit in the newly created version of the Sequence.
Data Store Thumbnails, Generator and Rendered Transitions, stabilizing and motion tracking data, proxy files etc. are stored here in a Data Store, see chapter: Data Stores.

Flowblade Movie Editor handles image data internally as YUV420 frames, so the encoding associated with a given profile has no affect on quality before rendering.

For best possible quality the input material, Project Profile and Rendering Profile should all have the same pixel dimensions and pixel aspect ratio.

Adding and removing new Sequences

A Project contains one or more Sequences. The term Sequence refers to the full contents of the timeline forming a program, a movie.

For complex projects it is sometimes best to use multiple sequences for creating and managing different parts of the finished product.

Adding Sequences:

Default layout: Press Right Mouse popup menu on Sequences area and select menu item Add New Sequence..
Small screen layout: Press Right Mouse popup menu in the Project tab Sequences area and select menu item Add New Sequence.
Or select Project -> Sequence -> Add New Sequence from application menu.

Deleting Sequences can be done with menu actions accessed in the same places.

When creating a new Sequence, you can choose the number of Tracks in the Sequence. This can be changed later, but the operation destroys the Undo / Redo stack and all the Timeline Clips that do not fit in the newly created version of the Sequence.

Working with Media Files

Flowblade Movie Editor holds files in Media tab. Files are listed in unnamed table that displays contents of the currently selected Bin. Bins are listed in the Bins table.

Opening Media Files:

Press Right Mouse on Media tab empty area and select menu item Add Video, Audio or Image....
Or select Project -> Add Video, Audio or Image... from application menu.
Use dialog to find and select files.
Files are displayed as thumbnails.
Note that creating thumbnails for opened files will take some time.

Project Media: Absolute and relative paths

Flowblade saves references to media files used in a project as absolute paths.
If a media is not found on load, Flowblade attempts to find a media file with the same name in subfolders relative to the project file.
If all media used by a project is saved in subfolders relative to project file, project file and media can moved as a unit and the project will load successfully after data is copied to a different place
Rendered files like transitions are saved by default in a Data Store, see chapter: Data Stores.
Load order between absolute and relative paths can be set in preferences window
Media Relinker tool can be used to fix problems that may occur

Working with Bins

In video editing a bin is a named location for storing media. The term is used in Avid and was earlier used by film editors.

Adding a Bin:

Default layout: Press Right Mouse on Bin area to launch a popup menu and select menu item Add Bin.
Small screen layout: Press Right Mouse in the Media tab Bins panel to launch a popup menu and select menu item Add Bin.
Or select Project -> Bin -> Add Bin from application menu.

Deleting a Bin: Delete actions can be accessed from the same places as above.

Renaming a Bin: Click on the Bin name, type new name and press Enter.

Moving files to another Bin:

Select and drag files on top of the Bin you wish to move the files into.
Select files and open Hamburger menu in Media panel and select menu item Move Selected media to Bin and then the menu item with the Bins name.

Filtering Bin View

Bins can be mede to display only subset of media items thei contain. Press on filtering button in Media Panel bottom row next Hamburger and columns buttons.

Filtering by media type. Select one of options All Files, Video Files Audio Files, Graphics Files, Image Sequences, Pattern Producers, Unused Files.
Filtering by ratings. Select one of options in submenu Ratings, either Show All Ratings, Show Favorites, Hide bad. Each media item can be given a rating in context popover submenu Rating.

Using Timeline

Scrolling Timeline

Press and Drag Scrollbar below Timeline
Scroll Mouse Middle button + CTRL key while on top of Timeline

Zooming Timeline

Click Zoom In, Zoom Out or Zoom Length buttons.
Scroll Mouse Middle button on top of Timeline

Changing Current Frame

Drag with Right Mouse button starting from an empty space in the Timeline.
Drag with Left Mouse button on the Frame Scale.
Drag with Left Mouse on the Monitor Position Bar.
Click Left Arrow key or Right Arrow key to move to next or previous frame.
Click Up Arrow key or Down Arrow key to move to next or previous cut on topmost active track.
Click Next or Prev button in Monitor Buttons area to move to next or previous frame.

Changing Current Frame when Clip is displayed on Monitor

Drag with Left Mouse on the Monitor Position Bar.
Click Left Arrow key or Right Arrow key to move to next or previous frame.
Click Up Arrow key or Down Arrow key to move to next or previous of the following: Mark In/Mark Out/Start/End
Click Next or Prev button in Monitor Buttons area to move to next or previous frame.

Switching between Timeline and Clip Display

Click buttons with icons representing sequence or single clip in Monitor Buttons area.
Drag Media File on top of Monitor to display Clip.

Setting Active Tracks

Click Track Active Switch on the right side of Tracks Column area. Topmost Track Active Switch displays arrow pointing downwards indicating that Insert From Monitor and other buttons place clips on that track.

Effects of Track Active State

Cuts are only performed on active Tracks.
Inserting Media File that is currently displayed in Monitor using Insert From Monitor, Append From Monitor or 3-Point Overwrite buttons places clip on the top most active Track indicated by arrow icon.

Selecting single clip

Click on a clip with Left Mouse button.

Selecting multiple clips on the same track

Click on a clip with Left Mouse button.
Click on another clip on the same track with Control + Left Mouse button.
All clips between clicked clips will be selected.

De-selecting all clips

Click on Timeline area background.

Adding clips to Sequence

Drag'n'Drop

Press on a Media File in Media tab and drag it on top of the track you want to place it on.

If 'Always Overwrite Blanks' is selected as preference for drag'n'drop action:

Clip will overwrite available blank and empty space and will perform insert for the length of frames that would be overwritten.

If 'Overwrite blanks on non-V1 tracks' is selected as preference for drag'n'drop action:

On track V1 clip will be inserted on the track at the nearest cut.
On non-V1 tracks:.

Clip will be inserted if dropped on a clip.
Clip will overwrite available blank and empty space and will perform insert for the length of frames that would be overwritten.

If 'Always Insert' is selected as preference for drag'n'drop action:

Clip will be inserted on the track at the nearest cut.

From Monitor

Open clip in Monitor by either:

double clicking on thumbnail icon,
dragging Media File on top of Monitor or
selecting Open in Clip Monitor item from Right Mouse context menu.

Select insert range

Use Mark In and Mark Out buttons to select range.
Use I an O keys to set to select range.
If range is not set, then the full clip length will be inserted.

Press Insert From Monitor button

Clip will be inserted on the first active track at the cut nearest of the currently displayed frame. First active track is marked by down arrow in the track Active Switch.

Editing Clips on Timeline

Once you have placed clips on the Timeline to form a Sequence, you will probably need to refine the cuts between clips.

Trimming Clips

Use Multitrim Tool.

Moving Clips

Use Insert Tool, Move Tool or Spacer Tool.

Cutting Clips

Select cut frame

Cut is always made before the currently displayed frame on all active tracks.

Cut clip

Press Cut button or press X on the keyboard.

Deleting Clips

Splice Out: Select clip(s) and press Delete key or use the Splice Out button on middle bar. All the clips in the track after the deleted clip(s) are moved to left to cover the created empty space.

Lift: Select clip(s) and press the Lift button on the middle bar. Clip is replaced with a blank if it is in middle of track. Other clips on the track are not moved.

Ripple Delete: Select clip(s) and press the Ripple Delete button on middle bar. All the clips on all tracks are moved forward to cover the created empty space. If moving clips backwards would cause an overwrite to happen on timeline, edit is not allowed.

Range Delete: Set Mark In and Mark out on timeline and and press the Range Delete button on middle bar. All the clips and blanks on all tracks are deleted between marks and everything after deleted range is moved forward the length of the deleted range.

Fade/Transition cover delete: Select a single rendered fade or transition clip and press Delete key or button. If clips before and after of the deleted clip have frames available, then the space left by the deleted clip will covered using material from adjacent clips. If material is not available a splice out will be performed. A preference exists to always perform splice out on fades and transitions.

Use Keyboard Shortcuts! It is much faster to use X key to cut clips and Delete key to splice out clips than it is to use buttons for the same operations.

Rendering Movie

Selecting Parameters

Folder File Select button selects folder to place the rendered file.
Name entry widget provides means to set the name of the output file.
Use Encoding Format and untitled Quality drop down menus make to select the type of file to be rendered.

Rendering output

Press Render Button to begin rendering.
A Render Window will open displaying information on file path of render file, estimated time left, render time and a Progress bar widget.
After rendering is complete, Render Window will close automatically.