Comments

rdolishny wrote on 5/12/2004, 8:51 PM
Old fashioned cel animation is the only way!

I use Flash for that sort of thing. Start with a fully written out text then animate backwards erasing lines as you go frame to frame until you end up with nothing. Then, play it backwards.

If there is another way I don't know of it. I've done a number of these jobs for clients (and bill well for it) over the years. It's a common thing that I've never seen "automated".

- Rick
Spot|DSE wrote on 5/12/2004, 8:57 PM
On the Sundance site there is a tutorial by Jason Abbot that tells how to do this using either Pixelan or a mask generator.
http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/help/kb
GaryKleiner wrote on 5/12/2004, 10:00 PM
Dr. Dropout had a great demo of this at NAB using keyframing with a dozen or so points on a bezier mask.

Gary
AlistairLock wrote on 5/12/2004, 11:36 PM
Yes, you can do this in Vegas using animated masks to slowly reveal the handwriting as if it is being "written" on the screen.

In fact one of the downloadable demo files that demonstrate the new facilities in Vegas 5 shows how this can be done.
TorS wrote on 5/12/2004, 11:44 PM
Bezier masks I believe is a Vegas 5 thing. If you are on 4, there's still hope.
Write out the line in full (text generator or an imported still). Create a generated mask that covers it. Use keyframes to gradually reveal the words (from left to right, if you're using a Western language).
This is rather coarse, but you can hide some of the inaccuracies with light rays or blur.

Take a look at these wmv examples: Ex 1 Ex 2 (Rightclick, download. They're only about 300 kBytes each.

If you want something more alaborate (labor means WORK, y'know) you can try with 3 masks at different angles (separate tracks), imitating up-strokes and downstrokes etc. Most people who have tried come back next week asking about typewriter effects.
Tor
Grazie wrote on 5/13/2004, 12:17 AM
Torsie! Loved the PEN coming back to almost apologetically putting in the "?" - almost as an after thought . .very humurous! How "effective" some simple, thought-out things can make a BIG difference.

Grazie
TorS wrote on 5/13/2004, 12:44 AM
Indeed! Thanks, Grazie. I think, BTW, that these little snippets were done in Vegas 3 - back in 2002.
Tor
FuTz wrote on 5/13/2004, 5:56 AM
...a FREE solution:
CamStudio records what's on your computer screen. You just open a drawing program then record your writing "live". Saves in AVI.
You then import in Vegas then edit / accelerate or slow down as you wish... (or you write reaaaal slow so you have nice letters then accelerate in Vegas)

Look there:

http://www.brothersoft.com/Multimedia_Graphics_Screen_Capture_CamStudio_3944.html

I did that some time ago and when I look at solutions (even right now) it still seems to be the simplest way to make it without spending days at it...
mjdog wrote on 5/13/2004, 12:52 PM
I found two ways to do it in Flash:

1. http://www.designsequence.net/data/v2/index.php?page=hand

2. this one is probably overkill, but cool........

http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Animation/eScribe_-Bryan_Hu-575/index.php
satish wrote on 5/13/2004, 1:34 PM
Here is a sample http://www.debugmode.com/handwriting.wmv

This can be done using rotoscoping in the upcoming release of Wax 2.0c vegas plugin.
Jsnkc wrote on 5/13/2004, 1:51 PM
"Old fashioned cel animation is the only way! "

Unless you want to do it the easy way. Get yorself a writing tablet, open up Photoshop and either use screen recodring software, or record a LCD monitor with a good camera. Record the screen as you write on the tablet. It works great. You can even write over a green or blue background and then key it out so the background is completely transparent.