Features of Windows 10 Video Editor, the app to create personalized videos

When some time ago, Microsoft decided to end the development of Windows Movie Maker, which for years has been one of the best free video creation programs, many have continued to use it (you can still download and use Windows Movie Maker), while waiting for an equally valid and simple to use alternative to come out. That official alternative then came in Windows 10, as an app integrated into the system, which after several updates and name changes eventually became Video Editor, a very valid and satisfying application, which coexists within the Photos app.
To open Video Editor on a windows 10 PC, you can search for the words Video Editor from the Start menu or from the search box on the taskbar. You can also open the Video Editor by directly launching the Photos application, but in this case, when you open the application, you must click on the top of Video Projects to enter the Video Editor.
After opening the Video Editor, you can create a new video by pressing the button on the top right. You can then choose a new video project, use the automatic video option or load an already started project. Given the name of the new project, you can start creating and editing it in several ways.

What can be done with the Windows 10 Video Editor

Going to discover the functions of the Windows 10 Video Editor and learning to use the various customization and video creation options, we can conclude that this app is better than the old Windows Movie Maker, even easier to use, very fast and immediate.

1) Adding videos and images

The first thing we can do in creating a new video is to add videos and images to the timeline by dragging the selection or using the Add button. The creation interface is really the easiest you can have in an app of this type, with few options and buttons well defined and clear in their function. Videos and photos that you want to add can be dragged from a folder and released in the Catalog section, where there is the Add button.
All videos and images added in the catalog can then be dragged to the Storyboard at the bottom of the window. The Storyboard is the timeline, so you can move the various elements to choose which to display before and which after, by doing an editing operation. In the timeline it is also possible to divide the videos, adjust the display duration of the images, speed up the videos, remove the black bars, insert text and various effects.

2) Insert the title cards into the videos

In addition to adding text directly to the videos in the Storyboard, the app also allows you to insert cards with titles, that is images with a uniform background and large writing, displayed on the entire screen for the length of time you choose. For the title sheet you can choose the background color and the font used for the writing.
Once a Title card has been created by pressing the relative button, it is added to the Storyboard and can be moved and modified as you can do with any other image added.

3) Change the style of the text used in the videos

In the Video Editor, various options are available for adjusting the appearance of text and writing added to a video and for titles. By pressing the Text button in the Storyboard you can change the font and then the position of the writing.

4) Cut or split videos

What was perhaps the best feature of Windows Movie Maker has also been added in the Windows 10 Video Editor, where each video added to the Storyboard can be cut or divided into several parts. By selecting a video in the timeline, you can then press one of the two Split or Cut buttons to open the work interface, with a cursor that allows you to choose which part of the video to keep and which to delete or to divide it into several parts. The cut or split videos are immediately added to the Storyboard.

5) Rotate videos

If you have videos in the wrong orientation, you can easily rotate them with the Windows 10 app; just select the video and then click the Rotate button (it's an icon on the right side, near the trash can button) to rotate it clockwise until you reach the desired orientation. Pressing Rotate 4 times returns the video to its original orientation.

6) Duration of display of an image or a title

Images and title cards added to a video project have a default display duration of 3 seconds. If you want them to be displayed for more or less time, select the image and then click on the Duration button to choose how long it is displayed before moving on to the next one. With this option it is possible to create more or less fast Slideshow of images.

7) Filters

For each video or image added to the Storyboard and selected, you can press the Filters button to add a filter that changes the colors. Among the filters we have those for transforming images in black and white or for blurring them or for coloring Sepia, Love, Energy and many others.

8) Image and video motion effects

To make the video you create with Video Editor special, you can press the Movie button located above the Storyboard. This button allows you to add movement to videos and images so that they do not stay still in their position during viewing. For example, images can slowly scroll up or down. For the various added movements it is possible to control the type of movement and the direction.

9) 3D effects on videos

Only on videos it is possible to add special and original 3D effects using the relative button on the Storyboard. These 3D effects add animations over the videos such as explosions, balloons, autumn leaves, bubbles, confetti, snow and much more. The interface for adding 3D effects shows, for the first time, a guided tutorial to learn how to position the effect and modify it as you prefer.

10) Add background music

In the created video it is possible to add an audio track using one of the two buttons: background music or Custom Audio . The first allows you to choose a piece of music among those made available by the Video Editor, the second button, on the other hand, allows you to choose any audio file saved on your computer, which can be a recording or a piece of music saved on your PC.

11) Duplicate the project

To create different versions of the same video you are creating, you can press the button with three dots at the top right and then choose Duplicate video to make a copy of the project to be given another name.

12) Synchronize projects on OneDrive

Any unfinished video project can be saved on Onedrive so you can still work on it using another Windows 10 computer. The button that synchronizes on Onedrive is at the top right and allows you to automatically upload the project to the cloud, to find it on everyone Windows 10 PCs accessed with the same Microsoft account.

13) Save the video or project

Video projects are automatically saved, but you can also export a project by creating a backup to keep on disk or USB drive. To do this, just press the button with three dots and then the Backup button which saves the project as it is, together with all the videos and images added to the catalog.
To save the video, however, you can press the End video button which allows you to choose the quality and the folder in which to save it.