Producer and After Effects

Discuss which third party applications you use to help create your slide shows using ProShow Producer. This is not a forum to promote other slide show software programs.
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Producer and After Effects

Postby StarMan » Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:06 pm

Thought I would toss this out and see what discussion results...

I've decided to take the plunge and learn Adobe After Effects as a complement to my Producer skills. Being undercapitalized, I am working with an older version of AE, 5.5. As I'm working through it, I see many parallels to Producer, except that there are 3D features and the interface is almost completely different.

A few things:

1. Do you see the future development of Producer happening in the direction of 3D?

2. Do you use AE with Producer?

3. What do you see as the relative strengths of the two programs?

Thanks

Richard

http://www.youtube.com/user/rememberedlight
http://rememberedlight.blogspot.com/
Technical poet
YouTube: Rememberedlight
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PSP, PS CS5, LR3, AE 5.5, Sony Vegas Movie Studio
Canon XSi, Sony HDR-CX7

Robert Barnett

Re: Producer and After Effects

Postby Robert Barnett » Tue Jun 01, 2010 4:20 pm

I have the CS5 version of After Effects and Premiere and to be honest while both are very powerful I find them over kill for everything I need. I also don't like the hard requirements in order to get any type of speed out of them. While Premiere and After Effects (talking about CS5) will work with an inexpensive video card to get the most from them you need at $500 or more Nvidia card. You also need a massive amount of computer power and memory and while the old versions are going to be more intune now with what is normal for most people to have in a computer it is still a massively complex program.

Frankly, I would like to see a lot of things done to ProShow. For one thing I would like to see them do away with the Gold version and lower the price of Producer so that it falls between Gold and Producer price and then just concentrate on the one program. I think a lot of people go for the Gold and don't realize just how limited they are with it without the important and creative features like keyframes found in Producer.

I would like to see the audio handling improved and brought up to snuff. Just because this is a slideshow program doesn't mean it shouldn't be better than what it is. I would also like to see video handling improved. I would like to see much better titling features including something along the lines of Photoshop CS5 Extended Reposse (sp?) so that you can do 3D titles and a much more powerful set of animation options (both automatic and key frame based). I would also like to see layer based styles. And on and on and on.

The one thing I really don't have much interest in is full on 3D capabilities. There are a lot of other programs both for cost and free/low cost that can handle that. I think that would just muddy up producer. The only exception being the 3D titling which is a fairly normal thing in the world of animated titles.

Robert

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Re: Producer and After Effects

Postby heckydog » Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:21 pm

StarMan wrote:
1. Do you see the future development of Producer happening in the direction of 3D?

2. Do you use AE with Producer?

3. What do you see as the relative strengths of the two programs?


1. Impossible to predict. Personally, for as often as I need a 3D effect for a show, I'd just as soon do it with 3rd party software and import into PSP. Leave PSP to do what it does best, make slide shows.

2. Yes. Occasionally. But, if you want to do 3D stuff more cheaply, look at BluffTitler. That's what I use more often than AE to get a 3D effect. BluffTitler Trial Download. It has a learning curve but not as steep as AE

3. If you mean as compared to each other, it's not an apples to apples comparison. AE is very good at special effects but don't even think about making a slide show with it. PSP is terrific at slide shows and has a small repertoire of special effects.

Joe

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Re: Producer and After Effects

Postby cherub » Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:56 pm

StarMan wrote:Thought I would toss this out and see what discussion results...
I've decided to take the plunge and learn Adobe After Effects as a complement to my Producer skills. Being undercapitalized, I am working with an older version of AE, 5.5. As I'm working through it, I see many parallels to Producer, except that there are 3D features and the interface is almost completely different.
A few things:
1. Do you see the future development of Producer happening in the direction of 3D?
2. Do you use AE with Producer?
3. What do you see as the relative strengths of the two programs?
Thanks
Richard/


Hi Richard,

Good for you for taking the plunge with After Effects !

I wouldn't want to see full 3D capabilities in Producer. That would be, in my opinion, beyond the main purpose of this program. ProShow is primarily meant to make slide shows from still images, and to be able to include some videos too. As such, it is an outstanding program, with lots and lots of features.

However, I would be extremely happy to see SOME 3D capabilities, or at least the ability to mimic 3D capability - more like what graphic editors do. I would love to be able to just drag the corners of a picture and slant it, for example.
Given the fact that some slide-show programs do offer such features already, I think that Photodex should give some thought in this direction too, if they want to remain competitive.

Hi Robert,
I would also like to see layer based styles.

Could you please give an example of what you mean by layer based styles?

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Re: Producer and After Effects

Postby StarMan » Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:51 am

Robert Barnett wrote:.

The one thing I really don't have much interest in is full on 3D capabilities. There are a lot of other programs both for cost and free/low cost that can handle that. I think that would just muddy up producer. The only exception being the 3D titling which is a fairly normal thing in the world of animated titles.

Robert


Understood. I have picked up a copy of Bluff Titler and am devoting some time to learning it. It seems to be a popular solution for members of this board. Thanks for your insights!

Richard
Technical poet
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Blog: http://rememberedlight.blogspot.com/
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PSP, PS CS5, LR3, AE 5.5, Sony Vegas Movie Studio
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Re: Producer and After Effects

Postby StarMan » Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:53 am

heckydog wrote:


1. Impossible to predict. Personally, for as often as I need a 3D effect for a show, I'd just as soon do it with 3rd party software and import into PSP. Leave PSP to do what it does best, make slide shows.

2. Yes. Occasionally. But, if you want to do 3D stuff more cheaply, look at BluffTitler. That's what I use more often than AE to get a 3D effect. BluffTitler Trial Download. It has a learning curve but not as steep as AE

3. If you mean as compared to each other, it's not an apples to apples comparison. AE is very good at special effects but don't even think about making a slide show with it. PSP is terrific at slide shows and has a small repertoire of special effects.

Joe[/quote]

Thanks, Joe. I did pick up Bluff Titler but have had little time to devote to it. The demos that I ran on it looked rather shiny & broadcast-y...I'm looking for a different aesthetic. I think I'll look around for other examples.

Richard
Technical poet
YouTube: Rememberedlight
Blog: http://rememberedlight.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Remembered-Light/187564014589969
PSP, PS CS5, LR3, AE 5.5, Sony Vegas Movie Studio
Canon XSi, Sony HDR-CX7

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Re: Producer and After Effects

Postby StarMan » Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:57 am

cherub wrote:
Hi Richard,

Good for you for taking the plunge with After Effects !

I wouldn't want to see full 3D capabilities in Producer. That would be, in my opinion, beyond the main purpose of this program. ProShow is primarily meant to make slide shows from still images, and to be able to include some videos too. As such, it is an outstanding program, with lots and lots of features.

However, I would be extremely happy to see SOME 3D capabilities, or at least the ability to mimic 3D capability - more like what graphic editors do. I would love to be able to just drag the corners of a picture and slant it, for example.
Given the fact that some slide-show programs do offer such features already, I think that Photodex should give some thought in this direction too, if they want to remain competitive.


Hi Mona,

I would like to see more 3D capability in the captions, for sure. I am a big Producer fan, and it and Photoshop dominate my workflow. When I look over the 3D programs I have access to, it's very intimidating. I have a cousin who has basically spent his whole career working with 3D renderings...I want just a little bit, not the next CGI blockbuster!

Thanks for reading and your comments.

Richard
Technical poet
YouTube: Rememberedlight
Blog: http://rememberedlight.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Remembered-Light/187564014589969
PSP, PS CS5, LR3, AE 5.5, Sony Vegas Movie Studio
Canon XSi, Sony HDR-CX7

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