Capcut is a free video editor surprisingly powerful, rich in features, and easy to use. For most drone users and video creators, acquiring expensive editing programs or paying monthly subscriptions is no longer necessary
It works on computers and smartphones or tablets. In this video, I will show you how to use it on PC and Mac. Most functionalities are similar for mobile devices, but the interface differs slightly
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Interface
Importing Footage
After starting the program, we are presented with the editing workspace
We can import the footage we want to insert into our project on the top left window. By clicking on Import, we navigate to the location on the hard drive, select one or more files, and hit OK
The clips will remain in the import window. Click on one of them to visualize it on the Previewing window in the middle. On the bottom right, we find three icons to zoom in or out, modify the aspect ratio, or visualize in full screen
Inside the icon in the Import window, a vertical white bar shows the play head’s position on the clip. We can trim it using the left and right handles, but I prefer using the timeline for a more accurate workflow
In the Previewing window in the middle, the menu at the top right has different options:
- Show the Oscilloscopes to help color grading
- Choose a lower Resolution if the computer is not powerful enough to show the full quality
- Take a Screenshot of the clip
On the Detail window to the right, we can rename the project, choose to import the files into the project or leave them in the original folder, and modify the frame rate. I set it to 24 fps as the footage was shot at this frequency
Organizing the Timeline
Let’s drag a clip to the timeline for organizing our project. On the top left, there is a series of icons
With the first one, we can modify the behavior of the mouse from Select (shortcut A) to Split (Shortcut B) which turns it into a knife, to Select all the clips to the left or Select all clips to the right
The following icon splits the clip at the play head position. The next one deletes the left portion of a clip starting from the play head, the following one performs the same operation to the right
After splitting or deleting portions of a clip we can still restore it by dragging the right or left edge
We can also add a Marker for reference at the play head position, name it, and modify the color
When a clip is selected, other icons appear to the right of the marker icon:
- Freeze, takes a snapshot of the frame at the play head position
- Reverse the clip to play backward
- Mirror to flip the image horizontally
- Rotate by 90 degrees
- Crop
I want to extract some footage from the three clips I imported. I bring the first one to the timeline
I want the first portion to start when the car is moving. I can click on the icon Delete Left (Q) to trim the portion to the left
Then I want a sequence with the camera in top-down position keeping the sky out of the frame, so I will cut the clip around here. I can select the tool Split (control B) to cut the clip at the play head position
Then I want to extract a clip at the end of this hairpin turn of the road. There is a big shift in luminosity when the sky goes out of the frame, indicating that Auto exposure was used. I never shoot footage in Auto exposure for this reason. I want the clip to start after the shift in luminosity, about here, so I click on Split, then I go to the ending point for this portion and split it again
We can remove the portion by selecting it and pressing the Cancel key on the keyboard. The gap left by the deleted clip has been automatically filled. This is because this icon, Main Track Magnet, on the right part of the timeline is turned on, so all gaps are automatically filled
I want to keep the third track going until this point, right after crossing another car. I am not interested in the rest of the clip, so I hit Delete Right
There are a few more icons on the toolbar on the top right of the timeline:
- Autosnapping can always be left on, as it helps position a clip next to another
- Preview Axis to visualize the clip by scrolling over the timeline
- Zoom to fit the timeline, which is self-explanatory
- Finally, there is a cursor to Zoom in or out
Modifying footage
When a video clip is selected we can modify the aspect of the footage through the window at the right
The Video tab is selected by default. We can zoom in or out by using the slider, entering the numeric value, or using the small arrows to the right for more precision
Through the diamond icon to the right, we can apply keyframes to modulate the intensity during the clip
Let’s say we want to progressively zoom into this car toward the end of the clip. I bring the timeline to the point where I want the zoom to start, set the value to 100%, and click on the diamond to set a keyframe
I then move the play head to the end of the clip and enter a zoom value of 150%. Another keyframe is set when we enter the new value. The clip now zooms in progressively until the end. In the timeline we can visualize the keyframes created and move them around if necessary
In the same tab we can rotate the clip and modify the Opacity. In the next tab, Speed, we can speed up or slow down the footage, the duration of the clip at the new speed will be shown below. In the Curve tab, we can select several pre-made speed effects that can be further modified
Color grading
Let’s now import this clip that needs serious color grading. It is a sliding view of Mount Etna in Sicily taken with a Mini 4 Pro in D-Log M color profile. As you can see the footage is very flat
On the top left of the screen, I select Adjustment, the last icon to the right, and then on Custom Adjustment I click on the plus sign Add To Track. A new icon for the adjustment appears in the timeline at the position of the play head. It can be resized by dragging the two handles
On the right of the screen there is a window Adjustments with five tabs. Let’s start from Basic
We can increase the Contrast and the Saturation, adjust the White Balance toward the blue and the green, fine-tune the Shadows and Blacks, and add a bit of Brilliance
The adjustment can be made by dragging each slider, or we can use the small arrows to the right of each value for fine-tuning, very handy!
We can compare the adjustments made before and after by hiding or showing the track containing the adjustment layer
It is also possible to use LUTs. An LUT for D Log M with the Mini 4 Pro is available on the DJI downloads website. I created a new adjustment layer, navigated to the LUT in my drives, and added it to the layer. The clip now only needs a White Balance adjustment
The Basic panel is often all we need for color-grading a clip. However, other tabs are available for Hue, Saturation, Luminosity, Curves, Color Wheel, and Masks.
I cannot analyze all of Capcut’s color-grading features here, as this would require a specific article
In addition to the free version, Capcut proposes a premium one with even more color grading options. Click here for the updated pricing options
Pre-made filters are a simpler way to color-grade footage. Click on Filters on the top left icon menu next to Transitions to find a wide choice. Experiment until you find the ones you prefer
Audio
By clicking on the second icon on the top left of the screen we access a vast library of songs that we can filter by genre. We can hear a preview of the song by pressing the down arrow to the right
By clicking on the button below, Sound Effects, we are presented with a choice of sounds to add interest to our video. We can again filter and preview them
I have imported a copyright-free music track, I can drag it to the timeline below the footage. I can increase the height of the track with the music level. I can drag this horizontal segment to adjust the volume. Above a certain level, the top of the wave turns to orange and then to red, meaning that the volume is too high and some clipping will occur
To the left, we find an icon to mute the track if necessary. We can split and trim audio tracks using the same tools used for the video clips
With an audio track selected, we can use the right window to fine-tune the volume
Text
The next Icon on the top left menu is Text. After clicking on Default Text a text box appears on a layer above the video clips
We can resize and rotate in the Player screen. In the window on the right, we can enter the desired text
This clip was taken with a Mini 4 Pro. We can then choose the font, and adjust the font size, color, character, line spacing, and alignment
There are several preset styles to choose from. We can align it on the screen and modify the opacity
In the menu Bubble, there are some combinations of text with background, I found this one that I like. More options are on the Effects tab. We can then save the result as a preset
In the next tab we can animate the text by adding effects at the beginning or at the end, let’s try a few. At the bottom, we can set the duration and the speed. We can also select Loop for continuous effects within the text box
Transitions and Effects
When we have two clips in succession with different visual content we can add a Transition between them
We access them on the top menu of the Import window. By hovering on the icon we get a quick preview. We can then drag one between the two clips. With the transition selected in the timeline, we can modify its duration in the window on the right
In the tab Effects, we find more video effects to be used generally at the beginning and the end of the movie
Export
When our masterpiece is done, we are ready to export. After hitting the icon at the top right of the screen, we can name our project, choose where to save it, modify the resolution and the frame rate, and specify the audio format
Capcut is a powerful video editor covering the needs of most users even with the free version. As you have noticed many more options are offered with the Pro version. Advanced users may be tempted to switch. The good news is that it is affordable with several pricing options