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.

Use Add and Delete buttons in the Project tab Sequences panel. All Sequences use the same Profile.

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 Add button above the unnamed Bin contents table in the Media tab.
  2. Use dialog to find and select files.
  3. Files are displayed as thumbnails.
  4. 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

Adding a Bin: Press Add button above Bins table.

Deleting a Bin: Press Delete button above Bins table. Bin must be empty before removing. A project must always have at least one Bin.

Renaming a Bin: Double click on the Bin name.

Moving files to another Bin: Drag files on top of bin icon.

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 Ovewrite buttons places clip on the top most active Track indicated by arrow icon.

Selecting single clip

Selecting multiple clips on the same track

There is no box selection or any other means of selecting clips from different Tracks at the same time.

De-selecting all clips

Adding clips to Sequence

Drag'n'Drop

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 Trim Tool, Roll Tool or Slip Tool

Moving Clips

Use Insert Tool, Overwrite 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. Some editors call this operation Ripple Delete.

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.

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.