Newbie question...

Pete.m

Newbie Joined: Sep 14, 2015 11:18 Messages: 3 Offline

Solved by

Sep 14, 2015 11:36

Hi,

I'm considering buying Power Director Ultimate, but am completely new to the world of video editing and wonder whether or not this is going to be the right package for me.

The promotional material demonstrates what you can do if you're trying to make a neat presentation of holiday or wedding images and so forth, but doesn't give much insight into its other functions. What I'm looking for is the ability to be able to process video in a more experimental way, abstracting the images through various means such as distorting the colours and degrading the image quality to the extent that the content of the original footage might no longer be easily recognisable. I also need to be able to overlay images, for example fading additional photographs or video footage in and out over the top of the main video content. I'll need to speed up and slow down footage, too.

As I explained at the top, I'm new to this game. So I'm also hoping that the software is approachable enough for me to be able to get in there and explore its possibilities. As far as my hardware is concerned, I'm sure that my PC has enough in reserve to be able to cope.

It would be a great help to me to hear the views of anyone on the forum. All suggestions are genuinely welcome, even if it's just to tell me that I'm barking up the wrong tree!

Thanks for reading this post, anyway.

Best wishes,

Pete.

The Shadowman

Senior Contributor Location: UK Joined: Dec 15, 2014 13:06 Messages: 1831 Offline

Sep 14, 2015 12:20

Hi Pete

I think PD can do all that. Be a bit careful with the version you purchase, making sure it has all you need.

Here's a comparison list

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector-ultra/compare_en_GB.html

Robert Panny TM10, GH2, GH4,

1Nina

Senior Contributor Location: Norway, 50km southwest of Oslo Joined: Oct 08, 2008 04:12 Messages: 1070 Offline

Sep 14, 2015 13:28

Hi Pete,

As new to the world of video editing, you have some exploring ahead of you! No - PD can't do what you are looking for, but you can do it with PD as the tool. You'll have all the different tools within PD, but I think you will have to spend time with it (or any NLE for that matter)to get a grip on how things work.

I am curious about your wish :

"the ability to be able to process video in a more experimental way, abstracting the images through various means such as distorting the colours and degrading the image quality to the extent that the content of the original footage might no longer be easily recognisable. " ??

Have you had a look at tutorials?

regards,

Nina
Just something.
https://www.petitpoisvideo.com

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Sep 14, 2015 15:15

You can accomplish many layers of abstractionism with the included effects, and you can expand your choices with 3rd-party plugins from Pixelan and NewBlueFX.

As Nina suggested, take a look at the tutorials, some of which can be found *here*

YouTube/optodata

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Pete.m

Newbie Joined: Sep 14, 2015 11:18 Messages: 3 Offline

Sep 15, 2015 11:29

Hello again,

I just wanted to thank you for all your advice. You've made up my mind for me - I'm going to buy it!

Thanks also for the links to the tutorials. I haven't yet explored them, having decided that they'll probably make a lot more sense to me once I've had chance to explore the software a little and get a basic feel for it. But I'm sure that I'll be leaning heavily on them.

Nina, you were curious about my desire to abstract the video. My main interest is making music, but I had the thought that I should try to use video to inspire some new pieces. I spent a couple of weeks filming during a stay in France a couple of months ago, and my idea is to abstract the footage enough to convey the feel of the places I visited rather than present just the raw footage. I suppose that what I'm aiming for might be comparable to the way in which an abstract or impressionistic painting can suggest something quite different to 'straight' figurative art, even though they might be painting the same thing.

That's the dream, anyway! Now I have to do the work. I may be gone for some time...

Thanks again for your input, and best of luck with all your projects.

Best wishes,

Pete.

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Sep 15, 2015 12:06

Pete.m

Newbie Joined: Sep 14, 2015 11:18 Messages: 3 Offline

Sep 16, 2015 10:39

Hi Optodata,

Thanks again for your help. I've just bought PD14 Ultimate - the learning curve starts here!

Best wishes,

Pete.

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Sep 16, 2015 12:39

Sounds good, and we're always here to help answer questions or give advice on some of the more challenging concepts. We were all newbies/newbs/noobs once!

Happy editing