Cinelerra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Cinelerra |
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| Developer: | Heroine Virtual |
| Latest release: | 2.1 / July 2, 2006 |
| OS: | Linux |
| Use: | Video editing software |
| License: | GPL |
| Website: | heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3 |
Cinelerra is a free non-linear video editing system for the GNU/Linux operating system. It is produced by Heroine Virtual, and is distributed under the GNU General Public License. Cinelerra also includes a video compositing engine, allowing the user to perform common compositing operations such as keying and mattes.
Cinelerra was first released August 1, 2002, and was based in part on an earlier product known as Broadcast 2000. Broadcast 2000 was withdrawn by Heroine Virtual in September 2001; Heroine Virtual cited legal liability concerns in the wake of litigation from the RIAA and MPAA and the costs involved in high-end video production.
Cinelerra is sometimes criticized for requiring too much computing power to run. Its supporters counter that it is a professional program and that there are alternative programs for amateurs.
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[edit] Notable features
Cinelerra includes support for very high-fidelity audio and video: it processes audio using 64 bits of precision, and can work in both RGBA and YUVA color spaces, using floating-point and 16-bit integer representations, respectively. (The "A" in both color space notations stands for alpha channel.) It is resolution and frame rate-independent, meaning that it can support video of any speed and size.
Other features may be found on its features list.
[edit] Cinelerra interface
Cinelerra's interface is similar to that of other nonlinear video-editing systems, such as Adobe Premiere Pro. However, because it includes a compositing engine, it may also be likened to compositing software such as Adobe After Effects or Shake. The user is presented with four screens:
- The timeline, which gives the user a time-based view of all video and audio tracks in the project, as well as keyframe data for e.g. camera movement, effects, or opacity;
- the viewer, which gives the user a method of scrubbing through footage;
- the resource window, which presents the user with a view of all audio and video resources in the project, as well as available audio and video effects and transitions; and
- the compositor, which presents the user with a view of the final project as it would look when rendered. The compositor is interactive in that it allows the user to adjust the positions of video objects; it also updates in response to user input.
Cinelerra's interface is frequently criticized because it does not conform to either GNOME or KDE Human Interface Guidelines.
[edit] Cinelerra usage and awards
Cinelerra has gained ground among some GNU/Linux enthusiasts looking for a native GNU/Linux video editing system. Professional use is mostly promoted by Linux Media Arts, who sell Cinelerra as part of an integrated hardware and software package for video production.
At the National Association of Broadcasters' 2004 Electronic Media Show, Cinelerra was awarded Bob Turner's "MAKING THE CUT" award. The award is given to "the best and most exciting postproduction products seen at the convention" [1].
[edit] The Community Version
Heroine Virtual generates a new release of Cinelerra semi-annually, available as source code only. Any bugs and usability issues found and resolved by the community that are submitted to Heroine Virtual often result in no response, and it is not until a new release that there is any indication that Heroine Virtual has incorporated these changes. Because of both the latency in development and the distribution-specific nature of the release, a group of open-source developers created their own version of Cinelerra referred to as Cinelerra-CV (where CV stands for Community Version).
Cinelerra-CV allows the community to contribute to an open repository where changes to the code are accessible to everyone. Mailing lists and an IRC channel exist where more experienced users and developers can provide support to less experienced users, and developers can hold technical discussions. Cinelerra-CV is also packaged for a wider range of distributions. It also has a different compilation system: system libraries are used extensively, and the autoconf/automake tools are used to configure the compilation system.
Although Cinelerra-CV may technically be called a fork, the relationship between Heroine Virtual and Cinelerra-CV is rather friendly. Heroine Virtual at times contributes to some of the discussions on the mailing lists and takes in many of the changes that occur in the repository. That Heroine Virtual posted the following message to their website describing the relationship:
- What you'll find here is the heroinewarrior version of Cinelerra. This is the version that supports what we need to do at Heroine Virtual Ltd. and is the same tree that was started in 1997. As time passes and new students come and go from the Linux scene, new forks of Cinelerra emerge that are more suited to the community but not what Heroine Virtual Ltd. needs. Today you'll probably find the cinelerra.org fork more useful.
- They allow certain parts of our fork into their fork while contributing anything they want while we allow certain parts of their fork into our fork while contributing anything we want.[1]
The versioning of Cinelerra-CV follows that of Heroine Virtual. After Heroine Virtual produces a release, Cinelerra-CV examines the changes introduced by the new version and merges them in with their version. CV is appended to the end of the version number to indicate the community version. (For example, after the 2.1 merger the CV version is labelled 2.1CV.)
[edit] History
| Date | Releases |
| September 7, 2006 | Cinelerra 2.1 merged into a community SVN version. (The first use of git (software) and a multi-person merge) |
| July 2, 2006 | Cinelerra 2.1 released |
| September 29, 2005 | Cinelerra 2.0 merged into a community SVN version. |
| September 12, 2005 | Cinelerra 2.0 released |
| January 18, 2005 | Cinelerra 1.2.2 merged into a community CVS version. |
| January 10, 2005 | Cinelerra 1.2.2 released |
| August 16, 2004 | Cinelerra 1.2.1 merged into a community CVS version. |
| August 8, 2004 | Cinelerra 1.2.1 released |
| May 11, 2004 | Cinelerra 1.2.0 released |
| February 17, 2004 | Cinelerra 1.1.9 merged into a community CVS version. |
| February 11, 2004 | Cinelerra 1.1.9 released |
| October 5, 2003 | Cinelerra 1.1.7 merged into a community CVS version. |
| August 11, 2003 | Cinelerra 1.1.7 released |
| May 12, 2003 | Cinelerra 1.1.6 released |
| April 29, 2003 | Cinelerra 1.1.5 code "forked" into a community CVS version. |
| August 1, 2002 | Cinelerra 1.0.0 released |
[edit] References
- ^ Heroine Virtual: Cinelerra. Retrieved on 2006-07-19.
