Christmas is coming up and I'm going to tell people to buy me editing programs and stuff. What program or programs should I ask for?

This is on topic, move it to the film making forums and get a better response... when you move it too, tell us what OS you have and what the budget is.

Vegas 6.0 for editing, Sound forge for audio editing, and A.E. for effects.

I know Premiere isn't supposed to be stable but I learned it almost completely in less than a week.

For my Mac I've got Final Cut Express.

by A.E. you mean After Effects right? Just making sure.

Vegas and Premier would be your two best bets for editing. They have similar functionality, but different workflows. I highly reccomend checking out their free trials to determine which one you like better. After Effects would be the next step for fx, but these programs can really add up so I do hope your relatives have deep pockets this christmas

NLE - go with FCP if you have a Mac. What kind of effects do you need? AE is good. I liked Commotion's tracking and keying tools when it was still supported.

quote:

Originally posted by Skipping Stone Productions:
by A.E. you mean After Effects right? Just making sure.

I was actually talking about American Eagle, but hey I hear After Effects is ok.

For home use:

Final Cut Pro for editing
Soundtrack Pro for sound
After Effects for visual effects

I love ProTools and it's still the pro-choice, but my company just started using Soundtrack because it came with Final Cut Studio, and man it's a VAST improvement on the terrible Soundtrack. There's lots of great tools in Soundtrack, and with Final Cut 5.0, you can use Final Cut and Soundtrack together without having to bother with exporting and importing.

Moved to the Post Production thread

If you have a Mac just get Final Cut Studio... I have it... Teehee I love saying that. And it is FREAKING AWESOME. It comes with
Final Cut Pro 5
Soundtrack Pro
Motion 2
DVD Studio Pro

All are awesome.

Preimeir for editing

Alamdv 2.0 or Effects Lab DV for special effects
and Chromator for all your gradeing and keying needs.

http://www.alamdv.com

Both cost only $90.00 US which means it won't hurt your gift givers pocket book. I personally love their softwear and am using it for my feature Fantasy Spoof film. Although it's original use was for gun shots, light swords and explostions the 100's of FREE 3rd party plugs expand it well beyong your standard three set effects kit.

As for audio... If you have a Mac, stay away from Peak softwear. However Soundtrack is pretty good. If you have an IBM... WHY ARE YOU BUYING SOUND SOFTWARE? Seriously, there are plenty of great freewear multi-track sound editors/mixers with all the latest whiz bang filters.

Signed,
William