Canopus Imaginate - Opinions?

[Hulk]

I've been informed that I've won Canopus Imaginate as part of the DMN launch forum event. I'm don't know anything about this software, but after reading info on the Canopus site, I don't see what this software can do that a moving path in MSP can't?

- Mark

[Dr Mordrid]

Imaginate is quite useful for those working with very large images and is the electronic equivalent of what's called a Rostrum Camera. Rostrum Cameras are not cheap. Think in terms of the camera work Ken Burns did in his Civil War PBS series and its sucessors.

In terms of doing Rostrum Camera work using an editors built-in motion controls; it can be done but using Imaginate as a standalone (it's also available as a Premiere plugin) is better because it has a smaller memory footprint and better algorithms, enabling it to work with images up to 25k x 25k (~650 megs) without having the program bog down. Working with such large images typically translates into a higher quality interpolation when the sequence is exported to video.

FYI: Rostrum Camera work done by a service agency is often done at a rate of $60-120/hr just for preparatioin and $100-200/hr for shooting....not including the film stock.

All that said: you can also do great Rostrum sequences in Lightwave or other 3D programs if you pay attention to the aspect ratio, lighting etc., but it's a steep learning curve

Dr. Mordrid

[Elie]

but it's a steep learning curve

No kidding! I saw a demo of Imaginate and it made After Effects look like walk in the park.

Enjoy

Elie

[Hulk]

Thanks for the info.

I'm going to download the demo and have a look around.

- Mark

[Hulk]

I downloaded Imaginate and Stagetools Moving Picture plug-in. Actually, both are very easy to use if you're used to working with keyframes. Also, both give excellent results. Ease in/out, splined paths, working with large images, all things you can't do with MSP.

I think Moving Picture is faster, more full-featured, and easier to use than Imaginate, although more expensive with the rotate/skew option. Also, if you use MSP, the BIG plus for Moving Picture is the fact that it's a plug-in for MSP.

$268 is a pretty steep though...

- Mark