Busy trying to salvage footage from a recent video shoot, I missed the arrival of Kdenlive 19.08, the first major release of this free video editor since its big code revamp earlier this year.
And what a release it is!
Kdenlive 19.08 builds on the terrific work featured in the various point releases that have been available since April.
“This version comes with a big amount of fixes and nifty new features which will lay the groundwork for the 3 point editing system planned for this cycle,” they say in their release announcement.
Now, 3-point editing isn’t my bag (if you’re a heavy keyboard user, you might want to look into it) so I’m gonna skip that side of things to highlight a couple of other welcome changes to the project bin.
In the Project Bin you can now scrub through clips using a mouse. Editors just need to press and hold Shift while moving over the clip thumbnail in the bin to see a preview.
A new menu option make it easier to reset the Kdenlive config file back to “default” settings (handy for those who go a tweak too far). It’s also possible to search for effects from all tabs, not only the selected tab.
Editors who often adjust the speed of a clip will be pleased to hear Kdenlive now lets you change the speed of a clip by pressing Ctrl and dragging in the timeline. Drag the clip end outwards to slow down (lengthen) the clip duration, or drag it inwards to speed up (shorten) the clip duration.
Other key features/changes in Kdenlive 19.08 include:-
- Transcode clip functionality re-enabled
- Screen selection available in the screen grab widget
- Option to sort audio tracks in reverse order
- Default fade duration is now configurable
Download Kdenlive 19.08
Kdenlive 19.08 is available to download for Windows and for Linux. You’ll find all the links you need on the official website.
The recommended way to ‘use’ Kdenlive on Linux isn’t with repo packages, PPAs, Snaps or Flatpaks, but using the standalone AppImage: