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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Lightworks to go Open Source

Has anybody, here on the forum, cut with Lightworks in the past few years? Just wondering how it compares to the three A's of NLE.
 
I used it in the film school, at Studio Masr (one our biggest here), that was before the touch version.. the old editors loved it a lot beause its interface was kind of simulation to Meviola.. I didn't have any problem with as long as I was doing simple cuts and dissolves on telecined film that was going to be re-cut on film negative.. it was a very simple application with desktop interface.. but never said no to anything I asked..
but, today.. it must have evolved a lot.. and being open source is a game changer..
 
Lightworks, ha ha! is for the real editors, the super straight to the edit, I have an assistant to log all my files type of editor. its popular for its dead sync sound, it will chase time code from multiple decks, dats, fostexs, aatons in amazing dead sync. Its a straight up editing application for the studio system post production chain where the editor does almost nothing else but just edit. I am sure it can do other things.
As open source freeware it has the chance of taking on a new life, with enthusiasts. Commercial plugin developers usually stay away from open source programs, you can imagine why.
 
Signed up for it. My first reaction is of course - what's the catch? Will be interesting to test it, but I am keeping my expectations in check. Lightwave is a big name of course, EditShare (and open source developers) have a lot to live up to.
 
Lightworks is the number one editing application at our facility. It is a very straight-forward editing system, which works with a dedicated control surface (console), and it is very fast to work with. The big catch of the open source is ofcourse that you don't get that console for free... and you can't really edit without it, IMO.
 
claesbert said:
Lightworks is the number one editing application at our facility. It is a very straight-forward editing system, which works with a dedicated control surface (console), and it is very fast to work with. The big catch of the open source is ofcourse that you don't get that console for free... and you can't really edit without it, IMO.
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So it would seem that they are hoping to make some money on the hardware since the software is free. I'm sure that Lightworks for free will also help brand awareness for Editshare. I've been aware of them in the past, but never took a serious look at their products. I'm starting to look at their workflow solutions now, and they are pretty impressive.
 
David Battistella said:
1. Competition (look what FCP did to AVID)
2. Open source (look what linux did to MS)
3. It is an excellent tool, developed for and made by editors, for free.

Why would I complain about it going open source. The community will help develop it. FCP and Media composer remain virtually unchanged in their "editing" functionality from version one.

FCP, premiere and AVID have offered many bells and whistles over the years but the core edit software remains unchanged.

Lightworks open source may be a great way to advance EDITING functionality the way the others have not.
David
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That an open source editor is becoming available is indeed cool, for all the reasons you mention. I use Blender for light 3d VFX work, and that has really opened my eyes to whats possible from both functionality and cost-effectiveness perspective with open source software.
 
claesbert said:
Lightworks is the number one editing application at our facility. It is a very straight-forward editing system, which works with a dedicated control surface (console), and it is very fast to work with. The big catch of the open source is ofcourse that you don't get that console for free... and you can't really edit without it, IMO.
Click to expand...

That could be the big catch.

There's no doubt that it'd work much better on the console, but I am sure it will have its share of keyboard/mouse controls. Of course, it is open source, so someone will surely work on it to make it usable. Anyway, we will have to test it for ourselves.
 
Subhadip Sen said:
That could be the big catch.

There's no doubt that it'd work much better on the console, but I am sure it will have its share of keyboard/mouse controls. Of course, it is open source, so someone will surely work on it to make it usable. Anyway, we will have to test it for ourselves.
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No reason someone couldn't design an OS hardware interface for the software, once the code is opened up, no?

I forsee a monster Arduino project. :laugh:
 
Rowland said:
I'm sure that Lightworks for free will also help brand awareness for Editshare. I've been aware of them in the past, but never took a serious look at their products. I'm starting to look at their workflow solutions now, and they are pretty impressive.
Click to expand...

I looked into EditShare back in 2006/2007 to spec an educational setup for a 40-station FCP edit lab room, but haven't looked in a while. In their infinite wisdom the IT dept. poo-pood the proposal because they couldn't easily administer it from sitting on their asses across campus, and they had a lucifer-brokered deal with Apple for XSSAN services. Still, EditShare seemed like a great company and for the money would have been more than what we needed, and they've expanded quite a bit since then it seems!

I've heard of Lightworks but never seen or used it before, but something I don't think I read elsewhere in this thread is the possibility for Video Assist operation. Especially when, according to the website, the following are possible:
MULTI-CHANNEL INGEST:
Lightworks is the only NLE available to offer multi-channel ingest, with support for synchronised capture, making it ideal for advanced 3D Stereoscopic projects.​
and
MULTI-CAM:
Advanced multi-cam editing with unlimited sources and dual-SDI outputs, so you can simultaneously view your source angles in sync with your edit.​
and
OUTPUT:
Full-screen video output through a DVI-attached LCD display, with support up to 2K Full Frame, offering an inexpensive monitoring option, with no need for SDI hardware.​

If all this is capable from a FREE open-source NLE, bye-bye FCP for video assist. And no dropping THOUSANDS for Qtake. Plus you can apparently import R3D files and DPX image sequences directly.

I singed up for the updates as well. Can't wait to try it out!
 
unexpected response from Edit Share

unexpected response from Edit Share

I inquired with EditShare about any available hardware specs for multiple stream capture on a MacPro of the new open source Lightworks. Here's the brief response I received:

...We are still in the process of determining system requirements for multi-channel ingest and multi-cam editing and playback. Please note that Lightworks is a Windows application. We will contact you as soon as more information is available.​

Having never used the software I was completely unaware of the Windows requirement. Bummer. Guess I was under the incorrect assumption that this "open source" release would be OS independent. Stupid me. :undecided:
 
Apparently EditShare is making a version for Windows themselves. But the code will be open for others to port it to other platforms.

How likely will it be that a stable Mac OS X version comes out in the near future? Not very IMHO.
 
Kenneth Elkington said:
Actually, while I know it happens, I've never been able to figure out why.
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The main reason this happens is licensing. Most of the OSS licenses (BSD, GPL, etc) require that any associated development be open-source as well. So if you're developing a plugin, you need to open-source the plugin. Not so hot for commercial plugin development.

One thing to remember here is that "Open Source" does not automatically equal "Free". They have become more or less synonymous, but there are a number of OSS licenses that allow for commercial license enforcement. AKA You can *develop* for it, but you can't sell/distribute it. These licenses are, for obvious reasons, less than popular with developers, and releasing under one of them is a good way to shoot your product in the foot.

A FOSS version of Lightworks would be pretty awesome. But I don't see this as the game-changer everyone else seems to. There have been a couple of open-source NLEs before, and they've never really taken off. Why? It takes a LOT of work to build a high-powered NLE. Sure, we all like free, but the reason the 3 As can continue building high-powered products that keep up with an ever-changing market is that they can pay their programmers.

Now, admittedly, Lightworks has the advantage of *starting* as a pretty kick-ass, well developed product. I just worry that if it gets turned loose into the world it won't be able to keep up.
 
Lightworks first public beta is available for download right now!

http://www.lightworksbeta.com/

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