The guys from EditShare EMEA released a new version of their video editing tool, Lightworks. They say it's the most affordable professional video editor available, and that it gives you everything you need to make your movies look stunning.
Starting with the interface. Lightworks has a great choice of contrasting colors that make the interface very intuitive while they give a fresh and modern look to the program. An important aspect is that the interface is customisable.
The tools are accessible directly from the timeline, very easy to use, while you have an entire community of users ready to help you besides a huge set of tutorial videos.
About the features. This tool supports almost every format you can think of from the most common to ProRes, Avid DNxHD, AVC-Intra, DVCPRO HD, RED R3D, DPX, AVCHD (with AC3 audio), H.264, XDCAM EX / HD 422, all on the same timeline in real-time.
Furthermore, you can share your movies with colleagues, friends, and family thanks to the dedicated web export feature that converts videos to MPEG4 and H.264. Also, you can upload videos directly to your YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Instagram account.
Moreover, it has Multicam editing and powerful real-time effects with over 100 inbuilt presets, designed to deal with compositing effects like color correction, blurs, and masks.
Other important features are Boris Graffiti Text Effects, a plugin with over 100 2D&3D animations presets, and Boris FX, a plugin designed to customize your transitions.
In conclusion, if you're looking for a cheap editing tool, with a multitude of exporting options and numerous supported formats you can definitely give Lightworks a try.
v14.5.0 [Apr 16, 2018]
- Added export option to Reaper (Lightworks Pro only).
- Added support for Exporting/Transcoding/Rendering to Cineform HD/UHD AVI/MOV (Lightworks Pro Only).
- Added varispeed information to FCP7 XML exports (Lightworks Pro Only).
- Added reverse varispeed information to XML exports (Lightworks Pro Only).
- Added export quality setting to the JPEG image sequence option (Lightworks Pro Only).
- Added export format option for Free users "H.246/MP4 (Free)"
- Added support for decode of Cineform codecs
- Added support for AC-3 audio in mp4/mov/m4v/m4a wrappers
- Added support of variable frame rate files (.mov .mp4, .m4v)
- Added Histogram graph to the Video Tools panel
- Added Frame Rate search criteria to the Content Manager
- Added ability to "slide" an effect crossfade trim so that the trim can be moved up/down the timeline without damaging the sequence as it currently does
- Added ability to drag a dissolve up off removing it like when right clicking and selecting "Remove"
- Added new Italians wording file to the installer (Courtesy of Carmelo Batagglia)
- Added ability to scroll the sequence timeline without changing the current timeline marker position
- Added ability to adjust RED R3D RAW metadata parameters (.rmd)
- Added 16-bit GPU precision replacing 10-bit
- Added ability to acknowledge project wide LUT setting on export
- Added ability to set a Ranged Cue Marker (Start and End point)
- Added ability to restore deleted clips from Milestones (which restores the entire clip with media link)
- Added preliminary support for Blackmagic RAW files.
- Added new config.dat parameters.
- Added support for media structures.
- Enhanced the timeline "Appearance" option and changed the name to "Settings’.
- Added support for creating proxies from 60fps media.
- Added 'Reveal > Media files' on timeline segments.
- Added right click "Render" option for clips in the sequence timeline in both layouts. Render button has been removed from the timeline in Flexible layout.
- Added new trimming functionality to prevent a trim being extended beyond the media available at the head or tail.
- Added support for Quicktime MOV files with Alpha Channels.
- Added an "Alignment* option on the BITC panel to prevent text appear in the wrong area.
- Added ability for title effect text to appear as a comment in EDL's (32 character limit).
- Added ability to export a bin of contents to XML and JSON.
- Added ability to trim on the VFX tab.
- Added ability to copy multiple sequences in one go from a bin.
- Added improved selection between bins in List and Tiles view.
- Added improvements to the ELS messaging system.
- Added keyboard shortcut command for "Step midnight sequence number".
- Added keyboard shortcut command for creating Sync(s).
- Added keyboard shortcut commands for 'clipboard insert/replace & next'.
- Added keyboard shortcut function for making a new Content Manager.
- Added keyboard shortcut commands "Next cut" and "Previous cut" that ignores: Marks, Cues, etc.
- Added keyboard shortcut function for toggling timeline zoom.
- Added keyboard shortcut key "Cue Marker (no prompt)".
- Added warning prior to resetting Key assignments.
- Added ability to allow users to register an account while still running the automatic Free license.
- Added support for handling .MOD and .TOD files.
- Added quality setting options for CineForm on the Export/Render/Transcode panel.
- Added ability to create proxies for files shorter than a second using 1-Frame codecs (Cineform, AVC-Intra).
- Added new feature to allow customisation of timeline mouse behaviour.
- Added improvements for transcoded chunked XDCAM media.
- Added support for AAC 32 float audio.
- Added more available space next to the sequence name on the viewer, so that clip name is not truncated.
- Added ability to make a batch of Syncs from ranged sequence Cue Markers.
- Added ability to manage user export presets.
- Added amount of space required for an Archive to the project backup panel.
- Added BITC preferences to the "Preferences' folder moved from the project ED5.
- Added ability to duplicate sequences and place them in a target bin (in one step) including a "new bin".
- Added ability to set H.264 proxy bit rate according to quality level setting.
- Added the ability to right-click a clip and choose 'Make -> Sequence'.
- Added the ability to make syncs from sequence segments.
- Added ability to set the size of the thumbnails on the FX panel.
- Added 8bit and 10bit options to DPX Image Sequence export.
- Added ability to log black frames during export.
- Added new ability to recreate missing linked media. ’Media -> Repair".
- Added Apple ProRes XQ to decode formats.
- Added deletion date to the milestones recovery panel (The displayed 'deletion date' will only be correct for items deleted from now on).
- Improved audio transitions written into XML exports.
- Improved media-file definitions for audio-only files in XML exports.
- Improved AAF error codes to give helpful messages.
Total Video Converter is a powerful video and audio conversion tool
