You’ll be dependent on the active and helpful community of Blender-ites and their YouTube how-tos, wikis and self-published books. But that means there’s no cash incentive for anyone to fix bugs. No one is trying to hook you into a paid upgrade. Blender thinks of a “fade,” for example, as an “opacity blend.” Deal with it.įree Blender is the only Blender. Video editing is a standard timeline paradigm, but-owing to Blender’s modeler worldview-the terminologies are different than what you may have heard in video. You build your Blender workspace to your own ergonomic liking on a full-screen application window, subdividing it into hierarchies of frames that Blender terms “screens.” These can be split, joined or swapped. Or even just design a radical vehicle or a charismatic character. And the time you invest in learning its interface can pay off when you someday want to produce that Great Desktop Animated Feature Film that’s been kicking around in the back of your brain. Blender is widely known as a 3D modeling and animation engine. Step into the domain of Blender and you join an expanding open source universe of visual effects artisans.

If you fall in love with the interface (it’s hard not to), you may want to buy into the big leagues. To export 1080p, 2K or 4K, burn Blu-rays or DVDs, or output stereoscopic (3D), you’ll have to pay your way up to the Pro version (covered later on). Lightworks FREE can churn out 720p MPEG-4, basically for YouTube and other Web-based portals. One less shiny thing to divert your attention and encourage procrastination. One huge plus: Lightworks’ can render in the background-and even import and export as well-while you continue to edit. There’s a well-organized community forum for tips and problem solving. Lightworks currently runs on Windows and Linux. Even upscale editors like Avid call out to sub-routines (Title Tool / Marquee Tool) or plug-ins (Titler Pro) for refined titling. Lightworks will build you fine placeholder fonts. Film titles have traditionally been handled by specialty production houses.

Some editors grumble about the inferior quality of the titling. As an old audio guy, I especially like that Lightworks’ clip-based audio editor goes down to quarter frame time resolution, which is perfect for re-syncing dialog. They enjoy its simple controls and its templated effects. Folks who cut on it tell me they love Lightworks’ straightforward, but fully customizable layout.

Free video editor software