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:

A project contains:

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

Video material is internally scaled to profile dimensions, so selecting Project Profile with smaller pixel dimensions than the rendered output leads to decreased quality.
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:

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:

  1. Press Right Mouse on Media tab empty area and select menu item Add Video, Audio or Image....
  2. Or select Project -> Add Video, Audio or Image... from application menu.
  3. Use dialog to find and select files.
  4. Files are displayed as thumbnails.
  5. 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 hidden folder /.flowblade/rendered_clips/.
  • Menu item File->Save Backup Snapshot... saves project file, all media and rendered files in a single folder that can saved as unit and and project can always be loaded using this data
  • 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

NOTE: Information given here only applies to version 0.18 and above.

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:

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:

Using Timeline

Scrolling Timeline

Zooming Timeline

Changing Current Frame

Changing Current Frame when Clip is displayed on Monitor

Switching between Timeline and Clip Display

Setting Active Tracks

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

Selecting multiple clips on the same track

De-selecting all clips

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.

From Monitor

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. Select cut frame
    • Cut is always made before the currently displayed frame on all active tracks.
  2. 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

Rendering output

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