Preliminary S/W List

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 3:49 am

The question of "Which software to use?" comes up about once or twice a month. So I thought I'd put together a list of all (??) the software that is available for AMV making...and post it here as a new topic. I have a working copy here: http://mysite.verizon.net/res0iu9l/amv_sw.htm

I won't be hosting this page. It's only here as a scratchpad and to save some forum bandwidth while I make updates and changes. Once it is ready I'll make a new topic containing the entire list. If anyone has suggestions of something to add or corrections to make, reply here so everyone can read (don't email me). I will be making updates over the next few days.

Some notes about the list: the idea is to keep it short and simple with only the most basic information about each product. I want to keep the comments down to about 10-20 words max. I'm not posting prices (which can change), just an approximate price range. There is no particular order in the list; it might be nice to categorize (by price? by OS?).

Audio software is still missing. And some video software like that new one that Pinnacle has. I don't know how to categorize packages like VirtualDub and TMPGenc. Maybe as "utilities".

Ashyukun · Post by **Ashyukun** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 7:23 am

A few that it looks like you left off- I believe a few people use Magix as a NLE editing program, even though I don't know a thing about it.

To the effects listing, since Combustion is there you might want to add LightWave as well- though it is a rather specialized application.

I think this is a pretty good idea! I imagine the list of utilities will dwarf the actual programs, though....

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:05 am

Title: Cinelerra
Company: None
System: Linux
Web link: http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3
Price range: Free; GNU license
Grade: mid-level consumer
Trial version? N/A
Comments: Requires familiarity with Linux installation.

The thing will do all sorts of things Premiere won't and it's still mid-level?!

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:35 am

trythil wrote:
Title: Cinelerra
Company: None
System: Linux
Web link: http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3
Price range: Free; GNU license
Grade: mid-level consumer
Trial version? N/A
Comments: Requires familiarity with Linux installation.

The thing will do all sorts of things Premiere won't and it's still mid-level?!

...and instead of hitting "Enter" too quickly, I'll clarify what I meant:

The thing is really intended for people who work in the broadcast industry, although, like just about any NLE, you can use it for whatever you want. A few things that it will do that Premiere won't are

- Background renderfarming -- e.g. have a section of a project render for instant previews while you work on it
- "Regular" renderfarming
- Integrated 16-bit YUVA compositing engine (helps a lot when you work often with YUV video)
- 23.976fps

(well, actually, you can work at any frame rate at any resolution, provided your system can handle it)
- intensive audio editing (Cinelerra evolved from Broadcast2000, which was primarily an audio editor. Cinelerra added an editing and compositing system for video, but kept the audio editing capabilities.)

Then again, those are all things that maybe Premiere doesn't need, because we're talking two seperate markets here.

The authors of Cinelerra make it pretty clear who the software not intended for, though:

Heroine Virtual wrote: Cinelerra is not for consumer use. If ease of use, simplicity, and convenience are your thing, you should use Virtualdub, Kino, MJPEG tools or MainActor instead.

So, yeah. I'd be careful about giving people the wrong impression, because Cinelerra is neither easy to use nor does it suffer from the kinds of limitations usually associated with "mid-level consumer".
On that note, CinePaint is also actively used in the professional film world.

A few minor corrections: The company that produces it is called Heroine Virtual, and the system is also technically the GNU/Linux system...
Here's some additional pieces of software for the GNU/Linux system, all of which are still being developed, all useful in their own right. There's literally hundreds of small video utilties floating around out there; see http://linux-sound.org/one-page.html for a rather comprehensive list...

- mjpegtools ( http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net ) : MPEG / MJPEG encoding tools. Tools of note: mp2enc (MPEG layer-II audio encoder), mpeg2enc (heavily enhanced MPEG 1/2 reference encoder), glav (rudimentary editing system).
- Kino ( http://kino.schirmacher.de/ ) : simple nonlinear editor
- transcode ( http://www.theorie.physik.uni-goettinge ... transcode/ ): the Swiss Army knife of encoding / transcoding programs for the Un*x platform
- EffecTV ( http://effectv.sourceforge.net/ ) : multi-purpose video effector

Kai Stromler · Post by **Kai Stromler** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:47 am

a few more to add to:

NLEs:

Title: MovieStar
Company: Dazzle, Inc.
System: Windows
Web link: http://www.dazzle.com
Price range: $80+
Grade: low-level consumer
Trial version? No.
Comments: Dependent on hardware capture card of dubious stability. Low effects selection, and not truly nonlinear in practice. Most versions support only MPEG1 and MPEG2 for editing. Versions 5.0+ also do DV .avi, but are not as robust or functional as 4.2x.

Effects:

Title: MEIMI (Multi Effect Interactive Movie Interface)
Company: SEERA
System: Windows
Web link: http://www.seera.jp
Price range: Free; freeware
Grade: indeterminate
Trial version? N/A
Comments: Not a real effects package but a real-time video warper. Requires screen capture utility to produce persistent video files. Huge selection of tweakable effects, but occasional robustness issues. Japanese with no English patch.

--K

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 12:09 pm

Ashyukun wrote:I think this is a pretty good idea! I imagine the list of utilities will dwarf the actual programs, though....

Yeah, I might just skip the utilities if it gets too big. The target audience (newbies) for this list is probably not going to go that far, not at first. Maybe doom9 has a list of utilities that I can point to instead.

Magix Video deLuxe is already on the list. I'll look for the Lightwave.

trythil: that's the kind of feedback I was looking for. I only know some of these by name and have to take educated guesses.

Kai Stromler: MovieStar is a good addition, but I will shorten or delete your comments. Review-type of information can be found on the Software page. Not sure about MEIMI...looks like a utility and I might not list those (see above).

Another one I missed is Gimp for the image editing list.

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Sun Apr 13, 2003 11:20 pm

Added more titles. Same link as before. New stuff is marked in red.

dokidoki · Post by **dokidoki** » Sun Apr 13, 2003 11:58 pm

Gimp entry doesn't mention Gimp for Windows...
http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32/

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 2:42 am

I looked at that page...and forgot to add it to the text.

Thanks!

E-Ko · Post by **E-Ko** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:45 am

These may be worthwhile additions to the list.

Effects Editing:

Title: Commotion
Company: Pinnacle Systems
System: Windows, Macintosh
Web Link: http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage. ... angue_ID=7
Price Range: Retails for $495 ($995 for Pro version)
Grade: high-level consumer to professional (?)
Trial version? Yes

Image Editing:

Title: Illustrator
Company: Adobe Systems Inc.
System: Windows, Macintosh
Web link: http://www.adobe.com
Price range: $500 and up
Grade: high-level consumer
Trial version? Yes
Comments: I like vector graphics.

Here are a few additional resources:

http://www.dv.com has reviews of a lot of products (most of which I'm not familiar with).

http://www.creativecow.net has forums dedicated to a lot of products (most of which I'm not familiar with).