
VIX: A New Kind of Video Editor - jawngee
http://interfacelab.com/vix-a-new-kind-of-video-editor/
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philmcc
This is a clever solution to this problem, and there are instances where this
could be helpful.

However, if you happen to be attached to FCP, and have basic rhythm, you can
perform a more controlled version of this process in either FCP7 or FCPX using
MultiClip/Multicam Editing.

[http://youtu.be/kmFmyXWaQHM?t=3m27s](http://youtu.be/kmFmyXWaQHM?t=3m27s)

Using keyboard commands, in real time you can cut between up to 16 different
video clips. I basically play my keyboard like a drumset, and the result is
video that is synced to the audio, and allows more artistic choice over the
content selection.

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jacobolus
This is a cool idea, but I must admit, I find the example video basically
unwatchable, with the way it cuts back and forth so much. They might take
longer, but I would expect “a moderately skilled person in the use of Final
Cut or Adobe Premiere” to create a dramatically better final output.

~~~
taude
I thought the pacing of the start of the video with the super slow titling and
effects was enough to keep me from wanting to watch the rest of the video.
Internet ADD, gotta get to the point quicker.

Having edited some documentary films, though, I could see this as a useful
tool for a preliminary cut facilitator of some types of montage scenes...

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cjensen
Watching on my Mac Mini, some of the Video cuts are late. Your mind is used to
light being received in your eyes prior to sound hitting your ears. When
cutting, you should emulate that by cutting the video slightly early.

~~~
Synaesthesia
Yeah, maybe bring the video just 1 frame earlier, before that drumbeat.

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zyang
Not a replacement for final cut pro, but definitely handy for making quick
music driven videos. Definitely will give it a try.

~~~
jawngee
Definitely not intended to replace Final Cut Pro. Let me know how it goes!

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errantspark
"For a moderately skilled person in the use of Final Cut or Adobe Premiere,
this might have taken anywhere from a day to three days. In VIX, it took about
an hour"

I'm not sure where you got your definition of moderately skilled from, because
the very first video I ever made in Final Cut (or maybe it was AE) was pretty
similar to this (dubstep, cuts to music) and it took me about 3 hours to edit
together. I would consider myself a total noob, I didn't know a single
keyboard shortcut.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK--
TtQtVk8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK--TtQtVk8)

Considering the difference of work speed between a program where I know the
hotkeys for everything and a program that I'm unfamiliar with I can't help but
extrapolate that this sort of editing would take at most ~30m with a
reasonably optimized workflow using existing software. Anyone care to
disillusion me?

~~~
jawngee
I've been editing video for 15+ years now, sometimes professionally, sometimes
not. I mean Ridley Scott is _not_ going to be hiring me to cut Prometheus 2 or
anything like that but ... I have cut stuff that was in two AMA award shows, a
cannibal corpse video that aired on MTV, a lot of previz for larger raves in
the late 90's, a lot of the videos I do for experience retail installs now and
a couple of years writing custom plug-ins (mostly for AE) for a post shop.

This is also my second video editor, the first one being Shave
([http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/shave_video_review](http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/shave_video_review))
- which, unfortunately, got obsoleted with Mavericks (thanks Apple!).

Each of these videos I was cutting, which lead me to write VIX in the first
place, are composed of anywhere from 25 to 60+ individual shots, sequenced
into anywhere from 120-423 individual edits, depending on the effect we were
going for. There is no way you are going to do that in 3 hours and end up with
something near finished. You would be making, taking the average of 151 edits,
0.8 edits per minute for 180 minutes straight. The video you linked to had ~20
edits, discounting the time ramping/remapping you were doing. So I would
expect that would take you 3 hours.

The video linked to in the blog post consists of 30 shots and 292 edits.

Now on the other end of the spectrum, this video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs9ut-
gbYUU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs9ut-gbYUU) consists of 8 or 9 edits.
I started it in VIX, built the structure in about 5 minutes and then finished
in FCP and AE. So the edit itself took maybe 10 minutes, but an additional day
of post work because the camera man who shot it had no idea what he was doing
(it was our first shoot, so I wasn't as hands on as I should have been and was
far too trusting than I should have been). I mean motion tracking to stabilize
footage, they shot it at 30fps, so I had to optical flow it down to slow mo
and then paint out distortions from that in photoshop, etc. The color wash and
light leaks isn't there for aesthetics, it's there to distract you from the
crappy camera work. It was a major pita.

I posted the beta to /r/editors on Reddit last week I think and got a ton of
feedback from the pro's that hang out there, plus got a lot of input from
people I've worked with who do post professionally/commercially, so it wasn't
entirely developed in a void. I don't think it's the panacea of video editors
though, but it is is a pretty cool creative tool that supplants FCP or AE. You
won't edit a movie with it, but a music video, club video, behind the scenes
video, skateboarding video, one guy from reddit was using it for wedding
videos even. For that type of work, and of course I am totally biased, I can't
see myself starting it in FCP. Finishing in FCP? Yes, for sure. But not
starting, VIX is too fast to get to a good rough point.

Also, it's free. :) Well exporting to AE and FCP might be in app purchases for
$5-$10, I haven't decided yet. The magazine and the publishing platform are my
main biz, but I thought people would find this useful and/or fun.

Do give it a spin though and let me know what you think!

~~~
l33tbro
Admire your chops for doing this. But what do you honestly want to do with it?
From a professional POV, I think this may be a good tool for a mood reel. But,
even still, client will usually still want precision with that.

I would never use this professionally for any of the descriptors you - aside
from a wedding video. Your logic entirely negates storytelling - which is why
people are saying the example you've posted is so unwatchable. I'm not hating
here - just trying to give you a solid critique.

That leaves, in my mind, the casual user not really well versed in video
literacy. I'm talking your mom'n'pops and road trip bros who have a bunch of
Iphone/DSLR footage they want to throw down on a timeline.

As someone else said, I think there's a fair few apps out there like this. How
is yours going to be different? I think the motion graphics is a nice add.

~~~
jawngee
Do people not read the blog post, is what I'm wondering right about now
because in it, I outline exactly what I want to do with it, what I use it for
currently. It was born out of necessity, not because I wanted to slap some
weird idea together and throw it out there th change the editing world.

If you are talking about Animoto and that other thing that was posted in here,
Replay I think it's called, they're not even remotely similar. For one, VIX is
real time, Animoto and Replay upload your videos to a server, do the edits on
the server and you download the results. For seconds you have the exact same
precision in editing that you do with any other NLE, you can't change anything
with Animoto or that other thing except for picking a different theme.

Yes, you can let VIX automatically edit the video, but you can also change any
edit down to the frame.

As I said before, you're not going to make a movie with this. You're not going
to edit a TV show with this. But there are broad categories of other types of
editing where VIX is perfectly suited.

So in summary, I made it because I needed it, I put it out there because I
hoped others would find it useful. If they don't, it's no real skin off my
back, but I know that's not the case. Will it make me a million dollars? No,
not when I'm putting it out there for free. I make the millions with the
magazine and publishing platform I built VIX to help me build.

As for the posted video being unwatchable, it's a matter of demographics and
taste, I suppose. It's been tested with our target demo for Em Oi, Vietnamese
women ages 18-24, and it tested pretty well against slower/less edits. It also
"been blessed" by the people involved, including the photographer who shot it,
who himself shoots for every top fashion mag here in Vietnam
([http://bobbynguyen.vn](http://bobbynguyen.vn)). Could it be better? Of
course it could!

I don't mean to sound defensive, I appreciate that you took the time to offer
your advice, but I think you are under the false impression that I'm building
a startup around VIX or something, when it's clear in the blog post what
startup I'm actually trying to build. If you're interested in that:

[https://vimeo.com/68565914](https://vimeo.com/68565914) (demo of the magazine
app) pw: finalaspektdemo

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXlHFhbqzHU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXlHFhbqzHU)
(building aspekt experiences)

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demallien
Ahhh, very cool! If you want to sell about 10 times more though, make it
capable of exporting to iMovie...

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moonlighter
I’d be interested in how it’s built. What app frameworks did you use? Is it
written in Objective C? Etc. Thanks!

~~~
jawngee
Mostly Objective-C. Media via CoreVideo and AVFoundation. Document persistence
through ModelKit
([http://github.com/jawngee/ModelKit](http://github.com/jawngee/ModelKit)). UI
mostly custom. Beat detection and BPM detection is C++.

Interestingly, everything but UI should compile and work on iOS without much
modification. Doubt I will ever take it there, but you never know.

~~~
anewcolor
is the bpm / beat detection home grown code?

~~~
jawngee
Yup.

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madlag
There's an iPhone app, Replay, that does something similar: automatic
music/video tagging to build a video "counterpoint". Of course it's more
limited, as it's intended for general public, but the Epic theme is quite
convincing. Disclaimer: I am CTO @ Stupeflix.

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wavesum
Whoa. I've had similar ideas on my own, and now it seems they weren't so
unique after all. I'm founder of Wavesum which is focused on music analysis
algorithms and their applications. Would be cool to compare our beat tracking
algos. Lots of love and ramen was put into ours.

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mcphilip
FYI, when I see VIX, I think of the volatility index. A quick google search
shows this is overwhelmingly the case. A name change to something more
distinct could help with exposure. Good luck!

~~~
mitchellh
And when I see VIX, I think the VMware VIX API:
[https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vix-
api/](https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vix-api/)

But, I don't think it actually matters. Finance vs. Virtualization vs. Video
editing are all pretty separate areas of interest, and I imagine anyone in any
of those areas would know what they're looking for.

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mappum
The title made me think it was going to somehow be a vi-based editor (and that
sounds like a good idea).

~~~
protomyth
Try Avid, those folks are scary fast on the keyboard.

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quadrangle
This stupid site can't even show plain text without JavaScript.

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Nanzikambe
The important bit for the rest of us:

    
    
         Mac OS 10.9 or later 
    

LMK when it runs on something open source.

