Some questions please

I think I asked this on the old forum - sorry for the duplication. Hi folks! Im new here and feel a bit silly asking these noob questions, but however... Ive been going through the SA3.5 demo and LOVE the beast thus far. Before I buy (the education version Im a Music tech student dabbling)... Im interested in video editing after outgrowing imovie - one of the things I would like to do is apply effects to specific areas of the video - is it possible to say, swirl only the eyes in a face close-up and have that rendered to a movie? Is that what masks and layers are for? Im slowly reading through the older posts and blog but - should I buy 3.5 now or wait for 4? Again, I feel a little overwhelmed but VERY excited by all this - music applications I know my way around so Im trying to apply a similar paradigm to SA. Sorry for the level of my questions - hopefully you can put my mind to rest! Oh and by the way - will SA eat as much of my time as I think it will :) Thanks folks and hello from Ireland! Dave

Replies

liveart December 6, 2009 at 3:51am

I would think that getting version 4 is a better choice.

Yes you have understood correctly about masks. You might also want to read up on bezier guided morphs (animation). I would note that Studio Artist is a fantastic program, but is not primarily a video editing tool. The next step up from iMovie would be Final Cut Pro.

That said.. SA can do things other programs can only dream about, and will produce some brilliant video sequences once you get the hang of it.

welcome aboard.
- Donna Kuhn > liveart December 6, 2009 at 7:52am
  
  how hard is it to learn final cut compared to sa?
  - Jean Detheux > Donna Kuhn December 6, 2009 at 2:00pm
    
    Simple operations are very easy, deeper stuff is a never ending learning process, but even if I am "married" to Studio Artist, I find FCP a lot easier to use seriously in an intuitive way than SA.
    In fact, I now spend much time editing in FCP, "creating" new images and sequences via fairly complex compositing (I love it).
    If I had to have only two applications, they would be SA and FCP.
    But Final Cut Studio offers more than "just" FCP, Motion is great, and DVD Studio Pro has been indispensable for me for years.
    - Donna Kuhn > Jean Detheux December 6, 2009 at 3:59pm
      
      thanks, jean. never ending learning process sounds like SA.
      - Jean Detheux > Donna Kuhn December 6, 2009 at 4:08pm
        
        Or life...
        ;-)
        
        Donna Kuhn > Jean Detheux December 6, 2009 at 4:15pm
        
        true. i find myself back in a winter climate for the first time in 30 years so i might as well learn something, i'm not going out. just putting SA aside for a few months to move means i have to relearn a bit.
Donna Kuhn December 6, 2009 at 7:51am

sa will eat your entire life if you let it.
Synthetik December 6, 2009 at 9:36am

If you're interested in purchasing Studio Artist 4 email techsupport AT synthetik DOT com and we can send you the appropriate information.

There are a few interactive warp operation in Studio Artist that are localized, so you could apply those to just the eyes in a face. If the face is moving you are either going to have to interactively warp each frame, or put in keyframes for the warps and have the program tween the movement of the warps between your keyframes across consecutive frames.

Or, you can generate a masked area and then mask any effect operation you want to. Again, if the object is moving the same kinds of things mentioned above apply to the mask. You either need to select if for each frame, or you need to record selections at keyframes and then let Studio Artist tween the movement of the mask over time.
- Dave O Mahony > Synthetik December 6, 2009 at 5:11pm
  
  Thank you all VERY much for taking the time to reply! I really appreciate it, being COMPLETELY new to Studio Artist.
  
  It seems as complex (if not more so) as Logic Audio - but - did you ever just get a 'feeling' about some software? I certainly do from Studio Artist thus far.
  
  Thank you John, I will indeed email Tech Support (Im hoping the academic price is available for 4 - intrigued but financially irresponsible Irish student!).
  
  Thank you Jean - FC Studio looks wonderful if WAY out of my league. Ive had a little national interest in one of my 1st music videos and some support from our local arts council - now if they were to actually give me money - One can dream :) Also, I like to attack things from slightly left-field and I get a very good vibe from Studio Artist!
  
  Donna - if I may be so bold, the example videos you posted inspired me to look closer at Studio Artist! Im fascinated and in awe!
  
  Thank you for the help and the warm welcome Liveart! If Im going to be learning - might as well try start at 4 :) Bezier guided morphs - is that something I can look-up in the SA documentation or the general term I should familiarize myself with? I believe I can edit away in iMovie but add the special touches Im after in SA... I hope so anyhoo!
  
  Thank you all again for your time - it is very much appreciated and welcomed!
  
  Dave
  - Jean Detheux > Dave O Mahony December 6, 2009 at 5:19pm
    
    If you work with DV files, Final Cut Express, which is much cheaper than Final Cut Studio, is very capable.
    My son has it and I am often surprised, when I use it on his Mac, by what it can do at SD resolution (haven't tried any HD with it).
    I have a good friend in Ireland who is a major figure in the world of Visual Music, Maura McDonnell. She has lots of interesting material on line available here