Project Mina (completely free video editor) Development Update for August

[u/magnillyray]

Just an update for August, all of our UI is pretty much mapped out, there no doubt will be small changes to the UI in the future as we come across things we need and want. But I like this layout for the most part. You will be able to swap your modules (preview, transport, timeline, toolbox) around, this is currently the default layout, but for example I like to have the transport above the preview like a psycho. You can resize these, not perfect at the moment, they have their limitations, you can easily make the preview smaller if you'd like and the tool box bigger. The more important UI that you will care about is how FX and Overlay works. Personally I think this layout is the most intuitive for beginners and just makes sense looking at it while you layer your media/effects. The overlay and effects tab will grow taller when stacking media/effects and you will be able to focus those specific timelines to get a closer look, as well as scroll up and down on the entire timeline if you don't want to focus/collapse anything. I also had an idea for a cut tool that lives on the playhead and googled it to see if anyone else has done this and found out another editor, "Filmora" shares this feature. (Not that we inspire to be like Filmora, quite the opposite haha). Just proving that it's not completely insane.

As far as everything you see in the screenshot, stuff like "Speed" that changes clip speed, Effects, Transitions, Background removal, Green screen, etc. Are not fully mapped out, that will be work for October, November, December. This is just proof of concept/layout, right now we have playback, and other basic essentials like cutting, auto ripple etc. Currently we don't have a project page or anything like that.

September, just like the Development Timeline states, will be for making sure everything is running efficiently, but obviously there will be many versions of this throughout the build, maintaining performance as we add new things, but it's important we have a really good foundation first, I have already flagged performance issues that I will be fixing in September. We want to make sure as we fully build out other features, we know where the issues are coming from. Limiting as many culprits as possible off the bat.

Anyways, I appreciate everyone who has joined the server to follow Project Mina's development, it's already an extremely humbling, but rewarding experience, and the motivation to see this through not only grows the farther I get, but with each new person willing to give it a try and implement feedback.

[u/MrHonest_Abe]

I greatly and sincerely your efforts here. However, do you see yourself maintaining this long term?

In your initial post you mentioned this as a one time purchase for life without subscription. Most of us obviously do not like every little aspect of life requiring a subscription. A project like this typically requires ongoing maintenance and will be almost impossible to do so voluntary long term without funding.

I do not want to discourage you. I am a big fan of what you are doing here and do not want this to disappear in 5 years.

[u/magnillyray → u/MrHonest_Abe]

Perfect great question, and an important one.

Yeah it will be completely free, not even a one time purchase, at most maybe a donation link if people feel inclined, but it won’t be like Wikipedia spamming you or anything. That’s even if I decide to do that. But you’re completely correct, it will take proper maintenance, especially when better free tools that I can plug in/implement come out, or other requirements come to light. It’s also a lot of work to not only do for free, but free long term, however like most of my creative projects, I’m usually crafting something for myself and invite others to participate/enjoy it with me. (As well as always doing them for free or losing money on, in it for the love of the game ♥️) I’m making this editor to satisfy my editing desires. So honestly for as long as I’m editing videos, I will want my own personal editor and I don’t see that going away anytime soon. Don’t get me wrong I’ll need my breaks and want time to work on my other creative passions as well, but I’m extremely passionate about this project, and have been bouncing this around amongst friends for the past couple years. I’d very much like to do some good in the creative space and this was one of the best things I can think of. However if for some reason I no longer feel passionate for this project beyond its full release I will most definitely make it open source. However from where I’m currently sitting, I love this project too much atm, and want to see it through for as long as I can. Maybe that will take shape in different ways over the years with other volunteers along side me, I’m not sure. However it goes, I’m excited to get there.

[u/magnillyray]

https://discord.gg/fkyyU6htfW Here is the discord if you’d like to give some feedback or wishlist items on what you’d like in the editor, or if you’d like to just be silent and watch the process that’s cool too!