3d text plugin?

Martin L wrote on 9/11/2009, 10:09 AM
Hello!
I am looking for a way to generate text and possibly other graphics in 3d to spice up titles in commersials I do. Does anyone know if that is possible in Vegas 9 Pro, or is there an good and stable plugin one can get hold of? I know how to use track motion 3d alpha to turn an entire track into 3d, but it doesn't seem to create the 3d graphics I need.

I want the text to appear in 3d and I should be able to turn and twist it, maybe fold, scroll, roll or other things too. And the text shouldn't stay flat but get sides and bevels to it and so on, and get different lighting and surfaces on it. And it should be possible to animate. Also it should have transparent background, as a png file can, so I don't have to chroma key away the background.
And, it should work within Vegas.
I have tried Magix 3d maker but it doesn't create transparent background. I also tried a freeware called Wax2.0 but I didn't like it. I'd rather pay some money to get a real good and reliable program that gives proffessional results.
Anyone have a suggestion?

Martin
Leisborn Media

Comments

Former user wrote on 9/11/2009, 10:18 AM
Bluff Titler

While it doesn't work directly in Vegas, it does offer export to various formats that work great within Vegas...

Jim
rs170a wrote on 9/11/2009, 10:18 AM
Take a look at BluffTitler and Heroglyph.
I'm certain one of them will fit your needs.

Mike
Tech Diver wrote on 9/11/2009, 10:43 AM
Boris Red and Boris Grafitti do all that you mention except fold and warp in 3D. But you can do those things with 2D text. Additionally, you can apply texture, bump maps, and reflections that change as your 3D text rotates:
http://www.borisfx.com/images/graffiti/3D_text_graff5.jpg

I have Boris Red which lets you do some full 3D compositing of all sorts of objects. Boris Grafitti is a subset but still quite powerful. I think Vegas users get a discount.

Peter
Butch Moore wrote on 9/11/2009, 11:02 AM
BluffTitler is my first choice, but I've also had luck with Xara 3D:

http://site.xara.com/products/xara3d/
Tech Diver wrote on 9/11/2009, 12:35 PM
I believe that Martin specifically wanted a Vegas plugin and of all the tools mentioned so far, only the Boris products comply. But please correct me if I am mistaken.
Former user wrote on 9/11/2009, 1:25 PM
Well -- he did say "Plugin" in the subject, and he stated "Works within Vegas" but he did mention "Magix 3D Maker" which is a standalone application. His only issue with it seemed to be was that he couldn't get a transparent background during export. And any version of Boris is going to be way more expensive that either 3D Maker or Bluff Titler.

But, that being said, I just went to the Magix website and they say that they do, in fact, support transparency with 3D Maker. So, he might want to revisit that application and give it another shot.

3D Maker - Additional Features

Jim
Martin L wrote on 9/11/2009, 2:18 PM
Well, thanks all so far for your fine tips. When it comes to Magix 3d it only supports transparency in its own Magix format, which can be used with Magix Video, but not with other applications like Vegas. I called their telephone support to make sure. The option for us is to make an AVI file with a solid backgrund color and key it out in Vegas. I tried that but it left bad edges on the graphic and I deemed it unfit for proffesional use.
I checked the Bluff titler webpage and it seems interesting. About the Heroglyph, does it do 3d text? It's quite more expensive than Bluff Titler.
Any of you guys doing commersials? What do you use?
Thanks,
Martin
farss wrote on 9/11/2009, 2:38 PM
For what you're trying to do Proanimator is worth a look.
Converting logos to 3D is tricky. You need closed vector files e.g. Illustrator files with no bitmaps. You may need to trace the logos to prep them for animation.

Bob.
Laurence wrote on 9/11/2009, 5:38 PM
Bluff Titler can write to Cineform Neo Scene format which works well in Vegas.
[r]Evolution wrote on 9/12/2009, 8:14 AM
Looks like Magix has Movie Edit Pro (NLE) for pretty cheap.
If you're proficient in 3D Maker and like its results... you may want to invest in Movie Edit Pro just to use as an app that you can Import/Export your 3D Maker titles w/ an Alpha Channel as BORIS is NOT cheap or easy and BluffTitler tends to look a little 'Cheasy' to me.

Maybe download the trial of Movie Edit Pro and see if it works for you.
Terry Esslinger wrote on 9/12/2009, 12:06 PM
I have both Bluff Titler and Heroglyph. Heroglyph seems to me to have a tougher learning curve but the results are worth it. As far as Bluff being Cheesey, it can be, but as someone once said "Cheesey is as cheesey does".

edit: And Heroglyph works within Vegas (sort of)
Harold Brown wrote on 9/12/2009, 9:04 PM
Titles made in Bluff
http://www.vimeo.com/2735319
Martin L wrote on 9/18/2009, 1:42 PM
Hi again!
I downloaded Bluff and am trying it out. Herglyph seems better though and more expensive.
Porpoise1954 wrote on 9/18/2009, 4:39 PM
Or there is Blender, which is cross=platform (and free) and can export to the following formats:

# 2D
TGA, JPG, PNG, OpenEXR, DPX, Cineon, Radiance HDR, Iris, SGI Movie, IFF, AVI and Quicktime GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV (Windows and Mac OS X)
# 3D
3D Studio, AC3D, COLLADA, FBX Export, DXF, Wavefront OBJ, DEC Object File Format, DirectX, Lightwave, MD2, Motion Capture, Nendo, OpenFlight, PLY, Pro Engineer, Radiosity, Raw Triangle, Softimage, STL, TrueSpace, VideoScape, VRML, VRML97, X3D Extensible 3D, xfig export

Whilst it doesn't integrate with Vegas it's extremely powerful - and, did I mention, oh yes, it's free!

Edit:
Forgot the link:
http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/features/
freeLANCEr wrote on 9/19/2009, 6:44 AM
Porpoise

Blender seems so difficult to master. How long did it take you to get the hang of it?
Harold Brown wrote on 9/19/2009, 12:01 PM
http://www.vimeo.com/2584336

The opening titles were done with Heroglyph. I also have a couple of DJ fonts volumes but I haven't used them in video yet.