Suitable software for ambient scenes and composition
Hi,
I would like to create an ambient scene to place on YouTube. I envisage the scene having a castle as its focal point, surrounded by forest, with a glowing moon hue, failing snow, and relaxing music. I'm at the very beginning of my understanding and so I'm still reading into the various software.
I do not intend to create any assets. Instead, I will consume pre-made assets from the likes of Google, Megascans, Unity, and even my own collection of photos that I've taken of objects (sunsets, chairs, etc..).
Being a static scene I believe I can simply import, into the chosen software, the desired backgrounds and assets, and layer all (castle, trees, moon, etc..) to produce a single, natural looking scene. The ability to cut photos, so certain areas (i.e. windows) are hollow which allows for the layer underneath to show through, will be useful too.
Once the static scene is complete, I would need to create the composition layers (i.e. glowing moon, falling snow), then to add the relaxing music, and finally to cut/prep all to upload to YouTube.
I constantly read that Adobe's After Effects is the recommended software to use and I have watched many YT tutorials on it. It does seem exactly what I'm looking for, and I'd be happy to use it, however Adobe's Cloud pricing structure is a little expensive for me and therefore I'm seeking if alternative software is suitable. I've heard of Natron, BlackFusion, Davinci Resolve, Cavalry, HitFilm Pro, Sony Vegas Pro, Nuke. The last thing I wish to do is spend months learning the software only to find it cannot complete all that I need, or maybe a software cannot import a common pre-made asset file type, or it's not compatible with other important software, or other restrictions that I'm not aware of.
I've just understood Node based and Layer based composition. Layer based seems much more user friendly to me and so I would prefer to use Layer based software.
I'm keen to start but just want to make sure I choose the right software before I spend months learning it. Are you able to advise on suitable software and why?
Many thanks.
Replies
wouldn be pretty easy to do it as real-time 3D in unreal and just export as a movie.
all the weather effects and models is stuff you easily find free or cheap and can for most part drag and drop into scene.
wont have to get very technical except to learn basics of sequencer I expect.
of course I am biased because that is what I am familiar with, but compared to 2d I think it may be more intuitive because you won’t need to composite layers for stuff like weather effects.