1. Prepare the project
- Open Blender
- Select Video Editing layout
- Check out: Preferences > System > Sequencer / Clip Editor > Memory Cache Limit: 4096
Scene Properties
Video Dimensions
- Resolution: HD = 1280×720, FullHD = 1920×1080
- Frame Range: 1 min = 60×60 = 3600 frames
- Frame Rate: frame rate of the source video files
If a video strip is already loaded the resolution may be taken from it with Sequencer menu > Strip > Set Render Size.
Video Format
Good settings for Youtube 60 fps:
- Output: MPEG
- Encoding: Form MPEG-4, Code: H.264
- Bitrate: 12000, GOP = 30 (half the frame rate)
- Rate: min 0, max 14000
- Audio Codec: AAC, 192
Other elements
- Anti-Aliasing: disabled preferred
- Shading: all disabled, not needed for video edition
- Post-Processing: disable Compositing if not used
Configure preview
Configure a proxy render size for boost the preview performance
- Preview window
- Properties (N)
- Proxy Render Size: 50%
Requires Proxy / Timecode enabled in video strips as described below.
Preview playback options
- Timeline menu > Playback
- Audio Scrubbing
- AV-sync
- Frame Dropping
- Follow
2. Add video strips
Video Sequence Editor
- Set cursor position (LMB)
- Drag & drop files
- Separate strips are created for audio and video streams.
Sometimes video and audio are not fully in sync. Move the audio strip some frames ahead / behind if needed.
Frame Rate must be the same as defined in the Scene properties above, or audio and video strips will have different lenghts.
Configure video strip
- Select video strip (RMB)
- Properties (N)
- Enable Proxy / Timecode
- Enable 50%
- Press Rebuild Proxy and Timecode indices.
All video strips must have the same proxy size enabled as configured in the preview window.
Configure audio strip
- Select audio strip (RMB)
- Properties (N)
- Draw waveform
- Align with video (G) if misaligned
3. Play / Browse
- Alt-A: Play / Pause
- LMB set payback position
- Drag LMB for preview
- Drag LMB over a strip to preview that strip only
Sequencer
- Left / Right: previous / next frame
- Shift Left / Shift Right: begin / end of the timeline
- Shift Up / Shift Down: +-10 frames
- Up / Down: previous / next keyframe
- PageUp / PageDown: previous / next strip edge
- Alt-PageUp / Alt-PageDown: previous / next strip middle
Views
- MMB: click and drag to move view
- ScroolWheel: zoom in / out view
- Home: adjust view to content
- Numpad-dot: adjust view to selected strip(s)
Timeline
- Use the Timeline as a kind of “companion map”
- Timeline focuses on the Render Frame Range
- Center the Timeline with Home
Markers
- Menu Marker
- Add Marker (M) puts a marker in the current position. Default name is the frame the marker is at.
- Ctrl-M renames a marker
4. Edit
Select Frame Range
- Set the cursor position
- Timeline menu > Frame
- Set Start Frame (S) / Set End Frame (E)
These frames that will be rendered to the output
Select multiple strips
- A: select / deselect all
- B: box select
- Shift + RMB
Move strips
- G: grab & move. LMB confirm, RMB cancel. Optional: press X or Y after G for constrain the axis.
- E: move start & end handles (based on cursor position in the strip) without moving actual frames. Useful with soft-cut segments that are time-aligned.
- S: slide the video offset within its handles without changing the start-end positions.
Video strips with higher channel numbers are displayed over lower channels.
Cut strips
- Sequencer menu > Strip
- K: soft cut at frame. Soft cut: Frames can be added or removed by grabbing the strip handles (keeps an entire copy of the strip).
- Shift-K: hard cut at frame. Hard cut: Cut can’t be readjusted (only post-cut frames are conserved).
Adjust video position
- Select video strip
- Properties (N)
- Image Offset for adjusting position
Adjust video size
- Select video strip
- Sequencer menu > Add > Effect > Transform. This creates a new strip with the transformed video.
- Strip > Mute (H) the original strip to hide it from the result (do NOT delete it).
- Select Transform strip
- Properties (N)
- Enable Uniform Scale, choose Scale factor.
Group strips (Metastrips)
- Select strips to group together (i.e. video + audio strips after importing)
- Ctrl-G to group (create Metastrip)
- Alt-G to ungroup (restore original strips)
- TAB for editing the contents in the selected Metastrip
Cut works correctly in Metastrips (both soft and hard).
Do NOT put audio strips inside a Metastrip when using MetaStrip to create an Effect Strip.
5. Titles and overlays
Creating
- Create titles and overlays in a different scene or project
- Save them as PNG with alpha transparency.
- Save one image per resolution (i.e. 720p, 1080p)
Using
- Drag & drop the image to the video editor
- Strip Properties (N) > Blend: Alpha Over
- Apply Image Offset and/or Transform effect if desired.
Images at their original resolution
- Strip Properties (N) > Image Offset. Enabling it keeps the image at its original resolution.
- Use the numerical offset to specify position.
A1. Workflow: Creating a video from multiple takes of the same sequence
- Import the video files, one video per take
- Ensure each audio is in sync with the corresponding video. Move the audio strip if needed. If all takes were recorded in the same way then the offset will be the same in all them.
- Group (Metastrip) each audio+video strip set.
- Align all takes in time
- Use soft cut (K) to create segments
- Always use the strip handles to move the start/end of each segment, or both. This ensures the take remains aligned in time with the others.
A2. Bonus links
Video Tutorial: Blender Video Editing (2.7X series)
How to scribble over a video in Blender
Animate video editor transitions
Hints & Tricks
Adding text to a movie. It’s better render the scenes with the texts as png with transparency, then use them in the sequencer in another scene / project.
Fading strips: Opacity of the strips (and other properties, such as volume in audio strips) may be animated modifying the keyframes in the Graph Editor, not in the inspector.