How to Combine Video Shots in After Effects

In some part of your profession or personal life, you will need some videography skills. Whether you are an office person who has to combine the short clips to make the video presentation or you are a teacher who wants to combine the videos for video lectures, or you went on a trip with your friends and now, you want to combine all the videos into one. The possibilities are in millions but the skill is the same.

Combining the video clips or shorts into a one video is also a skill and for this you will need multiple software to edit them. There are multiple things that you can do with video merging or combining, some of them are listed below.

• Merging different file formats with your videos.
• You can merge different shots from different angles.
• You can also create compilation videos.
• A situation can arise when you would need to cut your videos in multiple sections.

All the things mentioned above can be done through the video combining or merging. In this article, we will tell you how you can combine the videos using the Adobe created

After Effects software, then we will tell you the best alternatives of After Effects and their features and in the end we will tell you the best software to use as an alternative to After Effects.

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Part1. Combining videos using After Effects - Step by Step

After Effects is the well-known software developed and supported by Adobe, a well known firm in the photo and videography region.

After Effects is developed in such a way that it can add visual effects, motion graphics, and composing. Plus, it is by nature a non-linear video editor by which you can join multiple shots of a video into one video.

Below are some steps that you have to follow carefully in order to combine videos using the After Effects.

Step 1: Adding videos to After Effects

After completing all the downloading and installation formalities. You have to launch the application by double-clicking it.

On the upper left corner of the window, click the File option then on the file options click the Import option a small squared-window will appear on which you have to choose the File option.

In this way, you will upload all the videos in the After Effects software that you have to combine. Now, after importing, navigate to the Composition option and then click on the New Composition. Here, you will make the compositions by setting it according to your satisfaction.

Now, you will see the project panel containing all the videos that you have imported. Drag-and-drop all the videos on the main screen from the project panel.

Step 2: Merging the video shots

You will see a timeline panel below on the screen. Click on it and then arrange the video files up and down according to your plans. Now, select all the video files at once and then right click on them.

A window containing multiple options will appear, select Keyframe Assistant and then click on Sequence Layers and then click OK on the window that appears after selecting the two options.

All this process will rearrange and merge your videos like in the window below.

Step 3: Exporting your output

Now, you have successfully combined your multiple video shots into a single video. All you have to do is to export or download your video by clicking on the File option and then selecting the export option.

It will give you the option to download your video or export them on different platforms.

Part2. Best 5 Free Alternative for Adobe After Effect

Due to the heavy pricing option of the Adobe After Effects and other drawbacks like heavy RAM consumption, crashes because of the external plugins, and features that confuses, etc. many people don’t use After Effects.

For them, in this section, we will tell you the best alternatives of the Adobe After Effects. We will also cover their features in the same section.

Wondershare DemoCreator

DemoCreator developed by Wondershare is the best free software for video editing and recording. The software is very popular among the masses on the internet because of the software’s user-friendly UI and easy to use features.

You can use this software for making your tutorials, editing your vlog videos, game-clips, presentations, etc.

The software is easy to download and doesn't require heavy hardware specs to run on your PC or laptops. All the features, tools in the software are so efficient that you don’t require any tutorials to learn them as compared to other heavy softwares on the internet.

Some of the features of DemoCreator relevant to the combining or merging videos are described below.

(1) Import video or Video shots

After completing all the downloading and installation of DemoCreator, launch the application on your desktop by double-clicking the software. The window will appear like the above-mentioned snapshot. Now, you have to edit a video, so click on the Video Editor.

The main window will appear after this. From the media box on the main window select the import option and then click import the source footage.

Now, a media box will appear containing all your saved videos, drag-and-drop those videos on the timeline and place them one-after another according to your needs.

In this way, you can import a video or multiple video shots using the DemoCreator. It is the easiest way to import the videos in DemoCreator in contrast to other software.

(2) Add the video clips, photos, audios to timeline

DemoCreator makes you add video clips, photos, and audios to the timeline where you can edit them in your own way. At first, you have to import audios, videos, and photos by clicking the File option on the upper left of the window then select the Import option.

After selecting the file formats you want to edit they will be added to your project panel from where you can write click on them after selecting and then click Add to timeline at playhead.

(3) You can also add transition effect to it

DemoCreator also allows you to add transitions to your video while editing them. It is the most desirable feature of the software.

You can do it so by clicking the Transition option on the left of the window, a window will appear containing multiple transition effects.

Drag-and-drop the transitions at the place on the video where you want it to be either on the beginning, between, and the last frames of the video.

(4) You can add some explainer text to your work

As compared with other software, DemoCreator also allows you to add the text to your video.

First, import and drag your videos on the timeline by following the above mentioned methods then click on the Captions tab.

A window will appear in the same way as the transition window appeared containing different text. Drag and drop the text on the frame you want to add and you can also edit it using the window that would already appear when you will drop the text.

(5) Export video with different formats

DemoCreator also allows you to export and download your final projects in different file formats.

Blender

Blender is also the best video editing tool on the internet that comes with dozens of video editing tools that you can use to professionalize your work. The best thing about the software is that it is free to use.

Features

Some of the features of Blender are listed below.

• According to the website, Blender is packaged with multiple transitions, adjustment layers, filters, keyframes, speed control, etc.
• You can easily do audio and video mixing, scrubbing, syncing, and waveform visualizations.
• The software also includes histogram displays, chroma vectorscope, luma waveform, live preview, etc.

Natron

Natron is the most efficient compositing software for VFX and motion graphics. The software is completely open-source and that is why it is free to use. The software is developed to handle your 2D and 2.5D video needs.

The software is packaged with the 2D tracker, roto/roto paint, etc.

Features

Some of the features of this open-source video editing software are.

• Flexible RotoScoping-The software has multi-layered rotoscoping with stroke capability.
• Powerful KeyingTools-The software is also equipped with multiple keying tools for your production needs.
• Natron also has a curve and dope-sheet editor with the fluid interface.
• Natron allows you to see the GPU and network rendering for faster work.
• The community plugins for Natron are increasing day in and day out.

AutoDesk Maya

Maya software developed by AutoDesk is a computer animation, modeling, simulation, and rendering software application. With Maya you can generate amazing effects, dazzling words, and complex characters.

The software is not free to use but if you belong to an educational institution then you can use Maya for free by creating the account.

Features

• Maya allows you to create realistic effects like from explosions to cloth simulation.
• You can easily shape 3D objects and shapes with multiple tools in Maya.
• With Arnold in Maya, you can easily switch between your CPU and GPU.
• Arnold is attached with Maya to see high-quality previews and iterate changes.
• Arnold has the best and user-friendly UI.

DebugMode Wax

The software Wax developed by the DebugMode is an efficient and high-performing video editing software. You can create 2D and 3D features using the software. The software has many features but has not have an appealing user interface.

Features

Wax has dozens of features, some of them are listed below.

• The software is distributed between professional and personal work but you can also use the redistributed version.
• The software has unlimited audio and video tracks.
• Wax is equipped with plugin adapter technology.
• The software has efficient and amazing project management controls.
• The software has multiple files, videos, and image formats.

Part3. Conclusion and the Best Software We Recommend

Now, we have given you a bunch of suggestions of the best alternatives of Adobe After Effects for videography. It is up to you to select the software that meets all your needs.

The best software that industry-based experts recommend is the DemoCreator developed by Wondershare.

Wondershare DemoCreator

Wondershare DemoCreator is all-in-one and efficient to use screen recorder and video editor software. According to the website, the software has zero learning curve as it is very user friendly. You can record multiple screens, real-time draw and spotlight on screen, etc.

The software has five hundred plus pre-generated editing resources and professional multimedia modification.

According to the developers, the software is equipped with the 4K video quality, advanced green screen technology that enables you to change your background, noise removal options, voiceovers, annotations, transitions, and a lot more.

DemoCreator is developed for everyone whether you belong to a business community, education industry, video production industry, or you for personal use like games recording, DemoCreator can meet all your needs.

DemoCreator allows you to record with camera, and microphone, you can cut, crop, and transform videos, photos, and audios easily. The software is packaged with multiple caption tools, cursor modification options. In the end, you can import and export files in multiple formats.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

• Record desktop screen,audio and webcam simultaneously
• Edit videos quickly with a wide range of professional tools
• Built-in plentiful video effects
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

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