Developers working on open-source video editor Kdenlive have shared details of upcoming features discussed and worked on at a recent sprint in Berlin, Germany.
Among notable changes on the way is a “dopesheet” feature, development of which has been funded by a grant from the NGI Zero Commons Fund (via NLnet) to developer Jean-Baptiste Mardelle.
Blender users may be familiar with dopesheets. They make it easier to work with keyframes in edits through a dedicated UI. Knowing where keyframes are, and what they do, provides options for more precise control in how animations and effects behave.
Better keyframe control in Kdenlive will make it easier to create complex edits.
Alas, the dopesheet feature is not expected to arrive in Kdenlive’s next release, due December, as the design implementation is not yet fully realised. Yet, simply knowing it is in the works is exciting enough for me — can’t wait to see it!
December’s planned release of Kdenlive will ship with several UI and workflow improvements.
The “Project Bin” and “Render” sections will be renamed to “Media” and “Export”. A label rejig might not sound impactful, but the nomenclature is more in line with what other non-linear editors (NLEs) use (which those switching to Kdenlive will appreciate).
The team have also made changes to the timeline toolbar and monitor interface. The aim here is to provide users with a cleaner workspace. For instance, the audio vu-meter in the monitor UI is being made into collapsible vertical widget to free space in the toolbar.
Further out, there are more interesting features coming in to frame.
Being able to save user interface layouts on a per-project basis would make it much easier to create workspaces customised for specific tasks, like colour grading, audio mixing or regular editing. So, hurrah, that’s what Kdenlive developers are looking into.
Discussions also touched on adding animation presets to the titler, potentially using Lottie animations or a QML producer for MLT. Though tentative, either option would let editors create more dynamic titles, credits and lower thirds.
Kdenlive is already popular with open-source enthusiasts, but with a but with feature cadence catering to pro and prosumer workflows, it could easily become an attractive option for those currently wedded to closed-source (and ever-more-costly) commercial editors.