'Do it in post.'

T

the doc

Well-known member
I am using power director for doing my video editing (OK I know you all probably think this is noobish,,, but it is fast and doesn't crash!)

I want to do colour corrections / adding looks to my videos though - and I don't know any progs that will let me do that as a stand alone thing (power director doesn't support many plugins as far as i can tell.)

I have looked at magic bullet - but it is very expensive... and although it says it has a stand alone version... it then says you need to have avid / FCP / vegas etc for it to work (can't quite work that out myself.)

So... any reasonably priced colour correction stand alone stuff out there?

All I have found so far is this.....

http://mentemagica.com/wp/category/film-look-video/cinemantiq/

Which at first looked good - but a lot of the info looks out of date so I am very wary of buying it.
 
You might try the free trial of Vegas Movie Studio. It's darned near a pro NLE re-packaged with a few less features...some that might be a deal-breaker for some...but worth a try none-the-less. Don't forget to actually watch your videos on your target media. My videos go on Blu-Ray to be watched on my cheap Sceptre flat-panel...which I have to say look best right out of the GH1 with minimal color "enhancements"....unlike many of the vimeo masterpieces. I've been in love with the GH1's default "nostalgic" mode, no adjustments in cam or NLE, since day one....when I actually watch it on my TV. "Film look" plug-ins just seem to ruin the organic feel.

Good luck!!
 
You could always try Blender. It has a built in node-based compositor with CC tools and a timeline. It also has a MASSIVE learning curve, though. I know a few people who swear by it. It's free, so I guess it's just a question of- do you have the time to download tutorials and learn it?

Have used it a little over the years for 3D stuff, but can't say I use it myself for CC or compositing. Though you start talking serious money when you move to AE/Colorista/Looks, Color, DaVinci Resolve, etc. Suggestion of Vegas Movie Studio was probably a decent one.
 
Cheers.

Had a look at blender.... yikes. WAY too much work. But thanks for letting me know it is possible - i hadn't considered it before.

I guess I am looking for something like looks... but that is truly stand alone (not needing any of the big NLES') and for less than $100. Not possible?

Will maybe have a look at vegas... but as I said - I really do want to stay with power director except for colouring... not so keen on buying vegas just to do colour correction as it seems a bit of a waste.
 
You'll definitely love looks, I hadn't even realised it was stand alone (I use colorista, but don't have looks). Checking it out on the red giant site now I'd say it's the perfect solution to your problem. Only thing I can see being a pain with it would be if you have to load your clips into it one by one. Maybe a looks owner can comment?

Either way I'd take the color tools in a red giant product over those built into an nle any day of the week. So yeah, forget vegas and start seriously considering looks :D
 
Deere said:
You'll definitely love looks, I hadn't even realised it was stand alone (I use colorista, but don't have looks). Checking it out on the red giant site now I'd say it's the perfect solution to your problem. Only thing I can see being a pain with it would be if you have to load your clips into it one by one. Maybe a looks owner can comment?

Either way I'd take the color tools in a red giant product over those built into an nle any day of the week. So yeah, forget vegas and start seriously considering looks :D
Click to expand...

Well - it says it is stand alone.... but then in requirements it says you need vegas/FCP etc... so I am confused. Anyone who has uit care to explain?

I am a bit put off by the price as well - but no denying it looks like the best solution.
 
havent had it long, but it appears in 32bit Vegas' FX choices, when you apply it it opens the Looks builder EXE with the frame of where your CTI was in Vegas.
So I guess technically it is a stand alone app, but I cant see how you can apply it to your footage without a host NLE. One frame at a time may get a bit tedious.
Thats the way I use it, but as I said I havent had it long and dont know that much about it.
yeah copy that, just tried to open Looks builder EXE without Vegas and it just sits there, lots of right clicking and I cant find a way to open any media.
 
As jedman said, Looks will only do stills as a standalone. Have you tried the 15 day trial for Pinnacle Studio 14 Ultimate? A lite version of Looks is included - but then you would be using a different NLE...
 
Just thinking about this again... are there any cheapish compositing deals out there? After effects lets you do colour correction doesn't it? I cant seem to find a cheap alternative that isn't blender?
 
gee thats impressive reading all the movies that have been done with Lightworks.
I dont get it though, why have a great product and then make it free?
Will the free version be complete, or just a teaser?
 
Will the free version be complete, or just a teaser?
Click to expand...

There should be some more news on this soon. It looks as though there will be a kind of light version, with a full support service available too.

Blender is your best ticket if you have no budget. It's free, but a big investment will be your time. If you take the time to learn the Node editing, then you should be able to achieve most grading tasks and can work cross platforms and even on fairly low spec machines. It's not set up out of the box for colour grading, so if that's what you really want, then you will need to save for one of the apps that is.
 
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