Try this website:

http://www.hammerhead.com/software.html

Yeah, I tried using the demo version of it, but you couldn't see AVIs in that version. Then when I tried to upgrade, I got a message saying it was discontinued. Why SF or Sony couldn't integrate that program into Vegas is a sore spot with me. Thanks for the reply.

One decent program is AlamDV from fxhome.com. The software's good, and there's an upgrade coming soon that will make it better. The only drawback is that the support forums are haunted by teenagers.

I'm pretty sure they still have the AlamDV demo available for download.

Thanks for the references, guys. AlamDV looks like the most user friendly, but does it actually allow one to draw within the program, or must that be done in another application. I couldn't find a good answer anywhere on their site, even FAQ's.

With Alam DV, you import your footage into Alam, add your lightning bolts, etc., render, and save to an external file, then import as usual into Vegas. I've used it on a few projects. I don't know what you mean by 'draw'. Alam uses extensive library of Fx plug ins, like different colors of light sabers, most have variables to adjust, like length, width, etc. What are you trying to do? Good Luck, John.

Also included in PaintShopPro is AnimationShop. You should check it out. There's the "onion skin" function that allows one to see the "just altered" shape through the new one (frame by frame) that's very usefull... and you get PSP by the same occasion, which is not bad at all (in fact, a few people prefer PSP to Photoshop for their usual tasks)
Another thing to check out: the next Satish's application. This guy's been doing very good work and this promises to be another good hit. Should be out soon. (ref: www.debugmode.com)

I was speaking of actually hand painting individual frames, and using an onion skin (thanks to the AlamDV website for that term) feature to check between frames. I guess what I am really asking is if you can paint similar to what one might do in Photoshop, or would using AlamDV be similar to just compositing various sequences in Vegas? By the way, the templates that are available look cool. Thanks to those of you who have brought this program to my attention. I am actually downloading the demo now, so that will probably answer my questions anyway. Thanks again, everyone.

Corey

I have several of Satish's applications, and all I can say is WOW, how can this guy provide this stuff for free? I'll keep my eye out. Thanks!

One more question. Can one open AVI's or Quicktime in Animation Shop, or do they have to be exported stills?

Don't know about your last question, but in regards to " I was speaking of actually hand painting individual frames", yes you can. Go here and download the sample scripts:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/download/Step2.asp?DID=435

I believe the one you want is " ExportImagesForRange.js ", this will export a selection of video as a series of stills. You can then take them into Photoshop or whatever, draw on them, and import the series back into Vegas.

Hope that helps;

- Ray

www.undergroundplanet.com

Corey,

Corel doesn't advertise the feature, but their Painter 8 can import an uncompressed AVI as a frame stack (rather like Adobe's filmstrip format). You can do amazing things to your video with Painter because it has a bunch of painting and drawing tools. You can save a sequence of actions that you did on one frame as a script and then apply that script to the entire frame stack. When you are done you can save the frame stack back to an AVI (or QuickTime or animated GIF). Just save your sound separately when you do this, because you lose it entirely in Painter.

Corel is currently offering a free 30-day demo of Painter 8. Like Photoshop, Painter has a steep learning curve because its user interface is a bit different and it has a bunch of features. But the good news is you can apply most of them to your videos. I think Painter can do everything you want to your video, and way more. For a shot at the demo, see:

Painter 8 Demo

Be sure to also download the Painter 8 User Guide and read Chapter 23, Animation and Video.

-- Seeker --

Corey,

Since there is no evidence you saw my comments about Corel's Painter 8 as a video drawing/painting/rotoscoping program, I am "bumping" this thread to the top.

-- Seeker --

Check this free software:

http://cinepaint.sourceforge.net/

there is a windows version

I havent used it much yet, but I think you need to export as stil sequence for it to work.. but maybe not.

Alam DV is a neat as well, there is a V3 coming out sometime in the future with more feature, they also have a nice mask making software which is pre-release at the moment.

D

Thanks to seeker and everyone else! I have tried cinepaint but I can't get the latest version to work on my computer (I'm having trouble assembling the program). I'll give Corel a try! One more question. Seeker, you said Adobe has a filmstrip mode. Do you know if they have one on Photoshop Elements. That is my main image editing program (cheap and powerful).

Corey

Guess what I found online
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/download/step2.asp?DID=202

perhaps the forgotten link

Ah, but what good is it with out the serial. It disables most all features in demo mode.

That is the problem I ran into when trying to import an AVI before. Nice try though!

This is a tough one to solve at a reasonable price. I have DFX+ (Digital Fusion), but that runs you about $1200. A little expensive for most budgets (even mine). There is Discreet Combustion at $1000. Compositing apps are expensive and it is because they have a niche market that no small low cost app fills.

You could just render out each frame using a VEGAS script and edit each frame one by one in a paint app.

I'm fairly new to Vegas, and when I was evaluating NLEs I also looked at Ulead's MediaStudio Pro. I chose Vegas because it appears to be a much better editor, but MSP7 comes with a Video Paint module which can do the rotoscoping.

It is not sufficient to simply paint over each frame. Can you imagine how long that would take? The software needs to be able to track motion or be keyframed over the video.

MSP also has a lot of nice effects and transitions. If you can afford it, you could do your editing in Vegas, and then the final overlays in MSP.

Here's an update. CSB Digital (makers of AlamDV) is offering a compositing application for under $100. Looks like it has a lot of features and could fit quite well into the low budget category.

Here's a link:
http://fxhome.com/chromanator/features.html

Roy