Learning HitFilm: tutorials from basics to advanced

Comments

• Har

  January 2014

  Excellent list Simon!   
  For the 3D Models section, would it maybe be possible to also add the one that you did on your own for using the Environment Map Viewer to create immersive scenes with 3D models using large panoramic backplates (you used the flying saucer model in conjunction with a 4K panoramic image)....?
  I'm forever referencing that one and keep going crazy trying to find the link to your tutorial video.....would be great to be able to quickly find it along with these others, all in one place.   
• SimonKJones Moderator

  January 2014

  Hehe, will add that one now. I also want to add the great community-created tutes from the likes of Majahr, Rody and the gang, but haven't had time just yet.
• Triem23 Moderator

  January 2014 edited January 2014

  Very nice.
  My minor notes.
  I think MOTION GRAPHICS, 3D SCENES and 3D MODELS should come before MOCHA HITFILM. Users need to understand the space and cameras of Hitfilm before jumping to a different interface.
  The "Hidden Features" tutorial should be added to THE HITFILM WORKFLOW.
  EFECTS FOCUS should come before EXPLORING VISUAL EFFECTS. Effects focus tutorials are still basic techniques. Just the in-depth version for one tool. Exploring Visual Effects combine multiple tools in look-specific case studies, and often call back to specific tools.
  Possibly cross-reference EXPLORING VISUAL EFFECTS by concept? Kind of like listing the "prerequisites" for an effect. "Creating a nebula" references""3d pictures from 2D" and "particle sims," "Lightsabers" requires "masking" and "2D compositing", and "Prism Teleport" requires "2D tracking," "particle sim" and "masking." This helps reinforce the creative use of the same basic toolset.
  Make this thread a sticky... In all four forums. . ;-)
  Append this list to the Online Help Manual.
  Possibly include User Tutorials and "Unofficial" tutorials such as Simon's "Particle Clones" or Majahr's "Text to Particles?"
  That's all I have. Again, very nice!
• Triem23 Moderator

  January 2014

  @Har. I have a youtube downloader on my Android phone, and many Hitfilm tutorials available at the flick of a finger!
• SimonKJones Moderator

  January 2014

  Triem - good points, implemented most of them. I think most of the sections could do with a 1-line intro, so that people know what they're getting into.
  I've added my own unofficial and It's A Trap tutorials. WIll add Rody, Majahr et al soon.
• Har

  January 2014 edited January 2014

  @Triem: good idea, I like the idea of having an immediately available local library of HF tutes!     
  I've seen a number of things like that for PCs, so I'll have to look into getting something like that, being of the (intentionally) smartphone-less personage.    
  Thanks for adding that in Simon!   
• RossTrowbridge

  January 2014 edited January 2014

  @Triem: good idea, I like the idea of having an immediately available local library of HF tutes!     
  I've seen a number of things like that for PCs, so I'll have to look into getting something like that, being of the (intentionally) smartphone-less personage.    
  Thanks for adding that in Simon! 

  
  

  Har, I use Freemake Video Downloader to keep my Hitfilm Tutorial folder up to date. Besides Hitfilm, there are a few tutorials from the Frugal Filmmaker on DIY equipment and a series by Graham Houghton on the camera I use. There are enough tutorials there now that I need to create some sub-folders to organize them like Simon has here.
  The software works great. Just be sure to pay attention during the install. It's one of those sponsored installation packages that wants to install junk you don't want if you don't do the 'custom' option and turn it all off.
  I'm on a laptop, and don't always have the internet available. It's nice being able to go look at any of these tutorials if I need a reminder of something (happens a lot!).
   

  
  
• Har

  January 2014

  @rtrowbridge - thanks for the tip!    I'm also a fan of Frugal Filmmaker as well as Graham Houghton (I use a Panasonic FZ200 that he has a lot of excellent tutorials on), and both of those would indeed be valuable to have offline considering how often I hit their channels.
• Triem23 Moderator

  January 2014

  @Har. I use "Easy Youtube Video Downloader 7.0" on my PC. That's a Firefox extension, not a program. I do prefer the smartphone (Which I know you don't have) because that way I don't have to tab out of Hitfilm if I review a tut while working. I can just call it up on the phone. But I do like having the tutorials stored locally. :-)
  @Simon. Yes, I see you've added and changed things, and, yes, WOW you guys have a lot of tutorials! And more to come!
• mark_e

  January 2014

  Thanks Simon this is awsome, I've been working my way through loads of them over the months such a great resource from the hitfilm team and community.  I've done the same have download folder locally for quick reference! 
• Austin007

  January 2014

  This is truly great! Thanks for all the time you take to help us out!
• microtogo

  January 2014

  This is a good start to help new users (like myself), so first thank you very much for both making the videos and organizing them in this way.  I have watched most of them, in various orders,  and am now watching them in the order listed again. With that said, I cannot stress enough the value of time and clear progression in regard to the comprehension of a new software tool.  Although your videos are presented with the intent to truly help the new users, they suffer from the following problems.
  1) They are incomplete on the title subject
  2) They are random with no clear training progression for an unskilled student.
  3) They gloss over important points as the instructor "clicks" without description, leaving much guess work, making it hard to follow and understand.
  4) They too often refer to a future video that may or may not exist, or simple say find out more in the manual.
  5) Overall, they do not allow a new user to feel empowered to use the software professionally, but only for fun, as in amateur YouTube videos.
  6) I could not train an employee with them, making the software unusable for scaling my production needs.
  I completely understand what free means, so please understand these comments are only for the benefit of the long term value of your software. If you truly want to get your software in the hands of students, schools, etc (unskilled users to compositing) as your marketing material indicates (that's why I jumped in), you should strongly consider developing a professional training product or products that teach new users to use your software in a traditional formatted way, with comprehensive lessons that concisely progress the student in a expert manner, and not require them to watch random YouTube videos.
  I know a large majority of forum posters are against a paid training product being offered by the publisher because they feel training should be free, yet there is no one else to train on new products since the product is not well known to garner third party training providers. There are many types of users, some who want something for free and others who are willing to add value to the publisher and buy training products because they see the value in it with the time savings.
  I made a post to promote a kickstarter, and that is why this thread was created, so thank you for a great response, yet I still remain convicted to help your product to the next level by supporting a more thorough training product, even though by the time it is completed I will have either moved on to AE or roughed it out learning this product.
  I've owned and operated a computer service company for 26 years and now am moving into making video productions (kids shows) and would very much like to buy additional licenses for employees and approach your product for professional use, but feel at a loss since there is no training solution other than hard knocks and snippets, which isn't something I can pay an hourly employee for, and there is no skilled Hitfilm employee pool to hire from in my area. So I am left with AE due to training options. So perhaps my problem is a common model you will face.
  Anyhow, I would be happy to pre buy any training product you some up with, if you decide to expand in this manner.
  Best wishes and thanks for reading my short story.
• NullUnit

  January 2014

  I think the problem is that FXhome is a smaller company, so if they dedicated their time to making a professional tutorial series they would not have time to improve and add features to the software itself. 
• MichaelJames

  January 2014

  Or they could grow?  Remember there is always a point where a smaller company transitions to a medium sized company or a medium company becomes a large company.  If they could find a way a way for a new branch of the company to be added that generates revenue separately they could easily grow the company.  Paid for tutorials should and could be a separate part of the business model.  That way it doesn't diminish or take away from the free tutorials side.  Hence why I think the use of contractors who generate the business works best.  No additional employees need to get hired at that point.
• Triem23 Moderator

  January 2014

  I can certainly say from experience that tutorials and documentation take a lot of time. MichaelJames, here, started a thread back in June(?) 2013 about improving the Hitfilm manual, and a discussion of crowdsourcing that! Well, MichaelJames contributed a couple of things, I contributed a couple of things and then it trickled off. Can't speak for MichaelJames, but I know I would love to help continue crowdsourcing the Manual, but I have to prioritize work (I was severely injured last year, unable to work for 9 months, and am playing catch-up on accured debt) first, and, when I get free time, I admit I would rather build animations than document sliders. I have some tutorials of my own planned, but, again. Time vs money. Lynda.com has a ton of After Effects tutorials, but a huge majority of those aren't from Adobe. They're from users. And After Effects has been around much, much longer and has a bigger user base. At the moment, better Hitfilm documentation and tutorials would be fantastic, but I know how much time it takes.
• MichaelJames

  January 2014

  I still have the work saved and organized as a word doc.  Would love to get it going again. 
• microtogo

  January 2014

  Let me give you a real life example that I think fits this company profile very well.
  Last year I had a client who wanted 2D animation cartoons for their children's therapy business. I did the job making 15 shorts stories using Reallusion's Crazy Talk Animator, but it didn't stop there, as I bought most all the template characters, training and 4 licenses for their software in order to get the job done. My bill was as follows.
  Crazy Talk Animator Pro x 3 = $510. ($170. each)
  Crazy Talk 7 Pro x 2 = $200. ($100. each)
  Template Characters and Scenes from their content stores = $700.
  DVD Training = $30. (It was all they had, but would have bought all of it)
  iClone (just to test it out) $60.
  pop video Convertor = $60. (program is bad)
  I spent over $1500 with them to get this project done quickly. It would have taken me too long to create all the content ourselves, so it was a good business help to just buy content.
  I bought Crazy Talk instead of Toonboom because it was easier to get the product out with our skill level. I basically just installed the product and sat my 3 employees in from of the training DVD and said learn this. They actually did a very fun job and the client loved it.
  Just saying, there is a secondary sales channel for training as well as templates and content for those of us with more money than time. I would have loved to just buy the time savings, but I digress.
• obimad

  January 2014

  Simon - you are the Best. Thank you for this study Course.
  Can you take a video about stabilized videos in hitfilm?
• SimonKJones Moderator

  January 2014

  Thanks for the feedback, guys. All noted. microtogo - I don't disagree. At this point it's a matter of resources more than anything else - with HitFilm's userbase expanding all the time, though, I'm hoping we'll continue to see more and more community tutorials emerging, filling the various requirements of different groups, in addition to our continuing 'official' tutorials.
• Triem23 Moderator

  January 2014

  In fact, I see on the movie wall several user tutorials added in the last week. I have not viewed them yet, but they're there. I have at least four tutorials of my own planned, one of which will likely be a two-parter if not three.
  (Advanced Particle Cloning with 3D objects, aka the "fancy camera gimble," Glass Text, Cloning with Atomic and Advanced 3D text, aka "Text Beveling.")
• rgbii

  January 2014

  I noticed a link error on one of the tutorials.
  Compositing techniques/ 3D scenes / 3D lights part 1  has two links.
  "3D lights p"  links to part 1.
  "art 1" links to part 2.
  So depending on the placement of the cursor, they might get part 1 or part 2
• SimonKJones Moderator

  January 2014

  Odd! Thanks for pointing that out, rgbii!
• DanielGWood Moderator

  February 2014

  That's a truly epic list Simon, nice one!
• Beloved

  February 2014

  I look forward to gleaning all I can from the list.  Thank You all for Your Support!
• Dennis Pedersen

  February 2014

  Im totally new to all this, so im very thankfull for this list of learning and guides thank you so much
• Grisby

  March 2014

  For your Pleasure I created a Youtube-Channel with Playlists to the several Parts Simon defined. I hope, it will help the Community and it's OK for the Hitfilm Crew.
  http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ft4YVNeYy52_kJoVtcHPg
  Greetings from Munich,
  Chris :-) 
• Daniel1508

  May 2014

  totally awesome! Big thanks for the list!
  Dan
• FilmSensei

  July 2014

  I believe this topic is the single greatest goldmine of information for Hitfilm users on the forums.  What a fantastic grouping of tutorials!  Thanks to Simon (and everyone else) who put this together!
• Triem23 Moderator

  July 2014

  NOTE: This is a work-in-progress post! Feedback welcome.
  Below you will find a comprehensive list of HitFilm video tutorials, organised into a useful learning order. Think of it as an informal training course for learning HitFilm. Go from the top or pick a subject and work your way through the videos.
  These tutorials are a mix of official FXHOME tutorials and creations from our superb community.
  Wow, we have a lot of tutorials.

  
  

  
  Simon,
  And, of course, Grisby created a YouTube page compiling the tutorials into playlists by your subdivisions (He beat FxHome to it, as I expected you guys to do that.)
  That link is here.
  https://www.youtube.com/user/HitfilmEpicCourse
  You may or may not want to add that to your initial post in this thread for further easy reference.
• SimonKJones Moderator

  July 2014

  Done!