About a decade and a half ago, Microsoft had this DirectShow interface called "Timeline" that would provide a similar though non-programmable interface to const

About a decade and a half ago, Microsoft had this DirectShow interface called "Timeline" that would provide a similar though non-programmable interface to constructing movies via an XML document spec. The characteristic representation snafu there was the limited way in which "transition" worked and how we couldn't extend that notion. When I worked at muvee, we found that approach limiting and built an entire engine programmable via a scheme-like embedded programming language we called muSE. While muvee was about automatic video construction, the language had the necessary primitives to programmatically construct video. The basic abstraction on top of which everything from video clips to effects, transitions and layers were built was a "Show" which is a function from time to image. More here - [1] Authoring muvee styles - describes how to make your own automatic video "styles" and includes the lower level api too - https://srikumarks.github.io/muvee-style-authoring/index.html https://srikumarks.github.io/muvee-style-authoring/index.htm... [2] muSE the core open sourced language - https://github.com/srikumarks/muSE https://github.com/srikumarks/muSE edit: muvee Reveal - https://www.muvee.com/products/muvee-reveal-encore-automatic-video-editor https://www.muvee.com/products/muvee-reveal-encore-automatic... disclosure: I used to work for muvee.