Use Glaxnimate as plugin for dynamic mask-making and other annotations

[raindropsfromsky]

OpenShot should use Glaxnimate for creating dynamic masks and also creating dynamic annotation in the video.
(Obviously, Glaxnimate can make static masks and annotations too!)

Both Shotcut and kednlive use Glaxnimate.

The video is exported to Glaxnimate, where the dymanic mask can be created easily for any selected stretch of the video and imported back to the video editor seamlessly.

Here is a demo of how Glaxnimate is used to create a dynamic (animated) mask.

Here is a demo for showing a trip polyline on a map.
It also shows samples created with Glaxnimate: animated highlight on text, "drawing" a shape, "drawing" an outline around a person, and scribbling a signature.

Here is a demo for placing text behind an object.

Here is a demo for creating animated shapes on screen.

[Colorjet3]

I definitely think that this is getting beyond the novice user that OpenShot targets. Requires another software to install and learn.

Yeas, I know that you are thinking Inkscape and Blender integration. However, with Blender, only the engine is used to render the animated title and you never see the Blender application open. With Inkscape, it is a simple edit of Text object and done. By the way, I found out recently that you can use other editors as well, like Gimp, etc.

The lead dev will have to review this and decide what to do. I will not be making an entry in Trello for this until I am directed to do so by the lead dev.

By the way, I don't know anything about Glaxnimate, so give it a try with OpenShot. Just configure the path to the Glaxnimate binary and try the "Use Advanced Editor" with static test. Let us know if this worked for you.

[Colorjet3]

Hello @raindropsfromsky. So I read a little bit about Glaxnimate and it sounds like it is something that should integrate well with Openshot.

Sometime in the next few days I will install it in one of my test virtual environment and see how it works as well.

[raindropsfromsky]

Hi @Colorjet3, I deliberately provided the demos (which are short videos) to show how easy it is to work with Glaxnimate.
Just like InkScape, it is seamlessly integrated with the video editor (IMHO a little better!).

BTW, I saw some videos for kdenlive, where Glaxnimate is used as a separate app, and the output file is saved as JSON, and then imported in kdenlive. I didn't see a video like that with Shotcut, probably because it is used as a plugin there.

[Colorjet3]

Honestly, I didn't care for Inkscape at the beginning because I didn't know anything about. However, over time, by using it and learning more about it via tutorials, I find myself easily navigating around.

As I suggested, if you could configure OpenShot to point to Glaxnimate and see how the integration works, that would be a first step.

[raindropsfromsky]

I was proficient with InkScape even before turning to video editors.
So I am far more comfortable with Glaxnimate, which has a very small subset of InkScape commands.
But it has all the features we need in a video editor!

• A vast majority of InkScape features are not used in Openshot. We barely scratch the surface.
• On the other hand, InkScape cannot create the keyframed+tweening shapes!

So, on the whole, Glaxnimate should be the preferred choice!

[raindropsfromsky]

I set Glaxnimate as the Advanced title editor.

It works!

The black background is actually transparent.
It is replaced by the clip placed in the track below.

I understand that you only wanted me to check out the compatibility between Glaxnimate and Openshot.
This experiment would encourage Jonathan to integrate Openshot with Glaxnimate.
(He'd have the confidence that he is not wasting his time in this project.)

So I can confirm that a two-way data exchange is possible out of the box.
Openshot can launch Glaxnimate with the title svg, and accept the modified design from Glaxnimate.

That said, a title file is SVG, which is a static diagram.
Openshot does not accept a JSON file from Glaxnimate.
Thus, animation information cannot be imported yet.

Openshot needs a change of interface with Glaxnimate to import the animation data.

[raindropsfromsky]

Also note that Shotcut passes the underlying track to Glaxnimate.
For example, a video, or image.
Glaxnimate creates static/animated annotation on top of that reference footage, and returns all layers separately.
(Please see the demos I have provided.)

This is another reason why Glaxnimate needs a different interface.

Openshot is open source, so Jonathan can see how they have integrated Glaxnimate.

[raindropsfromsky]

Just checked kdenlive.
It has provisions to associate three editors, for image, audio and animation.
Typically, Krita, Audacity, and Glaxnimate are associated.