New Open Source Video Editor in the works!!! help wanted

[rick_777]

Hi everyone! Sorry to make this sound like a shameless plug, but it's not. I actually need your help.

I'm developing a cross-platform (Windows/Mac/Linux) Video Editor called "Saya VE" Officially, it's a recursive acronym (linux guys love these) for "Saya-VE Ain't Yet Another Video Editor", or simply "Saya Video Editor". Unoficially, it's named after a cute Vampire Hunter whom both you and I know

The rationale for starting the project was that there isn't any cross-platform video editor yet - and I'm poor, and I use Linux. So after giving suggestions and complaints to Linux video editor teams (none of the editors I tested was friendly enough to make my first AMV - Kdenlive exported badly, Cinelerra crashed, the others just weren't worth trying), I decided none of them could do what I needed, so I ended up creating my own project.

The good news is that with effort and guidance, I may be able to have a working (altho somewhat limited) version by the end of the year.

The bad news is that since I haven't used many commercial Video Editors, I lack the knowledge (read: screenshots) to decently implement the features that require navigating more than two menu/dialog levels deep.

This is where you can cooperate. Currently I need screenshots (screencasts are even better) of the following features in (insert your favorite video editor here) :

* Importing video/audio
* A list of all available effects, transitions and their parameters
* Any advanced feature in the timeline
* Title creation and modification

Any help would be really appreciated. We can make this work!!

Hint: The print-screen key and Irfanview will be of great use for this. Please save your screenshots in 85% or greater quality JPG format and send them to my e-mail address. Drop me a message so I can give out my email to you and proceed with the interchange.

You can visit my blog at http://saya-videoeditor.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Sincerely,
rick_777

[LivingFlame]

This is just a thought that popped into my head, but both Premiere and Vegas have free trials that you could also download and play with a bit. You would of course still want input from seasoned users, but being able to fiddle with the actual program along with input from others would be more beneficial than simply having static screenshots in front of you.

Premiere CS3 Trial (Ok, so Adobe's trials are down until July, but it's still something to keep in mind. >_>)
Vegas Pro 8.0 Trial

I might be able to help out some a bit later. I have both programs, though my copy of Premiere is on Mac. It's effectively the same as the Windows version, though (which I've also used).

[rick_777]

This is just a thought that popped into my head, but both Premiere and Vegas have free trials that you could also download and play with a bit. You would of course still want input from seasoned users, but being able to fiddle with the actual program along with input from others would be more beneficial than simply having static screenshots in front of you.

I'd rather not. See, this is a delicate project and I don't want to make any mistakes. There's a project (not mine) called ReactOS which meant to clone Windows. One dumb*** told in the forums that they had stolen the Windows source code, and they had to stall development until a code audit was done.

The same could happen with my editor - see, there's this clause in the Premiere Pro EULA (and possibly the other editors have it too) that forbids explicitly to "disassemble, decompile or *otherwise* reverse engineer" the software to make a competition software. I am not a lawyer, but you know how lawyers bully you (the RIAA is an example). Using the software and learning how it works to explicitly mimic the behavior might be misinterpreted as "reverse engineering". So I want to take the "Clean Room" approach. One person writes some specs (i.e. giving a screenshot or describing the behavior) and the other person writes the software.

This is why I need actual users to give me the info.

Besides, I can't install Premiere or Vegas in my PC - see, I'm using Linux. It's too much hassle to create a virtual machine just to test that software. Plus, my experience with the editors is too little, an experienced user might be able to help me better.

[rick_777]

Oops, forgot something. I have already downloaded some screencasts. But right now I need specific info: effects and transitions. Those are rather intuitive subjects so finding a tutorial for them is hard. Screenshots are much more useful in this case.

Thanks for answering, by the way.

[SQ]

Ooo, wow.

Though, isn't http://jahshaka.com multiplatform? Maybe you could work something off this?

But anyway, I will try to help.
I'm not going to bother taking a screenshot of every single effect and transition there is in Premiere, but luckily, Adobe After Effects has a few of the same, and they have an entire gallery full of names and animated gifs for you to cover.
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/gallery/

(later)
I never read the Premiere Manual (I have a legal version of most of the Adobe Programs, and they come with surprisingly easy to read manuals; but I knew how to use Premiere before I bought he program and then lost the manual later...)
so I never knew they had an effects gallery as well.

Anyway out of sheer luck I found it, here you go:
Link here

Actually, this page looks to be the entire help manual. They have tons of screenshots every where (Like I said, Adobe Manuals are really easy to read) so if you want to just read that you'd probably be fine.

I've used Final Cut Pro, Premiere, and Avid, and I like all of the editors (depending on the project). I just use Premiere the most at home. I did however work professionally on Final Cut Pro for a time. And I really, really hope you will consider putting a bunch of keyboard shortcuts into your program.

I am not as good with keyboard shortcuts in Premiere as with the other editing programs, so I don't know for sure if Premiere has some of the things FCP or Avid does (certainly Avid has everything, it's a keyboard-based editor, lol).

But anyway, In FCP and Avid you can set a "default" transition, and then you can click on any cut in the timeline and apply whichever transiiton you have picked from the effects bin with a keystroke (Or right-click).

Also, In Final Cut, if you simply start typing numbers(with the numpad) while the timeline is selected, it will take you to whatever point in the timeline you have typed.
(102510 for example would turn into 10:25;10). Periods count as zeroes, so you could also do "....10" and end up at the 10th frame.

The down arrow key jumps to the next cut(I just got up and haven't eaten yet, can't say which program this is off the top of my head). And that's a really neat feature too.

Again, Premiere was the only program I completely self-taught myself, so I'm not sure if these things exist in Adobe's video editor (Though if they do, I'll kick myself for not finding them).

Apple + G is also speed adjustment in FCP. I think a keyboard shortcut for speed adjustment in your program would be awesome.

The last post said you just needed galleries of effects, so.. There you are.
But if youw ish I'll try to take my own screencaps of anything else in your project. I'm really interested in this. =)

[rick_777]

I tried Jahshaka. In fact, it was one of the main reasons why I decided to make my own editor.

It kept crashing on me, it was the most user-unfriendly editor I've ever seen. Every right-click popped up the same menu, no help, no tooltips, no meaningful main menu, ugh. After nearly half an hour of trying to do ANYTHING with it, I had to give up. Also, Jahshaka requires you to install some toolkit to use it if you're on Windows. That's a no-no.

In any case, I'll check out the links you just gave me when I get home. Thanks a lot! You're officially welcome in the project. Please visit my berlios page and create an account. I'll add you as beta-tester.

God bless!

[rick_777]

Ok I read those links, and while it was enlightening, it quite wasn't what I was looking for. My mistake for not being clear.

What I need is a screenshot of the MENU / DIALOG / SCREEN / whatever where you choose the different effects / transitions and configure their parameters. Anyway, I'll keep waiting for you to join the project. In case of doubt, msg me.

[rick_777]

I set up a webpage and a blog.

I got 7 people in the team, of whom 2 are advisors and one is a beta tester. And thanks for the moral support

I'll keep you updated!

[BasharOfTheAges]

I'm not sure where legal precedent in all this is exactly, but your idea of getting around it sounds the same as having a large group of people rob a bank, each one only preforming one step that can't be considered bank robbery by itself. I'm not judging your legal position though, just your fear of it - they'd call you all in as co-defendants if they wanted to.

[Pwolf]

good luck. I've had a C# based NLE in development for a few years now. I have a linear proof of concept program but nothing else thats working. I suck at custom gui development so that has been the major downfall to my project. I think if i had that down, i would already have a working NLE ready for distribution by now.

When i was first working on mine, I looked at what the key components were. I needed a timeline with multiple layers, an import window to show all my imported media, a viewer or two to watch what's on the timeline, and an effect panel to apply effects.


Pwolf