Lightworks has a lovely interface and lays all the pieces out clearly. You must be capable of modify shortly to it if in case you have used some other video modifying software program. Nonetheless, one factor lacking from the interface is the usual set of menu choices throughout the highest. I additionally dislike the interface’s lack of clear assist choices; I might like extra past the aforementioned welcome video and sporadic tooltips. The net information base isn’t full or searchable.
(Credit score: Lightworks/PCMag)
Like most video modifying software program, Lightworks has three fundamental panels for supply media, the preview participant, and the timeline (throughout the underside). On the suitable, you see settings and metadata for what you’re engaged on within the different panels, together with the Export selection (much less outstanding than in most apps). I like which you can change the relative sizes of the panels with the mouse arrows.
The interface options 4 tabs for the interface mode primarily based on the primary video modifying actions: Log (for organizing supply media), Edit, VFX (video results), and Audio. You possibly can select amongst a number of layouts, together with Analyse (sic), Assemble, Audio, Evaluate, and Portrait.
Within the left supply panel below Undertaking Contents, you may join third-party cloud storage accounts like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.
(Credit score: Lightworks/PCMag)
To get clips right into a mission, drag them from a file window or click on the Import Clips button.
(Credit score: Lightworks/PCMag)
After importing movies, you may pre-trim them with blue, diamond-shaped In and Out markers. You may also view them in a bigger window by double-clicking them or hitting Supply; watching them in full-screen can also be an choice. The thumbnails don’t scrub as they do in Ultimate Minimize and Premiere Professional, nonetheless. The Assemble format reveals two preview home windows, one for the supply and one for the mission sequence.
(Credit score: Lightworks/PCMag)
As with most video modifying packages, getting clips into the timeline is a straightforward matter of dragging them from the supply panel. Lightworks additionally reveals buttons for both overwriting the present timeline content material or appending it, however solely from the Supply view. You don’t get these insertion choices when you may have a number of tiles chosen within the Undertaking Contents view, and there’s no right-click choice for putting clips onto the timeline.
You do get different right-click choices when you choose a number of clips in Undertaking Contents, nonetheless, together with “Make Sequence From Choice.” An alternative choice is to create multicam bins (see under).
(Credit score: Lightworks/PCMag)
Lightworks makes glorious use of keyboard shortcuts, along with letting you emulate these from different main video modifying functions. Undo performance in Lightworks is restricted, although, and won’t work for all actions, corresponding to including clips to a sequence. It a minimum of works for most elementary modifying features like clip shifting, splitting, and trimming.
