Recommended Video Editing Software

[Forrest Crocker]

Hi folks. My name is Forrest Crocker, hope all of you are safe from the current plague that's taken the world. The thing I want to bring up is Video Editing software and the fact I've been making a very newbie mistake in my chosen field. I've been developing multiple animation projects but in all of them I've ran into the same problem of lag or long periods of loading because I was doing lengthy projects of 2 minutes or more. This was causing significant frustration and stress as my work flow was slowing down. I was trying to figure out what I've been doing wrong until suddenly on a forum for animations and software someone wrote "breaking down the animation project to scenes or smaller more manageable clips" and "put them together in a video editor afterwards". Upon seeing this I realized my error and slapped my hand to my face and committed 'seppuku' with my own pencil for my stupidity. So to finish up, and to help anyone who has faced this problem, what would the TVPaint community suggest is the best video editing software for animation projects?

The specs below show I'm a mac user but if anyone can suggest any video editing software that is either free or budget friendly I would appreciate that. Thank you for reading and your time. Please be safe during these trying times.

The specs:

• What is your OS and its version:
Mac 10.14.6 Mojave

• What is your OS architecture (32 or 64 bit) + CPU type and amount of RAM:
2.5 GHz intel Core i5 16 GB Ram 1600 MHz DDR3

• What is your software version:
TvPaint Animation 11 Pro

• What is your software edition (Standard or Professional)
Pro

• For the Professional Edition : What is the architecture (32 or 64 bit) ?
64 bit

• What is your Wacom (or other brand) Tablet and drivers version ?
13 inch Cintiq

[Svengali]

I think you'll get some good suggestions here from forum members, but you might try googling "free NLE software" which, among other sites, turned up the following link... "VideoHelp.com"

sven

[daninski]

iMovie is free on OSX too. It's not to everyones taste but it's free and it's a video editor

[Forrest Crocker]

I think you'll get some good suggestions here from forum members, but you might try googling "free NLE software" which, among other sites, turned up the following link... "VideoHelp.com"

sven

Thank you for showing me that link! I've been looking online through google but sometimes I get such strange answers instead of what I'm actually looking for.

[Forrest Crocker]

iMovie is free on OSX too. It's not to everyones taste but it's free and it's a video editor

Thank you and you're right. I was thinking of using IMovie but only as my last resort if there wasn't a better option to consider.

[slowtiger]

It all depends on what you need. If you animate just for fun, iMovie is good enough. If you animate for money, you'll need something more professional with more options (different formats, codes, etc). The high end would be Final Cut, which is about 600.- € here. In between there are several solutions.

I suggest you make a list of what you really need in any case, then check programs against it.

[D.T. Nethery]

I've been developing multiple animation projects but in all of them I've ran into the same problem of lag or long periods of loading because I was doing lengthy projects of 2 minutes or more. This was causing significant frustration and stress as my work flow was slowing down. I was trying to figure out what I've been doing wrong until suddenly on a forum for animations and software someone wrote "breaking down the animation project to scenes or smaller more manageable clips" and "put them together in a video editor afterwards".

If all you need to do is separate out your scenes/clips into individual TVPaint projects (to keep the file sizes from becoming too large) , and then export each scene as a .MOV file , and then assemble each of those .MOV files into the correct running order, I would also recommend iMovie for that purpose (and iMovie will allow you to add some simple transitional effects like fade-ins/fade-outs and cross-dissolves , and allow some simple sound editing).

You could also use the free version of Davinci Resolve to edit your scenes together: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... solve/edit
(NOTE: in the free version of Davinci Resolve not all effects are available , but the free version is still quite useful.)

The free DaVinci Resolve is a full professional editing and color grading system that is suitable for independent users working on SD, HD and Ultra HD projects. DaVinci Resolve is the world’s first solution that combines professional offline and online editing, color correction, audio post production and now visual effects all in one software tool! You get unlimited creative flexibility because DaVinci Resolve makes it easy for individual artists to explore different toolsets. (Full Studio Edition costs $300) .

[Forrest Crocker]

It all depends on what you need. If you animate just for fun, iMovie is good enough. If you animate for money, you'll need something more professional with more options (different formats, codes, etc). The high end would be Final Cut, which is about 600.- € here. In between there are several solutions.

I suggest you make a list of what you really need in any case, then check programs against it.

It's a mix of fun and one day hoping I get into the business because someone saw my portfolio kinda thing, but your right iMovie should be my go to till I've made a more professional background for myself. Thank you for the suggestion and I'm definitely starting a check list to find the right software.

[Forrest Crocker]

I've been developing multiple animation projects but in all of them I've ran into the same problem of lag or long periods of loading because I was doing lengthy projects of 2 minutes or more. This was causing significant frustration and stress as my work flow was slowing down. I was trying to figure out what I've been doing wrong until suddenly on a forum for animations and software someone wrote "breaking down the animation project to scenes or smaller more manageable clips" and "put them together in a video editor afterwards".

If all you need to do is separate out your scenes/clips into individual TVPaint projects (to keep the file sizes from becoming too large) , and then export each scene as a .MOV file , and then assemble each of those .MOV files into the correct running order, I would also recommend iMovie for that purpose (and iMovie will allow you to add some simple transitional effects like fade-ins/fade-outs and cross-dissolves , and allow some simple sound editing).

You could also use the free version of Davinci Resolve to edit your scenes together: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... solve/edit
(NOTE: in the free version of Davinci Resolve not all effects are available , but the free version is still quite useful.)

The free DaVinci Resolve is a full professional editing and color grading system that is suitable for independent users working on SD, HD and Ultra HD projects. DaVinci Resolve is the world’s first solution that combines professional offline and online editing, color correction, audio post production and now visual effects all in one software tool! You get unlimited creative flexibility because DaVinci Resolve makes it easy for individual artists to explore different toolsets. (Full Studio Edition costs $300) .

Again I'm kicking myself for my lack of not noticing the obvious of breaking down the project to cells. iMovie will be my go to at this point but I'm definitely keeping DaVinci Resolve software on the top of the list for potential upgrade. Thank you for your help!

[Xavier]

Usually I get good hints at https://alternativeto.net/.

For instance: https://alternativeto.net/software/adob ... atform=mac

[D.T. Nethery]

iMovie will be my go to at this point but I'm definitely keeping DaVinci Resolve software on the top of the list for potential upgrade. Thank you for your help!

Something I thought of to watch out for with iMovie is to make sure you've got it set to export at 24 frames per second (assuming your original .mov files from TVPaint are also 24 FPS) because if I recall correctly iMovie will sometimes default to 29.97 FPS. Although it's been a while since I used iMovie , so I just did a quick test with the current version of iMovie and it seemed to respect the original frame rate . I imported two clips into iMovie , then exported them as a new movie , and the resulting .mp4 file retained the 24 fps running speed , so that's good. However , on a second test it changed the frame rate on the exported .mp4 to 23.98 FPS , so be aware of that. (I'm honestly not sure why some movie files use the 23.98 FPS speed , must be a video editing thing. There's no discernible difference between a movie playing back at 24 FPS and 23.98 FPS, so I don't know if it matters , but is something to be aware of if it does matter to you.)

One other thing I noticed is that iMovie defaults to 16:9 aspect ratio, so if your animation clips are at a different aspect ratio they will be cropped to 16:9. You can adjust the framing in iMovie under the "Adjust" menu , so for example if your clip is in 4:3 aspect ratio you can change it in iMovie to display the full frame at 4:3 aspect ratio , however when you export it iMovie will apply black bars on either side so the .mp4 is in 16:9 , but your images will display at 4:3 aspect (within the black "pillar boxes" on either side). Fortunately most projects are originated in 16:9 aspect ratio , so that's probably not going to be an issue.

[artfx]

It all depends on what you need. If you animate just for fun, iMovie is good enough. If you animate for money, you'll need something more professional with more options (different formats, codes, etc). The high end would be Final Cut, which is about 600.- € here. In between there are several solutions.

I suggest you make a list of what you really need in any case, then check programs against it.

That's strange. I am pretty sure it's on $300 USD for me. Then again, I used to have a license a long time ago (like FCP 7 maybe 15 years ago) so I don't know if that makes a difference. I can't imagine Apple still remembers that let alone would take that into account.

(I'm honestly not sure why some movie files use the 23.98 FPS speed , must be a video editing thing. There's no discernible difference between a movie playing back at 24 FPS and 23.98 FPS, so I don't know if it matters , but is something to be aware of if it does matter to you.)

There is a discernible difference if your audio ends up slightly off on a longer project. If I remember correctly, 23.98 fps is the actual rate at which films plays, just like 29.97 fps, rather than 30, is the actual rate at which video plays. I might be remembering wrong though. I am certain, though, that if not set correctly, the audio will be slightly off on a long project.

[slowtiger]

Software prices are quite different between US and Europe. (600.- € includes 19% VAT tax.)

[Goppp]

In my opinion, it all depends on what you animaton you want to edit. If you animate is simple and just for fun , TunesKit Acemovi https://www.tuneskit.com/video-editor/
is good enough. If you animate for complicated, you'll need something more professional with more options (complicated effect, animation factory, etc). The great choice must be Adobe Effect , which is used for many animated film and movie special effects.

The first thing you should do is to make a list of what you really need in any case, then check several programs against it.

[animancer]

I've used iMovie in the past but decided to switch to another software just for the same reason D.T. Nethery mentioned.

I can recommend you two options.
One is DaVinci Resolve, here are the system requirements:

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.10.5 or later, Windows 8.1 or later and Linux CentOS 6.6 or later.
CPU: Intel Socket 2011-v3 Core i7, dual Intel Xeon E5-2697 v3 / PC Laptop: Intel Core i5 or i7 processors (PC). 8 Core CPU for HD and 12 Core CPU for UHD or higher resolutions / Laptop: Intel Core i5 or i7 processors (Mac).
Storage Space: 512GB SSD minimum (PC); 512GB Internal flash storage (Mac).
Recommended RAM: 16GB (Windows), 16GB (Mac).
Graphics/VRAM: AMD or CUDA compliant GPU with at least 4GB of graphics RAM.
Requires Internet Connection: No.
(sorry, couldn't make a proper table!)

A big plus: a free version would be more than enough if you just want to make clips. You don't need any bells and whistles of the full version. On the other hand, there are plenty of nasty bugs. Every program has its problems, but with DaVinci on mac I got There is no free space several times. It's fixable yet annoying since, of course, there is free space. Gladly I haven't lost any edits due to this.

Another one is Movavi Video Editor.
Specs are here:

Operating system: Mac OS X® 10.10 or higher
Processor: 64-bit Intel® processor
Graphics card: Intel® HD Graphics 2000, NVIDIA® GeForce® series 8 and 8M, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX 5600, AMD Radeon™ R600, Mobility Radeon™ HD 4330, Mobility FirePro™ series, Radeon™ R5 M230 or higher graphics card with up-to-date drivers
RAM: 256 MB RAM
Hard drive space: 200 MB available hard disk space for installation, 500 MB for ongoing operations

For some edits, it's way too basic. But it's a one-time purchase + it's not that consuming comparing to other software. So it works well for my short clips and quick edits.

Recently I'm switching between them if I need to - it depends on my task. Hope this helps, Forrest. And stay safe as well!