Lightworks to go Open Source

[Andrew Gentle]

Here's interesting news from Creative Cow, the Academy and Emmy award winning Lightworks NLE is going open source in Q3 this year. It can edit R3D files natively and has been used on an impressive list of feature films. Once released, it will be freely downloadable. You can register on the website to be notified when it becomes available.

 

[Kalani Prince]

Wow. The collective consciousness is a powerful machine : )

 

[David Battistella]

This is going to be great.

David

 

[Jaime Vallés]

So... this will be a completely free NLE software download? What's the catch?

 

[Shane Betts]

Wow. Haven't used it in years but I used to LOVE Lightworks. This is cool!

 

[Kenneth Elkington]

Very exciting. Do you know which license it's going to be released under, BSD, GPL, Apache...etc?

 

[Andrew Gentle]

Very exciting. Do you know which license it's going to be released under, BSD, GPL, Apache...etc?

No idea but EditShare are going to keep control over it and allow devs to sell plugins.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Thanks, and thanks for the links.

Were the films in that list completely edited in Lightworks?

And is it mainly for cutting, or does it have strong audio support, etc?

 

[Daniel Browning]

This is great news. The press release was really heavy on PR-speak and short on actual substance, but hopefully things will move along quickly.

 

[Peter Hebert]

It is sounds promising indeed... if EditShare devotes enough developer time to keep the product current with the latest codecs and workflows, then it could be a game-changer, leveling the playing field in post the way RED is for acquisition...

 

[David Battistella]

I can't wait for this.

It's going to be good.

Always nice to have some alternatives.

David

 

[Kevin Downer]

Where's the shark?

It would be nice to see this fine often overlooked editing software come back to prominence.

 

[Paul Nordin]

This is going to be great.

David

No disrespect intended David, but what is going to be so great about it? Besides it being an open-source video edit tool, I mean. From my perspective, FCStudio is already virtually free and it includes a good Color tool, motion graphics, a user base of tens-of-thousands, and a fairly mature education/support community.

 

[Liam Hall]

Paul, I haven't used Lightworks in over a fifteen years, but for pure editing it was quite simply the most intuitive and fastest interface available.

Of course, if you wanted fancy dissolves and titles there were better solutions.

I'm intrigued to see how this version will stack up against FCS, Avid and the rest. Given the price, it's certainly worth a look.

 

[Dan Hudgins]

Shots made of 2K DPX frames

Shots made of 2K DPX frames

Does Lightworks work with shots that are made of 2K DPX 10bit log frames that are numbered such that each shot is like,

00000000.DPX
00000001.DPX
00000002.DPX
...
00065535.DPX

If so it could be used with my de-Bayer program maybe for Acam and other DNG based RAW Digital Cinema Cameras, maybe Epic when they get the "mathematically lossless" version output done?

 

[michael zaletel]

Anyone know what the core engine is written in or the language required for the plug-ins?

-michael zaletel

 

[David Battistella]

No disrespect intended David, but what is going to be so great about it? Besides it being an open-source video edit tool, I mean. From my perspective, FCStudio is already virtually free and it includes a good Color tool, motion graphics, a user base of tens-of-thousands, and a fairly mature education/support community.

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

 

[Sid Idris]

"Real time video and audio effects, including primary and selective colour correction, are all guaranteed in resolutions up to 2K, thanks to Lightworks powerful GPU based effects engine."

-cool.

 

[Stefan Christou]

Wow this does look interesting. I can't see it denting Avid's dominance simply because Avid is so integrated into any workflow, and is such a fantastic fully featured and fully supported editor. (When will you final cut guys just stop floggin the dead horse and realise that Apple have forgotten you and that there are richer pastures elsware /flame).

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

Does Lightworks run on PC or Mac? Both? A well respected NLE program for free? This will get interesting. I've signed up to test it out once it is available for download.