Hi.
I have searched a lot and can't get any hits, so I try here. The topic pretty much describe the situation. I would like to create similar effect on my own, homemade video (for fun) like the one that the name of the actors in CSI:Miami appear at at the beginning at every show. I am making a home made video for a friend of mine, and he is a very big fan of CSI, so I thought he would appreciate that gimmic. Any of you who have an idea of how this can be done??
Here is a clip from youtube that shows it - starting about 7 sec into the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjRG2530rwI&feature=related
Appreciate your help. Thanks.

There are probably a bunch of ways this can be done. A program like BluffTitler has a built in typewriter effect so it would be pretty straightforward using that. And Heroglyph could maybe do it if you're familiar with the program, which I'm not.

But, in Studio there's a pretty simple, but time intensive, way to do this.

1. Make a title using the "formula" name that appears first and put it on the timeline. Like 4y-1 = 3H [2B] Set the length to 1-2 seconds.
2. Razor cut the title into short segments. These would be cut into lengths of maybe 4 or 5  frames so you'd  have to zoom in on the timeline pretty tight.
3. Open each segment in the title editor starting with the first one. You would erase all but the 1st letter and then OK back to the timeline. For the 2nd segment you'd erase all but the 1st and 2nd letter. For the 3rd, all but the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd letter. And so on until the end. When you're done you'd have the formula look like it's being typed really fast.

4. Take the last segment from above and stretch it out to 1-2 seconds.
5. Razor cut that into short segments just like in #2 above.
6. Open each segment in the title editor. What you would then do is change the first letter from the formula to the first letter of your friend's name.
7. Then open the second segment and change the first 2 letters to your friend's name. The 3rd segment you would change the first 3 letters, and so on until all the letters are changed. This would give you the typewriter effect of teach letter changing one at a time.

Basically that's it. You'd probably want to adjust a few segments to get the proper "hangtime" between each action.

If you want to do all that fancy blurring and masking with the rectangles then I don't think Studio is the right software to use. But for just the name it should work fine.

HTH

Joe 

Great post as always, Joe!

Joe - thanks !!!!!

 

I am impressed.  I will try both routes, I see Blufftitler has a demo, so I will try this out - but it is more a satisfaction in doing this in Studio itself, so thank you so SO much for your help.

About the blurring and masking, - I have found some great 5-10 sec videoclips from different websites that offers such free of use that I can use as a overlay.

-willy77

When looking at that clip, it almost looks to me like a simple wipe transition between 2 titles would do the trick.

Make 2 titles with the symbols in the same place on the screen, then add a left-to-right wipe transition between them to cause the text to wipe from symbols to letters.  Easy-peasy, that would be.

(If Studio doesn't cause your titles to "move upward" when you save the page, but that's another issue entirely...)

bittmann:

When looking at that clip, it almost looks to me like a simple wipe transition between 2 titles would do the trick.

Make 2 titles with the symbols in the same place on the screen, then add a left-to-right wipe transition between them to cause the text to wipe from symbols to letters.  Easy-peasy, that would be.

Just played with this - Wipe doesn't quite do it as the original title remains completely visable till very end of transition - but using the Slats 1 wipe gets a little closer to the effect required - I think.  But still not as good as Joe's suggestion. Depends how much time you've got I suppose 

You're using the wrong transitition, then...

I'd like to take a middle line on this one.

If you use the wipe left right transition on the video track, the effect works as Bittmann describes

If you use the title or overly track, then you get the effect that Colin describes.

I would have thought the latter was unexpected behaviour, but it happens in both 12 and 14.

Added - But guess what - not in Studio 9!

jjn:

If you use the wipe left right transition on the video track, the effect works as Bittmann describes

Agreed - but I'm missing something - if you place it on the video track - how do you get the overlay title effect as per the the CSI miami clip mentioned in the original post?

A wipe transition doesn't give you the same effect.

The letters won't "snap" onto the screen, as if being typed, as shown in the original video.

It's kinda sorta similar but it's not the same.

cr1:

how do you get the overlay title effect as per the the CSI miami clip mentioned in the original post?

you don't. Either bittmann hasn't used the title track or is using s9 or working from memory

I think I can produce what you describe. It's a little time consuming, but it might work. I made a title with four letters. I then moved it to the overlay track. I then made another title with four different letters. This one remains on the title track. Adjust the length of the two tracks so that the four letters change simultaneously and the total length is what you wish for the entire effect. Make a razor cut on both tracks between the letters. On the overlay track for the first letter, using the advanced 2D editor, mask off the first letter, on the title track, using the advanced 2D editor, mask off letters 2,3 and 4. Continue this process until all four letters are revealed on the title track and masked off on the overlay track.

The 2D editor is available in ver 12 and later. You might be able to do this masking with the PIP, I didn't try that.

 Not sure if this is what you want, but it's fun to play with.

Don

Make a razor cut on both tracks between the letters.

You could use keyframes instead for this, but it's different different strokes for different folks....

Guilty as charged--I'm working from memory. I tried in S12, and I see what you mean about the letters fading in to each other.  Surely that can't be as-intended...

Does S14 fix this?  

Or the new motion titler in S14 (if it doesn't crash your system )

Like THIS (only better)

This uses type on entry and type off exit for two text boxes lined up with each other. The timing isn't perfect, but I've also een able to add a 2d keyframes panning effect that also occurs on the original.

Does S14 fix this?

No - same behaviour here on 11, 12 and 14. I can't believe I haven't spotted this before

Hi. Thank you all for your time and creativity. Great !!

Just a short status of what's been done so far - I'm not quite solved this yet.....

I have downloaded and tried Blufftitler.  Amazing little program to create great text effects, and I definitly going to buy this anyway, but I have'nt figure out how to use it to create that CSI effect yet.

In studio I have tried Joes "time consuming" tip, and it kind of work - but you have to cut very often to get it smooth.  Every 3 frames gives an "OK" result - and of course - takes "forever".  Unless some easier way shows up soon, this is what I will do.  The only bad part with this, is that is is so time consuming that I doubt it will be used very often.

Every wipe I have tried so far - regardless of what track in placement - no luck.  Not even close to that effect.

I will try the razor cut AND the motion titler during this week, together with more studying of the Blufftitler program, that really have excites me a lot.

Thank you to you all so far.

willy77

Here you go - is this close enough to what you want? - took about 3 minutes to achieve  (and a lot longer to upload )

Edited:  Actually I've just changed it. Repeated it in the clip but added the oblong shape effect to the second half - (it needs work but you'll get the idea) I guess about 8 minutes to make all up - I had to play around with the shapes - hadn't done that before.

That looks cracking Colin. Was the P's motion titler or Blufftitler?

Looks pretty sweet. Good work!

jjn:

Was the P's motion titler or Blufftitler?

Neither Jeff - It's the old "can never spell it correctly" Herogylph Heroglyph. I have Bluff titler as well but adopted Hero as my most used Titler, probably because it's a plugin that can be used within Studio (still - at this stage ) Steep learning curve - didn't find it intuitive at first but once the    came on - wondered why it took so long to get to grips with. The manuals aren't that useful until you understand the program and - then they aren't that useful   The CSI effect is achieved with std effects just overlapping them on different timelines within, which is why it took very little time. If the OP comes back and wants to go down this track I can walk him thru it to save a bit  alot of time, or even send him the file template I have now saved for future use. They were doing a special price on Declics site a little while ago - not sure what it costs currently

Cheers

Added - They are offering Heroglyph Rapid for free - see link

If you had S12 I think you could also achieve this using the Boris Grafitti plugin, unfortunately my editing machine is in storage at the moment so i cant check

Here's a version made in BluffTitler, around 4MB, 22 seconds long:

 CSI Miami Edited

 I used the actual intro, edited it in S12 to blur out the names and then output a new avi file. In BT I used the typewriter option. It's called just plain Writer in the options panel. It gives you two choices, type on and type off, so it made it easy to have the formula appear and then erase as the new name appears.

I did have some problems trying to get the BT video to play in S12. BT doesn't output the audio so it's necessary to create the effect, then import it into an NLE and add the audio back in. For that I used Adobe Premiere Pro. 

It wasn't done completey in Studio but on the other hand I'm a strong believer in using the right tools for the job too. And for me, since I don't know diddly-squat about Heroglyph, BluffTitler was the answer. It was a lot easier than doing it in Studio alone.

If the OP does buy BluffTitler then that's the way to go, imho.

Joe

 

 

"Writer in the options panel. It gives you two choices, type on and type off, "

Hi Joe,

Have used the writer function (Writer has a + after it) but where do you find the type on or type off?

Colin

cr1:

"Writer in the options panel. It gives you two choices, type on and type off, "

Hi Joe,

Have used the writer function (Writer has a + after it) but where do you find the type on or type off?

Colin

 The top slider does the normal typewriter effect, from 0 to 1 types the letters on.  And from 1 to 0 will type the letters off in reverse order, right to left.

The middle slider, from 0 to 1, will type the letters off in the normal order, from left to right. 

So the text has to be there for the middle slider to work properly.

It's ideal for this CSI effect because you can have one set of text disappearing while the other appears. As long as you have the keyframes set correctly it will appear as if the letters are changing.

Joe

P.S. : I'll admit it is tricky to do in BT because, currently, BT doesn't allow you to scrub through the video to find the right spots to add the text so there is a bit of trial and error involved. However, michiel has indicated that in the next upgrade to BT you will be able to scrub through the video portion just like you can do in Studio.