Movie Studio 13

[vkmast]

Movie Studio version 13 available to download as of today. Three different packages, basic Studio, Platinum and Suite.
Check the revamped and new features on the SCS site. Looks interesting.

[Steve Grisetti]

Cool!

A new book, by the way, is in the works.

[mcgregni]

Hello, I'm Nigel, over in the UK, a new member here - this seemed like a good place to introduce myself as I've only just bought an upgrade version of Movie Studio Platinum 13. I've used Platinum 11 for about 18 months or so, and have got Steve's book on Platinum 12 which has shown me plenty of new ways to do things and new things to do!

Photography is my main thing, and I shoot with a Pentax DSLR (.mov avi) and a Panasonic bridge-type camera (.mts avchd). I decided to upgrade to 12 based on things in Steve's book, but mainly the 64 bit support - I have a Win 7 laptop running an amd A10 processor with radeon graphics built-in. Checking out the Sony website I suddenly saw the upgrade price for version 13, so figured why not?

Initial impressions ? Well, Steve wrote in the intro to his book that Sony had bucked the trend by not 'dumbing down' their video software - I wonder if in some ways this has now changed .... we now have 'Basic & Advanced' modes - basic gives us bigger buttons and a less cluttered interface. But 'Advanced' also has much bigger buttons (Sony say its for touchscreens). I am finding it more difficult to get enough editing space to work with - timeline and preview mostly - I have to remove the toolbar and transport controls, but then there's shortcuts for most things anyway. The large buttons at the bottom (editing tools for example) can't be removed or reduced in size it seems, which I feel wastes space.

But on the positive when the dialogues open, like media generators and FX controls including keyframe editors, they are nicer, with slightly bigger buttons easier to click, and the controls flow and move more smoothly. So far it appears that everything the earlier versions could do is still there, so is it the case that the underlying power remains - and do you all think I'll get a performance boost with the 64 bit? MY main concern was to achieve quicker rendering times. So far so good I'd say

[vkmast]

A good account, mcgregni.
As you mention, SCS does say it's "touch-enabled for touch PCs", so the new look seems a necessity. We've already seen requests to make it optional in later builds. Remains to be seen if SCS is willing to do that.
I do agree that the larger buttons are a bit of a problem with the smaller monitors, but editing is not nice on a small screen anyway. Like someone said, if you try a larger one, you'll never go back

[Steve Grisetti]

There has definitely been a lot of resistance on the Sony forums to the new interface. I, too, find it hard to fit the workspace on my monitor with all of its big "touch" buttons. It's definitely designed to be at its optimum on a touch-screen or tablet rather than a more traditional desktop.

The option to work in Simple mode or Advanced mode also reminds me a lot of the last couple generations of Premiere Elements. Maybe Sony found their inspiration there!

But we'll see how it all goes, once we start getting used to the new look. Or if the public embraces or rejects it outright.

Nonetheless, thanks for supporting the book, McG! And welcome to our little community!

[mcgregni]

Glad to get involved Steve, the website looks very interesting and informative and I am very interested in some of the media items & tutorials. And thanks to the previous poster, vkmast,also for the reply. I'm a Photoshopper as well, so youi may see me joining in there as well.

Do you think its fair to say that the changes in version 13 are mainly 'cosmetic''? So far I've only really noticed the obvious things like the toolbar buttons and enlarged transport controls . But why didn't they include a context menu option for these things for a small-size as well? That would give extra flexibility for users with different monitor sizes and different working priorities. In practice of course we can live without them on display - it looks to me as though eveything is available via either context menus or keyboard shortcuts - just have to relearn and use them.

The bottom toolbar is interesting isn't it - why do you need the editing tools as large buttons permanently there? Could it be that these items are commonly misunderstood or not seen, or their use is not intuitive? I know I needed to read about the difference to get it. And the 'Fade Tool' - thats interesting also ... it wasn't really a separate 'tool' at all before .... just popped up automatically when hovering over the end of an event - but I wonder if that also caused confusion, or on small screens was hard to control. Its higher resolutions that has caused that over time I guess. However, I would still prefer the option to remove that lower toolbar.

The key question for me at this stage is about performance. I can live with the cosmetic changes and re-learning if I will see the boost I'm hoping for. Its mainly about output rendering - I generally output my videos into 3 versions .... 1) an 'internet sized' 1440/720 .mp4, at 8000kbps 2) a DVD Widescreen Pal version DV at about 7000kbps 3) an 'archive' 1440/1080 AVC at about 15,000kbps.

Obviously its the last one that takes the time - on my laptop with version 11 I think a 10 minute video is taking about 2.5hrs. Does anyone have experience with the new 64bit versions, either Plat 12 or 13? Do you think this sort of time will reduce with the new software?

[Steve Grisetti]

Aside from support for 4k video (input and output) and a new Color Match tool, I'd say, yes, the changes in version 13 are mostly cosmetic.

[vkmast]

We need to remember that this is a first build of a new version with a revised UI. I expect the feedback will have an influence on what will be changed in the later builds. Many of the points mcgregni makes may well be considered.

One thing that's new is the option to right-click the clips in the Project Media window and choose Create Video Proxy (for high-definition editing) from the shortcut menu. And some of the add-ons of the Suite version seem rather powerful.

As for "context menus", I'm sure you make use of the What's This (?) button. If you click the button and then click a part of the interface, you get instant context-sensitive help. Very handy in the current situation.

The 64-bit apps in a 64-bit OS don't run up against a built-in memory limitation of a 32-bit app, so that's one thing that makes a big difference starting from v12 of course. I'm not able to evaluate rendering as my equipment is more of a "consumer grade".

[mcgregni]

Thanks, I'll try that 'Whats This?' tip. I'm working on a new project at present that will probably pan out to being at least 20 mins total, so I'll be able to report back on rendering times soon. Steve, you mentioned the White Balance tool - and I read about a Colour Match feature also which sounds good.

By the way - I've not seen the NewBlue 3D titler add-on, neither in the new Plat 13 or the trial PLat 12 I had - Sony now list it as in the Pro versions only - is that true? Has it been removed from Platinum?

[Steve Grisetti]

All I know is that I had to remove it from my Windows 8.1 system in order to install MS 13!

[vkmast]

mcgregni,
which NBFX Titler version do you mean? If you mean the Movie Studio 13 NBTitlerEx (NewBlue MSPPS13) version, it comes only with the 13 Suite, not with the 13 Platinum.
And as Steve says, there seem to be initial problems with the NBFX package again, especially if you try to have NBTitlerEx (for Movie Studio) and a NBTitlerPro installed on the same machine. I gave up trying to accommodate them both.
OTOH, if you mean something from NewBlue which came with your v11, read (esp. the 3rd paragraph of) my first post in the thread below.
viewtopic.php?f=93&t=12736
There's a link to the current comparison table in that post as well.

[mcgregni]

Hi, thanks for that info - it was the 'NewBlue' 3d titler referred to in Steve's book on plat12 - it has a section in yellow just about it. It is not present in my Sony Vegas MS Plat 11, nor in the Plat 12 trial I tried. But then again Steve also says in the book that it will not be there if the graphics hardware is not suitable. But I'd have thought mine was??? (Its an AMD A10 quad-core with ATI radeon on-board graphics).

However, its not a big deal. There are some new title effects I can see in Plat 13 to try out, and I guess I'll find plenty of plugins also. I'm just about to check out the plug-ins section on this forum

A word of warning though to anyone buying the 13 upgrade from Sony - they offered up the 'StillMotion' slideshow creator add - on, only $9.99 and it looked interesting, so I added it on. But it won't install . Error message as soon as I click the .exe saying 'no compatable Movie Srudio version found on your system' It also says it is compatable with version 9 & 12, neither of which I have. So I've emailed Sony support asking for a new file or a refund. I'll update on that also here

[mcgregni]

Just wanted to add that one add-on that DOES work great is from Pixelan, called 3D SixPack - its a transitions add-on, not expensive, and so far in Plat 13 it works brilliantly - I rendered a minute or so of photo transitions in HD and they look amazing - fabulously smooth and brilliant motion transitions. Very happy with it, a firm recomendation! This company seem to have a lot of stuff for MS - is there much experience of the products here?

[vkmast]

mcgregni,
Steve's probably right, but you could get in touch with the NewBlueFX support with details of your onboard graphics, drivers etc. They're very helpful and I'm sure you'll get some advise/explanation.
Btw, are you sure you have the Suite version(s) and got a separate download link for the NBFX package? Or a folder on the installation disc?
As above said, it's NOT included in the Platinum version(s).

The Vasst StillMotion plug-in I bought for MSP 12 opens as it should in my MSP 13 (both 32- and 64-bit).
Pixelan does have nice plug-ins. You can find other compatible plug-ins on the SCS site (Software / Partner Products). Don't get carried away

edit: check the free (till 4th Feb.) HitFilm 2 Express offer.

https://hitfilm.com/express/free

It was the Visual Effects part in Movie Studio 12 Platinum Visual Effects Suite.

[BuddyB]

Those folks make it difficult to do the free one; have had no success downloading. Methinks they're trying to get you into buying the big one. Thanks