VffEdit (Formerly ExactCut Video Tools)

Welcome to VffEdit, the centralized graphical orchestrator for the ExactCut video editing and frame-accurate cutting pipeline.

VffEdit replaces scattered batch files and manual directory management with a single, unified interface (vffedit.pyw) that manages project states, executes background Python scripts, and pipes real-time outputs straight to an integrated console log.

---

📁 Directory Structure

For the orchestrator to route processes correctly, maintain the following directory layout:

VffEdit/
│
├── vffedit.pyw                  # The Master GUI Application (Run this!)
│
└── scripts/                     # Core backend processing suite
    ├── vdscript_range_adjuster.py
    ├── gop_analyzer.py
    ├── vdscript_vfr_info.py
    ├── vdscript_to_timecode_cutlist_generator.py
    ├── vdscript_to_cpf.py
    ├── exactcut_vfr_detector.pyw
    └── exactcut_ffmpeg_cutter.pyw

---

🚀 The VffEdit Workflow

1. Project Initialization & Verification

• Select Project Folder: Point VffEdit to the folder containing your raw source videos.
• Step 1: Extract Frame Logs: Automatically runs background FFmpeg tasks to generate essential _frame_log.txt files for every video detected.
• Step 2: Check VFR Health: Launches the VFR Detector utility to analyze variable frame rate edge-cases.

2. The VirtualDub2 Editing Phase

Click the VirtualDub2 Info button in the GUI for a quick reminder of the edit export steps:

1. Open your video (or proxy) in VirtualDub2 and make your cuts.
2. Navigate to File > Save processing settings... (Ctrl + S).
3. Ensure "Include selection and edit list" is checked.
4. Save the file in your project folder matching the exact pattern: [VideoName].[Extension].vdscript (e.g., vacation.mp4.vdscript).

3. Analysis & Adjustment

• Adjust Parameters: Fine-tune your I-Frame Offset and Minimum Gap (frames) dynamically from the GUI settings panel.
• Step 3: Analyze & Adjust Cutlists: Fires off the sequential script pipeline:
• Adjusts the original .vdscript cuts based on your offset/gap math.
• Runs the GOP Analyzer to map keyframes (gop_info.txt).
• Generates VFR-aware informational logs.
• Outputs the finalized, clean .cutlist.txt files.

4. Lossless Cutting

• Step 4: Launch FFmpeg Cutter: Opens the standalone exactcut_ffmpeg_cutter.pyw GUI utility to losslessly slice your videos using your newly tailored cutlists.

5. Merge

Open LosslessCut, go to Tools > Merge/concatenate files, browse for desired folder, select all the parts, then merge. Repeat this process until all the parts in each subfolder have been merged - & that's it - FINITO!

• Cleanup: Use the 🧹 Cleanup button inside the ExactCut FFmpeg Cutter to automatically sweep all the leftover files (cutlists, log files etc) into a delete folder to keep your workspace tidy.

---

⚠️ Known Issues & Roadmap

• Cuttermaran Integration (.cpf Export): The Cuttermaran export feature (vdscript_to_cpf.py) is visible in the GUI but may not be fully functional or stable yet. We are tracking this feature for a future development cycle. For now, please rely on the core FFmpeg cutting stream.

---

⚙️ Requirements

• Python 3.x
• **LosslessCut
• FFmpeg (Standalone or via LosslessCut)
• VirtualDub2 (build 44282 or similar)
• HandBrake (For proxy generation)

---