28
Jul
June / July Development Update (Part 3 of 3)
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Welcome to Part 3 of my update on OpenShot 2.0. We still have lots to discuss, so let’s dive right in! If you missed the previous 2 updates, check them out here:
Windows Installers
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| OpenShot 2.0 Running on Windows |
I am very happy to report that I have solved all the Windows-related build issues with JUCE and MinGW64, and have successfully built and tested Windows installers for both libopenshot and OpenShot Video Editor 2.0. The only remaining issue on Windows is related to SVG (i.e. vector image) compatibility, and luckily, a contributor is working on that as we speak. This is a minor issue related to RSVG-CONVERT, and should be resolved soon.
Mac Bundles & Disk Images
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| OpenShot 2.0 Running on Mac |
For the Mac users, I have been working hard on finalizing the installation techniques for both libopenshot and OpenShot 2.0. I have recently refactored how this process works, trying to automate it as much as possible. Basically, our library is being packaged in a Framework bundle, our app is being packaged as an App Bundle, and they will be available on a DMG disk image. However, I am still running into a few small issues trying to integrate this process into CMake (our build tool). Conceptually, I really like the idea of Mac bundles, but when building an application outside of Xcode, they can be tricky to create and maintain, which is why I'm really trying to automate them as much as possible.
The screenshot above is running with the Qt Fusion dark theme, but keep in mind OpenShot also supports multiple themes, and can also be switched to use the native OS theme.
Remaining Tasks for Alpha Release
Here is a list of the remaining tasks for a cross-platform alpha release (installers available to Kickstarter backers first). I have many contributors helping at this point, so some of these tasks can be completed in parallel.
- Export Dialog: needs a few days of work and bug fixes
- Transitions: needs a few days of bug fixes and testing (there are still a few minor issues that need fixing in libopenshot, for example: multiple overlapping transitions, etc...)
- Timeline: needs 7 to 10 days of work, specifically on fixing issues with thumbnails and audio waveforms. Both those features have been implemented already, but have many small issues.
- Video Preview: needs a few days of work to fix some minor synchronization issues, and some improvements to the libopenshot audio playback code.
- Installers: most of the work is now done related to installers, but there are still some remaining issues with Mac bundles (as I mentioned above), and I need to test the installers on more systems, to ensure they are not missing any dependencies.
- Testing: once the above tasks are completed, I still need a few days of intense testing and bug reporting, to help shake out some of the more "obvious" bugs.
Those are the final tasks blocking the alpha release of OpenShot 2.0. There are still many other tasks that need to be wrapped up and/or completed, but they are not necessary for a successful alpha release. So, if all goes according to plan, by the end of August we will be releasing our alpha installers.
Contributing to OpenShot 2.0
Right before we release the alpha installers, we will be officially releasing the source code to openshot-qt on Launchpad.net, the PyQt5 interface for OpenShot. This is another important milestone, as it will allow contributors to more easily access our source code, and will result in faster development and more testing. Currently, anyone is welcome to join our team on Launchpad.net and gain access to this code, but it requires me to manually setup a user account on our source code server, and generally slows down everything. So, releasing the source code to openshot-qt will be a great thing, and should accelerate the development of OpenShot 2.0.