Template-based workflows and projects

[mhavo]

Template-Based Workflow for Recurring Projects

Overview

It seems that project templates are in the midterm plans. Here is my perspective on the matter.

Detailed Functionality

1. Template Creation:

• Allow users to save a project as a template, including all transitions, audio adjustments, and effects.

2. Clip Replacement:

• Implement a function to replace existing clips in the template with new ones.
• Automatically adjust the timeline to match the length of the new clips.

3. Effect Preservation:

• Ensure all existing effects, transitions, and adjustments are maintained when replacing clips.

4. Smart Timeline Adjustment:

• Automatically resize and reposition other elements on the timeline to accommodate changes in clip length.

5. Bulk Clip Replacement:

• Option to replace multiple clips at once, matching them based on position or naming convention.

6. Template Management and Editing:

• There needs to be some kind of interface to manage, edit, and select templates when starting a new project.
• Templates would be editable in a timeline, similar to regular project editing.
• Users can define specific clips or sections as “replaceable” within the template.
• When editing a template, users can adjust effects, transitions, and timing just like in a normal project.
• The key difference is that “replaceable” clips are clearly marked and can be easily swapped out when the template is used for a new project.
• This allows for flexible templates that maintain complex structures and effects while allowing for easy content updates.

Use Case Scenario

1. User creates a video project with specific transitions, audio settings, and effects.
2. The project is saved as a template.
3. For a new video, the user selects this template.
4. New video clips are imported and automatically replace the old ones in the template.
5. The timeline adjusts to the new clip lengths while preserving all effects and settings.
6. User can make final adjustments and export the new video quickly.

Additional notes and benefits

• Significant time-saving for recurring projects (e.g., weekly news updates, recurring show formats).
• Consistency across multiple videos in a series.
• Reduced risk of errors when recreating complex effect combinations.
• Improved workflow efficiency for content creators and video production teams.
  This feature would greatly enhance KDEnlive’s capabilities for users who frequently produce similar-format videos, positioning it as a more powerful tool for professional and semi-professional video production.
• An example where similar functionality already exists is “Swoopware”, which is implemented on top of another editor.

[berndmj]

Hi, and welcome to the community and forum.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on project templates. Very valuable input, but I am not sure the dev team will pick it up from here. Hence I suggest you open a [Feature Request] in the official bug tracker.

Some of the things you mention already exist, albeit with slightly different functionality. For example, replacing clips is already possible: right-click on the clip in the bin and select Replace Clip. The cuts, duration, start/end, and all effects etc. are preserved. Of course, if the replacement clip is shorter, any keyframes outside of its length are discarded.

Which brings me to the question, on what basis Kdenlive should resize and reposition: easy when the replacement clip is shorter; use the new length if the old clip has not been cut? What if the old clip has been trimmed but you want the new one uncut/untrimmed? What if it’s the other way round?
And I don’t understand what you mean with #5.

[mhavo]

@berndmj

Some of the things you mention already exist, albeit with slightly different functionality. For example, replacing clips is already possible: right-click on the clip in the bin and select Replace Clip. The cuts, duration, start/end, and all effects etc. are preserved. Of course, if the replacement clip is shorter, any keyframes outside of its length are discarded.

Which brings me to the question, on what basis Kdenlive should resize and reposition: easy when the replacement clip is shorter; use the new length if the old clip has not been cut? What if the old clip has been trimmed but you want the new one uncut/untrimmed? What if it’s the other way round?
And I don’t understand what you mean with #5

Thank you for your thoughtful reply and welcoming me to the community. I’d like to clarify the template functionality I had in mind:

The template works like a skeleton for the project’s backbone, where key points such as transitions, audio settings, and effect placements remain fixed. The video length is mainly affected by each replaceable video clip stretching or shrinking as needed within the constraints set by the template.

If an input clip is shorter than absolutely necessary, the template could alert the user that, for example, a required cross-fade isn’t possible. The user can then resolve the issue by shortening another crossfaded clip or lengthening the too-short clip.

In the template, elements like background music start and end points are “anchored” to specific clips and flex with clip duration, maintaining desired pacing and synchronization.

Regarding point #5 (bulk clip replacement), the idea is to allow users to save recurring video clips in a folder with names like “Take1.mp4, Take2.mp4,” etc. The user would then point the template to a new folder, and it would automatically pick up all clips from that folder, matching them to placeholder clips in the template with the same names. An even more advanced method would be to import videos from the given folder in sequence and place them on the timeline in order, each in its designated spot.

This solves scenarios where, for example, the same recurring event is filmed with the same number of clips. It would allow users to drop videos directly from a GoPro into a new project’s “source material folder,” and KDEnlive’s template would process the video almost to completion with minimal user intervention.

To demonstrate the template and resulting workflow, we can think about “what would a human do?” At each step where we encounter an edge case, the template can raise an error or question for the user to resolve. This approach allows for flexibility while maintaining the overall structure and timing relationships in the template.

This functionality has already been implemented in another paid editor extension, so it’s not an entirely new concept. It’s designed to streamline recurring tasks while still giving the user control over important decisions, potentially making KDEnlive an even more powerful tool for professional and semi-professional video production.

I appreciate your suggestion about submitting a feature request through the official bug tracker. I’ll definitely consider doing that to ensure the dev team sees these ideas.

[Ron]

I’m a big fan of delegating gruntwork to automation, so I was curious to see what insights for useful busywork reduction might shake out of this thread.

I confess I’m not a big fan of X Y problems though - which is where people imagine imaginary generic problems and invent proposed use cases from a general population of imagined users to wrap around and try to justify an already imagined solution (X) - instead of just clearly describing their own actual problem (Y) and which bits of it they find problematic.

So I had to chuckle reading your followup explanation, because while I only got through the first few points of your initial post before my eyes glazed over and all the words just said “too many variables and edge cases to actually save any time in almost any real world use without further clarification of what you really want to do” - by contrast, the followup, for me at least, painted an image that made what you weren’t saying clearer and clearer with every word that didn’t actually say it. So clear that when I looked back at your original post and noticed the reference to “Swoopware”. I didn’t even need to search for it to guess exactly what it was

So let me see if I can describe a bit more precisely what it seems you actually want:

You want a magic button to pipe the hamburger helper in and around monotonously formulaic tandem skydive videos …

And you can’t afford to have anyone spend any time or thought on creating them, because you’re in a race to the bottom on the price you charge customers for having one made of their Big Day Out, so there’s nobody whose job it is to edit these into something tasteful and special - and in most cases there isn’t even a dedicated camera flyer anymore - just a tandem master shooting selfies who wants to drop their rig in the hanger and offload the punter and their footage as fast as possible so they can get on the next load with another one.

So if even the sub $100 fees for the already existing “solution” are prohibitively expensive - perhaps your actual problem is a little bigger than just this …

And I’m not pointing fingers specifically at you, you probably didn’t create this problem yourself, you’re just caught up in it - but technology has come so far since the days when camera flyers were creating analog edits in real-time with a Video8 camera, a CD player and a VHS video recorder - that it’s just a little disappointing to see it mostly being used to pay fewer people less than to produce a superior product for the people actually doing the paying.

An untrained, and possibly even disinterested (in video production), person isn’t going to be faster at muddling though what to do for each edge case than an experienced video editor will be at making something watchable from the source material that was actually recorded (as opposed to what the hamburger recipe said should have been tossed into the bowl to be mixed with off the shelf herbs and spices).

If every customer’s video is just <insert your predetermined action here> between a bunch of cut scenes, they’re going to start looking pretty boring compared to their mate who for a tiny fraction of the price just took a shot of their face and deep-faked it onto something far more tailor made, unique, and exciting…

Which isn’t to say that being able to template things isn’t useful. Just that what you really want is such a specialised sausage maker, that people selling souvenir photos from carnival rides with rails might be about the only other user with a similar use. If you can’t take the path of producing a premium quality product made by a skilled artist - you probably are better off using the ‘industry standard’ sausage machine, because at least then your new and visiting tandem masters will already know how to chop the meat to throw in its hopper instead of having to learn your special rules and disappointing a bunch of customers until they are robot enough in your system to get them right.

You wouldn’t ask the guy at the photo lab to take your mother for a tandem. Why think most tandem masters are likely to be any better at doing his job?

[berndmj]

I am starting to enjoy reading your prose I guess you are a professional writer of sorts …

While I am definitely lacking the language skills and wittiness to express my thoughts such that reading this is fun, I agree with your main thought: The internet has made people expect everything to be available free of charge at top quality. No-one is willing to pay for a quality product anymore. Heck, no-one wants quality anymore. Quick consumption at no cost, the next thing just awaits being glanced at and thrown away. Videos are the modern fast food, TikTok and the like the McDonalds of clips.