What's a good free software for creating/editing a video with animation?

[BeginnerVideo]

Hi,

I'm a beginner to video creating and editing, but I would like to make a short video which will include text, graphics, and some live-action video. I would like to include psychedelic graphics where 3D objects rotate, and have colour and graphic effects such as smoke, sparkles, etc (but not cartoony). I know how to take snippets of video and attach them together, but I don't know how to make things animated.

The end result would be a promo video type of thing. Is there a software that I can use that does this? Specifically, make 3D rotations of objects as they zoom into the screen (like when people show pictures of a globe spinning.

Thanks,

Cristina

[poisondeathray]

Usually "3D" and "2D" are done with separate software

What kind of "3D" objects ? What formats (e.g. obj, fbx,etc...) ? Are you modelling from scratch or importing premade assets ?

The most powerful free software for this would be blender. It has a video sequence editor and full 3D capabilities. But it's the most difficult to learn, and the GUI isn't very intuitive for most people

[BeginnerVideo]

I'm not so familiar with what can be done in what software. Basically if you can imagine a dna strand rotating with a cool background that's what I'm aiming for, and those effects like text going into particles. Your basic promo video that looks flashy but is doable for a beginner willing to learn a bit as I go.

As far as whether it's from scratch or not, ideally I'd like to import some objects and modify them from there, but really whatever is simpler or easier.

Thanks for your help!

[poisondeathray]

What sort of expectations do you have ? What is a "cool background" ? For example, A 3D DNA strand can be very plain looking with flat textures or it can be given the full Hollywood treatment , or anything in between.

It sounds like you are starting completely from the beginning ? A warning - it's probably going to take a few hours just to learn the basics for each software. I can list some fairly popular free software besides blender


Hitfilm is a "2.5D" compositor and probably more what you're looking for. It's very similar to After Effects. But the "free" version , hitfilm express, doesn't allow 3d model import. But it has many effects and can be used to put everything together

"2.5D" is basically flat 2D layers in 3D space. So you have x,y,z coordinates but it's not true 3D objects. You will find most editors work like this. And most "3D" programs only work in 3D, they cannot edit 2D video such as live action. Hence the comment on "separate". You would usually render out sequences from the 3D program to composite in the 2D program

Other free compositors include blackmagic fusion (it has a free version), nuke (it has a free version, but the full version is the "gold standard" for high level compositing, Hollywood visual effects), natron (which is fully open source, but basically a nuke clone)

Another free combination would be mmd (miku miku dance) for 3d model manipulation, and aviutl for the compositing. They are originally japanese but there are english translations. aviutl has hundreds of effects including particle generators but they tend to be on the more simplistic side, and the GUI's are quirky

For other effects, such as complex particle effects look at Houdini Apprentice which is the free version of Houdini

[poisondeathray]

If I had to do it all over again from the beginning, I would probably learn blender - because it can do everything and it's constantly being updated and more features, more improvements etc..

For example just Google "DNA animation blender" and there will be dozens of free video tutorials on youtube on how to model, animate, texture, light scenes etc.. Blender has a large user base and active forums

The "video editing" part of blender is called the "video sequence editor". Again dozens of free tutorials on how to use it

There are youtube playlists for complete beginners on how to use blender, starting from the interface etc.. but you're still looking at a significant time investment just to learn the basics

[Cornucopia]

If you are wanting to just smartly rework tried & true templates with a minimum of learning or setup time, BluffTitler is good, especially with fly-in logos & titles, sparklies, shine-through & glint, perspective, and texture mapping. I created a series of 3d bumpers, lower 3rds & transitions with alpha channel built-in, so it was easy to import & utilize as overlays in a standard NLE.

Scott

[TreeTops]

I agree with Scott on using BluffTitler but it's not free. But worth every penny.

[Bernix]

Hi,
has anybody try Microsoft story remix? Some demo videos show very impressive results.
Check from cca. 2:50

Bernix

[BeginnerVideo]

Thanks for all the responses!

Ya I'm really quite starting from scratch. I looked at those Blender DNA tutorials and those are the types of things I'm aiming for. Like low-budget Hollywood :P. Something that I can learn and do something reasonable within a few hours or a day.

I'll look into the above suggestions.

Thank you!

[Bernix]

Blender is one of the best (if not best) free solution. As NLE video editor and for creating 3d objects and 3d animation. But to be master in it is from my point of view not easy. Let me know about your progress.

Bernix