Jean-François Fortin Tam
nekohayo@gmail.com
Mario Blättermann
mariobl@gnome.org
Tomáš Karger
tomkarger@gmail.com
How to load and save projects, edit their settings and metadata.

Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0

# Working with projects

# Saving a project

To save your project work, use the Save button in the header bar or press Ctrl S. When you save a project for the first time, a dialog window appears, asking you where to save the project file and how to name it.

If you want to save your project to a different file, use App menu Save as or press Ctrl Shift S. This can be used to create different versions of your project.

# Undoing and reverting changes

To undo a change, simply click on the Undo button in the header bar or press Ctrl Z. In addition to undoing individual changes, you can also decide to revert all the changes you have made since the last time you saved your project. To do so, use App menu Revert to saved version.

To redo changes that were undone, click on the Redo button in the header bar or press Ctrl Shift Z.

# Editing the project settings

The project settings define mainly how the video appears while you edit the project. The video resolution and aspect ratio affect the appearance of the previewer. If the resolution and aspect ratio do not match those of your footage, the video may look squished or letterboxed. These settings can be changed at any time by using App menu Project Settings.

When you import the first video file the project settings are automatically changed to match. See Getting media for details.

# Pixel aspect ratio vs display aspect ratio

Digital images are composed of a grid of pixels, which may or may not be square. In some cases, you may need to set the pixel aspect ratio (PAR) for the image to display correctly. On the other hand, display aspect ratio (DAR) is the mathematical ratio of width:height for the whole image.

In Pitivi, pixel aspect ratio and display aspect ratio are related to each other through video resolution (width and height). Once your resolution is set, setting the DAR will influence the PAR and vice versa. You can use either DAR or PAR, whichever you are most comfortable with.

You can use the ratios already provided in the combo boxes, or input a custom aspect ratio in the text entry below (using a syntax such as "4:3" or "1.3333", although the decimal version is less precise).