Using BCC Title Studio with Avid MC 8.8
When I copy a title and make a change to the text, the Drop Shadow reverts to a default.
How can I make it so that the Drop Shadow remains the same as the original text, so that I do not have to keep resetting the parameters of the Drop Shadow?
Thank you.
Edward Salier, ACE
Hi Edward,
So I created a title in Avid MC using BCC Title Studio and added a drop shadow to the text while in the Title Studio UI. Then I copied that title to a bin. I then dragged it from the bin onto another clip in the sequence and the text with drop shadow remained exactly the same as the initial instance of the effect.
Is this the method that you’re using? If so you should have the same results. I’m working with the current release version of Continuum in the current release version of Avid.
Thanks,
Peter.
Hi Peter:
Thanks for your response.
When the title is copied, either in the timeline or to a bin, the drop shadow parameters do not change.
However, as soon as I modify the text, wishing to keep all the parameters unchanged, the drop shadow parameters revert to an apparent default. (In attached example, all that I did was remove a space between “Los” and “Angeles”.
I am attaching screenshots of the examples and the BCC Version info. I am on Avid MC 8.8, HighSierra.
Thanks so much.
Edward Salier
Los Angeles, CA
310 210 3236
Hi Peter:
As another example of the issue, I am copying a very recent post to the Avid L2 group from an individual having the exact same issue as I am having.
Thanks again, Ed
Avid and BCC Title Studio?
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2023 11:40:54 PST
Super novice in BCC Title Studio. I have muscled my way to a two line lower third and sorted out the Shape Position to move the text to lower left corner with the text left justified. I’m applying the drop shadow in the Controls Panal. I set the composite Pos X to left and the Pos Y to bottom. All this seems to play okay but when I duplicate the BCC effect for the next credit page and start retyping the text gets positioned back to the center of the frame and I have to manually re-enter Shape Postition Pos X and Pos Y. I thought I was just typing over the existing text and I don’t understand why it moves the newly typed text back to center screen. Anybody understand the logic BCC Title Studio is using. Again I’m novice so there may be something very basic I don’t understand about the structure of this tool.
It’s so nice to have to learn an interface that has the complexity of BCC Red/Avid fx when all I need it classic Title Tool functionality.
>>>>
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| PeterMcAuley Senior Product Manager
January 18 |
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Hi Edward,
So I created a title in Avid MC using BCC Title Studio and added a drop shadow to the text while in the Title Studio UI. Then I copied that title to a bin. I then dragged it from the bin onto another clip in the sequence and the text with drop shadow remained exactly the same as the initial instance of the effect.
Is this the method that you’re using? If so you should have the same results. I’m working with the current release version of Continuum in the current release version of Avid.
Thanks,
Peter.
Hi Eduard,
I’ve tried and I can’t reproduce this on my end, but then, I’m working with the current version of Continuum (2023/v.16) and the current version of Avid MC but you’re on 2019/v.12 which is 4 revs back from that.
The possibility remains that this could be an old issue with the software, which has since been fixed and the only way to really find out if this is the case would be for you to download and install the latest version of Continuum, start a new project in Avid and see if the problem remains reproducible on your system.
Do you think it might be possible for you to try that?
Thanks,
Peter.
Hi Peter:
I did try to install a more recent version a while ago, however, it seems my HighSierra system could not accommodate the newer version.
Thank you for checking on this issue for me. I guess I have to do a major upgrade at some point.
Best regards,
Ed
Hi Peter:
I am now on Avid 2022.12, Boris Title Studio 2023 AVX.
The situation is as follows. Make a title, copy the title to a bin or to the source monitor. Cut the title back into the sequence. As soon as any modification is made to the title, the drop shadow parameters revert back to: distance 20, opacity 60. Shouldn’t those parameters stay the way they were in the original title?
Thanks, Ed
Hi Ed,
Yes, you’re correct in thinking that the drop shadow parameters should not have changed from the settings that you specified. I’ll see if I can reproduce this on my systems.
Thanks for reporting this and for providing the steps to repro - I’ll write back shortly to share my experience with this following the steps that you’ve listed.
Thanks,
Peter.
Hi Ed,
I just tried on my Mac Avid and can’t repro the issue as described. Would you mind please sending me your Title Studio project so that I can take a look at it to see if I can better understand what he cause of the problem may be?
To do this, please go back to the sequence with the Title Studio effect that is showing the drop shadow problem, launch the Title Studio UI and then select File>Save Project As, give it a name and save to the desktop. The file should have a .blu suffix. Please send this to me.
Thanks,
Peter.
Hi Peter:
Attached is a zip file with screenshots, system info and the .blu file you requested. I made one .blu for the text with drop shadow at distance 5 and opacity 100. then all I did was add a space in front of the text so you can see that the distance changed to 20 (which appears to be a default that all the text starts with) and the opacity changed to 60.
Let me know if there is anything else I can send you.
Ed
Boris Title Studio Drop Shadow issue.zip (3.29 MB)
Hey Ed,
Thanks you for sending along the project - I’ve reproduced the issue as described, however only with the project that you shared and I understand and can explain what’s causing the drop shadow to return to default settings.
So in the project that you provided, the text layer is in a Title Container. These Title Containers are specialized containers designed for automation of nested title tracks so when you make a change to the text, the Title Container assumes that it must reset for automation and thus the return to defaults.
You shouldn’t be using a Title Container for this - instead, you should use the default container type, which for this is a 2D Composite container. I’ve resaved your project using the standard 2D Composite container and have attached it here - can you please test with that to see if this solves the issue that you were seeing?
Thanks,
Peter.
FIXED - PASADENA TEXT.blu.zip (1.1 KB)
Hi Peter:
Thanks for that explanation.
I just find the whole container and layout concept so confusing!
That same problem must be why I have trouble with an end crawl where every time I make an adjustment to the timing or text, I lose the keyframes for the moves and holds.
I just have no idea on what should live inside of what. It is all guess work on my part, even after trying to read the extensive documentation on the web site.
I’ve also watched tons of tutorials, but I guess I’m just getting too old for this.
Thanks again…
Best regards, Ed
March 30 |
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Hey Ed,
Thanks you for sending along the project - I’ve reproduced the issue as described, however only with the project that you shared and I understand and can explain what’s causing the drop shadow to return to default settings.
So in the project that you provided, the text layer is in a Title Container. These Title Containers are specialized containers designed for automation of nested title tracks so when you make a change to the text, the Title Container assumes that it must reset for automation and thus the return to defaults.
You shouldn’t be using a Title Container for this - instead, you should use the default container type, which for this is a 2D Composite container. I’ve resaved your project using the standard 2D Composite container and have attached it here - can you please test with that to see if this solves the issue that you were seeing?
Thanks,
Peter.
FIXED - PASADENA TEXT.blu.zip (1.1 KB)
Hi Ed,
So here’s a quick explainer behind the containers in TS :
2D Composite Container : layers on top in the timeline will always be in front of layers below them (2.5D)
3D Composite Container : full 3D rendering with layers freely interacting in a true 3D environment
Title Container : automated timing of items in the container for roll, crawl, fade, zoom, crawl
I’ve attached a Title Studio project for you to review - it has 2 tracks of extruded text that intersect. If you right click on the Scene Container at the top, you can toggle back and forth between the 2D and the 3D containers and with that you can see the main difference between the two, as described above.
Should you find yourself in a situation where you can’t figure something out in Title Studio please feel free to reach out anytime - we’re always here to help.
Cheers,
Peter.
(Attachment containers.blu is missing)
Hi Peter:
Thanks so much for all your assistance to solve the issue I was having with the drop shadows.
Can you point me to a tutorial that will explain how to properly set up an end crawl. Now I can see I have not set it up properly within the correct container. It is a simple credit crawl with an added graphic at the tail end.
When the graphic comes to center screen, it holds.
Whenever I make a revision, the keyframes that mark the hold on the graphic disappear.
Attached is a screen grab of the way the crawl is currently set up.
Again, the help is greatly appreciated!
Ed
March 30 |
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Hi Ed,
So here’s a quick explainer behind the containers in TS :
2D Composite Container : layers on top in the timeline will always be in front of layers below them (2.5D)
3D Composite Container : full 3D rendering with layers freely interacting in a true 3D environment
Title Container : automated timing of items in the container for roll, crawl, fade, zoom, crawl
I’ve attached a Title Studio project for you to review - it has 2 tracks of extruded text that intersect. If you right click on the Scene Container at the top, you can toggle back and forth between the 2D and the 3D containers and with that you can see the main difference between the two, as described above.
Should you find yourself in a situation where you can’t figure something out in Title Studio please feel free to reach out anytime - we’re always here to help.
Cheers,
Peter.
(Attachment containers.blu is missing)
Hi Ed,
Would it be possible for you to send me a title studio project for the title crawl that you’re working on? It’ll be easier for me to diagnose the problem that you’re encountering if I can work directly with your project.
Thanks,
Peter.
Hi Peter:
I really appreciate your taking a look at this end crawl. I know I will be making a lot of updates to it, and it will sure help to make it easier once I understand better how to approach it.
-Ed
(Attachment SALIER_End Crawl.blu is missing)
Hi Peter:
I really appreciate your taking a look at this end crawl. I know I will be making a lot of updates to it, and it will sure help to make it easier once I understand better how to approach it.
-Ed
SALIER_End Crawl.blu.zip (2.6 KB)
Hey Ed,
Thanks for sending along the project - it definitely helps.
So if I understand correctly the desired result, you would like to set the last title in the container to remain centered on the screen and then fade out over a couple of frames while retaining the ability to add, subtract or modify the contents of the title container while still keeping the final credit centered on screen. This is possible.
To do this, all you need to do is to move the end keyframe on the title container track to the desired end position in time so that the automation knows where to stop the crawl. You shouldn’t need to add keyframes, unless you want to manually control the animation but please be aware that if you manually add keyframes to the container, the automation in the title container will remove them if the number of contents that are in the container are modified.
Doe this make sense? If not please let me know and I’ll make a screen recording for you to better illustrate the workflow.
Cheers,
P.
Hi Peter:
I am attaching two screenshots. One has the endcrawl with a hold keyframe (Endcrawl with freeze). The End crawl stops as expected.
The next screenshot has the keyframe removed and the end, I guess that is an end keyframe? moved to the hold position as I think you suggested, but I had to reset the entire move of the crawl, and where it is supposed to hold, now the picture does not stay on in the hold position, it just goes to black.
Here are the instructions I follow to create the crawl.
How to create Rolls in BCC:
Make a new credit.
Delete the default container
Create New title container
Add Flat Text
Delete Standard Text
Import text file
Set page width to 550
Select all text
Turn text wrap on
Set text to white
Select transformation option in title container
Go to controls tab
Change animation style to Roll
To Add Logo:
Duplicate Page
Change text layer [T] to Image File
Select image
To correct spacing, select Logo and Select Page Tab
Adjust Header and Footer.
Anyway, the above are the steps I follow. I works, until I need to make changes in the text, Then the roll does not behave the way it did when first set up.
I am unclear as to what you are referring to when you say “automation”.
Thanks, Ed
March 31 |
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Hey Ed,
Thanks for sending along the project - it definitely helps.
So if I understand correctly the desired result, you would like to set the last title in the container to remain centered on the screen and then fade out over a couple of frames while retaining the ability to add, subtract or modify the contents of the title container while still keeping the final credit centered on screen. This is possible.
To do this, all you need to do is to move the end keyframe on the title container track to the desired end position in time so that the automation knows where to stop the crawl. You shouldn’t need to add keyframes, unless you want to manually control the animation but please be aware that if you manually add keyframes to the container, the automation in the title container will remove them if the number of contents that are in the container are modified.
Doe this make sense? If not please let me know and I’ll make a screen recording for you to better illustrate the workflow.
Cheers,
P.
