An Intro to Video Editing with Kdenlive Part 3: Using Multiple Clips and Transitions

[Jimmyheartsyouturkey]

How do you make the volume of the music lower than the video?

[BugsVHumans]

Great, I needed the transition - watching them all! ::)

[thettguy]

Would you consider posting your tutorials on kdenlive to the kdenlive websites tutorial section? Or let me do it and credit you?

kdenlive-org/forum/how-create-­and-publish-video-tutorial-usi­ng-kdenlive-071

[thisweekinlinux]

@thettguy I'm completely open to the idea. Been meaning to since I uploaded them a year ago. :P

Do I need to put them up on blip.tv, or can they be embedded from YouTube?

[thettguy]

@thisweekinlinux Originally I think it was only blip TV. And then a few others were added. But just in the last few days the submission form was updated to mention you can link to youtube vids too. So go ahead and drop your youtube links on the form they have up there.

[Ericthereddy1]

Hey, im having a bit of trouble with KDEnlive. When I start the program, an error pops up saying "ERROR - %c (top of the error box) File '/home/eric/%i' is not readable. I used KDEnlive a few months ago, and it was fine, this has only happened after I switched distros from mint Julia to ubuntu 10.10 and back to Julia. Do you know what this could be caused by? Thanks!

[thisweekinlinux]

@Ericthereddy1 it could be an issue with your .kde folder (if you're a Gnome user). Might try deleting .kde from your home directory and let it rebuild when you open Kdenlive the next time.

[Ericthereddy1]

@thisweekinlinux Somehow it got fixed by going back to Ubuntu 10.10, I guess the computer was confused since I've installed so many ubuntu-based distros, that it would only work with the newer version. Yeah, the tip you gave me did work for a while, but the error came back. Thanks for the help!

[getjiggy21]

I don't care how much you praise Kdenlive. Kdenlive is completely unusable because it misbehaves so much. It plays the wrong part of files - even parts of files YOU'VE DELETED & ARE NOT EVEN THERE ON THE TIMELINE ANYMORE! Don't praise a program that is absolute crap. Wait for something that is worthy of praise.

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 Again, I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with it. I've had just the opposite.

I just reread your previous comments, and realized that you're still using 0.7.7.1. I'm going to say again, that's your problem... but if you don't like it, and you don't want to use it, then don't. No one's forcing you.

However, this is my channel, and I intend to keep talking about Kdenlive. You've already made your point, and said you hate Linux, so I don't believe I have anything else to offer...

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux How can Kdenlive play parts of files that are not even there!!? Version 0.7.8 is just as bad as 0.7.7.1 - in fact, even worse. The delevoper is going backwards instead of forwards when some of 0.7.7.1's faclities are no longer there in 0.7.8. Why does the volume control suddenly disappear for no reason taking your newlu adjusted volume setting with it with no way to retrieve it. Kdenlive is crap. After 8 attempts over 4 days I did my project in Windows Moviemaker in 1 hour.

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 all I can say is, you're having problems I haven't experienced. Are you perhaps using an older system? 

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux I'm using Ubuntu Ultimate 2.6 & 2.8 on another partiton, 32 bit & 64 bit (seperate partitons). An AMD 2.1 gig processor with 6 gigs of RAM. Kdenlive's cutting facility is deadly accurate whereas Moviemakers' isn't, but Moviemaker can play 2 video files at the same time simply through overlapping them - achieved in 2 seconds & has loads of video transitions. Pitivi is a complete non-starter & cinelerra was designed by a total idiot as you can't even cut files on the timeline.

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 PiTiVi is designed for the home user that just wants to put clips together in a line with little else, and it's growing, but it's still not "professional". Cinelerra... well, yeah, I won't defend that. It's an amazing program with the largest featureset of any of the Linux-based editors... but you practically have to take a class to learn it.

What do you mean, play 2 files at the same time by overlapping? Kdenlive shows the top one (by design) unless you composite one on the other.

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux I often make edits that give me inspiration to improve on ideas I originally had, yet in Cinelerra everything has to be planed BEFORE you put it on the timeline. How useless is that!! It actually obstructs creativity. In Moviemaker if you want a video to fade into another with both videos showing one video on-top of the other you simply overlap them on the timeline - no compositing needed. In Kdenlive it's completely pointless having more than 2 video tracks. It achieves nothing

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 in Kdenlive if you want to fade, you overlap the clips, as you mentioned, you just add the "dissolve" transition. move your mouse over the corner of the clip, it should turn to a green triangle. When you click that, it adds a dissolve for you.

I generally end up using at least 2-3 tracks composited over each other (sometimes 4-5). Especially on the outro of my videos, where I show 2-3 of my most recent videos over a black background with text.

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux It still won't show 2 vids at the same time, overimposed over each other. Sorry - Kdenlive is extremely restricted to what it can do. And what it DOES do, it does badly.

[getjiggy21]

MORE The only thing Kdenlive is good for, is very accurate visuals & sound editing & gimmicky wonky text but it badly lacks all the things Moviemaker has, which moviemaker performs effortlessly. Custom versions of Moviemaker give you hundreds of usable transitions - Kdenlive has just 3! Kdenlive is like the worker who only turns-up for work one day per week! It's got nothing worth using & its instability makes it completely unusable.

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 if Moviemaker suits your needs better, cool. If you really have a problem with Kdenlive, you need to take it up with the developers, because I can't do anything about it.

It suits my needs and then some, and they're constantly adding new features, so I'm going to continue to use and talk about it. Have a nice day.

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux I've given Kdenlive a fair crack of the whip (several weeks) & it has YET to redeem itself as a viable video editor & moviemaker. It's got nothing on it, & it crashes every 3 minutes. The best thing the developers can do is to scrap it completely & bring out something that's worthwhile & has got some decent usable features on it. The linux community is NOT going to win people over & draw them away from windows when they produce crap like this.

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 cool.

[Decktrio]

@getjiggy21 I used to like live moviemaker best (out of open-source or freeware video editors), because it's so intuitive. I still like it for short home videos, but I'm starting to get the hang of kdenlive... and it has significantly greater potential than wlmm or wmm. To show multiple vids at the same time, overimposed over each other, you just use the "composite transition", for as long as you would like in the timeline... and you can edit the size of each clip right on the Project Monitor

[getjiggy21]

I still think Kdenlive is crap. It baulks creativity. It puts-up obstructions.

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 Sorry you haven't had a good experience with it. I'll admit, it's not as "professional" as some other tools you might find, but I haven't had any major issues with it obstructing any of the videos that I make. The older versions did crash more frequently, but it has significantly improved in my opinion, and a new version (0.8.0) is due out any time.

Keep in mind, there are always other alternatives as well, such as OpenShot, PiTIVi, Cinelerra, and a bevy of others.

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux Thanx for your advice but these programs are Linux-based. That's why they're crap. I'm getting pretty peed-off with Ubuntu Ultimate too. I hate Windows - but I hate Linux even more.

[getjiggy21]

Kdenlive is the crappiest video editing program I've ever used. It loses edits, it loses files, crash recovery doesn't work, saving your project to return to it at a later timr doesn't work, & it crashes every 4 minutes with no recovery available. It really is crap.

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 as a person who has used it daily for over a year now, I have to disagree with every point you just made.

That said, are you using version 0.7.7.1? Having used it for a long time, I remember it used to crash quite frequently, but I never lost any edits or files, and recovery always worked.

0.7.8 is much more stable, in my experience.

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux I thank you for your response. I use version 0.7.7.1 as 0.7.8 has no facility to delete segments of files on the timeline when the only thing you can do is to dump it onto an unused track & mute the video & sound on that track. I often want to install the volume control on certain segemnts of video files to balance the sound. Kdenlive loses this volume control & the sound resorts to its original lack of volume level. & what happened to having some decent transitions?

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 wait, 0.7.8 won't let you delete segments of files? I do it tons of times per video (every time there's a cut). I just cut the video where I want it removed, hit the "Delete" key on the keyboard, and it goes away.

It sounds extreme, but if you're running on Gnome, have you tried deleting your .kde folder from your home directory and letting Kdenlive run through the config wizard again? It's possible if you've upgraded versions that something could be weird with the profile.

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux Hmm, thank you for your advice here (I had tried everything except that!). I'm using Ubuntu Ultimate 2.6 & 2.8 on another partition but I've no idea which desktop it is. I'll try to make a video presentation that I've just completed using Windows moviemaker (which I resorted to as Kdenlive was so unstable). 0.7.7.1's facility to edge a video forward or backwards frame by frame was good but 0.7.8 doesn't have that facility while accurate edits simply cannot be done in Moviemaker.

[getjiggy21]

MORE I also often find I need to re-edit an onscreen text that I've already put on the timeline but I cannot do this - I can only delete it and do the text all again.

[thisweekinlinux]

@getjiggy21 I'm not sure how you were edgng back/forth with 0.7.7.1. I've always used the left/right arrows, but I believe there are also arrows on the project / clip monitor.

[getjiggy21]

@thisweekinlinux On 0.7.7.1 you can edge forward & backwards frame by frame, a facility that 0.7.8 doesn't have. All in all, Kdenlive doesn't allow creativity to flow. It puts obstructions in your way. It also badly lacks transitions & effects. All this alongwith poor stability make it a no-goer. Cinelerra where you can't even cut files on the timeline is even worse. This claim that these programs are used by professionals is sheer bullshit. Professional what? Comedians?

[swizzallero]

I'm following along with your tutorial for KdenLive and I'm having a trouble getting performance from the program. I'm not sure if it's utilizing my Nvidia GTS250 video card. In the options, which video driver should I be using, it's currently on X11.

[thisweekinlinux]

@swizzallero I believe I use X11 on mine as well. Do you have the proprietary Nvidia driver, or are you using the open source one?

[swizzallero]

@thisweekinlinux Thanks for the reply! I'm using the proprietary drivers and under Administration, I have "Nvidia X Server settings" Is this ideal? Up to this point I haven't been sure if I have Ubuntu completely configured to work with my hardware.

[thisweekinlinux]

@swizzallero That sounds correct. What sort of performance issues are you having? I've got a GT 240 with a quad core AMD processor, and I still have some performance issues with certain plugins.

[swizzallero]

@thisweekinlinux My main frustration is that progress bar hangs when I'm trying to find a different position in a clip or project. If I'm at the end of a clip and I try to seek back to the middle, it takes at least five seconds of waiting. Sometimes the project preview hangs between clips (but that may be because I'm accessing from my external hard drive, just realized this) Are these problems pretty normal?

[thisweekinlinux]

@swizzallero The hanging between clilps and waiting when you try to seek isn't really normal, no. The external hard drive could definitely be a part of the issue though. Might be worth creating a project on your local hard drive to see if that helps things.

In addition, what sort of video files are you working with? Extremely high quality video files (like the ones I use to shoot my newer videos) can take a little longer, but with a fast system it won't be an issue.

[swizzallero]

@thisweekinlinux I'm working with longer *.mts files and I'm working on cutting them down into movie scenes so there are a lot of cuts between different clips. I tried moving the files to my hard drive and reassociating them with the project, but I end up losing a lot of the clip-in/clip-out data for some reason. I'll just struggle through this project and use it as a learning experience. haha

One final question, for good quality on a DVD, what rendering options would you suggest?

[thisweekinlinux]

@swizzallero I've had some issues with .mts files on my Kdenlive as well. I generally throw them in Kdenlive and just render them to another format (I normally do mpeg2, high bitrate). You will lose some quality, but not a ton.

For DVD quality, there's actually a DVD setting in the Render menu, if you select "DVD" instead of "File rendering". It makes a vob file for you.

[swizzallero]

@thisweekinlinux @thisweekinlinux Thanks for the reply! I'm using the proprietary drivers and under Administration, I have "Nvidia X Server settings" Is this ideal? Up to this point I haven't been sure if I have Ubuntu completely configured to work with my hardware.

[itsanameisntit]

Great vid! I've just finished my first vid ever, using Kdenlive. It's going to take a little time to figure out what I can and can't do. Thanks!

[thisweekinlinux]

@itsanameisntit congrats! once you get started, it actually gets faster and faster, the more you practice, as with most things.

[devplan44]

Very clear easy-to-understand tutorial. I wish everybody would be teaching as clearly you do!

[richyrich356]

Is this free?

[thisweekinlinux]

@richyrich356 yes it is,

[propeng1]

In the Wipe transition you don't have to move the first clip to the bottom. Try the "Invert" and "Reverse Transition" check boxes.

[thisweekinlinux]

@propeng1 I don't think I've done a single wipe since I made this video, but thanks a ton for the info. :)

[ddennedy]

A lot of the "other" transitions you mentioned are not really transitions per se. Rather, they are "mixers" from the frei0r plugins. A mixer is simply a way to combine 2 inputs, and some might require an alpha channel on one of the inputs. We should probably separate transitions from mixers, but some things like Affine and Composite fall under both categories.

[thisweekinlinux]

@ddennedy Ah, ok. That's one of those places where I haven't had to use them, so I wasn't 100% on what they all did. Thanks for the info!

[madsheytan]

Yeah! Now i know why transitions didn't work wor me before :D Thank you :)

[kev1zhong]

Ah, I remember, not sure in which of the 3 vids, however, that you really advised you save your work often or use a "I'm good if it crashes" tool in kdenlive. I've now learned and felt the reasons to DO that. Let's just say, 35min clip of editing gone down the drain.

[thisweekinlinux]

@kev1zhong ouch, man. I'm really sorry to hear that... One of the first things I do is save whatever project I'm working on, because Kdenlive does a pretty good job of recovering from crashes, but only if you've saved at least one time.

I'll make sure to mention that in the future videos on the subject, just in case.

[kev1zhong]

@thisweekinlinux Thanks man. and yeah, I hadn't even saved the project yet, not once, so kdenlive didn't recover anything. And it wasn't even kdenlive that crashed, the laptop turned off because of overheating. Now I'll be a CTRL+S maniac lol

[sollanek]

Have been following the kdenlive tutorials, which had me subscribing. Thanks for them, I'm not very technical but with your help I've been able to make sense of kdenlive.

[thisweekinlinux]

@sollanek Thank you very much!

[PaulRayIsMe]

hanks for the great vid! You have a new subscriber.

[thisweekinlinux]

@PaulRayIsMe Awesome, thank you so much! :)

[TheMichaelBender]

kdenlive is very simple to use..well to me it is..and bye the way...i subscribed....

[thisweekinlinux]

@TheMichaelBender kdenlive is definitely simple once you get used to it. Thanks for subscribing!

[TheMichaelBender]

@thisweekinlinux ..yeah..it is simple..once you figure out what you want to do..

[ThingsontheWeb]

Very Nice tut

[thisweekinlinux]

@ThingsontheWeb thanks, dude!

[ubuntuhelp08]

Great video! If I did not have problems to Kdenlive Id use it but one bug is still there.I cant see my videos in the preview window.

[thisweekinlinux]

@ubuntuhelp08 you can't see them in the preview window? That's odd. do you have compiz enabled? It shouldn't matter, but I know compiz can cause some strange effects

[FlamingLinux]

I actually wondered about this.

And you just created another great video. :O)

[thisweekinlinux]

@FlamingLinux :) thanks

[FenderGibsonWashburn]

This is my favorite video editor. Crashes are a problem sometimes so save your work often. I learn something new every time I use it. I think it's a very underrated product.

[thisweekinlinux]

@FenderGibsonWashburn yeah, as long as you save regularly, crashes are definitely not a problem.

[UbuntuHelpGuy]

Amazing kdenlive videos, mate. One question though - why don't you make the screencast parts in 16:9 / 1280x720

[thisweekinlinux]

@UbuntuHelpGuy That's a huge fail on my part. My desktop monitor is not widescreen. I could crop it down from 1280x1024 to 1280x700, but I would lose part of the video. I think I've seen people scale them to fit, but it normally doesn't look right to me.

[UbuntuHelpGuy]

@thisweekinlinux Oh. It really doesn't matter, but it would look nice.. But basically, there's nothing to point out in your videos, cause they are just amazing :D

[Radminster]

For me all the time to try using wipe from luna09 - luma14, it crash the kdenlive. But after some crashes now it's working! Strange... :D

but this software rocks, only sometimes have some bugs and sometimes lose the video quality (even with maximum bitrate for randering).

[thisweekinlinux]

@Radminster I haven't had any issues with video quality. It's been very consistent. That said, yes, it crashes a bit more often than I'd like...

[arthursucks]

The burn and dodge are not really for transitions, but for overlaying effects. Excellent video as usual.

[thisweekinlinux]

@arthursucks ah, I kinda figured that's how some of them worked, just like the composite transition.

[Laoch111]

Excellent tutorial, Jordan. You always explain things very clearly.

[thisweekinlinux]

@Laoch111 Thanks very much! :)

[21StuB]

Useful vid keep up the good work

[thisweekinlinux]

@21StuB Thanks!

[thejoesteiger]

how do you zoom the timeline?

[thisweekinlinux]

@thejoesteiger there's a slider at the bottom right that can do it, or hold Ctrl and move your mouse wheel up and down to zoom in and out.

[suli8]

about the converting long output, i had it also with mencoder and in devede.. but i entered the exact values(devede) .. as in this video... "correct youtube format- ubuntu 10.04" by ubuntuhelpguy and it solved the problem for me

[thisweekinlinux]

@suli8 I haven't tried devede for converting yet, but I did see UbuntuHelpGuy's video on the subject, so I'll have to give that a shot. Thanks

[applegekko]

How are you converting the ogv? I've found that if you use the -noskip option with mencoder, then it's fine.

[thisweekinlinux]

@applegekko I'm using mencoder, but I don't believe I have the -noskip option, so I'll give that a shot. thanks!

[DirtyZone]

1:56 <- Thats What She Said =D ...

An Awesome new Video =)

thx

[thisweekinlinux]

@DirtyZone /facepalm. Thanks dude. :)

[leonlim2008]

I like charcoal effects :)

[thisweekinlinux]

@leonlim2008 I'll make sure to mention that one in the next episode. :)

[thisweekinlinux]

@tostoday Yeah, a lot of the bugs I've found in Lucid have me looking at other distros. I've actually been testing Arch and PCLinuxOS (as well as Fedora, obviously) to find something to move my Ubuntu desktop to (my video editing machine)

[tostoday]

@thisweekinlinux I get the feeling Lucid was rushed, like Vista was. I haven't tested Arch or PClinux yet. U said something about Mandriva and PClinux's future?

Karmic for me works perfect. Try Linux Mint 9 RC, using it now and seems to be much better than Lucid. Also check out Peppermint OS, this one glides!

[thisweekinlinux]

@tostoday Yeah, Mandriva is probably going to be sold, and since PCLinuxOS is based on it, if development ceases, PCLinuxOS will have to find a new base (or just keep on with what they have).

people keep telling me to try Mint 9, so I'll have to give it a shot. I'm just trying to move away from Ubuntu a bit.