This program allows you to capture the video of your desktop and save it on your PC in various formats. Coupled with a video editor, the program is a great tool for creating presentations, tutorials and demo videos.
VSDC has an intuitive built-in voiceover tool that allows you to quickly add audio comments to your videos without having to deal with complex settings of any kind. See it for yourself in the video guide below.
Please note, that the voiceover tool is only available with the PRO version of VSDC editor which is offered for $19.99 per year. If you are looking for a free way to record your voice over a video, follow the instructions below.
As you have probably noticed, both methods lead to the same result: your recorded audio files placed beside your video on a timeline in the correct sequence. The only difference is, with a free method, you have to manually record, import and position them. With an easy method, manual work is taken out of the equation, making voice over videos much faster. Which one is better? You tell us :-)
I recently wrote about how photographers should be seriously looking at the medium of video as a skill that should be in their repertoire. Hopefully, some of you were inspired enough to start capturing your own moving images and now you're ready to edit the footage. VSDC Free Video Editor could be just the piece of software you've been looking for.
If you're a working photographer today I find it truly hard to believe that you don't need at least some form of video editing software in your life. Even if you're not making Hollywood blockbusters then surely you're producing behind the scene videos of your shoots to put on social media or maybe adding music to that time-lapse you made while on holiday. How about just collating all those precious family moments off your phone to burn onto a DVD to give to grandma?
Sure, a lot of that can be done on a smartphone these days, but instead of struggling to see what you are doing on such a tiny screen why not use the computer you spent a fortune on with it's calibrated monitor and all that processing power to do the job right first time and with ease. There are plenty of options out there for editing video but most of the options come with quite steep price tags and a ton of features most would never use. Compatibility to work natively with high-end video formats like RED Epic's raw, the ability to perform stereoscopic 3D editing, or the facility to integrate 360 VR are just a few good examples of this.
Ideally, you want something that isn't so overwhelming that it puts you off using it, yet isn't too basic that it frustrates you with missing features (Windows Movie Maker and Apple's iMovie being possible candidates this). The happy medium could be something like VSDC Free Video Editor for it has many features one level up in comparison with many free and affordable non-linear video editors. I think it's well worth trying this piece of software as not only won't it cost you a thing, but because it has many useful advanced features you'll be less likely to outgrow the program as your video skills increase and your creations become more ambitious.
Just like most high-level video editing software, there are various visual and audio effects you can add to your videos to achieve the necessary result. Color correction, object transformation, object filters, transition effects, and special fx. If you use Lightroom or Photoshop you'll recognize some of the similar tools used to improve you images are also used to make your videos look better too. I particularly found the Quick Styles really useful for achieving dramatically a different look to my footage in just one click. Enjoyed playing with Greyscale and Color Temperatures to get some nice results.
Another way to stylize your video footage is with the color blending modes you're probably already familiar with when you edit your photographs. A nice bonus is the ability to add Instagram-like filters to your footage in just one click. Very handy if you're trying to maintain a consistent look to both your still and moving images on social media.
The pro version of VSDC Video Editor allows for creating different shaped masks for hiding, blurring, or highlighting certain elements in your video. Perhaps you want to change just the sky area of a time-lapse you have created or maybe darken the foreground of a video which is too bright and distracting. Masks are where you can achieve these adjustments with minimal effort.
To prepare a video for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Vimeo you can use the special export profiles provided. It can be quite overwhelming when first uploading a video online. These export presets guarantee you get it right every time. You can even export out as a GIF which I think is actually really handy as the format becomes more popular having been recently integrated into things like WhatsApp and Facebook.
This is a real pleasant surprise and supports my argument that you'll struggle to outgrow this piece of software anytime soon. VSDC video editor is currently the only free video editor that allows the export in H265/HEVC codec, the highest quality at a minimum file size which is essential for those often processing 4K and HD files. H265/HEVC codec, the highest quality at a minimum file size which is essential for those often processing 4K and HD files.
Shaky clips taken from smartphones, drones, or DSLRs will usually need a little help to make the footage usable and stop the viewer getting sea sick. The software's stabilization tool on the pro version of this editor will detect unwanted movement and removes it for you.
As hard drives become ever larger this might not be a big deal for many of you, but that the fact the installed program is less than 200 MB in size really appeals to me. Many other video editing programs can swallow up a few GB of space which is something you might resent from a program you may only be using occasionally.
We've all downloaded free software in the past where restrictions placed upon them have made using it almost impossible. The free version of this editor really has no strings attached. No trial period, watermarks, or ads.
So there you have it, pretty much everything you'd need and more to jump start your video career. I have been working in moving image on and off for the last 10 years and there aren't any features missing from VSDC Free Video Editor that would stop me completing the kind of video projects I produce. For those a little nervous about starting a new piece of software there are an ever growing wealth of video tutorials from the guys to help you each step of the way. If you want to take things up a level VSDC PRO has a few extra features such as hardware acceleration, masking, and multicolor Chroma Key, but even that won't break the bank at just $19.99 per year. In addition, the crew over at VSDC have offered Fstoppers readers a 30% discount by using code FSToppers_VSDC30 when you purchase your PRO license. Seems a small price to pay to bring you one step closer to winning your first Oscar.
Paul Parker is a commercial and fine art photographer. On the rare occasion he's not doing photography he loves being outdoors, people watching, and writing awkward "About Me" statements on websites...
I feel like some mention of Da Vinci Resolve Lite is worth including in this article - also free, and you have the bonus of becoming familiarized to a software that many pros use for color work (and moving to a place of more than that)
If you have video-editing needs that don't warrant spending close to $100 for an enthusiast-level application, you might be considering VSDC Video Editor Pro. It costs just $19.99 and includes some fairly advanced video editing tools, but it's well behind more expensive options when it comes to interface and usability. VSDC has improved in recent updates, adding capabilities like multicam editing, motion tracking, HSL color editing, beat-syncing, text animation, and more. Although we appreciate its low price, VSDC is not easy to use and therefore is hard to recommend as an everyday video editing application. Our Editors' Choice apps for nonprofessional video enthusiasts are Corel VideoStudio and CyberLink PowerDirector; for professionals, Adobe Premiere Pro gets the nod.
VSDC is available at two levels, free and the $19.99 Pro edition. The Pro edition is far cheaper than most capable video editing software. This paid version adds support for more media types, advanced settings, hardware acceleration, sub-pixel resolution, and audio waveform editing. It also adds premium support, plus extra masking and green-screen capabilities. You can upgrade at any time by purchasing a license key and entering it into the program; after a program restart, you get access to the Pro features. VSDC encourages free users to make a small donation to support the software.
The price is a deal in the enthusiast video editing software category, where prices hover around $100. But you get far more polished interfaces and more cutting-edge tools for that higher cost. Another free option is the open-source Shotcut, which sports a more standard interface and some powerful editing tools.
When you first run the program, a dialog box offers help with getting started. The choices include Open a New Project, Start Editing, and Export a Project. These are links to web help pages, which is similar to the way Adobe Premiere Elements handles documentation. I prefer a complete offline user guide; you can only get that with a paid account. By contrast, DaVinci Resolve gives free users a huge and thorough PDF manual.
The software includes separate tools for screen recording, video capture, voice recording, and disc burning, as well as a converter tool with a large selection of output options for popular devices and online uses.
The center of the program's startup interface shows five square buttons under the Start Project Now group and eight round ones under Get to Know Top Features. This group includes a 360-degree/3D Editor, Motion Tracking, an Edit the Beat feature, and an AI Art Generator.
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