I, too, am very new to it, and jsut beginning to "get" it. I just
discovered subtitling - no more separate programs for me in future. ;)
A thought: when you load a file in with iMovie, it actually "imports" it
- converting it into its own format (quicktime, or whatever). Now, that
got me to thinking - if Cinelerra followed the same idea, that might be
quite good. It could have its own format. That format would be woefully
inefficient (hopefully not outrageously inefficient) as a storage
medium, but it would be excellent for what Cinelerra needs. You would
then have a level of separation between "foreign file formats" and
internal respresentation. You are then paving the way for being able to
test formats in isolation. And ... not that I know what I'm talking
about ... instead of using threads, Cinelerra could start a process that
does the conversion. If the user gets bored half way through, he clicks
the button and the process gets killed.
There is a level of separation between foreign file formats in
Cinelerra. It is compositing. You can always test an input or an
output format directly against what that footage looks like in the
Cinelerra compositor display.
On the other hand I do think Cinelerra might one day more actively
sponsor/recommend a format for intermediate rendering steps. For
instance it took me a long time to find a good intermediate rendering
format which was lossless and which included an alpha channel. There
are many defective codec implementations which make the job harder...
At the moment it is a jungle of codecs and survival of the fittest...
Look around or ask here giving some of the framework of what you are
trying to acheive and what resources you have to do it with. You should
get a suggestion for the right codec for the right job...
An optional part of cinelerra, similar but not identical to the one you
describe from imovie, is available in Cinelerra in the form of
background rendering. It is quite effective. It could become a lot
more effective by getting more intelligent: learning to not re-render
frames until REALLY necessary and working incrementally from previous
background rendered frames in some cases when effects are overlaid or
editing shifts are made. With not too much knowledge of linux/video
stuff you can even use the footage created by the background render
process as a finished render - transcoded or not - depending on your
needs. Of course the implementation of all this can't quite compare
with imovie... It is possible this background render approach could
come to represent a major alternative way of working with Cinelerra -
but there are benefits to the project file/ render at the end approach too:
The XML project file is inherently open to other software tools and
creates a niche for scripting. The render at the end is an opportunity
to pipe footage out of cinelerra (by YUV4MPEG stream) which is further
flexibility. Some cinelerra users are now using the scripting
opportunity to make HD editing more effective. You work on transcoded
low res footage for quick editing and compositing then use a script to
edit the XML project file and substitute high-res footage in once the
project is ready to be rendered. This process will one day be made a
seamless part of the GUI and you will really start to see some of the
power of the Cinelerra approach.
Also you can cancel a final render if you get bored by hitting cancel.
Graham
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