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Software Overview

    Software

    To

    Design, Create, and Edit

    Ableton Live - Audio editor and music composer - great for mixtapes

    Adobe CCAfter Effects (CreativeAE) Cloud)VFX,
      Compositing, Motion

      PremiereGraphics

      PR -VideoAdobe Editing, Titles, Color

      Audition AU(AU)

      - Audio Editing

      Photoshop

      Adobe PSBridge -(BR) PhotoLocal editing,file stillmanagement, compositingbatching, renaming

      Adobe Lightroom LR(LR) - Raw editing and photo library mgmt/ cloud services

      After

      Adobe Effects AE - VFX, Compositing, Motion Graphics

      Media Encoder AME(AME)

      -Export, exportswatch-folders, andtranscode transcoding Adobe Photoshop (PS) Photo editing, still compositing  Adobe Premiere Pro (PR) Video Editing, Titles, Color Avid

      Video NLE Software

       

      Bridge BR - local file management, batching, renaming

      Avid - whatever, I’ve never used it, never been a requirement or a desired software for any company or project I’ve worked on. I’ve only seen it in the wild once or twice. That said: it is used for feature film and documentaries and sometimes tour dorks use it to edit their show before they throw it into Disguise 🤢

      BMD DaVinci -/ greatResolve

      Great and free,free video NLE and color software, but I need ADLs (Adobe Dynamic Link) too much. My need to have things colored does not outweigh the need for me to easily speak with After Effects.

       

      EDLs (Edit Decision Lists) are a pain in the ass that should be done by the editor’s assistant’s assistants. Good luck verifying any speed ramps!! The BMD universe and Adobe CC interpret speed ramping differently. The solve is to either bake the ramp before an EDL, or do your color before your ramp!  

      EXIFTOOL

      EXIFTOOLA -command veryline file auditing tool.

       

      Very similar to FFPROBE, which is FFMPEG’s auditing tool. Slightly different. I tend to use EXIF to pull metadata details from video files so I can remember what lens was on the camera, or what aperture, etc.  

      FFMPEG -/ commandFFPROBE Command line/terminal transcoding,transcode, packaging of audio and video files. Very powerful. Faster than AME but steep learning curves. See cheat sheet. 

      GarageCube

        Madmapper MAD or MM - Projection, Pixel, LED mapping. I use itcurve for thosenon-code things,folks. but

        also:

        • Load-Testing

        Quick + Dirty Media Review

        Quick + Dirty Media Audits

        Modul8 - VJ party time

        Immersive Designer Pro -(IDP) IDP a

        A dongle locked x64 only projection engineering tool. It’s pretty great, but it is Windows only and x64 at that,x64, so you can’t run it on ARM or Apple Silicone (even using Parallels).

         

        Much of these tools can be manually rebuilt in Vectorworks with one massive piece missing: you can NDI or spout/syphon into IDP for real time previz and mapping tests. Very powerful. Every few months I try to run this on Paralells and it continues not to work (April 2023, last checked).

        Isadora

        - Izzy - A node based creative software that’s a great tool to quickly build multimedia projects with. Good for performance, theater, dance, etc. 

        iZotope RX Audio Editor - noiseNoise removal, steam creation, audio swiss army knifeknife. Pricey but

        best in class utilities. 

        Jokyo HAP Encoder - aA proprietary new version of the HAP encoder. It is an evolutionary version of the OG Vidvox HAP → Disguise HAP. Jokyo’s encoder is much better with banding and noise within gradients and introduces a new HAP format as well (HAPr). The tweakable options with JokoJokyo are superior as well. Can recommend. 

        Neat DeNoise -A great video / photo denoise tool (plugin for AE/PR), get its own section upin here thoughsoftware because it’it's so good!good. 

        Omnigraffle - A paid drawing app that is great for flow charts, system diagrams, projector rasters, etc. Better than drawing manually in Vectorworks, but harder than drawing automatically in Vectorworks (using ConnectCAD).  ShutterEncoder A front end GUI (or “top”) for FFMPEG, FFPROBE, EXIFTOOL and more. Very good. Will do the trick for 90% of use cases. Thanks Melinda Sihalath for this one.  Sketchup (SKP) A simpler tool for CAD that was free for at least a decade before it was sold by Google to another company. Lots of Millenials know how to use it. There is a free “viewer” companion app. Topaz Video Enhance AI A+ video upscale and restoration tool Vectorworks (VWX)

        CAD for theatrical and event design (but also for architecture, landscaping things). There is a free “viewer” companion app. 

         

        Really good for projection engineering even if you're doing it manually (the built-in projector tools are not so thorough)

           

        Software To Display, Interact, and Perform

        Ableton Live Audio editor and music composer - great for mixtapes Garagecube MadMapper (Mad / MM)

        Projection Mapping & Blending, Pixel & LED mapping

         

        I use it for those things, but also:

          Load-Testing

          Quick + Dirty Media Review

          Quick + Dirty Media Audits 

          Garagecube Modul8 VJ party time Isadora (Izzy) A node based creative software that’s a great tool to quickly build multimedia projects with. Good for performance, theater, dance, etc.  Open Frameworks OF(OF) - Creative code and scripting environment QLab

          QLab - mac

          Mac only audio / video cue system. Generally speaking, the standard tool for show audio control. This is a good thing to know how to use. It’s video capabilities are great for cueing as well, but not great for mapping IMHO. Pro-Tip OSCNDI your video cue to another program or Syphon out for final output. 

          Resolume - VJ software; multi-display; video generators; cueing. 

          ShutterEncoder

          TouchDesigner -Like A front end GUI (or “top”) for FFMPEG, FFPROBE, EXIFTOOL and more. Very good. Will do the trick for 90% of use cases. Thanks Melinda Sihalath for this one. 

          Sketchup SKP - A simpler tool for CAD that was free for at least a decade before it was sold by Google to another company. Lots of Millenials know how to use it. There is a free “viewer” companion app.

          Topaz Video Enhance AI - great upscale tool, not a plug-in. 

          TouchDesigner Touch - like isadoraIsadora but does more things.things (except projection map as well). All the Izzy dorks now use Touch. 

          Troikatronix

          Unity Isadora IZZY - node based video server system developed by Mark Coniglio, who is well known name in the industry that you’ve probably met.

          Unity - like

          Like Unreal, but now kind of like “Beta” - By that I mean penultimate. Though I think it still has logic advantages. 

          Unreal Engine - aA video game engine that CT uses for complex and interactive playback where game logic is helpful or there is a requirement for real-time realistic rendering

          VDMX - Affordable, accessible, multi-platform custom playback and mapping software.



          Vectorworks VWX - CAD for theatrical and event design (but also for architecture, landscaping things). There is a free “viewer” companion app. 

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