Splice and edit videos with Flowblade

Track Elements

Once the appropriate selections are set, you can click the button to the far right of the window just above the timeline. (The mouse-over identifies it as Append Monitor Clip Range .) The clip then shows up as a bar on the timeline. The timeline in turn has many tracks on which to arrange your clips. The tracks are consecutively numbered, with V tracks denoting complete videos and A tracks denoting audio material intended primarily for commentaries and background music. The preview track automatically goes to V1 (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Here the 00003.MTS video is positioned on the timeline. The vertical line corresponds to the frame in the preview pane. The left and right arrows in the upper right are undo and redo functions.

Each video clip appears on the timeline as a purple bar. The bar's length represents the clip's duration in the video, with the runtime showing at the top. Use the magnifying glass buttons above the timeline to enlarge or shrink the display, or use the mouse wheel instead.

Refresh the timeline through the buttons under the preview pane. Be sure that the Timeline button is active; with the Clip button active, you'll see only the selected videos in the Media pane. As soon as you refresh the clips, the vertical line in the timeline moves to the exact position of the preview frame. As in the orange bar of the preview pane, you can scrub through the entire video by dragging the vertical bar.

You can use the same method to add more clips to the timeline. Each clip goes to the end of track V1 by default. To change the order of the clips, simply drag a clip to another position in the track. A yellow arrow shows where the clip reattaches when you release your mouse button (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Flowblade adds clip zingst5.avi between 00003.MTS and 00004.MTS at the yellow arrow.

Unlike other video editing programs, Flowblade ensures that no gaps occur between clips on the timeline. To move a complete video into the timeline, simply drag and drop it from the Media pane. The yellow arrow indicates its position again. Be sure that the video lands in the V1 track – the other tracks play another role further on.

Cutting Board

A video clip in the timeline provides several opportunities to cut or shorten it. To cut a clip at a certain point, move the vertical line to the corresponding location and click the razor blade button, or you can press X.

To remove a clip from the timeline completely, click it and activate the button just to the left of the razor blade (Splice Out Clip ) or press the Delete key. All subsequent clips will automatically slide back to fill the gap.

To cut the beginning or end of a clip, Flowblade provides a special but not especially easy tool to use (Figure 6). To begin, move the vertical timeline marker on the clip you want to cut. To cut off the beginning, position the line near the beginning; to cut off the end, position the line as close as you can to the end of the clip. Then, click the third button from the left above the timeline, marked One Roll Trim when you roll over it. If you select the wrong clip, avoid using the Undo function; instead, click the second button from the left marked Insert Move .

Figure 6: Use a special tool to cut the beginning of a clip.

Once you've selected the correct clip, an icon of two opposing triangles appears in one corner of the clip. Click the icon and drag it to the desired spot after the beginning or before the ending. If that's not accurate enough, use the two sharp brackets under the preview pane. With the clip at the correct length, you can click the Insert Move button above the timeline.