the Blender Velvets

Velvet Goldmine – Style always wins out



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Introduction to Velvet Goldmine

Even though it is possible to edit 2D videos in Blender without changing anything on the program, you’ll soon realize that the task will prove unpractical. Although the controls are there, the software feels rigid, and that’s the point where the Blender Velvets addons come in.

Velvet Goldmine aims to improve the fluidity of video editing by redistributing some keyboard shortcuts for functions that already exist, by making some of the processes that ask for unnecessary confirmation (such as deleting strips on the timeline or saving the project) more direct and by creating new functions for navigation, strips manipulation and manipulation of the timeline itself.

Velvet Goldmine comes with a new set of hotkeys, Velvet Shortcuts, and has been conceived to be used with Blender’s modified interface. As it is hard to remember all the changes provided by the addon, this page shows a detailed description of all the new shortcuts and othose that have been modified, as well as videos showing the new functions at work.

How to install Velvet Goldmine

To install Velvet Goldmine with the new set of hotkeys, Velvet Shortcuts, click on the link below to go to the Download Area of the website.



Addons last update Go to the Download Area


Once downloaded, the files with Velvet Goldmine (velvet_goldmine.py) and Velvet Shortcuts (velvet_shortcuts.py) are inside a zipped folder, together with the other Blender Velvets addons. Open it as you would with any regular .zip file and extract them to some place of your choice (for example, at the Desktop).

Follow the detailed instructions for the installation of both at the How to install the addons section from the page How to configure Blender for video.

Velvet Shortcuts – New set of shortcuts

Changes in native shortcuts

Velvet Shortcuts, the new set of hotkeys that must be used with Velvet Goldmine, changes some of Blender’s native shortcuts. The objective is to bring Blender closer to the other advanced non linear video editors.

Standard shortcut New function for standard shortcut
A “A” now selects all strips
Alt + A “Alt + A” now deselects all strips
Spacebar “Spacebar” now plays the video (animation)
Shift + Alt + Spacebar “Shift + Alt + Spacebar” now plays the video (animation) in reverse
B “B” – Border select selects what you want (the box) and discards the rest
Alt + B “Alt + B” – Border select adds what you want (the box) to current selected strips
Del “Del” – Deletes without prompting for confirmation. In MacOS, shortcut is Fn + Del
Ctrl + G “Ctrl + G” – Makes meta-strip without prompting for confirmation
Ctrl + S “Ctrl + S” – Saves the file without prompting for confirmation
Shift + R “Shift + R” – Refresh Sequencer (cleans cache in RAM)
Left Mouse Click “Left Mouse Click” – now selects strips with linked time by default (audio + video)
Left Mouse Click (Timeline) “Left Mouse Click” on the timeline – now selects all strips on the left/right of the cursor
Ctrl + Left Mouse Click “Ctrl + Left Mouse Click” – selects strips disregarding linked time
Ctrl + Right Mouse Click “Ctrl + Right Mouse Click” – view all (equivalent to “Home”, without having to abandon the mouse)
Shift + Home “Shift + Home” – Zooms to selected strips. Added for MacOS support, MacOS shortcut is Fn+Shift+LeftArrow.

New functions

The new shortcuts added by the Velvet Goldmine addon go beyond the existing functions in Blender.

New shortcut New function description
Ctrl + P Toggles audio pan between 0.0, 1.0 and -1.0 for selected strips
W Shows the audio waveform in selected strips
Alt + W Hides the audio waveform in selected strips
Ctrl + K Cuts selected strips, deletes to the left
Ctrl + Shift + K Cuts selected strips, deletes to the left, selects remaining
Alt + K Cuts selected strips, deletes to the right
Ctrl + Alt + K Cuts selected strips, deletes to the right, selects remaining
Ctrl + F Creates a one second fade in (for audio and/or video) at strip start
Alt + F Creates a one second fade out (for audio and/or video) at strip end
Alt + M Deletes the closest marker to the cursor
Ctrl + LeftArrow Moves cursor to left marker position
Ctrl + RightArrow Moves cursor to right marker position
Ctrl + Alt + R Toggle between 30, 60 and 100 values in Resolution Percentage
(Pre Blender 2.75: Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R)
Shift + TAB Toggles between existing Scenes. May not work on MacOS
Ctrl + Shift + F2 Changes view to Animation layout. Does not work on MacOS
Ctrl + Shift + F3 Changes view to Compositing layout. Does not work on MacOS
Ctrl + Shift + F4 Changes view to Motion Tracking layout. Does not work on MacOS
Ctrl + Shift + F1 Changes view to Video Editing layout. Does not work on MacOS
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + C Adjusts selected strips to where the cursor is in the timeline
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S Adjusts selected strips to the beginning of the timeline
Alt + UpArrow Moves selected strip one channel up
Alt + DownArrow Moves selected strip one channel down
Ctrl + PgUp Jumps cursor to next beginning/end of strip (Vintage: pre Blender 2.73).
Shortcut for MacOS: Fn + Ctrl + UpArrow
Ctrl + PgDown Jumps cursor to previous beginning/end of strip (Vintage: pre Blender 2.73).
Shortcut for MacOS: Fn + Ctrl + DownArrow
Shift + C Concatenates selected strips in channel (only works for 1 channel)
Alt + E Adjusts VSE Timeline according to last video
Shift + E Sets Timeline end to current frame
Shift + Alt + S Sets Timeline start to current frame
Alt + 1 Sets Timeline start to frame one (Vintage Blender pre 2.77: Alt+S)
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + L Sets Timeline start and end to selected strips
Ctrl + Shift + A Selects only the strips inside Timeline preview
End Alternative to View Selected (context view).
Shortcut for MacOS: Fn + RightArrow
Ctrl + Home Zooms in aproximatelly 10s of Timeline.
Shortcut for MacOS: Fn + Ctrl + LeftArrow
Ctrl + End; Ctrl + Shift + Right Mouse Click Zooms out aproximatelly 10s of Timeline.
Shortcut for MacOS: Fn + Ctrl + RightArrow; Ctrl + Shift + Right Mouse Click
Ctrl + Shift + End Zooms out aproximatelly 10s of Timeline + Y Axis.
Shortcut for MacOS: Fn + Ctrl + Shift + RightArrow
Shift + Right Mouse Click Zooms timeline to green ibeam (cursor) if it is over any strips