lakhesis – 123RF.com
Elaborate video compositing, blue screen tricks, and other complex video effects normally only appear in high-priced programs like Adobe After Effects, Nuke, or Fusion. Natron is open source, free, and gives high-priced alternatives a run for their money.
Natron [1] belongs to the genre of so-called compositing programs in which video effects and video compositing play the dominant role. Unlike video editing programs such as Kdenlive and OpenShot, Natron offers both video cutting and effects, all in little boxes. These little boxes are known as nodes , and they can be connected to each other by lines, thus making way for more complex compositions. As a consequence, it takes somewhat longer to get accustomed to working with Natron.
Natron originated in 2013 at the French research institute Inria [2]. The project leader Alexandre Gauthier Foichat even won a competition with the effects program, which in turn made it possible for him to work on it full time. Version 1.0.0 finally appeared at Christmas 2014. Before that time, several preliminary versions suitable for use had been released by the developers. Each version included multiple small modifications. The developers have continued to follow this pattern with changes in subsequent versions. Version 1.2.1, for example, contained corrections for errors, and also included a new effects node.
New versions appeared each month until the developers gave themselves six months off. In the fall of 2016, they again released numerous preliminary versions until Natron 2.0.0 finally appeared in March 2016. Although a new whole version number might suggest major changes to the user interface, the program included multiple small changes, so if you used an earlier version of the software, you didn't have to spend time getting accustomed to an entirely new setup.
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