After Effects - comparable open-source or lower priced?

[magic612]

Hi there,

Based on wonderful feedback I received here a couple months ago, I purchased Sony Vegas Platinum for my new computer. It works very well, and I am extremely happy with it. Thank you to all who recommended it.

However, there are a few things where it has limitations. Text, for one, is well... "blah," as are the effects that can be used with the text. And if there is a function in Vegas that allows things like, I don't know, drawing line or making moving arrows, I don't know about it or haven't found it.

So if there is, let me know??

If not, one of my friends recently told me that Adobe After Effects is a great tool for those kinds of things. I don't need "broadcast" quality, but I would like better than "Microsoft Movie Maker" quality, which is what it seems like Sony has for those aspects of the program (moving/pointing arrows being non-existent in both WMM and Vegas). Are there any options out there that don't cost $600 for that kind of thing? It need not be as powerful as After Effects, but I'd like something better than what Vegas provides.

Ideas?

[poisondeathray]

closest free software would probably be blender

And if there is a function in Vegas that allows things like, I don't know, drawing line or making moving arrows, I don't know about it or haven't found it.

you can draw a line or make moving/pointing arrows in vegas, it's as simple as keyframing or using mask reveals - there should be some tutorials on youtube

if you describe what you want more clearly, or even give the url of an example video of the effect you want to do, you will probably get more help or at least better search terms to use for tutorials

[filmboss80]

Painting a masterpiece relies more upon the skills of the artist than the types of paint and canvas used. Do a Google or Yahoo search on "title effects in Sony Vegas" before you go spending more money. Find out what you can do with the resources already at your disposal. Buying After Effects just to do better titling is overkill.

[magic612]

@poisondeathray - thanks for that. For an idea of what I'm talking about, I make astronomy videos. It would be helpful to be able to draw moving lines from star to star, to either create constellation shapes or show how to get to an object in the sky. Along that line of thought, pointing out a relatively small "dot" on a screen with a moving arrow that shifts up and down or back and forth is also something that would be useful. If i can do that with keyframing or mask reveals, I'll do some searches for that - or if you know of some good tutorials I'd appreciate any links of which you know. I just didn't know the name for what it was called. I've played around a lot with Vegas, but certainly don't know everything it can do, as most of what I've looked into are functions for which I knew the name and could search how to accomplish them.

@filmboss - I will do a search based on that, though see above for some of my other reasoning - but again, if I can do that with the tools it has presently, I'll gladly save the $$$! Any tutorials you might know of would be greatly appreciated as well.

[poisondeathray]

All animation is done through "keyframing" in vegas

Search for basic tutorials on "vegas keyframing" - there should be 100's of tutorials, it's very easy to do moving arrows (or moving anything) in vegas, at least in terms of 2D .

You can generate arrows or objects in vegas with media generators and cookie cutter tools, but most people find it easier in something like photoshop (or free image editors like gimp) . You generally want to create the object with an alpha channel (so it's "see through" around the object) , this way you can layer it on top of the main video

You have multiple tracks in vegas, so you just stick the arrow (or whatever object) on one layer on top of your video layer, and move it, set a keyframe , rinse & repeat.

[magic612]

Thanks - I didn't realize that was possible that way. I'll so some searching - many thanks.

[edDV]

Some of this may require an upgrade to Vegas Pro. Vegas Pro also has better titling but I still rely on Photoshop to create graphic elements.

[budwzr]

Painting a masterpiece relies more upon the skills of the artist than the types of paint and canvas used. Do a Google or Yahoo search on "title effects in Sony Vegas" before you go spending more money. Find out what you can do with the resources already at your disposal. Buying After Effects just to do better titling is overkill.

I found another "limitation" with Vegas, no unicorns.