Boris Graffiti for Vegas

Paul Fierlinger wrote on 5/6/2007, 1:30 PM

Does anyone here use Boris Graffiti with the plugin for Vegas? It looks like a very powerful titler and well integrated with the Vegas GUI, from the looks of the 2 demos online. I'm thinking of buying it but would like to hear first from someone who has had experience with it to find out if it is as good as it looks.

Paul

Back to post

Comments

Paul Fierlinger wrote on 5/14/2007, 2:33 AM

Well, I said Peter (Tech Diver) taught me everything I needed and wanted to know, by which I meant not everything there is to be known and can be done. Peter wrote very clear and precise answers to my questions so I think he is the best one here to teach BG.

I never have any needs for 3D FX; my world is flat, but I have seen these things done with Boris, perhaps Red, not Graffiti, although Boris Grafitti has presets which swirl 3D letters and has a very good keyframer, but I never explored the 3D limits of the software.

Here is an example of what Peter wrote me (I copy with his permission):

Yes, you can do all those things that you mentioned. When the Video Event FX dialog box appears, click on the colored Graffiti icon and enter the Graffiti application. Observe the menu bar with the text : "File Edit Composition Window Help" (at least this is how it looks in Boris Red"). Look under "Window" and you should find a choice called "Text window". Click on that. There should also be some shortcut buttons in the window toward the bottom of your screen with an icon containing the letter T.

and here is another:

To this I would only add that after you drag the BG Default icon over your newly created empty event, you might not see all the windows you need opened to get started (how's that for a Default Preset?) Open the Window tab in the Timeline window (panel) and click on Control Window, Composite Window,and Text Window. If your monitor is large enough to handle comfortably more windows, I suggest you also open Show Style Palette and Library Browser.
Now follow Peter's instructions above.

Paul Fierlinger wrote on 5/14/2007, 3:40 AM

Sorry folks, I just noticed I pasted one letter twice. Here's what should have been pasted first:

There are two places where the Boris plugin appears in Vegas: under the "Video FX" tab and under the "Media Generators" tab. In the former, there is only one preset called "Default", while in latter you will see presets something like "Default, Blood Cloth, Lower Thirds Forecast, Lower Thirds Simple, etc.". It is these last presets that are known as Static Generators that make it easy to work with Boris, because you merely drag these onto the timeline as you would with any native Vegas text preset.

Dreamline wrote on 5/14/2007, 11:43 AM

Paul that is odd because in the tutorials at the Boris site they show that in the Video FXs has 6 presets ranging from default, alpha default, alpha default BG, lower 3rd center, etc.

I have Boris FX and I am using the demo of Graffiti, but I always felt that Boris was lacking in quality control especially when it comes to the presets. Some of their presets are broken with empty categories and are configured incorrectly. And some of their categories are missing.

Paul Fierlinger wrote on 5/14/2007, 12:35 PM

Might it not be that that the demo version has certain steps missing on purpose? I never used the demo in Vegas (only as a standalone) and by buying the Graffiti/Vegas plugin I got the Graffiti 5 upgrade. Those several presets you mention had me confused as well, because they are demonstrated on their website with BG 3, but do not exist anymore in BG 5 -- just the Default one.

One thing I forgot to mention is that at the very first one has to configure the BG preferences to one's projects aspect ratio and select the correct Alpha definition. Then it's best to create a BG layout in the standalone version (using Snap All Home in the Window tab) and lastly, in the Library Browser click on the window that says C:\Program Files\Boris FX etc. after which you click on the little blue button above it to generate all FX.

Now when you open BG in Vegas the GUI will be exactly the same as you had set it up in standalone function and you are ready to work.

Dreamline wrote on 5/14/2007, 1:17 PM

The demo version is the full version fully functional for 15 days. I have had Boris FX 8 for 2 years and it has the preset problems and poor vegas intergration. I noticed that Graffiti has the same problems. Some of the presets and generators are seriously outdated. The star and cloud generator come immediately to mind. It is still a powerful tool. Thanks for the tips on using it.

Paul Fierlinger wrote on 5/14/2007, 2:46 PM

As Peter said earlier, he never thought much of those presets either and once you grasp the making of a simple static title, the rest of the manual is easy to follow to make your own.