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# Importing BluffTitler created animations into other software

BluffTitler exports its animations as AVI files. The AVI format is the most widely supported animation format and every video and animation application can import AVI files.

Choose File > Export as Movie... to export a BluffTitler show as an AVI file.

You can use Window Media Player (WMP) to check if your animation has been exported successfully.

The following four settings are important when creating an AVI file:

- 1 RESOLUTION
  This is the size of the animation in pixels. Use the menu item File > Set Show Resolution... to change the resolution. Most DVD authoring tools accept the PAL DVD and NTSC DVD presets. NTSC is used in the USA, Japan and most Latin American countries. PAL is used in Europe and the rest of the world.
- 2 FRAMERATE
  This is the animation speed in number of frames per second. Use the menu item File > Export as Movie... to change the framerate. Again use the PAL and NTSC presets.
- 3 VIDEO COMPRESSION
  This is the way the movie is compressed to make it occupy less disk space. Use the menu item File > Export as Movie... to change the compression type.
  If a codec (encoder filter) refuses to work you will have to do some experimenting with different resolutions. Some codecs have strange limitations. For example some codecs demand that the horizontal resolution is divisible by 8,16,32 or even 64. Other codecs, like DivX seem to work only with a limited number of standard resolutions like 640 x 480 and 800 x 600. If everything fails choose Microsoft Video 1 or Full Frames (Uncompressed).
  Compressed or uncompressed?
  If your BluffTitler generated video file is not the final product but an intermediate file, meant for further processing in a DVD authoring tool, Windows Movie Maker or any other video editing tool we advice you not to use compression. In that case, for maximum quality, compression should be postponed to the very end: when you press the burn DVD or publish online button.
  Uncompressed AVI will give you the best possible image quality, but also the biggest file size. In fact, uncompressed AVI files will not play without stuttering and most of the time never reach the end because harddisks are not fast enough to read that much information from disk in time. This is not a problem for your DVD authoring tool because the DVD it will create will play perfect, but if you want to watch smooth animations on your computer you have to use compression.
  A good lossless video codec can be found here.
- 4 TRANSPARENCY
  BluffTitler can create AVI files with transparency information (RGBA, or AVI with alpha channel). You can do this by selecting Uncompressed AVI with transparency in the File/Export as Movie... dialog. This is very useful if you want to overlay your titles onto your videos, but unfortunately not all video tools can import AVIs with transparency, so try using AVI without transparency if your NLE starts complaining about not being able to read your AVI file.
  BluffTitler offers the possibility to export as compressed AVI with transparency info. This combination of compression and transparency is rare and not many encoders and NLEs support it.

This page gives you tips for the following applications:

- AVS Video Editor
- Canopus Edius
- MAGIX Video
- Microsoft Windows Movie Maker
- Photodex ProShow Producer
- Pinnacle Studio
- Pinnacle Liquid
- PureMotion EditStudio
- Serif MoviePlus (123 Video Montage)
- Sony Vegas
- Ulead VideoStudio

If you've experienced any problems with importing BluffTitler generated AVIs or are using a program that's not listed here please share your knowledge with other users. Send your reports to:

info@outerspace-software.com

# AVS Video Editor

There are no issues with AVS Video Editor, it gives excellent results. Export the BT animations as full frame AVIs (uncompressed) and then use AVS Video Editor to burn them to a DVD.

# Canopus Edius

### AVI limitations

Canopus seems to accept only animations that have the exact DVD resolution and framerate.

For the PAL version use a resolution of 720 x 576 and a framerate of 25

For the NTSC version use a resolution of 720 x 480 and a framerate of 29.97

# MAGIX Video deLuxe

### Importing a movie

Drag and drop the AVI files from the file browser onto the timeline.

### AVI limitations

MAGIX Video deLuxe version 2007 and later support transparency. Older versions do not support AVIs with transparency info. Apart from that all resolutions and framerates are accepted: MAGIX scales them to the required resolution.

### Transparency

MAGIX Video deLuxe version 2007 and later support transparency. To import a transparent video perform the following steps:

- click on the right mouse button
- open Video Effect
- click on Black Box in Mix FX

# Microsoft Windows Movie Maker

A BluffTitler animation imported in Windows Movie Maker.

### Importing a movie

Choose File > Import... or drop the AVI file onto WMM.

### AVI limitations

No limitations.

### Transparency

Movie Maker can import transparent AVIs, but seems to ignore the transparency information.

### Peculiarities

In Windows XP you won't find WMM in the start menu. You can find the application in the C:\Program Files\Movie Maker folder.

# Photodex ProShow Producer

### Importing AVIs into Photodex ProShow Producer

Simply drag the AVI file from the folders list to the timeline.

### Transparency

Version 3.5 does not seem to support transparent AVIs.

# Pinnacle Studio

A transparent BluffTitler animation mixed with a video background in Pinnacle Studio Plus version 10.5.

### Importing AVIs into Pinnacle Studio

Select the Edit tab and use the dropdown listbox and the two buttons to the right of the listbox to select the BluffTitler created AVI file. Selected AVI files can be dragged onto the timeline.

### Transparency

Transparent AVIs can be dropped on the overlay track of the timeline. This way they are rendered transparently on top of the video track.

Studio 10 can handle transparancy, but older versions seem to have problems handling transparent AVIs. If Studio complains about not being able to read your AVI file you will have to export your animations without transparency.

### Stuttering DVDs

If your Studio 10 created DVDs stutter you have to switch from Best Quality to Automatic Quality.

### Memory problems

Pinnacle uses a lot of system resources, including precious video memory that BluffTitler requires for high quality antialiasing. For maximum quality it is best not to keep Pinnacle and BluffTitler open at the same time.

# Pinnacle Liquid

### BluffTitler exports which are not to be overlaid over video

Use Uncompressed AVI or Numbered Frames for maximum quality.

### BluffTitler exports which are to be overlaid over video

Use the Uncompressed AVI with Transparency option. If file output size is an issue and still wish to overlay an animation you can use Liquid's Chroma Key option. Choose File > Set Background Colour... in BluffTitler to set the background colour. Once imported in Liquid you can use the Keying Editor located under Classic Clip FX/Editors with little or no adjustments.

When the BluffTitler exports are imported into Liquid Edition 5.5 they will need to be rendered as DV Quality before they can be used from within the NLE. This usually starts automatically because of the "Background Render" feature of Liquid Edition 5.5.

### Importing AVIs into Liquid Edition

Select the desired Rack and right click in the content window and choose Import, Media Clip.

### Further antialiasing in Liquid Edition

If required you can further antialias a BluffTitler animation by using the Gaussian Blur option from the Classic Filter Editor and set the Horizontal Radius & Vertical Radius both to 0.4.

### Bitmap problem

Bitmaps (.BMP files) exported from Liquid Edition are dispayed as a white screen in BluffTitler. Loading the bitmap into Paint and saving the image again corrects the problem.

### Memory problems

Pinnacle uses a lot of system resources, including precious video memory that BluffTitler requires for high quality antialiasing. For maximum quality it is best not to keep Pinnacle and BluffTitler open at the same time.

# PureMotion EditStudio

EditStudio has no problems importing BluffTitler generated movies.

### Transparency

ES does not yet suppport AVI with transparency, so use the chroma key - and that is easy to use in ES.

# Serif MoviePlus

There are no issues importing BluffTitler generated AVI files into Serif MoviePlus 4 and Serif MoviePlus 5.

# Sony Vegas

### Transparency

Vegas does not automatically recognize the alpha (transparency) channel in the AVI files. When you right-click on the clip in Vegas and choose Properties you can set the Alpha Channel. In Vegas, there are 3 choices for how to handle alpha channels:

- Straight (unmatted): this option does not seem to work.
- Premultipled: this option works somewhat, but there are blue edges and things are not looking quite right.
- Premultipled (dirty): this option works the best, maybe perfect.

### Peculiarities

Vegas 5 refuses to import files from a path containing the word "TITLE" - all uppercase. If ANY or ALL of the letters are lowercase, there is no problem reading or finding the file. Change the folder name, or move the file in question and you should not have any problems opening it.

The Sony Vegas Movie Studio (little brother to Vegas) works the exact same way as the main Vegas application. The lite version can also handle transparent AVIs. You need to click on the video event properties, followed by the media properties to select the premultiplied dirty option.

# Ulead VideoStudio

A transparent BluffTitler animation mixed with a video background in Ulead Video Studio 8.

### Importing a movie

Drag and drop the AVI files from the file browser(library) onto the timeline.

### AVI limitations

VideoStudio can handle all AVI formats.

### Transparency

VideoStudio can handle AVI files with transparency. In the timeline mode (not the default storyboard mode) you can see two video tracks. Drag the background video to the first track and the transparent AVI to the second. For some reason you have to switch between tracks a couple of times before the two video tracks are mixed correctly.

### Peculiarities

VideoStudio does not scale AVI files to fullscreen, so make sure the resolution of the title animation matches the resolution of the background video.