LiVES is a Video Editing System

This LiVES Tutorial (lives_guide.html and advanced_tips.html) is licensed under a Creative Commons License
LiVES Tutorial is Copyright (c) Marco De la Cruz

[Last modified: 30/August/2005]
[Document CHANGELOG]

Introduction

LiVES is a Video Editing System created by salsaman <salsaman@xs4all.nl>. I came across it when seeking a program which would allow me to create my own anime music videos. Even in its current, early development phase I found the program to be stable, powerful and simple to use. I made this page detailing my video–making experience in hopes that it will also serve as an introduction to LiVES.

• The latest version of this document is available at: http://lives.reimeika.ca/lives_guide.html
• A single-file version of this document complete with figures and clips is at: http://lives.reimeika.ca/lives_guide.tar.bz2
• Please send comments and/or suggestions to <marco@reimeika.ca>
• No warranties whatsoever. If your computer melts feel free to send a picture to Mort's Amazing Exploding Motherboard :)

LiVES Installation

You can download LiVES from the following URL:

Obtaining and manipulating video/audio from source can be achieved by means of the following tools:

In order to encode using the available plugins provided with LiVES you will need the following video processors:

If you would like to create MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files and burn them unto a VCD/SVCD/DVD-capable player you will also need the following:

Although MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 are both mature codecs and extremely widespread, they are rather dated. Similarly the MP2 sound format leaves a lot to be desired (MP3 is much improved, although heavily patent encumbered). The tools below, however, allow the creation/encapsulation of an MPEG-4 compatible stream with Ogg Vorbis audio. The resulting Ogg Media (OGM) and Matroska (MKV) files are of better quality and smaller footprint than what the MPEG-1/MP2 combination can offer:

Finally, here are some free codecs. Currently the Theora/Vorbis/OGG format is recommended: it is fairly stable and absolutely libre. The other formats are also free but under very heavy development (and x264 in particular looks amazing) and not really recommended for production use (but feel free to test!)

Note: if using theora I strongly suggest using the MMX version which is about four times faster:

The trade-off is that these may not play out-of-the-box for many computer users, in particular those who are not running MPlayer. There are, nonetheless, guides for Windows users available at:

The easiest way to play Theora/Vorbis/OGG files under Linux is by downloading the Helix Player which will work "out of the box" if you install the RPM (or compile the source). For Windows users RealPlayer will work just as well, as long as you install the Xiph plugin. Linux/*BSD users can also view the clips using MPlayer or the excellent Kaffeine Player.

LiVES also requires the following software and hardware:

Software:
   Linux kernel 2.2+ and X Windows
   ImageMagick 5 (I strongly suggest version 6+)
   perl 5+
   gtk+ 2.2+
   libjpeg62
   gdk-pixbuf-loaders
   python 2.3.0+ (optional)
   xmms (optional)
   cdda2wav (optional)
   libdv2-apps (optional)

Hardware:
   x86 or PPC (other architectures untested)
   1.2 GHz+ CPU (faster recommended)
   256MB+ RAM
   2GB+ free disk space

For this guide:
   Red Hat 9
   Athlon XP 2100+
   512MB RAM
   200GB free disk space
   ATI Radeon 7500 All-In-Wonder
   LG HL-DT-ST, CD-RW GCE-8525B, 1.03
   LG HL-DT-ST, DVDRAM GSA-4163B, A103

If you would like to try LiVES without installing any software you can run it off the live dyne:bolic CD:

Once you have downloaded LiVES, installation basically consists of running the following commands:

where --prefix=/usr/local/software/lives-0.9.6-pre2 is optional and simply tells LiVES where to install itself (useful if you are not root, just make sure the resulting binaries are in your PATH). Note, however, that in version 0.8.1 and below there are issues with changing the install path, and it is not recommended you do so. Other options can be obtained by running:

before doing make.

For reference, LiVES installs without a problem under Red Hat Fedora Core 4 (although you will also need to install the various encoders, please see their respective web pages for documentation).

Last but not least, if you want to make an AMV you need an actual idea. For tips as to how to get around to planning making a video please visit Phade's Guide To Good Anime Music Videos at AnimeMusicVideos.Org, and while you're at it read some of the other excellent guides available or download some clips to study.

Configuring LiVES

Start LiVES by issuing the following command:

Here are the LiVES welcome screen and default "editor" theme:

Themes can be selected using:

As seen below. The various dialogue boxes under Tools &mdash> Preferences... are mostly self-explanatory, although further details about some of them will be provided later in the guide:

Obtaining audio and video footage

Footage can be obtained from DVDs, VCDs, or a firewire device:

Please refer to the Advanced Tips page for more information on obtaining footage.

Using LiVES

Before converting the source footage into editable frames an image format must be chosen. Currently LiVES supports either JPG or PNG editing:

JPG files are much smaller than PNGs, and therefore it's quicker to manipulate them. The downside is that they involve lossy compression, which may lead to videos of noticeably lower quality. LiVES does allow controlling the amount of JPG compression, and 0% compression will result in files of rather good quality (although somewhat large). Note that 0% JPG compression still involves quality loss. A good overview of JPG compression can be found at:

Please refer to the Advanced Tips page for more information on PNG editing.

Loading the footage in LiVES is then a simple matter of running either of the following commands (default shortcuts shown in parenthesis):

and selecting the video file e.g. dvd.vob. The first command will load the entire file, while the second allows selecting a certain number of frames at a given time mark. This make take considerable amount of time depending on the image format selected and the compression level. Once loaded, a LiVES session looks as follows:

The left window shows the play marker at approximately 25s. This is the position at which the clip would begin to play by doing:

which would look like one of the screenshots to the right depending on whether:

has been selected or not. The white section of the video and l/r audio bars represents selected footage, which in this case ranges from frame 3675 to frame 4210. Playback can be limited to this selection by doing:

To stop playback simply:

Other playback options are shown below:

The following steps should give you an idea of how to start making the AMV (note that this is not the most efficient way of doing it space-wise):

Be aware that sound and video synchronization is rather poor in LiVES, an unfortunate setback when making an AMV. This can be ameliorated using the "divide and conquer" approach outlined above: edit your music video in sections by working on one fragment at a time (see below how to make selections). This will not only save time when performing various operations but will lessen the synchronization problem considerably. I would suggest working on 30-second clips at a time. Backing up the video as .lv1 saves the clip without loss of quality, and should be done often (as a habit, not because LiVES is unstable ^_^):

Making a selection in LiVES can be accomplished by typing the start and end frames in the appropriate text boxes (the most precise way), or using the mouse buttons in one of the following ways (assume all frames are selected, or press Ctrl-a):

Selections can be modified in various ways through the following menu:

which offers the following procedures:

Note that video and sound manipulation (copying, cutting, deleting) can be decoupled (that is, video-only procedures), by selecting Decouple Video from Audio. Once a selection has been copied or cut the following become available:

These all behave as expected, with Insert from Clipboard... (Ctrl-i) offering the following dialogue box:

Merging can be done in various ways via Merge Clipboard with Selection. It can be used, for example, to fade in and out of scenes. In order to do this, select the final part of the first scene (right up to the frame which precedes the next scene). At this point toggle on Lock Selection Width and cut the selection with Ctrl-t. Finally, merge the scenes (Ctrl-m) making sure that Fade is selected and Align Ends is on (see figure below). The scenes will now change smoothly when played back. It is also possible to obtain a "picture in picture" effect by selecting Frame in frame position of clipboard specifying the size and the position of the interior frame. Other types of merge are B/W Threshold and Splice:

LiVES is also able to perform various effects on a selection via the Effects menu, here are some of them:

Original	Black and White	Negate/Strobe	Charcoal
Edge Detect	Flip Horizontally	Flip Vertically	Tunnel

Other effects can only be appreciated over multiple frames, experimentation is encouraged (you can always undo (Ctrl-u) and redo (Ctrl-z) actions). In particular, one convenient effect is Colorize... which allows to fade an image into a certain colour, which is useful to perform fade-ins and fade-outs:

New to LiVES (0.9.1-pre4+) is the ability to add custom effects, tools, and utilities such that the become available from the LiVES menus. The following images illustrate how to install desub.script to eliminate subtitles (you will need desub.py for this particular script to work):

LiVES also provides facilities to write these scripts, but they are beyond the scope of this guide. Further documentation (plus more scripts) is available at the LiVES site in the section Custom RFX Scripts.

The Tools and Audio menus are fairly self-explanatory. Of interesting note, however, is that Reverse Clipboard (Ctrl-x) offers the ability to reverse the frame sequence of any selection in the clipboard (but not the audio). Also very convenient is Resample Video to New Frame Rate... which does what is expected. Of the Audio menu, a useful function is Trim/Pad Audio to Selection, as some encoders trim the video to the end of the audio track. Using this option pads the soundtrack with silence to the end of the video track (if the latter happens to be longer). Otherwise the soundtrack is trimmed to the length of the video track:

Also seen above is a shot of the Info &mdash> Show File Info (Ctrl-i) screen.

The picture below shows some of the effects that LiVES is capable of producing during playback (VJ keys):

Although LiVES currently lacks a true pause, note that video can be stopped using Ctrl-Backspace. VJ'ing isn't used much in the making of an AMV, but you can read more about this and other topics in the official LiVES documentation by salsaman himself.

Encoding and backing up

So you have completed your masterpiece and are ready to share it with the world. LiVES provides access to various encoders via the Preferences menu. In theory there are many possibilities, each with its pros and cons, most of which are described in gruesome detail by AbsoluteDestiny & ErMaC's Technical Guides to All Things Audio and Video (AEG). Selecting the Encoder dialogue box under Tools &mdash> Preferences... gives various options with regard to the Output format:

In general the transcode_encoder and mjpegtools_encoder seem to work well, but experimentation will most likely be necessary. The multi_encoder is quite versatile and has been thoroughly tested. Although it's the slowest encoder, it will most likely provide the best quality clips (the qlo setting, however, can quickly generate a low quality MPEG). See below for details on how the multi_encoder works. For maximum compatibilty across all platforms and software players it is hard to go wrong with MPEG-1. For an overview of various codecs please refer to AEG.

Before encoding a movie it may be necessary to perform some pre-processing. For example, black borders around frames might need to be trimmed, or the movie might require downsizing in order to make smaller files. Both of these procedures are available within LiVES. For the former you can use Tools &mdash> Trim Frame Size..., while for the latter Tools &mdash> Resize All Frames... is available:

As always, experimentation is good, although you might also want to take a look at the accepted submission formats if you plan to enter the video in a contest (at an anime convention, say).

After so much work it is important to save your video, both for backup and for distribution. The simplest way is just to burn it on a CD. Burning CDs on Linux is an excellent tutorial on how to accomplish this. Unfortunately it is likely that PNG .lv1 files will be too large to store on a single CD. In this case a DVD burner comes in very handy (and in fact, DVD-RAM provides an excellent medium to easily store large files which may change often). For details on how to use DVD-RAM disks under Linux please refer to How to use DVD RAM drives on Linux hosts. Note that you will probably want to burn both the encoded files and, most importantly, the "master" .lv1 LiVES file (e.g. vid.lv1). Doing the latter will thus allow you to make changes to your video later on. In fact, it is very likely you will want to make changes: after a week of editing and hearing the same song so many times one tends to rush through the last few video-making stages. My suggestion would be to just finish this first version, leave it alone for a week or two (or longer), and then reload your .lv1 into LiVES to apply the finishing touches with a fresher disposition. Your AMV will most likely benefit greatly from this review (or reviews, sometimes it takes a few ^_^).

DVD±RW is also a good backup alternative. Unfortunately dvd+rw-tools cannot record files larger than 2GB, so you must split the file if you want to use this program (you can, of course, use the split command).

Miscellaneous Scripts

The following are a few scripts the author of this guide has written which may be useful for people making AMVs (or possibly LiVES users in general). They are all released under the GPL license, and may eventually become (if they haven't already) part of LiVES itself. Note that you will need all the software necessary to run LiVES (ImageMagick, MPlayer, etc.) plus Python 2.4.0 or above (simply type python -V at the command line). The version of ImageMagick used to test these scripts was 6.2.3 and they may or may not work with earlier versions.

All programs should be executable and in your PATH, except for multi_encoder which should be placed in $LIVES/share/lives/plugins/encoders/.

LiVES includes the script modulate for changing brightness, saturation and hue. This version adds gamma, contrast, decontrast and image enhancement.

Download modulate2.script now! (v. 0.1)

LiVES includes the script textover.script for for overlaying text. textover_level_2.script provides the same functionality plus it allows to choose the font and change text size, angle, position and colours in time.

Download textover_level_2.script now! (v. 1.0)

picinpic.script is a non-standard LiVES plugin which allows to create a "picture in picture" effect, with dynamic positioning and resizing using a variety of overlay algorithms. It is an experimental script which is not fully LiVES-compatible in that its usage requires input based on selection length and is not purely "point-and-click". It requires the auxiliary program picinpic.py to be present in the $PATH.

Download picinpic.py now! (v. 0.0.8)

Download picinpic.script now! (v. 0.3)

picfill.script is a non-standard LiVES plugin which allows fill a frame (or a portion wherein) with a series of sub-frames. It is an experimental script which is not fully LiVES-compatible in that its usage requires input based on selection length and is not purely "point-and-click". It requires the auxiliary programs picinpic.py (see above) and picfill.py to be present in the $PATH.

Download picfill.py now! (v. 0.0.3)

Download picfill.script now! (v. 0.3)

desub.py is a program which can eliminate hardcoded subtitles. It does so using the "selective cropping" and "overlay" techniques described in the Subtitle & Logo Removal Guide by Zarxrax and Machine. Here is its usage:

You can use desub.py from within LiVES by installing the desub.script so that eliminating subtitles can be done from Effects —> Custom Effects —> Remove subtitles.... You should put desub.py somewhere in your PATH and make sure it is executable so that the script actually works.

Although desub.py was originally created for subtitle removal, it also provides a convenient masking tool (particularly useful to eliminate talking in AMVs!)

Please refer to the Advanced Tips page for more information about desub.py.

Download desub.py now! (v. 0.0.8, needs ImageMagick 6+)

Download desub.script now! (v. 1.3)

The multi_encoder is a LiVES plugin which allows to encode clips into various formats (MPG, OGM, MKV, OGG, AVI, DRC, GIF, MNG) using various quality settings. It is included in LiVES 0.9.1-pre4+ and later. As with the other encoders it will be located in /some/dir/lives/share/lives/plugins/encoders. It uses the following subencoders when they are executable and inside your PATH: mpeg_encoder.py, ogm_encoder.py, mkv_encoder.py, avi_encoder.py, theora_encoder.py, dirac_encoder.py, mng_encoder.py and gif_encoder.py. You can check if the multi_encoder is properly configured by going into the LiVES encoder directory and running:

which should say e.g.:

LiVES should always ship with the latest version of this plugin, but just in case it's also available here:

Download multi_encoder now! (v. 0.2.7)

Here is the README.multi_encoder

mpeg_encoder.py is a program which is basically a simplified version of the mjpegtools encoder suite. It provides a simple way to create an MPG clip (containing MPEG-1 video and MP2 audio) for download — suitable both in quality and size — and also a few other "canned" settings, including those necessary to make VCD/SVCD/DVD-compatible clips. See the MJPEG HOWTO for reference. Note that the LiVES video is assumed to be non-interlaced (see Advanced tips for more info). I suggest using this encoder for distribution as it has the most widespread support. Here is its usage:

Download mpeg_encoder.py now! (v 0.1.6)

The ogm_encoder.py works in exactly the same way as the mpeg_encoder.py above. For this and the mkv_encoder.py script below you will need to have these programs installed. It creates DivX 4/5 or XviD video streams together with Vorbis sound in an OGM container.

Download ogm_encoder.py now! (v 0.1.2)

The mkv_encoder.py works in exactly the same way as the mpeg_encoder.py above. It is also used by the multi_encoder. It creates DivX 4/5 or XviD video streams together with Vorbis sound in a Matroska MKV container.

Download mkv_encoder.py now! (v 0.1.2)

The theora_encoder.py works in exactly the same way as the mpeg_encoder.py above. This is a modern, open source format which works quite well. However, it's still very new and has a few glitches such as high CPU consumption. You will need the theora libraries and the encoder_example program that comes with them. This encoder stores Theora video and Vorbis sound in an OGG container.

Download theora_encoder.py now! (v 0.1.2)

The dirac_encoder.py works in exactly the same way as the mpeg_encoder.py above, although many features are missing (most notably sound support). You will need the dirac libraries and the dirac_encoder program. For instructions on how to view the resulting files you will need to turn on Debug Mode in LiVES. This encoder is slow and highly experimental, and may break at any moment. Only recommended if you want to play with a bleeding-edge (alpha quality) codec. Creates a Dirac video stream (DRC).

Download dirac_encoder.py now! (v 0.0.a12)

The avi_encoder.py works in exactly the same way as the mpeg_encoder.py above, although the sound delay option is not linear (just an absolute shift). The encoder uses three different video codecs: the first is XviD video plus an MP3 stream stored in an AVI container, which should work very reliably. The other video codec is SNOW (plus MP3 in an AVI), an extremely new codec which is currently under heavy development. This codec is very promising but highly experimental, and may break at any moment. Only recommended if you want to play with a bleeding-edge (alpha quality) codec. Similarly, avi_encoder.py can also create an AVI containing H.264 and MP3 streams, but again this is a highly experimental video codec with the same caveat as SNOW. You'll need to have lame installed for this plugin to work, and the latest version of MPlayer with the appropriate libraries (tested with MPlayer-1.0pre7).

The best overall quality/compression ratio is undeniably provided by XviD/MP3/AVI, and although superior to Theora/Vorbis/OGG (as far as video is concerned) it does not possess Debian-free status.

Download avi_encoder.py now! (v 0.0.5)

Please refer to the Advanced Tips page for more information on how to install x264 support.

These encoders work in exactly the same way as the mpeg_encoder.py above, although many features are missing (most notably sound support). They create animated images suitable for embedding in web pages.

Download mng_encoder.py now! (v 0.0.4)

Download gif_encoder.py now! (v 0.0.4)

Further reading and links

As mentioned above, you are encouraged to read the official LiVES documentation.

LiVES @:

• Official site
• Freshmeat
• Sourceforge
• Yahoo groups
• IRC (#lives)

AMV history and examples @:

• AnimeMusicVideos.org (click on "Guides")
• thefinalact.net (download "Urban Ragnarok" now. Then get all his other vids)
• Delusional Productions
• You Know Who
• Koopiskeva ("Euphoria" is a modern, visually astounding AMV)
• The Celestial Realm
• Bobby Beaver a.k.a C-ko (his Miyazaki videos are still a benchmark)
• Aluminum Studios
• koronoru (Linux-made videos using Cinelerra, see his notes)
• quandasim (more Linux-made videos using Cinelerra)
• Lostboy's videos ("The Fall" is one of my favourite)
• jarnik ("Under a copper sky" is just beautiful)
• Kevin Caldwell

Encoding and burning:

• Descriptions of the VCD, SVCD and DVD formats
• Mjpegtools for MPEG-1/2
• VCDimager for S(VCD)
• CDRdao for CD-R burning
• Burning CDs on Linux
• How to use DVD RAM drives on Linux hosts
• Some thoughts on DVD authoring
• DVDAuthor documentation
• Aspect ratios explained and other useful information
• Interesting de-interlacing article
• DVD ripping and transcoding with Linux
• Encoding mpeg4 files from DVD under Linux
• Jacek Pliszka's hints about movies on Linux
• MPlayer - The Movie Player for LINUX

Choice is good:

• Cinelerra
• AviSynth
• OpenVIP
• Jahshaka
• avidemux
• LVE
• Kino

Author

Marco De la Cruz <marco@reimeika.ca> with help from salsaman <salsaman@xs4all.nl>.

If you prefer to keep a local copy of this guide and you've downloaded the single-file version (lives_guide.tar.bz2) you can keep it up-to-date by simply downloading the current html file (lives_guide.html) you are now reading and overwriting the old one. However, if there is an asterisk (*) next to a changelog entry it means that new local files have been linked to (e.g. pictures, clips, etc) and you may want to consider downloading the new tar.bz2 version.

• 19/December/2003 (*):
  • First released.
• 11/February/2004 (*):
  • Updated LiVES download, install and configuration instructions.
  • Updated MPlayer/sox usage.
  • Updated screenshots to 0.8.5pre5/6.
  • Notes on video quality.
  • JPG vs. PNG encoding.
  • VCD/SVCD creation.
  • Added advanced tips section.
  • Expanded the encoding section to include MPEG1/2 formats.
  • Player codec support table.
  • Added section on creating a S(VCD).
  • Added some more links.
  • Various cleanups and tweaks.
• 13/February/2004:
  • A few minor corrections and updates.
  • Guide update procedure.
• 25/February/2004:
  • Correction regarding sox behaviour.
  • Hi-quality JPG editing.
  • Minor formatting and wording improvements.
  • Mention pullup option for de-interlacing.
  • Expanded "Advanced tips" section.
  • Added a couple of links.
• 13/July/2004 (*):
  • Updated to LiVES 0.9.1-pre1
  • Newer versions of ImageMagick, MPlayer, etc.
  • Overview of the PNG/JPG formats, compression.
  • Many updated and new screenshots.
  • Re-wrote encoding section.
  • Corrected SVCD encoding.
  • Added a DVD-authoring section.
  • Added a couple of links.
  • Added "Miscellaneous Scripts" section.
• 04/August/2004 (*):
  • Updated to LiVES 0.9.1-pre4.
  • Added OGM/MKV encoding.
  • Updated desub.py
  • Updated mpeg_encoder.py
  • Added ogm_encoder.py
  • Added mkv_encoder.py
  • Added various links.
  • Various small corrections.
• 09/December/2004 (*):
  • Updated to LiVES 0.9.1.
  • Deleted/re-wrote/splitted-off a few sections.
  • Added advanced_tips.html.
  • All new screenshots.
  • Updated all encoders.
  • Added theora_encoder.py
  • Added dirac_encoder.py
  • Added mng_encoder.py
  • Added gif_encoder.py
  • Added a few links.
  • Various small corrections.
• 03/January/2005 (*):
  • Moved some content to advanced_tips.html.
  • Added avi_encoder.py.
  • Updated all encoder versions.
  • Added README.multi_encoder.
  • Tweaking.
• 04/January/2005 (*):
  • Updated avi_encoder.py to version 0.0.2 (has h.264 support).
  • Updated README.multi_encoder.
  • Updated multi_encoder to version 0.2.3.
  • Typo fix.
• 05/January/2005:
  • Added link to x264 libs.
  • Small corrections.
• 27/January/2005:
  • Updated theora_encoder.py.
  • New location.
  • Minor editing.
• 30/August/2005 (*):
  • Cover LiVES-0.9.5-pre4.
  • Fixed broken links.
  • Added more info about Theora/Vorbis/OGG.
  • Added some useful links (e.g. dyne:bolic).
  • Expanded and moved PNG editing to the Advanced Tips section.
  • Updated some snapshots.
  • Notes about DVD±RW.
  • Updated all encoders and other programs to the latest version.
  • Added modulate2.script, picfill.script, picinpic.script, textover_level_2.script.
  • Added picfill.py and picinpic.py.
  • x264 install tips.
  • Mention strict DVD compatibility.
  • Placed this document under a Creative Commons license.