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.

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:

- 3 panel layout: Press Right Mouse popup menu on Sequences area and select menu item Add New Sequence..
- 2 panel 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:

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 <home 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:

- 3 panel layout: Press Right Mouse on Bin area to launch a popup menu and select menu item Add Bin.
- 2 panel 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.

### 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 Ovewrite 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

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, Slip Tool or Multitrim Tool.

#### Moving Clips

Use Insert Tool, Move Tool, Spacer Tool or Box 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

- 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

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.