Hey guys, I'm new to digital video editing and want to jump in head first with some nice videos. I have been looking at some special effects software such as www.digitaljuice.com and Digital Hotcakes for animated backgrounds, footage, special effects, sounds, etc.. I wanted to ask if there were any other companies out there like these two that offered similar products as far as effects and footage and which ones your recommend. Between digitaljuice.com and hotcakes, I really like digitaljuice as their content looks much more professional. I look forward to any advice or recommendations you may have! Thanks again and take care.

Have you tried Adobe After effects?

If you want FX then you should buy after effects with particle illusion.

Does this mean you are a PI3 user now Luke?

But as much as I agree with the proposed combination of s/w, given the examples he/she quoted I think all he/she really wants is a bundle of animated backgrounds rather than the software to create them themselves, which is not so easy to do in actual fact. PI3 is great at what it does but it's not quite bullet proof for animated loops and only works in square pixels.

If our poster wants a library of animated backgrounds then I propse you keep an eye on the monthly magazines in the newsagents. If you know how to press the record button on your camera then you've probably already outgrown the (very basic) content of the magazines themselves but the cover disks usually have a few gems on them and a few animated backgrounds seem to appear on each one.

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