Titling

If I've been quiet this past couple of weeks, it's not because I've been idle! I've been getting to grips with BluffTitler , a rather nice package from Holland. It knocks spots of the basic titling tools in Adobe. It is easy and fun to use and has an excellent introductory online tutorial. After that you are on your own though, so it takes a while to find out how the various controls affect the image. The whole package has the feel of work in progress. For example, you can make changes to one layer or all, but not to, say, just two layers (or at least, if you can, I've not found out how). You can display the timeline for only one layer at a time, even though it can play all layers at the same time. You can play sound while you are editing but not export with sound. Not all the settings are visible on the main interface, some are only available via the menu title bar. Even so, with all its shortcomings, it is excellent.

Fortunately there are dozens and dozens of sample files for you to trail through, and an automatic demo which plays them randomly. So the easiest way to learn is to play the demo until you find a title that interests you, then stop the demo and have a look at how the controls change the image. It's time-consuming, but very enjoyable.

It's also very easy to get very tacky very quickly!

My first attempt (complete with twinkles, sparkles and dancing letters) was dismissed by SWMBO as "not very manly", so this is the second version.


I do want this to look professional, not like a home movie, so I think it's important to get this sort of thing right, don't you? Of course, it's no good if the actual content is rubbish, but I am confident of the quality of that, so it's just a question of presenting it all in a professional manner.