Kkolbo,

I'm sorry for my wrong choice of wordding. I'm pretty new in video editting, so I don't have much experience in other softwares like Boris, or AE. I've been using HollywoodFX for awhile; and to my limited knowledge, it's the easiest one to use, plus there are 300+ pre-made effects also. I just thought that I would like to see more 3D effects in VV, that's all! :) So please excuse me if I did say something wrong in this forum.

D.N.

The Vegas SDK is a slight extension of the DirectX plugin/transition API/SDK. I dont want to get into an argument here, but i found it limited when compared to other host SDKs i have worked with, in particular Premiere and AfterEffects.

I'll say it again... Vegas Video hasn't got to critical mass yet as far as getting the attention of plug-in makers. Why there is only one third party plug-in for VV has little to do with how easy or hard it would be to write and everything to do with if or not any company expending the money to write them would get a decent return on their investment. My guess is not yet because in part Vegas Video while a excellent product isn't that well known... nor have the boxes flying off the shelves, yet. Every review I've seen has been very good, so time will tell.

Actually, Hollywood FX is one of the things I miss the most when using Vegas. It's a pain to have to export clips, use Hollywood FX and then import them back into VV3. A plugin would sure be nice. We should all email the HFX guys and let them know we're a growing community that would like a plugin. It can't hurt.

~jr

I think we're missing the point. Hollywood FX is owned by Pinnacle. They will not make a plug-in for a competing NLE. That's Business 101.
They want you to buy Edition, not Vegas.

I think that the impact of transitions, like most things artistic, is in inverse proportion to the amount they are used. See how often pros use them: hardly ever. Most of the time they make do with a straight jump cut. Your audience has subconsciously learned a 'video language' from years of Hollywood. Just as when you see a big close-up now, you immediately know someone's face is going to come looming out of the background and go Boo!, so you expect the progression of the movie to follow the classic establishing, medium close-up, close-up sequence. And you don't expect it to whirl, twirl and pirouette along the way <g>
What I miss most is a fancy titling system, rather like TitleDeko. The stuff that's available in Vegas is a bit pedestrian - just about its only mediocrity, probably.

-Pete

Peter,

I couldn't agree more. I started doing NLE with the bundled versions of HFX and Pinnacle software, and while the HFX stuff is "cool", I very rarely used them in any projects, and then only sparingly. They just don't feel "professional".

Vegas has a nice selection of 3D transitions and other nifty effects that you can download as a demo version (they put a watermark over the transition) and then purchase if you like. I did the download, and the transitions and effects are great, but as before, I haven't actually used them in a project yet (If I ever do, then I'll buy them).

I'd much rather see efforts placed elsewhere when it comes to folks developing plugins for Vegas.

I think bcbarnes hit it on the head. Hollywood FX are wow and gee, and put it away.

TitleDeko, on the other hand, is VERY nice. It, too, can be overdone, but, like the person said, titles in VV are its only really pedestrian area. That is not to say you can't do a lot with lots of practice and experience and all you guys on the net telling us how to do something in less than 4 hours, but it would be nice if it were easier and faster. It is an area I hope is addressed in great detail in VV4.

Of course, any TitleDeko title can be imported into Vegas as a tga file. I do it all the time. I noticed the TD in Premiere allows a title to be save as a tga file, but not the TD that comes with Pinnacle Studio.

DGates,

First, I don't think I miss the point when expecting HollywoodFX to support VV. I know it's owned by Pinnacle, but HollywoodFX DOES support Premier, Avid, and Edition also. It's sold as a separate software.

Secondly, when you create photo album style video, it's just so boring seeing crossfade, pageturn, wipe, zoom, and other 2D transition effects. If nobody likes HollywoodFX, then I just assume Pinnacle would stop its budget for programmers to develop HollywoodFX already, wouldn't it?

Everything has its own prices and uses for someone. It doesn't matter whether you're professional or amature, if it fits into your creative imagination, you should use it!

D.N.

Importing Targa files for a stand alone TitleDeko missing the point. VV would be better if it had MORE.

Invisible,
I agree with you, especially when it comes to Photoalbum/slideshow stuff. The 3-d Transitions are a nice added touch. Their latest update added a lot of theme-driven transitions. (ie Weddings).

Just to clarify, HollywoodFX, like most of Pinnacle's sofware, was an aquisition from the company who first designed and released it. This is why, when HFX was first released, it worked as a plugin with Premiere and Ulead Media Studio Pro.

As far as Premiere goes, Pinnacle needed Premiere to offer with their mid-range Capture/editing boards, since they did not have such a program. So, of course the next logical step has already taken place. Pinnacle Aquired FAST STUDIO, and Edition is the first product of that aquisition. Edition has already been positioned to replace Premiere.

I think the better suggestion was RED & other Boris Effects. I looked at their quicktime gallery, and WOW, impressive. Though it doesn't seem very easy to use.

Jeffy82@aol.com

Hmmm...
I think I'd rather reserve creativity to tasks like filming and editing.
Time is always the enemy and I really don't want to waste it on improving a tool, for that's what a titler is. I think that the artistic part of titling is making sure that the end result doesn't look like a dog's breakfast, with dozens of fonts and styles. I'm not sure that spending all day in Photoshop nudging layers around and applying graduated filters is my job; that's the job of the toolmaker - the titler designer.
All I want is something that provides all those clever things out of the box. I mean, you can create a web page with Notepad that is indistinguishable from one created in DreamWeaver, but which got the job done first?

-Pete

Gary

Here's a little challenge. I don't know if you have TitleDeko, as supplied in the Pinnacle applications, but if you do, have a look at one of the templates supplied. This thing says 'Happy Hols' or something equally fatuous, and it uses a font called HelterSkelter. The font is rendered in 3D and the font face, which is green, is a graduated colour rather than a solid patch of green. The overall effect is very good and entirely in keeping with the sort of movie for which it is intended. It takes a matter of seconds to create this effect - and many more beside.
Let me know how to do that in Vegas, preferably while taking less time than it would take for Hell to freeze over <g> When you do I'll willing concede that Vegas had hidden depths.

I agree with you that titling forms part of the editing process. But, only in the sense I described earlier. I still stick to my opinion that I should not have to turn somersaults to get the pizazz; it should be there for me to drag and drop.

-Pete

I'll second that.

hmmm. I do similar font looks and many other things in a cheap program called RealDraw. Output the .png an BOOM it is in VV. RealDraw can do so much more than Deko because it can make any vector shape blah, blah, blah.

We hear this discussion over and over. Vegas is a solid and feature rich NLE and a moderate compositing tool. It has solid multitrack audio tools. Their focus on these things which are not so easy to just pop into VV like a .png has been a good stratagy. Spending their time with a developing a Title Decko capability when it is as fast to pop out to a good graphics package would cost us development in areas that we need. That said, third parties, like Satish and GG, are working on plug-ins for those who desire them. I am glad GG with his experience and judgement is providing counsel and judgement on what is being developed by Satish. I know that he will keep it focused on the things that are truely best done within Vegas. More than elementary titling is not one of those. BTW, VV's titling is far from elementary. It wasn't that long ago I would have died for what VV has in an expensive Chyron.

Invisable,

You did not say anything wrong. I just meant that the key here is to let the plug-in developers know that there is a strong and committed user base for Vegas and that they should develop their products to support Vegas. Some will and some won't, but having SoFo cludge together a wrapper or some form of interface to figure out how to deal with all of the plug-in types out there is just not the best way to do it. Having a plug-in support Vegas is a much better performing product.

K

Darts and arrows may now be pointed this way.

GG:
The effects you are speaking of are great. I have found some of them in
an old Asymetrix program called Web3DFX which has several of these animations
in a catalog which can be modified for different paths and spins. They are
in a catalog and you just select them, change color, change text, change
lighting, change paths, add sound, add background scenes just by picking them
from a catalog. This program is no longer supported by Asymetrix. I don't know
if this would help to develope new pluggins but I assume you are aware of
this program. Keep up the good work.

James J. Kizak