OT: Titling options, Bluff, Ulead, etc

djcc wrote on 10/10/2005, 8:24 AM
I would like to dress up my titles a bit. I have seen references to both Bluff Titler, and Ulead Cool 3D. Anyone compare these products to each other, know the relative differences, etc? Any other commentary?

I've read a bit on the vegas forum, but most messages there are by folks who have been using it for quite some time, or are discussing technical issues.

Also - at $50 for either product, the price is a bit steep considering the fact that I am just using VMS for fun & family projects, so I would love to hear about other titling options that might be more "recreationally" priced.

Thanks!

Comments

IanG wrote on 10/10/2005, 3:37 PM
I've tried Ulead Cool 3D and bought BluffTitler. I honestly don't know which is the better product in terms of what it can do, but I found BluffTitler much easier to get started with. There's a 20 minute or so downloadable video to give you a good feel for getting around the program, and about 20 demonstration title sequences that you can play with to see what makes them tick. The Ulead product has a help file which is probably good as an aide memoir, but not much use if you don't know where to start!

The reason I looked at titling apps in the first place was because I wanted to include the text of two poems that were read at my nephew's wedding, and VMS couldn't hack it. I chose BluffTitler just because it was easy to do what I wanted, but I'm glad I did because I've had a lot of fun playing with it and seeing how creative I can be. It's paid for itself in entertainment value already!

They've both got free downloads, so might as well try them and see for yourself.

Ian G.
djcc wrote on 10/10/2005, 6:19 PM
Thanks Ian. Did a bit more looking today, both on this forum, and elsewhere. Reviewed the Bluff demo. Pretty slick, but I cannot help but wonder if it is a matter of "fun to play with" vs. actually useful.

For a few bucks, I would gamble and buy it. At $50, it is a bit steep when I consider that VMS is only a bit more than that!

I'll keep playing with the demo for a bit and see where I end up.

Bluff Titler could desperately use a discussion forum and user contributed examples, but I have not found anything yet.

Any further input to Bluff or Cool 3D is still welcome.
IanG wrote on 10/11/2005, 1:17 AM
>Pretty slick, but I cannot help but wonder if it is a matter of "fun to play with" vs. actually useful.

In my case it was genuinely useful - I couldn't do what I wanted in VMS. You're right though - once you've got the ability to put text on the screen, how much more do you need? I suppose it comes down to the difference between "near enough" and "just right". If you just want to get a few clips onto DVD for convenience of viewing then it's probably not worth it. On the other hand, if you've spent hours working on a once in a lifetime event, it seems a shame to spoil it for want of a few $$.

Ian G.
djcc wrote on 10/11/2005, 8:10 AM
I would have a difficult time arguing with $50 for a project described as a "once in a lifetime event" as well.

Were you able to find any additional sources of examples, discussion forums, or anything else?
IanG wrote on 10/11/2005, 3:18 PM
I've looked, but I haven't found anything. I contacted the author with a couple of questions though, and he seemed happy to have a discussion via e-mail. There's a mailing list too, but I haven't had any mail yet!

By complete coincidence, a couple of hours ago my son asked me if he could use BluffTitler animations for his school work. That's priceless!!

Ian G.
djcc wrote on 10/11/2005, 5:00 PM
I sent the author an email - will see what response I get.

Having your son ask to use it for school work further justifies your expense no doubt.

The package seems quite powerful, albeit in a very narrow utility perspective, but I would think there would be a forum, or other user support for it. Have tripped across a few links on the Vegas forum for it which have been helpful.
jtfrazer wrote on 10/11/2005, 6:38 PM
Hi,

I read this thread last night and it piqued my interest. I checked out their web site and the examples and decided to spring for it. I want to use it for both VMS and for ProShow work. I found it pretty easy to learn. There's a 20 minute video with it that I found useful and a number of examples.

Jim
djcc wrote on 10/11/2005, 7:57 PM
Keep us posted with your experiences Jim. I am merely a hobbyist, and have nothing coming up for a bit, so I am not all that motivated to spend the 50 bucks. Doesn't help that I am remodeling my bathroom and need every spare dollar I can find either! :o)

It is a really fun program to play with from what I have seen in the evaluation version.

Again, keep us posted with your insights and experiences.
IanG wrote on 10/12/2005, 1:34 AM
>The package seems quite powerful, albeit in a very narrow utility perspective

There are few things you can do beyond just titling. For instance, you could use the morphing feature to produce 3D transitions, or the multiple layers would let you do some nice collages with stills and video.

I know what you mean about the bathroom though - I need to replace my shower :-(

Ian G.
djcc wrote on 10/12/2005, 7:54 AM
It is funny that you mention layers and other things - I was beginning to wonder what sort of other things I could do to justify the purchase. The bluff homepage examples really do not show anything other than titles, and yet there would seem to be some other possibilities. I get the feeling this application has some real power behind it if I can find the time to explore it further. You know of any online examples featuring useage other than simple titles?

My bathroom remodel started with a need to replace the shower too. Ultimately tore the entire room down to studs and am building it back up from there.
kcrosley wrote on 10/12/2005, 5:03 PM
You might want to check out my examples and video tutorial online here:

http://www.mediablitzed.com/

These are slightly more "fancy" titles than the examples shown on the main BluffTitler site (http://www.blufftitler.us).

Best Regards,
Keith
djcc wrote on 10/12/2005, 5:14 PM
Great stuff Keith. Would love to see the actual BT file for a few of those!!!
Lawrence wrote on 10/13/2005, 8:44 AM
Check out HeroGlyph Rapid which is a plug-in direct into Vegas MovieStudio.
A cool animated titling and trailer and route effects software. A icon will
show up at the Media Generator.

More detail at http://www.heroglyph.com/gb/static/s-inframe-heroglyph-rapid.html
djcc wrote on 10/14/2005, 7:54 PM
I've seen HeroGlyph before - slightly different price point.

One thing that irritated me today while further exploring BluffTitler was the inability to save in the demo version. I had to exit the program to run some other things on my computer, but could not save what I was working on. I do not recall this limitation being mentioned for the demo version.
jtfrazer wrote on 10/15/2005, 10:45 AM
Hi,

I've made a couple of simple titles with BluffTitler since purchasing it and they worked out pretty well. It takes some getting used to but I think it's worth the price so far.

Jim
djcc wrote on 10/15/2005, 5:27 PM
Have you successfully created one with a transparent background? I saved a sample as uncompressed AVI w/alpha & got a solid black background. Perhaps I just missed something simple.
djcc wrote on 10/16/2005, 10:50 AM
I found it. When I initially looked at the video event property box, I failed to check the "media properties" button. Sure enough, it has the ability to select the alpha channel, and as suggested in the Vegas forum, I chose "premultiplied dirty" and it worked fine. Seems a bit better than using chroma key to remove the background.
ChristerTX wrote on 10/16/2005, 12:04 PM
Not so familiar with titling programs.
Are the basics that you create an AVI that you simply put on the video track in Vegas?
I would assume that you would always have some transparency on that AVI?
jtfrazer wrote on 10/16/2005, 4:04 PM
The output from Bluff Titler can be various types of AVI files, a still picture or individual frames of the animation. I use a non-interlaced AVI file. You can choose whether you want transparency on the background or not when you make the AVI.

Jim
IanG wrote on 10/17/2005, 2:44 AM
>I would assume that you would always have some transparency on that AVI?

Probably not - you can do a lot more than just overlay text on your video. Even if that's all you want to do, it's probably easier to work with the video in the titling app rather than overlay it in VMS - that way you can see what the title sequence looks like as you're working on it.

Ian G.