Nowadays, pretty much everyone wants to make professional-grade videos. While most people can shoot decent ones, the same can’t be said in terms of editing. That’s where editors like Filmora X come into action. It is perhaps best expressed as the beginner-friendly, budget version of professional editors like Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro.
Overview
Filmora X is the updated version of the revolutionary Filmora9. It adds a bunch of new advanced and basic features. However, as always, Wondershare has gone to great lengths to balance power and usability. Even advanced features have been transformed into simple tools. When using the program, it is evident that instead of dulling creativity with endless complexity, Filmora nurtures it. More than 1100 effects, texts, and elements are included. These represent one of Filmora’s keys to success among newcomers and professionals alike. In terms of features, basic and most advanced ones are present. Above all, everything is packed into a modern, uncluttered & easily accessible interface.
Getting Started
As you can see below, the UI is quite clean. There are three primary windows: a preview window (1), an editing timeline (2), and a library tab (3) for asset management.
When you first launch the program, you are greeted with the project window to select the aspect ratio for your new project or open an existing one. The ratio templates supported are 16:9, 1:1, 9:16, 4:3, and 21:9, but you can always customize the aspect ratio based on your needs.
Filmora X now supports up to 100 tracks of videos and audios separately. You can drag-n-drop your clip on the library or click to browse and import them. Once you have imported all the media, you can start editing by adding them to the timeline. The preview window keeps you informed of the effects of your modifications and lets you make simple adjustments.
A notable feature of the preview window is viewing clips at up to 1/16th of the original quality, ensuring steady performance on budget machines.
Key Editing Features of Filmora X
Filmora X comes with a plethora of editing tools. Other than basic crop, zoom, split, flip, slow-mo, resize, motion texts, ripple, etc., there are advanced tools aimed at more sophisticated projects. Below we dive into some of the critical editing tools. You will notice that even applying something even as advanced as motion tracking only requires a few clicks.
- Motion Tracking:This tool has recently been incorporated into Filmora. Unlike many other trackers, this tool can track a selected point in a clip automatically, given there is enough variation in contrast with the background. You can attach images, GIFs, Clip arts, texts, etc., to the tracked path.
You can check this article to learn detailed information about how to motion track in Filmora X.
- Keyframing:You can use keyframes for customizing animations regarding their position, rotation, scale, and opacity. You can also get creative & create custom animations of your own.
- Color Matching:This tool enables the transfer of advanced color corrections from one clip to one/more clips at once. It is semi-automatic and instrumental when working on multiple clips with a similar color profile.
- Audio Ducking:If you have a clip with significant background noise but want to make sure dialogue/voiceovers are clearly audible, all you need to do is click and enable Audio Ducking. It automatically lowers background noise whenever speech is present.
- Scene Detection: A handy feature for editing travel videos. Filmora can analyze your clips and split them automatically based on transitions between shots and scenic changes
- Action Cam:Lens correction (fisheye), stabilization, advanced color tuning, and more dedicated tools for handling raw action cam footage.
- Instant Cutter Tool: This tool allows you to import up to 4K 60fps footage and trim or merge them without re-encoding. This saves substantial time and system resources.
- Effects & Elements:Filmora X comes with 285 & 233 built-in effects and transitions respectively. The effects include Overlays, Filters (blur, mirror, whirl, fisheye, etc), LUTs & more. They are very contemporary and can be manually customized.
- Split-screen:You can display up to 6 different clips on the same screen in 30 unique layouts. The layouts are a smart way of showcasing your content without cluttering the screen with weird arrangements.
- Chroma-Key / Green Screen:This feature can detect green, blue, or other backgrounds with sharp contrast and replace it with an image or video of your preference. You can also modify tolerance, offset, edge thickness, and other functions regarding the overlay.
System requirements
Despite its extensive collection of features, Filmora X is relatively lightweight. It is available on both Mac and Windows. The latest update brings Optimized GPU detection. This implies that more computers can harness GPU acceleration resulting in a quicker and smoother editing experience. But you may need to update your drivers for this to work properly. The system requirements for Filmora X are given below:
- Mac:
- Version: macOS v10.12 or higher (compatible versions available for OS X 10.7 to 10.11)
- Processor: Apple M1, Intel i5 (2 GHz or above & 6th Gen or newer)
- RAM: 8 GB (16 GB for editing HD and 4K videos)
- GPU: 2 GB VRAM (4 GB for editing HD and 4K videos) – Intel HD Graphics 5000 or later; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700 or later; AMD Radeon R5 or later
- Storage: Minimum 10 GB for installation (SSD- recommended for editing HD and 4K videos).
- Windows:
- Version: Windows 7 or higher (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel i3 or better (2GHz or above & 6th Gen or for HD and 4K Videos)
- RAM: 4 GB RAM (8 GB for HD and 4K videos).
- GPU: 2 GB VRAM (4 GB for editing HD and 4K videos) – Intel HD Graphics 5000 or later; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700 or later; AMD Radeon R5 or later
- Storage: Minimum 10 GB for installation (SSD- recommended for editing HD and 4K videos).
Price
You can buy Filmora X from their official website. A Perpetual plan will set you back $69.99. However, there is a free trial version and cheap yearly bundles. Moreover, Wondershare provides separate licensing plans for businesses. The prices vary based on the number of users.
Note: If you are a student, you can get Filmora X for as low as $7.99. Also, educators can contact Wonderhsare to get a discount.
Conclusion
While reviewing Filmora X, we have realized that it’s got for everyone. A beginner or even a semi-pro might hesitate before attempting advanced color grading and keyframing on Premiere Pro or DaVinci. However, for even an absolute novice, the corresponding tools in Filmora X are no more challenging than trimming or merging videos. On top of that, Filmora will leave a far smaller dent in your budget compared to its competitors.
In terms of features, Filmora X doesn’t have them all. But the recent updates indicate that Wondershare responds to customer feedback by adding the most sought after and useful tools. As a result, even professionals occasionally prefer Filmora X to save time and effort without compromising quality.
So, don’t hesitate. Even if you are a complete beginner or have already invested in an editor, give Filmora X a try. You will most likely be as surprised as we were by how much you can create with how little effort.
