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OPENSHOT: get a fully featured movie-making tool for no cost
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fter retiring the excellent
Windows Movie Maker,
Microsoft didn’t
bother to develop a
replacement. We’ve
yet to see anything
trulyreplaceit, but for those looking
toeditvideoina professionalmanner
- completewithfades,wipes,special
effectsandtitlesequences– OpenShot
(www.openshot.org)fitsthebill.
Version2.5wasrecentlyreleased,
andshouldaddressmanyofthe
performanceissuesinearlierversions,
allowingyoutofocusonpulling
togetheryourrawmaterials– video,
plusadditionalimagesandaudiofiles - beforecompilingthemintoa
professionally edited movie using
OpenShot’s various tools.Movies in just a few clicks
We covered the program in-depth back
in the February issue, but the program’s
simple drag-and-drop interface is as
intuitiveasthingsget.Startwithyour
basicvideotracks,thenrememberthe
designer’smantraoflessismore.
Choosea simpletitlesequence,then
usethesamestyleshouldyouwantto
adda creditssequenceorcreateother
text-basedeffectsforconsistency.The
sameistruewitheffects– both
transitionbetweenclipsandspecial
effectsperformedonthefootageitself.
Whenit comestoaddingtitlestoyourmovies,you’llneedtoinstalloneor
bothofBlenderandInkscape– both
alsofreeandopen-source.Thesecan
beportableversionsandwiththe
releaseofOpenShot2.5.0you’reno
longerforcedtoworkwithanolder
versionofBlender.ALSOCONSIDER:If youfindOpenShot
toobuggyorCPU-intensive– even
withthelatestupdatessomePC
setupsstillstrugglewithit – try
Shotcut(www.shotcut.org)instead.texteditordoesfarmore
thanprovidethemeans
toeditplaintextfiles.It’s
oftenusedtoeditcode,
fromHTMLwebpagesto
configurationfilesused
byprogramstostorepreferences.
Notepadfallsshortonseveralfronts,
butthoseshortcomingsareallfixedby
EditPadLite(www.editpadlite.com).
First,it allowsyoutoopenmultiple
textdocumentsatonceina single,
multi-tabbedwindow.There’sa more
powerfulsearch-and-replacetoolwith
supportforregularexpressions,and– a
game-changer– recentlyaddedsupport
forsyntaxhighlightingwhenwriting
code.Allyouneedtodoisselectthe
correctprogramminglanguage,from
HTMLtoPythonorC++,viatheOptions
>FileTypemenu,andyou’llseeyour
codecolouredaccordingtoits
formattingtohelpensureyouenter
codecorrectly.Workwithclips
AnotherhighlightareEditPadLite’s
clipboardtools.Notonlycanyou
appendnewtextselectionstowhat’s
currentlyontheclipboard,it’salso
possibletobuildupa catalogueof
frequentlyusedtextsnippetsforquick
andeasypastingintodocuments.
Tousethis,bringtheClipCollection
paneintofocusbypressingAlt+F10.
Pasteclipsintohereandyoucanthen
simplyright-clickoneandchoose‘Use
Clip’wheneveryouwanttopasteit into
thedocumentatthecurrentcursor
point.Right-clickandchoose‘EditClip’
tocreatedifferentkindsofclips,suchas
rectangulartextblocks.ALSO CONSIDER: if you need more
features, including built-in spellchecker,
macro recorder and Document Map
tool, then Notepad++ (https://notepad-
plus-plus.org/) might prove to be a
more tempting choice.A
A
Drag your clips on to the OpenShot timeline and
then work the program’s magic to turn them into a
polished movie.EditPad Lite now supports syntax highlighting
when editing code – a major new feature.“For those looking to edit video with
fades, wipes, special effects and title
sequences, OpenShot fits the bill”