Spent 5 hours editing less than 60 seconds of video frame perfect to music. Saved the mlt and exported. Exported video is just a black screen and so is the mtl.
I can see the thumbnail images in the timeline when I open the mtl but cannot restore the video.
You haven’t given much to go on.
What did you do during those 5 hours, for example?
I restarted the project I was doing last night. I was editing a few seconds of footage with fades and cuts at a time. Saving the mtl, then exporting. The amount of fades and cuts in the first 45 seconds of the project was making it near impossible to sync the music properly because of the tiny amounts of lag as it switched from clip to clip. Doing it this way made it much easier to sync it to the music because the exported clips would stay smooth.
So I would make a few edits, save the mtl, export, load the exported video, add a few more seconds, rinse, repeat. It was working fine, then for some reason it just exported a black screen. I can load the mtl and manipulate it, I can see the thumbnails at each end, and if I make new splits I see those thumbnails as well, but can’t restore the video.
I tried different videos and mtls and they all work fine. I don’t know what could have happened because I was using the default MP4 export settings.
Might have been a bad export at one point.
So long as you still have the original source video and a backup of the .mlt files you might be able to save re-editing.
BTW: To lighten the load, once you have added your fades and other filters, you can simply un check them from the used filter list then sync the audio. When ready to export, re enable the filters in the list.
The mtl file is not displaying any video, I already scrapped it. I’m too frustrated to restart again, at least for a few days.
I’m confused now. What video file are you trying to open? The mlt file?
Then why post about it? I assumed you were asking for help rather than just venting.
Half venting, half asking for help. It seemed obvious the project was a lost cause. I saved it under 3 different mtl and export titles. For whatever reason the last one just decided to break, from now on I’m gonna check to make sure it’s fine before I save.
Somehow, you exported something that wasn’t what you wanted (well, duh). The mlt just recorded that. The question, then, is where did your video go? Is it possible you mistook the source display for the timeline display. The timeline had nothing in it, which was exported, and there you are. Or maybe ShotCut really crashed - it happens. What to do the next time around? Make many mlt’s, each with a unique name (how about “foo-20170401-0204”? Name, date, time of day). Do it a lot. Export your work periodically. At least you’ll have some hope of recovering some part of your work, and you have a way of seeing if things have gone down the rat hole again.
Cheer up, DW Griffith got out “Birth of a Nation” with not even so much as a steam-driven abacus, let alone a PC.Get off your kiester and get back to work! [/wink & grin]
Did you make sure to put the .mp4 file extension into the name of the video file?
i have learned that when exporting, if you overwrite the previous version of the file while exporting all you will get is a black screen with audio when opening your video in another player…Shotcut would not open a file overwritten in this manner…when exporting in this manner, i’ll keep the same title…but i’ll add an 01, 02, 03, ect. in the title then ditch the previous versions if i need to…hope this helps
I do this routinely, never had this happen?
What are your settings?
i set it up once but forgot what they were…anything particular you had in mind? i’ll check and get back with you.
it only happened to me twice so i stopped the practice and resorted to a new file naming convention.
Yet you said;
This implies, at least to me - that you learned what to avoid, so I assumed you could readily recal the settings that produced the error you spoke of (in order to avoid a repeated error)
You’re the one telling the story, I’m merely wondering why you are seeing this issue.
no…i had two failures that were a result of overwriting a file during export…both of them failing when the .mp4 was opened in msplayer…seeing it as a reoccurring pattern, i compensated by naming the file something other than the original filename…worked like a champ and i haven’t had a failure like that since. so yes, i learned what to avoid. perhaps i should have asked if there were any settings i should pay close attention to off the top of your head, (first thing that comes to mind), instead of asking if you had anything particular in mind…guess this has been my week for failures in communication.