How to Change Speed and Slow Motion in Blender VSE

This guide explains how to adjust playback speed and generate smooth slow-motion or fast-motion effects within the Blender Video Sequence Editor (VSE). By utilizing the built-in Speed Control effect strip, you can easily change playback rates uniformly or animate speed ramps using keyframes to alter the timing of your footage.

Step 1: Add Your Footage to the VSE

  1. Switch your workspace to Video Editing.
  2. Open the Add menu (or press Shift + A) and select Movie.
  3. Browse and select your video file to place it onto the sequencer timeline.

Step 2: Add a Speed Control Effect Strip

  1. Left-click to select the video strip you want to adjust.
  2. Press Shift + A or click Add at the top of the sequencer.
  3. Hover over Effect Strip and click Speed Control.
  4. The Speed Control strip will appear directly above your original video strip.

Step 3: Configure Speed Settings for Slow Motion or Fast Motion

  1. Select the Speed Control strip.
  2. Open the Sidebar panel on the right side of the sequencer (press N if it is hidden).
  3. Under the Strip tab, locate the Effect Strip section.
  4. Uncheck Stretch to input strip length to gain manual speed control.
  5. Set your desired speed method:
    • Multiply Speed (Speed Factor): Enter a value below 1.0 for slow motion (e.g., 0.5 for 50% half-speed) or above 1.0 for fast-forward (e.g., 2.0 for double speed).
    • Scale to Length: Alternatively, leave "Stretch to input strip length" checked and manually resize the strip handle in the timeline to stretch or compress the playback time.

Step 4: Adjust Strip Lengths on the Timeline

When you slow down a video, it requires more frames to display the full footage:

  1. Select your original video strip and drag its right handle to extend the strip duration to match the new, longer playback time.
  2. Match the length of the Speed Control strip to the extended video strip.
  3. If you do not extend the strip length during slow motion, the video will cut off before reaching the end of the footage.

Step 5: Creating Animated Speed Ramps (Optional)

To create a dynamic speed transition from normal speed to slow motion:

  1. In the Speed Control settings, locate the Multiply Speed (or Frame Number) value.
  2. Move the timeline playhead to where the speed change should begin.
  3. Set the normal speed (e.g., 1.0) and hover over the field, then press I to insert a keyframe.
  4. Move the playhead forward to where the slow motion should peak.
  5. Change the value to your target slow-motion rate (e.g., 0.25) and press I again.
  6. Open the Graph Editor if you need to smooth the interpolation curves between keyframes.