7 Editing Tips for 360 Video
Joshua Cameron; Gary Gould; and Adrian Ma
In this chapter, we’ll go over some key suggestions to make sure you get the most out of your 360 video and some different programs you can use to put your content together.
Options for editing programs
There are several different options for 360 content creators — from free mobile apps to professional-level software — when it comes to editing and it is important to understand your needs in order to identify the platform that will best work for you. Are you producing fun holiday videos to post on social media or longer form 360 documentaries? Are you working with a high-end gaming computer or a pretty standard laptop? We’ve found that editing 360 footage, especially once you start working with 5.7K or higher files, can be quite burdensome for computers to handle. Editing a few clips here and there won’t likely give you a lot of trouble, however, if you’re getting into more advanced or professional 360 video work, you’re going to want to make sure your computer has the specs to handle the workload.
If you’re looking to do some serious desktop 360 video editing, please note that most of these manufacturers suggest running these programs on computers with more processing power. As you add more and more 360 clips to your editing program, low power computers will start to sputter and pause, making for a frustrating editing process. This is a good baseline to have:
- PC (Windows 7 or higher), Mac (macOS 10.11 or higher)
- Most Intel/AMD processors within the last few years should be fine
- At least 16GB of RAM (this will help the programs and processes run much more smoothly and quickly)
- A powerful enough video graphics card for 4K video editing and rendering (i.e. the AMD RX 500 series or Nvidia GeForce GTX series)
- A decent amount of hard drive space, at least 500 GB, and preferably as the faster and more efficient Solid State Drive. You’ll want to consider additional hard drive storage or purchase an external hard drive because 360 video files are so large and can accumulate quickly.
The company that manufactured your 360 camera and its native editing app will most likely offer ideal computer specs to maximize their product. When in doubt, go to the company’s website and their FAQs or production documentation.
In general, your camera will most likely have a native editing app to make basic cuts and create sequences. It’s best to start with that platform to help understand the ins and outs of your specific device. Below, we’ve included links to editing FAQs and editing program downloads for several of the most popular 360 camera apps on the market at the moment:
CyberLink Action Director (for Samsung Gear)
MOBILE APPS FOR EDITING
There are several excellent mobile apps for 360 video editing (and most of them are absolutely free and have both iOS and Android versions!). Most of these apps will allow you to add straightforward effects like filters, text and music files to 360 pho