Ultimate S vs Vegas Pro Production Assistant

[John Rofrano]

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.

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 (e.g., 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 starting outside of Vegas Pro as another big feature that is unique to Production Assistant. They really are aimed at solving different workflow problems.

Hope that helps,

PS: in case you haven’t surmised from my forum signature, I work at VASST which is the company that produces both software products.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Norman Willis]

Would it be wrong to over-generalize by saying that Production Assistant is basically for making (repeat) half-hour shows, with the lower thirds and all of that;
whereas Ultimate S provides other tools that may be of interest either in short videos or long movies?

Or what different workflows were they designed for?

[Bruce Quayle]

Thanks so much for your in-depth response John. I’m interested to hear what your answer would be to Norman’s question too. That might also give some more perspective to the uses…and therefor which one would suit my situation.
Thanks again to you and all the other terrific folks who care enough to answer our sometimes tedious questions.
Cheers,

Bruce

[John Rofrano]

Would it be wrong to over-generalize by saying that Production Assistant is basically for making (repeat) half-hour shows, with the lower thirds and all of that;

That would be a good use of Production Assistant that Ultimate S Pro is not designed to do. In fact, Production Assistant is perfect for “Same Day Event” videographers too because they need to create a consistent product in a very short amount of time. It is getting great use in the skydiving industry where you hand the customer a DVD of their dive almost minutes after they are on the ground.

whereas Ultimate S provides other tools that may be of interest either in short videos or long movies?

Yes, Ultimate S Pro has more interactive productivity tools to use while cutting video on the timeline.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com