Bauhaus Mirage with Vegas?

GrenadaV wrote on 1/18/2006, 6:53 PM
Hi,
anyone using Bauhaus Mirage 1.5 along with Vegas? If so, what are your thoughts on the product?

I must say, it looks pretty darned impressive and I notice Sony are also offering it for $695.

Although, those that have Flash can crossgrade for $395!! (at Bauhaus Website)

http://www.bauhaussoftware.com/store_2D_CG_more.php

cheers
Rossco

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 1/18/2006, 7:18 PM
I have just started learning this software. It's easier than I expected, and so far with what little I've learned to do, I'm impressed! I saw it when it was Aura, but never messed with it. Now I'm having fun making some pretty cool stuff, and hope to have some basic tutorials up soon.
snicholshms wrote on 1/18/2006, 8:07 PM
This is great software and there's tons of stuff you can do with it to add to a Vegas-based project. Most people think it's only for "cartoons" and that's not true.

I got it because of a promotion with Poser a few months back. It comes with tons of free tutorials and there's a user forum that's as helpful as this one.

It does help to have a Wacom tablet but you can still do quite a lot with a mouse, too.
GrenadaV wrote on 1/18/2006, 9:36 PM
Yep,
after I initially posted this message, I checked out the demo reels and also the video tours and when I found that they will crossgrade for Flash users, I couldn't resist at $395 :):):)

I do happen to have a Wacom tablet but hardly ever used it...until now that is :)..

Cheers and thanks for the feedback, which was as I thought it would be...Pro Mirage.

Must also be something to it, given that Sony are also promoting it!

Rossco
lwx wrote on 1/19/2006, 9:06 AM
Noticed this thread, thought it might not be considered too rude if I offered my two cents as I have some little familiarity with Mirage. :)

Despite the high-level attention it has rec'd in the cartooning realm during the last year, many of us continue to use it as our primary video CG/FX 'swiss army knife.' As such, it is a great tool. If anyone needs help with it in this sort of application, ping me and I'll be glad to help.

Steve B.

GrenadaV wrote on 1/19/2006, 11:40 AM
Cheers Steve B

will probably take you up on that ;)

Rossco
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/19/2006, 11:47 AM
Steve, could you contact me via the mail system here on Sony's site?
lwx wrote on 1/20/2006, 7:45 AM
I'm always happy to help, Rossco, and may be able to point you to online helpful resources sometimes, too. I don't want to subvert the forum, though, so will generally try to handle queries offlist (at least until I've been here long enough to be be aware of local 'netiquette' sufficiently to avoid unintended offense.)
Coursedesign wrote on 1/20/2006, 8:34 AM
IMHO, anything that relates to Vegas by being useful with Vegas is kosher here.

I would certainly like to hear more about how you are using it for video effects.
lwx wrote on 1/20/2006, 8:37 AM
Does anyone mind if I post a few sample links?
Coursedesign wrote on 1/20/2006, 9:36 AM
Would love it, this is often done here.
lwx wrote on 1/20/2006, 10:23 AM
OK, well then here's a link to my Gallery on the Bauhaus site:

http://www.bauhaussoftware.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=20&page=0&sort=
(This has a teensy fraction of the experimental work I've done with Mirage over time - just don't have time to post it all there.)

There are a few more of mine linked from this page, too:

http://www.bauhaussoftware.com/community_animations_VFX.php

I use Mirage for pretty much everything, from CG and DVD menus to keying and colour correction. At NAB last year I challenged the demo audience to try to get me to say "No, I can't do that in Mirage" (graphics tasks only, mind you!) and win a tee-shirt. On Friday afternoon I hadn't been beaten, so someone from Bauhaus asked me 'Can it do 3D modelling?' - but he already had a shirt so it didn't really count. :)

I've got a 90 second streaming video (and a 40 minute one, too) on my own site with some other samples, but it's in the form of an ad and I don't want to post anything commercial here - so if you're curious about that, e-mail me offlist.

OOPS - almost forgot - there are a couple cool anims in the tutorlai pages too. Here are two of my favorites from, actually the first two Mirage tutes I did (click the Play gadget):

http://www.bauhaussoftware.com/tutorials/AnimatedGFX/CONTROL_AnimatedGFX.html

http://www.bauhaussoftware.com/tutorials/Real_particles/CONTROL_Real_Particles.html
GrenadaV wrote on 1/20/2006, 12:22 PM
coursedesign said:"
IMHO, anything that relates to Vegas by being useful with Vegas is kosher here.

I would certainly like to hear more about how you are using it for video effects"

I second that ;)
ChrisC wrote on 1/20/2006, 1:09 PM
Wow! Very nice stuff indeed! I particularly liked the raindrops and fireflies. And the Wedding Day graphic was as good as anything I've seen in Jump Backs or other packages.
lwx wrote on 1/20/2006, 2:02 PM
Thanks! I think the one I'm proudest of is the submarine 'missile launch', just because it really doesn't look 2D (all of the smoke and flames, and even the camera shake, is Mirage - it looks really good full-size.)

The 'wedding' example (the 'rose') was an experiment at mimicking the 'glass sliding over video' effect from the opening credits for CSI Miami. I liked the effect but didn't have any 'dawn over Miami aerials', so thought I'd try something a bit different.

The sample posted there is just a portion of it, BTW. In the finished project, each time the glass slides part another video clip is revealed in an oval vignette. After 60 secs it fades back to white. I overlayed menu buttons on it and used it as a looping DVD menu, which worked very nicely. (I'd post it but my daughter-in-law would murder me.) ;)

(I toyed with the idea for a while of doing a package of DVD menu presets of this sort for Mirage - basically the user would just need to drop his video clips into the Mirage timeline and enter the text for the chapter buttons. It wouldn't even be necessary to render anything ... but I never got around to it.)