OpenShot Video Editor

trim widget

Asked by reinhard

Hi,

do you have a trim widget on your todo list?
Actually it is not very comfortable to trim a clip in the timeline only ;)

So, it would be nice to have a separate trim widget to trim source clips using IN and OUT points.

greetings
reinhard

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Jonathan Thomas (jonoomph) said : 		#1

Nope, that's not on the list yet. Can you give some examples of what you had in mind? Maybe some links to screenshots of other video editors trim feature? I agree, when trimming a clip on the timeline... it's a bit like being blind-folded. It's kind of hard to see where to stop trimming.

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reinhard (protux) said : 		#2

In general the trim widget should be just a duplicate of the video preview widget, but with additional buttons to set IN and OUT point and should be not tabbed.
The position I like most for the trim widget is on the left hand side of the video preview widget. But the best option is to let the user freely arrange the widgets if possible...

So when user click on a source file it will be opened in the trim widget where the user can do some edits and drag it finally onto the timeline to view the final result in the video preview widget.

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Jonathan Thomas (jonoomph) said : 		#3

reinhard, thanks again for your suggestions! I really appreciate your help. I have made some changes to the "trim" / "resize" feature in OpenShot to address the following problem: "trimming clips is difficult because there is no feedback (i.e. no preview) of what you are trimming off of the clip".

It's not exactly what you described, but I think it accomplishes the same goal. If you get the latest version of OpenShot, it now previews the clip (and seeks to the IN / OUT positions) as you are trimming on the timeline. So, as you drag the edge of the clip, the preview keeps seeking to your current IN / OUT position, and gives you context for the trim. It really works quite well. Please give it a try, and let me know what you think.

In the future, I might also add a more traditional trim widget (with IN and OUT sliders), but for now I think this will work.

Thanks!
-Jonathan

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reinhard (protux) said : 		#4

yes, this is indeed absolutely sufficient atm.
A trim widget in general is sometimes used to create duplicates of a region, by just dragging this region to different places on the timeline e.g., but since you've already added the 'duplicate' function to the context menu this can be achieved easily this way ;)

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reinhard (protux) said : 		#5

oh, btw...
A long time ago, during another discussion, I've just created a page with a collection of some ideas:
http://www.groovision.de/my_vision_of_how_to_edit_movies.html

Have fun! ;)