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Include a Digital Clock in a Studio Movie Scene

Include a Digital Clock in a Studio Movie Scene By Le Papy - Last updated on Monday, October 27, 2014
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Published on Friday, March 21, 2014
Created on Saturday, January 4, 2014 4:42 AM

In the tutorial "The Boris Graffiti Character Generator can Create a Digital Alarm Clock" I promised you a tutorial on how to use the digital alarm clock that you made ​​with Boris Graffiti. I guess a number of you have already managed to achieve this integration in Studio. So maybe I should just provide a simple outline in Studio 17. But I don't want to disappoint you, so I will give you a readymade Boris Graffiti effect that may be a little more sophisticated than what you have already done. You can then take the time to dissect it and see the differences from the one you created from the Boris Graffiti tutorial.

If you wish, you can integrate both of them, embellished with some sound effects that you can download. In short, you have everything you need to create a fixed close-up on a bedside table and create the ambience of an early morning scene... For example, it could look like this:

Step 1 : Collect Materials

If you did the "The Boris Graffiti Character Generator can Create a Digital Alarm Clock" tutorial, you've already installed the "Digital 7" font on your computer. Otherwise, start with the basics.

To perform this tutorial, I made the TutoClockIntegration.zip file available in the "Associated Link(s)" section at the bottom of this tutorial (right click + save to download the file) containing the images of two Clock radios that will work well in this situation, one image of a bedside table and the Boris Graffiti .grf file effect, which is different from the one you have done. You could get a few sounds from the BigSoundBank site, for example, if you do not have what is needed in your personal music library.

Step 2 : Integration into Studio

The first thing we must do is drag the bedside.png file to A/V Track (2).

As a reminder, the Boris Graffiti effect was created with a length of 25 seconds. It should therefore be applied to a clip of 25 seconds. But since the seconds are not displayed, if you apply it to a clip that's 15 seconds long no one will see that the seconds scroll too fast ...

  1. Right-click on the image of the bedside to adjust the length of the clip.
  2. Set it to 15 or 25 seconds, depending on your preference.
  3. Click OK.
Setting the clip duration
  1. Drag the digital clock to A/V Track (1).
  2. Lengthen the duration of the clip until it's the same length as the clip placed on the A/V Track (2).

Double-click on the digital alarm clock image to access the effects editor.

Implementation of the digital clock on the A/V (1) track
  1. You are now in the Effects Editor. Click on 7, Add-ons.
  2. Select Filter.
  3. Then select Boris Graffiti in the ribbon.
Applying a Boris Graffiti effect
  1. The Boris Graffiti plugin is loaded.
  2. Click Open to access the "Library Browser" window for Boris Graffiti.
  3. Immediately click "Advanced Mode".
Opening Boris Graffiti plugin
Loading Boris Graffiti effect

The Boris Graffiti interface opens with an effect loaded by default. You need to load the effect you have created and saved at the end of the "The Boris Graffiti Character Generator can Create a Digital Alarm Clock tutorial." If you have followed the recommendations of the tutorial ".GRF Files management in Boris Graffiti (animated preview)", you should have saved your effect in the Boris Graffiti Library.

  1. From the "File" menu,
  2. Select "Open Setting",
  3. Click the Grf effect that you saved previously.

We left the alpha key on Straight Alpha at the end of the previous tutorial. But the backup did not take this into account. The alarm clock appears on a black background instead of a transparent background. We must therefore set this alpha key again.

  1. Select the "Background" track.
  2. The "Host Media" tab is available.
  3. Change the alpha key to "Straight Alpha".

The digital alarm clock now appears on a transparent background.


Changing the Alpha key
You can refine the positioning of the Boris Graffiti effect on the digital alarm clock. Select the 3D Container track and, using the mouse, click the blue dot in the center of the selection rectangle and position the Boris Graffiti effect exactly where you want it. Then click "Apply" to exit the Boris Graffiti interface. Adjusting the position of the Boris Graffiti effect on digital clocks
You're back in the Studio 17 effects editor. The digital alarm clock is a little big but you'll be scaling it down. Back in the effects editor of Studio 17

You are still in the effects editor and the digital alarm clock stays selected. Click the (1) 2D-3D button and select the 3D editor GPU in the strip. With Studio 17, the Solo button is not on by default, so you see the A/V Track (1) and A/V Track (2).

  1. Reduce the size to your liking, 17% looks like a good setting.
  2. Put the digital alarm clock on the bedside by changing the Horizontal, Vertical, and Z parameters as shown on the screenshot.

Click OK to exit the editor effects and enter the main interface of Studio 17. Your digital alarm clock is now functional.


Applying a 3D effect GPU
Step 3 : Bonus

Here is the timeline of the clip shown at the beginning of this tutorial:

Studio 17 Timeline for the présentattion clip

You have succeeded in creating the early morning ambience ... angel

{Thanks to Loosecannon for the fine tuning}


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