many hands make something something
Monday, 22 December 2014 14:43![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
(I did not get round to posting this on Friday like I said I was going to! But I have a really good reason, of course. You see, what happened was LOOK OVER THERE A DRAGON *runs away*)
frayadjacent asked Vidding with Lightworks: the good, the bad, the hairpulling?
This whole post comes with the caveat that the only other program I've used is Windows Movie Maker, so that's my only basis for comparison!
The most frustrating thing that I've encountered about Lightworks is the updates. Which seems counterintuitive but there's no way to put off updating and there's no way to go back to an older version so if, say, an update BREAKS EVERYTHING you're stuck until someone on the forums works out how to fix it. This is the major reason why I'm planning to look into alternatives: the fear that another update could come along and mess things up again. :/
(Though, having mentioned the forums, they are definitely one of the good things about using Lightworks: there's a lot of knowledge and helpfulness on there. Once I've worked out the technical vocabulary to describe what it is I want to know, I can usually find an answer.)
The other thing I don't like about Lightworks is how counterintuitive bits of it feel - I tend to learn by trial and error, so this is really tricky for me! I spend a fair bit of time yelling "why did you do that, I didn't want you to do that" at it. Also, I've been using it for over a year and I still try and use CTRL+Z to undo. /o\ Plus, there isn't really any information on how to use it: just the forums and a few video tutorials on the basics. (And video tutorials make me want to bite things in frustration. Stop explaining how to open the program and tell me what I actually want to know!)
But onto the good stuff! The best thing about Lightworks is just how much you can do with just the free version. I've still only really scratched the surface of the effects package (and have barely touched any user created plugins) but pretty much everything I've wanted to do I've been able to. Transitions, lots of colouring stuff, zooming in on clips because the character I want is in the background (I'm also considering using this feature to deal with source that's in different aspect ratios, rather than faffing about cropping stuff at the clipping stage), speeding up and slowing down (to be fair to the most recent update, this has just got a lot easier), adding motion to still images... I don't really understand about masking yet but it looks like there are plenty of options for that too.
Also, NON-LINEAR EDITING. :D I couldn't go back to linear editing now if you paid me. (Well, maybe if you paid me. How much are you going to pay me?) Obviously this isn't a Lightworks specific thing but I am so glad it's something Lightworks offers: it's the one thing I HAVE to have in a vidding programme.
Those are my feelings about Lightworks! I don't recommend it wholeheartedly, but I do like it most of the time. (If anyone's thinking about trying it out and wants a guide to the basics of using it, I'd be happy to try and put one together, with the caveat that it would probably contain a lot of "there is probably a better way of doing this" and "I don't know why this works", and so on. ;))
frayadjacent asked Vidding with Lightworks: the good, the bad, the hairpulling?This whole post comes with the caveat that the only other program I've used is Windows Movie Maker, so that's my only basis for comparison!
The most frustrating thing that I've encountered about Lightworks is the updates. Which seems counterintuitive but there's no way to put off updating and there's no way to go back to an older version so if, say, an update BREAKS EVERYTHING you're stuck until someone on the forums works out how to fix it. This is the major reason why I'm planning to look into alternatives: the fear that another update could come along and mess things up again. :/
(Though, having mentioned the forums, they are definitely one of the good things about using Lightworks: there's a lot of knowledge and helpfulness on there. Once I've worked out the technical vocabulary to describe what it is I want to know, I can usually find an answer.)
The other thing I don't like about Lightworks is how counterintuitive bits of it feel - I tend to learn by trial and error, so this is really tricky for me! I spend a fair bit of time yelling "why did you do that, I didn't want you to do that" at it. Also, I've been using it for over a year and I still try and use CTRL+Z to undo. /o\ Plus, there isn't really any information on how to use it: just the forums and a few video tutorials on the basics. (And video tutorials make me want to bite things in frustration. Stop explaining how to open the program and tell me what I actually want to know!)
But onto the good stuff! The best thing about Lightworks is just how much you can do with just the free version. I've still only really scratched the surface of the effects package (and have barely touched any user created plugins) but pretty much everything I've wanted to do I've been able to. Transitions, lots of colouring stuff, zooming in on clips because the character I want is in the background (I'm also considering using this feature to deal with source that's in different aspect ratios, rather than faffing about cropping stuff at the clipping stage), speeding up and slowing down (to be fair to the most recent update, this has just got a lot easier), adding motion to still images... I don't really understand about masking yet but it looks like there are plenty of options for that too.
Also, NON-LINEAR EDITING. :D I couldn't go back to linear editing now if you paid me. (Well, maybe if you paid me. How much are you going to pay me?) Obviously this isn't a Lightworks specific thing but I am so glad it's something Lightworks offers: it's the one thing I HAVE to have in a vidding programme.
Those are my feelings about Lightworks! I don't recommend it wholeheartedly, but I do like it most of the time. (If anyone's thinking about trying it out and wants a guide to the basics of using it, I'd be happy to try and put one together, with the caveat that it would probably contain a lot of "there is probably a better way of doing this" and "I don't know why this works", and so on. ;))