Digital Juice Wedding Editor's Toolkit [Archive]

Philip Colmer

11-26-2004, 06:00 PM

<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk.jpg" /> Product Category: Royalty-free video content Manufacturer: <a href="http://www.digitaljuice.com/">Digital Juice</a> Where to Buy: <a href="http://www.digitaljuice.com/products/products.asp?cid=&pid=39">Digital Juice</a> Price: $599 USD System Requirements: Works on all computer-based video editing systems that can read an alpha channel in AVI, MOV, RTV or TGA/TIFF sequences. DVD-ROM drive required. QuickTime 6 or greater recommended. Juicer 2 software works on Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS v9.22 and OS X v10.1.5+. Minimum 25MB free hard drive space. Pros:<li>Extensive set of high quality animated clips themed for wedding videos; <li>Very easy to use with popular video editing products; <li>All content is royalty-free.Cons:<li>Cost may put off some potential purchasers; <li>No audio clips included; <li>Not enough documentation to explain what you've got.Summary: A comprehensive of coordinated video clips that will act a knockout punch to your wedding videos! Great quality, great value - and you don't have to use them with just wedding videos :D. Read on for the full review!<!> <PAGEBREAK> Money, Money and Yet more Money According to a recent American Wedding Study by Bridal Infobank, the last ten years have seen spending on an average wedding grow by 50% to an average of $22,360. This trend is repeated in other countries - UK weddings cost a similar amount of money. According to the President of the Association for Wedding Professionals International, 6% of the $65 billion spent on weddings each year will be for video, equating to $390 million. Average prices seem to be around $2,500, growing to perhaps double that, depending on the equipment and personnel used, and the content and time taken to create the final result. Faced with that sort of charge, you are going to expect high quality product. If you are the person providing the service, how do you ensure that you deliver that product in a market where you might expect to spend up to 40 hours a wedding video and still want to make a reasonable annual income? Enter the Wedding Editor's Toolkit The Wedding Editor's Toolkit from Digital Juice is a good starting point. Shipping on 10 DVDs, plus the Juicer software on CD-ROM, you get:<li> 50 animated wipes; <li> 22 animated backgrounds; <li> 20 animated jump sets; <li> 100 motion design elements; <li> 25 fonts.That's a lot of content and when I first received the package, my thought was "how on earth am I going to be able to choose what I want to use?". Enter the Juicer ... Juice That Content! The Juicer is processing software, supplied free with all Digital Juice products, that runs on both Windows and Macintosh systems. It acts as a product browser, allowing you to access thumbnails and information about the DJ products you've got. Once you select an item, Juicer then previews the item so that you can see the animation in action. It also allows you to perform keyword searches to help find content of interest. This feature is very useful because of the wide range of keywords used. Not only can you look for colour words, e.g. blue, but also content words like balloons and bands. The last example is particularly indicative of how much attention Digital Juice pay to how their customers might use their products - the keyword list includes both "band" and "bands". If you search for "band", you will find two clips, each containing a single ring. If you search for "bands", you get - you guessed it - clips containing two rings. It may be a small point but it is a detail point and this product shows time and time again how DJ pays attention to the details. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-juicer.jpg" /> Figure 1: Juicer 2 showing product browser and preview window. Once you've selected the content of interest, you place it in the render queue - the busy part of Juicer where it converts the clips to almost any codec on your system, ready for use with your video editing product. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-juicer-settings.jpg" /> Figure 2: Render settings in Juicer 2. In the rendering process, the tool can output both NTSC and PAL DV sized video with selectable field priority, frames per second and speed of animation. You can specify how long you want the clip to be and, if you've selected a length that is shorter than the original, Juicer can create cross-dissolve frames at the end so that the clip can be used as a loop. That last point is an area where the Juicer really helps to extend the usefulness of the toolkit. You aren't just getting a bunch of DVDs with some video clips that you drop into your productions. The Juicer helps you to create unique content by virtue of allowing you to change the output parameters, not only to suit your needs, but also to help make this production slightly different from any previous production, or from any production made by someone else using the toolkit. Where Juicer could do with additional flexibility, though, is the speed of the animation. At the moment, it is limited to a few choices from a menu - very slow, slow, normal, fast and very fast. Juicer interpolates the frames it has according to the speed you've selected. Unfortunately, if you want to alter the duration of the clip and you want it to remain loopable, you need to select the cross dissolve option. It would be better if you could enter the desired duration and Juicer automatically adjusts the frame interpolation to meet your needs. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-juicer-effects.jpg" /> Figure 3: Manipulating the output. Another example of how the Juicer works to extend the versatility of the content shipped on the DVDs, it can colourise the animation to meet your needs and also flip and rotate the output. Changing the colour of the content is a fantastic way to extend the lifespan of the toolkit as you can easily adapt the content to match your production, as you'll see in some of the examples later on in this review. There are, however, two drawbacks to this feature, in my opinion:<li> The Juicer needs an eye-dropper that allows you to pick any colour on the screen. This would make it easier to match against a video clip. <li> The colourise option should default to the current colour of the content. This would make it easier to make small adjustments to the colour, for example if you want to take a gold clip and tone it down slightly.<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-juicer-output.jpg" /> Figure 4: Juicer output choices. Let's take a closer look at the content delivered on the toolkit. <PAGEBREAK> Animated Wipes The animated wipes are wipes with alpha channel information that animate in then out of the composition so that, at one point in that animation, one or more frames covers the full screen. The end result is that you blend from clip 1 into the animated wipe and then into clip 2. This offers a themed alternative to transitional wipes, where you blend from clip 1 to clip 2. Here is an example. I took the Heartburn wipe and adjusted the colour from its original pink to be closer to the mauve colour worn by the bridesmaids. I then placed this on a higher video track within Premiere Pro and job done! <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-animatedwipe.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-animatedwipe.jpg" /></a> Figure 5: Animated wipe in action. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (8.2MB). One thing that catches the first-time user out with animated wipes, and some of the other content from Digital Juice, is that you have to render that sequence within your video editing package. They question why this is, given that Juicer has already done the job. The answer is down to the alpha channel - because the wipe is acting as a transition between one clip and another, there will be frames, as seen in Figure 5 for example, where the frame from clip 1 or 2 needs to be blended with the clip from the animated wipe, thus resulting in a rendering process. The range and choice of animated wipes is stunning, as is the quality of the animation and rendering. Figure 6 gives a taste of some of the wipes, but it really is only a taste - a static photo doesn't really do justice to the animation. I've included a link at the end of this review to the gallery on the Digital Juice Website where you can see the animation in action. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-animatedwipes.jpg" /> Figure 6: Some of the animated wipes. The primary benefit to a video editor when using these wipes is that they introduce a visually appealing changeover from the first clip to the second clip that isn't normally available within an editing product. Animated Backgrounds The animated backgrounds are all full-screen and loopable. They can be used to design menus or to place behind transitions that don't fill the screen. There isn't any alpha channel involved as they are intended to sit behind your existing material. <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-animatedbackground.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-animatedbackground.jpg" /></a> Figure 7: Text displayed over an animated background. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (23.6MB). <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-animatedbackground2.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-animatedbackground2.jpg" /></a> Figure 8: A transition over an animated background. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (3.12MB). If you look at the two QuickTime movies above, you'll see how much impact is added by the presence of the animation. This is particularly true in the case of the cube transition. Typically, this would happen over a black background, although you could relatively easily introduce a simple colour background or even a static image. The ease, though, in which you can drop an animated background behind the transition (and, again, I've colourised the animation to better match the dress colour) just adds a whole different level to the end result. <PAGEBREAK> Jump Sets When I started playing with the Juicer and examining what was on the DVDs, I felt a bit confused as to what a Jump Set was and how it was intended to be used. A bit of reading on the DJ Website and looking at some of the videos that they have there and things became clearer. Each Jump Set is a collection of a minimum of six items, all following a theme for that set. By using a set, you gain consistent and a highly professional look to your end product. The six items are:<li> An animated background; <li> An animated full screen wipe; <li> A lower third; <li> A template; <li> An overlay; <li> A transitional wipe.The animated background and animated full screen wipe are identical in application to those seen earlier in this review but are themed to the set. This means that, in practice, you've got 70 animated wipes and 42 animated backgrounds in total in this product. <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-068-background.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-068-background.jpg" /></a> Figure 9: Jump Set 68's animated background. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (7.8MB). <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-068-fullscreenwipe.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-068-fullscreenwipe.jpg" /></a> Figure 10: The full-screen wipe from the same set. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (7.3MB). Lower thirds will be familiar to anyone who has used a titling product - they are a graphic, traditionally a static one, which is placed in the lower third portion of the screen and act as a layer between the video and text. The difference with these lower thirds is that they are animated. As with the animated backgrounds used with text, having animated lower thirds adds a fantastic new dimension to the finished product. <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-068-lowerthird.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-068-lowerthird.jpg" /></a> Figure 11: The set's lower third. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (16.3MB). Templates are a little bit confusing to begin with as, at first glance, they look similar to the animated background, so you start wondering what they are for and where the template name fits in. Their design and purpose is to provide a slightly subtler background so that text stands out more clearly - they are intended to be used with menu text and the like. <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-068-template.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-068-template.jpg" /></a> Figure 12: An example of using the template. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (12.7MB). Overlays sit on top of the video and have an alpha area to allow the video to show through. You can see how this works in Figure 13. As with the rest of the set, though, the overlay is animated thus adding more interest to the content. <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-068-overlay.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-068-overlay.jpg" /></a> Figure 13: Set 68's overlay. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (10.8MB). The transitional wipes are just like the wipes you are used to with your video editor, where the wipe defines a progressive change from the first clip directly to the second clip. Nothing new there, you might think, except for the fact that these wipes are themed to the set and therefore add to the overall effect you are aiming for. <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-068-transwipe.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-068-transwipe.jpg" /></a> Figure 14: Transition wipe from set 68. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (7.5MB). The technique used to get the transition wipe working will depend on your editing package and this highlights another area where Digital Juice are strong - their knowledge and support for a wide range of professional and semi-professional products. Visiting the support section of their Website reveals common questions and answers including how to set up the transition wipes with many of the common editing products. They also have forums that other users and DJ staff frequent. <PAGEBREAK> Motion Design Elements Motion design elements (also known as MDEs) are, in essence, clip-art, but that is almost doing them a disservice. For unlike traditional clip-art that is flat and static, these are animated sequences. The inclusion of alpha channels means that you can easily place these elements over your video or, as a video demo on the DJ site shows, you can combine the elements with other parts to create your own unique backgrounds. MDEs are possibly the hardest part of the toolkit to use effectively, primarily because they require more thought about how best to use them if you don't want the end result to look cheesy :oops:. I've put together a short clip that demonstrates some of the MDEs included in the toolkit. I've provided two versions - clicking on the screenshot will launch a QuickTime movie of the same dimensions, i.e. 320x240. I've also included a version that is the same resolution as PAL DV, i.e. 720x576. The movie file is much larger (159MB) but it does show the elements at their best resolution. Any artefacts in the QT movie are a result of the compression settings used. <a href="/files/reviewvideos/colmer-wetk-mde.mov"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-mde.jpg" /></a> Figure 15: Motion Design Elements in action. Click on the image to play the QuickTime movie (44.4MB). Fonts The fonts included in the toolkit are TrueType fonts for both PC and Macintosh. As such, they scale beautifully to best meet your needs. Figure 15 gives a small example of each of the fonts supplied. Installation of the fonts is through the normal process for each operating system and, once installed, you just use them as normal. <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/colmer-wetk-fonts.jpg" /> Figure 16: The fonts. WETK in Action All of the examples included in this review have been made with my own fair hand, Premiere Pro and a Matrox RT-100 editing system. The video clips were taken on a Sony camcorder at my brother's wedding. Once you get past the learning curve of understanding just what it is that the DVDs contain, how to drive the Juicer and what makes up a Jump Set, it really is very easy indeed to start adding content from the toolkit into your videos. In the main, once you've found the settings in Juicer that work best for your editing configuration, you'll stick to those and the Juicer software makes it easy for you to define the default settings for the different types of content that DJ deliver. If you would like to see reduced-size animated versions of the content from the toolkit, Digital Juice have got a <a href="http://www.digitaljuice.com/products/products.asp?pid=39&tab=t3">gallery on their Website</a>. Conclusions The cost of the toolkit is possibly something that some potential purchasers will initially blanch at. However, when you remember how much content you are getting, the quality of that content and how easily it is going to be to incorporate it into your productions, I do think it is value for money. Not just that, but if you are serious about wedding videos, you'll soon make that money back and then some. 8) If there is one thing that the toolkit is lacking, though, it is some royalty-free music. It would be the finishing touch to what is otherwise a superb product and one that exudes professionalism.