table of contents

1. Start Cinelerra

No Cinelerra, no video editing ;-)

This tutorial should show how to bring a video on top of another.


2. Start a new Project

Therefore simply press [n] (You do not want to risk to damage your work you've done so far, do you?)


3. Set the parameter for your new project

Choose in the up popping dialog your project's parameter. E.g. resolution of your project, framerate and so on. If you're not sure what the right values are, take one of the presets. I'm using PAL Progressive for all these tutorials. Confirm by clicking on OK.

Cinelerra: New Project




4. Create if neccessary a second video track

To get one video on top of another, we need two video tracks. To create a second one, (if you haven't already done) press [Shift]+[T]. Don't be afraid, your audio tracks aren't gone. Notice the scrollbar right of the timeline...

Two video tracks




5. Load your videos

You will need two videos: one used as "background" and a second one as foreground. These can be either two complete (different) files or parts of one (or more) file(s). To load these files, press [o]. The load files dialog pops up. Select your video file(s), set the insertion strategy to "Create new resources only" and confirm by clicking on OK. All files you have loaded can be found in the resources window as "Media".

Load your video files



The loaded files in the resources window




6. Prepare the fore- and background

If it's neccessary, select now the exact parts of your fore- and your background. In this example both videos are parts of two big files. To "cut" the needed parts out of the whole material select one file and either drag it into the viewer or doubleclick on it. Now it can be seen in the viewer.

Search the part you want as background. Use therefor the [AltGr]+[[] (inpoint of your selection) and [AltGr]+[]] (outpoint of your selection) keys. If you wish to re-use this part of the video, make it a clip. Press [i]. The clip info window pops up. Give your selection the name it should have as clip. If you wish, you can add as well some comments. Repeat this with your foreground.

The new clips can be found as "Clips" (Where does this come from ?;-)) in the resources window.

Viewer; in- and outpoint set.



Clip info window



Clips in the resources window




7. Fill the tracks with your clips

At first arm the lower track. To do so move the mouse over it, and press [Shift]+[Tab]. It's now the only armed track, so the others won't be affected by your work. If you want, you can arm as well some audio tracks by pressing [Tab] while the mouse is over them (to get the audio for the background video onto the timeline as well). Bring via drag and drop the background clip in the lower track.

Now arm only the higher (foreground) track and fill it again via drag and drop. Ensure that it's now the only armed track.

Timeline filled with fore- and background




8. Make both tracks visible

If you look now at the compositor, you will see only a image of the foreground. To make as well the background visible, a kind of transparency will be used.

To make the foreground a bit transparent, move the slider at the left a bit. Your foreground becomes a bit transparent. But Cinelerra 2.1 can do more than a simple transparency. There are different modes. In this example "Multiply" is used. Select it from the drop down menu.

Moved transparency slider



Choose the transparency mode




9. Wait until your effect is rendered

you have nearly finished. For a smooth playback you should wait, until your video was rendered. (watch the red bar over the tracks). If your computer is fast enough, you can play it right now...


10. Done

There are of course still thousands of possibilities left which are waiting for you to be discovered. Some other kinds of "overlays", (e.g. the picture in picture effect) are shown in the next tutorials.

Play around with Cinelerra!

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Contents released under the GNU GPL version 2 or (at your option) any later version