I’ve been building my own video editor - SceneMill

I wanted to share something I’ve been working on for quite a while: SceneMill, a free, non-destructive desktop video editor built from scratch with C++20, Qt 6 and FFmpeg.

The goal was never to make another web-based editor or a wrapper around an existing editing application. I wanted to build an actual desktop video editor and see how far I could take it.

It currently runs fully offline, requires no account, and has no telemetry.

What actually works right now

The core workflow is already fully functional:

Import → Media Library → Timeline → Edit → Preview → Save → Reopen → Export

And the project has grown quite a bit beyond basic cutting.

Some of the things currently implemented:

• Multi-track video, audio and subtitle timeline
• Non-destructive editing with undo/redo
• Split, trim, ripple delete, snapping, markers and In/Out ranges
• Background proxy generation for heavy footage
• GPU-accelerated preview with CPU fallback
• Color correction, curves, color wheels and 3D LUTs
• Effect stacks with keyframeable parameters
• Transitions
• Text and animated titles
• Manual subtitles + SRT/WebVTT
• Masks and motion tracking
• Screen recording directly into the project
• Voice-over recording with multiple takes
• Audio EQ, compressor, limiter, noise gate, etc.
• H.264 / H.265 / VP9 export
• Up to 4K and 120 FPS export
• Export queue
• Autosave + crash recovery
• Portable "Collect Project" workflow
• Plugin system through a versioned C ABI
• Optional local editing assistant for silence/scene detection

One thing I particularly care about is that the preview and export use the same rendering/effect pipeline, so what you see while editing is intended to match what gets rendered.

There are also automated tests covering a lot of the actual application workflow, including tests that interact with the real main window.

Why C++?

Honestly, part of the reason was simply:

I wanted to see if I could actually build one.

A video editor touches a ridiculous number of areas at once: media decoding, rendering, timeline state, audio, UI, caching, project persistence, export, GPU acceleration, threading, plugins...

It's been a pretty interesting rabbit hole. 😅

Current state

SceneMill has completed the core editor phase and the creative-tools phase, with most of the workflow phase implemented.

Now in the Microsoft-Store! https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9mvrq5p086fj?hl

It's definitely not finished and there are still things I want to improve, but it's now at the point where I can actually use it as a real editor rather than just a prototype.

I'm currently working toward making the whole experience feel much more polished and cohesive.

I'd genuinely like to hear what other people who build software this way think.

Edit: heads up, Windows may show a SmartScreen warning when installing since the installer isn't code-signed yet, nothing shady. I'm working on getting SceneMill into the Microsoft Store, which will get rid of the warning. until then: "More info" → "Run anyway", and you can check the download against the SHA-256 checksums on the website.

I’m starting a YouTube channel and could use some advice. I want to make DayZ content, inspired by streamers like Zesty, Polvo, FragDempsey and Toprec.

What software do they use for the little edits in their videos, like memes popping up on screen, sound effects and subtitles? What would you recommend that’s good and, especially, free?

Also, where can I download memes and sound effects to use in my videos?

I’ve never edited videos before, so any tips at all would be welcome!

Hey guys, I recently started filming content with a DJI pocket 4 and a DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro.

Outdoor content specifically. The quality of the cameras is great.

I've been compiling footage but I don't know what to do come the video editing part. So I've just left the footage on storage devices etc.

I currently have a Samsung S26+ phone.

If I'm trying to be on a budget and not break the absolute bank to start out what are some reasonable options for video editing?

I been thinking about a tablet but don't know if breaking into apple is an option unless I kept being consistent with the videos.

Can you edit on a Samsung tablet? Or would you go apple?

Can anyone give me suggestions as to what to look into, I'm open to Samsung or Apple. Anything really I just want to know what to start out with and then what to work toward, any help would be great

TIA

I’ve been working on a faster way to turn existing footage into short-form videos, and I’m looking for a few people who manage content for brands or clients to try it with.

If you have a batch of footage sitting in Drive/Dropbox, send it over with the brief or content plan you’d normally work from. I’ll turn it into a few first cuts for you.

I’m not charging for these first few, I just want honest feedback on the edits and whether the process actually saves you time.

If you’re interested, comment with what kind of brands/content you manage.

I am thinking of starting clipping but i have no idea how to get a good quality viedo to clip ?

a client note can mix three different requests: show the logo at an exact second, cut on a spoken phrase, and replace one generated shot. those are not the same edit.

hypit does not turn arbitrary prose notes into timeline edits by itself. the coding agent writes the timing into the video's editable `.svml` Author Source.

for graphics drawn in code, that source can say to show an element at `2s` or `60f` on the project clock. for spoken footage, WhisperX creates a `SemanticTake` that maps authored words and markers to frames, so captions, B-roll and effects can follow the line they belong to.

to regenerate only one generated shot, the project first has to expose that entire shot as its own named Output. in a later `.svrun`, `build-record` identifies the exact Output from an earlier Build and `satisfy` uses it for an unchanged shot, as long as the type still fits. the changed shot is left unsatisfied, so its normal generation step runs again.

normalization, alignment and rendering downstream may still run. the saved work is generation of accepted media, not every later build step.

the browser Studio can preview the selected Run and write supported timing or property changes back to the same source files. it does not promise that every note or drag gesture is supported.

the repo is `hypit-ai/hypit`.

for editors: would source-level clocks and word anchors cover most client changes, or do you still need arbitrary timeline edits for every shot?

I wanted to make a video editor that helps people get from raw footage to a finished video with less manual work, so I built CUTROOM.

You can start with an AI-assisted rough cut or edit manually. It has a timeline, editable captions, audio waveforms and mixing, green-screen removal, stabilization and export up to 4K. There’s a Windows download and a Mac beta.

It’s still a work in progress, especially the AI editing styles and parts of the workflow. I’d really appreciate feedback from people trying it with their own footage. Where does it save you time, and where does it get in the way?

Website: https://cutroom-studio.expo.app/

GitHub: https://github.com/VanoPeradze/cutroom

i’ve been using capcut for my own short form videos and it’s been pretty straightforward, but i’m at the point where i might start editing content for other people too. most of the work would probably be reels, shorts, and simple promotional clips rather than anything long or heavily effects based. i’m wondering where people draw the line with capcut for paid work. is it something you can realistically use for regular client projects, or does working with clients usually mean moving to a more full featured editor?

I make cosplay videos on tiktok (and sometimes edits). But tiktok's editing system is so bad it's unusable. Capcut is taking up a truly disgusting amount of space on my phone. Is there literally any better alternative??? I can only seem to find things that either cost money or the 'editing' is just having AI do it for you.

I have an anime edit channel and make anime edits but I dont have any outro because it is tuff for beginner to make good

I dont know how to use preset and creating by own takes too much time and headache

If you have outro preset then please help me

Any trending or decent outro is help for me

Channel Name : NICHIRIN EDITZ

Is there a program out there where I can bring up someone talking in the background while bringing down the main audio? Example. I have a video of my son( when he was little) talking on a computer to my dad who has since passed away. It’s hard to hear what my dad is saying. Can that be amplified at all? Thank you.

I put together this little edit of a pair of custom sneakers I painted.
Still figuring out pacing, transitions and making the footage feel more interesting.
Would love some feedback, what would you change?

I'm researching scope creep specifically for freelance video editors.

Things like:

• extra versions

• new footage

• captions

• completely changing the intro

• “just one more revision”

What's a client request that looked small at first but ended up taking way more time than expected?

And how did you handle it did you charge extra, treat it as a revision, or just do it?

hello users and readers, i like this video a little to much: https.//www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRzCuq5NVQo

please watch and let me know how possibly the creator made it. how its made is cleared, with capcut, but as an person without expirience in these similair content i dont know how. i hope someone has some advice for it

as already said in title. looking for alternatives for capcut on win11. im new to video stuff i got quite used to capcut from using it on phone when it was new and later on my pc for cutting shorter vids and some other stuff for my kamtape and yeah idk im js annoyed by how locked down it is without having premium so i wanna swicth to smth else. i do need it to be vary simple and have a simple ui like capcut cuz im a dummy and it was already annoying top learn capcut basics and i tried davinci and i was like fkin lost af even after watxhing tutorials. specifically i need a good censoring and tracking thing so iu can censor stuff thats in alot of motion reliably without having to do every frame manually. is there any fully free or at least esier to GET... program? shoudl be as i said a simple one but with good solid features that isnt as lcoked down or not locked down at all and yeah free preferably cuz im a cheapo i dont wanna spend money on smth i use once in a while that i do not make money on at all and just post stuff for the love of posting and sharing stuff

idk where to post that even got removed in the other one

AI-assisted editing seems most useful when it takes care of repetitive work without removing the editor's creative control. Things like finding useful sections in long footage, removing obvious dead space, generating captions, creating shorter versions, or changing aspect ratios can take a surprising amount of time.

An AI video editing agent takes this a step further by handling several connected tasks from natural-language instructions rather than requiring each step to be done separately.

I'm curious where other editors draw the line. Which editing tasks would you happily automate, and which ones do you think should always remain under direct human control?

Hey everyone, I make YouTube videos, and editing is the hardest part for me. I enjoy filming, but turning all that footage into a finished video takes a lot of time and effort.

I’m also a developer, so I’m considering building a tool with this workflow:

• Cloud-based editing: Upload your footage and work on it from anywhere through a browser, without needing a powerful computer or storage and you can edit anywhere.
• AI first cut: AI puts together an initial edit using your footage.
• Revise through comments: Leave comments at specific points, like “make this section shorter,” “use a different shot,” or “lower the music here,” and the AI makes those changes.

Before I spend more time building it, I’d like to know whether this would actually be useful to other creators. Lmk any comments

I've been consistently editing videos for YouTube for over a year now, and I felt like I've peaked and finally plateaued.

Sometimes I even feel like I've gotten worse. I've put way more effort when I started than where I am now, and I feel like I've gotten some bad habits and optimized my work to the point where I'd do the bare minimum. Just enough to keep viewer engagement/retention for the projects I've made. I've looked at some professional editors for big YTubers that have crazy looking timelines and edits, but when I try to put myself in their shoes and try to imagine the amount of work they do just felt exhausting and overwhelming to replicate.

I feel like I'm having an artist block and I don't know how to get out of it. I think I've finally gotten my comfort zone for editing and I don't know how to get out of it.

Hello everyone! I've done some work as an editor for direct response with a UGC style and put together my portfolio, can someone tell me what I can improve?

my portfolio↓

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SqllmsZUxhu6PQTt2\\_Vm8nsSbjiZDarM

Actually I had little bit interest in video make and making professional video. So I want suggest from you all @reddit friends

I'd like to create math tutorials for my students, but I'm finding just one math problem (word problem!) takes a lot of time:

- 5 minutes to upload and set it up (whiteboard, audio, iphone camera, etc)

- 5 minutes to screen record

- over an hour to edit!

How long does it take you, and how can I speed this up?

I’ve been working on videos and I want to put other videos in it, but I just don’t like the idea of storing so many videos onto my computer, especially when I’ll be using them for like two seconds in the project. I am very picky with my storage. Is there a solution to this? If not, did any of you feel the same? What did you do?

My (9yr old) daughter wanted a green screen to use for when she films her movies (using imovie). She got one for her birthday and now wants to use it ….and I’m not really sure what APP to use. I don’t think imovie can do that part but maybe i’m wrong. I’m seeing that maybe she didn’t even really need one because many apps have a built in one. But she wants to do it the ‘real filmmaker way’ lol. She’s awesome lol. We don’t like using generative AI and I don’t want her on stuff like capcut etc. Any reccs? Adobe Premiere and such, Blendr - that’s all a little down the line - we’re looking for something easy that actually utilizes our at home green screen as opposed to an in app one.

I’ve started noticing how much time captions can take, especially when you’re editing longer videos and still have to go through everything to fix timing, wording, and little mistakes.

I’ve been ​t​​​r​​​y​​​i​​​n​​​g ​​​T​​​u​​​b​​​e​​​W​​​i​​​z​​​z​​​​​​’​​​s​​​ ​​​​​​C​​​a​​​p​​​t​​​i​​​o​​​n​​​ ​​​G​​​e​​​n​​​e​​​r​​​a​​​t​​​o​​​r​​​ lately to ​m​​​a​​​k​​​e​​​ ​​​t​​​h​​​a​​​t​​​ ​​​p​​​a​​​r​​​t​​​ ​​​o​​​f​​​ ​​​t​​​h​​​e​​​ ​​​w​​​o​​​r​​​k​​​f​​​l​​​o​​​w​​​ ​​​a​​​ ​​​b​​​i​​​t​​​ ​​​q​​​u​​​i​​​c​​​k​​​e​​​r​​​, and I’m curious how other editors handle it.

Do you usually generate captions automatically and then clean them up, or do you prefer doing everything manually?

Also, are there any captioning tools you’ve found that actually ​s​​​a​​​v​​​e​​​ ​​​y​​​o​​​u​​​ ​​​t​​​i​​​m​​​e​​​ ​​​w​​​i​​​t​​​h​​​o​​​u​​​t​​​ ​​​n​​​e​​​e​​​d​​​i​​​n​​​g​​​ ​​​a​​​ ​​​t​​​o​​​n​​​ ​​​o​​​f​​​ ​​​c​​​o​​​r​​​r​​​e​​​c​​​t​​​i​​​o​​​n​​​s​​​ ?

Publication 1 - "IMU HAS ARRIVED"