Titling tool for Vegas

Spot|DSE wrote on 12/8/2004, 11:04 PM
For Immediate Release

Los Angeles, CA - December 6, 2004 – Sundance Media Group, a digital media marketing and consulting group, announced the release of Power CG Plus and Power Rfs for Sony Vegas software. Created by Cayman Graphics, a leading manufacturer of professional computer generated graphics and titling tools for videographers, Power CG Plus and Power Rfs give Vegas users a robust, professional titling plug-in for the first time.


Power CG Plus and Power Rfs have been available to the NLE community for quite some time. Now Vegas users have access to the same professional graphic generation and titling tools as other videographers. With pre-built lower thirds and other animated title templates, both Cayman Graphics products allow creative opportunities previously unavailable within the Vegas platform.



Power CG Plus is the full-featured packaged which includes up to 1000 layers, TextFx animation and ultimate versatility. The more affordable Power Rfs allows for a single of layer of text generation. Both products feature color safe warning and import of Truetype typefaces, and both create broadcast-ready titles directly on the Vegas timeline.



“With more and more videographers using Vegas for broadcast content, the demand has grown for better availability of titling options. We’re pleased with the response and we’re looking forward to growing with Vegas community,” said Jeff McOmie, President and founder of Cayman Graphics.

Availability and Price

Power CG Plus is priced at 399.99, while Power Rfs sells for 149.99. Trail versions of both products may be downloaded from
www.caymangraphics.com


Cayman Graphics began as an engineering consulting company designing Broadcast Character Generator Systems for companies like 3M, Quanta, ChannelMatic, WeatherCasters, DynaTech, and others. With the growing popularity of Desktop Video, user demand required more robust titling capabilities. Cayman Graphics then introduced Power CG, designed expressly for the desktop video editor. With over 10,000 copies sold, Cayman Graphics continues to maintain its leadership as a character generation and titling solution.

Comments

Grazie wrote on 12/8/2004, 11:18 PM
Kool! ...

http://www.caymangraphics.com/PowerCG_rfs.html
Grazie wrote on 12/8/2004, 11:22 PM
. . Just this'll do it for me! . .

"Spell Checker - Finds your spelling errors before your client does."


. . . oh yes . .. oh yes . ..

Grazie
Spot|DSE wrote on 12/9/2004, 12:21 AM
Grazie, I can always count on your enthusiasm to brighten up any thread. :-)
Grazie wrote on 12/9/2004, 12:27 AM
Sorry . . was that too much . . ?

Graham
Spot|DSE wrote on 12/9/2004, 12:34 AM
From you? Never!
Caruso wrote on 12/9/2004, 1:46 AM
Comments from anyone who has played with this application?

Caruso
farss wrote on 12/9/2004, 2:15 AM
I've only had a brief play with it so I can't comment that much, at the time it didn't integrate with Vegas so I kind of gave up. But I will say this, in the world of broadcast they're about as well know as Avid.
Main focus is on serious production where you need a super in 10,9,8... and it's got to match the one from last weeks show.
Also from what I could glean they understand the art of rendering text into video. That's an art that the guys who designed the early generation analogue CG systems understood and seems to be largely lost.
Once I find the time I'll certainly give it a serious whirl, I'm a great fan of simple things executed well, if it'll do decent looking text crawls and rolling captions they've got my money.
Bob.
taliesin wrote on 12/9/2004, 2:16 AM
I downloaded the demo version of Power CG rfs and installed it as a Vegas plugin. But I can't find a way to use it as plugin, it does not show up in Vegas. Seems like it is still only standalone. Any hints?

Marco
Grazie wrote on 12/9/2004, 2:21 AM
Have you investigated Vegas' Plug-In Manager? - G
taliesin wrote on 12/9/2004, 2:24 AM
Thanks Grazie. Tried it this way now. Power CG is not listed there.

Marco
Jey wrote on 12/9/2004, 3:15 AM
Not really a hint, but same happens here too...
Can't find the plugin anywhere in Vegas.

During the install I got an error with the regsvr program. Something about unsupported flags. So my guess is that the plugin is simply not registered for use with Vegas at all.
Any hints on manually registering the plugin module?

J.
Jey wrote on 12/9/2004, 3:23 AM
Forget my previous post, problem solved.

Find the file "PowerCG_PlusDX.dll" in the program directory and drop it on the Vegas window. Now it is being registered as a DirectX plugin. Restart Vegas and the plugin shows up in the Media Generators.

J.
taliesin wrote on 12/9/2004, 3:34 AM
Yes, it works the way you described. Thanks for the help!

Is this the regular way to install this plugin?

>> During the install I got an error with the regsvr program. Something about unsupported flags.

Same happened here. So I think there's actually something going wrong with the installation process.

Marco
Jay Gladwell wrote on 12/9/2004, 3:54 AM
I'm curious. What's the learning curve like on this, compared to others, like Boris (which I could never figure out)?

Jay
farss wrote on 12/9/2004, 4:45 AM
Here's a thought, you can download a working copy for nix!
I think that's the ONLY way you can answer that question, some find Boris a bore and others a walk over, probably the same goes for this tool. Although given Cayman's background I figure it cannot be too arcane.
Bob.
beerandchips wrote on 12/9/2004, 6:57 AM
As one of the Beta testers for this with Vegas I can say it is an excellent product. Just like any other product on the market, you just have to get used to the way it works (which isn't hard at all). You won't be disappointed.

I recommend it.

Steve
Coursedesign wrote on 12/9/2004, 9:17 AM
"Comments from anyone who has played with this application?"

I bought it standalone and then beta-tested the Vegas integrated version.

If you just want a huge number of adolescent effects (like some packages), this is not for you. If you are looking for broadcast titles that make a serious impression, this is your program.

These guys have 20 years of experience with making text look good on video. That is actually one of the more difficult challenges in all of video technology, surprise, surprise.

I found it really easy to learn. 5 minutes of instruction and I was ready to roll. Even doing multilayer flying text rolls, sideways, angled, whatever took minimum effort. It can use even fonts you don't have on your system (like from a CD-ROM). When you make format changes, you see them in realtime.

Finally I am happy that so far it has been 100% rock stable, never a crash or any weird trouble.

It handles DV as well as D-1, D-5 etc. formats, so no worries. Templates are key for anybody using this daily, makes it easy to set up a consistent format.

Highly recommended for professional users.
PAW wrote on 12/9/2004, 9:37 AM

The plugin integration does not look too good, do you always have to create a snapshot and save it to a file ?

I would expect it to at least grab a frame of video from the timeline, I understand that the Vegas plugin architecture needs to be iimproved for all plugins i.e. to pass a composited timeline frame at a a time to really get the most from some of the tools available.

I think I will be sticking with Boris for the moment.

Good to have more support generally though.

Paul
Grazie wrote on 12/9/2004, 9:51 AM
Yo PAW! Howzit?
PAW wrote on 12/9/2004, 10:12 AM

Doin OK, just gettin my head above water after 6 months of disappearing up my preverbial!

Paul
Coursedesign wrote on 12/9/2004, 10:43 AM
"The plugin integration does not look too good, do you always have to create a snapshot and save it to a file ?"

Huh? If you aren't using it as a media generator, you aren't using it as a Vegas plugin.
PAW wrote on 12/9/2004, 10:57 AM

I am using it as a media generator but with any plugin I would expect to be able to see the timeline as the background

It prompts to save a snapshot to a file in the program directory rather than just grabbing a frame from the timeline.

Paul
cayman wrote on 12/9/2004, 1:57 PM
Paw,

We're working on this feature for future versions. Vegas has a different method of looking at frames from other applications. Look for it in the future.

Jeff McOmie
Cayman Graphics
cayman wrote on 12/9/2004, 2:03 PM
>> During the install I got an error with the regsvr program. Something about unsupported flags. >> So my guess is that the plugin is simply not registered for use with Vegas at all.

I'm looking into this problem now. Once it's fixed I'll anounce it here. In the mean time use Jey's
trick:
"Find the file "PowerCG_PlusDX.dll" in the program directory and drop it on the Vegas window"