@3pointedit I had no idea that proxies made their own folders… you learn something new everyday:)
@DavidBrennan, have you ever given Lightworks a try? It seems very promising, and it will be the first cross platform dedicated video editor, beside Blender of course. However it may be just easier to work with than Blender’s shortcomings… for anything but basic editing anyway. Just a thought, here’s the link http://www.lightworksbeta.com/
Well, thanks for the link because I don’t think I’d heard of Lightworks before. But honestly, if I did use Lightworks, I’d just Torrent it since I can’t afford to buy it.
Really, though, I’m becoming more and more comfortable with the VSE every day - thanks largely to 3PointEdit’s contributions, such as his latest tutorial on Speed Ramps - and incorporating my Blender work is such a big part of my current video editing that, ya know, there’s not necessarily too much to gain by me using something else (plus, for me personally, I have an old computer, and so CPU and even hard drive considerations come into play, and they’re very likely prohibitive to using something like Lightworks).
I just hope that Blender continues to develop the VSE and add-ons are created for it. If they let it languish too much, then, yeah, I’ll be forced to look elsewhere.
But I’m proud of using open source software whenever possible, and I edit at a fairly sophisticated level, and so far the VSE has been satisfactory.
Lightworks is Open Source, although I haven’t seen any real evidence of this so far, but also has a paid version with addition codec options namely things like MXF and ProRes ($60 year).
I certainly wouldn’t tell anyone not to use Blender, just another option. I’m hoping for a useable VSE at some point as well but always on the look out for other solutions.
Regarding system specs/resources needed to use video editors, to be quite honest if you have any computer from within the last 5-7 years you’re likely okay. Video editing programs rely on the bandwidth of your hard drives more than your cpu or ram.
Video editing is what I do for a living, not in Blender of course, and sometimes Blender feels like trying to pick something up with oven mitts on… it can be done, but you really have to work at it.
Anyway thanks to the developers, 3pointedit for all his work, and people like you that are pushing to see what is and isn’t achievable:)
Thanks for the compliments, comeinandburn. My computer is from 2003 - so a little outside of the window you gave.
I’ll definitely keep Lightworks on file in my brain in case I ever truly need another editor. For now, Blender is good.
It’s also worth noting that, although I use Windows, I know there are two open-source editors for Linux: Open-shot and Cinerella. So for you or any lurkers, those are other options, as well.
Hah I edit for a living too, but i bust my brain on Blender for kicks. Actually I hope it keeps me sharp as I get old and slow. Many of my suggestions come from years of doing things the expensive way (pro apps on big iron gear $$$) but I like the hand crafted open source approach of the blender community. Silly little tutorials is all I can contribute but I’m happy to.
Well, you’re helping me out a lot. I literally just had to reference your tutorial on Speed Ramps again.
That’s good to hear. Are there any other tips or ideas you think are missing on the internet for the VSE? I guess there are many ways of working but I wonder what most people are unsure of?
After more testing it seems that the proxy option “Proxy Custom Directory” is buggy and does not create a folder for each new proxy clip. Avoid use until further notice. The regular option “Custom Proxy File” works fine however.
I completely understand. I have access to the commercial apps but use all open source (blender, gimp, ardour, inskcape, libre office, celtx), which has a lot of co-workers shaking their heads… ha ha. The only things I can’t do open source are video editing and motion graphics.
I hope know one misunderstands, I’m a huge advocate for opensource and not cause it’s free… I love the attitude and how everyone contributes. Thanks for the tutorials!
I know how you feel, I have to use a fairly limited editor (other than FCP) for TV news editing, and it doesn’t do a simple z axis rotate, so I send the footage to Blender and back. Now I am doing titles tracked to vision too, looks so cool. Colleagues have no clue how to do that with the dumb box they use.
My biggest problem is interlace for broadcast TV. Standard definition is being left behind in Blender development and convert 50fps to 25i is a problem for me (and only me apparently).
Well, since you asked…I’m wondering about “Markers” in the VSE. I’ve only ever used them in the Timeline to set up multiple cameras, but they’re apparently significant in the VSE since you and Turi talk about them so much. So if you have a link to anything about that, that’d be good, but please just do so when you have free time. It’s not any sort of rush at all.
My biggest problem is interlace for broadcast TV. Standard definition is being left behind in Blender development and convert 50fps to 25i is a problem for me (and only me apparently).
Are you referring to 2.63? I’m sure I tried in 2.62 and was able to use 29.97 (NTSC), although it showed up as 29 in the preset. Well it wouldn’t surprise me a whole lot, I think broadcasters are the only ones that care for these formats anymore simply because of the infrastructure. Did I hear that the RED epic camera will be doing 5K and 48p? Wow!!! it makes HD look like a joke… ha ha.
Ok I will look into them a bit. Of the top of my head I’m not sure they do much other than switch cameras in 3D view at the moment. And with Jump2Cut script they serve as in/out point markers.
Wel it’s back to the start of this thread for me. Blender stopped creating image seq proxies for meta strips and scene strips. 
It was working recently so Im not sure what state I am missing, all check boxes are checked.
Fixed: to force a scene or meta proxy render select Custom Proxy Directory BUT NOT Custom Proxy File.
Ta Da! 
Here is what I posted to the bug tracker:
- The option Proxy Custom Directory allows you to render image sequences for meta strips and scene strips into a single folder. They automatically have unique image names so seperate folders don’t need to be generated by Blender.
- The option Proxy Custom File allows you to render seperate jpeg movies for each movie strip, in this case Blender will generate a unique folder for each strip.
If you accidently reverse the selection Blender will write the movie strip proxy files over each other.
Suggestion:
I feel that the user should not be able to select Proxy Custom Directory for movie strip proxies. as that doesn’t work correctly.