Creating Moving Backgrounds

[CMull]

What programs are there out there to create contemporary looking backgrounds for during songs? Perferably ones that are free or open-source type programs. I love using some of the great backgrounds that are in the MXC but I would like to create, use, and share some of my own as well!

[Day-Vids]

I don't know of open source, but I suggest something like Particle Illusion 3.0 (it's certainly not free though). Also, I've used Sony Vegas to make some very decent backgrounds and animations, you just have to know what you're doing.

[[Admin] skstarkiller]

www.gimpshop.com is a free program that will do much of what Photoshop will do and it's free. I reccomend Adobe Photoshop Elements it's around $50 at www.purplus.com

[CMull]

Sorry, I mean for moving backgrounds.

[NGRRFan]

What I'm doing is just taking my video camera out to film what I want and then dumping that into Studio Plus and making small avi files. Works just great for me.

[Day-Vids]

can you post a link to an example of what you want to do?

The particle Illusion Software is found at www.wondertouch.com and there is a more limited version for a couple hundred I think but the full version is not too much more. take a look, it's really quite good at some of this stuff.

What is your editor too, there maybe some ways to do some stuff in there that folks are aware of.

[rev_65]

Originally Posted by Day-Vids

I don't know of open source, but I suggest something like Particle Illusion 3.0 (it's certainly not free though). Also, I've used Sony Vegas to make some very decent backgrounds and animations, you just have to know what you're doing.

Particle Illusion is a great stand alone progam, but I rarely use it in and of itself for motion backgrounds. And lately, I find myself using Trapcode's Particular which is an After Effects plug-in.

Not really aware of much open-souce stuff that's motion graphics geared.

The only thingI can think of would be BLENDER which is an open source 3D program. Of course, with it you can render motion clips. Learning curve is very steep!

[CMull]

I actually have Blender on my laptop. I opened it once, played around with it for an hour, but never opened it again! Maybe I could get some good tutorials on it.

Okay, take out the amount of money...what program can I get that would help me create contemporary moving backgrounds?

[[Admin] skstarkiller]

Adobe After Effects

[Day-Vids]

Honestly, PI (Particle Illusion) is excellent for moving BG's, they even sell packs of "professional BG's" and it can be used to do all kinds of stuff if you are willing to spend just a little time workin in it. However I am pretty sure that if you time is worth anything you are almost always better off buying BG's that are out there.

[mci44]

Originally Posted by Day-Vids

However I am pretty sure that if you time is worth anything you are almost always better off buying BG's that are out there.

This is so true with all the sources available out there right now for buying video cheap. With so many stock video sites popping up, there's really no reason to make your own unless you really want to learn how to do it. From somebody who makes and sells video animations, they take a good while. One animation takes at the minimum 7-8 hours and that's not counting render times.

take a look thru the linkland links for stock video and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

However, if you really do desire to do them on your own, then After Effects is your best bet for a software program. Apple's Motion isn't bad either if you own a mac. the trapcode plugin for AE is good too. After Effects isn't the easiest to learn but it can be done with some time invested. Let us know if you decide to try it yourself with a program b/c between all of us we can probably point you to some good learning resources.

[rev_65]

For my money, if you're gonna do your own motion backgrounds, then AE is the defacto way to go and then spend the extra $300 getting Trapcode's Particular. Once your comfortable with AE then another $300 will be well spent on Particle Illusion. Guess my bias is that I learned AE first, then PI.

mci44 is corect in his assessment of the time involved in creating motion backgrounds. I have managed once--only once mind you-- to crank out one really good motion back per day for a week.

One other suggestion is to take a look at Digital Juices JumpBacks and their new set of motion design elements. Lately they've had ridiculously low pricing on their stuff and it's well worth the investment. Those you can even mix and edit with something as simple as Premier Elements.

Best to you!