How to edit videos on Linux with KDENLIVE - 1 - Learn the Interface
465I use Kdenlive for all my videos, and people tend to underestimate what this editor can do. Since I now master a few of its tips and tricks, although I'm by no means an expert, I think it's time to give back, so here are a few video tutorials to help you use Kdenlive. In this first part, we'll see how to setup a new project, and change project defaults.
What I use to make my videos:
Microphone: https://amzn.to/2PsNWXl
Articulated mic arm: https://amzn.to/2Iy6DZ2
Tripod: https://amzn.to/2VeLRUt
Monitor: https://amzn.to/2UQRZTb
Speakers: https://amzn.to/2IR7qDR
Bluetooth USB adapter: https://amzn.to/2UQS89b
Keyboard: https://amzn.to/2IAuIyD
Smartphone lenses: https://amzn.to/2DnNrcr
Graphics card: https://amzn.to/2XCEaVo
Motherboard: https://amzn.to/2KZt63t
CPU: https://amzn.to/2IFjKrw
Kdenlive's interface is highly modulable: as in most KDE apps, you can re-arrange any panel or box to use the space you want. Let's see what we get:
- The menu bar, where you'll get every option available in Kdenlive.
- The clip bin: this panel hosts every clip, image, audio file, title or anything else you might want to add to your project. You can add any type of file just with a simple drag and drop, or use the menu to add files. Clips here can be organized in folders, by clicking on the "New Folder" icon, and dragging the desired clips inside your folder.
- The Properties pane: this is empty for now, but it will host any effect you'll add to the selected clip, whether it's in the bin or the timeline, the effects you've applied to a whole track, or the properties of a transition you've added in the timeline.
- The Effects / Transitions panel: This is where you'll find any audio or video effect that you can add to the selected clip or track. You'll notice a tab at the bottom named "transitions", where you'll find the... transitions you can apply to move from one video clip to another.
- The Monitor: this is where you can preview your video, as it will look like when it's rendered. You'll notice two tabs at the bottom: the first one is the clip monitor, which lets you preview the selected clip, and the Project Monitor, which lets you preview the entire project.
Finally, on the bottom of the screen, you have the timeline, where you'll drag your video and audio files, add your transitions, and generally manage how your video will play out.
The general workflow
Kdenlive's workflow is simple. First, you create a new project and select the settings you'll use. Second, you add your clips, video, audio, or images, to the clip bin. Third, you drag these clips to the timeline, in the general order you want to play them, adding transitions and effects as you go, all while monitoring what the final video will look like in the Project Monitor. Fourth, you render the video, selecting the video format and quality.
Adapting the interface to your needs
Kdenlive's interface can be totally reshaped to look like anything you need. To move the different panes, you can click the view menu, and select "show titles" . From there, you can drag any panel where you want it to go. You can overlay two or more panels to create tabs for each of them in the same space, or simply remove a panel if you don't need it. You can also resize any panel, or the timeline itself to use the desired space.
If you deleted any of the panels, and want to show it again, just go to the "View" menu, and tick the panel you want.
Basically, what you'll want to keep in view is the clip bin, from where your sources are, the properties panel, which you'll need to be able to add effects and transitions, and the monitor, to preview your video. Ideally, the monitor should have plenty of space, so you can pay attention to details. The effects and transitions panels are pretty important too. I generally remove the clip monitor only, since most of the time, I recorded and named each clip I use, so I know what's in it.
Once you've set your interface up, I recommend saving that layout, in the "View" menu, to make sure you can get back to it if needed. You can create multiple layouts an switch from one to another at will, so you could create one for when you edit the video, and one for when you preview and do the smaller edits or details.
For each video you want to make, you'll have to create a project. This is simple: just click "File - New Project". You'll get a settings window to select which profile you want to use, including the resolution, the framerate, the folder where you want to store the project.
Kdenlive's project create a structure for files and folders. Where you've created your project, you'll get a few folders.
This way, all the folders created by Kdenlive are located in the same directory as the rest of the stuff related to the project.
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