Which editors have an API?

[apiman]

I'm tired of MoviePy which is extremely challenging with its slow performance and lack of a UI that shows me what I am doing. So I am on a quest to find good video editing software that have an API that I can program against. Hopefully I then can create a template like project on the GUI and use my script to replace assets on the timeline and shift the stuff on the timeline around a bit, move a few keyframes. Nothing really complicated, just the most basic stuff.

I am not interested in cloud options. I want to run it locally and offline.

I have been testing Davinci Resolve's API but that one is horrible. Spend about a 100 hours on it, and couldnt even replace a picture on the timeline.

I also tried OpenShot but to use the API, one has to compile LibOpenShot from sources and with tons of dependencies it is close to impossible to do so.

Now I am a bit stuck on finding alternatives. Anyone knows of good scripting engines for video editing? Prefs for GUI's and Python but any alternative I am happy to hear about!

Thanks!

[johnmeyer]

Magix Vegas Pro has an API. I've used Vegas for 20+ years (since version 4) and have written over 100 scripts for it, using its API.

I quit upgrading when Magix took it over from Sony (at version 13). I think they are at version 20 or 21 by now. I just got a PM from someone today who wanted help using one of my scripts with the latest version. The old scripts still work although, according to those programmers who actually own the latest version, one or two of the declarations have to be changed. (Pretty minor stuff).

You can easily find information on the API and what can be programmed. I am able to automate all sorts of repetitive tasks and can edit my projects in a small fraction of the time that it takes someone else using a different NLE.

On top of being programmable, Vegas Pro has a very efficient editing paradigm.

[edit]

Here is a link to the Vegas Pro scripting FAQ:

VEGAS Pro Scripting FAQs & Resources

[apiman]

Magix Vegas Pro has an API. I've used Vegas for 20+ years (since version 4) and have written over 100 scripts for it, using its API.

I quit upgrading when Magix took it over from Sony (at version 13). I think they are at version 20 or 21 by now. I just got a PM from someone today who wanted help using one of my scripts with the latest version. The old scripts still work although, according to those programmers who actually own the latest version, one or two of the declarations have to be changed. (Pretty minor stuff).

You can easily find information on the API and what can be programmed. I am able to automate all sorts of repetitive tasks and can edit my projects in a small fraction of the time that it takes someone else using a different NLE.

On top of being programmable, Vegas Pro has a very efficient editing paradigm.

[edit]

Here is a link to the Vegas Pro scripting FAQ:

VEGAS Pro Scripting FAQs & Resources

Thank you for that! They are hiding the fact that they have an API very well. It looks interesting for sure.

Do you have a link to your scripts and/or other good examples? I now need to evaluate if the API offers the things that I need....

Maybe you also already know if my task can be done with the API:
- Create a 'template' project in the GUI for this purpose. Just some audio tracks, moving images, titles. The basic stuff.
- Run script from command prompt. (can it run headless as well??)
- Use scripting to change the different assets in the video with other assets on my harddisk.
- Change the text in titles.
- New assets can have different lenghts, so I also need to be able to move assets on the timeline
- If an effect is used, move keyframes on the timeline as well.
- Render it to an output file with filename set through script.

Thanks!

[johnmeyer]

The link to the API documentation are in my link above. You'll also find links to sites, like jetdv.com, where the author posts all sorts of scripts.

You can also go to the

Vegas Pro Forum

and select the "Scripting" button. You will then get posts which relate to scripting.

I used to be extremely active on that forum and made, I think, almost 6,000 posts before I realized how much time I was spending there. I haven't posted much in the last five years.

[apiman]

It seems that this Vegas Pro 21.0.187 continues to crash (is not responding) on me and is very unstable. It's scripting possibilities so far meet my needs. I am able to put stuff on the timeline and setup a project as I want to. However I have never been able to even push the play button because as soon as I touch the GUI after I ran my script it becomes unresponsive and crashes completely. Lucky for me I am running the trial version and did not spend money on it.

[johnmeyer]

Since I haven't even run a trial version of Vegas since Magix bought it, I cannot tell you from my own experience which versions are stable. However, for a completely different reason than this thread, I briefly searched yesterday for the most stable version of Magix Vegas and most reports pointed to version 19. However, that is just from online research, not my own experience.

I have done a lot of work with the last version of Sony Vegas which was version 13. It continues to meet my needs which is why I haven't upgraded. If you can find that, you'll probably be in good shape.

As for scripts, I have over 250 in my scripts folders. I've written at least 100 of those. Some are very simple, like selecting events currently under the cursor (a deceptively powerful thing to do, once you understand the Vegas editing paradigm). Others are editing speed-ups, like trimming from the current cursor location to the beginning of the event, and then rippling all subsequent events.

You'll find a lot of ideas of what you can do if you follow the links on that site I referenced earlier.

[apiman]

I discovered the cause of the crash and can work around it now. I'll probably be looking for an older version. But first I need to be sure that all my scripting needs are met. Currently I can run a .cs file as a script and also a .dll file. But debugging isn't working yet. As soon as a click debug, Vegas is started but within a few seconds it is closed again (The program '[10304] vegas210.exe' has exited with code 0 (0x0).). It does not even show the splash screen or trial screen. No information at all.... Have you ever seen something like that?

[johnmeyer]

I didn't know Vegas had any sort of debug mode. It does have a built-in editor, but running from that hasn't worked since about version 10.

I grew up with punch cards and paper tape, so I'm accustomed to pretty crude programming environments. I just edit in Notepad, put a bunch of MessageBox calls where I want break points, and debug that way.

I do all my scripts in jscript (.js). I don't know if that is still supported. I have debugged and used other people's .cs scripts. I have not written any DLLs because it's been two decades since I had a full-blown programming environment installed.

Exactly what are you trying to do? As I said, I've written over 100 scripts and have used dozens I've gotten from other people. I have a pretty good idea of what can be done. I'm pretty sure they haven't advanced the scripting ability at all. In fact, it has hardly changed since it was first introduced, back around version 4.

I just downloaded the API and quickly skimmed the table of contents. They have exposed the Open FX structures, but I didn't immediately see any other structures that weren't previously available.