Software rec?
Jan. 3rd, 2014 11:54 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
zandperl.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
vidding_livejournal_ark2Hi, I'm relatively new to vidding (made my first fanvid in April this year, and I've only used iMovie '11 so far), and I'm interested in stepping up my game by a teeny tiny amount. I'm hoping y'all can make me a recommendation for my next software to try which fits what I'm looking for, described below.
I use a Mac (currently OSX.8/the-last-of-the-big-cats but probably going to upgrade to 10.9/Mavericks soon), so it's gotta be Mac compatible. I'd prefer free, but am willing to consider cheap if you make a good case for it. The two features I want that iMovie '11 doesn't have (AFAIK, though if someone knows that it does please correct me!) are slightly more control over text (I want to be able to control how text moves, different right/center/left alignment and fonts for different lines of text, rotate the text in assorted ways like reading vertically or sideways), and zoom within frames of video (e.g., being able to crop to just one person in a frame, zooming in over time, etc.). I have no clue what's "basic" in programs, so just so I don't lose what I really like from iMovie '11, those are are the simplicity of dragging music and clips into the project, a keystroke combo to split a clip, and fine editing of transitions and when clips start/end (it does this "zoom-in" of time when I double-click where a clip starts or ends). My biggest complaints about iMovie (other than the features I want which it doesn't seem to have) are that it every time I try to import a compressed version of a movie rather than the full resolution movie it first takes 8 hrs to do so and then fails, and (as a result of the former) the imported movies take up exactly as much space as the original copy of the movie so iMovie duplicates my entire movie library and thus is really filling up my HD (it's also possible that my filling-up HD is what causes the compressed imports to fail, chicken-and-egg here).
I wouldn't mind something that can do more than what I've mentioned above so I can grow into it, but not if doing so would cost me significantly more or be significantly more difficult for me to learn than a program that only does those two additional things. I'm pretty tech-savvy (for example, I've used the full version of Photoshop including layering and making my own brushes), however I'd much rather have a simpler program so I can spend more time vidding and less time learning the technology, as long as it's possible to get what I want in a simpler program.
Thanks in advance for any recs you may have! :)
I use a Mac (currently OSX.8/the-last-of-the-big-cats but probably going to upgrade to 10.9/Mavericks soon), so it's gotta be Mac compatible. I'd prefer free, but am willing to consider cheap if you make a good case for it. The two features I want that iMovie '11 doesn't have (AFAIK, though if someone knows that it does please correct me!) are slightly more control over text (I want to be able to control how text moves, different right/center/left alignment and fonts for different lines of text, rotate the text in assorted ways like reading vertically or sideways), and zoom within frames of video (e.g., being able to crop to just one person in a frame, zooming in over time, etc.). I have no clue what's "basic" in programs, so just so I don't lose what I really like from iMovie '11, those are are the simplicity of dragging music and clips into the project, a keystroke combo to split a clip, and fine editing of transitions and when clips start/end (it does this "zoom-in" of time when I double-click where a clip starts or ends). My biggest complaints about iMovie (other than the features I want which it doesn't seem to have) are that it every time I try to import a compressed version of a movie rather than the full resolution movie it first takes 8 hrs to do so and then fails, and (as a result of the former) the imported movies take up exactly as much space as the original copy of the movie so iMovie duplicates my entire movie library and thus is really filling up my HD (it's also possible that my filling-up HD is what causes the compressed imports to fail, chicken-and-egg here).
I wouldn't mind something that can do more than what I've mentioned above so I can grow into it, but not if doing so would cost me significantly more or be significantly more difficult for me to learn than a program that only does those two additional things. I'm pretty tech-savvy (for example, I've used the full version of Photoshop including layering and making my own brushes), however I'd much rather have a simpler program so I can spend more time vidding and less time learning the technology, as long as it's possible to get what I want in a simpler program.
Thanks in advance for any recs you may have! :)
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Date: 2014-01-04 09:21 pm (UTC)Hope that helps. :-)
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Date: 2014-01-04 11:08 pm (UTC)Adobe Premiere Elements (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere-elements.html?promoid=DJDWY), which has plenty of bells and whistles for a hobbyist price. You can download a trial, and it's on sale at 30% off (currently $70US) until Jan 11.
Kdenlive (http://www.kdenlive.org/features) is free, but not sure how well supported it still is.
Blender (http://www.blender.org/features/) is also free, and very powerful, but from what I can tell is quite a steep learning curve.
Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software) is a full list of what's available, if you need more options.