HITFILM 2 ULTIMATE pluses?

wwjd wrote on 6/13/2015, 12:41 PM
Anyone use HITFILM 2 ULTIMATE for anything? It came with my Pro13 upgrade and I have NEVER touched it. Installed, started it, looked at it once, never bothered to use it.

What are the useful sides of it? I tend to try some cheap effects in Vegas, but have no interest in spending time to become a full blown effects guy.

Anything make it jump out and say hey, it's REALLY GOOD at <THIS>?

Comments

Tim Stannard wrote on 6/13/2015, 6:01 PM
It's a useful tool and doesn't take long to learn the interface.
The ins and outs of the different effects will probably take forever to learn.
I'd suggest it's worth looking at.
I don't do much in the way of special effects but I do use if for ChromaKey which is vastly superior to that in Vegas, and Smoke and Clouds which, of course, aren't in Vegas.
Motion tracking can be useful both to add effects and for "patching up".
Motion graphics is easier/more flexible than straight Vegas (not that I use it much) and true 3D space can be useful.
I'm sure others have their other favorite uses for it, whilst yet more will turn their noses up at it and suggest time spent learning this would be better spent learning BCC or AE. However, the cost of those was never an option for me as I had no need, but the low cost entry, viat the Sony Suite upgrade was small enough to allow me to have a play.
I use it regularly, but not greatly.
I liked it enough to upgrade to Hit Film Pro 3
Derm wrote on 6/13/2015, 7:16 PM
I got V3 with a Vegas update. I also own AE CS6.
Hitfilm is basically an AE copy. It installs a lot of FX which are immediately available in Vegas and I use them a lot. It allows the import of 3D models, which AE doesn't do and the timeline playback is pretty good. I have used the 3D model import a few times and use the FX in Vegas. Im pretty happy as it was a great price with Vegas.
Its not up to the standard of AE yet, but that's were its headed. If you can get it at the right price take it.
wwjd wrote on 6/13/2015, 10:05 PM
thanks for the replies guys.

Do IT work only as a standalone outside Vegas?
I've seen the new plugins it adds to Vegas, but didn't know if you could use HITFILM as an effect on the Vegas timeline.
Enerjex wrote on 6/13/2015, 11:10 PM
Different versions of hitfilm have different options in Vegas. With hf2 you can right click on a timeline clip and select to edit the clip in hf. Then u do what you need in hf, save and the clip will retain the changes automatically on the Vegas timeline. Hf3 also has ofx plug-ins you can use in Vegas.
Tim Stannard wrote on 6/14/2015, 9:29 AM
To expand a little on Enerjx's comment ..
From the Vegas timeline, you can open a clip as a HitFilm project, rather like you might use nested projects. So it's a round trip from Vegas, out to HitFilm, then back into Vegas. This works pretty well but I soon found it can eat resources. I was making a project which was basically all ChromaKeyed and I did the keying in HitFilm using this method. The more keyed clips I added, the more the system ground to a standstiil. From memory, doing this all in Vegas would not have been such a problem.
Eventally I just split the project into several projects each around a minute in length. Simple enough to deal with - like with all work, you simply need to work within the limitations of the tools available.and if that's not suitable, search for another tool that is.
wwjd wrote on 6/14/2015, 10:00 AM
ah, got it. thanks!
Tech Diver wrote on 6/14/2015, 10:08 AM
@wwjd - You need to ask yourself whether you need software for just effects, or compositing -- there is a huge difference. Hitfilm is primarily an entry-level compositing tool though it can be used just for its effects. A lot of compositing can be done within Vegas itself, but this can often be very awkward, as it has never been designed for such capabilities. If you are looking for "Hollywood quality" results, Hitfilm is not the tool for you. But, since you stated that you have "no interest in spending time to become a full blown effects guy", you are probably better off with one of the many available FX plugins out there. At the higher (and more expensive) end there is Boris Continuum Complete (an excellent tool), while on the other end are more affordable plugins such as from NewBlueFX. But remember, you really do get what you pay for.

You must realize that without a compositing tool, you will be limited to as to what sorts of videos you can create. If you are fine with that, you do not need to invest in buying and learning such a tool. However, if you ever decide to get into compositing, be aware that it can be a lot of work, demand a great deal of creativity and be very time consuming. I recently spent over two weeks on a 16 second clip that required over 40 layers of both stock footage elements and procedural effects. In the film industry, it is not unheard of to several weeks on just a few seconds of footage.

Peter
Grazie wrote on 6/14/2015, 10:10 AM
Tim, thanks for your view on Hitfilm, I was always wanting to hear something along these lines. As always, you bring a sense of well ordered pragmatism to film making.

Regards

Graham
wwjd wrote on 6/14/2015, 2:56 PM
Thanks Tech. I already own HF2U so I will stay there and maybe learn it someday. I want to make stories that complete with an ending - not "Indie Bits". But I am only shooting and editing them because I can't afford to pay anyone else to. :)
Tim Stannard wrote on 6/14/2015, 6:03 PM
Grazie, Glad you found the comments useful. But me - Pragmatic - certainly. Well ordered? Maybe one day!