Open Scource: Jahshaka

Okay, with this post, I'm starting a new series of posts where I will show some of the coolest open source programs available. Feel free to e-mail me or comment if you've got one you want to add.

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EDIT: After playing with this a little more, I have found out that it's still being developed. Although it does have some cool functions, it is still lacking some very important basic functions that are more necessary. Until they fix that, I'm going back to Ulead and WMM.

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So, just earlier today, I was trying to do some video editing, but my only choices for an editor were Windows Movie Maker and Ulead Video Studio 8. Everybody uses WMM, and it can't do much, so no for that. Ulead Video Studio isn't much better, but it does have some cool effects. Unfortunately, it takes FOREVER to load. So, I googled "open source video" and the second or third thing I got, (the first few were video sites, not video editors,) I found this program called Jahshaka. Yeah. Weird name. So I downloaded it, and it's awesome! It's not extremely fast, (of course that's probably just my computer,) but it's really good.

Here's the "About" page on the site:

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"Imagine if you could...

* Edit with flexibility and speed
* Create Effects in real time
* Animate with unlimited features
* Paint and design on moving video
* Create music with all the tools the pros use
* Work in any format at any resolution


...all while sharing files, projects and clips with users on your network or around the world, and all using a single, open source application where the code is yours… that runs on practically any workstation…

Jahshaka v3.0 will let you do this, and much more. Jahshaka was written from the ground-up to work in different environments, and lets you use the tools you need to get the job done in real time. Thanks to the power of OpenGl and OpenMl you can do this on anything from PC's to Mac's to high-powered Sgi workstations and not have to worry about mixing video, audio and graphics card, installing custom hardware and drivers, or spending millions of dollars for high end speed, power and functionality…

Jahshaka uses todays next-generation hardware to do everything in real time, regardless of what box you are running on. Thanks to the power and economics of mass markets, todays pc's come with everything you need to create any kind of media you want. Todays graphics cards would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just a few years ago… and deliver an unbelievable level of power and speed into your hands. This is the power that drives jahshaka.

Jahshaka's morphing interface allows you to work as a editor when you are editing, to work as a compositor when you are creating effects, as a audio enginer when you are mixing, and as a animator when you are doing 3d. It will even allow you to create your own hybrid interfaces to match your workflow.

This power and flexability has been unheard of, but its coming your way soon. Imagine a system simple enough to edit home videos and mix audio tracks, but powerful enough to edit HDTV, create film effects or animate a flock of seagulls.

Jahshaka fixes many of the compatability and file sharing problems that exist in large facilities today. The ability to run multiple seats of jahshaka off a single server, with full project and media sharing solve the problems of distributed vs shared storage. Everybody can use the same disk-array… and work together without the massive slowdowns of having to move large media files around your network. Jahshaka loves multi tasking, multi user, media sharing environments.

Not possible? It will be soon, and thanks to the power of open-source you can even teach it how to make coffee for you in the morning (no joke). Jahshaka will raise the bar when it comes to content creation… because its available as a free download… (with custom support packages available upon request)

So when you really need to go out and buy a system, it had better be revolutionary - and lightyears ahead of what we have to offer."

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I haven't figured how to use the animation module yet... I've gotton it to make an airplane, but I can do any other editing...

But I've already noticed some cool features:

Infinite video editing tracks (as far as I can tell)
Chroma keying (aka green-screening)
A lot of cool effects
GTK Based (Meaning changeable themes, if you know how to do it)
The paint module can do some really cool things

So yeah. In conclusion I'm really glad I got it.

Oh, you can download it here. If you click "jahshaka-2.0-and-jahplayer-0.1.0-installer.exe", it will automatically install all the files.
Here's the website.