Anybody use the FXHome software?

[dlgilbert]

I was searching for an inexpensive program to do some more intricate masking that what Premiere Elements allows and came across the software by FXHome (http://www.fxhome.com). They have a few different programs and seem to do what I'm looking for, but I was having problems with my .MOV files from my Kodak PlaySport camera. I can do a quick conversion and it works fine, though.

However, I wanted to see if anyone here has any experience using any of their products before I commit to converting any of the video I want to use. I downloaded the demo and the interface is mostly nice... a bit quirky here and there.

Anybody else try them out?

[Paul LS]

I haven't tried them out but they look like some interesting programs.

[brenda]

I recently bought FX Lab Pro and just started playing with it last night. It's very complex and somewhat intimidating, but I think it's going to be great once I learn how to use it. After just playing with it for a couple of hours I was amazed at the complex effects I was able to generate without really knowing how to use it.

In addition to the tutorials on FXHome's website I found some really basic home-made tutorials for it on YouTube. Those helped a lot because the FXHome tutorials are a bit overwhelming. The keyframing works a lot like Premiere, so much of it is intuitive, once you get past the basic steps. The sheer number of controls on any effect is mind-boggling, but I learned a lot by trial and error.

Before you buy it from FXHome's website ($149 for the download version), you should check TubeTape.com to see if they have a Thursday sale on it. I bought some lights and chromakey stuff from Tube Tape, and got a 1/2 price deal on FX Lab Pro. It is really a bargain at $75. Once you buy anything from them you can sign up for a weekly email of their Thursday specials. Their prices generally seem pretty good, and they have a nice selection of equipment. The problem is going to be resisting their Thursday specials of things I wouldn't otherwise have bought.

Brenda

[dlgilbert]

Thanks for the reply, Brenda! I actually went all out and bought VisionLab Studio and have been loving it. It's got a lot of power and, while the interface is very different than AfterEffects, I find that I can get the job done pretty well. My requirements aren't overly complicated, so most of what I need to do, I can actually do inside Adobe Premiere Elements, but when I need that extra "oompf," VisionLab Studio does the job well.

And I agree, the tutorials are priceless! I'd have been pretty lost without them.