New and need help for son with Autism

[Michael L. Johnson]

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

Lightworks has a clean and simple interface and it can be operated in a number of ways. Generally it's easier to learn for those users not carrying any baggage from other NLEs. It really depends on what he wants to do, you can shoot and then upload to Youtube and Vimeo for free, For the all the other export options you need the Pro version.

Brian

Thank you for the information. I had not heard of Lightworks. I will have to research it, and see if it would fill our needs.

Thanks,

Michael

[Michael L. Johnson]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Don't believe what they are telling you Michael, Edius 8 is the best NLE and I know because I am using it.
Just kidding, not about Edius but about not believing the others. :) Your choice in a NLE is even more difficult then choosing a camera, it will be very difficult to switch if you don't like a NLE, when I switched from Premiere to Edius it was like starting all over and even the most simple tasks required me to go to the Edius forum for advice. For your son that might be an almost impossible task so I would not take that choice very lightly. Once you make a choice you will have to stick with it.

Noa

Thank you as always. You are right about having to live with it (for a while at least). I will be very deliberate, and make the best choice I can.

All of you here have given me a lot of really good information, (it is a lot to internalize), and made me think of things I may have not thought hard enough about (being consumed primarily about a camera). I cannot express my appreciation strongly enough.

Thank you


Michael

[Michael L. Johnson]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

Before more NLE recommendations, we should learn, 1) which OS he uses, and 2) what other creative programs is he comfortable with? (In other words, not just games and content sites but things like Word, Excel, Paint, Music sequencers... stuff that is user-input driven.)

Jon

Thanks for the post. Mackenzie has used both Apple and Windows OS, with windows being used most often, and he has used some creative programs with both. I do have a question though. Are some brands of cameras "easier" to use on certain editing platforms ? I know that with the software being discussed all the footage that Mackenzie shoots will likely pose little problem, but I have heard about having to transcode (I think this is the right term) footage so that it can used in a particular editing suite. I would like to eliminate or at least drastically reduce that process for obvious reasons if possible.


Thank You.

Michael

[Karl Walter Keirstead]

As a user of Vegas Pro (10, 11 and now at V13), I have no real complaints re Vegas.

I experienced crashes with 10, 11 but very very few with 13.

Part of the reason that 13 works for me may be that I learned to do things a certain way in Vegas and have stuck to that way.

My problem is I only use the parts of Vegas that I need and I have no experience with other NLEs.

My take is that Vegas a very complex program, similar to the 1,000,000 line software products my company manufactures for healthcare, law enforcement and manufacturing.

The Vegas User Interface seems to be reasonably friendly.

You don't want to mess around with NLEs - people in the video space spend a lot of time and money backing up raw data off the camera and backing up the usually proprietary output from NLEs.

Over time, chances are if you ever need to go to backup, raw formats that are in common use today will be readable (assuming the media is), but if your NLE vendor has gone out of business, the remaining vendor NLEs may or may not be able to read in your NLE files.

If you think about it, it's not unusual to spend many more hours editing than recording, so you would not want to get raw files from backup and then discover that you have to re-do all of the editing.

BTW

Some of the folks I have talked to about getting data off their cameras do not copy the entire data structure. They only copy the files. It's my understanding this can lead to problems.

I remove an SD, insert it in a USB reader and then go to the Windows (in my case) file directory, make sure the drive is recognized, make a new folder with the project name + date, then copy the ENTIRE directory from the USB drive.

I never erase anything on the SDs when they are sitting in USB reader - I go back to the camera and do deletes or reformatting there.

[Michael L. Johnson]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

I have been following this post from the beginning but just went through it all again. Not quite the same issue but I have my wife shoot the closeups for me when I shoot theatre and she may have some of the same issues!!. Tell me what to do and how but will get very upset if things do not work exactly as described !! She uses a Sony AX100 on a Sachtler ACE tripod with LANC remote. The camera is setup in auto exposure ( but with a gain limit and fixed shutter speed ) with AE shift and she looks at the zebras to turn AE shift wheel to get rid of them. ( I have preset the zebra level and she knows that if it is on a white shirt she can ignore ) She uses manual touch spot focus to set focus ( touch the thing I want in focus ). I also have taught her composing to the grid that can be set on the LCD. Standard rule of thirds. Her closeups make all the difference to my productions. She has got very good at shooting and has really no idea how the camera is setup.

So to cameras I think Noa suggested the DVX200 in an earlier post a camera that could do this in much the same way and still be a full pro camera when needed. I expect the AG-UX180 may also work closer to the way I get my wife's AX100 and may have better touch responses than the DVX200. I am waiting to see what the full specs are too.

For NLE's you may want to look at Vegas Movie Studio Platinum. It will do everything a beginner would want , is not expensive and has the same user interface as the full Vegas if he decides to move up into the more elaborate editors. Though the real difference with Movie Studio to Vegas Pro is just more stuff !!! Also Movie Studio has a few things that Vegas Pro does not have !!

I too normally edit with EDIUS 8 WG but also have Vegas ( full and Studio versions over many years ) and ADOBE CS6. For a single track edit, Vegas ( or Vegas Movie Studio ) will operate real easy and sliding clips over one another will automatically dissolve the video and audio.Nice and easy for a beginner to do and understand. Yet the timeline is just like any of the pro NLE's.


Ron Evans

Ron

Thank for this reply and all that it contained.. You and everyone else can believe that when I start teaching Mackenzie the finer points of using his camera, I will be seeking opinions about what I am doing, and insights about what I could be doing differently.

I too am curious about the Panasonic UX 180. I know that it has a 20X zoom lens which may aid in longer shots, and I think it is supposed to have a 1" sensor. Last that I heard it is due out in November. I did not want to wait that long, but it may be worth it if I do.

I appreciate your thoughts and insight on Vegas Movie Studio and Vegas Pro.

Thank you very much!

Michael

[Michael L. Johnson]

Originally Posted by Karl Walter Keirstead

As a user of Vegas Pro (10, 11 and now at V13), I have no real complaints re Vegas.

I experienced crashes with 10, 11 but very very few with 13.

Part of the reason that 13 works for me may be that I learned to do things a certain way in Vegas and have stuck to that way.

My problem is I only use the parts of Vegas that I need and I have no experience with other NLEs.

My take is that Vegas a very complex program, similar to the 1,000,000 line software products my company manufactures for healthcare, law enforcement and manufacturing.

The Vegas User Interface seems to be reasonably friendly.

You don't want to mess around with NLEs - people in the video space spend a lot of time and money backing up raw data off the camera and backing up the usually proprietary output from NLEs.

Over time, chances are if you ever need to go to backup, raw formats that are in common use today will be readable (assuming the media is), but if your NLE vendor has gone out of business, the remaining vendor NLEs may or may not be able to read in your NLE files.

If you think about it, it's not unusual to spend many more hours editing than recording, so you would not want to get raw files from backup and then discover that you have to re-do all of the editing.

BTW

Some of the folks I have talked to about getting data off their cameras do not copy the entire data structure. They only copy the files. It's my understanding this can lead to problems.

I remove an SD, insert it in a USB reader and then go to the Windows (in my case) file directory, make sure the drive is recognized, make a new folder with the project name + date, then copy the ENTIRE directory from the USB drive.

I never erase anything on the SDs when they are sitting in USB reader - I go back to the camera and do deletes or reformatting there.

Walter

Thank you for this post and all the information. You raise a lot of good points that I will have to learn more about.

Thanks,

Michael

[Mike Watson]

Michael, next to the "Quote" button, you can find a button with a " and a + on it. This will allow you to select several posts that you want to quote, all in the same response.

[Michael L. Johnson]

Mike

Thanks, I thought that was what it was for, and when the occasion has need for it, I will use it. The fact that so many people with so much information have responded to my initial post has been very gratifying and deeply appreciated. The least I can do in some small way is to respectfully address each post to the members who have so gratuitously shared their thoughts, wisdom, and knowledge with me. I will not always do it this way, but for now, it is what my conscience dictates.

Michael

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by Michael L. Johnson

Are some brands of cameras "easier" to use on certain editing platforms ? I know that with the software being discussed all the footage that Mackenzie shoots will likely pose little problem, but I have heard about having to transcode (I think this is the right term) footage so that it can used in a particular editing suite. I would like to eliminate or at least drastically reduce that process for obvious reasons if possible.l

Highly compressed video codecs can cause issues, especially on less powerful computers. I suspect you'll have work out how your son views the world and see which N:E has a logic that fits in with that. Professional NLEs aren't the easiest software to learn and can involve a bit of setting for each project, although if you're only using the same camera it should be less of an issue.

[Michael L. Johnson]

Brian

Thank you for the reply. I would say that right now I am leaning toward a Windows OS, mainly because that is what we have at home, and though he does have experience on ,Apple,he is most familiar with Windows.

The caveat is of course when I begin to delve deeper into editing software, and as you say, one is a better fit for him than another. Should be fun trying to figure that out.

Thanks

Michael

[Jon Fairhurst]

Given Windows, I recommend trying out VEGAS Movie Studio 13 Platinum for $79. You might consider stepping up to VEGAS Movie Studio 13 Suite for $139. Frankly, I don't think that the extra plug ins would be worthwhile, but the tutorial DVD might be invaluable.

Video programs of VEGAS Movie Studio family in comparison

One key point: Vegas Movie Studio includes Simple Edit Mode and Expanded Edit Mode. I strongly advocate going straight to Expanded Edit Mode. My wife bought VMS and started working in Simple Edit Mode. She found that things happened without explanation and that some fairly basic tools were not available. In other words, in Expanded Edit Mode, one feels like their hand is directly on the tiller. In Simple Edit Mode, it's like you're asking somebody else to do things, they do some stuff on their own and sometimes have a poor grasp of what you're saying.

"Simple" might be good for somebody slapping something up on YouTube, but "Expanded" is much better for learning and understanding how things work.

Besides, if you ever upgrade to Vegas Pro, everything will fall to hand.

As I wrote earlier, Vegas is quite true to Windows conventions, so a lot of the actions are intuitive. For instance, most everything supports right-click, so you point the mouse at the thing you're interested in, right click, and immediately see the options available to you. There are many shortcuts available that speed up editing with just a keyboard and mouse, but it's not necessary to learn any shortcuts. There are always ways to do things with pointing and clicking. I own a ShuttlePro controller, but I never use it. Keyboard and mouse are adequate, and if he can learn a handful of shortcuts, he can potentially get really quick at it.

Anyway, for $79 or $139, it's worth a shot. From there, you could always punt and try another editor. Or, if he likes it and needs more features, you can upgrade to Pro.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Another nice thing about Vegas is that it's quite format independent.

In some NLE's you need to configure the format of the project and/or timeline up front to get the expected behavior. In Vegas, you can drop content of many different formats on the various timelines and they are simply handled and intermixed without requiring any technical decisions from the editor.

There is a project format that affects how the content is presented during the editing process. In Vegas, when you drop the first piece of content into the project, it asks if you would like the new project to have the same properties as this content. Click "Yes" and all of the technical decisions are made correctly for you. If for some reason, you prefer different project properties, you can change it at any time without losing any of your work. I don't expect this to be the case for you. Just drop in the first video, click "Yes" and start editing.

Years ago, when editing DSLR HD video, the software decoders were sluggish. I would manually transcode the clips before editing to get a snappier response. These days, that's no longer necessary. Computers are faster, decoding software is more efficient, and in many cases the GPUs in the video card are used to speed things up.

That's one thing to study: Check if your target editing software is optimized to work with the ATI or nVidia cards and see which cards offer the best acceleration for the money. This can be at least as important as having a fast processor and lots of RAM.

Here's some information on chosing a machine for Vegas:
https://www.moviestudiozen.com/free-...-video-editing

The next place where formats matter is the output. At this point, one needs to make technical decisions. Is this for a DVD or Blu-ray? Will it be uploaded to the web? Do you want HD or UHD? What aspect ratio do you need? After you test things out and determine your workflow, it's quite straightforward. Save any custom settings prior to rendering and the next time you render, it will use the same settings that you used before.

So in other words:
1) Just drop your media files into the timelines and don't worry about formats.
2) Click "Yes" when you drop the first video onto the timeline. (Make sure to drop a video from your camera first, rather than some randomly downloaded clip.)
3) Render using the default settings from your previous render.

And with a powerful computer with a well-matched graphics card, you'll get great performance without transcoding.

Oh, another feature of Vegas is that it will automatically reduce the resolution or framerate to the editing monitor when you've overtaxed the system. That means that things still play in real time while editing, rather than stall (for the most part, anyway.) Just leave the monitor settings in "auto" and it handles the edit monitor quality for you. This lets one edit away without having to pre-render things. The only time one needs to pre-render is when you absolutely must see the result at full resolution and frame rate. Unless the edit is highly technical, this isn't really needed. Just have faith that the final render will show all the pixels and frames.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Another thought for editing: It can be nice to have two monitors. One monitor shows the controls while the other shows full screen video.

In Vegas, this is quite easy to set up. (I've used After Effects for years and still can't figure out how to configure the video without a border.) Once the setup is done, just click the monitor icon and the video will show full screen on the second monitor. (That said, I'm using Vegas Pro. I'm not sure if Studio supports this.)

Vegas doesn't require a second monitor. It allows an area of the editing surface to show the editing result.Personally, I often just use the smaller window. However, when you want to see details, or how big the text will look, the larger monitor is excellent. The big advantage, however, is when you collaborate. Having a second monitor allows friends, colleagues, and onlookers to see the video in progress. For you and your son working together, I think that this would be very rewarding. It might help open up his awareness towards sharing the video, rather than editing in his own little world.

In this situation, the main monitor can be of any resolution and quality. The video monitor, however, should have good quality, be 16x9 and have HD (or UHD) resolution. In my case, I use a 32-inch TV as my video monitor. That said, some TVs have strange pixel structures that look bad up close or with computer text. I'm using a "gaming TV" that handles computer graphics cleanly.

[Ron Evans]

Magix bought Vegas earlier this year and still have the offer to buy Vegas 13 and get Vegas 14 free. Offer is available to end of August. Exclusive welcome offer. This is the full version rather than Movie Studio too and comes with the full version of DVD Architect 6.0 for DVD and Bluray authoring. I was on Vegas 12 and have taken this offer as it is a good deal. Even if you do this and get Studio for $79 the total is a lot less than almost all the other NLE's you may look at and a really good DVD authoring package.

I use EDIUS 8 WG for video most of the time but always use Vegas for audio and DVDArchitect for disc authoring. As Jon has said it is easy to work with and can be used simply or as complicated as you wish.

Ron Evans

[Brian Drysdale]

There are a number of NLE options available, just to show the differences, here's a Vegas user and his early experience with Lightworks. There are quicker ways of working with Lightworks than the methods he's using, but it does reveal the differences between NLEs, All NLEs have advantages and disadvantages, so it's a matter checking them out, although cost may be a factor with some.

Sony Vegas versus Lightworks - My Experience - YouTube