Jahshaka

When it comes to editing videos, you can either use a lightweight application, with a limited functionality, for home-made movies or you can get your hands on a professional program and create high quality, Hollywood-like productions. If you wish to go for the second option, then you would have a good reason to try Jahshaka. It provides a wide range of powerful editing tools, which serve various purposes, from simple timeline editing to creating special effects.

Unlike most advanced editing programs, Jahshaka is free and open source. Also, the software can be installed much faster. Its setup package is quite small, even when compared to lightweight editing applications. What's more, the program is not too demanding in terms of hardware requirements and you don't have to install any prerequisite tools.

Although it takes some time to get used to the user interface and to its controls, Jahshaka is quite easy to use. Also, a series of tutorials can be found on the program's official website. Rather than burdening you with countless options, spread around an editing area, Jahshaka places several modules at your disposal, for editing, animating, applying effects and more. The modules can be accessed separately, in the lower region of the interface, via navigation buttons. Furthermore, the available options, for each module, are organized on separate tabs.

Managing imported media is quite easy as well. Among the editing modules, a desktop can be found as well, where you can import the media files you wish to work on. Imported files are displayed in a column at all times, regardless of which section of the interface you access. This gives you the possibility of inserting media into your project on the fly.

In terms of functionality, Jahshaka places many possibilities at your disposal. Inserted elements can be rotated, scaled and manipulated in other ways, through a series of sliders or other basic controls. The program gives you a better view of your keyframes as well and it makes it easy to modify them. Another useful feature, which is worth mentioning, is the possibility of working on layers. Each video, image or any other element can be inserted on its own layer and manipulated separately.