Grock - This is a very interesting subject you've touched on.

When you say more professional looking - YOU know what that means - yeah? You say that you feel that at present your Titles appear "Home Grown" - my words. Before you go off and trawl through masses of fonts and type faces do some "other" things first

1 - Look at pro work & Analyse what you think is "good" about them.

2 - Reeeaallly analyse newspapers and magazines - lots of source material there

3 - Get a book out from your local library on media and type face

4 - Once you've analysed what you think is working for others - try it out for yourself - try and repeat/recreate it within Vegas

5 - Don't forget you aint happy with what you are doing - THIS IS THE BAIN OF ALL ARTISTS and this is exactly what keeps us going - and herin lies your answers - yeah?

6 - Don't think that more fonts make for "sweeter" graphics - IT WON'T! - See and look with your eyes at what others have done. I'll betcha y'll see your own fonts there up on the screen or in the magazine!

*** * * * * * * *

You're on the road - have fun and learn from others - this is how it's been done for centuries.

Listen GRock - if you've taken a graphics course, and you knew all this anyway - major apologies and respect! But, if you believe that more fonts make for a more pro look 'n feel - IMHO - it won't and you'll get even more frustrated with "too-much" to choose from.

Have fun too!

Grazie

Something worth looking into is Pixelan's SpiceMaster 2. Gives you a whole new world of transition effects AND can be aplied to filters or even to create effects in themselves...There is an option to work with titles which gives nice bevel effect (with glow and shadow if needed) which recreates a 3d (no movement though) sort of title...Every time I play around with this little gem I find out something new I can do! Really cool little pluggin for vegas (bit pricey mind you...)

One thing I found out is that you can apply textures (hundreds of them) to video...I almost by accident created an effect whereby an xmas tree seemed to be under water..!!!

Anyway, did I say I love this pluggin?

regards,

Paul.

I've noticed a lot of threads pertaining to credit rolls and titles as of late. I thought I would interject one simple tip that helps. Add a drop shadow to your titles and credits using the track motion menu. If you add a very tasteful drop shadow, Vegas titling is really quite useful.

JAB

Jab (or SonicDennis):

Can you expand a bit on how to "Add a drop shadow to your titles and credits using the track motion menu"?

I've been trying to figure this out. SonicDennis mentioned this on a thread a few days ago, and I know how to use track motion to place a shadow or glow around the rectangular frame, but I'm struggling with how to add it to the text *within* that rectangular frame. As detailed as you would care to explain, would be appreciated.

Frenchy

Yeah....I'm diggin that!! Cause, I'm thinking - what are you suppose to do with your tree after December 27th??? Put it under warter...of course!

:-)

One good way to add drop shadow to title and use track motion is to use two event lines of text....lay one on top of the other. Off set the second one to be a shadow of the first - then use the Track Motion to move the text (set both tracks with the same motion) - and you should be good to go.

Here is a "test" veg if you want to see what I mean:

Text Scroll Test

K - Neat! - Need to have a "background" to show-off the dark blue . . . But, "That's the way top do it!!"

Grazie

Now that I'm getting more involved in Vegas, I find myself studying feature film title cards and credit crawls. My observation is that most professional feature films do subtle and interesting things with the cards. Sometimes it's location, often it's how the title appears on screen, or how it leaves. My friend Farah and I are working on a little project that is a suspense piece, so we wanted titles to match. I posted a VEG on the Sundance site called "Moody Titles" that is what we're using.

For our 24-Hour video race entry (this past weekend), we had two-line cards inserted between sections of clips (our project is a trailer for a ficticious film). For example:

What if to get just one thing ...
You had to give up everything?

What we did was simple, yet [we feel] effective. We faded in the first line, then faded in the second (each line was on a separate track). When the second was fully in we faded out the first, then faded out the second. It gives a simple sense of motion to the card.

Next time you pop in a tape or DVD focus on the title cards -- you'll be amazed that the fonts are usually simple (no wacky 3D stuff), but there is some kind of "motion" to their entry, exit, or position.

-- Jon McPhalen
-- Dallas, TX

"I've noticed a lot of threads pertaining to credit rolls and titles as of late. I thought I would interject one simple tip that helps. Add a drop shadow to your titles and credits using the track motion menu. "

FWIW... Actually pretty much a *Have To* in a lot of cases if your rendered proj is going to be viewed by interlaced TV.

"you'll be amazed that the fonts are usually simple (no wacky 3D stuff),"

IMO partly because of what is possible on a TV screen, partly legacy from older equipment/generators... Anyway, don't let that scare you from trying stuff, including making your own fonts.

RE: fades... some folks think they get more of a film look with fades in general by fading white out and black in - just something to watch for if you want...

kameronji:

Thanks - that's the effect I was looking for, except I want to apply it to the credit roll text generator (since the static text has drop shadow and outline fx) - easy enough to apply the slight offset to the credit roll which is what I was just having a hard time with - your veggie made it clear

Grazie & JohnnyMac:

I hear you - I've been watching credits on commercial flicks ever more closely of late, and your right - there really isn't anything too fancy (or difficult to do in Vegas), just complimentary colors and tasteful, simple movement makes it happen.

Frenchy