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project’s workflow – such as setting the recording quality or duration and applying visual and audio effects – with a screen recording frame rates of up to 120 frames per second and no cap on recording time. For some, this is worth the price of admission alone for rapid, easy content creation. For the new breed of content creators, Luxea Pro 7 makes sense as it is designed to be easy to export finished work to YouTube and Vimeo. Export preview allows you to watch the rendering progress in real time and receive a reminder once finished. It also allows you to create and reuse your own customised templates. While many editors buy templates and effects, ACDSee has free content packs with stock images, videos, overlays, sound effects and more. Examples are the Follow Me Pack, ideal for influencers, the Vlog Tutorial Pack or the new Chef’s Pack for great food content. They make it quick and easy to create effective social media edits without being required to have lots of technical skills. It offers everything advanced YouTubers and content creators need, is ideal for indie filmmakers who don’t need the super-deep tech controls like DaVinci Resolve. And it’s seriously affordable. AD PRO MOVIEMAKER RATING: 9/10 A cost-effective editing software that’s easy to use Pros: Choice of well-priced plans Cons: Doesn’t work on MacOS Hardware minimum: Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen (2GHz or faster), 8GB RAM, DirectX 10 compatible graphics adapter, 1920x1080 display resolution, 4GB of available hard disk space. SSD recommended for editing HD and 4K videos Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8.1, Windows 10 & Windows 11 64-bit editions. Microsoft DirectX 10 or higher Image formats: JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, HEIC, DNG, TIFF Audio formats: WMA, MP3, AAC, WAV, AC3, OGG, M4A Video formats: AVI, MP4, WMV, FLV, MOV, TS, MTS, M2TS, ASF, M4V, MPG, MPEG Encode formats: MP4, MOV, MP3, M4V, WebM, GIF
ACDSEE LUXEA PRO 7 £41/$50 per year acdsee.com
While most professionals use Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro X or DaVinci Resolve Studio, not everyone wants the top-end features, complexity and cost they command. Equally, there are slimmed-down or free options like iMovie or Adobe Premier Elements, but some users might find these a bit limiting. But there is a middle ground, thanks to ACDSee’s Luxea Pro 7 software. It’s affordable and offers lots of high-end features – especially in this recently upgraded version 7. There is a catch, though – it’s only available for Windows. Maybe a Mac version will come out in future. The price is £41/$50 per year for an individual plan which includes the software, updates and tech support. For £35/$30, you can have a lifetime licence, but will have to pay for any future upgrades. Alternatively, spend £73/$89 per year and get the individual plan with 200GB of cloud storage, DAM software, Raw photo editing and layering which can all be installed on up to five devices, plus access to exclusive tutorials. For filmmakers, the ability to use it on more than one device tips towards this plan.
New in Luxea Pro 7 are a raft of features that pro users will appreciate. This includes multi-monitor support, which is vital as so many use a dual- screen set-up. The workspace is now fully customisable and you can start editing right from the home screen. Lots of pro features like keyframing and masking – plus the useful speed ramping, ripple and reverse speed control for clips – have been added. The audio tech has been boosted to allow adjustment of pan, pitch, EQ presets and independent control of left and right channels. It’s also now possible to copy and selectively paste various clip properties including filters and transitions. And it’s very easy to understand without having to resort to online tutorials, though there are many on YouTube. When opening the software, a simple home screen lets you start a new project or access a current one. This takes you to the main screen, which any editor will feel right at home with as it has the same basic layout as Final Cut, Premiere Pro and Resolve. There’s a content pool on the left, viewers on the right and timelines below. It’s totally conventional and fast to get to grips with. Luxea Pro 7 now includes a video recorder to easily create high-quality, real-time MP4s with zero rendering time. This allows use of a webcam, screen, microphone, system audio or any combination to create podcasts and social media videos. Customise the recording options to fit your
WHO MADE WHO ACDSee’s Luxea Pro 7 has a familiar layout to rival NLEs but with added features
“It’s very easy to understand without having to resort to online tutorials”
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PRO MOVIEMAKER
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