I have seen a few tutorial about how to create a 360° video on Shotcut, but I could not find any for the Insta360.
The tutorials are using all MPEG4 files that seem to be the output of their cameras, which is not the case at least for the Insta360. For each clip, this camera creates one LRV (Low Resolution Video) and two INS video files. The first is used to get an overview on the Insta360 camera, the other larger files contain the video recorded by the left and right camera.
I asked ChatGPT 4, which answered that I need the software of Insta360 to create my video out of the clips, and that Shotcut is inappropriate for this. Is this true? There are already 360° filters in the program.
Thank you for your reply!
Edit: I got a reply from somewhere else that says that one has to export the video clips first over the Insta360 app.
Spherical video, unlike flat video, must be stored in some kind of projection, and there are several of them. Shotcut can only handle dual fisheye, which is like a raw view from a dual lens camera, and the very popular equirectangular. Most people do not want to work with dual fisheye because it can take a lot of work to best stitch and blend the two lens’ images. Insta360 and other 360 cameras like GoPro’s do at least part of that work in the camera and write the files in a special projection not understood by Shotcut. So, you need to use the maker’s software to convert it into equirectangular projection (ERP). Sometimes their software can do some of the things you want to also do to the video, and other times not. You need to figure that out and move the video between tools as needed. For example, you might only use the maker’s software to rotate and reframe the video to output flat. Or, you might only use it to convert to ERP because you want to do something that Shotcut has but not the maker’s software.
GoPro wrote a technical blog post about their camera’s stored projection
Thank you for the reply! I am new to this subject of 360° videos. Perhaps, what Insta360 does is a special propriatory format of that camera (i.e. clip = LRV + 2×INS). I do not know what formats other vendors are using.
I have insta360 cameras and use it for most of my travel videos. When you record 360 videos it usually outputs to an INSV file to capture all 360 degrees. You would need to go to the free Insta360 Studio program or app and flatten it to a 2D video and save it as an MP4 file. You can then take that MP4 file and edit in Shotcut.
You can bypass all this by recording in single lens mode, which will output the same flat, MP4 files as a DJI Action or GoPro that you can immediately edit in Shotcut. The only caveat is you lose the 360 functionality in the original recording.
I try to produce my first 360° video, but was unsuccessful. I had four clips, each of them converted by the Insta360 app to a real 360° video. I stiched them together using the “360: Equirectangular to Rectilinear” filter, but the output was a normal MPEG4. I asked to somebody on YouTube, who had made a video on this subject. He said that this filter makes a normal video out of a 360°, and that I should not use these filters. I made several tries; in my last try, I just cut out a 30 sec. part from one of the clips; no additional tracks, no filters. Then, I exported it from the project, again by using “Export” and “YouTube” with the checkbox “Use hardware encoder” set. The result was again a normal MPEG4 video.
My question: Where is a thorough tutorial that explains the does and don’ts to produce from 360° video clips a new longer video?
You should use these filters only if that is what you want. Why did you use it? The filter clearly states it is converting something. Equirectangular is just one of several projections for spherical imagery. Rectilinear = flat rectangle.
That is fine and what I recommended if it contains all you need. But Shotcut can edit and produce 360° videos just fine; it can even set the equirectangular projection metadata necessary for players and web services to recognize it as spherical.
Is it possible to stich video clips together with transitions without losing the 360° property? If so, is there a Webpage that explains how this is done?
Yes, it works like a regular video, but the videos must be in equirectangular projection. Use the automatic video mode to adopt the 360 video attributes. After export, right click the export job and choose Set Equirectangular. That’s it, really, and don’t make a mistake along the way.