Want Better Titles!

mickbadal wrote on 6/21/2007, 2:04 PM
OK I really, really like VMS, and I can live with the titling it offers - but I find them to be a bit lacking. I want to make fun bubble letters, cursive handwriting that appears as if someone's writing it on the screen, sentences that scroll across the screen with the individual letters moving away from the sentence and disappearing one at a time, "pixie dust" fizzing across the screen and leaving letters behind, etc. etc. You get the picture.

I've seen *some* of these kinds of cool looking things in my friend's iMovie program on his Mac, and another guy I know does awesome titles, and I believe he uses something called Freehand along with FCP on his Mac. Of course, I'm looking to stick with VMS on the PC, and am not planning to spend hundreds or thousands of $$$ on a titler. (This is a hobby; I'm not a pro yet!) In fact, I'd like to get away with spending 20 bucks, or even nothing at all.

So - is there a good Freeware program out there that allows you to do some cool titling that goes beyond VMS, like I described above? (Freeware prog's like DVDShrink and PGCEdit are just the bomb - anything like that for titling?) If not, what would y'all recommend would be the best program for 30 bucks or under?

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/21/2007, 3:24 PM
Well, it's not quite as cheap as $20, but Swish is a nifty little program for making Flash .swf files. It also allows export to AVI files. It does quite a few of the things you mentioned.
cmcdonald wrote on 6/21/2007, 4:11 PM
You might also take a look at Bluff Titler. I have just started using it and it works great.
IanG wrote on 6/22/2007, 1:01 AM
It's more than you're hoping to spend, but I'd put in another vote for BluffTitler. There's a video tutorial which is worth having a look at, and there's a huge number of examples you can play with.

Ian G.
mickbadal wrote on 6/22/2007, 9:51 AM
OK I haven't had time to look at Swish, but I took a look at Bluff Titler, and the examples the website shows look pretty awesome. And the price range is fine.

But am I going to have to be a Photoshop-expert-level sort of person to be able to create such cool titles complete with shadings, graphics and so forth? I want to be able to create the types of things they show on the "screenshots" page after a modest couple days of learning, not months becoming a graphical rendering expert. The more automated, the better.

(My level of expertise in titling is using the VMS titler, and maybe some modest things in PS Elements like setting transparent background or applying some basic effects).

I appreciate your input.
mtnmiller wrote on 6/22/2007, 10:36 AM
One thing that is great about Bluff Titler is that all the examples you see on the website are available as templates when you download the program. All you do is access the template you want, stick in your title, and you've got it.

Other than that, the tutorial through the web site offers good instruction, and you can start creating titles pretty much right away.
mickbadal wrote on 6/22/2007, 11:25 AM
"One thing that is great about Bluff Titler is that all the examples you see on the website are available as templates when you download the program. All you do is access the template you want, stick in your title, and you've got it."

With that, I think I'm sold. Thanks!
cmcdonald wrote on 6/22/2007, 1:55 PM
Make sure you check the "Gallery" listed on the website. Users who are WAYYYYY better than anything I could hope to be are posting new templates every few days. For the most part, I have only used the templates with some minor modifications, but some of the possibilities are pretty incredible if you have the time to play with the software. Trust me, if I can figure out how to use the software, I am sure that you can.
ericlast wrote on 6/22/2007, 8:07 PM
To put in my two cents...I've been using Bluff Titler for the past few weeks, basically just using the templates as mentioned in the previous posts and modifying them to suit my needs. The results are fantastic, and really easy to use.
dibbkd wrote on 6/23/2007, 3:14 AM
I also have to throw a vote in for http://www.outerspace-software.com/gallery/index.phpBluff Titler Gallery[/link].

As others have mentioned, I love the pre-made titles that you can easily change the text for your own needs.

The owner / programmer is very cool too, you can email Michiel to ask for a title, and he'll most likely make it for you within a few days, for free. I've asked for several, and he cranked them out very nicely. The latest one I asked for was one to simulate "Bob the Builder", and he had it ready the next day!
mickbadal wrote on 6/25/2007, 7:13 AM
Oh so YOU'RE the one that asked for the Bob the Builder template!

I saw that in the gallery, and it is really cool - I'll definitely be downloading that one!
dibbkd wrote on 6/25/2007, 3:49 PM
Yep, that was me. I have a couple of kids who LOVE Bob the Builder, and this intro was great for them.

I also requested the http://www.outerspace-software.com/gallery/viewarticle.php?ArticleID=371"HEROES TV show intro"[/link], which is very cool too.

And if you're a fan of the show LOST, I made this one myself and put it in the gallery: http://www.outerspace-software.com/gallery/viewarticle.php?ArticleID=229LOST TV intro[/link]

kcrosley wrote on 6/28/2007, 1:43 PM
I just put up a new version of the "BluffTitler Basics" tutorial. You can find a link to it on:

http://www.blufftitler.us/

Or:

http://www.mediablitzed.com/

(At MediaBlitzed, you'll also find my free downloadable pack of particle shapes and textures for use with BluffTitler -- many of these are also useful as masks in Vegas!)

Cheers,
Keith

dibbkd wrote on 7/5/2007, 2:41 PM
Keith - great tutorial, and I liked how you added the little Vegas demo in there as well.

kcrosley wrote on 7/23/2007, 3:55 PM
Glad you liked that. There's a new version of BluffTitler out today, by the way, that adds a bunch of cool features including HD output (i.e., output larger than your screen size) and software anti-aliasing (no more jaggies!).

Snag the new verison by visiting:

http://www.blufftitler.us

Best Regards,
Keith
dibbkd wrote on 7/23/2007, 8:44 PM
Thanks, just got it installed.

I had to get the latest DirectX, that took longer to get installed than BT.

:)