Kubuntu Focus: Video Editing Guided Solution

Video Editing

Use Kdenlive or DaVinci Resolve

Create professional quality videos using Kdenlive and other tools.

Create a project directory
Copy video and audio to project directory
Start editing
Pre-process audio with Audacity
Davinci Resolve
Troubleshooting
Revisions
Disclaimer

Create and edit videos with Kdenlive.

Please read the disclaimer before proceeding. We review and update guided solutions regularly. If you have suggestions or requests, please write support@kfocus.org.

Create a project directory

Create a project directory to hold all your clips and other project files. Name it something like VideoProject-001.

Copy video and audio to project directory

Use KDE Connect to download files and videos from your Android device to your project directory. Alternately, copy the files directly from an SD Card or USB stick using the Dolphin file manager or terminal.

Start editing

The official Kdenlive documentation provides an up-to-date tutorial for getting started with video editing. We recommend starting here.

The Kdenlive main window. Image is Copyright (C) the Kdenlive developers. Taken from the official Kdenlive documentation, used as permitted by the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license. Image is provided as-is (without warranty) for example purposes.

Pre-process audio with Audacity

We often use Audacity to edit audio files that are extracted from video.

Davinci Resolve

We have considered LightWorks and DaVinci Resolve. While neither are free software, both are available at no cost to get started. What we really appreciate about DaVinci Resolve is that it uses GPU acceleration throughout the production pipeline.

DaVinci Resolve requires a discrete GPU in order to function. It therefore works on M1 and M2 devices, but will not start properly on systems with only an iGPU, such as XE, Ir, and NX devices.

To install Resolve 18 on 24.04 LTS (Noble) systems, you first must download the software from this page. To start the download, you will need to fill out the required fields for first and last name, email, phone number, country, street, city, state, and zip code information and then click on Download Linux. As of 2024-06-27, Davinci Resolve 19 is in public beta. The download version we have here is 18.6.6.

To install Resolve 18 on 24.04 LTS (Noble) systems, some workarounds are required. We have confirmed the following installation procedure (adapted from here) works on Kfocus M1 and M2 systems.

# If we are not on Noble, exit. There is no need for workarounds on Jammy. grep -q 24.04 /etc/os-release || exit; sudo -i cd /home/user/Downloads unzip DaVinci_Resolve_18.6.6_Linux.zip SKIP_PACKAGE_CHECK=1 ./DaVinci_Resolve_18.6.6_Linux.run -i # Once installation succeeds, make Resolve use additional system libraries mkdir -p /opt/old-resolve-libs cd /opt/resolve/libs mv libglib-2.0.so* /opt/old-resolve-libs/ mv libgio-2.0.so* /opt/old-resolve-libs/ mv libgmodule-2.0.so* /opt/old-resolve-libs/ # Start Resolve for the first time exit # to leave root mode # Start from CLI or menus /opt/resolve/bin/resolve # To cleanly remove later: /opt/resolve/installer

Upon first startup, you may encounter a solid-white/gray window upon first startup. If this happens, click it, press [ALT][F4] to close it, then wait for KDE to inform you that the application is not responding. In the pop-up window that appears, choose to terminate the application. Resolve should then launch normally. This appears to only occurs when you launch Resolve for the first time.

One thing DaVinci Resolve cannot do is convert video files for import on-the-fly like Kdenlive, so we recommend converting to xvid using WinFF. To do this, copy the following and save it as xvid.wff. Then, in WinFF, click File > Import Preset and select this file.

<presets> <Xvid> <label>Xvid MOV Davinci Resolve</label> <params>-c:v libxvid -q:v 1 -c:a pcm_s24le</params> <extension>mov</extension> <category>QuickTime</category> </Xvid> </presets>

Then add media to convert and using the profile called Xvid MOV Davinci Resolve to convert the media. This page provides more details.

The licensed Davinci Resolve Studio has better import capability, so if you have purchased the software, this step may not be necessary for many formats. This software package differs from the free version and you can download it here. The guide below shows how to activate a license.

Blackmagicdesign has tutorials for Davinci Resolve and you can find and download them from their website here. We highly recommend you download, decompress, and follow the first two training videos and follow along to test your installation.

Troubleshooting

Q: The video preview window in Davinci Resolve isn't working. How do I fix this?

A: This is an application error in Davinci Resolve. It can be fixed by saving your project, closing Davinci Resolving, and opening it again.

Q: I plugged in a microphone but when I went to record in Audacity nothing showed up. How do I fix this?

A1: Go to Pulse Audio Volume Control, under Output Devices make sure that the microphone is unmuted and set as default and mute any other mics using the icons in the top right corner of the microphone control.

A2: Audacity 3.4.2 on Kubuntu 24.04 LTS was originally problematic on Nvidia systems. However, as of Fall 2024, it appears to be working correctly again. Other tools you might consider for sound mixing include Ardour, Kdenlive, DiVinci Resolve, OBS Studio.

Revisions

This is a partial revision history. See the git repository for all entries.

2024-12-06 35123b93 Normalize Hints Widget name and keyboard shortcut format
2024-07-28 ee7b4601 Update metadata content, collapsable sections, lightbox
2024-07-05 3d1c46d3 Add troubleshooting solution for Audacity mic problem
2024-07-02 c83184e4 Switch to kfocus-mime schema
2024-06-27 363bc135 Update for Davinci Resolve and WinFF
2024-06-10 d2d31013 Update for Noble, Kdenlive, DaVinci Resolve
2024-03-18 fb9b592d Add syntax highlighting for codeblocks
2023-11-18 e770b1c6 Add search and help bar
2022-08-05 23ad1db1 Replace old tool image
2022-08-04 45ce66b5 Update text and change video link
2022-01-21 668e16d4 Update titles, images, and carousel image presentation
2021-10-25 9036f3fe Overhaul table and links
2021-10-11 f726f2bf Secure links
2021-10-10 5728326e Reformat to 2-column
2021-09-22 dc862884 Update link and headline colors
2021-08-23 681261b4 Review and update codeblocks
2021-06-02 5bf90ae2 Adjust links
2021-06-01 db8d7d72 Add WinFF instructions
2020-06-10 c4ed9299 Restructure layout

Disclaimer

We try hard to provide a useful solution validated by professionals. However, we cannot anticipate every situation, and therefore cannot guarantee this procedure will work for your needs. Always backup your data and test the solution to determine the correct procedure for you.

THIS SOLUTION IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOLUTION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.