BATS: Scene Detect 🎬

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From raw footage to finished scenes

Got a long clip full of mixed shots? Scene Detect analyzes the clip optically, finds the scene changes, and creates one clip per scene – so your montages, highlight reels, and social clips start with ready-made building blocks that you just drag onto the timeline.

How it works

Scene Detect is registered in the context menu of video clips in the BIN as a Scene Detect submenu with two system presets:

  • Easy – fully automatic: after the analysis, BAT Server applies the detected scene changes automatically with the default threshold. The Scene detect tab in EDIUS (which also shows the progress) then closes itself.
  • Advanced... – interactive: the Scene detect tab stays open after the analysis. Every detected scene change appears as a bar with thumbnails (frames right before/after the cut) and timecodes. You can adjust the threshold with a slider (presets: low / medium / high) or, in Refine mode, with one checkbox per cut. You confirm the result with the clips to BIN button.

The BIN then receives a folder Scenes: <file name> containing one clip per scene (named "Scene 1 - …", "Scene 2 - …", etc.), each with in/out points on the original file and a poster frame. N detected cuts produce N+1 scene clips. The original clip is left untouched; running Scene Detect again on the same clip refreshes the existing folder and its clips.

Options

  • Threshold (default: 50, i.e. 0.5 internally) – Controls which scene changes are applied: a higher value produces fewer, more distinct cuts; a lower value also picks up subtler transitions. In the Advanced tab you can adjust the threshold per file – the last used value is remembered per file and pre-selected on the next run.
  • Preview & navigation – In the Advanced tab you can inspect individual changes: hovering over a bar shows preview frames right before and after the cut, and the buttons let you jump straight to the position in EDIUS or play the new scene briefly in the player.
  • Caching – Analyzed files are cached. Re-runs on the same clip pick up the existing result cache and finish much faster instead of re-analyzing the video.

Note: Only one scene-detect job can run at a time. If the server is already busy with another clip, it reports "job is running" – in that case, just wait a moment.

How to use it

  1. Select the video clip in a BIN (Scene Detect is registered for video clips in the BIN).
  2. Right-click the clip → Scene Detect → Easy (automatic) or Advanced... (with preview).
  3. The Scene detect tab in EDIUS shows the analysis progress. With Easy it closes itself when finished; with Advanced, adjust the threshold if needed, fine-tune individual cuts with Refine, and confirm with clips to BIN.
  4. The BIN now contains the Scenes: <file name> folder with one clip per scene. Drag the scenes you want onto the timeline – scenes you don't need can simply be deleted in the BIN.

Managing the presets

Both are system presets: they appear in the EDIUS context menu, where you can temporarily disable or delete them. System presets are meant to stay unedited — for your own defaults (e.g. a threshold other than 50), create a personal preset with the BAT Server preset assistant, where you can change the threshold= value in the preset URL. A personal preset appears in the clip context menu under its own name.