Create Effective Videos with MainActor

MainActor from Main Concept is a low cost video editing software that ships with Novell SUSE Linux Professional 9.0 Multimedia. You can also buy the Windows or Linux editions from Main Concept's site for $199. The software can take inputs from analog camcorders, VCRs and DVD players. It allows the video editor to import new clips, edit

them, mix audio streams, add effects such as fades and cut-outs, and perform titling. The default output is a raw AVI file. You can also export the project as a MPEG-2 file. The best part about MainActor is that the interface is drag and drop capable that makes it easy to do things like re-arranging clips in the Timeline.

Let's see how to use it with PCQLinux 2005. We have provided MainActor 5 on this month's CD. Install this RPM and start it

using the command './Mactor'. Proceed with the steps outlined below.

MainActor 5's interface has five windows, namely Preview Timeline, Effects, Browser, Timeline and Media player that enable easy video editing Go to the browser window and right click on Project. Select 'Add Video Clips', from the file browser and click on OK. This will create a Media folder beside the Project To edit the video, drag and drop the file into the Timeline window. Now adjust the video clips as per the Timeline To add music, right click on Project and select 'Add Audio File'. Drag and drop the file on audio section of Timeline To add 3D or transition effects to the video, select the Effects tab from the browser. Here, drag and drop the effects you want to use to the video, to the Timeline  After adjusting the effects to the Timeline you can change their Behavior. Go to the Effects window and change the intensity and color texture of the effect  Once the video is compiled, go the preview window and click on the Play button. It will play the video with effects  To process the edited video and audio into a single file, go to File>Timeline>Export and select its type and format Click on 'Format Settings' to set the video mode. Here you can change the Video, Screen and Audio properties Click on the Export button and the software will compile the final video with all the effects that you have added

Sanjay Majumder