Need some openions

donp wrote on 8/12/2004, 8:55 PM
I have finished a well payng project and am thinking about some software purchases either Adobe Photoshop CS or Boris Red 3GL and Discreet Combustion> I know there are few Adobe and Boris user out there. I am mostly interesed in titleing and creating motion menues, I know Photoshop probably doesn do the motion thing. I need to figure out which program will do the most for me. I need your openions.

Thanks very much
Don

Comments

Grazie wrote on 8/12/2004, 10:32 PM
Yes, you may/will get opinions here .. plus some sound hard-won experience. My advice would be to attend any current Multi media exhibitions, centred around our activities. See and observe and ask of the demonstrators all the questions you need to ask .. of course these questions will generate even further questions. You could also ask for demos to be shown to you in a real world situation at the more "dedicated" multi-media pc producer company. I've done this!

Start asking questions of yourself too:

Q - What do I want to do?

Q - What projects do I want to work on?

Q - Where do I want to be in 1 - 2 - 5 - 10 years?

Q - What effects do I like? [ I've got my own library of still and moving images that I've adored over the years! Start making your own .. are there any "trends" in what you select? ]

I don't use any other products you mention - apart from "owning" but not using Boris Graffiti 3.0 - don't ask, I bought it when I was very drunk .. . must've been. .. maybe a tad unfair, but I still find it "clumsy" .. hey, I'm spoilt with Vegas .. .

My packages are :

1 - Vegas 5b

2 - BG3 [ yeah . . . as above]

3 - Paint Shop Pro version 8

4 - The stripped down freebie version of Particle Illusion

You've listed some truly heavy weight packages - they will also demand a high budget. You will also need to figure in some big training costs too. Now I maybe wrong here but have you trained in these packages at all? I suppose you haven't . .as you might not be asking the question. So, my next question to you is, do you think you are needing to make this very big step? At the core of your question is "motion menus" , is this for DVDs? . . My opinion is that maybe just maybe if this is all you would be wanting from these heavy weights then do start looking at DVDA2. As to the Arts/Graphs packages then the Adobe chaps here will applaud that ... me, I get more than by on PsP8 . . AND I still haven't scratched the surface of it .. .

.. . hmmm .. big question you've asked ..

Regards,

Grazie
donp wrote on 8/13/2004, 7:05 AM
Thanks Grazie,
I need to do descent titles for my cleints project's and be able to do motion effects too for the DVD's they want from me, whether it be sports, Corporate or weddings(arrrgh)

The multimedia exhibitions you mentioned happen in places generally too far away for me to get to as I live in a rural part of Kentucky (about 40 miles SE of Loiusville..

I have several of the VASST training DVD's to supplant this lack of places to attend. I pan to get the one about Adobe PS CS if I buy the software.

I have time to get over the learning curve and have done that with the Pixalan stuff. You say Boris was clumsy for you to use, I take it that Boris is not high on the intuative scale. I need a better titler than what Vegas offers currently, and yes motion FX and Title FX in the video too. I liked what I saw and read on the Boris site concerining this. I sould be able to master the Discreet software too. I plan on getting that.

How does Adobe Encore stack up against DVDA2 as I don't have either.? I think it may be easier to get the Adobe Encore than DVDA2 as an add on to Vegas. There I want to do multiple sound tracks, Dolby 5.1 and DTS (if needed)

I would like to build some of my menues in Photoshop and plan to go dual layer DVD's as soon as they show some stability hence the question about Encore and DVDA2.

I have been doing the Video thing (with a Panisonic DVX100a) for about a year and moved up cameras a couple of months ago and have mastered the 24p thing now.

Guess I'm ready to move up and into some uncharted waters for me, but it's got to happen, got to make that camera pay for itself.

Looks like will probably go with Photoshop CS Version 8 first and the Discreet software and look at some of the training stuff for Boris on their website. Checked out Adobe After Effects but I didn't like the cost of the update effects packages, Boris seemed to have as much included and free downloads of FX packages. At least that's the way it seemed to me, hence my Boris questions.

Thanks Grazie.
Grazie wrote on 8/13/2004, 3:04 PM
You're welcome. I was only referring to Boris Graf . .. I have no experience of Boris Red. - It would be really neat if you could get some hands on somewhere . . Colleges or Art houses anywhere nearby?

Best regards,

Grazie