Meeting Notes: MerriLUG / 21 June / Video editing / Christoph Doerbeck

Ben Scott dragonhawk at gmail.com
Sun Jun 24 21:18:46 EDT 2007


  I was pleased to attend the July 2007 meeting of the MerriLUG.  The
topic was "Nonlinear Video Editing on Linux with Cinelerra".  The
speaker was Christoph Doerbeck, who -- apparently being a glutton for
punishment -- was returning to GNHLUG after speaking in April on
machine virtualization.  About 14 people were in attendance.

  Christoph deserves extra acclaim for persevering under conditions
which were poor even by GNHLUG standards.  The entire second floor of
Matha's Exchange was unavailable that night -- apparently commandeered
by "paying customers" or some such thing.  We were reduced to
projecting on paper table covers taped to the wall.  Christoph took
this in stride, and pulled off a smooth presentation on non-linear
editing.

  Classic video editing involves arranging your various camera
recordings one at a time, cutting and splicing them into a single
piece of film/tape.  It was a linear process, because you worked with
one clip at a time, producing a single "output" film, which you then
had to review, accept, or cut up again.  Non-linear editing enables
you to work with all your clips at once.  It's the difference between
a classic typewriter and a word processor.  Commercial NLE software
like Adobe Premier, Apple Final Cut Pro, or Avid can cost hundreds or
thousands of dollars.  So of course some Linux hackers are giving
theirs away for free, with Cinelerra (http://cinelerra.org/).

  Christoph showed Cinelerra running on Fedora Core 6.  In brief, you
start with a "Project".  A Project is not really an AV file in itself;
rather, it is XML metadata referring to AV files.  You collect
"Resources" -- video clips, audio clips, stills, etc. -- into the
Project.  You can preview and cue up Resources by dragging them to the
"Viewer" window.  You insert all or parts of Resources into the
"Program" window, which functions much like a mixing board.  You apply
Effects on to the Program tracks.  The "Compositor" window shows the
result of the current Effects and Program.  When you're ready, you can
render the Project into an output AV file.

  Cinelerra is still a bit rough around the edges.  Christoph
described (and showed) how some things can still crash the program,
and other things seem to be a bit quirky.  The UI is also a bit
complicated, but this is somewhat unavoidable in any fully-capable NLE
system.  NLE also requires a reasonable powerful system, and tons of
disk space.

  Caveats aside, the demo proved quite impressive.  Christoph walked
us though the whole process, from extracting video from his camera
using "dvgrab", to previewing clips, inserting them into the program,
and applying effects.  He finished up by showing us the final product:
A very professional-appearing DVD of a snowboard trip.  It featured
interactive menus, preview boxes, transition effects, artifact removal
effects, titles and credits -- everything you might expect.  It even
played fine on a generic MS-Windows machine.

  All in all, it was another cool demonstration of how Linux an FOSS
can be used for more than networks and compilers -- here was something
that every amateur cinematographer wanted, and could get, without
paying thousands in software license fees.

  My hat goes off to Christoph, for an impressive presentation under
difficult conditions, as well as for the end-product video he showed.
Thanks also to Heather Brodeur and Jim Kuzdrall, our tireless MerriLUG
coordinators, for orchestrating the meeting, and keeping the chaos
from spinning out of control.

  Next month's MerriLUG meeting is scheduled for Thur 19 July.  It
will be a group participation session.  The primary topic will be
Favorite Firefox Tips and Tricks.  Got an extension you can't live
without, a cool bookmarklet, or an "about:config" tweak everyone
should know about?  Come share it!  As a secondary topic, we'll also
be discussing how the Fourth Thursday meeting date works for people,
and ponder whether a different date might be better.  Hope to see you
there.

  Also worth mentioning is the GNHLUG Summer BBQ, recently rescheduled
for Sunday 15 July.  All are invited:

http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/SummerBBQ2007

  Clear skies!

-- Ben


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