Overview
Once launched, you need to add a video either by dragging a file into the program window or using the link to select it through the system file chooser. Recently used videos are displayed on the left and will open, once you click them.
General functions
1: Opens a new video for editing.
2: Undoes the last action.
3: Restores the most recently undone action.
4: Opens a product feedback form.
5: Opens the program settings that allow you to enable/disable hardware acceleration for video decoding and to change the program language.
6: Displays the status of your program license, provides news on Ashampoo products and allows you to contact our customer service.
Project management
This panel displays recently used videos for instant access. Click the "X" to remove individual clips or "<" to hide / show both the project management and the custom presets panels.
Custom presets
Custom presets allow you to save your tool settings for easy reuse later.
1: Hides / Shows the presets.
2: Creates a new preset based on your current tool settings. Once clicked, you'll see a separate dialog to specify exactly which tool settings should be included.
3: Imports existing presets from a file.
4: Exports the current presets to a file.
Preview
1: Displays a preview of the video at the current playback position including edits and export settings. If the playback position is outside the regions specified by the current sections, the affected video portion will not be part of the export, as indicated by an icon in the top left corner (crossed-out disk).
2: Jumps to the next frame.
3: Starts playback at the current position.
4: Jumps to the previous frame.
5: Toggles audio for video playback.
6: Shows/Hides all video modifications in the preview.
7: Allows you to specify the resolution and zoom for the preview.
8: Displays the current time stamp and playback position. Drag the knob to change it.
Section management
1: Uses the current playback position as start / end position for the affected section.
2: Represents the length of the section. Drag the markers to adjust its start and end positions.
Video editing functions
You can collapse/expand the editing functions individually by left-clicking their titles. These functions always apply to all available sections and their design follows this scheme:
1: Enables/Disables the function/effect.
2: Function title. Left-click to expand/Collapse.
3: Function settings
Paint mask
This is the program's core feature. Paint over portions to pause or animate them.
1: Select between the static and dynamic brush here. Portions marked with the static brush will pause, portions marked with the dynamic brush will keep playing. By default, the entire video are is marked as dynamic. Click a brush to enable / disable it and click between brushes to toggle between them. The dynamic brush mainly serves to paint over portions marked as static to undo the pause effect. If either brush is active, right-click to fast-switch between the two. "Shape" enables you to specify the shape of the brush.
2: Use these buttons to mark the entire video area as static / dynamic. This is particularly useful, if you only need a small portion of the video to move and marking the remaining portion manually would be too time-consuming.
3: This button reverses the current markings, turning static portions into dynamic ones and vice versa.
4: You can adjust brush size, hardness and opacity here. Hardness controls how much the static / dynamic effect will be pronounced near the fringes of the stroke and is especially useful for content that becomes "blurry" near the edges, like moving water. Opacity has a similar effect but affects the entire stroke area, perfect for "intangible" content like billows of fog.
5: "Select current image" allows you to use the frame currently showing in the preview as basis for the static portion of your video. Portions marked as static will then stay the same throughout the entire video.
Distortion
This function automatically corrects lens distortions based on the selected camera model and effect strength.
Exposure, colors
Here, you can adjust white balance, exposure and color saturation either through the slider or the text boxes.
White balance
Aside from the adjacent sliders, you can also use the color dropper to adjust white balance based on a pixel in the preview. Simply left-click the tool and then click the whitest pixel in the preview pane. The program will then use its color value to adjust the white balance for the entire video. Click the arrow icon once/twice to reset the upper/lower slider to its default position.
Rotate, crop
1: Uses the current frame from the preview as background for the cropping pane (3).
2: Determines whether width/height will be modified in equal measure or independently. The dropdown menu provides common formats/aspect ratios. Use the arrow icon to restore the width and height to their original values.
3: This pane allows you to resize/move the viewport that will be used for your video. Drag the border markers do resize the viewport and the center marker to reposition it.
4: Use the slider/text box to rotate the viewport or use the buttons for common rotations. Note that rotation may involve zooming to avoid black borders around your video.
5: Use these buttons to mirror your video horizontally/vertically.
6: Depending on your modifications, you will see a recommended video size along with its original size here. Click the links to use their values for your export settings.
Rounded corners
This feature applies a frame effect to the video. Note that, depending on the selected radius, portions in the corners of the video may be obscured by the frame. "Color" specifies the frame's color and can either be selected through the drop-down menu or via hexadecimal values through "...".
Speed
You can set the playback speed for the entire video here.
Text
1: Use "Add text..." to add the text from the text area (4) to the video using the current settings. Click "Delete all" to remove all texts from the video.
2: This panel lists all added text elements. Click an entry to adjust its text / settings. Click the "X" to remove the element from the video. Selected entries appear in bold-italic faced type.
3: You can set the display duration for the selected text element here, based on its beginning and end timestamps. Use "Current frame | Beginning" and "Current frame | End" to use the current playback position in the preview either as beginning or end.
4: Enter the text for the element here. You can also modify existing text elements this way.
5: Select font family, size and color here.
6: The font style (bold, italic, outline) is selectable here. Select the color for the outline style either through the drop-down menu or via hexadecimal values through "...". You can combine the styles any way you like.
7: Text elements can be placed at 9 pre-defined positions, selectable here.
Export
1: Sets the video output format. GIF is ideal for smaller videos, meant to be embedded on websites.
2: Adjust the video resolution here. Use the arrow button to restore the original settings.
3: Set the refresh rate (frames per second) here. Higher values lead to "smoother" playback.
4: Use the either the slider or the text box to adjust the video quality. The estimated file size is displayed further down below.
5: These settings allow you to enable / disable audio for your video or change the playback direction, transitions and pauses between each interval. Some settings are only available for GIF or Video. Note that number-based playback intervals cause the video to be rendered multiple times into the output file, leading to a larger file size.
6: Click here to start the export process, after you've selected the output location. Depending on the size of your video, the process may take a while.