Serif MoviePlus was a

non-linear video editor Non-linear editing (NLE) is a form of offline editing for audio, video, and image editing. In offline editing, the original content is not modified in the course of editing. In non-linear editing, edits are specified and modified by specialize ...

created by

Serif Europe Serif (Europe) Ltd (known as Roleage Ltd before 1988), a subsidiary of Canva, is a British software developer and publisher, best known for its Affinity suite of professional graphic design, photo editing, and desktop publishing software. The c ...

that allowed both professional and home users to edit digital video and digital images. This software is no longer supported, as Serif are concentrating on their Affinity range. MoviePlus was affordable and popular with home and semi-professional filmmakers. It can be used to edit material from

FireWire IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple in cooperation with a number of companies, primarily Sony a ...

-attached MiniDV video from a consumer digital video camera, professional DV camera or HDV camera. The software captures video onto the computer's hard drive, where it can be edited and processed. The result can be recorded on MiniDV tape, converted into a format suitable for replaying on a PC, converted into a format suitable for

uploading Uploading refers to ''transmitting'' data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients, and terminals ( SCP/ SFTP). Uploading can be used in the ...

to a

web site A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education, ...

, or burning onto a DVD. The current version of MoviePlus X6 requires a minimum of an

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

Pentium 4 Pentium 4 is a series of single-core central processing unit, CPUs for Desktop computer, desktops, laptops and entry-level Server (computing), servers manufactured by Intel. The processors were shipped from November 20, 2000 until August 8, 20 ...

Hyper-Threading processor or

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...

Athlon XP AMD Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of x86-compatible microprocessors designed and manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices. The original Athlon (now called Athlon Classic) was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and the fi ...

processor and 1 GB of RAM.

History

From the early 2000s (decade), MoviePlus has developed an enthusiastic user base. Originally, it was designed largely for editing video from

MiniDV DV (from ''Digital Video'') is a family of codecs and Videotape, tape formats used for storing digital video, launched in 1995 by a consortium of camcorder, video camera manufacturers led by Sony and Panasonic. It includes the recording or casse ...

camcorders A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-sw ...

, largely to produce

DVDs The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

. * MoviePlus 1 (2003) * MoviePlus 4 (March 2004) * MoviePlus 5 (March 2006) * MoviePlus X3 (August 2008) * MoviePlus X5 (February 2011) * MoviePlus X6 (March 2012, current version)(no longer supported)

Features

MoviePlus provides non-linear,

non-destructive editing Non-linear editing (NLE) is a form of offline editing for audio, video, and image editing. In offline editing, the original content is not modified in the course of editing. In non-linear editing, edits are specified and modified by speciali ...

of any compatible video format. It supports unlimited simultaneously composited video tracks; unlimited audio tracks; as well as standard ripple,

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slide Slide or Slides may refer to: Places * Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998 * ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018 *''Slide'', by Patrick Glee ...

, scrub, razor blade and time remapping edit functions. It comes with a range of dissolve, iris, distortion and basic 3D transitions and a range of video filters. MoviePlus, like all current NLE systems also has the ability to up-convert standard definition material to high definition as well as the ability to cross-convert video of differing frame rates. Like many similar products, all rendering is performed in software rather than in hardware: Rendering is a slow process, even on a fast computer.

Interface

MoviePlus X6 is based around the

Timeline A timeline is a list of events displayed in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representing t ...

, which can accommodate multiple Overlay, Music, video and audio tracks, either singly or organized into groups. Video and audio sources and images can be organized in a Media Panel and then dragged onto the appropriate part of the

. Using an in-built

file browser A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or p ...

, they can also be dragged direct from any disk location. Once on the

timeline A timeline is a list of events displayed in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representing t ...

, the tools in MoviePlus can be used to non-destructively edit, manipulate and re-arrange these source. All actions can be previewed using the Video Preview screen. The Properties panel displays detailed information about any selected source and permits detailed adjustments. There are two audio level indicators for the left and right audio channels. The positions and sizes of these panel can be changed and while using multiple computer monitors, the different panels can be moved onto different monitors. MoviePlus has a shuttle interface (for variable-speed scanning through a clip, forwards or backwards) and a jogging interface (for frame-by-frame advancing). MoviePlus X3 added a storyboard mode which simplifies editing for linear projects and cleaner and simpler interface.

Project Files

Like similar digital non-linear editing applications, MoviePlus does not actually alter the media sources; it builds a small "project file" which contains links to all media sources used, together with details of virtual edits, transitions, special effects and titling. Note: The project file contains only links to the locations of the sources; it does not contain the actual sources. When the completed movie is

exported An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...

, MoviePlus uses this project file to build, render and

encode The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) is a public research project which aims "to build a comprehensive parts list of functional elements in the human genome." ENCODE also supports further biomedical research by "generating community resourc ...

the movie. If a media source has been moved to a different location on the hard disk, MoviePlus issues a warning and allows the operator to find the new location or to remove the source from that movie. If several media sources have been moved to similar new locations, MoviePlus can quickly re-connect with the whole group.

Key Frames

Effects and envelopes are introduced by placing special "Key Frames" on a track of the

. Each of these key frames holds information about the "effect" to be applied at that instant to a particular media source. For example: The opacity, colour or zoom of a video source; the volume or pan of an audio source; the pan, zoom, rotation of an image.MoviePlus
, ITReviews.co.uk, retrieved July 2010 Key-framed changes can be applied at the source, track, or group level.

Computer Generated Sources

MoviePlus provides computer generated sources for coloured backgrounds, shapes and masks, and text in a variety of styles. These can be adjusted and dragged to the timeline.

Advanced editing and Blending modes

MoviePlus supports an unlimited number of Overlay, Music, video and audio tracks, as well as Video tracks groups for linking elements together. Blending modes like the ones in

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc., Adobe for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital ...

are also possible, enabling advanced blending with Overlay or Multiply effects that are generally not common on entry-level packages.

References

External links

Serif MoviePlusX6 (page from Internet Archive as original deleted)Serif: MoviePlus 5 User Manual

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

).
Serif: User Support Forums