Getting AEP into Resolve

[brittanyr10202118]

After wasting my entire day searching online for this answer, I finally realized asking you guys would be more direct.  Ever do that?  Sheesh, when will I learn?

I'm ready to jump the adobe ship as I just can't justify the non-sustainable never ending subscription.  So I've downloaded Davinci Resolve (free version) that I'll try out until my adobe runs out next week and see if I like it.

I've been going through all my files, trying to figure out what formats to save all my different files in that will be transferable to other software- i.e., PSD, ID, PPro, AUD.

I think I've mostly got things covered.  Except for AEP's.  I'm having trouble figuring out what to do with them.  Specifically, I bought some color grade aep's off Envato for my projects, as well as some graphics packages.

Color grading: https://videohive.net/item/20-advanced-color-grading-effects/7358833

Graphic Titles: https://videohive.net/item/quick-titles/8592373

How can I use these once my CC subscription ends?  Is there a format I can save them in so my purchase isn't wasted?

Looking forward to some wisdom.  Thanks in advance!

[Rick Gerard]

There is no way to transfer an AEP to resolve. You'll have to render the elements you want to keep to a suitable production format and use them that way. Many of the asses can be used.

Resolve is not a motion graphics and compositing app like AE is so you may find things you can't do with it, but it is pretty powerful. I use it several times a month.

[brittanyr10202118]

Thank you for the response, Rick.  I'm a little confused- your reply says many of the **** can be used- what is * referring to? 

And, forgive my ignorance, but what does it mean to render the elements to keep in a suitable prod. format?

So, even with Resolves addition of Fusion for graphics, etc, I wouldn't find a crossover?

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

Just the forum's anti-vulgarity algorithm going haywire. You have to render to lossless formats like PSDs, TIFFs, EXRs and import those into resolve and Fusion, respectively. That's all rick is (presumably) saying. Of course all editable data and parametric definitions will be lost. It will be just pixels. There are scripts and plug-ins that exchange some datae across the programs, but none of that does you any good. The Free versions of Fu and Res do not support plug-ins or scripting extensions just like of course you'd still need AE in some form as a source to transfer data via clipboard like transferring keyframes. You're running in circles on that one if you don't plan on signing up to AE on a permanent basis, annoying as the subscription model may be.

Mylenium

[brittanyr10202118]

Thanks, M, I think I get it.  If I like Resolve/Fusion, I would be more than happy to pay a one-time price to buy it, rather than this never-ending subscription nonsense.  Is there more capability for plug-ins and such if I do so?

[Rick Gerard]

In the end, keeping software up to date is something that should be part of your monthly budget. I subscribe to the entire CC suite and my annual budget for Adobe products is actually less than it was when I was buying annual licenses. If you are producing videos as a hobby then you have to decide what you want to spend on that nonessential part of your life. If you think Adobe is expensive you should see what I have to pay for the other software it takes to keep me in business.

Oh, and yes, you get more with the paid versions. Resolve studio is about $300 and just AE is about 300 so if you compare it to AE and Premiere Pro its about half the cost, but the entire creative suite is only about $600, so it's a great value for a professional. Who knows what it is going to cost the next time some other developer updates their software. Updates cost money and you can't give it away for free and stay in business. If you are a student it's incredibly cheap. It costs less than a daily trip to the coffee shop.

Don't get me wrong. Adobe has a long way to go to get its software bug-free and make it fully utilize all resources, but the CC suite is by far the least expensive part of my business. If I could just get my E&O insurance as cheaply I'd be a happy man.

[Dave Merchant]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Rick+Gerard  wrote

Resolve studio is about $300 and just AE is about 300 so if you compare it to AE and Premiere Pro its about half the cost, but the entire creative suite is only about $600, so it's a great value for a professional. Who knows what it is going  to cost the next time some other developer updates their software.  Updates cost money and you can't give it away for free and stay in  business

You're glossing over the crucial fact that Blackmagic's prices are for perpetual licenses. You pay once, and they absolutely DO give the updates away for free. If you bought a key for Resolve 11 years ago, you can install Resolve 15 with it. With CC you pay $640 every year. Adobe gives you more tools in the box, but the box is vastly more expensive if you plan to keep it.

It's perfectly possible to replace almost all of the CC applications with free or non-subscription products, but there's no getting away from the fact that most of Adobe's tools use proprietary file formats to store project data, so third party vendors can't import them even if they wanted to. You can easily edit and grade the same movie with Resolve/Fusion or Premiere/AE, but you can't just 'convert' midway through. Same with plugins - the VFX industry is aligning itself around the Open Effects (OFX) standard so that the same plugin will work across a whole range of editing suites, but the big red A has stayed away.

So by all means migrate to or from Creative Cloud, but do it early and do it once.

[Rick Gerard]

You're glossing over the crucial fact that Blackmagic's prices are for perpetual licenses.

I have never seen Perpetual licenses last very long. At some point, BlackMagic is going to release an update that is going to cost you. They are still new players in the game, and though they are gaining industry acceptance, unless you move to Nuke or something similar and plan to spend up to $10K per year per seat, Adobe is the most accepted and widest used production software in the world. Whining about the price doesn't impress me very much.

I used to have a perpetual license for a bunch of my software and even though some promised "never pay for an update," sure enough, eventually I had to pay for updates. Some, not all, switched to annual plans that run in the thousands per seat. There is no free lunch forever. If it stays free, it will eventually mold or sower and you wouldn't want to eat it.

Again, You can get the entire CC suite for less than the cost of a few trips to Starbucks a month, and you know that the company is always working to improve the product. Sometimes they issue bad updates, but so do the firms that provide perpetual licenses. If video production is a hobby then you have to decide if you want to pay the price. If it a business then the CC suite is a very small, almost insignificant piece of the cost of doing business unless you are charging less than $10/hour for your time.

[Dave Merchant]

BM has a totally different business model to Adobe, they don't need to make any profit from software. Plus a perpetual license is precisely that - it doesn't stop working just because you stop applying updates. The only reason a program you download today would stop working is if some future operating system completely broke backwards compatibility. Even the bastion of forced upgrades that is Windows still happily runs apps written a decade ago.

Some people prefer to pay for a subscription plan because it can be set against operational expenses rather than CAPEX for tax reporting, but that is their choice. There's no denying it costs more over the lifetime to rent than buy - software, houses, cars, horses, everything. If someone wants perpetual licenses, they simply cannot be an Adobe customer so there's nothing lost by guiding them to the most suitable alternatives.

[BrucePB]

Ah, yes, the “Well, a couple of companies have done this so EVERY company will do it” argument. I realize this thread is a few years old (I stumbled across it while looking for a way to import an AEP file into Fusion), and just couldn’t resist clearing up a few things…

First of all, I used Premiere and AE for a long time, and loved the subscription model when Adobe first switched to it. At the time it was perfect because the price for purchasing the entire Adobe suite would have been in the neighborhood of $5000. So $50/month was fantastic for me. So, I’m not a subscription hater…. If Adobe would actually do a real update to their programs. They’re still running the same base code which is out of date and they’re basically just adding new filters hoping no one notices. Except we do (Corridor Digital has a really good video on this subject).

Secondly, I’m planning on paying the yearly subscription fee (all at once because I hate monthly bills) for CC in order to work with clients who use it, so I’m not anti-Adobe.

Now to address Rick’s point that EVERY company will charge again for a perpetual license, there are 2 things I’d like to point out:
1) Adobe and BMD are 2 COMPLETELY DIFFERENT companies with different business models. Adobe is a publicly traded software company. This means that they have to keep their shareholders happy by having consistent income provided by subscriptions. On the other hand, BMD is a privately owned hardware company. Blackmagic uses Resolve to get people to purchase their cameras, switches, etc. In fact, if you purchase a piece of BMD hardware, you get a free license for the FULL Resolve suite. If you purchase another piece of hardware, you get ANOTHER license that you can give away to someone else (or load it onto a third computer). Since they’re not beholden to shareholders, they’re free to do what they want, so their main concern is the artists who buy and use their products (not some exec who’s never even touched Photoshop Essentials). Side Note: I really want a BMD Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro, so the strategy works. LOL But then, it is my choice (and it’s not a monthly bill).
2) BMD has not charged for updates… and it’s been 4 years since Rick said they *might*. That’s 48 months. At $50 per month, that’s $2400 you’ve paid to Adobe. In the same period, you’d have paid $300 to BMD. So what was the better gamble? Not only that, even IF Blackmagic said they would be charging for the next version, you can choose not to and keep on using the one you have… and not pay anything.

As for plug-ins, Resolve and Fusion can’t do everything… but neither can Premiere and AE Even if you own AE, you’re still going to need programs like Nuke to do serious compositing or Mocha to do complex tracking. I use Boris FX’s Suite with Resolve and Fusion (like I said, I’m not a subscription hater)… but I also did with AE. I’m also surprised at how many hidden gems there are in Fusion that I just didn’t know about and *thought* I had to use Boris for.

As for Resolve/Fusion vs Creative Cloud, I find it much easier to use, since editing, compositing, color, audio, and encoding are all in the same program. If I want to composite something into my edit, then do some color correction followed by some audio sweetening, then switch back to editing, I just click the corresponding button on the bottom of the program and my work shows up automatically. Each part of the program talks to all the others. No round tripping nightmares that you have with Adobe. No having multiple programs open at the same time.

Lastly, you don’t even have to buy the full version of Resolve, as the free version is sufficient for a lot of people. The paid version has a few extra features, but it’s not like the difference between the full version of Premiere and AE vs their basic programs.

One thing that I found interesting was that when I went to NAB PostProduction world this year, I poked my head into one of the Adobe sessions and only the first few rows were filled (halfway through the session). The Blackmagic sessions were packed. So this is just an observation, but it looks to me like more people are moving away from Adobe to Davinci.

[dj.summitt]

Fusion is VERY limited in plug-ins. Very limited. Also limited in the community. That said, in some cases Fusion's node-based workflow allows advanced users to do some things you need a plug-in for in AE. But, that's at a very high level.

[brittanyr10202118]

Thanks everyone for chiming in.  Didn't mean to get into an Adobe vs BM discussion, but I'm with many of you- perpetual license FTW.  I've been scouring online- CL, Ebay, Facebook Marketplace to buy an older version of creative suite so that I can own the software and not have to keep bending over for Adobe each month, but they are simply not to be had.  The few out there are counterfeit and unreliable.  I'll take what's available to me now, at a very reasonable price, and mine to own, not to rent.  Even if they decide to move on in the future, I've still got my copy ranging from free to $299, so suck it adobe.