Bug 514262

Summary: [Feature Request] Support freehand drawing
Product: [Applications] kdenlive Reporter: Thorsten Klein <kleinkastel>
Component: Video Effects & TransitionsAssignee: Jean-Baptiste Mardelle <jb>
Status: REPORTED ---    
Severity: wishlist CC: berndmj
Priority: NOR Keywords: triaged
Version First Reported In: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Other   
OS: Other   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Thorsten Klein 2026-01-07 09:26:49 UTC
SUMMARY

This feature request may be related to issue #401980.

I would like to use Kdenlive as an open-source alternative to Kinovea, which is currently only available on Windows. For this use case, annotation and drawing tools directly inside the video editor would be extremely valuable.

FEATURE REQUEST: Drawing / Annotation Tools

I propose adding support for a Drawing (Annotation) Toolbar in Kdenlive that allows users to draw and annotate directly on video content.

In addition, Kdenlive could provide a Drawing / Annotation Clip (or Effect) that can be dragged and dropped onto the timeline, similar to images or generators. This clip would essentially be a transparent picture.

FUNCTIONALITY

Drawing / Annotation Clip:
- A transparent picture that can be placed within the timeline
- Duration can be adjusted in the timeline like any other clip (by trimming the clip edges)
- Can be animated or transitioned using existing effects (fade-in, fade-out, opacity, etc.)
- Can be stacked above video clips to act as an overlay

Drawing / Annotation Toolbar:
- new toolbar to access tools, e.g. Freehand Pencil / Brush, Line, Arrow, Rectangle, Square, Circle, Ellipse, Text tool, ...
- some default values for element properties (see below)
- allows users to draw within any picture or video

Configurable Properties:

For each drawing element properties should be configurable:
- color
- fill color
- Font settings (for text)
- Default sizes and styles

Use Case
Such functionality would make Kdenlive a strong cross-platform alternative to Kinovea and similar annotation-focused tool. So this feature would enable:
- Sports analysis
- Technical demonstrations
- Educational videos
- Tutorials and explanations requiring visual annotations
Comment 1 Bernd 2026-01-09 18:26:39 UTC
Thank you for your feature request. At this point, however, we need to focus on the topics that are on our roadmap (see https://kdenlive.org/roadmap/ for more details).

Improving and enhancing the title editor is there as a mid-term goal. As the title editor is a separate application we need to re-think the approach to adding text and other shapes to the timeline.