Animation after KingstOOn - How to get free Video Editing Tools to breath life into your Animation Project

So you’ve decided to go full throttle into Animation. You may have made this decision after being so inspired by the work and camaraderie of others pursuing a similar dream in this untapped artform in Jamaica at the recently held KingstOOn Animation Conference and Film Festival.

No doubt, too, you may have read my blog article entitled “Inaugural KingstOOn Animation Competition a boost to local Animation Industry - State Minister Julian Robinson give Graphic Artists the chance to Feel this Moment Pitbull and Christina Aguilera Style” on the pitfalls as it relates to having spare time to do Animation as well as the gear required.

Funding shouldn’t be a problem as coincidentally JN Foundation and JNSBL (Jamaican National Small Business Loans) has launched Jamaica’s first crowdfunding website, I Support Jamaica as explained in my blog article entitled “JN Foundation and JNSBL launches Jamaica's first Crowdfunding website, i Support Jamaica - Local Crowdfunding to the rescue of Jamaican Innovators so you don't have to be The Lone Ranger”.

Getting started may be the trouble though.  You’ll need a PC with:

1.      4.2Ghz  i-core 7 Quad-Core Processor

2.      4 to 8 GB RAM

3.      1TB Harddrive to start

The above a basic starter requirements! Depending on whether or not you plan to do short films, advertisements or full length feature films, that 1TB space can be easily gobbled up by all your work. But fret not; all of the above you can buy online and have shipped down. 

If you’re a DIY (Do It Yourself) person you can cobble together a great machine with the above specs using the new 5Ghz AMD Processors as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “AMD unveils 5GHz 8 and 4.7Ghz -Core Processor at E3 2013 in Apple’s Mac Pro Dogfight for Top Gun in High End Multi-Core PC Gaming” that are coming out later this 2013. You’ll have to wait awhile, but this should be little trouble if you’re serious about Animation.

If you really have cash to splash and want the best, then you can get some iMacs. You can also get the new Apple Mac Pro that recently debuted at Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) on Monday June 10^th to Friday June 14^th 2013 that looks like it was made for Darth Vader as stated in the article “Apple's new Mac Pro looks like Darth Vader: Yea or nay?”, published June 11, 2013 5:37 PM PDT by James Martin, CNET News.

It’s more compact and is built around a philosophy of more efficient cooling using a central cooling Heat sink and super quiet fan resulting in its unusually compact cylindrical shape as per the article “A bold new look for the Mac Pro desktop”, published June 10, 2013 11:07 AM PDT, CNET Reviews.

Thus as the Apple Mac Pro produces heat, it naturally rises and this makes for more efficient cooling similar to a SHARP Air Purifier or Air Conditioner. The new Apple Mac Pro is also packing four (4) super fast Thunderbolt Ports that max out at 20MBps. This may be set to go faster with the coming of new Fiber Optic Thunderbolt ports coming out in the Fourth Quarter of 2013.

Combined with the possibility of Fiber Optic Architecture and SSD (Solid State Drives) for PC, I’d predicted that these changes would mark the revival of Desktop Computing  led by a renewed Apple Mac Pro Design as started in my blog article entitled “Fiber Optic Thunderbolt Cables are coming by the Third Quarter of 2013 – Apple Mac's to finally get upgraded as Optical Computer now closer to practicality”.

The Apple Mac Pro also heralds Apple’s return to support for External Storage Devices from a company that usually liked everything built inside as noted in “The Mac that Thunderbolt built: The newly compact Mac Pro”, published June 11, 2013 6:22 AM PDT by Stephen Shankland, CNET News.

You’ll need it based on the specs of the Apple Mac Pro as per the video below.

So assuming you get the above gear, what kind of Software should you get? You can always start with Video Editing software, as Animation is really composing Video one frame at a time, no matter what Animation technique you use. Specialist Animation software exist, but for the dude on a budget, knowing this means you’re more flexible in how you manipulate the look and feel of you final polished product.

The Twin Titans of the Video Editing World are not too hard to spot and yes, they cost a lot:

1.      Apple's Final Cut Pro

2.      Sony Vegas Pro

If you want to use them, you can’t pirate them, as the software makers can detect when you’re using pirated versions of their gear and either disable it from getting updates or worse, damage any work you’re produced using their pirated software.

So if you’re looking to get cracking on the cheap and avoid the legal and technical hassles of using pirated Video Editing software , here are a few recommended picks for Best Free Video Editing tools as per the article “No Hollywood budget, no problem: 5 best free video editing programs”, published July 7, 2013 By Brandon Widder, DigitalTrends:

The first two (2) should be familiar to those of you who routinely download and edit YouTube videos for presentations as per my blog article entitled “How to download YouTube Videos and Videos from other Websites”:

1.      Microsoft’s Movie Maker

2.      Apple’s iMovie

The rest are familiar to me but not favorites of mine to use, owing to their memory requirements:

1.      Lightworks for Windows

2.      Avidemux for Windows/Mac/Linux

3.      VSDC Free Video Editor for Windows

4.      Pinnacle VideoSpin for Windows

5.      YouTube Editor which is Web-based on YouTube

6.      DebugMode Wax for Windows

7.      Google Picasa for Windows/Mac

8.      VirtualDub for Windows

Finally if you want to showcase you work online, there’s a decent list of Free Video Uploading sites as listed in my blog article entitled “UWI'splanning to increase all Tuition by 5.5% come the new Academic Year 2013-2014 -How to Download ANY Video, including Facebook Videos, Convert and Free VideoHosting Online” that should be quite helpful.

Have fun Animating!