(PDF file)
(OpenOffice Draw)

The Cinelerra-CV manual is distributed under the GNU GPL version 2 or later, and not the GFDL (GNU Free Documentation License). That’s because HV didn’t give any information regarding the “Secrets of Cinelerra” licence. Therefore, we assume it’s released under the GPL as is Cinelerra. Here’s a link explaining the difference between the GPL and the GFDL:

• Discussion about the wikis on the mailing-list:

• Should we reactivate the search feature on the new wiki?

• What to do with the twiki translations available in some languages on the twiki, when nobody offered to translate the manual in those languages? Should we save those translations in a static page and make it available online? Then remove the twiki?

• Do we keep the english manual available in splited small html pages? Should we remove those html page and point to the wiki instead? The problem with the html static pages is that some (not all of them!) links contain numbers which change when the manual structure evolves. People wishing to link to the English manual could link to the wiki, where links names do not change. However, having everybody to use the new wiki to read the documentation would increase the CPU load on the server.

• Contents from Histogram (chapter 13) to Authoring a DVD (chapter 19) isn’t proof-read. Any native English-speaking people is welcome to proof-read that part of the manual. It’s better to correct the texinfo file rather than correcting the mistakes in the wiki. Please contact Nicolas Maufrais e.conti@gmx.net for more information.

* work on the images. Some nice drawings made by Alex aren’t available anymore in .xcf (Gimp) format. We need to modify or redo some of the drawings that contain English text. That’s for translated manuals. nicolasm: I will redo some of those images. Done on the 2007-01-17 → Edition 1.03. I also translated the text contained in the images used for the French manual.

• get a nice .xml output to use in a contextual help system which Pierre Dumuid works on

nicolasm: I’m working on it

• We really need need more information about installation on several distribution (gentoo, suse, ubuntu...). People using those distributions, please edit the sections in the second chapter.

• We need more information about HDV workflow. How to import and how to export.

• Add things in the (new) glossary: cinelerra_cv_en_24. Have a look at this thread on the mailing-list:

* add some video tutorials nicolasm: the video tutorials about Cinelerra made by “The Source” are quite nice, and “The Source” agreed to give us those tutorials. However, they’re in English. It’d be nice to add English subtitles. Then, those subtitles (text files) could be translated to other languages, and the tutorials could then be useful for non-English speaking people.
candela will translate subtitles to Spanish. There is a new episode already Episode 2 - “Attack Of The Elephants (Dream)” in which they discuss doing effects with Cinelerra. And a new episode is in progress and will be on rendering and transcoding.

• work on some “get started” tutorials, explaining the basic stuff.

• think about moving out of the manual “pure technical stuff”, such as the sections about programming. Developpers could also explain there work in that document, and we could add the doxygen stuff in there.

• work on the manual structure

nicolasm: I already moved/rearranged some sections. Any idea is welcome.

raffa‘s idea:
After having spoken with
- Herman (that thinks, together with Jean-Luc, that Secret of Cinelerra is an awesome Reference Manual and thinks that there is the need for an introductory document for new users that guides them to the basic workflow from capture to DVD through a simple example project full of screenshots and instant gratification. He thinks also that to make a draft of the full manuscript that outlines the whole book is a useful approach for a good Manual.) and
- Nicolas (that thinks that Secrets of Cinelerra is an excellent Manual and thinks that it is very important to add a “Quick start” chapter at the beginning of the Manual that explains the basic stuff, really simply, and illustrated with a lot of screenshots. He thinks also the structure of the actual Manual needs to be improved, with carefully thought-out changes also because they will make the translation process more complicated),
I’ve updated my idea on a possible new structure for the Cinelerra Manual to the following new draft:

CINELERRA CV MANUAL

• Introduction
  1. About Cinelerra
  2. The two versions of Cinelerra
  3. About this manual
  4. Getting help
  5. Useful links: [1. about Cinelerra (e.g. Tutorials,...) 2. about Linux (e.g. firewire on Linux,...) 3. about digital audio/video (e.g. interlace,...)]

PART 1: The starter (served)
A “call-it-as-you-please” frustration-proof document for very beginners: how to make a very simple but complete project, step by step.
To be made. Provisionally Rob Fisher’s Tutorial could take its place.

PART 2: The meal (buffet)
A Reference for initiated users

1. Installation
2. Configuration
3. Project attributes
4. Loading and saving files
5. Capturing media
6. The interface [- Program window - Compositor window - Viewer window - Resources window]
7. Basic editing [1. Editing (- Two screen editing - Drag and drop editing - Cut and paste editing - Trimming) 2. Transitions]
8. Advanced editing [- Realtime effects - Rendered effects - Ladspa effects - Keyframes - Compositing]
9. Rendering files
10. Exporting files
11. Tips and Special Needs [- Animations - HDV]
12. Troubleshooting

Appendix

1. Plugin authoring
2. Keyboard shortcuts
3. Glossary