CINELERRA-GG Overview

Presented briefly here is an overview of CINELERRA-GG INFINITY and information provided in this manual. The GG version of CINELERRA has been improved for stability, modernized to accommodate the current state of Linux software, enhanced with additional basic features, and enriched with new features imagined by dedicated users and then implemented by professional programmers.

Website

https://www.cinelerra-gg.org
The website for the cinelerra-gg software is a good place to start for information, help, and documentation. It is professionally maintained and continuously updated with more language translations ongoing.

Stability

 
Software programs that just work are a #1 priority in order to be of use for producing quality videos. A large amount of time has been invested in debugging problems and resolving crashes. And in a continuous process to do so, a chapter on Troubleshooting is included in order to easily provide sufficient information for users to capture issues and crashes so that they can be analyzed and quickly fixed to avoid repeat problems.

Modernization

 
Artistic creativity has been applied to modernize the CINELERRA-GG plugin icons for video and audio to even include the ffmpeg plugins. The Cinfinity set of plugin icons come in square or roundish versions — your choice. In keeping up with the current expectation of users for a certain look and feel, 2 very modern recent theme additions, Cakewalk and Neophyte, provide alternatives to the already existing 9 themes. These 11 themes give the user the choice to get the look they like best for their own eyes.

Current and up-to-date

 
For today’s software, included thirdparty libraries are kept up to date in a timely manner and effort is made to always use a relatively recent version of FFmpeg, if not the latest. This is a big deal because there is a whole set of separate programmers working on these libraries continuously and diligently to cover all of the old and newly created formats. Thus CINELERRA-GG programmers can be dedicated to working solely on CINELERRA-GG rather than just trying to keep up with many formats.

FFmpeg usage integration

 
By using FFmpeg with CINELERRA-GG, there is the advantage that users can directly convert videos via pre- and post-processing, without the need for command lines to be executed manually before or afterwards.

Import and Export formats

 
Listed here are only a few of the supported Import and Export formats:

• several standard native formats, such as mpeg, ac3, flac, exr and jpeg/png/ppm/tiff sequences
• FFmpeg’s over 400 decoders and 150 encoders accessible from within CINELERRA-GG to include: mp4, mkv, mpeg, mov, m2ts, mp3, dvd, ogg, theora, prores, tiff, webm, flac, opus, vorbis, quicktime (div, dnxhd, jpeg, mjpeg, mp4, rle, v308, v410), h264 & h265 usage, avc, hevc, and recently released AV1 and WebP
• raw image format for over 700 supported cameras, courtesy Dave Coffin's DCraw

Standard Features

 

• Program window for video and audio tracks, navigation, popups, playing and seeking functions.
• Editing via track manipulation with either drag and drop editing or cut and paste editing.
• Patchbay tools: fader, gang, arm, enable output, expanders, mixers, and blending operations.
• Undo and Redo capability for many editing functions.
• Drag handle functionality for Ripple, Roll, Slip, Slide, Edge, and No Effect.
• Dynamic Keyframe support with curve, toggle, automatic, compositor, and editing capabilities.
• Proxy editing support to speed up editing for large formatted files on slower computers.
• Compositor window with masking, zooming, cropping, projector and camera capabilities.
• Viewing window for quickly viewing/playing audio, video, clips, or proxies.
• Resources window with Media, Proxy, Clips, Video and Audio Effects/Transitions.
• User defined bins/folders for a project.
• Expandable Video/Audio effects for grouping selections such as Color Correction or Motion plugins.
• Included are over 400 Plugins – audio and video native, FFmpeg, plus expandable to include others.
• LV2 and Ladspa plugins audio support.
• Mouse over Media or Proxy folders to get a 5 second real time preview of the media.
• Single or multiple files rendering; background rendering, batch rendering, command line rendering, and use of a Render Farm to take advantage of multiple computer CPUs.
• Numerous pre-defined output formats automatically available and allowance for user-defined formats.
• Capture and Recording capability to include Broadcast TV recording, editing, and viewing.
• Hundreds of Shortcuts are defined which are easily viewed using the shell commands pulldown.
• Context Help in the program for numerous window, menu, GUI elements, buttons, and other items via the user's configured web browser.
• PorterDuff operations are available in the patchbay of the main timeline window for alpha blending.
• Color correction + 8-bit and 10-bit color space.
• Up to 8K video supported.
• ShuttlePro and ShuttleXpress functionality.
• International language support.
• Multi-screen, Multi-viewers, Multi-session, Multi-pane capability.
• Menu bar shell commands with reference to some manuals and user-definable additions.
• Video stabilization, Motion tracking, Motion Graphics.
• Blade Cut/Hard Edges, Snap/Cut editing and Snap Dragging.
• OpenGL support as well as Direct X11 speedup.
• Advanced Trim Features and Grouping.
• Asset and Title colors selection including Alpha slider adjustment.
• Scaling preference for any monitor size and HiDPI to support 4K monitors.

Innovative New Features

 

• Inter-View mode as invented through a collaborative effort by a user and the developer.
• Proxy settings for large formatted media with the coveted Scalar option and proxy quick switch. Includes a 1:1 proxy setting used to save CPU time with a reduced bitrate.
• Multiple cameras / Mixer Viewer with the number of cameras only limited by the resources on the user’s computer (on a large system, 50 are known to work).
• Audio/Video sync via waveforms, or timecodes to include syncing with externally recorded audio.
• DVD/bluray creation, editing, and copying for non-commercial media greatly enhanced for usability.
• Title plugin virtually unlimited script size with many changeable attributes such as size, blink, color.
• Motion Graphics using the Sketcher plugin to create elements such as ellipses, rectangles and shapes for simpler motion graphics.
• Open EDL for editing clips, nested clips, and xml files while working on a Project.
• File by Reference; To be able to modify the original source during editing (which in this case, becomes destructive).
• The Vectorscope option in the Videoscope plugin allows for the use of any number of user-supplied grid patterns as an Overlay.
• Hardware acceleration with vaapi and vdpau for computers with graphics hardware meeting certain criteria.
• Bump Autos is a new type of keyframe automation that allows you to easily create and manage keyframes intervals in Speed, Fade and Camera/Projector-XYZ curves.
• One of the only Linux NLEs that handles and renders RGB, 444, 422 and 420 at 8, 10 and more-bit footage as opposed to working in only 8-bit (which introduces some artifacts like banding); both in Full Range Color and limited Broadcast Range Color.

NOTE:

In CINELERRA-GG the editing workflow is different from the workflow used by other NLEs. It is less intuitive and requires us to think first about what we want to achieve. In fact, it is a workflow based on the tracks in their entirety and not on individual clips. See workflow is different! for a comparison with the Adobe Premiere Pro workflow.