Editing Software

November 24, 2005

I'm trying to get setup with a professional home editing studio. I'm already getting Avid Express Pro, Abode Premeire Pro, and Pinnicle Liquid through different contacts and educational discounts. What other programs( in the area of sound, annimation, lighting, etc.) out there should I look into getting? As always money is an issue, but for now I just need to know what the best out there is first. Any input will be a big help. Thanks

Keith Mottram · November 24, 2005

I'm trying to get setup with a professional home editing studio. I'm already getting Avid Express Pro, Abode Premeire Pro, and Pinnicle Liquid through different contacts and educational discounts. What other programs( in the area of sound, annimation, lighting, etc.) out there should I look into getting? As always money is an issue, but for now I just need to know what the best out there is first. Any input will be a big help. Thanks

your question is too vague, what do you want to do with the home suite exactly - comping, 3d, what res etc? also what is your name I know everyone calls Bono- Bono and Sting- Sting, but I got a suspicion your name is not Bigal if it is change it, it sounds stupid (then again so does Sting and Bono).

Keith

November 24, 2005

My name is Alex, bigal is a nick-name my brother gave me years ago. But basicly I want to be able to do everything--video editing, sound editing, animation, music editing/sampling, creating and/or testing lighting effects/senarios, and also be able to inport the edited sound, music, animation, etc into my video editing to create a profeesional product. So I'm looking for programs that will allow me to accomplish all of that. I hope that clears everything up and I appriciate any info you and/or anyone can give me.

sneeze proof · November 26, 2005

Well there are many options for each of your needs but I'll cover what I know most.

I take it your platform is PC. My first question is why get 3 NLE's that do the same thing?

If you're going to arm yourself with more than one NLE, why not go for ones that have different workflows?

I currently use Avid Xpress Pro HD and Sony Vegas, because they are both very different and both cover the workflow needed for different projects. Everything you can do in Pinnacle and Premiere can be done in Avid, albiet a bit faster.

But, anyway, I suppose it doesn't hurt if you're getting them cheap.

Animation and 3D modelling : well there's a few choices there. I use Discreet 3ds Max, but you may well choose Maya, or Softimage/XSI, or Cinema4D.

They are all pretty equal.

You'll need a compositor to glue it all together so go for Discreet Combustion of Adobe After Effects.

Sound editing : Pro Tools, Soundforge, Adobe Audition - Pro Tools is great but needs hardware. Nuendo and Cakewalk Sonar (producer) are great for non hardware based systems and kind of bridge the gap between music softare and sound editing.

Music : again Cakewalk Sonar, Cubase are for musicians who know what they are doing - if you want loop based stuff there's Sony Acid and Ableton Live. Reason is great when plugged into other software via rewire. For live recordings, again, Pro Tools is great.

DVD Authoring : (if required) DVD Lab Pro, Sony DVD Architect, Adobe Encore or Sonic Scenarist (if you want to sell your car for it).

Image editing : Adobe Photoshop (nuff said here)

The complete package : If I were to choose 1 of each I'd choose:

Avid Xpress Pro HD

Discreet 3ds Max

Discreet Combustion

Adobe Photoshop

Cakewalk Sonar

DVD Lab Pro

You'd be able to get a very professional product, from start to finish with those. Not exactly cheap but it'll let you produce stuff equal to the big players.

Then it's just a matter of learning how to use them all together ;)

November 26, 2005

So with animation I have to have a program like adobe after effects for it to be able to work in a video editing system? also, whats your take on Light Factory 2 and Sony Sound Forge 8? And if anyone can give me some more insight from the first post it would be great. Thanks.

sneeze proof · November 27, 2005

You need to let us know what your doing - a little insight into what? The question is way to general and vague to be specific.

Sound Forge 8 is a very good program, but for what use? For some it will be over the top, for others, not enough.

November 27, 2005

Again, all I need/want to know is what the top rated software programs(pc) for the categories of audio, music, animation, lighting, and video for a home studio. I can't say what EXACTLY I would be using them for as I am not currently working on a project. I just want to be able to take things such as short films and other smaller works and edit them the best possible with the best possible programs.

As of now this is what I'm looking into:

Avid Express Pro DV

Sony Vegas

Maya 7

Sony Acid Pro 5

Sony Sound Forge 8

Adobe After Effects 6.5

Knoll Light Factory 2

Now some of these programs I can probably get next to nothing through contacts that I have, but others I might have to wait on. I am also probably going to get Adobe Premeire Pro and Pinnicle Liquid just because I can get them for dirt cheat and I guess it wouldn't hurt to become proficient in more than one video editing program.

Now with the programs that I listed above, will that set me up to edit films with top notch quality and look or are there others that I should look into that would do a better job?

Jack Guthrey · November 27, 2005

Umm, well if u are seriously looking into "getting into" editing then start BASIC and build up. You have to crawl to walk and it seems like you are trying to run. Do you know how to use these programs? If not then you need to start with one editing program (Avid, Premiere or Vegas would be good) learn it and learn how you want to build off of these. But, if you still want something that is a sort of "do-it-all" get adobe Video Collection Pro and learn, learn learn. At least, this is my take on the situation

Dickson Sorensen · November 28, 2005

Umm, well if u are seriously looking into "getting into" editing then start BASIC and build up. You have to crawl to walk and it seems like you are trying to run. Do you know how to use these programs? If not then you need to start with one editing program (Avid, Premiere or Vegas would be good) learn it and learn how you want to build off of these. But, if you still want something that is a sort of "do-it-all" get adobe Video Collection Pro and learn, learn learn. At least, this is my take on the situation

The Adobe video collection is a good start and is available in an educational edition at a good discount. You may not need the Pro version of After Effects for a while, you pay a premium for that. It seems that there are more and more pro editing shops moving away from Avid to FCP, this might sway your decision if your objective is to become a pro editor however if you are this may not be the best forum to be asking questions on. In any case by the time you are proficient in any of these programs new versions will be out and recomendations will change for instance right now FCP has multicamera editing, Premier pro doesn't.

David Silverstein · November 30, 2005

I didn't read all of the above post so forgive me if I am repeating.

Animation is the one I saw wasnt mentioned in the first few posts so I am going to tell you to definitly go with Flash. It is used be some of the high profile studios. I read an article on the studio that did the celeb poker showdown opening and its very cool what can be done with that program.