Cheap and cheerful animation software ???

[Pete Thomas]

I want to put some audio on Youtube, and wonder if there are some good quick animation creation apps that will help me make video.

Currently I either cobble something together in iMovie (e.g stills with Ken Burns, home video or stock clips) , or else I grab a Snapzpro movie of an iTunes Visualiser.

I just wondered what other possibilities are for low budget videos.

 

[Markdvc]

If you want to try the bleeding edge, how about FCP-X? I've been keeping myself busy with it for the past couple of days. There are some FCP 7 features missing, the workflow is different but it is quick, starting to be fun and I expect, if you are more familiar with imovie, would probably be fairly intuitive.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Hmmm, I got Final Cut Express, and found it totally unintuitive, to the extent I gave up on it, even after buying a so called quick start book.

BUT, having had a quick look at the Apple Store page, it does seem they have made it more dummy friendly.

So does it include auto animation things that might be what I'm after?

Come to think of it maybe I'll pop down to the Apple Store and get a demonstration, presumably there is an upgrade from FCE?

 

[Markdvc]

So does it include auto animation things that might be what I'm after?

I'm not sure, there are various presets for filters and all sorts of goodies. In fact, motion (also new) might be more useful, but I'm no expert.

Come to think of it maybe I'll pop down to the Apple Store and get a demonstration, presumably there is an upgrade from FCE?

No upgrades whatsoever, neither from FCE nor from FCP. It is a new product, new is also that it is only available as a download through the online App store, but presumably you can have a look at in in an Apple store, even if you can't purchase it there.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Bummer, I'll throw away FCE then (except the bin men are on strike round here)

Still it gives me an excuse to pop down the Apple Store for a demonstration by the genii.

 

[Markdvc]

a demonstration by the genii.

Oops, glad I reread that, for a second I thought you had to pay a urologist a visit ....

 

[Orren Merton]

Hmmm, I got Final Cut Express, and found it totally unintuitive, to the extent I gave up on it, even after buying a so called quick start book.

The new version of FCPX is apparently nothing to do with the old FCP. It seems that they started over completely, new codebase, new application.

As for the Upgrade pricing, you should think of it this way:
Previous FCPE to FCS upgrade was $499
Previous FCS to FCS upgrade was $299

Now, the full price of FCPX is $299. So in fact, every purchase is an "upgrade" and you're getting a far better price than if you'd upgraded to Final Cut Studio.

Also: get a demo of Motion too, I think Mark's right, that might be the ticket. And that's in the Mac App Store for $49, even cheaper than FCPX.

Take care,
Orren

 

[Markdvc]

Now, the full price of FCPX is $299. So in fact, every purchase is an "upgrade" and you're getting a far better price than if you'd upgraded to Final Cut Studio.

Objection , your honour! The previous update from FCS 2 to FCS 3 was 299. As a licence holder of the last FCS versions I regard the new FCP-X as an upgrade, but purchasing FCP-X together with Motion and Compressor works out more expensive.

Not that there is a thing I can do about it, and I don't think that it is bad value. Merely my 0.02 Drachmas. Anyone purchasing it from scratch will no doubt regard it as very good value, especially considering the praise it is getting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sRzLP0FJ82I#at=21

Also: get a demo of Motion too, I think Mark's right, that might be the ticket. And that's in the Mac App Store for $49, even cheaper than FCPX.

I haven't gotten anywhere near trying the new Motion yet, but it is on the face of it not at all expensive

 

[Orren Merton]

purchasing FCP-X together with Motion and Compressor works out more expensive.

Ah, good point. I forgot about buying the ancillary apps. You would save the extra $100 of having to buy motion and compressor separately. I stand corrected

OTOH, I've used Compressor (that also comes with Logic Pro) a total of one time. I read the manual, and still couldn't figure out how to use it properly. I got a result...but it wasn't what I wanted. So even for $49, I'm not sure I'd bother picking it up.

Motion looks cool though.

Orren

 

[Pete Thomas]

OTOH, I've used Compressor (that also comes with Logic Pro) a total of one time.

Ah, compressor is quite useful I find for cropping videos or changing aspect ration, pillarboxing etc. I did hear it's supposed to be able to get better quality for the filesize than QT pro, but I can't say I noticed.