Instant Boris Effects Chris Vadnais
San Francisco, CA
Published by CMP Books an imprint of CMP Media LLC 600 Harrison Street, 6th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107 USA Tel: 415-947-6615; Fax: 415-947-6015 www.cmpbooks.com email:
[email protected] Vegas® is a registered trademark of Sony Pictures Digital Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. In all instances where CMP is aware of a trademark claim, the product name appears in initial capital letters, in all capital letters, or in accordance with the vendor’s capitalization preference. Readers should contact the appropriate companies for more complete information on trademarks and trademark registrations. All trademarks and registered trademarks in this book are the property of their respective holders. Copyright © 2004 CMP Media LLC. Published by CMP Books, CMP Media LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher; with the exception that the program listings may be entered, stored, and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication. The programs in this book are presented for instructional value. The programs have been carefully tested, but are not guaranteed for any particular purpose. The publisher does not offer any warranties and does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information herein and is not responsible for any errors or omissions. The publisher assumes no liability for damages resulting from the use of the information in this book or for any infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties that would result from the use of this information. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vadnais, Chris. Instant Boris effects / Chris Vadnais. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-57820-262-0 (alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures—Editing—Data processing. 2. Video tapes—Editing—Data processing. 3. Digital video—Editing—Data processing. 4. Boris FX (Firm) I. Title: Instant Boris FX. II. Title. TR899.V33 2004 778.5´235´0285—dc22 2004020093 Distributed in the U.S. by: Distributed in Canada by: Publishers Group West Jaguar Book Group 1700 Fourth Street 100 Armstrong Avenue Berkeley, CA 94710 Georgetown, Ontario M6K 3E7 Canada 1-800-788-3123 905-877-4483 For individual orders and for information on special discounts for quantity orders, please contact: CMP Books Distribution Center, 6600 Silacci Way, Gilroy, CA 95020 email:
[email protected]; Web: www.cmpbooks.com
ISBN: 1-57820-262-0
Dedication This book is dedicated to Zade. Never forget that you can do anything that you put your mind to. One day soon I want to be reading your books, watching your TV show, or enjoying whatever you decide to do.
—Dad
3TOCKTON 54
v
Contents Editor’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
3
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
4
Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 OpenGL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Using OpenGL Interactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
SECTION 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1
5
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6
About this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
More Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The Controls Window . . Interpolations . . . . . . . . The Composite Window Open GL Interactors . . . Timeline Window . . . . . Keeping Time . . . . . . . . Media Tracks . . . . . . . . . Project Window . . . . . . .
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11 17 22 27 28 30 30 33
Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 EPS Files . . . . . . . . . . Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pen and Pencil Tools . Masks . . . . . . . . . . . . Text Effects . . . . . . . .
About the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2
Effects Library Browser . . . . . . . . . . 55
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63 65 66 67 68
Masks & Keying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Keying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
8
3D Containers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Title Containers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Multiple Text Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Converting to a Container . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
vi
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Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Applying Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Color and Blur Filters . . . . . . . . . . Distortion and Perspective Filters Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keys and Matte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Motion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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90 91 92 93 94 95 95 96 96
10 Intelligent Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 11 Pixel Chooser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
SECTION 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
109
15 Animating Still Photos . . . . . . . . . . 133 Simple Pan & Scan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Advanced Depth of Field Tricks . . . . . . . . . 139
16 Animating Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Text to Path. . Type on Text . Generator . . . Write On Text
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144 148 149 150
17 Avid Xpress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Title-Matte Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Saving Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
18 Boris and Vegas® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 19 After Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
12 Extruding Bitmap Images . . . . . . . . 111
Applying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Help from Adobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Drawing Splines with Boris. . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
20 Standalone Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
13 Mapping Textures to Extrusions . . 121
Keyframer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
14 Rotoscoping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
21 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
vii
Editor’s Note The name alone should be enough to make
I’m still primarily an editor, but as in A Clock-
anyone want to try this software. I know that did
work Orange, I’m an editor-plus, thanks to Boris.
the trick for me. That and the fact that it came
Being an editor today means being able to a lot
bundled free with our new Avid Xpress some-
of things that used to be somebody else’s job…
where back around the turn of the century.
effects, color correction, compositing, titles. You
Before opening Boris, I’d thought of myself only as an editor. I wasn’t even familiar with the term “motion graphics artist,” and if I had, it would have just conjured up nightmares of multiple
name it—the client expects it in one-stop shopping. And the way Boris products work as plugins to the major editing applications, the workflow is seamless.
effect bank switchers and a four-channel Abekas
For the motion graphics novice, I believe Boris
digital video effects black box that few really
is the easiest of the desktop software to get up
knew how to fly.
and running with quickly. It’s what the geeks call
viii
“intuitive.” For those with more experience, you’ll
The U.S. military has its own broadcast produc-
be asking yourself time and again why the other
ers, in uniform, all over the world, and Chris is
guys didn’t think to do a particular process the
one of the most talented. In fact, he recently won
way Boris does it. For some reason, it all just
a Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest honor in
seems easier in Boris.
military journalism, for his documentary work
And let’s not forget the real reason most of us are in love with Boris…the ball and the wall. I can’t tell you the number of times my son Austin has come up to me at the computer and said, “You’re still working on that?” He’s ten, and he thinks I’ve been working on the same project for half his life! By picking up this book, you’ve demonstrated that you like to try new things and learn, precisely the qualities I’ve always appreciated in your author, Chris Vadnais. A man of many titles, Chris is an accomplished video and music pro-
covering our troops in Iraq. That show and all the work done by our Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Marine broadcasters can be seen around the world on the American Forces Network and in the States on the Pentagon Channel. Find out more about what we do at www.myafn.net. So, get on with it. You’ve picked a great piece of software and a great book to get started learning about it with. But I’ve learned that it’s one thing to play around with the software, and another thing to really make something with it. Good luck to you.
ducer, host of the Boris FX Forum on the Digital Media Net web site, and a career Non-Commissioned Officer in the United States Air Force.
David Scott Howe Senior Producer The Pentagon Channel
ix
Foreword Many people deserve to be mentioned on these
plantis: thanks for keeping me laughing. And of
pages. This project took me away from a lot of
course the people at CMP books: Paul, Dorothy,
my normal activities. Special thanks to any and
and Gail: thanks for the support and guidance.
all of my coworkers who picked up my slack when I took time off to write.
As of this writing, I have worked for the Air Force Broadcasting Service as a radio and television
Of course my family deserves a wealth of recog-
broadcast journalist for seven years. During that
nition. Without my wife Amy and my son Zade I
time I have met some very interesting people, to
would be a mess. Everyone who knows me knows
say the least. I’ve met people from all over the
that you guys are my best friends; thanks for
world, people with all kinds of different beliefs
being with me—in both my successes and my
and values. So far it’s been a fantastic ride, full
failures. Some of my other friends deserve men-
of adventure, learning, long days, short-notice
tion as well: Jerry Shields: thanks for listening to
shoots, and of course the occasional dreaded
me complain and keeping me motivated when I
customer who “took a film class in college” (usu-
feel like quitting. Kevin Dennison and Tracy Du-
ally a young commissioned officer, in my case).
x
Some of the people I’ve met along my journey
grams I now spend so much time working with.
have had lasting impressions on me, and I’d like
Thanks for taking the time to teach me, Scott.
to thank some of them for helping to shape me into what I am today. My first supervisor in this line of work, a veteran broadcaster named Harry Lockley, taught me more about broadcast journalism in the one year we worked together than I learned in the two years following his departure. Thanks for taking the time to teach me, Harry. Later in my career another seasoned broadcaster named Bill Hickman began to show me amazing things in the world of radio broadcasting. He helped me build a radio show that made a lasting impression on my military audience. Thanks for taking the time to teach me, Bill. Finally, this book’s technical editor, David Scott Howe, is the man who introduced me to the world of motion
I wanted to write this book partly to try to follow in the footsteps of great leaders like Harry, Bill, and Scott. These are guys who took time to teach me, not because they had to, but because they love the job so much that they wanted me to love it too. I hope you can learn some things from this book that will help you improve your craft. I realize that you bought this book not because you had to, but because you care about doing the best you can with the tools you’re given. I thank you for picking this book up. I certainly hope it gets you going in the right direction. Best of luck,
effects. He showed me how to get around in the forums I now host, and taught me to use the pro-
Chris Vadnais
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Section 1
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
3
Chapter 1
Introduction About the Software Boris FX, Inc., makes a line of titling,
With Red you can create amazing titles, motion effects, and composites with one application.
compositing, and effects software that rivals
The applications work as plug-ins to more than
just about anything on the planet. Boris Graffiti
20 nonlinear editors and effects programs, in-
is a powerful vector-titling application that
cluding Final Cut Pro, Avid systems, Adobe After
allows users to create static and animated vector
Effects, and Sony Vegas. In addition, you can use
titles, title backdrops, and even lower thirds
the programs as standalone engines, importing
for fantastic broadcast-quality titling. Boris FX
media into them directly and rendering directly
is a compositing and effects program featuring
out to disk. Each application also has a key-
numerous filters and hundreds of presets
framer program that allows you to create effects
for creating slick composites and awesome
offline, save your project settings, and import
motion effects. Boris Red, the flagship program,
them to your online machine.
combines the two, adding even more filters.
4 Chapter 1
About this Book
More Help
This book assumes you have some basic
In addition to this book, you can find help at
computer operating system knowledge, whether
www.borisfx.com. All Boris software comes with
in a Macintosh or Windows format, and that you
unlimited technical support by phone or email—
have a basic understanding of video editing.
something nearly unheard of these days! You can
While it does not assume you have a lot of
email tech support with questions about your
motion effects knowledge, some more advanced
software anytime. Direct technical questions to
sections may require more than a basic
the support staff at
[email protected]. There
knowledge. The goal of this book is to present a
are also tutorials, user forums, and even the
clear idea of how Boris Red, FX, and Graffiti work
occasional free filter on the Boris site.
and to provide a foundation on which you can build by experimenting.
Elsewhere on the Internet, user forums related to Boris software are buzzing more than ever.
Section 1 outlines the basics of the Boris user
Two of the bigger and better sites (More people
interface. This is very similar for the Red, FX,
means a quicker answer to your questions!) are:
and Graffiti applications. The programs are all
•
www.dmnforums.com: Digital Media Net
controlled in much the same way. Please take the
(formerly the World Wide Users Group)
time to go through this section at least briefly; it
is a hub of more than 40 sites related to
covers a lot of important information to prepare
digital media content. The sites offer news,
you for the second section. After a brief run-
reviews, tutorials, features, and, of course,
through, you can use section 1 for reference
user forums. Content is updated incredibly
when you forget what a setting does or where to
frequently. The author of this book currently
find it.
hosts the Boris FX forum at DMN.
Section 2 gets a bit more specific and outlines
•
www.creativecow.net: Creative Cow
step-by-step procedures for creating effects. You
caters to digital video and dynamic media
should be able to follow along rather easily us-
professionals with forums hosted by
ing your own still images and media clips. After
professionals in the industry. The Cow is a
you go through the lessons, you can use some
great place to get help.
of the ideas and tips you’ve learned in your own projects, perhaps referring to the material in the book when necessary.
Introduction
There are currently also two sets of training
this book—to help you through just about any
DVDs available for Boris applications:
difficulty.
•
The first is a three-disc set produced by Class
So without any further ado, let’s get into the
on Demand (www.classondemand.net) and
meat of this book: section 1, the basics of the
hosted by the author of this book. This set
user interface. You’ll also learn how to set the
includes two DVDs and one data disc which
program up to suit your needs in the Preferences
contains media for you to follow along with.
settings and the basics of keyframing. Again,
The second is a single DVD produced by
reading section 1 will definitely pay off. The
Boris FX.
more familiar you become with the interface, the
•
Both offer comprehensive, step-by-step tutorials that apply to Graffiti, FX, and Red.
more you’ll be able to experiment and troubleshoot when it comes to experimenting with your own effects. We’ll take a look at the interface,
A few years ago there was a lack of training ma-
preferences, and a bit more before getting into
terial for these programs. Today you can select
section 2, where we’ll begin to put it all together
basic to intermediate level DVD training as well
to create some effects.
as numerous user online forums—not to mention
5
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
7
Chapter 2
User Interface The user interfaces for Boris Graffiti, FX, and Red
them all; I’m doing this so you see that you have
are all very similar. In this chapter we’ll explore
the option of selecting the way to operate the
the main windows you’ll work with in Boris RED,
controls that’s best for you. I think you’ll find
but most of the information also applies to FX
these redundancies are one of the things that
and Graffiti. This is very basic information, but it
sets Boris applications ahead of other effects
will be a foundation on which we build through-
programs.
out this book, so it’s important you understand the user interface and how to manipulate the controls and settings in it.
There are three ways you can use Boris software. The first is as a plug-in. Boris products plug in to more than 20 nonlinear editors, including Avid
As a general rule, there is more than one way
products, Media 100, and Sony Vegas. The second
to make any given adjustment within the Boris
way to use Boris applications is as a standalone
interface. I will be showing you two or sometimes
engine. Finally, for offline work you can use the
three ways to adjust the same setting. I’m not
keyframer application.
doing this expecting that you’ll try to remember
8 Chapter 2
In the plug-in method, you apply the Boris effect
The Boris interface looks the same no matter how
to a video track through the host software (the
you open it. Four windows open by default—the
nonlinear editor or NLE), and the host then sends
Controls, Composite, Project, and Timeline win-
its video sources to the Red interface. The famil-
dows. You can size and arrange these windows
iar Boris interface then opens, allowing you to
any way you like, even across more than one
adjust your effect. You create the effect and close
monitor.
the Boris interface. Then your NLE reflects the changes in its own interface.
The software remembers how you had the windows arranged before you last closed it and
The second way you can use Boris software is as
will reopen the windows in the same arrange-
a standalone engine. You can run the Boris inter-
ment. This includes leaving closed any windows
face as its own program without any NLE feeding
you decided not to use in your last project.
it video. With this method you manually assign
If you change arrangements often, you may
media sources (video clips, still photos, etc.) to
want to save a custom workspace by choosing
the tracks in Boris and render the effect to your
Window>Workspace>Save. Then you can recall a
hard drive as a new media clip. You can then
workspace by selecting Window>Workspace. You
import this effect clip into your NLE.
can switch between workspace settings as much
Finally, you can use the keyframer application
as you like on a project.
included with the software. The keyframer is a
If you like the default settings, you can take ad-
freely distributed, lightweight, standalone appli-
vantage of a great shortcut command to autoar-
cation that allows you to create effects and save
range the windows. If you move or size one or
them to disc. You cannot render video from the
more windows, hold Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (Win) and
keyframer application. Instead, you can use it on
press the semicolon ( ; ) to snap the windows
any number of computers where the full program
back to their default positions.
may not be installed to create effects offline, save them, and bring them into the online system.
User Interface
9
10 Chapter 2
Cmd (Ctrl) ; snaps the windows back to their default locations.
User Interface
The Controls Window The Controls window shows up in the upper left corner of the screen by default. This is one of the places Boris allows you to modify an effect parameter. The options that appear in this window vary depending on the type of track selected in the Timeline window. If no track is selected in the Timeline window, you’ll see only the Boris product logo in the Controls window. When a track is selected, you’ll see a number of adjustable values. Values for some parameters are visible in a white box next to a sliding scale. Resting your mouse on the white box will show you the range of values acceptable for that parameter. There are three ways to adjust values. The first is to click and drag from side to side inside the window. The value changes as you drag. Alternatively, you can pull the slider from left to right to change the value for that parameter. Finally, you can click inside the value box to type in a specific desired value.
11
12 Chapter 2
By default, when a track is selected you’ll see sliders for the X, Y, and Z values— or left to right, top to bottom, and depth values, respectively—followed by Trails, Opacity, and Scale X and Y. Under the set of sliders there are three adjustable dials. These control three rotating parameters— one for controlling the amount the image will rotate on each of the X, Y, and Z axes. As you click and drag, rotating the dial, the lower window registers a value corresponding to the number of degrees in the rotation. After 359 degrees, the dial goes back to zero and the Rotations box registers a 1, designating one full turn. These values indicate rotations on the axis of the value stated— so Tumble X will rotate on the X (horizontal) axis, spinning top over bottom or bottom over top. Spin Y rotates on the Y (vertical) axis, left over right or right over left. Rotate Z rotates on the Z (depth) axis, spinning the media around. Rotation Order specifies which parameter takes precedence in an effect with more than one rotation. We’ll explore Rotation Order a bit more in the section about OpenGL.
User Interface
13
Some parameters, like the Scale X and Y values, can be locked together for your convenience. If you want to scale an image while preserving its aspect ratio, or if you’d like to crop an image equally on both sides while making only one adjustment, you should use the lock feature for these parameters. Clicking the small lock to the left of the value will toggle the lock icon open and closed. The closed locked icon indicates locked or linked parameters. You can still adjust the parameters, but all the values will move together as though linked together. The open lock indicates unlinked parameters, or separately adjustable values. Parameters can be locked after they’ve been adjusted too, to preserve a custom aspect ratio. The position values can be reset to the defaults with the handy button labeled with a crosshair to the right of the Position sliders.
Many people have trouble remembering which is the X and which is the Y value. Try this tip: the Y axis is the vertical, or up and down axis. The universal head-nod for ”yes” is also an up and down motion. Get it? I see you do—you’re nodding your head.
14 Chapter 2
At the bottom of the Controls window there is a color ramp. In adjustments that allow color selections, you can use this ramp to quickly select the active color with the Eyedropper tool. Clicking the color ramp with the left mouse button switches it from color to grayscale.
User Interface
The buttons to the right of the color ramp at the bottom of the controls window are contextual, meaning those available at any given time depend upon what options are available for the selected track. Most of them are simply shortcut buttons that allow for quicker effect building, such as the Reset Tab button, which resets all parameters in the active window to their default settings, and the Shadow button, which turns the track’s shadow on and off. Very important is the Animate button, which toggles between Constant and the default interpolation. Constant interpolation applies parameter values to the entire effect without allowing for changes over time. It’s useful in compositing when you want settings to apply to the entire effect and don’t need them to change over the duration.
15
16 Chapter 2
The Wireframe mode button toggles wireframe view on and off. Wireframe view displays only the outline of a track’s shape. This can dramatically speed previews when working with extrusions or 3D text, for example. Turning on wireframe mode allows you to make parameter changes without waiting for a complex image to update.
User Interface
Interpolations Creating effects with Boris software is as simple as setting at least two keyframes—specific information to be interpreted at specific times in the effect—and letting the program fill in the gaps to get from one look to another over a set amount of time. For example, you can set two keyframes to make an image move from one side of the screen to the other. Place the image on one side of the screen by adjusting its position X value at the first keyframe, go to the last keyframe, and adjust the Position X value to position the image on the other side of the screen. Boris will fill in all the motion in between the two keyframes automatically. But Boris also allows you to get even more specific. It allows you to specify exactly how you want the image to move from the left to the right. You could have it start fast and slow down, or start slow and finish quickly, or move evenly all the way across. These options are found in the interpolation settings.
17
18 Chapter 2
One default interpolation and one Toggle interpolation are set in the Preferences menu (see the chapter called “Preferences” for more information). The default interpolation will apply to every adjustment you make while in Animate mode. The Toggle interpolation will take effect when you Alt-click the interpolation window of the value you want to change. You may find it just as easy to open the fast menu by clicking on the interpolation selection box and selecting the desired interpolation. To visualize these settings, think of your effect as a big curve. At beginning and the end of the big curve are keyframes that dictate the steepness of each side of the curve. Accelerate starts slowly, gaining momentum and speed gradually, with the quickest part of the change at the end. Decelerate is the opposite, starting quickly and coming in smoothly and
User Interface
slowly. Ease In/Out is a combination of the two, moving slowly at the beginning, speeding up through the middle, and then slowing down again toward the end. The Linear interpolation is going to very mathematically calculate exactly where image changes should happen. It will interpret the movement or change very evenly between the keyframes. There’s absolutely no curve in this one; it’s straight forward math. The Jitter setting randomly varies the parameter, and can produce a jittering or stuttering effect, while Swing creates a smoother variant of Jitter. Bounce creates a smooth bounce-like motion. Jitter, Swing, Bounce, and Ease In/Out interpolations can be tweaked with Bézier handles in the timeline window.
19
20 Chapter 2
Finally, there are the Constant, Hold, None and Reset settings. Constant will change the setting for the entire effect. Hold will hold the entered value for the remainder of the effect or until it hits another keyframe, and choosing None resets the parameter’s value to the default for that keyframe only. Reset is similar to None, but will reset the value for the entire effect. There are no hard and fast rules for using interpolations. The best way to decide which interpolation is the best is to simply try a few different options in your effect. You may find that you use one more than the rest. You can set this to the default in the Preferences settings, discussed later.
User Interface
21
22 Chapter 2
The Composite Window The Composite window defaults to the upper right corner, and serves as your on-screen effect preview monitor. It is in this window that you’ll see your effects come to life. There are controls for playing, looping, and stepping through your effects, as well as options for adjusting the quality and size of the preview and on-screen controls. The composite window—like all the other windows—can be moved and resized. On a dual-monitor system it may be beneficial to drag this window to a screen of its own and view it fullscale. Activating Caps Lock suspends preview until the caps are released. This is useful when you want to adjust effect parameters quickly and don’t need to see the changes in the window. When Caps Lock is on the Composite window displays the message “Rendering is suspended,” but this refers to preview rendering only. Caps Lock does not affect rendering of media to disk.
User Interface
In the Composite Window you’ll see an image of a soccer ball. This is the image Boris uses for the Video 1 source. It’s simply a dummy image that allows you to see where the media for that track will be. In other words, it’s a proxy image that allows you to create effects without inserting actual media. The proxy image for Video 2 is the brick wall. Get used to seeing these images and understand that they are there to help you see where your media will eventually be. At the bottom of the window, from left to right are the Frame Back button, the Play/Stop button, and the Frame Advance button. These basic transport controls move the Current Time Indicator in the Timeline window. As you use the controls to move the CTI the Composite window updates the preview.
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Next to the Frame Advance button is the Loop button. This allows you to choose one of three modes of playback: a regular loop which plays the effect from beginning to end over and over, a linear loop which plays the effect from the beginning to the end and then from the end to the beginning, and loop off mode, which plays the effect from start to finish and stops. Clicking on the Loop button cycles through the three modes. The next two buttons are the Quality button and the Resolution button. These are very important and commonly misunderstood. Unlike in other programs, these have no affect on the way the effect renders. These are for preview purposes only. There are two Quality settings: High and Draft. The High quality setting displays antialiased images, while Draft does not. It is usually better to use Draft mode if you prefer speedier previews. Remember this is only for previewing the effect. Resolution allows you to select between half, full and quarter, again for preview purposes only. Switching
User Interface
to lower resolution preview settings can dramatically speed preview processing. The size of your Composite window does not change when you alter this setting, only the quality of the preview does. Using Quality and Resolution settings in conjunction with the Scale options can help speed previews even more. Working at half scale allows you to drop to half resolution without losing much preview quality, allowing for quick preview renders. It makes very little sense to preview your effect in full resolution at half scale. If half scale is suitable to show you a quality preview, select half resolution rather than full to allow for faster previews; you probably won’t even see the difference in preview quality. The Channel option allows you to select which channel the Composite window displays. You can choose to view all the color information at once in the default RGB setting, any one of the color channels by itself, or the alpha channel.
25
26 Chapter 2
Next to the Preview Scale selector is the On-Screen Controls selector. In this menu you’ll find many handy guides like Shape, which creates a reference outline around the track media, allowing you to see where its edges extend beyond the screen area, and Title Safe, which displays action and title safe reference areas on the preview screen. You’ll also find the Grid and Rulers options, Position Point, and Motion Path, which creates a dotted reference line between keyframes to show how the effect’s motion will take place. Finally, the Checkerboard option allows you to speed previews by replacing the checkerboard background pattern normally associated with transparency with a solid color. Next to the Controls selector you’ll see a reference window that displays the effect’s timecode and the Render Thermometer, which indicates the program is working to update the preview window.
User Interface
27
Open GL Interactors Users with supported Open GL–enabled video cards will also see three onscreen interactors that allow manipulation of X, Y, and Z values directly in the Composite window. Click and drag one of the interactors to adjust its value. There are three different modes in which the OpenGL interactors allow manipulation of values. Pressing E toggles the interactors to Spin, Rotate, and Tumble mode. Pressing R switches to Open GL Scale mode. Pressing W returns to the default Positioning mode. The rotations and positions are calculated in the order specified in the Rotation Order setting in the Controls window.
Boris will tell you whether or not your video card supports its OpenGL features when you launch it for the first time. Sometimes, though, even if it says your card won’t support OpenGL it actually will. Try activating OpenGL by selecting Preview > OpenGL Mode.
28 Chapter 2
Timeline Window The Timeline Window is where you will make many adjustments to your effects. You can use the window to scroll along the course of your effect, to jump to certain parts of your effect, to add and adjust keyframes, and to add, delete, or rename media in your effect, among other things. The Timeline displays everything that happens during the duration of the effect.
User Interface
Use the quick access buttons to add media tracks, containers, or filters to a track or project. These buttons are provided to give you a quick and easy way to add elements to your effect. You can set some of the buttons to activate your favorite filters in the Preferences section by selecting Edit> Preferences… Getting familiar with these shortcuts after you’ve set them up the way you want can save you lots of time.
29
30 Chapter 2
Keeping Time Time shows the time at the Current Time Indicator, or exactly where your cursor rests in the effect. Dur. shows the duration, or how long your effect will last. Click inside the box to adjust the value and change the effect duration. KeyFr. indicates which keyframe is active; this is the keyframe to which the values you adjust will apply. If no keyframe is selected the value here will be None. The active keyframe is also the one that’s red in the timeline.
Media Tracks The heart of the effect, this is where you tell Boris which specific files will be on each track and what shapes they’ll take. Click a track and hit Enter to change its name. The first icon from the left allows you to select the shape of media that will compose the track. The default is 3D Plane. Other options include 3D Sphere, 3D Extrusion, 3D Line Art, Cube, Sphere, Cylinder, and Page Turn. Selecting one of these media types immediately changes the track’s shape in the Composite Window.
User Interface
The eye icon toggles the track’s visibility. By clicking this icon you can hide an entire track for as long as you like. This applies to previews and to final renders. Similarly, the F icon allows you to toggle the visibility of filters applied to the track. After you’ve applied filters, click this to see what the track looks like without any of them applied. There is a separate F for the face track of each track. This too applies to final renders. Assign media to a track with the Track Media selector. The source options include Spline Object, Spline Primitive, EPS file, Text, Movie File, Still Image file, color, gradient, natural, and video from host applications. Splines are vector line art or shapes created by drawing a series of points. To select media for a track, click the Track Media button and choose the type of media you want. Then—if necessary—a dialog box will open to allow you to select specific media for the track.
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The Preview button opens the track’s media in a separate window. This is useful in complex compositions when you need to look at the media on a track by itself. If the media you’re trying to preview is a QuickTime movie, you can Alt-click the Preview button to open a QuickTime Preview window, allowing you to see a real-time preview of the media without rendering to RAM. Toggle Motion Blur on and off with the Motion Blur button. Motion Blur can create a smoother, more natural look in a track’s movement. This feature is especially memory intensive, so when you use it you should drop the preview quality and scale down if possible. Use the Lock feature to lock a track’s parameters. When the track is locked the lock icon will be closed and the rest of the track’s icons will be ghosted out. This can be useful when you want to make sure you don’t accidentally change any parameters on a track. When it’s locked, you will not be able to select any of a track’s keyframes.
User Interface
Project Window The Project Window serves as a repository for all the compositions in a project. Entire projects can be imported into the Project Window and then assigned to a single track of a new project. The Project Window also contains the Render Queue, which allows you to render a series of effects. Add projects to the Render Queue by selecting Composition>Add Timeline to Render Queue. Delete a composition from a project by clicking it in the Project Window and then clicking the trash can.
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34 Chapter 2
Now that you know what each window of the interface does, let’s begin putting some effects together to see how the windows interact. We will be using all four of the windows we just explored. Don’t worry if you’re still a bit confused. Once you see some effects come together you’ll start understanding the controls of the interface a lot better. In section 2 we’ll create some basic effects with the default media images of the soccer ball and the brick wall. Let’s move on to the Preferences settings now, where we’re able to set the program up to best meet our specific needs.
User Interface
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Chapter 3
Preferences There are many ways to tweak the way Boris
To access the Preferences menu, select
software works using the Preferences menu.
Edit>Preferences. The changes you make to the
You’ll need to become familiar with several of
settings in this menu will become the default
these options to productively use the software.
settings until you change them again, which is
Many other settings are nice to know about, even
handy if you routinely work on the same types of
though you probably won’t need to adjust them
projects.
too much. You can use this section as a reference to help you recall what certain settings do or how to make certain things happen in the Boris user interface.
38 Chapter 3
Preferences
The General tab comes up first by de.
fault. In this tab you can set the basic mode of operation for each project. In the first box, General Options, you can set the default interpolation. This interpolation will, in Animate Mode, automatically be entered for you when you make a change to a keyframe’s parameter. If you know you want to use a linear interpolation for most of your effects, you can set that to be the default here. Boris allows you to set your second most used interpolation as the Toggle interpolation, which can be entered by Option-clicking (Alt-clicking) the interpolation box after adjusting a keyframe. You may find it just as easy to click the box and enter the desired interpolation, but the feature is there in case you want to use it.
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View Time allows you to select from three options for the way the interface tracks time in the Timeline window. The first option is Absolute Timecode. Using this option, the project’s timeline will start at 0 and keep time according to the timecode parameters set in the project’s settings. The second option is Absolute Frames. This option starts at one and tracks the project by frames rather than by timecode. Finally, you can select Program Timecodes, which will track the timecode sent from your host application. This option is only available when using the application as a plug-in to another program. It is very useful for referencing when titles or effects should start and end with regard to the whole program. The Keep Keyframe Time checkbox dictates how keyframes will behave when you to lengthen or shorten the timeline of the effect. With this option checked, the keyframes keep their actual times; without it checked, they move to a relative position. For example, consider a one-second effect with keyframes at 0, :15, and :30. If you wanted to make this a 10-second effect, you could simply enter 10:00 in the timeline’s
Preferences
duration box. Without Keep Keyframe Times checked, your new effect will place the keyframes in a relative position, putting a relative amount of space between the keyframes, thus lengthening the entire effect. With Keep Keyframe Time checked, the sequence would become 10 seconds long, but the keyframes will keep their exact positions, leaving nine seconds of empty space at the end of the effect. On the other hand, consider a five-second effect with keyframes at 0, 2:00, 4: 15, and 5:00. You decide that the effect is great, but you need it to be only four seconds long; so you simply change the value in the duration window to 4: 00. With Keep Keyframe Time checked, changing the duration also deletes the last two keyframes, truncating the effect at 4:00 without regard to all the keyframes after that time and therefore changing your effect altogether. Without Keep Keyframe Time checked, your effect will probably do exactly what you want, replacing all the keyframes at new times relative to the new duration of the effect. You may find that you need to use this effect each way at one time or another. The best way to learn to appreciate
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42 Chapter 3
this setting is to make the change with it at one setting and see if it’s what you want. If not, undo the change, open the Preferences settings, change the Keep Keyframe Time setting, and make the change again. Project Options is where you’ll set the standards for your effect. You can select from several preset project size options, or select Custom and enter your own values. The aspect ratio should be set to 4:3 for PAL and NTSC projects and to 16:9 for widescreen The more RAM you use for previews, the faster they will likely be. If you find yourself running low on RAM, adjust the ratio to something like 5:1, which means for every five frames in RAM, one is saved to disk. This can extend the amount of RAM preview your system will handle, but it will also slow things down a bit. If possible, use the All in RAM setting because it offers the fastest previews.
projects. If your project is going to be viewed only on a computer, select Square Pixels instead. The Preview to RAM options allow you to decide where to put preview renders. If you select an option other than All in RAM for RAM to Disc ratio, you’ll need to select a drive next to Cache Disc Drive too. Select the fastest drive you have available. If you want less RAM intensive previews, opt for a RAM to Disc ratio. This will put a certain amount of frames to your hard drive, lessening the RAM needed to preview effects.
Preferences
The Interface tab allows you to modify many of the application’s settings to your liking. Setting things up in this tab can save you a lot of time later. For example, you can specify Favorite Filters, in the left side of the window. Choosing your most-used filters and assigning them in each of nine categories in this section will let you apply them with the corresponding quick-select buttons in the Timeline window. Another useful setting is the Text Tool Creates option. Using this setting, entering text on a track can automatically produce a 3D plane (simple vector text), a 3D extrusion (three-dimensional text), or line art (vector splines in the shapes of the text letters). If you’ll be creating many tracks of extruded text, for example, you may find it easier to set the application to automatically create extrusions rather than the 3D planes which are the default. This will save you the hassle of changing each track from a 3D Plane to a 3D Extrusion.
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One very useful feature is the Sticky Tools. Sticky Tools remembers what tool you were working with when you jump from track to track as you edit
1_03_
media sources, so you don’t have to
10Previewtab.psd
keep switching tools. With Sticky Tools selected, the interface automatically switches to the tool you last worked with on the track you select, preventing you from having to switch tools every time you switch tracks. In the Import Media tab, you can tell Boris what to expect when bringing video or still images into the application, such as field order, alpha channel, and aspect ratio parameters. You can adjust each media source manually, but these values will be the default. Therefore, if you have several still images with a premultiplied black alpha channel (see chapter 7, “Masks and Keying,” for a full description of alpha channels), you can set this as the default at the beginning of the project to make life easier. Likewise, the Export Media tab allows you to set the defaults that come up when rendering an effect in the standalone engine. You can adjust these to suit specific needs, but if you’re going
1_03_11Connecttomonitor.psd
Preferences
45
to render most of your projects at a certain standard, you can set that up here and use the default you’ve created when it’s time to render. In the Preview tab you can set up the external monitor source. The newest versions of Boris software support Microsoft DV Camera and VCR (IEEE 1349 or Firewire) devices for preview. This means that you can get a preview to an external monitor by using a DV camera or an analog-digital converter like the Canopus ADVC-100. Select the device from the dropdown menu in the External Monitor Output box. To control the preview, including starting, stopping, and refreshing the view, use the controls in the Preview menu of the Composite window. You will have to start the preview by selecting Preview>Connect to External Monitor. Set the mode to the proper setting (NTSC or PAL, depending on what your device allows) for proper playback.
Windows users: If Windows recognizes your DV device, Boris should, too. If the device isn’t showing up in the Boris application, close the program, make sure Windows sees the device, and then restart the program. Usually Microsoft DV Camera and VCR is the device’s name, no matter what it is.
46 Chapter 3
The Preview tab is also where you set up many of the guides you’ll use in the Composite window. These guides are detailed in chapter 2 of this book. Among the options you can set up here are the grids and guides, action and title safe areas, and whether the background defaults to the checkerboard background or a color. You can also When you start a Boris application for the first time, it may tell you that your video card is not capable of using the OpenGL acceleration built into the program. Don’t believe this until you run the test and try to enable the OpenGL feature for yourself! Sometimes the software thinks your card can’t handle it even though it can.
select the specific shade of that color in this tab. Again, all of these settings are easily adjusted within the interface on a project-by-project basis, but it may be useful to know how to set them up here. In the Render tab you can set up the OpenGL acceleration and test your hardware to see if it is capable of using the OpenGL features of the latest Boris software. (See chapter 4, “OpenGL,” for more on what this means.)
Preferences
To find out if your system can take advantage of the OpenGL acceleration, click the Test OpenGL Hardware button in the Render tab. You may get a message similar to the one in the figure on the left. In this case, the software doesn’t directly support the video card installed, and it even told the user upon initial startup that it wouldn’t be able to provide OpenGL previews. However, as the test results show, the Critical Testing was successful. The user of this system is in fact able to see OpenGL accelerated previews by simply enabling OpenGL acceleration in the dropdown box. If you enable the acceleration and don’t see the OpenGL interactors even after activating them in the Preview menu of the Composite window, your video card probably does not support the feature.
Even without a supported OpenGL card, you may be able to get a lower level of OpenGL acceleration. So try each level of texture caching in the Preferences menu.
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If you’re having problems with the software, you may try deleting the Preferences Settings file. This file contains all the preferences settings you save, and it can sometimes get corrupted. On Macintosh systems the file is called Boris *** Preferences and can be found in the Preferences folder in your Library folder. For Windows systems, the file is called boris***.ini and is in the WinNT folder. Delete this file if you seem to have trouble starting or using the application. The application will generate a new file automatically when you restart.
The rest of the settings in the Preferences menu are either self-explanatory or a bit more advanced. Now that you have a good idea of where to set everything up, you can personalize your software to suit the needs of the projects you work on. From custom frame rates and aspect ratios to external monitor previews, you’ve got the power to control exactly how the application functions—right there in the Preferences menu.
49
Chapter 4
OpenGL OpenGL means Open Graphics Library. In general terms, OpenGL is a software library designed to complement graphics hardware to speed the display of information. In its most basic definition, OpenGL is a type of hardware acceleration designed to improve speed and interactivity when working with 3D models. Boris Red 3GL uses this cross-platform standard to speed previews of the manipulation of 3D planes, spline objects, spline primitives, and 3D extrusions. The latest versions of Boris software take advantage of this technology, exploiting it to provide speedy previews of complex 3D operations and
50 Chapter 4
effects. This is a good thing, but for some users of earlier versions of Boris products—and probably some new users—OpenGL seems to be more of a puzzle than another reason to upgrade. Let’s try to clear some of the misunderstanding. Here are a couple of common misconceptions. “I can’t work with the latest versions of Boris software (i.e. Boris Red 3GL) without a supported OpenGL video card.” Not true at all. Boris Red allows you to work with or without OpenGL support—whether your graphics card is supported or not. You can turn the option off if you want—even with a supported card. Users without a supported card will be told when they start Boris Red for the first time that their card is not supported, and the program automatically shuts off the OpenGL support. You won’t even know what you’re missing. Sometimes even when the software tells you the video card isn’t supported, you can manually enable OpenGL support and get accelerated previews. You may indeed get OpenGL previews even though at first it seems your card
OpenGL
51
couldn’t handle them. How do you find out? Just try turning it on. Try each level of texture caching; you may be surprised to find that your card does support some level of OpenGL acceleration. “Not
having
the
‘right’
video
card
will prevent me from getting the best quality effects out of Boris software.” Not true. Even if your card won’t display accelerated previews, the final render of your product will not be any different. OpenGL only speeds previews, and the absence of an OpenGL compatible card has no influence on the quality or speed of export rendering. So now that we’ve cleared up some of the confusion, how does this OpenGL thing work in Boris Red?
You can turn OpenGL acceleration on or off at your discretion in the preview menu of the Composite window.
52 Chapter 4
Using OpenGL Interactors The multicolored interactors show up when you enable OpenGL support. Click G or choose Preview>OpenGL Interactors>Show Interactor to toggle the visibility of the interactors. To use the interactors, click and drag them. Clicking and dragging the image instead of the interactor allows freeform adjustments. You can adjust position, scale, and rotation with the interactors.
The default parameter is the Position mode, represented by the pointed cone ends of the interactors. Clicking W returns you to this mode. Clicking E switches the interactors to Rotate mode. In this mode you can spin, rotate, and tumble the media. This mode is represented by circles at the end of the interactors. Finally, clicking R switches to Scale mode. In this mode the blue indicator does not appear. It represents Z, and you cannot scale in Z-space. The exception to this is when you are working with a container, which can in fact be scaled in Z-space. Scale mode is represented by blocks at the ends of the interactors.
Recording
When working with the OpenGL interactors in High Quality mode, the preview display shifts to draft mode while you make adjustments with the interactors. The software tells you this at the top of the Composite window. While it slips into Draft mode, it also hides all nonaccelerated aspects of your effect. This includes filters, masks, bump maps, reflection maps, cast shadows, apply modes, cropping, and opacity. When you release the mouse button, it all shows back up, and High Quality mode (if selected) returns. Boris’s OpenGL accelerated preview feature is powerful, intuitive, and a breeze to work with. Remember, you do not need a supported OpenGL card to make use of the many features of Boris software. However, if your system is capable of using the OpenGL features of the software, you’re sure to be impressed with the speedy previews of even your most complex effects and titles.
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Chapter 5
Effects Library Browser The built-in Effects Library is a repository of premade effects and animations. You can use these effects the way they are, assigning your own media sources or text to the premade tracks, or adjust them to suit your specific needs. You can also build your own creations and save them to the Library for later use. These settings can easily be saved and reopened, even on another machine. The saved settings files are tiny—easily small enough to fit on a floppy disk or be sent through email—and they will open in Boris applications running on both Mac and Windows platforms. Users with the same media sources can send settings files back and forth to collaborate even if one uses a Mac and the other a PC.
56 Chapter 5
In this chapter we’ll explore the Effects Library Browser to see what it offers and how to preview effects, as well as how to add them into a project or create a new project from them. We’ll also cover how to save your own effects settings to the library and how to reopen them later. To open the Library Browser window, select Window>Library Browser. Alternately, you can open the window by using the keyboard shortcut Cmd+9 (Ctrl+9) or by clicking the Open Library Browser quick access button on the Timeline. On the left side of the window is preview screen, a controls section, and a list of categories. On the right side is a thumbnail preview of the effects in the selected category. The controls under the Preview window allow you to change the way the previews behave. The first button from the left allows you to change the preview quality from draft to high mode. The next button allows you to play and stop the selected effect. The next section to the right controls the effect thumbnails.
Effects Library Browser
57
On first use you will need to use the Generate Thumbnails button to create the thumbnail previews on your system. After that, you can switch between animated and static thumbnails with the Animate Thumbnail Previews button. With the Preview Thumbnails in Animate mode, you can click any of the effects to see it cycle through its animation. Clicking in the window but not directly on any effect will cause all the thumbnails to animate. Clicking the Preview Selection button will show the effect in the larger Preview window in either draft or high-quality mode, depending on what you have selected. Many effect previews—including transitions—use the default media photos of the soccer ball and brick wall to demonstrate the effect. Text animations use default text, but if you first create a text track and then open the Library Browser, the animations will use your text in the large Preview window.
You may have to resize the Library Browser window to animate the thumbnails.
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The last section from the left is where you will apply and manage the effects in your Library Browser. There are two ways to get effects from the Library Browser into your project: • The first is to add the effect to your current timeline. For example, if you have two tracks of text and want to add an animated background from the browser, you would use the Insert Effect button. This would add the background track to your existing effect timeline. • If you had those same two tracks of text and wished to delete them and instead open the background from the browser, you would click the Open Effect in New Composition button. Boris will ask you if you’d like to save your current project before you open a Library effect in a new composition. Many people also open premade effects or titles from the Library and simply adjust the colors or paths to suit their needs.
Effects Library Browser
59
You can save the effects you make or modify to the Library Browser to use later or to share with others. To do this, select File>Save Project Copy to Library… These settings files can be saved and reopened on another system. To do this, select File>Save Project Copy As… and save the file to your disk. To delete a settings file from your Library (and from your hard drive), select it on the left side and click the Trash Can icon. A great way to learn how effects are built is to open one from the Library Browser and see for yourself how each track was put together and manipulated over the course of the effect. Using the library, you can archive your effect and title creations and alterations to the premade effects and titles, and view thumbnail previews of all the effects in the Library. The ability to share these small data files across applications and operating platforms is also a very powerful advantage of the Boris software line. In the next few chapters we’ll explore some of the components of these premade effects: splines, masks and keys, containers, and filters.
You can share these small data file with any user of the same application. Note that FX and Graffiti files will also open in Boris Red, but not vice versa.
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Chapter 6
Splines Before computer animation, splines referred to
shapes because you can resize them with no
the thin, flexible pieces of wood or metal used
quality loss and alter their points at any time.
to draw curves in drafting and carpentry. In 3D
You can even create a spline object and change
animation and computer drawing applications,
its shape and size over time with keyframed
splines are vector-based curves created with
control. In this section, we’ll look at spline primi-
mathematical calculations that determine the
tives and spline objects as they apply to Boris
height and steepness of the curve. In Boris ap-
applications. Once you see how powerful and
plications, splines are any lines or shapes cre-
versatile they can be, you’ll understand why they
ated with a set of vector points and any number
are important.
of Bézier curves. Splines are useful for creating
A spline primitive is a simple shape which starts out as any of 10 premade shapes. You can alter these shapes using the controls offered in the Controls window when the spline primitive shape’s face is selected. However, you cannot edit points and curves in a spline primitive.
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Boris offers an array of premade simple spline-based shapes called spline primitives. Clicking the Spline PrimiA spline object is a more versatile version of the spline primitive. You can edit a spline object’s points. You can promote a spline primitive to a spline object by simply selecting Spline Object from the Track Media window.
tive quick access button will place a spline primitive track on the timeline. The default shape is a rectangle with rounded corners. You can choose from 10 different spline primitive shapes. They include the rectangle, wedge, oval, arrow, star, medallion, heart, grid, line, and area shapes.
Splines
Each shape can be customized with its own set of parameters in the Controls window. For example, you can adjust how many points appear on a star primitive and how long the points will be. This allows you to create an endless number of different shapes from each one of the primitives. If the premade primitives won’t work in your project, you can choose a number of other ways to create spline media. For example, you can convert EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) files, Boris text, Paint tool brush strokes, and Pencil tool lines to spline objects.
EPS Files EPS files are vector-based files originally intended for printing only. Their easy scalability and versatility make them perfect for working in both print and broadcast applications. Adobe Illustrator is one of the most popular programs that can create vector art images and save them as EPS files. Converting bitmap shapes to EPS files is addressed in section 2, chapter 13 of this book.
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Assign an EPS file to a track by selecting EPS file from the Track Media selection on the track in the Timeline window. The image appears in the Composite window. To alter the shape of an EPS file using its vector points, you must first convert the image to 3D line art. Do this by changing the Track Shape selection to 3D Line Art. Next change the Track Media type to Spline Object. When you do that, the shape’s points appear and can be easily moved or even deleted with the Pen Tool. You can also use the Pen Tool to add points to the shape. To apply changes in the shape’s appearance to the entire effect globally, use Multi Frame mode. In Multi Frame mode, any changes you make to the points of a shape are constant and will not animate. If you want the shape to change over the course of the effect, do not use Multi Frame mode. Enter Multi Frame mode by clicking the Multi Frame button in the Tools window.
Splines
Text Similarly, you can change text media to 3D line art and alter the shape of each letter. Start by creating a text track and entering your text, then change the Track Media type to Spline Object. Twirl open the track and select the Face track. You can now use the Pen tool to alter the points that create the text. Multi Frame mode applies here, too.
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Pen and Pencil Tools Drawing splines is easy with the Pen tool. However, for more complex paths you may be better off using the Photoshop/Illustrator Path method covered in section 2, chapter 13 of this book. To create a spline object with the Pen tool, click the Spline Object quick access button. The Pen tool is activated by default. Draw points by clicking in the Composite Window. To create a Bézier curve, click and drag just a bit. This creates two handles that you can move to adjust the steepness of the curve. Complete your shape by clicking on the first point again, closing the path. Use the Pen tool to adjust points by clicking and dragging them. Create new points by Opt (Alt) + clicking, and delete points by selecting them and pressing the Delete key.
Splines
Masks You can use spline primitives and objects as masks to hide parts of your media tracks. Many Boris applications offer unlimited mask support, meaning there is no limit to the amount of masks you can put on any given track. To create a mask from a spline object or spline primitive, drag the spline track into the mask track of the track you want it to apply to. For example, if I want to create a spline mask on the Soccer Ball image, I can create a circular spline primitive and drop it into track 1’s mask track. Once the mask is applied, you can also invert it to create the opposite effect.
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Text Effects You can use splines to create paths for text effects. This includes text-to-path effects, where you can make your text move around a predetermined path (created with a spline) and write-On text effects, which are created by using spline brush strokes to create a path that reveals the text, which creates the effect of the text being written on the screen. This topic is fully covered in section 2, chapter 17 of this book. Splines references appear often in this book. You should now have a general idea of what they are, but as you read on, you’ll get a better idea of how to create them, what they can do, and when to use them.
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Chapter 7
Masks & Keying These topics are tied together in one chapter
Masks
because they are so related. Masking refers to using media with an alpha channel to hide parts of another piece of media, and keying refers to assigning certain information in a piece of media to be hidden so that other media can show through. We’ll begin by looking at masking, then we’ll explore how easy it is to use some of the excellent keying filters inside Boris.
Any media with an alpha channel can be used as a mask. Spline media, line art, and text may also be used as masks. The latest versions of Boris applications allow the unlimited use of masks, meaning you can add virtually limitless masks to any given track. However, with a good understanding of how masks work, how to create custom masks, and how to apply them, you should rarely have to worry about using more than a few.
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Creating Masks You can create your own masks in Photoshop or another bitmap image creation program. The file must be an RGB image with an alpha channel. To make one in Photoshop, use the following example. 1. Open Photoshop. 2. Choose File>New and create a
720×480 image. 3. Press Cmd+D (Ctrl+D) to bring up
the default black-and-white color swatch. 4. Choose the elliptical selection tool
and create an oval selection. 5. Choose Select>Feather and enter 50
pixels. 6. Choose black as the paint color,
choose the paint bucket, and click inside the selection area. You should get a black circle with feathered edges. Now we need to create the alpha channel. 7. Select the Channels window. (If You can actually use any of the Red, Green, or Blue channels.
it’s not visible, select Window> Channels.) Click on the red channel.
Masks & Keying
8. Hold Cmd (Ctrl) and click inside the
small preview window in the Channels window. The selection reappears in the image. 9. Now click the Save Selection As
Channel button at the bottom of the Channels window. You’ve just created a new channel based on the pixels in the red channel, and it’s automatically an alpha channel. It’s even labeled “Alpha.” Now let’s save this file and see what it can do for us inside Boris. 1. Assign the file to the Red timeline
on track 1. 2. Twirl the track open and select the
Face track. A set of parameters appears in the Controls window. 3. Select Premultiplied Black from the
dropdown Key menu. The image is now ready to be used as a mask. It’s already transparent in the middle, showing the brick wall behind it. Let’s explore what happens when we use it to mask the wall itself.
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4. Twirl track 2 open and drag the
mask image down into the first mask track. This is the downstream mask position. In this position the mask will apply to the shape of the track, not just the face of the media. 5. Create a solid blue background
track by clicking the Add Color Media icon. 6. The default color is probably black,
so click the Track Media icon and select Color again. An eyedropper tool appears. 7. Select a light blue shade.
Back in Boris you can now see the light blue coming through the brick wall. The mask you’ve created has punched a hole in the brick wall to show the blue background behind it. Everywhere in the mask image that was white is opaque in the mask. Everywhere that was black is transparent. Those pixels with grey values somewhere between black and white are semitransparent. The closer to black, the more transparent. Keep this in mind when you create masks.
Masks & Keying
Mask Types You can use spline media (primitives and objects), text, 3d line art, gradients, and images with alpha channels as a mask. To create a custom mask, you may find it easy to draw a spline object. This can be especially useful in situations where you want to mask out a regular shape in an image. In this image, the cat is sleeping in the laundry room. We can draw a spline mask around the top of his body and head to hide the white tile and reveal the brick wall on track 2. 1. Start by selecting the Create Spline
Media quick access button. A new track is created and the Pen tool activates by default. 2. Turn the track’s visibility off and
draw around the cat and the top of the image. 3. When the drawing is complete, turn
the track’s visibility back on. Keep in mind that this is not exactly a mask yet; we have simply covered part of the image with spline media.
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4. Now we’ll twirl open the image
track and drop the spline object into the first (downstream) mask track. The spline is now acting as a mask that hides the top portion of the image and lets the bottom track through instead. If we wanted to, we could draw another spline object to mask the table under the cat. We could drop that spline object into the same mask track.
Masks & Keying
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Keying Keying is simply creating a matte based on certain information. Chroma keying is creating a matte from a certain color or colors. The secret to getting good, clean chroma keys has always been lighting both the backdrop and the talent or object of interest perfectly. The problem is that sometimes you can’t get the perfect lighting scheme; sometimes you just have to work with what you’ve got. Boris makes this less of a problem with its Chroma Keying filter’s capabilities. With the Chroma Key filter, you don’t need a perfectly lit shot to get a good, clean key. Let’s take this picture of “Karate Bob” in front of a green screen. Using this photo on track one and the default brick wall image on track 2, we can chroma key the green screen out to bring Karate Bob in front of the wall. Notice that the image is not perfectly lit; the screen isn’t even pulled tightly behind him. We could have done a few things to make this easier, but the point of this is to show you how to
As a general rule, green screens are best for DV chroma keying effects and blue screens are better for film keys. This is due to the different ways DV and film record luminance.
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get a good key from less than perfect setup. With track 1 selected, we’ll select Generally, when working with a person in front of a screen, selecting a point close to (but not on) the subject’s hairline will produce the best results.
Filters>Keys and Matte>Chroma Key from the Timeline menu. The filter is automatically applied to the face of the track. This is where we want it. The default Key Color is blue, but because we used a green screen, this isn’t what we want. Instead we want green, so we’ll click the eyedropper tool beside the Key Color parameter, move the eyedropper to the green screen and click to select it. Now we can see the brick wall behind Bob, but there are two problems. One is that the curtain can still be fainltly seen behind him. There are remnants of the green screen left over. This is no problem, and we can adjust this with our Chroma Key filter controls. The second issue is the right side of the image where the screen doesn’t reach. We need to get rid of that as well.
Masks & Keying
First we’ll get a cleaner key on the screen. Adjust the density, lightness, and balance parameter values to perfect the key. Adjusting Density makes what is already transparent more transparent and the already opaque areas more opaque. Lightness adds light, boosting the matte’s transparency. Balance refers to the mix of density and lightness. Be careful: adjusting any of these parameters too much can ruin the matte completely. If the matte is ruined, you can always hit the Reset button at the bottom of the Controls window or delete the Chroma Key filter altogether and reapply it. Now that we’ve got a nice key between Karate Bob and the brick wall, we need to focus on the right side of the image. The area where the screen did not reach left us without the green backdrop to key out. Applying what we learned about masks earlier, we can create a spline mask to hide this area. Click the New Spline Object quick access button to create a new spline track. Use the active Pen tool to draw a box around this area. You can draw the points offscreen like mine to ensure that you get the entire area.
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Now we can drag the Spline Object track into the image’s upstream mask track. The spline masks everything except what is under it. Invert the mask to make it hide the opposite parts of the image.
Masks & Keying
If we were going to move the image of Karate Bob around on the screen, I would be important to apply the spline mask downstream, to the entire track, instead of to the face. If we applied it upstream and then moved the image, the mask would stay on the right side of the track. If we apply it downstream, it will move with the media, hiding the same area of the picture no matter where we move the entire image.
downstream
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The Chroma Key filter has some powerful built-in tools to help mask off areas like this. Instead of making the spline image, we can simply use the garbage matte. In this case, we select the Garbage Matte tab in the Controls window, unlock the sliders and move the right side parameter until the area disappears. This is much easier than creating a spline mask, but the Garbage Matte is always applied downstream. In this case that works for us—even if we want to move the image around on the screen. While there is no arguing that a well-lit shot is much easier to work with, Boris is capable of producing a crisp, clean key from shots with less-than-perfect lighting. Lighting your backdrop and your subject properly will no doubt save you time and frustration, but now you know what Boris can do for you if you ever need it in a pinch.
upstream
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Chapter 8
3D Containers Once you begin creating multitrack effects, you
tion covers how to create and use containers, the
may find you need a simple way to adjust param-
advantages of using containers, and how contain-
eters for many tracks at once. For example, say
ers work with both 2D and 3D objects.
you have five layers of text that you want to start out small and transparent and become large and opaque over a period of time. Instead of setting keyframes on each of the five tracks, you could put the five text tracks into the container and adjust the parameters of the container. This sec-
For example, let’s look at a two-track timeline with a spline primitive rectangle on track 2 and a spline star on track 1. Both of the spline primitives have been changed to 3D Extrusions. To put them into a container, shift-select the two tracks and select Track>New 3D Container.
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The new container appears with the two spline primitive tracks inside it. You can now click the container track and adjust the parameters of both objects at once.
3D Containers
One of the most important controls is the Renderer, which determines how the objects inside the container will interact. It offers three options: • 2D Composite • Z Space Model • 3D Model 2D Composite is the most basic. Using this renderer you will get a basic composite of the tracks you put into the container. The tracks will appear on top of the other, with the uppermost track in the timeline taking the front position in the effect. You can put any track into a 2D Composite container. Z Space model creates a composite with regard to where objects are in Z space, that is, the object closest to the viewer in Z space overlaps or covers object farther away in Z space. Objects in this type of container can cast shadows on other objects in the container. You can put 3D Plane and 3D Sphere shapes into this type of container. No other shape will be visible in the container. 3D Model allows 3D objects to interact and overlap. If you’re trying to rotate a container with more than one 3D object in it and maintain spatial relationships, you want to use this setting .
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Title Containers Title Containers work in the same way as object containers. They also provide an easy way to animate your text. You can use title containers to create rolls, crawls, zooms, and more from your text tracks. You can also use containers to animate individual characters as well as the entire track of text. It is a good idea to create your text in a word processing program and copy and paste or import it into the text window. This way you can edit and spell check your text before bringing it into the Boris application. You can import *.txt and *.rtf files. To do this, select Text as the media type for a track. The Text window opens automatically. If it doesn’t, or if you close it, double-click the track to reopen it. In the row of buttons at the bottom of the window there is an Import File button. Click that to navigate to and choose your text file.
3D Containers
85
Once you have a few lines of text on one track, you can easily animate it into a roll or crawl. To make a roll, first covert the track to a title container. Do this by selecting the track, then choose Track>New Title Container. You can also select the track then click the New Title Container quick access button. In the Controls window, select Roll from the Animation Style menu. The text is then automatically formatted into a credit roll–style effect. Using the parameter adjustments in the Controls window, you can change the look of the roll to suit your needs. You can send the roll from top to bottom instead of the default bottom to top by checking the Reverse Direction box. Use the rest of the controls to fine tune the roll.
If you’re working in the keyframer or the standalone engine, changing the duration of the effect automatically changes the length of the roll. If you’re working with the application as a plug-in, you’ll need to alter the clip in your host NLE to adjust the length of the roll.
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You can use the same procedure to create a title crawl. This creates the emergency-announcement look of one Use the 1:2:1 Deflicker setting in the Render tab of the Controls window to create a smoother effect. You can also select this in the Preferences window (Edit>Preferences). Make sure this is selected only once because it can slow things down considerably and create an undesirable effect if it’s selected in both places.
line of text going across the screen horizontally. To create this effect, enter your text in the Text window. Make sure to select No Wrap in the Page Tab of the Text window. Select the track, then select Track>New Title Container, and then select Crawl as the Animation Style.
Multiple Text Pages You can create multiple text pages that will roll or shuffle on and off screen like slides of text. To do this, create a number of text pages, each on a separate track. Because they are all centered, they will appear to cover each other in the Composite window. Add these to a container and select Shuffle from the Animation Style menu. Preview the effect to see each track of text animate on and off screen in order from top to bottom as they are placed in the timeline. This creates a page-bypage effect similar to a roll.
3D Containers
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Converting to a Container For even more control, you can convert your text to a container. This will place each individual character on a line of its own, allowing you to manipulate each character independently. To do this, create a line of text and select Track>Convert to Container. Each character is now resting on its own track inside the container. You can now adjust parameters for each character as well as adjusting parameters for the entire container. Containers can be tremendously useful for grouping objects and text. The renderer setting in a 3D Container determines how the objects inside the container will interact. Containers also offer some powerful options, especially for animating text in credit rolls, crawls, and shuffles.
Convert to Container is different than New Title Container! You will get different results with each setting. Experiment with them to decide which is best for your project.
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Chapter 9
Filters Boris Red features more than 100 customizable
in front of the effect name is Boris Red. Each of
filters sorted by category. You can apply these
these filters also has its own Help button, which
filters to media sources. They create a range of
brings up a PDF file that explains what the filter
effects from altering colors in the media to blur-
does and how to use it.
ring the entire image or even creating falling rain or snow on media. More than 30 of these filters come from the Boris Continuum Complete package, which is a set of plug-ins for Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, Discreet Combustion, and Boris Red. When used in these other applications, the BCC filters do not open a Boris interface. Instead, you adjust their parameters with the host application’s effect editor. These filters are designated with “BCC”
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To see the list of filters, choose Filters from the Timeline window menu. The filters are arranged in seven categories: Check the Boris web site occasionally for free filters. You may be surprised at what they give away to their registered users!
Color and Blurs, Distortion and Perspective, Effects, Generators, Keys and Matte, Motion, and Time. You can apply a filter in three ways: • Select the media track, choose Filter, and then select the filter you want to apply. • Alternatively, select the track and then select one of your “favorite filters” from the quick access buttons in the Timeline window. You can set these up in the Preferences window (Edit>Preferences). • Finally, open the Filter palette by selecting Window>View Filter Palette. Then drag and drop a filter directly on the track.
Applying Filters You can apply filters in one of two ways: upstream or downstream. When Some filters can only be applied upstream.
you apply a filter upstream it will apply to the face of the track only. When you apply it downstream, the filter applies to the shape of the track instead of just the face.
Filters
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Color and Blur Filters This useful set contains six BCC filters and 17 other filters. The most useful filter in this set may be Gaussian Blur. This filter creates a smoother look than the Basic Blur. When you apply a filter, its controls show up in the Controls window, along with a number of preset options and a button that brings up a help file (BCC filters only). The Gaussian Blur filter’s controls include a level parameter. You can change the amount of blur applied horizontally or vertically to the media independently or leave the two linked and adjust them together. The Mix w/Original setting is useful when you want to keyframe the blur over time. Instead of changing the Blur Level values, you can change how much the original image mixes with the filtered image over the course of the effect. Also in this set are the Color Correction and Bright/Contrast filters which can be used to correct the color of video clips sent from an NLE host. Available controls for the Color Correction filter are Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Saturation, Output Black, Output White, and Mix w/Original.
If your NLE’s color correction tool isn’t so good, you may want to give Color Correction and Bright/Contrast a shot at your clips.
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Distortion and Perspective Filters This set of filters offers several ways to distort media and alter the effect of perspective. Especially fun are the Bulge, Wave, and Ripple filters, which create the three-dimensional effect of movement under a media track. The effect can make it look as if the media is under water. Experiment with these effects to see what they can do. Also of note in this set is the Burnt Film filter. This is useful as a transition to either another media clip or to black at the end of a program. The effect creates the look of a piece of film burning on a projector. The Particles filters and the 3D Image Shatter filter make great transitions as well.
Filters
Effects The Effects set of filters contains many BCC filters. Because they each have a help file associated with them, we will not go into what each of them does specifically. Notable filters in this set include the Light Sweep filter and the Mosaic filter. Light Sweep creates a streak of light that animates across your media. This is useful in creating an accented effect on media or perhaps in creating text made out of a shiny substance like gold. The Mosaic filter pixelates the media it’s applied to in order to create a mosaic look. You can regulate how much pixelation in the Controls window, and you can keyframe the amount as well.
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Generators Possibly the most fun filter set is the Generators. With the filters in this set
Bump Map
you can create steam, clouds, rain, snow, fire, and more. In addition, four incredible BCC filters in this set create amazing surfaces and a BCC Bump Map filter that creates awesome 3D detail on media. The engines for the Rain, Snow, Clouds, Comet, Fire, Sparks, and Stars create exceptionally realistic-looking natural effects. Each filter allows you to manipulate the precise course the filter will take. For example, with the Snow filter, you can control the size and detail of the snowflakes, and you can even build accumulations of snow along the edges of the media’s alpha channel. The BCC Bump Map creates 3D detail on media based on its luminance channel. The brighter the luminance of a pixel, the higher the image will appear to protrude in that area. This ultimately creates a somewhat embossed look.
Rain
Filters
Keys and Matte The Keys and Matte filter set includes six BCC filters and 13 other filters, including the very powerful Chroma Key filter. The Chroma Key filter provides a versatile set of parameters for keying certain colors out of media. This is especially useful in shooting a person or object in front of a green screen or blue screen and then replacing the screen with an image or media file. There is also a useful Garbage Matte feature in this filter that can mask parts of the image. This filter, when combined with the Color Correction filter, can produce a quality chroma key effect, even if the shot isn’t lit perfectly.
Motion The Motion filter set includes the Corner Pin Tracker and the Motion Stabilizer filters. The Corner Pin Tracker allows you to map media to a certain set of pixels in an image. When these pixels move, so does the mapped media. When an object goes in and out of frame, the mapped media sticks to the image so that there is no difference in
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speed—the object and the mapped media move
Time
together. An example would be if you had a shot of a duck walking across a street and you wanted to stick your client’s logo on its back. Instead of hiring a stunt duck, you could use stock video of a duck and use the Corner Pin Tracker to place the media in the exact spot on the duck you want it to be. When the duck walks across the screen, the logo goes with it, keeping its same position on the duck’s back. The Motion Stabilizer is a corrective tool like Color Correction in that it can fix a bad shot. Shots with a slight shakiness, such as decent
The Time set of filters contains mostly BCC filters, with the exception of some compositing filters. There may be some issues between these filters and your host NLE. If your host NLE will not support the Time filters, you will see a large X in the Composite window when you try to apply it. If this happens, you must use the standalone engine to create your time effect.
Conclusion Filters are a large focus of the Boris FX and Red
over-the-shoulder work, can be stabilized quickly
applications. Experimenting with the filters and
and easily with this filter. In its most basic ap-
dissecting the premade examples in the Library
plication, you just select something in the media
Browser are two good ways to learn what each
that isn’t supposed to move—like a light switch
filter is capable of doing. Keep in mind that there
on the wall or a cup on a table—and set it as a
are two ways to apply a filter: upstream and
reference point. The tracker then uses its own
downstream. Upstream filters apply only to the
engine to move the shot up and down, right and
face of the media you’re working with. Down-
left to counter each of the small shakes in the
stream filters apply to the entire track shape.
shot. It can take a while, but it can also yield
Some filters will only allow you to apply them
incredible results. You can set up more than one
upstream. You can apply filters to shapes, masks,
reference point (called Trackers) for even more
and entire containers. You can also use filters as
accuracy. The more Trackers, the slower the ren-
transitions.
der, though.
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Chapter 10
Intelligent Assistant Boris Red 3GL includes the Intelligent Assistant
When you install Red 3GL, you will be prompted
application, a useful help file program that can
to also install the Intelligent Assistant. The
provide you the information you need to get
program has a few known issues. One is that the
out of a bind. It’s like a help file on steroids: it
installer doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to.
features written material as well as media files
To get the program properly installed, you need
such as pictures and QuickTime movies that can
to download a small (4MB) patch from
help you create the effect you want. The Intel-
http://www.intelligentassistance.com, the Intelli-
ligent Assistant comes free with Red 3GL. It’s not
gent Assistance web site. When you get the patch
all-encompassing, and it’s not perfect. In fact,
downloaded, you’ll need to insert your Red 3GL
it’s not even really all that stable, but it is worth
CD into your CD-ROM drive and run the patch.
checking out.
Even after the patch installs the program properly, there still seems to be a problem with running the Intelligent Assistant from the Help menu inside Boris applications. Instead you have to start the application with its desktop icon.
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The first time you get the IA application started, and every few months after, you should connect to the Internet and click the Check for Updates button. The application will automatically search for and load any new additions to the database.
Intelligent Assistant
The installer will place an Intelligent Assistant icon on your desktop. Use that icon to start the program. Click Search All and enter key words for the topic you need help with. For example, enter Filter and click Ask. The program returns a list of topics you can click on to find out more information.
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Some topics will have written information, and some will include a short video. The Intelligent Assistant is a good place to get quick answers. If you can get it installed and running properly on your system, it could save you some frustration.
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Chapter 11
Pixel Chooser The effect filters in Boris Red and FX give you incredible power and flexibility in creating video effects. In fact, the only thing more powerful than the filters themselves may be the built-in PixelChooser that allows you to apply the filter to only certain portions of the media. In this chapter we’ll explore the PixelChooser, see how it works, and use it to create a depth-of-field effect in a still image. The same concept could easily be applied to video. Once you get an idea of how the PixelChooser works, you’ll be able to imagine many different ways to employ it.
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The PixelChooser is a built-in tool that allows you to select portions of a media source to which a filter will apply. In its simplest application, it can create a blur, for example, and apply it to a section of a media track defined by simple preset shapes. This will become clearer as we experiment with the tool. 1. Create a single-track effect in Boris
Red. By default two tracks come up in the timeline. 2. Delete track 2, leaving only the soc-
cer ball image on track one in the effect. 3. Select the track in the timeline
and add the Gaussian Blur filter to it by selecting Filters>Color & Blurs>Gaussian Blur. The controls window displays three tabs for the filter: Basic, Advanced, and PixelChooser. The Basic tab allows you to adjust the level of the effect. Because of this, you can use the same filter for a dramatic blur that you use for a slight blur—the slight adjustments in the Level section of the Basic tab make the difference. You can also set values in keyframes to change this effect over time. All filters will have
Pixel Chooser
a Basic tab. The default blur level for our Gaussian Blur filter is 20 for both horizontal and vertical, and we’ll leave it at those values. The Advanced tab shows up in select filters where advanced options are available. Some filters have other tabs as well, but these are the most common. The PixelChooser tab shows up in nearly every filter, replaced by the Region of Interest tab in some filters. Clicking the PixelChooser tab brings up a fairly simple menu with two tabs and just a few options. The Region tab allows you to select a region in the frame that the filter will apply to. Right now the entire frame is blurred fairly well.
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4. With the Gaussian Blur track still se-
lected in the timeline, click the View Pixels Chosen box in the Controls window. The composer window shows an entirely white screen, indicating that all pixels are affected by the blur filter. 5. Now click Inside Oval from the Re-
gion Type dropdown box. The composite window shows a white oval with a black background. Black indicates where the filter will not apply at all, white indicates where the filter will apply at 100% of the value in the Basic tab (20 for this example). The
Pixel Chooser
blue crosshairs in the upper-left and lower-right corners allow you to adjust the size and position of the oval. 6. Click the View Pixels Chosen box
again to see how the oval region setting affects the blur on the image. After you get the hang of what that does, deselect the View Pixels Chosen box and select All from the Region Type box. 7. Next select the second tab in the
PixelChooser window. This is the Channel tab. 8. Select Red from the Make Mask
From dropdown menu.
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The soccer ball seems to be far more blurred everywhere outside the blue pentagons. By selecting View Pixels Chosen, you’ll notice that the area of the soccer ball is almost all white, the pentagon shapes on the ball are black, and the rest of the image is some shade of grey. Remember: white indicates a full application of the filter at the value set in the Basic tab, black indicates no application of that filter. Grey is some application between those values. 9. With View Pixels Chosen still se-
lected, adjust Input Black to about 155 and Input White to about 255. This creates an even more dramatic difference between the blue pentagons and the rest of the image. 10. Deselect View Pixels Shown. The
image is nearly all blurry except for the blue pentagons. A lot of the masking data for the blue pentagons resides on the red channel, so blurring the red channel affects the rest of the picture far more than the blue or green channels would. By selecting the red channel on which to base where the image will be blurred, the blue channel is almost totally
Pixel Chooser
masked, leaving the bluest areas sharp and focused while the rest of the image is blurred. Play around with some of the other channel options. Of particular interest are Luminance and Saturation. Switch between the actual view and the Pixels Chosen and fine tune the Input Levels, Mask, or Range to get the exact effect you want. Once you get the effect you want, you can of course keyframe it over time to apply or remove it gradually. The Mix w/Original setting in the basic tab can be a useful parameter for gradually adding or removing the effect. Experiment with the PixelChooser to create depth-of-field effects or to draw attention to certain parts of a video or still image. Also, remember to see how it can alter the look of some of the filters you apply to your media. Experiment with the different settings to create custom looks. The capability and creative control is now totally in your hands—and in that little PixelChooser box.
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Section 2 Now that you understand some of the basics of
In the following chapters you’ll learn how to cre-
the Boris applications, we can begin to apply this
ate 3D extrusions out of bitmap images and how
knowledge to create effects with more specific
to map media to the faces of extruded shapes.
goals in mind. In the following sections you’ll
You’ll learn about rotoscoping, creating anima-
find step-by-step procedures for creating effects
tion from still photographs, and making awe-
with text, still images, and movie files. These
some moving titles. Finally, there are some tips
examples are designed to work with just about
to help you apply all these effects through popu-
any media you choose, in some instances even
lar NLE host applications including Avid systems,
the default proxy images will work just fine. The
Adobe After Effects, and Sony Vegas.
best way to make use of this section is to follow along with media of your own that is similar to the media used in the examples.
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Chapter 12
Extruding Bitmap Images Creating a three-dimensional image from a two-
rather than mathematically calculated points,
dimensional media file is known as extruding the
they cannot be extruded automatically. However,
image. Boris can extrude line art, vector images,
there are two fairly simple ways to extrude a
simple shapes, and text.
bitmap image or logo.
Vector images such as Adobe Illustrator files or EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files are easily converted to line art or extrusions by simply changing the Track Shape setting in the Timeline window. Because vector images are composed of mathematically calculated points and lines, they can be resized infinitely without losing quality. On the other hand, bitmap images (.tif, .bmp, .jpg, etc.) cannot be extruded with the same ease. Because bitmap images are composed of pixels
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The image on the left is a bitmap circle drawn and resized to 500%. Note the jagged edges and the pixelation. The image on the right is a vector circle drawn and then resized to 500%. Because the vector image is composed of coordinates, the edges stay clean, no matter how big it is sized.
Help from Adobe The first method of extruding your bitmap image or logo requires using Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator programs to help create the shape of the extrusion. Photoshop is a powerful bitmap image editor, while Illustrator delivers powerful vector creation and editing tools. With just a little knowledge of the interfaces of Photoshop and Illustrator, you can easily get a cleanly extruded shape in Boris Red from a bitmap image. Visit Adobe online at www.adobe.com to find out more about their software.
Extruding Bitmap Images
Working in Photoshop 1. Open the bitmap image in Photo-
shop. If the image you’re working with is set against a solid background, you can easily outline the shape you want to extrude with a selection tool such as the lasso or magic wand. 2. Select the outline of the shape to be
extruded.
A path created in Photoshop is a vector-based shape. It can therefore be resized with no quality loss.
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3. When you have an active selection
you’re happy with, navigate to the Paths window. If you don’t see the To save a path, rename it by clicking on it and giving it a new name. Save the file as a .psd to retain the path.
Paths window, open it by selecting Window>Paths. The Path window will probably be empty. At the bottom of the window there is a button labeled “Make Work Path From Selection.” 4. Click the Make Work Path From
Selection button to create a path in the shape of the selection. When you do that, an entry appears in the Paths window with the shape of your selection and labeled “Work Path.” This is a tiny preview of what your extrusion will look like, so make sure it’s what you want before you go any further. If it’s not quite what you want, drag the Work Path entry to the trash can, adjust your selection, and create a new work path.
Extruding Bitmap Images
5. When you get a good clean path,
click the path in the Paths Window to select it and then choose File>Export>Paths to Illustrator, as in the figure on the right. 6. Save the file with the default *.ai
extension to your hard drive. You’re done with Photoshop now. Note that you can save this path along with the file as a *.psd now if you like. You may need to use the path again sometime. If you spend a long time creating it, you might as well save a copy of it just in case. Many people try to import this *.ai file into Boris. They quickly find out that this just won’t work. In fact, at this point, Boris will be unable to read the file at all. Before we try to get it into Boris, we need to turn it into a vector art file.
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Working in Illustrator 1. Open the *.ai file in Illustrator. The figure on this page shows Adobe Illustrator open in Preview mode showing the filled image and crop marks. Note the color swatches and Hollow Arrow tool in the tools panel to the right.
To convert the image to a line art or vector file, you need to make a few quick adjustments. When the program opens you probably won’t see the image, just crop marks. The problem is that Illustrator is operating in Preview mode by default, and you need to switch to Outline mode. 2. To switch modes, hold Cmd (Ctrl)
and press Y. You should now see the outline inside the crop marks. 3. Using the Hollow Arrow tool, select
the outline and fill it by selecting a color from the swatch in the tools panel. Any color will work, but you’ll have to switch back to Preview mode (Cmd [Ctrl]+Y to toggle back) to see the color fill. 4. Finally, release the crop marks by
selecting Object>Crop Marks (or Crop Area)>Release. If you forget to do this, Boris will import them with the image.
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5. When you have a solid-filled, crop
mark–free outline, you can save the file as an EPS. For Red versions earlier than 2.5 you’ll need to export the file to a Legacy EPS using Illustrator 8 settings. For 3GL you can use any Illustrator settings you want. 6. After you save the file to your hard
drive, you can close Illustrator. 7. Import this *.eps or *.ai file into the
Boris application and choose Extrusion from the Track Shape setting menu. Your outline is ready for any adjustments you need to make. However, all the color information is lost in this conversion to extrusion. See the chapter titled “Mapping Textures to Extrusions” for instructions on how to apply the bitmap face to the extrusion to complete the effect.
Splines get their names from the flexible pieces of wood, pliable rubber, or metal used by carpenters in drawing curves, often when making boats. Points and Bézier handles create the steepness and shape of the curve.
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Drawing Splines with Boris If you don’t have Adobe Photoshop Don’t forget to turn the track’s visibility off before you begin drawing points! You may end up covering part of the shape you’re tracing with the new spline media.
and Illustrator, you can still extrude bitmap images very easily. For this method you’ll need to draw a Spline Object. If the object you’re extruding is fairly regular in shape (round, oval, rectangular, etc.) you can start with a Spline Primitive. Making adjustments to Primitives is fairly easy and you can get a nice clean extrusion in no time for regular shapes. For more detailed logos, you’ll need to draw a custom Spline Object. To draw a spline extrusion, first import the bitmap image into the Boris interface on Track 1. Leave 3D Plane as the Track Shape. Next, click the Pen tool icon in the upper left corner of the Timeline window. This creates a new track called “Spline track,” activates the Face track, and brings up the Tools window with the Pen tool ready for action.
Extruding Bitmap Images
You’re going to draw points around the image outline to create the extrusion shape, but before you start, you should click the eye in the Timeline, turning off the track visibility. This prevents the spline from filling in and covering the path you’re tracing as you draw. Once you get the outline traced, close the path by clicking on the first point again. Turn the visibility back on to see the shape. See the next chapter (“Mapping Textures to Extrusions”) for instructions on how to apply the bitmap face to the extrusion to complete the effect. This process sounds fairly simple, but intricate logos can take hours to trace correctly. Unless you’re very experienced with the pen tool, Bézier curves and spline objects, you might be frustrated. One way to avoid this tedious process is to request logos from your customer in high-resolution vector art format. However, not every customer is going to be able to provide you with perfect, effect-ready art. Using the tips in this section, you should be able to get just about anything they send your way looking good in a few minutes.
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Chapter 13
Mapping Textures to Extrusions Whether you’ve extruded a path you exported from Photoshop and treated with Illustrator or created an outline from scratch with splines using the Pen tool, when you have the 3D shape set up, you’ll probably start wondering how it will look with a bitmap image or movie file mapped to its face. It’s easy to find out. Boris calls media mapped to objects textures. You can add textures to the faces of any extrusion, including extruded text. To try this out, just click the Extruded Text quick access button to create a new track of extruded text, type something in the window, press Enter, and follow along.
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With your 3D extrusion shape or extruded text track active, click the Textures tab in the Controls window. A texture can be any type of media, including a still image, a movie file—even a track including containers! You can also apply filters to the media you map to your extrusions.
The first option in the textures tab is Face Count. The choice you make here determines how many textures you’ll apply to the extruded object. Selecting each number provides you with different options: 4 Allows you to map a different texture to each of the four areas. 3 Allows you to map the same texture to the front and back of the extrusion and different textures to each of the side and bevel areas. 2 Allows you to map the same texture to the sides, back & bevel areas and a different texture to the front of the extrusion. 1 Allows you to map the same single texture to all areas. The default Face Count is 4. This means that you can map a texture to four faces on the extrusion: the front, the back, the edge, and the bevel. However, textures won’t show up until you turn them on by checking the box next to the corresponding area’s tab. There is nothing wrong with leaving the
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default 4 selected and only turning on textures for one or two areas. For this example, check the box to the left of the FR (front) tab. The Boris soccer ball shows up, indicating the texture is on and the media type is set to the default Video 1. Click the Spline track twirly to reveal the Front Texture track. There you’ll see the media type is set to V1, and you can change it to the texture you want mapped to the extrusion. If it looks good at this point, consider yourself really lucky. Chances are your texture doesn’t quite fit your extrusion the way you’d imagined. Don’t worry; there are some things you can do to fix it up.
The adjustment controls are identical for each of the Front, Back, Edge, and Bevel faces.
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First, try setting the Map Method setting to Stretch. There are no parameters to manipulate here, so if the Note that there’s also a setting for Tile, and you have similar options to those in the Clip setting, though I have yet to find a use for it.
results aren’t satisfactory, try switching to Clip and prepare to make some manual adjustments. The controls are pretty straightforward. You can adjust the scale of the media and the position. I find that Stretch works about one-third of the time. The other twothirds of the time I adjust manually. It takes some time, but with patience, eventually you can get the image perfectly mapped. You can adjust the opacity of the texture for each face in this window. You can also set keyframes to change the opacity over time. Finally, there’s the Alpha to Opacity option, which changes the way Boris treats the alpha channel of the texture media. When Alpha to Opacity is selected, the alpha channel of the texture media dictates the properties of the underlying material. Experiment with this option to see what works best for you in your project when using textures with alpha channels.
Mapping Textures to Extrusions
It may take some patience and fine tuning, but you now know the basics of mapping media to 3D extrusions. After a little bit of button pushing and with the slightest bit of luck, you’ll be extruding text or shapes with moving faces or logos with bitmap faces in no time at all.
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Chapter 14
Rotoscoping Rotoscoping is a term that refers to an old piece
video or the creation of a traveling or animated
of machinery called a rotoscope. A rotoscope
matte. This matte may mask something on the
was a sort of projector that used to allow artists
screen, as in the example we’ll use, or it may be
to line up their drawings and tracings with the
used to superimpose objects onto the screen.
filmed portions of productions. This is how char-
This is the case in films that feature both live
acter generated elements and filmed elements
actors and animated characters. The animated
were able to interact on screen with a bit more
characters and the live people appear to interact
realism than plain drawings. It also allowed for
through advanced rotoscoping techniques. While
accurate compositing.
this kind of advanced animation is outside of the
Nowadays, rotoscoping is really just a fancy term for altering a video clip frame by frame. It usually implies some kind of vector painting on
realm of Boris applications, basic rotoscoping can be done very easily and effectively. Let’s take a look.
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In this video clip we have a skateboarder performing a jump (technically called an “ollie”) over another skateboard on the street. As an example of Boris Red’s powerful rotoscoping capabilities, we’ll create a traveling matte to mask the skateboard (the one he’s riding), making the skater appear to be floating down the street. We’ll need to put a piece of video underneath this track. It needs to be the same exact shot of the street—the only difference is that no one will be skating on this bottom track. This way, when we hide parts of the top clip, the bottom clip that comes through is the same image, meaning it will match and create the effect we’re after.
Rotoscoping
First, we’ll draw a mask around the skateboard in one frame of the video. Do this by selecting Add Spline Object from the Quick Access menu in the Timeline window. The spline doesn’t have to be perfect; we’ll just make sure we leave uncovered anything that needs to stay in the frame, like the skater’s feet, for example.
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Next, we’ll drag the spline down into the video track’s downstream mask track. By default the mask works to hide everything but what’s under it, so we need to click the Invert Mask button to instead hide only what’s under the mask.
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131
The skateboard is gone. Now we need to adjust the mask for each frame. Advance to the next frame and use the Pen tool to make adjustments to the mask, making it cover the skateboard again. Obviously this can get tedious. It may be best to zoom in to make sure you’re getting the best mask possible. I also recommend using an external monitor to preview each mask. You’ll be happy you did when you get done; you can spend lots of time adjusting bad spline masks. The best idea is to get each one done right the first time. When we’re done, we’ll preview the effect. We’ll watch for rough spots and make and necessary adjustments to the spline masks. You can also use the Paint tool to make rotoscoping masks. Just click the Add Paint Layer Quick Access button and drag the paint layer into the downstream mask track of the video source. Experiment to see what you like best, but you may find that you have more control over spline shapes than you do Brush tool strokes.
Using Multi Frame mode creates static splines that apply to the effect globally. If you want your splines to animate over the course of the effect, make sure Multi Frame mode is deselected in the tools window.
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Chapter 15
Animating Still Photos There may come a time when you find yourself
be to show a close up of a man’s face, then while
working on a video project without much…well,
the narrator talks about how he loved his fam-
video. A client may give you still photos and
ily the shot would appear to slowly zoom out to
ask you to “do something creative.” Ken Burns popularized the Pan & Scan effect in his prolific documentary work, mostly probably due to the fact that many of the subjects of his work date back to before everybody had a video camera. Pan & Scan—also now known as the “‘Ken Burns effect”—refers to the creation of animation from a still image by importing the image at a large size, then showing only a portion on the screen at a time, moving the image around on the screen or zooming in or out on the image to show one object then another. An example of this would
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show him surrounded by members of his family. This is becoming more and more popular, probably because it’s so much better than asking your viewers to stare at a still image for 10 seconds. Boris makes quick work of creating this great effect, and can even take it a step further.
Simple Pan & Scan Pan & Scan is no problem for Boris. The Position tab in the Controls window allows you to adjust X and Y Scale and Position settings to show only exactly what you want to show on screen at any time, and animating between two keyframes to get from one “shot” to another on the same still photo couldn’t be easier. Set your beginning and ending keyframes with the position parameters you want, set the interpolation according to the effect you desire, and you’re done. 1. Using the default images and the
default duration of one second, place your CTI (Current Time Indicator) cursor on the first keyframe. 2. Click the first keyframe in track 1. It
turns red to let you know it’s active.
Animating Still Photos
3. In the position tab set the scale
parameter to 50. Because the X and Y values are locked by default, the image immediately resizes to half its original scale and sits in the middle of screen with the brick wall visible behind it. Notice the default interpolation next to the Scale X and Scale Y values. 4. Now click the last keyframe—which
turns red to let you know it’s now the active keyframe—and enter 150 for the scale values. 5. Press the spacebar to preview the
effect. The soccer ball image zooms from half scale to one and one-half scale. 6. Add some X and Y position param-
eters to move the image around the screen. 7. Click the first keyframe in track 1,
and then drag the soccer ball to the upper-left corner. 8. Press the spacebar to preview.
The image starts at half scale in the upper corner, then comes to the center at one and a one-half scale. This is very simple pan and scan action.
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10. Click any keyframe to see its at-
tributes in the Controls window. Once it’s active, you can change Important: When you stop the effect in between the keyframes and make an adjustment, a new keyframe will appear. If you want to adjust the values at a given keyframe, make sure you click it first, otherwise Boris will make a new keyframe wherever your CTI is on the timeline.
the attributes and preview to see the changes to the effect. Keep this effect the way it is now for the next example.
Blurring As you can see, Pan & Scan is a great technique that’s easy to apply in Boris. Now we’ll use blur filters to create depth of field. Using the same setup as before, let’s now add a blur filter to track 2. 1. Select the track by clicking it in the
left side of the timeline; then select Filters>Colors and Blurs>Gaussian When you need to zoom in on parts of your images, import them at a higher resolution than your project size to get the best results. You will see pixellation in the images if you don’t import high resolution images.
Blur. The filter appears below track 2 and the default controls come up in the Controls window. The default Blur level is 20. 2. Change the default Blur value to 0
at the first keyframe. 3. Select a linear interpolation. 4. Preview the effect.
Animating Still Photos
As the soccer ball grows and moves to the center of the screen the brick wall begins to blur. Now let’s add the same filter to track 1. 1. Leave the default Blur value of 20
for this one. 2. Now move the CTI to :15, or the
halfway point in the one-second effect. 3. Change the Blur value in track 1 to
0. This automatically sets a new keyframe at :15 with the new value of zero. 4. Preview the effect.
It looks great—until the ball becomes blurry in the second half of the effect. That’s not what we want. What happened? The keyframe at :15 has a blur value of 0, but the end keyframe has a blur value of 20. To fix this, we could change the value at the end keyframe, or we could simply apply a Hold interpolation at the :15 keyframe. Let’s do the latter. 5. Click the keyframe at :15 to bring
its attributes into the Controls window. 6. Set the interpolation to Hold. 7. Preview the effect.
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Now as the ball comes forward it comes into focus, while the brick wall goes out of focus. See chapter 6 in section one for more details on creating spline masks.
8. To complete the effect, set track 2’s
Scale parameter to 150 at the first keyframe. Now while the “camera” moves away from the brick wall it loses focus, while the soccer ball comes forward into focus. This is a simple example of how blur filters can create a depth of field effect.
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Advanced Depth of Field Tricks Using two copies of the same image, a mask, and the Gaussian Blur filter, you can create an even more powerful depth-of-field effect. Using any photo with a hint of depth in it, we can combine motion and blur to create an amazing effect. In this photo we have a close-up shot of flowers. We’re going to use the twocopy method to create a depth of field effect. First, we’ll put two copies of the image in the Timeline, one on track 1 and one on track 2. Next we’ll add a spline mask to the image on track 1, hiding everything except the dominant flower in the picture. Because we’re going to move the mask with the image, we’ll create a new container out of the track. 1. Select Track>New 3D Container.
Track 1 is now a 3D container. When we increase the scale of the track, the flower gets bigger and track 2 stays the same size in the background. In this example, the flower is now taking up the lower-left side of the screen.
If we don’t convert the track to a 3D container, the mask will stay the same size while the track gets bigger or smaller. That isn’t the effect we want right now.
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Now it’s time to add some Gaussian blur to track 2. 2. Still on the first keyframe, select
track 2 and choose Filters>Color and Blurs>Gaussian Blur. The default of 20 for both horizontal and vertical properties is fine for our example. Now you can see the foreground is in focus while the background is blurry, creating a nice depth-of-field effect. We may want to expand the track 1 container and adjust the spline mask at this point. We can also add the Gaussian blur filter to the spline mask, which creates a feathered edge on the masked selection. Finally, we’ll create some motion with these still images. 3. At the final keyframe, set the blur
value for track 2 to zero. This will cause the blur to gradually go away over the course of the effect. 4. For track 1 we’ll simply let the scale
return to 100%.
Animating Still Photos
When we preview the animation we see a moving depth of field effect—created with only one still image! Keep in mind that the motion is optional; you could simply create a rack focus effect using the spline mask and the blur filter. Experiment with your own photos. Pictures with a little bit of depth to them obviously work best, but you may be surprised at what you can come up with when you take a few minutes to apply this basic idea to media of your own.
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Chapter 16
Animating Text Sometimes how you get a message on or off
animate text, ways to get your titles on and off
screen can be almost as important as the mes-
screen, and some simple ways to spruce up what
sage itself. Keeping that in mind, let’s explore
would otherwise be ordinary, dull text.
some different ways to have our text come and go. Of course, there’s the dissolve. Adjusting the opacity of the text track over time can create a simple dissolve. Effective? Yes. Necessary? At times. Interesting? Not really, no. Not in the least, actually. Boris Red and Graffiti offer unparalleled vector text creation and animation capability. Not only can you create crisp, clean 2D or 3D extruded text, but you can choose from an almost endless selection of ways to get it on and off the screen. In this section we’ll explore a few ways to
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Text to Path How about starting with a text to path effect? As an example, let’s create a round path and make our text roll in and out of frame on that path. We’ve got a simple “Your Name Here” text track set against a light background. 1. Twirl open the text track and click
the Face track. 2. In the Controls window, select the
Path tab. 3. Select the Make Path Track box. A
new track appears under the face track in the Timeline window. 4. Click the new Path track. The tools
become active. 5. Select the Oval tool. 6. Create a perfect circle by holding
Shift while dragging in the Composite window.
Animating Text
Your text should wrap around this circle. In this example the Reverse Path option is selected, placing the text inside the path. This isn’t exactly what we want. It’s not wrapping all the way around the circle path because it’s on three separate lines. Double-click the text track and edit the text so that it’s all on the same line. Hit Enter and notice the difference.
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Now let’s spread the text out just a bit to make it a little more readable. Select the Spline Object track subordinate to the Text Path track. Using the Hollow Arrow tool, select the spline circle. Use the Hollow Arrow tool to enlarge the circle until the text wraps around a bit more loosely.
Animating Text
Finally, let’s animate the text. 1. Using the Path tab (with the Face
track selected), adjust the On Path Motion setting to make the text look as if it’s rolled on its edge. 2. With track 1 selected, use the Posi-
tion tab to move the text off the screen to the left. 3. At the last keyframe, set the On
Path Motion parameter to roll the text on its other side, and set the Position tab for the track to place the text off screen to the right. 4. Preview the effect to watch the text
roll on and off screen. You can create a path from any Spline Primitive or Object. The possibilities are endless. You can draw a spline outline of a mountain range, for example, and make text float on screen on that path on top of the image, making it look as if the text is climbing the mountains. All you have to do is draw a Spline Line (Object) instead of using the Oval tool as we did in this example.
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Type on Text The Boris Type on Text feature produces a slick, automatic typing-on effect. In this example we’ll adjust some of the parameters to take the effect a step further as we type on. We’ll start with plain text on a light background. Clicking the text’s Face track brings up a series of tabs in the Controls window. We’ll pick Type On. Select the Face track’s first keyframe. Set Text Type On to zero and choose the Ease In/Out interpolation. Preview the effect. The text now types on over For type on and generator text, make sure you set the keyframes to give the titles time to stay on screen long enough to be read once they’ve run through the cycle of the effect. There’s no reason to waste time on the titles if no one will be able to read them.
the course of the effect. With the first keyframe still selected, set the X and Y Scale parameters to 500. Set Tumble, Spin, and Rotate all to one full revolution. Finally, set the reveal time to 500. Preview the effect. The text now starts out very large, close to the viewer and tumbles, spins, and rotates into place over the course of the effect. The Reveal Time adjustment allows more than one character to animate onto the screen at once. Play with the Order settings (Random can be especially interesting) and the Apply To settings for alternate effects.
Animating Text
Generator The Generator feature creates random text, flipping through different characters until you tell it to stop and spell your text. This has been used in several movie titles recently. When used with the right font, it can create a futuristic or technological feel. Using the same text, we’ll select the Face track in the Timeline window. Click the Generator tab. Setting the Letter Variation parameter determines how much the letter will vary through the effect. A higher setting makes more characters appear in each position. A very low setting makes only a few changes to each character over the course of the effect. You can also randomly switch between several styles of text using the Random Style Variation Mode. To use this feature, create more than one style in your text block. Overall very useful for creating a more chaotic look, the Generator feature can be interesting, but perhaps a little more useful and impressive is the write-on text effect.
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Write On Text The Write On text effect creates the appearance of the text being handwritten onto the page. There are two ways to do this, an easy way and a hard way. The easy way involves covering the text with spline lines, using them as masks to hide the text, and using the Write On command to reveal it over the duration of the effect. This can be done in a fairly short amount of time. The hard way involves creating one line of brush paint and revealing it from start to finish with the Animate command. This sounds easy, but making one single stroke that uses the path of natural handwriting can be a bit difficult. Let’s walk through it both ways.
Animating Text
Starting with the spline method, we create a new track of text set on a light colored background. Next, we click the Add Paint Layer quick access button. The Brush tool is activated. Using simple strokes and following the path you would if you were in fact writing the letters, track each character from left to right with the brush tool. The goal is to completely cover each character, so if you need to increase the size of the brush, do so. When you’re done, select the Pen tool and make fine adjustments to cover the text as completely as possible with the brush strokes. Use the Hollow Arrow tool to select the entire group of splines you just made with Brush tool. Select Tools>Write On. The brush stroke automatically writes over the duration of the effect. This is cool, but it’s not exactly what we want yet. Now drag the brush spline track into the downstream mask of the text track. Preview the effect. The text media should be completely masked by the brush strokes at the beginning of the effect, and the text should be completely unmasked at the end of the effect. The best part about this is that you can click on the Face of the Brush
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Spline track to adjust the splines, the brush width, or whatever until you get it to look just right. Now let’s give the other method a try. With one track of text on a light background, we’ll again click the Add Paint Layer quick access button. The Brush tool is activated. Using a single stroke, cover every character in the text as if you were writing it on the screen. Once you get the text covered, select the Brush tab. At the first keyframe, set Stroke End to 0 (zero) and set the interpolation to Ease In/Out. Preview the effect. The brush stroke writes on by following the same path you did when you drew the brush stroke. Drop the spline track into the mask track of the text to create the write on effect. These two methods work in much the same basic way. Try them both to see which way is best for you. Either way you choose, you now have the Write On, Type On, and Text to Path knowledge you need to stop relying on boring, ordinary text transitions. Sometimes dissolves are necessary, but now you have the knowledge to use something a bit more interesting when the project permits it.
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Chapter 17
Avid Xpress Avid’s line of nonlinear editing software works
of video on your Avid timeline, you can send
exceptionally well with Boris products. Boris
anywhere from only one to all six tracks to the
plug-ins work in much the same way whether
Boris plug-in.
you’re working with the Media Composer or the Xpress DV application. In this section we’ll explore how easy it is to open the Boris interface through an Avid NLE, apply an effect, and render it to disk.
The Avid Effects Palette contains a Boris category. On the right you specify how many sources you will be asking Avid to send to the plug-in. Drop the applicable effect on the track to which you want the effect to apply. In this case, because
The Boris plug-in shows up in the Avid Effects
we have only one track of video on our Avid
Palette. While other applications have only the
timeline, we select Boris Red 1 Input and drop it
one option to add Boris or not, Avid AVX archi-
on the video track.
tecture would prefer to know exactly how many sources of video you want to send to the Boris interface. In other words, if you have six tracks
Click on the Effect Editor window. In the upperleft corner there is a small button labeled “Boris Red 1 Input.” Click on that small button to open
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the Boris application interface. Once it’s open, you’ll notice that the video source from your Avid timeline appears in the Boris Composite window. Also note that the duration of the effect matches the length of the clip to which you applied the effect. The effect (number of Avid video sources) you selected when you added the effect directly reflects how many video tracks (V1, V2, V3, etc.) are available in the Boris Track Media menu. In our case, we only had one track of video. Suppose we had two tracks of video in our Avid timeline, but we applied the Boris Red 1 Input effect to a clip. When the Boris interface opened, we would not have the choice of V2 on the Track Media menu in the Boris Timeline. In order to have that available we need to select the appropriate effect, which would be the Boris Red 2 Input effect. Don’t get confused about this: you specified how many video sources Avid would send to Boris, but you did not limit yourself to that many tracks in the Boris timeline. You can still add Boris text, splines, images from your hard disk, etc., to the effect simply by
Avid Xpress
selecting Track>New Shape and selecting the shape you want to add. Avid sends actual video references to Boris, so the video will update in the Composite window over the course of the effect as you play it. This is obviously important and useful in creating effects and titles. Once we’ve added some text to our effect, we’ll apply it and go back to the Avid application by clicking the Apply button in the lower right hand corner of the plug-in. If you make a mistake and want to cancel the plug-in action, simply click Cancel instead. This will also bring you back to the Avid application. For this example, we’ll add the text “Boris Text” to the effect by clicking the Add Vector Text quick access button and typing into the Text window. On the first keyframe, we’ll move the text all the way off the screen to the left, and on the last keyframe we’ll bring it off screen all the way to the right. We’ll quickly preview the effect to make sure it’s what we want; then we’re ready to apply the effect. Clicking Apply brings us back out of the Boris interface into
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the Avid application where we can then render the effect to disk.
Title-Matte Effect Boris effects can not be applied to Avid titles. Because Avid titles are based on Matte keys, they need a special effect of their own. The Title-Matte Effect is specifically designed for titles and matte keys to which the normal Boris effect will not apply. Create a title and drop the Boris Title-Matte Effect on the title track to open the Boris interface. You can now animate the Avid title in the Boris plug-in application.
Transitions There is also an effect specifically designed for transitions. You could send two video sources to the Boris plug-in and create your own transition manually, but Avid allows you to drop the Boris Red Transition effect on the split between the two clips instead, creating a simple but powerful effect. The two clips are automatically sent to Boris. You can build quick page turn effects, for example, using only the Page Turn Track Shape and a few keyframes.
Avid Xpress
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Saving Effects You can save your effects settings and reopen them in the plug-in application. Try creating a few effects, saving each of them, and reopening them later. After you drop a new Boris transition on a split in the Avid timeline, for example, you could open a settings file for a transition effect you created earlier to see what it would look like. To do this, after you open the plug-in, select File>Open Project to find and apply your effect settings. Back in the Avid application, you can also drag the active Boris effect icon from the Effect palette to a bin. This saves the effect settings and allows you to drag and drop it on another transition, creating the same effect with the new media. Avid interacts very well with Boris plug-ins. Using your favorite Avid NLE and any of Boris FX’s powerful plug-in applications, you can take effects and titles to a whole new level. You’ve seen how to select the appropriate plug-in, apply it, preview the effect, and get back to the Avid NLE for rendering. We also covered applying Boris effects to Avid titles, using Boris effects as transitions, and saving your effect settings.
Avid Xpress
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Chapter 18
Boris and Vegas
®
When Boris FX announced the newest upgrade
and apparently a real roadblock for some. In this
to its titling, compositing, and effects software
chapter we’ll explore some ideas on how to get
would support Vegas, users of the Sony Pictures
Vegas and Boris to work well together.
Digital nonlinear editing software were ecstatic. User forums buzzed with anticipation and enthusiasm—until the product finally made its way to shelves. The earliest users of the Boris plug-ins to Vegas reported a somewhat stifled integration between the two products. The most offensive difference seems to be that the applications— when opened as a plug-in through Vegas—won’t display updated frames in the composite window as you scroll through the timeline. Only the frame at the cursor of the Vegas timeline is fed to the Boris application. This is troubling to most
First and foremost, I recommend you try creating effects in the standalone engine of your Boris software application. It’s easy to import media sources, set up and tweak keyframes, and even preview high quality images from the effect to an external monitor—all in the standalone engine. The engine is both stable and responsive, and requires no other program to be running. This frees up resources for complex effects. Admittedly this defeats the purpose of a plug-in, but I suggest you give it a try.
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This advice applies to creating titles in Graffiti, too. Titles can include alpha channel backgrounds, and can then be rendered to disk. Bringing these titles up in Vegas is no problem, and the alpha channel you’ve included makes keying them over media a breeze. If you must use Red, FX, or Graffiti as a plug-in for Vegas, there are some simple tips that may make it easier.
Boris and Vegas
165
Parts of this information were originally written by Chris Behling, Boris FX’s Vegas Integration Engineer. To view a Boris effect in the Vegas preview window, you must disable Vegas’s video caching by setting the Dynamic RAM preview max (MB) to 0 (zero). Make this adjustment under the Video tab in the Vegas user preferences (Options>Preferences). Changes to an effect within the Boris interface will not show up in Vegas unless this caching is turned off.
Why? Vegas caches the video clip you’re working with into memory and won’t show the effect (after it’s applied and the Boris UI is closed) in the Vegas preview window. If you turn off this caching (Dynamic RAM preview), you’re basically forcing Vegas to read what’s actually in the clip (Boris effect included) instead of relying on the version of the clip, the program has in its memory buffer.
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Both the Boris filter and the transition are applied as any other Vegas effect. After applying the Boris effect, you will find one launch button on the Boris effect property page. Clicking it will launch the Boris interface. Note that there may be a pause of a few seconds when an effect is first applied and when the Boris interface actually comes up. Occasionally I have to push the button twice, but I am also notoriously impatient.
Boris and Vegas
When the Boris user interface opens, you need to manually adjust the Project size, Project frames per second, and Video Aspect ratio to match the Vegas project settings. However, if you normally work at a set standard—say, 720×480, 29.97 fps, and 4:3—you can set these in the General tab of the Boris Preferences (Edit>Preferences), and it will use them as default settings. See chapter 2, “Preferences,” for specifics.
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Finally, you need to adjust the effect duration in the Boris Timeline to match the duration of the Vegas clip to Reference clips can give you the previews you want but can’t get through Vegas. Render the clip in Vegas, bring it into the Boris plug-in on a dummy track, and you’ve got the reference video you want. When you perfect the effect, delete the dummy track and click Apply.
which you are applying it. Understand that if for any reason you change the duration of the host clip in Vegas, you will have to re-open the Boris application and change the effect’s duration to match. If the duration in Boris is shorter than the Vegas clip, the last frame of the effect will repeat to fill up the space. If the clip is shorter, you won’t get all the keyframes in your effect to apply to the clip. In other words, the effect will simply truncate at the end of the clip.
Boris and Vegas
Because Vegas feeds only one frame to the Boris application, scrolling along the timeline won’t present an updated image of the video clip in the Composite window. If you need to reference the host video in the effect—such as for timing or titling—import the clip into the Boris application on a new underlying track after launching the plug-in. When you’re ready to apply the effect and return to Vegas, just delete the reference clip. From here, create your desired effect and click Apply in the lower-right corner of the Timeline. Once it’s applied, you will be able to see the effect you created in the Vegas preview window. Vegas will save the Boris settings along with the project in its *.veg file. You can also create a track of text or some other media from Boris without a Vegas media clip under it. To do this, drag a solid color—or any of Vegas’ generated media—into a Vegas track, then apply the Boris effect to the generated media. Once you change the media type from V1 in the Boris application, the generated media disappears, and you’re left with the media
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you chose in Boris. With this method you could have only one track—consisting of Boris extruded text on an alpha background, for example—in your Vegas project. One final word about the single frame Vegas feeds the Boris plug-in: setting your preview window settings to Best/ Full sends the highest quality image to the plug-in. Note that any preview image size and quality will work, though. Another way to work with Boris applications that is especially useful in titling is to create an effect and export it as an AVI clip with an alpha channel or a still image series. Using this method you can create your titles, including semitransparent lower thirds, and embed an alpha channel that Vegas will recognize. To do this, build a title and make sure there is no background track. There should be only a checkerboard background behind your title representing the absence of media
Boris and Vegas
there. Export this title as a movie using the File>Export menu. Set your Compression Settings to Full Frames (Uncompressed). This will keep your transparent background intact through the use of an alpha channel. Set the Alpha setting to Straight and save the file. Back in Vegas, find the new file and drag it to the timeline over the clip you want the title to be over. You may see the title with a black background, which is obviously not going to work. Vegas isn’t recognizing the alpha channel yet. To fix this, right-click the clip and select Properties. In the Media tab, set the alpha channel to Straight (unmatted). This should beautifully key your title over the clip.
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An alternative to this method is to export the effect or title as a series of still images, then import that series into Vegas. Either way should give you basically the same final outcome. If you are seeing a black background, that means somewhere the alpha channel settings are mismatched. It is very important to export the file as an uncompressed AVI to keep the alpha channel information in the file. You can also use the QuickTime Movie settings, which support alpha channels.
Boris and Vegas
This section presented a couple of different methods for getting Boris vector titling and effects applications to work well with Vegas. If you take the time to try these suggestions you’ll find the integration between Vegas and Boris to be outstanding. No doubt, at first there seem to be limitations, but now that you’ve figured out how to get past them you should be able to create awesome effects and titles with no problem at all.
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Sometimes you have to manually tell Vegas to recognize your clip’s alpha channel.
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Chapter 19
After Effects Adobe After Effects is a fantastic compositing
Applying Effects
and effects application capable of doing many of the same things as Boris Red and FX. For this reason, you may wonder why Boris applications would plug into it and why a book about one program would contain a chapter about that product’s competitor. The reason is that while these applications may compete for sales at some levels, they actually work very well together. In this chapter we’ll explore the process of applying Boris effects through Adobe After Effects as well
To apply a Boris effect to a track in After Effects, click the track and select Effect>Boris>Boris Red. In the Effect Controls window, several video track labels appear with dropdown boxes beside them. Here you can select a media source from the dropdown menu and assign it to a video source to feed to Boris. The media available consists of all the files in the project that are currently on the timeline.
as some information on plug-ins that work in
When you get the media assigned to the tracks
both applications. We’ll also briefly show you the
the way you want, click on the Boris logo in the
limitations of each program and why they work
Effect Controls window to launch the application.
so well together.
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Make the adjustments you want (including adding text and other media to new tracks) inside the Boris plugin. Then click Apply in the lower-right corner. The Boris plug-in allows you to see video changes in real time. This will prove useful when creating time-based effects or titles. For best results, set the resolution to 100% before opening the Red plug-in. This will ensure you get a high-quality preview image and the fastest possible RAM preview.
After Effects
Boris Red 3GL will support some After Effects filters. This means you can copy the filters to a Boris directory on your hard drive, and Boris will recognize and allow you to use these filters through its own engine. Many After Effects 3.1 filters will work inside Boris applications. For the latest information, refer to the Boris FX web site at www.borisfx.com. To install supported filters, copy the filter files to the Boris plug-ins folder on your hard drive. Start the Boris application and note the new filters available in the Filters menu on the Timeline window.
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So why would you need to use the Boris Red plug-in with Adobe After Effects? After Effects already has powerful vector-based text capabilities. It also has many effects capabilities similar to those in Red. One thing it lacks, however, is Boris Red’s 3D extrusion features. Adobe After Effects cannot create 3D vector text or extruded spline objects as simply as Red can. Red also offers the proxy images, the freely distributable keyframer application, and the ability to plug in to your favorite NLE. We began this chapter emphasizing that while these products may compete for business, using them together can yield many benefits. Using Boris Red as a plug-in to After Effects will give you virtually every tool you could ever need to create motion effects. While they do many of the same things, each also has its limitations; each has its own void that the other seems to fill perfectly.
After Effects
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Chapter 20
Standalone Engine Using the Boris application as a standalone en-
The Boris application installer allows you to
gine offers some advantages over the plug-in. It
select the applications to which you want Boris
also differs a little bit from working from within
to act as a plug-in. It will also install the engine,
an NLE. In this section we’ll explore how using
which needs no NLE to function. It should place
the application all by itself can help you create
an icon to start this application on your desktop
effects more quickly and in a more stable envi-
or in the Boris folder.
ronment. We’ll explore the Keyframer application and its uses, and we’ll reveal the uniqueness of the standalone engine.
The standalone engine looks just like the plugin. It’s the familiar Boris interface along with the proxy images of the brick wall and soccer ball.
Standalone engine means just that: the rendering
In fact, the only real difference is in assigning
engine stands alone with no support from a non-
media and rendering the effect.
linear editor or separate host effects program.
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Standalone Engine
Because there’s no host NLE program feeding Boris media, you’ll have to assign media manually. Obviously you already know how to do this. It’s as easy as using the Track Media button to choose the media type, which opens a dialog box, and then navigating to find the file on your hard disk and selecting it. V1 and V2 are still available Track Media selections, but they will always be represented by the proxy images of the brick wall (V2) and the soccer ball (V1) in the standalone engine.
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One major difference between using the standalone engine and using the application as a plug-in is in the way you will render effects. When you’re working with Boris as a plug-in, you’ve got the Apply and Cancel buttons in the lower-right corner. Clicking either of these brings you back to the NLE. With the standalone engine you’re got no such buttons. Instead, you’ll create your effect, save the settings file, then render the effect to a new clip that will be stored on your hard disk. The Export Media tab in the Preferences settings (Edit>Preferences) allows you to set up a few different rendering options, from which you can choose at render time. You can also set new render options at render time, but it may be useful to set these up ahead of time anyway.
Standalone Engine
Keyframer
Benefits
The Keyframer application is a small, light-
Speed and stability seem to be the biggest bene-
weight version of the standalone engine. You
fits of using the standalone engine versus a Boris
cannot render from the Keyframer application.
plug-in. Loading the media directly into the en-
Instead, it allows you to create effects, complete
gine cuts out the NLE’s processing and therefore
with imported media, and save the settings file.
makes for speedier previews and response to me-
This is useful for offline work. You can download
dia manipulation. The engine is rock solid, too.
the Keyframer application for free from the Boris
I have rarely experienced any crashes—or even
FX web site (www.borisfx.com) and distribute
difficulties—while using the standalone engine.
it freely, installing it on as many computers as
While using the Boris application as a plug-in
you like. The Keyframer application allows you
may be necessary at times, more programs run-
to work on effects just about anytime and just
ning means less resources available for effects
about anywhere. Just save your settings files and
previews and rendering. For those projects which
all the media used in the project, reopen your
really don’t need host NLE support, try using the
saved settings and the media in the standalone
standalone engine.
engine or in the Boris plug-in to your NLE, and you’re all set to render.
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187
Chapter 21
Conclusion This book hasn’t gone into every facet of Boris
I hope this book has presented you with enough
applications. While we have covered the basic ca-
information to allow you to put something extra
pabilities of the applications, we barely scratched
into your next project, something you wouldn’t
the surface on specifically what can be done. We
normally have thought to do. Whether a creative
examined the basic set of tools, reviewed how to
idea or a timesaver, try to incorporate one new
use them, and (I hope) solidified that information
thing in each successive project. Keep experi-
with some examples. The rest is up to you. Your
menting with new ideas; your clients will prob-
challenge is to now take what you’ve learned and
ably push you with each new project as well.
use it to let your creativity run wild.
Most importantly, I hope this book has renewed
To learn more, open the preset effects library and
your excitement for working with Boris applica-
take a look at how the premade effects are built.
tions. You should be having fun creating effects—
Recreate the stuff you like; throw out the stuff
don’t be afraid to mess things up just a little.
you don’t like. Make changes to the presets to
After all, many brilliant projects are built upon
see what happens to the effect. This is one of the
complete accidents.
best ways to continue learning.
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Finally, don’t hesitate to surf by the DMN Boris Forum if you have specific questions. If I can’t help you, maybe someone else can. If all else fails we can exchange settings files and figure out the best way to create the effect you’re after. www.dmnforums.com
189
Glossary 3D plane A flat plane that can hold media or
Bézier
color information in Boris applications. A still im-
splines use Bezier handles to allow you to adjust
age, video clip, solid color, and 2D vector text all
a curve in almost any imaginable way.
sit on a 3D plane shape.
A curved line defined mathematically,
bitmap An image made up of bits or pixels,
alpha channel Data in a picture or video that
such as BMP, GIF, JPG files, as opposed to vector-
defines the amount and location of transparency
based images. As they increase in size (through
in the media. Alpha channels aare generally cre-
zooming), the pixels become inflated and pro-
ated by the media producer and are sopisticated
duce a blocky look. This is generally not desir-
masks used to hide portions or segments of
able.
media.
bump map A way of altering the shading of a
aspect ratio The relation of a piece of media’s
piece of media in which a map (usually another
(or project’s) width to its height. Television
piece of media) is assigned and the different de-
aspect ratio is 4:3, meaning for every four units
grees of luminance in the map create a texture on
wide it is three units high.
the affected media.
190 Glossary
container A bin or subcomposition that holds
a distortion filter, etc. Otherwise known as an
one or more tracks of media in a project. Using a
effect.
container allows you to manipulate several elements of your project at one time with only one set of keyframes. effect
Generic term for any favorable manipula-
tion of video, also used to refer to a filter. extrusion Created with the appearance of three dimensions or an object (including text) drawn in two dimensions and then promoted to a three dimesional shape. field order
guides
Preview tools that help you align ele-
ments on the screen. Interactor
Colorful OpenGL controller used to
adjust or manipulate the position of an object when working in OpenGL mode. interpolation
The way an effect is carried out
from start to end. key or chroma key
Based on the fact that each frame
of video is made up of two fields, the field order is the sequence in which the two fields of each frame are “drawn” on a television set. Each frame is made up of an odd field (also called upper field
Masking certain parts of a
piece of media based on color information. Actors can perform in front of a green screen or a blue screen so that the screen can be easily replaced later with a scene with a chroma key effect.
) and an even field (also called bottom field). DV
keyframe
almost always draws the even field first.
Boris fills in everything between the keyframes,
field order problems
Refers to the result of a
file being created in one field order and then
A “key” frame in the effect process.
that is, the beginning (where to start) and the end (where to finish).
imported or rendered with the opposite. The cre-
mask Anything used to hide portions of a piece
ates a strobe-looking effect and exaggerates the
of media.
comb-tooth look in video with movement in it. These problems are generally good to avoid. filter
A setting that, when applied to media,
creates some form of favorable manipulation to the media. This can be a blur filter, a color filter,
matte Another name for a mask NTSC National Television System Committee. This is the television standard that some countries (including the U.S. and Japan) use. It requires 60 half-frames (fields) per second, each frame consisting of 525 lines of resolution. Many
Glossary
consider it inferior to the PAL standard, and it it
another color is called straight and is usually
is sometimes referred to as Never Twice the Same
more favorable.
Color.
rotate
opacity
As opposed to transparency, this is the
degree of solidity a particular piece of media has. 100% opacity appears as totally visible; 0% opacity appears as totally invisible. OpenGL
Open Graphics Library. In general
terms, it’s a type of hardware acceleration designed to improve speed and interactivity when working with 3D models. PAL Phase Alternating Line. This is the television standard many European countries use. It
To move around on the Z axis, clockwise
or counterclockwise. rotoscope
To manipulate (usually painting or
masking) a piece of video frame by frame. Painstaking and tedious, rotoscoping can produce incredible effects. spin To move around on the Y axis, right-overleft or left-over-right. spline Vector-based line or shape drawn in a 3D modeling program.
requires 50 half-frames (fields) per second, each
texture
frame consisting of 625 lines of resolution.
an object.
pan & scan The process of moving media, usu-
traveling matte
ally a still image, around on the screen to show
the screen, usually in concert with movement in
only small parts of the image at a time. Used to
video clips, to conceal parts of the clip.
create movement in otherwise dull still images, or to emphasize certain parts of an image. pixel
Short for picture element, it’s a single
point in a bitmap graphic image or movie file. premultiplied
Refers to an alpha channel that
tumble
Any media that is mapped to a face of
A mask that moves around on
To move around on the X (horizontal)
axis, top-over-bottom or bottom-over-top. upstream/downstream Refers to the way a filter (effect) or any other manipulation is applied to a piece of media. How the filter or mask is ap-
was created with color information included in
plied influences the effect of the applied fitler or
it. If not properly treated, this can cause fringe
mask. Applying a mask or filter upstream forces
to appear around the edge of the transparency.
Boris to process it before it processses shape
An alpha channel that is not premultiplied with
transformations. A downstream filter or mask is processed after shape transformations.
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192 Chapter 5
vector-based
Based on mathematical coordi-
nates as opposed to pixels. Vector-based images and objects (including text) appear much more crisp and clear than their pixel-based counterparts, especially when upscaled. widescreen
The 16:9 ratio television aspect ra-
tio is referred to as widescreen. Normal television sets use a 4:3 ratio while widescreen televisions use the 16:9 aspect ratio. Z space The theoretical space between the object and the “camera” of the effect. Where an object is in Z space determines how large or small it will be without using scaling.
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VASST is Video, Audio, Surround, and Streaming Training. Here at VASST we help you master your preferred topic faster than you ever expected with immediate, accessible and thorough information. We offer a variety of training materials for different learning styles. Whether you are looking for a book, a DVD, or an on-site trainer, VASST can provide tips, techniques, and solutions for all your media needs.
VASST Training Tours: visit vasst.com for current tour dates. We offer seminars on Cameras, Lighting, Editing, Surround Sound, and other general media topics. Training on specific applications by companies such as Adobe, Sony, Ulead, Pinnacle, AVID, Boris, and Apple is also available.
www.vasst.com
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On the Spot Series
Timesaving tips and techniques from the pros. Experienced users can dip in to find the right solution for an immediate challenge, or browse to find new ways of approaching future projects more efficiently and effectively. Each title focuses on a leading application for creative digital media production. Audience Level: Intermediate to Advanced
After Effects On the Spot Richard Harrington, Rachel Max, Marcus Geduld Packed with more than 400 expert techniques, this book clearly illustrates the essential methods that pros use to get the job done with After Effects 6.5. Experienced motion graphic artists and novices alike discover an invaluable reference filled with ways to improve efficiency and creativity. Softcover, 288 pp, ISBN 1-57820-239-6, $27.95
Avid Xpress Pro and DV On the Spot Steve Hullfish, Christopher Phrommayon, Bob Dolan With more than 300 expert tips and techniques, this book clearly details the professional’s methods for getting the job done with Avid’s most popular nonlinear editing systems. Seasoned professionals and novices alike discover a valuable time-saving reference. Softcover, 256 pp, ISBN 1-57820-254-X, $27.95
Final Cut Pro On the Spot, Second Edition Richard Harrington and Abba Shapiro Discover over 400 expert techniques to use in Final Cut Pro. Whether looking to align yourself to the newest version of the application or looking to improve your skills, you’ll find the immediate solutions used by experienced editors. Softcover, 268 pp, ISBN 1-57820-261-2, $27.95
Find CMP Books in your local bookstore. www.cmpbooks.com
Avid Xpress Pro Editing Workshop Steve Hullfish & Jaime Fowler Get real-world editing know-how in Avid Xpress Pro with tutorial lessons that demonstrate the edit of an entire sequence with increasingly sophisticated editing techniques. Lessons cover everything from proper installation to sound editing, special effects, titling, and output. The companion DVD contains tutorial media and plug-ins. Softcover with DVD, 352 pp, ISBN 1-57820-238-8, $49.95
Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop, Second Edition Tom Wolsky Learn the art and technique of editing with Final Cut Express. Hands-on tutorials cover the complete range of tasks. Veteran editor and instructor Tom Wolsky delivers all the necessary materials to achieve filmschool-quality results, including raw video footage and sequences, detailed instructions, tips, and practices. The DVD includes project files and free plug-ins. Softcover with DVD, 304 pp, ISBN 1-57820-256-6, $34.95
Vegas® 5 Editing Workshop, Second Edition Douglas Spotted Eagle Master the craft of editing with Sony’s Vegas 5. Experienced editors and novices will all benefit from realworld examples to work more efficiently and create better media. Tutorial lessons cover every essential operation, including the DVD Architect toolset. The companion DVD contains tutorial media and plug-ins. Softcover with DVD 480 pp, ISBN 1-57820-257-4, $49.95
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