Robert Lane
November 19th, 2009, 06:37 PM
Any editor regardless of platform is always jones-ing for one common thing: Good looking titles.
The built-in titler tool in FCP does the job just fine for simple tasks and the Boris 3D Titler is a very powerful supplied plug-in however, the output they create both suffer from the same problem: They look really bad when motion is applied.
The reason titles created by these tools look bad when motion is applied is because they are "generated" text, when you apply motion the software has to re-generate it's size and position which creates very jagged edges and jerky motion - especially with zooms. This is why many use Photoshop to create text and output those files as PNG images with alpha, which can be moved and/or scaled without the harsh motion artifacts.
Problem is, if you're not PS savvy or not familiar with creating alpha layers - or don't own a copy of PS and don't want to pony up for it then you're limited to the built-in tools to FCP, PP, M100 etc. Wouldn't you really like to have a simple app that can generate text with alphas and not fuss over the process? Gotcha covered:
Art Text — Text art and graphic software for Mac — Overview (http://www.belightsoft.com/products/arttext/overview.php)
While not a "pro" titling app specifically for video purposes I've found this little app is extremely powerful in creating text-titles, buttons and shapes with ease and can very quickly output them as PNG's with alpha far faster than PS or any other photo-editing app.
Art Text does all the stuff you need a text titler to do: Drop shadow, glows, shades, distortions, curves... you name it, it does it.
And because you can manually create the canvas size (I don't know what the limit is) you can even create a page of text large enough for scrolling credits! You just try getting smooth-scrolling text titles in FCP or PP - or whatever - with the built-in tools especially fast-scrolls for end-credits in broadcast, I double-dog dare you. It's horrible looking and that's because it has to be "generated".
If you're a graphic designer and you've already got a workflow built around Photoshop, Illustrator or another graphically-purposed app then Art Text isn't for you. But if you're like me and the hundreds of other indie editors who didn't come from a graphics background then this IS the perfect titling tool.
Now y'all quit screwin' around and git back ta work. We've got an economy to rebuild. Or didn't you get that memo? ;-P
The built-in titler tool in FCP does the job just fine for simple tasks and the Boris 3D Titler is a very powerful supplied plug-in however, the output they create both suffer from the same problem: They look really bad when motion is applied.
The reason titles created by these tools look bad when motion is applied is because they are "generated" text, when you apply motion the software has to re-generate it's size and position which creates very jagged edges and jerky motion - especially with zooms. This is why many use Photoshop to create text and output those files as PNG images with alpha, which can be moved and/or scaled without the harsh motion artifacts.
Problem is, if you're not PS savvy or not familiar with creating alpha layers - or don't own a copy of PS and don't want to pony up for it then you're limited to the built-in tools to FCP, PP, M100 etc. Wouldn't you really like to have a simple app that can generate text with alphas and not fuss over the process? Gotcha covered:
Art Text — Text art and graphic software for Mac — Overview (http://www.belightsoft.com/products/arttext/overview.php)
While not a "pro" titling app specifically for video purposes I've found this little app is extremely powerful in creating text-titles, buttons and shapes with ease and can very quickly output them as PNG's with alpha far faster than PS or any other photo-editing app.
Art Text does all the stuff you need a text titler to do: Drop shadow, glows, shades, distortions, curves... you name it, it does it.
And because you can manually create the canvas size (I don't know what the limit is) you can even create a page of text large enough for scrolling credits! You just try getting smooth-scrolling text titles in FCP or PP - or whatever - with the built-in tools especially fast-scrolls for end-credits in broadcast, I double-dog dare you. It's horrible looking and that's because it has to be "generated".
If you're a graphic designer and you've already got a workflow built around Photoshop, Illustrator or another graphically-purposed app then Art Text isn't for you. But if you're like me and the hundreds of other indie editors who didn't come from a graphics background then this IS the perfect titling tool.
Now y'all quit screwin' around and git back ta work. We've got an economy to rebuild. Or didn't you get that memo? ;-P