SmallMontage

A non-linear video editor with support for multiple video and audio tracks, built with GNUstep and SmallStepLib, using MLT (Media Lovin' Toolkit) for playback and export.

Features

• Multiple tracks: Add any number of video and audio tracks.
• Clips: Import media (MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WebM, MP3, WAV, etc.), place clips on the timeline with in/out points and position.
• Timeline view: Ruler, track rows, clip blocks, playhead, and clip selection.
• Preview: Play the timeline via MLT’s SDL2 consumer.
• Export: Render the project to MP4 (H.264 + AAC) using MLT’s avformat consumer.
• Project file: Save and open .smallmontage projects (property list XML).

Dependencies

• GNUstep (base + gui)
• SmallStepLib: build and install from ../SmallStepLib first.
• MLT (Media Lovin' Toolkit) and development headers:
  • Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libmlt-dev libmlt-7
  • Or build from source: MLT

Optional for export: FFmpeg with libx264 and AAC (usually provided by MLT’s avformat module).

Build

# 1. Build and install SmallStepLib
cd ../SmallStepLib && make && make install && cd -

# 2. Build SmallMontage
make

Run:

./SmallMontage.app/SmallMontage
# or
openapp ./SmallMontage.app

Usage

• New / Open / Save / Save As: Standard file operations; project extension is .smallmontage.
• Add Video Track / Add Audio Track: Append a new track.
• Import…: Open one or more media files; they are appended to the first video or audio track (or default tracks are created).
• Play: Build the MLT graph from the project and start the SDL2 preview window.
• Stop: Stop preview.
• Export…: Render the timeline to an MP4 file (H.264 video, AAC audio).

Clips are placed sequentially on each track; use in/out and timeline position in the project model to control placement. The timeline view shows clips as blocks; click to select.

Architecture

• SmallStepLib: App lifecycle (SSHostApplication, SSAppDelegate), menus (SSMainMenu), window style (SSWindowStyle), file dialogs (SSFileDialog).
• Core: SMProject (tracks, frame rate, dimensions), SMTrack, SMClip; SMEngine (MLT wrapper); SMEngineBridge.c (C/MLT: tractor, multitrack, playlists, blanks, sdl2/avformat consumers).
• UI: SMMainWindow (toolbar, scroll view), SMTimelineView (tracks, clips, ruler, playhead).

License

Same as the SmallStep project; MLT is LGPL/GPL.