This suggestion comes from a workflow I’ve made for myself, so please let me start with this.
So GoPro cameras automatically register low resolution copies of the footage you record with them. The copies have same name as the original but with a different extension .LRV (Low Res Video).
My workflow:
- Create Shotcut project in its own folder “MyProject”
- Copy all original GoPro clips to MyProject/clips
- Copy all .LRV clips to MyProject/proxy, but rename them from .LRV to .MP4 (so they are name identically with the original clips but are kept in separate folder).
- I load clips from “proxy” folder onto my playlist and edit the project until satisfied.
- Close the project, rename the “clips” and “proxy” folders so that they switch places (each becomes the other)
- Reopen the project, and this time the original clips will be loaded instead of low-res ones. Render!
Now, the GoPro’s .LRV files have lower resolution than what I’d like, so I started to create 720p copies of my original clips, and then use these just the same way as described above.
So my suggestion now:
How about Shotcut recognizes the .LRV file extension? In Shotcut UI provide a button (or menu option or something), to toggle the LRV setting on and off. On LRV on, name of every clip used is checked, id there is a file with exactly same name but with .LRV extension instead.
I would not need to have 2 separate folders any more. GoPro users could benefit, because they Already have .LRV files together with their original .MP4 files. Others would benefit, because when they render their own lo-res proxies, they still keep them together in the same place, just with a different file extension.
Alternative: if reloading the clips in the open project is problematic, how about just a plain simple flag on the Export dialog page, that if you check it, for every clip that has .LRV extension in your project, the rendering engine will actually use an .mp4 file of the same name if it finds it. Thant way I don’t need to reload anything, I just always add .lrv files to my project, and only on te rendering I check the checkbox and know that rendering job will use hi-res files when applicable automatically.