How can I randomize all my clips in the timeline?

Help/How To
1

I have 70-80 various clips from a project that required me to take out little bits of very long videos. Now that they are all clipped down to size, I need to randomize all the clips and add transitions between them, if possible.

How can I do this

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Hi @Chosen, you are going to have to move the clips manually. I suggest you add some video tracks to make it a bit easier. I made this short demo of what I would do. It may give you a few hints.

After that you will need to drag the right-hand clip over the left clip to make a transition, and do this for each transition you want.

1 Like
3

Hi @Chosen

Another option would be to rename all of your clips with random names before importing them into Shotcut.

Since you have a lot of clips, renaming them individually would be long and tedious.
Luckily, there are many apps you can use to automate this process.

I’ve been using one named Advanced Renamer for a few weeks now and it works very well. It’s completely free for personal use, but only available for Windows and there is a beta version for MacOS.

There are many options to rename files, and two of them rename files with random characters or random numbers.

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Note: Unless there is an option I didn’t see, Advanced Renamer will rename your original files without making copies. If you want to keep your original files and their original names, I suggest you make a copy of the entire folder, and use Advanced Renamer on the files in that new folder.

After you’re done renaming all your files:

  • In your file folder, make sure they are sorted by name.
  • Select all the files and drag them in an empty Shotcut Playlist.

You can then use the Slideshow tool in Shotcut to add all your clips to the timeline and automatically create transitions.

  • Use the Playlist menu to Select > All
  • Use the Playlist menu to Add Selected to Slideshow
  • Edit the Slideshow parameters (if needed) then click OK to generate the slideshow.

3 Likes
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I second the advice to use Playlist and Slideshow, but I would not bother with the file renaming tool and playlist sorting. Just put the playlist into icon view mode and manually shuffle them around a bit is sufficient.

1 Like
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@shotcut and @musicalbox, thanks for these alternatives. Wish I’d thought of shuffling the clips round in the playlist! D’oh!

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