How to open video file or image for editing

VSDC Free Video Editor allows you to work with different objects including video, audio and image files.

First, launch VSDC Free Video Editor and click the “New project” button to create your own project or use the “Open project” button to open a previously created project.

You can add necessary objects by several methods: using a menu, a toolbar, a drag-and-drop option or applying resources.

To add an object using the menu

To do it, go to the "Editor" tab, click the "Add object" button and select the "Video" or "Image" option of the drop-down menu.

After you have selected a video or image file, click "Open". A window where you can configure an object’s position in time will be opened (for more information about this feature, please see the section "Settings of object position in time"). After you have configured settings and clicked "OK", you will be offered to specify the position and size of the object, the cursor will take the crosshair form. Now select the position of the added object on the scene, click the left mouse button and holding it down, set the size of the object, and then release the mouse button.

Note that, when an object is added to the scene, it is automatically added to the project resources and can be used an unlimited number of times. Removing an object from the scene does not delete it from the resources, however, deleting a resource from a project removes all related objects in the scene.

To add an object using the toolbar

In order to add an object using the toolbar, select the corresponding button and click it. It will open a window proposing to choose a file, and further actions will be similar to the actions specified in the previous section.

Note that, by default, this toolbar appears at the left side of the scene area, but it can be removed by the user. For this purpose, open the "View" tab and click the "Editing tools" button. Besides, this toolbar can be relocated and fixed in any position of the program interface.

To add an object using drag-and-drop standard tool

VSDC Free Video Editor supports Windows drag-and-drop standard tool. It means that you can use the file explorer to add objects to the scene (or to the project resources). For this purpose, choose a file in the file explorer, drag it to the scene and drop the mouse button. The cursor will take the crosshair form and you will be able to change the position and size of the object for adding it to the scene as described above.

Note that, when you use this method to add objects, the settings window doesn’t occur and the properties are automatically set for this object. It means that the time when the object occurs will depend on cursor position at the timeline; the duration of the object will be equal to the duration of the video or audio file, or it will be 5 second long for an image.

To add an object using project resources

The project resources contain objects, for example images, video and audio files, added to the scene. You can also add files directly to the resources and use them in your project later. Choose a file on your computer, drag it with a mouse and drop to the Resources window. It will be automatically placed to the appropriate category.

Note that, there is one more method of adding video files and images using "Files sequence wizard" which allow you to arrange subsequent change of objects or create a slide-show. For more information refer to the section "How to create slide-show: make sequential change of videos or images".