Comments

Yarin VooDoo wrote on 6/8/2009, 3:45 AM
Ciao,

One of the main difference is the Stand-Alone mode.
You can launch PA without Vegas, from the desktop, to create new project based on standard templates or to replace media inside events in projects, these is very useful for all that kind of projects where you have to change just the medias but not the structure.

Also the way you use PA inside Vegas is different from US.
PA use a 3 step mode where you select media to be processed, the processing modes and destination.

You can use PA for Batch Render, to apply logo or cinelike effect to the project or to external media, to transcode external media from a codec to another (es. from HDV to Sony YUV), and so on...

Of course PA is made on the base of US 4, but it's not exatcly the same thing.

Ciao
JohnnyRoy wrote on 6/8/2009, 4:34 AM
> Of course PA is made on the base of US 4, but it's not exatcly the same thing.

Yes, the best comparison I can make is that Production Assistant is focused on "batch process automation" while Ultimate S Pro is focused on "interactive" editing. As we add more automation processing capabilities to Production Assistant the difference will become more and more apparent.

They do share some tools in common which are Photo Montage, MotoFoto, Lower Thirds, Film Looks, and similar Rendering capabilities but that is only 5 of the 15 tabs that are available in Ultimate S Pro. So Ultimate S Pro still has 10 tabs of interactive function that Production Assistant does not have (Editing Tools, Markers, Audio Tools, Visual Effects, Quad-CAM, Special FX, DVD, Audit, Setup, & Project)

On the Production Assistant side, it has process automation that Ultimate S Pro does not have. The ability to take process functions and string them together into a workflow is an extremely powerful feature that only Production Assistant has. Of course the ability to create entire projects from templates as another big feature that is unique to Production Assistant. They really are aimed at solving different workflow problems.

Hope that helps,

~jr
Jøran Toresen wrote on 6/9/2009, 7:34 AM
Johnny

Where can I find the Film Look tool in PA? Besides that, is RealPak version 1.2.0 compatible with PA and the current version of US? (I have US2 at the moment, but will upgrade to US4.)

Jøran Toresen
JohnnyRoy wrote on 6/10/2009, 5:03 AM
Hi Jøran,

> Where can I find the Film Look tool in PA?

The Film Look tool is one of the processing options in Production Assistant. Go to the Processing tab and press the Add button and add the Cine-Look process which is a scaled down version of the Film Looks tab in Ultimate S Pro.

If you are not batch processing, you can use Production Assistant as an interactive tool by going to the Source Media tab and check [X] Use Current Project as Source and then go to the Target Output tab and check [X] Print to Timeline. Now you can remain on the Processing tab and add processes and when you press the green Process button it will affect the current project and leave the results on the timeline.

> ...is RealPak version 1.2.0 compatible with PA and the current version of US? (I have US2 at the moment, but will upgrade to US4.)

It depends on whether or not you are using Vista or XP. The 1.2.0 versions work fine in XP. You will need the 1.3.0 versions for Vista, especially Vista 64 which has much tighter security requirements. Just send an email to ultimatesupport at VASST and we will give you a link to the 1.3 version for all of the GrafPaks, ReelPaks, etc. that you have purchased.

~jr
Jøran Toresen wrote on 6/10/2009, 12:33 PM
Thank you very much, Johnny!

Jøran
Geoff_Wood wrote on 6/10/2009, 8:43 PM
Unfortunate contraction of the application name there. Could be worse - Prod Ass.

geoff