# Can I use the VSE to append multiple strips?

Can the video sequence editor be used to add several image sequences together, on top of each other?

Here's how I'd do it outside of Blender with Imagemagick in a bash loop:

for f in render1/*png; do
frame=$(basename$frame)
convert -append render1/$frame render2/$frame ./stitched/\$frame
done


...then import the frames from stitched into the sequencer.

Would take two frames like these:

And turn them into this:

Can the equivalent operation be done directly in the VSE?

• Are you trying to create something like a film strip? If so, there is a modified version of the Import Images as Planes that stacks up images in a predetermined axis. – cegaton Aug 29 '16 at 1:23
• I just want to have multiple videos stacked on each other. – ajwood Aug 29 '16 at 2:30

Sure! My result from just the VSE is the following. Note that you could use the same method for movie strips.

The first thing that you will have to do is adjust the dimensions to make sure there is no distortion in the Properties panel > Render tab > Dimensions dropdown > Resolution: settings.

With two 1080p images, one might use these Dimensions:

In the VSE, you can add two image strips on top of each other and then add an Effect Strip > Transform to each by selecting one, keying Shift + A > Effect Strip > Transform and repeating for the other one. Make sure that whichever Transform strip is on top has Alpha Over set in the VSE Properties Panel > Edit Strip dropdown > Blend: selection. This is what my strips look like in the VSE:

Whichever image you want to show on top should use these Transform strip > VSE Properties panel > Effect Strip dropdown settings:

Whichever image you want to show on bottom should use these Transform strip > VSE Properties panel > Effect Strip dropdown settings:

Here is a .blend for reference:

• Do you think there'd be a way to "rig" this setup to make it easy to add a 3rd (or 4th..) strip to the mix? Right now this would require doing the math, and 1) update render dimensions, 2) update Transformation strip's y position and scale, 3) adding the new strip(s) with transformations and appropriate settings. – ajwood Aug 29 '16 at 12:03
• @ajwood Your correct with the math. The one step your missing is that all Transform strips except the bottom one would have to have Alpha Over enabled. Did my answer help? Can I make it better? – Shady Puck Aug 29 '16 at 12:49
• As long as the images are the same dimensions, you could make the Transform effects apply to Metastrips. The you could easily change the contents of the metastrips without deleting and re-adding the transform effect. You could stack lots of these metastrip transforms, then in the preview window only view the number in the stack you want. Simply multiply height by number of transform effect strips. – 3pointedit Aug 29 '16 at 12:58
• In an ideal world, I could imagine a single-step where you "add new strip to stack" that would take care of all the math, since these values are just a function of the number of strips on the stack. Doesn't seem like the mechanics exist to make that possible though... – ajwood Aug 29 '16 at 13:48