Lightworks Review

Drag And Drop Techniques

Editing clips and footages in Lightworks is done by using its drag and drop techniques. To be able to understand how such techniques work, users should get a glimpse first of the user interface design of the software. Lightworks’ user interface is comprised of panels: bins, edit viewer, and timeline.

Bins are where media assets are imported to, while the edit viewer displays the clip currently being worked on. The timeline is the area where users will be able to play their clips in sequence.  Lightworks lets users drag and drop a clip or shot from the bin to the edit viewer panel. This particular drag and drop technique is used so they can perform some actions such as selecting the segment of the clip they want to use by marking its beginning and end.

From the edit viewer panel, they can insert a new clip or replace an existing clip in the timeline. New clips can also be added and inserted in the timeline by dragging and dropping them from the bin to the timeline. If users want to edit a selected region in their timeline, they will be able to do that by dragging and dropping that region from the timeline to the bin.

Video Routing

The video editing software also has a systematic way of applying effects to video clips which is referred to as video routing. Video routing in Lightworks uses a node-based system for organizing video clips and effects. This system is needed for videos that have multiple tracks and effects.

For instance, if users want to apply a split screen effect to their video, they need to input two clips. However, different color gradients have to be applied for each clip; and they also have a third clip as the background of the video which also has its own set of effects. To be able to do apply all these effects in an organized manner, Lightworks enables users to connect the video clips to the specific effects that will be applied to them.

Apply Effects Using Keyframes

With Lightworks, video and audio effects can be applied using keyframing. This feature lets users set keyframes for their video clips, wherein each keyframe will have a specific parameter value that defines how the effects will be applied. As an example, if they want to emphasize elements or characters in their video clips, they can use this feature to apply a wiggling effect that varies at each point in time. As they set the parameter values for such effect throughout their video clip, a smooth transition will be established between their keyframes.

Export Video Clips Directly To YouTube

Exporting videos to YouTube is made easy using Lightworks’ right-click menu. Thus, users can right click a clip from the bin, edit viewer, or timeline; and then they can already export it directly to YouTube. As they export their videos, they will be able to access some options like selecting the size, frame rate, as well as adding meta tags to their videos so they can be easily searched online.