What Adobe product should I buy so that I can place objects "in to" my videos?

[twohourmovies]

What Adobe product should I buy so that I can put objects in to my video (that's going to go on YouTube eventually)? I don't have any experience using Photoshop or any Adobe product.

In other words, I have a video of myself driving down the road. The video is shot from the back seat, and you can see the road ahead of my moving car. I would want to put objects in "front of" my car, so that you suddenly see an unexpected object in front of my car.

I want to be able to put anything (like a monster, unusual highway sign, UFO, etc.) I want in front of my car.

Is there an Adobe product that would enable me to do this, so that it looks professional?

Thanks

[Abambo]

All of them but most important is the first one: After Effects, Premiere, Dimension, Character Animator, Photoshop, Illustrator, Audition ...

Look for the tutorials on the Adobe site. Best is that you can subscribe those products (or the whole creative cloud) on the month, so you will have the time to check them out. There is a 7 days trial possible, but that is probably just enough to start the program and to check out the user interface and to do one or 2 tutorials.

In addition you could add programs like Maya, 4D Cinema or even blender...

[twohourmovies]

I tried After Effects, and I was stunned by how user-unfriendly it was. It shouldn't take months to learn how to use every feature on a program.

And the problem with having to learn from YouTube videos is that they are not well-done: people skip important steps when they make a video.

[mandicreally]

After Effects is professional grade software.  What you are asking for is serious work and requires serious software.  If you try some other softwares similar to AE you will find it isn't as User Unfriendly as it first appears.  I've only scratched the surface of it myself but my work doesn't demand it much. If you aren't willing to put in the time to learn the software you'll have to pay someone else who is willing.  Which you'll find out quick adds up.

From my limited knowledge of After Effects you are talking about continually tracking movement points.  Putting in a null object to tied to that tracking, placing your asset and tieing it to that null object so it tracks where you want it.  Then frame by frame tweaking it to make sure it doesn't jitter or jump around because computer tracking is only so good.

All of that and if you didn't shoot the footage with this all in mind, it may be a nightmare to do.  Shooting with tracking points in your environment or making sure to get landmarks into view that can be used as tracking points is a must. Trying to track a random point in the blur of pavement or sky will result in less than professional looking stuff.

Check out Film Riot, Motion Array Tutorials, Cinecom.Net, and even Peter McKinnon did an AE intro video.  I didn't watch the Peter video so no idea how good it is.

[Szalam]

twohourmovies  wrote

It shouldn't take months to learn how to use every feature on a program.

You are going to need to adjust your expectations. There is a reason that people who are professionals with this software can charge the rates they can. It's not something you can pick up in a couple of days.

If you think AE is bad, you would hate 3d software like Cinema 4D, Blender, or (heaven forfend) Maya. It doesn't take more than a few weeks to get some of the basics down, but it would take years to learn to use every feature in full-fledged 3d software (if you even could).

Now, After Effects isn't as complex as a full 3d package, but it is very complicated - a lot more than any other software Adobe makes in the Creative Cloud. It's a professional grade motion graphics, animation, and compositing package. It's got a huge amount of power and, considering what you can do with it, it's fairly easy to use - especially if you have experience with something like Photoshop.

However, since you don't have experience with professional software like Photoshop, it's going to be even more overwhelming for you. It would probably take months to learn how to use "every feature" in Photoshop and AE is way more complex than that...

The task that you are asking to do (add stuff into a video and make it look professional) is a fairly high-end visual effects task. You don't need to learn how to use every feature in After Effects, but you will have to learn several aspects of a visual effects workflow including color matching and motion tracking - but you need to learn the basics first before you do that!

twohourmovies  wrote

And the problem with having to learn from YouTube videos is that they are not well-done: people skip important steps when they make a video.

In my experience, the majority of YouTube tutorials are horrible. Others have pointed you to some resources, but I'd say to start with AE's own Learn resources that you can get to right inside the app! It'll start getting you familiar with the interface and how to begin working in AE. But, again, if you don't have experience with professional software, expect it to take a few months before you are able to get professional visual effects results from it. (Less if you have a lot of time to dedicate to it.)

[Abambo · Accepted solution]

twohourmovies  wrote

I tried After Effects, and I was stunned by how user-unfriendly it was. It shouldn't take months to learn how to use every feature on a program.

After Effects is a very complex tool. It is not a simple to handle tool.

And the problem with having to learn from YouTube videos is that they are not well-done: people skip important steps when they make a video.

Use the Adobe provided tutorials. If you need to go further on, you should definitively consider Lynda.com (linkedIn Learning) or similar. You can ask for a 30 days test version I think.

With Youtube you get what you pay for. And as After Effects is more complex and less popular than say Photoshop, the number of tutorials produced outside of the paid tutorial world is smaller.

I too, I'm still waiting for the push button solution...

[Wombatica]

I agree with Abambo. Many people use both After Effects and Premiere, depending upon the task at hand. I have the whole Adobe Suite, but am not really a video person. Both products together offer an impressively wide scope of utilities. Check HERE for a very concise look about the basic features of both, and a general comparison between them.

While there is sort of a learning curve, there are many online resources (and I believe tutorial videos), both free and formally offered, that can help.

Do the trial, definitely!

Good luck!