BluffTitler video tutorials

All videos on this page are screen recordings of

BluffTitler running on Windows 10

Introduction video
This 12 minute introduction video walks you through the basic functionality.
Watch video

1 How to use templates

This tutorial shows you how to open a video template, how to play the
template and how to change the text.
Watch video

2 How to use layers

This tutorial shows you how a show is built out of layers, how to create layers
and how to delete them.
Watch video
3 How to use styles
This tutorial shows you how to use the layer styles.
Watch video

4 How to use properties

This tutorial shows you how to use the layer properties.
Watch video

5 How to use keyframes

This tutorial shows you how to create a keyframe animation.
Watch video

6 How to use effects

This tutorial shows you how to use textures and effects.
Watch video
7 How to publish a template
This tutorial shows you how to publish a template.
Watch video

SupportCommunity

How to create a simple show

Step 1: create a new show
Action: Choose FILE > New show.

Explanation: choosing this menu item gives you a basic show with the
default text. You can change this text with the Textbox in the upper left
corner of the tool window.

Step 2: create the first key

Action: Click the Create Key button.

A small vertical line above the Time slider (the big slider on the right) is now
visible, representing this key.

Explanation: to make smooth animations you only have to define a few

keyframes and BluffTitler computes all the in between frames. To create an
animation you need at least 2 different keyframes.
Step 3: change the time
Action: Drag the Time slider (the biggest slider) all the way to the right.

The text above the slider now says: '00:03.000' which means 3 seconds.

Explanation: in order to create the 2nd key we first have to change the
current time.

Step 4: change the scene

Action: Use the Property sliders (the 3 sliders) to change the scene. Drag
the lowest slider to the left until the text completely fills the screen.

Explanation: all the effects you can animate are listed in the Property
dropdown (the dropdown above the 3 sliders). The default property is
Position. In this mode the 1st slider controls the horizontal, the 2nd the
vertical and the 3rd the depth position. To move the text towards the camera
you change the depth position. Notice that a keyframe is created
automatically when you change the scene.

Step 5: showtime!
Action: Click the Play button.

That's all!

Basic concepts
Properties
All the things you can animate are listed in the Properties dropdown. This is
the dropdown above the 3 sliders. In this tutorial we have animated the text
position. If you know how to animate 1 property you can animate them all!
You can change the property itself with the 3 sliders. Most properties have 3
components. For example, when selecting Position the 1st slider controls
the horizontal, the 2nd slider the vertical and the 3rd the depth position.
When selecting Rotation the sliders control the heading, pitch and roll.
When selecting Colour the sliders control the red, green and blue
components.

Keys
A keyframe (key) is a set of properties at a specific time. To produce an
animation you need at least 2 different keys. BluffTitler computes all the
frames in between.
Every key is represented by a small vertical line above the time slider. You
can select a key by clicking on it, or by pressing the Previous key and Next
key buttons.
You can edit keyframes with the buttons above the time slider. Keys can be
moved, copied, pasted and deleted.

Layers
A BluffTitler animation is built out of layers. Every layer has its own effects.
For example with the text layer you can create 3D texts, with the picture
layer you can place a picture in the background and with the plasma layer
you can create plasma effects.
All layers are listed in the layers dropdown. This is the big dropdown above
the Play button. You can edit only a single layer at a time. You set the active
layer with this dropdown.
You can create a new text layer with the menu item LAYER > Add layer >
Add text layer. All the other layers can be created with other submenus of
the LAYER > Add layer menu item. You can delete the active layer with the
menu item LAYER > Delete active Layer.
Summary
A show is built out of layers.
A layer is built out of keyframes.
A keyframe contains properties you set with the 3 sliders.

How to export your show

How do I export my BluffTitler show?

Choose FILE > Export as video... to export a BluffTitler show as a video file.

The following 5 settings are important when creating a video file:

1 RESOLUTION
This is the size of the video in pixels. Use the menu item FILE > Set show resolution... to set
the resolution.

2 FRAMERATE
This is the animation speed in number of frames per second. Use the menu item FILE > Export
as video... to set the framerate.

3 FILE FORMAT
BluffTitler can export its shows as MP4 and AVI files. Use the menu item FILE > Export as
video... to set the format.

MP4 (MPEG-4) is the best choice when your video is the final product. Learn more

Use AVI when the video is a temporary file meant for further processing in your video editing
app (NLE). Uncompressed is recommended. This gives you the best possible quality. Do not
worry about the huge file size because the file is only temporary and will be compressed by your
NLE when your video is published.

4 TRANSPARENCY
BluffTitler can create videos with transparency information (RGBA). You can do this by
selecting one of the with transparency options in the FILE > Export as video... dialog. This is
useful when you want to overlay your titles onto your videos.

A lossless codec that supports transparency is Lagarith

5 QUALITY
Choose SETTINGS > High quality to switch to high quality. Unless you have a very fast
machine, edit in normal quality and export in high quality.

MP4
BluffTitler uses the MP4 encoder that comes with Windows. The format is H.264/AAC and the
technology Media Foundation (MF).

Unfortunately this encoder has undocumented limitations. If you have problems exporting as
MP4, try the following:

 Upgrade to Windows 10

 Update Windows

 Use a standard or lower resolution

 Use a standard or lower framerate

 Free memory by closing other apps

 Unload the show before running the MP4 encoder Learn more
  Try another profile in the Drivers tab of the SETTINGS > Options... dialog.

Alternatively you can export as AVI and use your NLE to convert to MP4.

Video editing apps (NLEs)

This page gives you tips for using BluffTitler in combination with the following apps:

 Adobe Premiere

 AVS Video Editor

 Cyberlink PowerDirector

 DaVinci Resolve

 Grass Valley EDIUS

 ivsEdits

 Magix VEGAS Movie Studio

 Magix Video deLuxe

 Microsoft Windows Movie Maker

 Photodex Proshow

 Pinnacle Studio

 Pinnacle Liquid

 PureMotion EditStudio

 Serif MoviePlus (123 Video Montage)

 Ulead VideoStudio

Adobe Premiere
Choose FILE > Import to import a video file into Adobe Premiere.

For more info visit adobe.com

 AVS Video Editor
There are no issues with AVS Video Editor.

For more info visit avs4you.com

Cyberlink PowerDirector
Cyberlink PowerDirector has trouble importing transparant AVI files. A workaround for this
issue can be found here.

For more info visit cyberlink.com

DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve has trouble importing transparant AVI files. A workaround for this issue can be
found here.

For more info visit blackmagicdesign.com

Grass Valley EDIUS

The latest version of Grass Valley's EDIUS can import video files in any resolution and
framerate.

For more info visit grassvalley.com

For the best result export your show with the Grass Valley HQX Codec

ivsEdits
Importing a video
Right click in the Repository window, choose Add Files > From Project Folders and drag the
thumbnail of the video from the repository to the timeline.

Transparency
ivsEdits has no problems importing transparent videos.
 Links
For more info visit ivs.it

Magix VEGAS Movie Studio

Transparency
Vegas does not automatically recognize the alpha (transparency) channel in the AVI files. You
can instruct Vegas to use the alpha channel by right clicking on the video in the timeline,
choosing Properties and setting the Alpha Channel dropdown in the Media tab to Straight
(unmatted). Make sure to place the transparent video in the Video Overlay track.

This video tutorial demonstrates how to import a transparent BluffTitler show in Vegas Pro 15.

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.

Links
For more info visit vegascreativesoftware.com

Visit the English Vegas forum here.

Visit the Dutch Vegas forum here.

Magix Video deLuxe

Importing a video
Drag and drop the video file 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 the right mouse button

 open Video Effect

 click on Black Box in Mix FX

Links
For more info visit magix.com

Microsoft Windows Movie Maker

Importing a video
Choose FILE > Import... or drop the video file onto WMM.

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

Photodex Proshow
Importing videos into Photodex Proshow
Drag the video file from the folders list to the timeline.

Transparency
Proshow does not support transparent AVIs, but it can use another video as a mask. You can
create this mask video by applying the System/ViewAlphaChannel effect to the camera layer. Let
both the FX Invert and the FX Checkerboard properties to 0 (video must be white on a black
background) and export your video as AVI with Transparency (Compressed or Uncompressed, as
you want).

This trick requires the Producer version.

Pinnacle Studio
Importing videos into Pinnacle Studio
Select the Edit tab and use the dropdown and the two buttons to the right of the dropdown to
select the BluffTitler created video file. Selected video 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 shows without transparency.

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

Links
For more info visit pinnaclesys.com

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 you
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 into 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 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.

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.

Links
For more info visit pinnaclesys.com

PureMotion EditStudio
EditStudio has no problems importing BluffTitler generated videos.

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

Links
For more info visit mediachance.com

Serif MoviePlus (123 Video Montage)

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

For more info visit serif.com

Ulead VideoStudio
Importing a video
Drag and drop the video file from the file browser(library) onto the timeline.

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 video files to fullscreen, so make sure the resolution of the title
animation matches the resolution of the background video.

SupportCommunity

How to use templates

This page explains how you can change the texts and pictures of a BluffTitler
show.
There are 3 main sources of BluffTitler templates:
 The BluffTitler installer
 BixPack
 The community

Change all texts

The easiest way to change the texts is to choose EDIT > Change all
Texts... This displays a dialog where you can edit all texts the show uses.
The same dialog is displayed when you click on the corresponding button in
the upper right corner of the render window or press <Control> A.

BluffTitler uses a clever system to hide texts that are unlikely to be meant as
template texts. Mark the Show all checkbox to edit all texts.

Change all pictures

The easiest way to change the pictures is to choose EDIT > Change all
Textures... This displays a dialog where you can edit all pictures the show
uses.
Texture is the computer graphics term for a picture or photo.
The same dialog is displayed when you click on the corresponding button in
the upper right corner of the render window or press <Alt> A.
BluffTitler uses a clever system to hide pictures that are unlikely to be meant
as template pictures. Mark the Show all checkbox to edit all pictures.

Layers
A BluffTitler show is built out of layers. Every layer can have its own text and
pictures. The above dialogs are shortcuts to change the texts and pictures of
all layers without having to select those layers. The below techniques require
that you select the right layer first.

Layers dropdown
You can select a layer (making it the active layer) with the layers dropdown
above the Play button on the tool window.

Change the text of the active layer

You can edit the text of the active layer with the textbox on the left side of
the tool window. Alternatively you can choose MEDIA > Change text....

Change the picture of the active layer

You can replace the 1st picture of the active layer by clicking the Change
texture... button on the right side of the tool window.
Alternatively you can choose MEDIA > Change texture... or choose
MEDIA > Change effect... or press <F8> or press <F9>. All those menu
items and keys display the very same dialog where you can replace not only
the 1st but also the 2nd picture (and effect) of the active layer.

Change the picture of a traced picture layer

The traced picture layer uses the picture for 2 things: the vector shape and
the texture.
When you choose MEDIA > Change texture... only the texture is updated.
But when you choose MEDIA > Change EPS... both are updated!

Find the right layer

When the show has lots of layers it can be difficult to find the right layer. The
below techniques can be used to find the layer you are looking for.

Find dialog
When you choose EDIT > Find... (or press <Control> F) a dialog is
presented that allows you to find a layer by searching on its text, texture,
effect, font or name. Press <Control> G (or choose EDIT > Find Next) to
find the next layer.
Select a layer by clicking on it
You can select a layer by double clicking on it. Sometimes however this does
not work because transparent or additive blended layers are in front of the
layer, blocking it from being clicked.

Render coordinate system

When you choose SETTINGS > Render coordinate system or press F2
the coordinate system of the active layer is rendered with a red, green and
blue arrow.
The boundaries of the layer (as set with the Bounds property) are also
displayed in this mode.
Render only the active layer
When holding down the Control and Shift keys at the same time, only the
active layer is rendered. This can confirm you have selected the right layer.
Rename your layer
When you choose LAYER > Active layer properties... or press <Control>
Q you can give the active layer a name. This name is visible in the layers
dropdown, making it easier to find again.
Visibility checkbox
When in doubt you have selected the right layer you can also temporarily
hide the layer by unmarking the Visible checkbox at the right side of the
tool window.

Outside BluffTitler
BluffTitler show files only contain links to pictures. This means that if you edit
the picture in a paint app, save it under the same name and reload the show,
the picture will be changed. You can reload the show by choosing CONTROL
> Refresh, pressing <F5> or by restarting BluffTitler and reloading the
show. But be careful with this method because all other shows using the
same picture will be changed as well.

FILE menu
FILE > New show
Starts a new show. This show is not completely empty: a camera layer, two light layers and a text
layer have been created for you.

FILE > Open show...

Opens a show from disk.

A show can also be opened in the following ways:

 Click on the Open show... button

 Double click on the .bt show file

 Drag and drop the.bt show file on BluffTitler's render window

BluffTitler features its own file dialog. Learn more

 FILE > Set background colour...
Sets the background colour.

FILE > Set show duration...

Changes the duration (length in seconds) of the show.

FILE > Set show resolution...

Changes the export resolution (size in pixels) of the show. Presets are available for all common
resolutions including SD, HD and UHD.

FILE > Show properties...

Opens a dialog where you can enter the show title, info and content.

FILE > Save show

Saves the current show under the current name.

FILE > Save show as...

Saves the current show under a new name.

FILE > Save show + all media files...

Saves the current show and places all used media files next to the .BT show file. This option is
useful when you want to copy a show to another computer or to a web server.

FILE > Export as picture...

Exports the current screen as a .BMP or .TGA file.

FILE > Export as video...

Exports the animation as a video file.

On this page you can find more info about exporting shows.
 FILE > Exit
Exits the app.

CONTROL menu
CONTROL > Play windowed
Starts the show from the beginning.

CONTROL > Play fullscreen

Plays the show fullscreen.

CONTROL > Stop

Stops the show. You can also press the <Escape> key.

CONTROL > Looping

Loops the show continuously. Press <Escape> or the stop button to stop.

CONTROL > Back

Loads and plays the previous show.

CONTROL > Forward

Loads and plays the next show.

CONTROL > Refresh

Clears the cache and reloads the current show.

CONTROL > Stop loading

Stops loading the current show.

CONTROL > Home

Opens and runs the home page, as set with the menu item SETTINGS > Options.

EDIT menu
EDIT > Undo
Undo

EDIT > Redo

Redo

EDIT > Change all texts...

Displays a dialog that allows you to change all texts the show is using, which is very useful for
templates.

Texts like ---------- or .+.+.+.+.+.+ are by default hidden because it is unlikely they are meant as
dynamic texts. Mark the Show All checkbox to show them.

EDIT > Change all fonts...

Displays a dialog that allows you to change all fonts the show is using, which is very useful for
templates.

EDIT > Change all textures...

Displays a dialog that allows you to change all textures (pictures) the show is using, which is
very useful for templates.

Reflectionmaps, bumpmaps and other special textures are by default hidden because it is unlikely
they are meant as dynamic textures. Mark the Show All checkbox to show them.

EDIT > Change all effects...

Displays a dialog that allows you to change all effects the show is using.

EDIT > Find

Finds a layer
 EDIT > Find next
Finds the next layer

LAYER menu
LAYER > Add Layer > Add camera layer...
Adds a camera layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add light layer

Adds a light layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add plasma layer...

Adds a plasma layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add text layer

Adds a text layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add traced picture layer

Adds a traced picture layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add EPS layer...

Adds a EPS layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add scroller layer

Adds a scroller layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add picture layer...

Adds a picture layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add video layer...

Adds a video layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add video capture layer

Adds a video capture layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add skybox layer

Adds a skybox layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add VR 360° layer

Adds a VR 360° layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add landscape layer

Adds a landscape layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add water layer

Adds a water layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add particle layer...

Adds a particle layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add waving flag layer...

Adds a waving flag layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add sketch layer...

Adds a sketch layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add model layer...

Adds a model layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add hand layer...

Adds a hand layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add mirror layer...

Adds a mirror layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add voxel layer...

Adds a voxel layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add audio layer...

Adds a audio layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add colourmap layer...

Adds a colourmap layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add cubemap layer...

Adds a cubemap layer to the show.

LAYER > Add Layer > Add container layer

Adds a container layer to the show.

LAYER > Attach Layer > Attach border to active

layer...
Attaches a border to the active layer.

After attaching a text layer to the active layer, the new attached text layer is visible in the layers
dropdown. You can use this dropdown to select the attached text layer and change its properties.
Your effect can be saved as a preset by choosing PRESET > Save preset as....

LAYER > Attach Layer > Attach plasma to

active layer...
Attaches a plasma layer to the active layer.
After attaching a plasma layer to the active layer, the new attached plasma layer is visible in the
layers dropdown. You can use this dropdown to select the attached plasma layer and change its
properties. Your effect can be saved as a preset by choosing PRESET > Save preset as....

LAYER > Attach Layer > Attach particles to

active layer...
Attaches a particle layer to the active layer.

After attaching a particle layer to the active layer, the new attached particle layer is visible in the
layers dropdown. You can use this dropdown to select the attached particle layer and change its
properties. Your effect can be saved as a preset by choosing PRESET > Save preset as....

LAYER > Attach Layer > Attach lightning to

active layer...
Attaches a lightning layer to the active layer.

After attaching a lightning layer to the active layer, the new attached lightning layer is visible in
the layers dropdown. You can use this dropdown to select the attached lightning layer and change
its properties. Your effect can be saved as a preset by choosing PRESET > Save preset as....

LAYER > Attach Layer > Attach lens flare to

active layer...
Attaches a lens flare layer to the active layer.

After attaching a lens flare layer to the active layer, the new attached lens flare layer is visible in
the layers dropdown. You can use this dropdown to select the attached lens flare layer and
change its properties. Your effect can be saved as a preset by choosing PRESET > Save preset
as....

LAYER > Attach Layer > Attach active layer...

Attaches the active layer to an existing container, camera or colourmap layer.

LAYER > Attach Layer > Detach active layer

Detaches the active layer from its parent container, camera or colourmap layer.
 LAYER > Attach Layer > Delete all attached
layers
Deletes all layers attached to the active layer.

LAYER > Stand in landscape

Makes the active layer stand in the landscape layer. The vertical position is now relative to the
landscape surface.

LAYER > Float in water

Makes the active layer float in the water layer. The vertical position is now relative to the water
surface.

LAYER > VJ
Opens the VJ dialog.

LAYER > Delete active layer

Deletes the active layer. All attached layers will also be deleted. Be careful not to delete all light
layers, unless you love the dark.

LAYER > Clone active layer

Makes an identical copy of the active layer.

LAYER > Reverse active layer

Reverses the active layer.

LAYER > Bring active layer backward

Brings the active layer backward. Notice that this only makes sense for picture layers in 2D
mode. All other layers are automatically sorted by their distance to the camera.

LAYER > Bring active layer forward

Brings the active layer forward. Notice that this only makes sense for picture layers in 2D mode.
All other layers are automatically sorted by their distance to the camera.

LAYER > Active layer properties

Opens a dialog where you can enter the layer name and link.

MEDIA menu
MEDIA > Change text...
Changes the text of the text layer. Most of the time you will use the textbox on the tool window
for this, but for long texts or when using dynamic content this dialog can be handy.

MEDIA > Change font...

Sets the font for the text layer. If you want to change the font of all text layers you have to mark
the All Layers checkbox before choosing this menu item. Do not forget to unmark this checkbox
afterwards.

When BluffTitler says it can't handle a font this is usually caused by the fact that the font is too
detailed. You could try using the flat or solid styles or switching to a lower quality mode with the
menu item SETTINGS > Low Quality.

MEDIA > Change EPS...

Sets the EPS file for the EPS layer.

MEDIA > Change texture...

Changes the texture.

MEDIA > Change audio...

Changes the audio file used by the audio layer.

MEDIA > Change model...

Changes the model file used by the model layer.

MEDIA > Change effect...

Changes the effect of the active layer.

PRESET menu
PRESET > Load preset...
Loads a preset from disk. A preset is a layer with 1 key.

The preset dialog only shows presets of the same layer type as the active layer. It also takes
hierarchy into account.

PRESET > Save preset as...

Saves the active key of the active layer as a preset to disk.

Your preset only shows up in the Load preset... dialog when you save your preset in one of the
following folders:

 The BluffTitler/Presets folder in your documents folder: click on the Personal button in
the upper right corner of the file dialog

 The Media/Presets folder next to the BluffTitler executable: click on the App button in
the upper right corner of the file dialog

PLAYLIST menu
PLAYLIST > Open playlist...
Loads a playlist

PLAYLIST > Save playlist

Saves the current playlist under the current name.

PLAYLIST > Save playlist as...

Saves the current playlist under a new name.

SETTINGS menu
SETTINGS > Tool window
With this menu item you can show/hide the tool window.

SETTINGS > Browser mode

With this menu item you can show/hide the browser panel.

SETTINGS > Playlist window

With this menu item you can show/hide the playlist window.

SETTINGS > Move menu

With this menu item you can move the menu from the render window to the tool window and
back. When moving the menu to the tool window, the borders of the render window are also
removed, allowing you to place this window fullscreen on a second monitor. (When using a dual
head video card)

SETTINGS > Render coordinate system

This option renders the camera coordinate system in the lower left corner, the local coordinate
system of the active layer, the crosshair and the grid.

SETTINGS > Low, Normal, High and Super high

quality
This sets the visual quality. On an average computer edit in normal quality, export as video in
high quality and export as picture in super high quality.

SETTINGS > Options...

Opens a dialog where you can set the options.

SETTINGS > Switch to EASY/PRO version

At any time you can switch between the EASY and the PRO versions with this menu item.
Depending on your license, the application reverts to the demo (evaluation) version.

SETTINGS > Enter license keys

When you buy BluffTitler you receive your own personal license keys. Select this menu item to
enter them into the app to turn the evaluation (demo) version into the full version.

HELP menu
HELP > User guide
Opens the BluffTitler user guide in your default internet browser. Pressing <F1> does the same.

HELP > Community

Opens the BluffTitler community in your default internet browser. On this site can share tips and
tricks with other users, show your work, download free templates and ask questions.

HELP > Templates

Opens the BixPack site in your default internet browser. On this site you can purchase
professional, royalty free BluffTitler templates.

HELP > Demo

When hitting this item BluffTitler starts playing random shows from the Media/Shows folder.
Press <Escape> to quit this demo mode.

HELP > Ordering information

Displays ordering information.

HELP > Check for upgrades

Connects to the internet for information about the latest version, updates, upgrades and
downloading old versions.

HELP > About BluffTitler

Shows general information.

File dialog
When you choose FILE > Open show..., a file dialog is presented that looks like this. The
templates are from BixPack 25.

Navigating
Click on one of the folder names in the upper left to select a parent folder.

Double click on one of the blue folder icons to select a child folder.

Double click on a file to select that file.

When you right click on a file, a menu is presented that allows you to open, rename or delete that
file and to create a new folder.

Shortcuts
Click on the App button in the upper richt to jump to the templates that came with the installer.

Click on the Personal button to jump to the default save folder.

Click on the Desktop button to jump to the desktop.

The BixPack25 button in the above screenshot is the custom folder. It can be set in the
SETTINGS > Options... dialog. Learn more

Use the standard Windows file dialog

If you prefer the standard Windows file dialog, mark the Use standard Windows file dialog
checkbox in the SETTINGS > Options... dialog. Learn more

Alternatively you can hold down the <Shift> key when choosing FILE > Open show...

Options dialog
Choose SETTINGS > Options... to open the options dialog.

Language
With this option you can translate the BluffTitler GUI. All interface texts, except the error
messages, are translated.

The translations that come with the installer can be found in the BluffTitler/Media/Locales
folder.
Visit the download page for a list of all the available languages.

Home page
This is the show that is opened when you start BluffTitler or click on the Home button.

Custom folder
This folder is added as a button in the upper right corner of the file dialog for quick access.

Temp folder
This folder is used to store temporarily files. It is used in the following situations:

 When exporting a show containing audio or a video file

 When exporting a show as an MP4 file

 When playing a show with a VJ effect

Temporary files are automatically deleted after use. To make sure they are also deleted in case
something went wrong, all temporary files older than 1 hour are deleted next time you start
BluffTitler.

On Windows 10, the default folder is C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Outerspace

Software\BluffTitler\Temp.

Use a folder an another drive when your C drive is almost full.

Max texture resolution

This is the maximum texture resolution. Bigger textures are scaled down to this resolution. It can
be used to prevent out of video memory issues when using super high resolution photos. Set this
value to 0 to accept all resolutions.

Default font
This is the font that is used when you choose FILE > New show. The default font is also the font
that is used when a font can't be found or loaded.

Emoji font
This is the font that is used for rendering the emoji characters. The default value is Segoe UI
Emoji. Optional you can use Segoe UI Symbol or OpenSansEmoji.

Stereoscopic format
This option is used when the Pupil distance property of the camera layer has a non-zero value. It
offers the following standards:

 Half SBS. The 2 screens are rendered side by side with a double pixel aspect ratio
(PAR)

 Full SBS. The 2 screens are rendered side by side, without adjusting the PAR. To
keep the same viewport, double the width in the FILE > Set show resolution dialog.

 Half TAB. The 2 screens are rendered on top of each other (Top and Bottom) with a
halved PAR.

 Full TAB. The 2 screens are rendered on top of each other, without adjusting the PAR.
To keep the same viewport, double the height in the FILE > Set show resolution
dialog.

Open all shows in the same resolution

When this checkbox is unmarked and you open a show, the resolution is changed to the
resolution that is stored in the show file.

But when this checkbox is marked, shows are always opened in the very same resolution. Click
on the Select resolution... button to set this resolution.

Always show tool window at startup

The BluffTitler executable is an editor as well as a player. Choose SETTINGS > Tool window
to switch between the two.

When you start BluffTitler by double clicking on a show file, it starts up in player mode. When
this checkbox is marked, it starts up in edit mode.

Auto folding layers hierarchy

When this checkbox is marked, all layers are hidden that are not root layers or parent or child
layers of the active layer. This can make the layers dropdown look more clear.

Add - sign to non-default properties

When this checkbox is marked, a minus sign (-) is added to the property name when it has a non-
default value. This makes it easier to find out how to recreate an effect.

Auto mark ALL KEYS checkbox

When this checkbox is marked, the All keys checkbox is automatically marked when you select
some properties. Learn more

Use standard Windows file dialog

BluffTitler features its own file dialog that offers nice big thumbnails and handy App and
Personal buttons for quickly switching between the files that come with the installer and your
own files. It is used in the following situations:

 Opening and saving shows

 Opening and saving presets

 Selecting effects

Mark this checkbox if you prefer to use the standard Windows file dialog.

Unload show before running MP4 encoder

When this checkbox is marked, the show is unloaded before the MP4 encoder is started. This
frees precious memory that can be used by the encoder. On an average system this is only
necessary when exporting in 4K or higher.

Buttons
Click on the area that interests you:
 The textbox
This edit box is used by the text and scroller layers. This is the place where you type the text you
want to animate.

The following tags can be used for special effects: <ABC />, <abc />, <123 />, <time />,
<timer />, <showtime />, <countdown /> <millisecond />, <second />, <minute />, <hour />,
<hour12 />, <ampm />, <day />, <month />, <year />, <fullday />, <fullmonth />, <fps />,
<particles />, <memory />, <computername />, <showtitle />, <showpath />, <appname />,
<version />

The tag <Counter /> is used in the text layer where it renders the number as set with the Counter
property.

The 3 layer style dropdowns

You can find the 3 layer style dropdowns below the textbox on the left side of the tool window.
Every layer has its own styles: for example the text layer uses the 1st dropdown to set the
composition while the picture layer uses the same dropdown to set the shape.

The all layers and all keys checkboxes

Read an in depth tutorial of these boxes

The properties dropdown

All properties that can be animated are listed in the dropdown above the 3 sliders. The property
itself can be edited with the 3 sliders below this box. A plus sign (+) is added to the property
name when it is animated.

The 3 property sliders

The result of dragging those sliders depends on the active property, set by the dropdown above
them.

For example when you select Text position on the text layer, the 1st slider controls the
horizontal, the second the vertical and the third the depth position. When editing colours, the 3
sliders represent the red, green and blue components.

You can move the 3 sliders at the same time by holding down the <Control> key while moving
the 1st slider.
 The reset button
With this button you reset the 3 sliders to their default position. Clicking on this button with the
<Shift> key pressed resets all properties.

The 3 property edit boxes

With the text edit boxes next to the 3 sliders you can enter values that are outside the range of the
sliders.

The layers dropdown

This is the big dropdown above the Play button. Shows are built out of layers. Every layer can be
animated independently. Use this dropdown to select the layer you want to edit. A plus sign (+) is
added to the layer name when it is animated.

The physics dropdown

This box is used to select the tweening method. This is the way the positions in between the
keyframes are computed. You can use these effects to simulate physics effects. Learn more

The visible checkbox

Layers can be turned visible/invisible with this checkbox. When you make a layer invisible, all
child layers are invisible as well.

The first key button

Jumps to the start of the show.

The previous key button

Jumps to the previous keyframe.

The next key button

Jumps to the next keyframe.
 The last key button
Jumps to the end of the show.

The play button

Starts the show from the current position. You can also press <F4>. When using a playlist, hold
down the <Control> key to play only the active slide.

The create key button

Creates a keyframe.

The delete key button

Deletes the current keyframe. Use the Previous key and Next key buttons to select a key. A key
can also be selected by clicking on it. Clicking on this button with the <Shift> key pressed
deletes all keyframes.

The copy key button

Copies the current key into the clipboard. Every layer has its own clipboard, so do not worry
about mixing up layers.

The paste key button

Copies the clipboard to the current time and makes a keyframe out of it.

The move key to the left button

Moves the current key to the left. You can also click and drag the keyframe. When no key is
selected the time is moved to the left. When holding down the <Shift> key, the key is moved 0.1
second instead of a millisecond.

The move Key to the right button

Moves the current key to the right. You can also click and drag the keyframe. When no key is
selected the time is moved to the right. When holding down the <Shift> key, the key is moved
0.1 second instead of a millisecond.
 The insert time button
When you press this button, all keys greater than the current time are moved to the right 0.1
second. When holding down the <Control> key, the key at the current time is also moved. When
holding down the <Shift> key, 1 second is inserted. When holding down the <Alt> key, only the
keys of the active layer are moved.

The remove time button

When you press this button, all keys greater than the current time are moved to the left 0.1
second. When holding down the <Control> key, the key at the current time is also moved. When
holding down the <Shift> key, 1 second is removed. When holding down the <Alt> key, only the
keys of the active layer are moved.

Current time
The current time is printed in the following format: minutes : seconds . milliseconds.

Number of keyframes
The number of keyframes is displayed above the keyframes bar.

The keyframes bar

In this bar every keyframe is displayed as a small vertical line. When you click on or very close
to a key, the time jumps to the time of that key. You can now copy this key, delete this key or
drag this key to another place.

The time slider

This slider indicates the current time. Dragged to the left represents time 0, the beginning of the
show. Dragged all the way to the right represents the end of the show. By default shows have a
duration of 3 seconds, but you can change this with the menu item FILE > Set show duration....

The all layers and all keys checkboxes

These checkboxes determine what happens when you change something:

Both unmarked
Only the current key is changed. This is the default mode.
 All keys marked and All layers unmarked
All keys in the active layer are changed.

Both marked
All keys in all layers of the same type are changed.

All layers marked, All keys unmarked

The current keys in all layers of the same type are changed.

Some examples:

Want to change the colour of all keys? Mark All keys and you can use the 3 sliders to edit the
colour of all keys at the same time.

Want to change the font of all text layers? Mark All layers before you change one of them.

Want to move all text layers to the same horizontal position? Mark All layers and move one text
layer to this position.

Want to add a golden border to all text layers? Mark All layers before choosing LAYER >
Attach border to active layer...

For some properties, like the Bevel and Font size in the text layer, the All keys checkbox is
marked every time your select this property. The reason for this is that it is expensive to animate
them (bevel) or unlikely that you would want to animate them (font size). It is possible to
animate those properties by unmarking the All Keys checkbox. And when you unmark the Auto
mark ALL KEYS checkbox in the SETTINGS > Options... dialog those checkboxes stay
unmarked.

Physics effects
With the dropdown to the right of the layers dropdown you can set the tweening method. This is
the way the positions in between the keyframes are computed. You can use these effects to
simulate physics effects.
Constant speed

Accelerate

Accelerate slow

Decelerate

Decelerate slow

Accelerate and decelerate

Accelerate and decelerate slow

Damper

Bouncer

Outside

Pumping

Zig zag
 Robotic

Pingpong

No animation

Spline effects
With the dropdown to the right of the layers dropdown you can select 4 spline types.

No spline
The example path uses 6 keyframes.
Bezier
The Bezier spline respects the first and the
last keyframe and everything in between is
smoothed.

Overhauser
The Overhauser spline goes through all the
keyframes and exaggerates the curve.

Hulshoff
The Hulshoff spline only smoothes the
path around the keyframes.

Hulshoff smooth
The smooth version smoothes a bigger area
around the keyframes.
DownloadBuyBixPackExamplesUser
guideSupportCommunity

Keyboard functions
<F1> Displays this user guide
<F2> Show/hide the safe area, the crosshair, the
global and local coordinate systems and the
grid. Some properties, like the Launch
direction of the particle layer, are
visualized in this mode when they are the
active property.
<F3> Displays the standard colour dialog for
easier colour editing. This only works if
you've selected a colour property like the
Colour property of the text layer
<F4> Starts the show from the beginning
<F5> Refresh
<F6> Changes the Font. This only works when
you've selected a text or scroller layer
<F7> Changes the EPS file
<F8> Changes the Texture file
<F9> Changes the Effect file
<F11> Show/hide the tool window
<F12> Show/hide the browser panel

<Control> + A Change all texts

<Control> + B Turn the active colourmap layer into a show
<Control> + C Copy text from textboxs (standard Windows
functionality)
<Control> + D Remove all dynamic content
<Control> + E Set all fonts to the default font
<Control> + F Find text
<Control> + G Find next
<Control> + H Copy the rotation property of the camera to
the active layer
<Control> + I Copy the position property of the camera to
the active layer
<Control> + J -
<Control> + K Options
<Control> + L Set show length (duration)
<Control> + M Merge shows. This adds all layers of another
 show to the current show to the current
time.
<Control> + N New show
<Control> + O Open show
<Control> + P Pause animation
<Control> + Q Layer properties
<Control> + R Set resolution
<Control> + S Save show
<Control> + T -
<Control> + U Unpacks the active model layer into
submodels
<Control> + V Paste text from textboxs (standard Windows
functionality)
<Control> + W -
<Control> + X Cut text from textboxs (standard Windows
functionality)
<Control> + Y Redo
<Control> + Z Undo
<Control> + 1 Select layer 1
<Control> + <Shift> Render only the active layer
<Control> + <F1> Technical info
<Control> + <F2> Fix compatibility issues with old shows

<Alt> + A Change all textures (pictures)

<Alt> + 1 Select property 1
<Alt> + [ Bring active layer backward
<Alt> + ] Bring active layer forward
<Alt> + <Enter> Plays the show fullscreen
<Alt> + <Left Arrow> Back
<Alt> + <Right Arrow> Forward

<Control> + <Alt> + <Left Jump to the previous keyframe

arrow>
<Control> + <Alt> + <Right Jump to the next keyframe
arrow>
<Control> + <Alt> + <Up Jump to the start of the show
arrow>
<Control> + <Alt> + <Down Jump to the last keyframe
arrow>
<Control> + <Alt> + A Compile all effects (developer edition only)

<Tab> Wireframe mode

<Escape> Stops the show

Mouse functions
The active property can be adjusted by clicking and dragging in the render
window. Moving the mouse horizontally while holding down the left mouse
button changes the 1st slider. Moving the mouse vertically while holding
down the left mouse button changes the 2nd slider. Moving the mouse
vertically while holding down the right mouse button changes the 3th slider.
Position properties are relative to the camera rotation.
The 3rd slider of the active property can also be adjusted with the mouse
wheel.
Hold down the <Alt> key when dragging for super small adjustments.
Hold down the <Control> key when dragging for small adjustments.
Hold down the <Shift> key when dragging for big adjustments.
Select a layer by double clicking on it in the render window. Hold down the
<Control> key to select its parent container layer. Hold down the <Alt> key
to position the camera layer in front of this layer.

Drag and drop functions

Drop a show file on the render window and it is opened.
Drop a picture on the render window and it replaces the 1st texture of the
active layer.

Fonts and languages

BluffTitler can render fonts and languages from all around the universe!

In the Change font dialog you set the font of the active layer.
 What does this dialog set?
The dialog sets 6 things:

 Font family

 Style

 Character set

 Kerning

 Reading order

 Normalize numerals

How can I display this dialog?

The dialog can be displayed in 3 ways:

 Click on the Change font.. button

  Choose MEDIA > Change font...

 Press <F6>

Make sure the active layer is a text or a scroller layer

All layers checkbox

When the All layers checkbox on the tool window is marked, the font properties of all layers of
the same layer type as the active layer are set.

When you hold down the <Control> key when clicking on the OK button, only the fonts
properties of the other layers are set that are changed in the active layer.

Table of contents
 Techniques

 Latin, Greek and Cyrillic languages (LGC)

 Right-to-left languages (RTL)

 Indian languages

 Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages (CJK)

 Southeast Asia languages

 Emoji

Techniques
Font family
BluffTitler supports vector and bitmap fonts.

Vector fonts
Click on the Select vector font... button or open the font family dropdown to select a vector font.

BluffTitler uses standard TrueType and OpenType fonts that can be downloaded from websites
like:
  a2-type.co.uk

 cheapprofonts.com

 dafont.com

 fontpro.com

 fontsquirrel.com

 emigre.com

 fontcenter.com

 fontfont.com

 fonts.com

 houseind.com

 lineto.com

 klim.co.nz

 myfonts.com

 smeltery.net

 typography.com

 vllg.com

 youworkforthem.com

 songwritersfonts.com

After installing a new font, restart BluffTitler to make the new font visible in the dropdown.

Colour fonts
Click on the Select colour font... button to select a colour font. Use the Picture/ExtrudePicture
effect to extrude the font.

Colour fonts are BluffTitler specific and can be created and converted from various formats with
Alphabix.

This example uses the Playbox font.

Style
Some fonts offer different styles, like Normal, Bold and Italic. Use the style dropdown to select
the style.

Type professionals call a font family a typeface and a typeface in a particular style a font. For
example, "Arial" is a typeface and "Arial bold italic" a font.

Character set
Most modern fonts are Unicode. If this does not work, try Default. Avoid all the others.

Kerning
Metric kerning uses the kerning info from the font file. This works best for most fonts.

Optical kerning computes the kerning from the shape of the glyphs.
The amount of kerning can be set with the Kerning property of the text layer.

Reading order
Use Right to left (RTL) for Arabic, Farsi and Hebrew texts. Use Left to right (LTR) for all
others.

Normalize numerals
In a well designed font, all number glyphs (0123456789) have the same width. This prevents
jumping when animating the numbers. Mark the Normalize numerals checkbox to fix badly
designed fonts. Test this by using the time and counter tags.

Ligatures
Some fonts render 2 characters placed right after each other as a single glyph.

In this example of the Pricedown Bl font, the letters A and B are rendered by a special AB glyph.
 Swash tails
Some fonts use special characters to create tails.

The Painter font in this example uses the < character for a short tail and > for a long one.

Variants
Some fonts feature more than 1 glyph of the same character.

In this example of the Airways font, the letter t has 2 versions.

Accents
Some characters have accents (diacritical marks). The technical implementation can be very
different. In this example, the é is a single glyph with its own Unicode value. The Thai character
however is built out of 3 glyphs that are rendered on top of each other by using clever kerning
values.
 Invisible characters
Not all fonts feature all characters. If a not supported character is entered, BluffTitler does not try
to find a replacement font (as Windows does), but instead renders nothing. This prevents shows
from looking different on different machines because replacement fonts can be different. To fix
invisible characters, choose another font family or character set (try Unicode or Default).

Latin, Greek and Cyrillic languages

(LGC)
Dutch

Font family Digs My Hart

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Greek

Font family Roboto Bk

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR
 Macedonian

Font family Times New Roman

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Right to left languages (RTL)

Arabic

Font family B Elham

Character set Default
Kerning metric
Reading order RTL

Farsi

Font family @Arial Unicode MS

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order RTL

Hebrew

Font family Times New Roman

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order RTL

Urdu

Font family @Arial Unicode MS

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order RTL

Indian languages
Hindi
Font family Amita
Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Malayalam

Font family AnjaliOldLipi

Character set Default
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Tamil

Font family @Arial Unicode MS

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Telugu

Font family Ramabhadra

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Chinese, Japanese and Korean

languages (CJK)
In some fonts the characters are rotated 90°. This can be corrected by setting the Character
rotation property of the text layer to (0,0,-90).

Chinese

Font family HYLiLiangHeiJ

Character set Default
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR
 Japanese

Font family @Arial Unicode MS

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Korean

Font family 210 HaneuljungwonOTF Bold

Character set Default
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Southeast Asia languages

Khmer
Font family Angkor
Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Thai

Font family @Arial Unicode MS

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Vietnamese

Font family @Arial Unicode MS

Character set Unicode
Kerning metric
Reading order LTR

Emoji
BluffTitler fully supports emoji characters in the text and scroller layers. All skin colours are
supported, including alien green!

Emoji font
Emoji characters always use the same font, as set in the SETTINGS > Options... dialog.

The default font is Segoe UI Emoji that comes with Windows. Alternative fonts include Segoe
UI Symbol and EmojiOne.

Mix with other fonts

The emoji characters can be mixed with other fonts in the same text layer, but make sure to use
the Unicode or Default character set.

Mix with other effects

To make it possible to mix emoji characters with texts that use reflectionmapping or other
effects, the emoji characters ignore the layer effect unless all characters are emoji characters or if
the 1st texture is a colourmap.

Emoji size
The size and position of the emoji characters can be set with the Emoji property of the text and
scroller layers.
 Entering emoji
Entering Emoji characters works best in the MEDIA > Change text... dialog.

Left click on an emoji to add it to your text.

Right click on an emoji to replace it with your own picture.

Other ways to enter emoji include:

 The Windows 10 touch keyboard: right click on the system tray and mark the Show
touch keyboard button menu item.

 The Windows 10 emoji picker: press the Windows key and . or ; at the same time.

 Copy pasting them from websites like getemoji.com.

Windows 10
Emoji rendering requires Windows 10.

Emoji 11.0 is supported if the Windows October 2018 Update has been installed.
 Textures and effects
The Change textures and effect dialog is the heart of the application. In this dialog you tell
BluffTitler which textures and effect must be used to bring the active layer to life.

What does this dialog set?

The dialog has lots of GUI elements, but only sets 4 things:

 3 textures

 1 effect
 How can I display this dialog?
The dialog can be displayed in 6 ways:

 Click on the Change texture button

 Click on the Change effect button

 Choose MEDIA > Change texture

 Choose MEDIA > Change effect

 Press <F8>

 Press <F9>

All layers checkbox

When the All layers checkbox on the tool window is marked, the textures and effect of all layers
of the same layer type as the active layer are set.

When you hold down the <Control> key when clicking on the OK button, only the textures and
effect of the other layers are set that are changed in the active layer.

Table of contents
 Textures

 Picture codecs

 Video codecs

 Effects

 Post-processing

 Texturemapping techniques

 Associations

 Default textures

 Multitexturing
  Blending techniques

Textures

What is a texture?
A texture is a picture pasted onto a 3D model.

How do I apply a texture to the active layer?

Click on the Change texture button, choose MEDIA > Change texture or press <F8>.

Texture sources
BluffTitler can use the following sources as a texture:

 A static picture (JPG, PNG, BMP, TGA,...): click on the Select texture... button.

 An (animated) GIF: click on the Select texture... button.

 A video (WMV, AVI, MPEG, FLV, MOV,...): click on the Select texture... button.

 Your webcam: click on the Select webcam... button.

 Your TV tuner: click on the Select webcam... button.

 A colourmap generated by a colourmap layer: click on the Select colourmap...

button.

 A cubemap generated by a cubemap layer: click on the Select cubemap... button.

 Download and stream from the internet
Textures can be downloaded from the internet by entering an URL starting with http://. For
example:

Videos are streamed when you mark the Stream video and audio streams from the internet
checkbox in the Internet options tab of the SETTINGS > Options... dialog.

Picture codecs
BluffTitler uses Windows Imaging Component (WIC) to import and export picture files. This
means that BluffTitler can use any picture format if there's a compatible WIC codec installed.

By default, Windows comes with codecs for the JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG and BMP formats. For
other formats you might have to install a new codec.

FastPictureViewer Codec Pack

FastPictureViewer Codec Pack offers a huge collection of picture codecs. With this pack,
BluffTitler can import EXR and HDR files.

Microsoft Camera Codec Pack

The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack offers a huge collection of camera specific (RAW) file
formats.

Inspect picture codecs

Choose the WIC tab in the <Control><F1> dialog for a list of all WIC codecs installed on your
system.

Video codecs
BluffTitler uses DirectShow to play video and audio files. This means that BluffTitler can use
any video and audio format if there's a compatible DirectShow decoder filter (also called a codec
or a source filter) installed.

By default, Windows comes with codecs for the WMV, AVI and MP3 formats. For others you
might have to install a new codec.

K-Lite Codec Pack

K-Lite Codec Pack offers a huge collection of DirectShow decoder filters. With this codec pack,
BluffTitler can play MP4 and M4A files.

Fixing codec conflicts

You can force BluffTitler to use a specific codec for a specific file extension in the Drivers tab of
the SETTINGS > Options... dialog.

For video files you can define 2 codecs: one for the audio and one for the video stream.

Inspect video codecs

Choose the DirectShow tab in the <Control><F1> dialog for a list of all DirectShow codecs
installed on your system.

Effects
 What is an effect?
An effect tells BluffTitler how to render the layer using the textures. BluffTitler effects are stored
in files with the extension CFX, which stands for compiled effect.The installer comes with about
150 effects that can be found in the BluffTitler/Media/Effects folder.

How do I apply an effect to the active layer?

Click on the Change effect button, choose MEDIA > Change effect or press <F9>.

Effects, shaders & FX

Effects contain vertex, pixel and other shader types. Shaders are small apps that run on your
graphics card. For this reason effects are also called shaders. And effect(s) is sometimes written
as FX.

Effects and textures

Effects work in close cooperation with textures. For example the reflectionmap effect requires a
reflectionmap texture. This is the reason why the textures and the effect are set in the same
dialog.

FX properties
Some effects add new properties to a layer. Effect properties can be recognized by the FX prefix.
For example the reflectionmap effect adds the FX Lighting factor property to your layer.

Techniques
Effects can perform many rendering techniques. The most important are:
  Texturemapping

 Blending

Post-processing
When you apply an effect to the camera layer, the render output is used as the 1st texture. This
way the effect can be used as a post-processing effect.

Effects specifically designed for use in the camera layer can be found in the Effects/Camera
folder.

The effects in the Effects/Filters folder also work great applied to the camera layer.

Texturemapping techniques
BluffTitler effects support the following texturemapping techniques:

 No map

 Colourmap

 Reflectionmap

 Cubemap

 Normalmap

 Displacementmap

 Furmap

 Voxelmap

 Cartoonmap

 Alphamap

 Tonalartmap

 Depthmap

 Stencilmap
 No map
It is important to realize that it is not always necessary to use a texture. Many effects work
perfectly without a texture.

A 3D text without a texture looks like this. The effect used is Effects/Lightened.

The NotLightened effect turns off all lighting. It is very useful for background pictures.

Colourmap
What is a colourmap?
Colourmapping is the most basic type of texture mapping. The picture is simply pasted on the 3D
model without adjustments.
This is how a colourmap looks like in a paint application.

This is how the same colourmap looks like pasted on a text. The effect used is Effects/Lightened.

What are other names for a colourmap?

A colourmap is also called a diffusemap or a picturemap.

How do I create a colourmap?

Use your camera or your paint app like Photoshop or PaintShop.

Tools to generate colourmaps are Filter Forge, Substance, Genetica, Materialize and PixPlant.

Colourmap layer
Next to loading colourmaps from files, BluffTitler can also use colourmaps generated by the
colourmap layer. Learn more
 Which effects support colourmapping?
Some of the effects that use a colourmap are:

 Effects/Lightened

 Effects/NotLightened

 Effects/NotLightenedAdditive

Reflectionmap
What is a reflectionmap?
Reflectionmapping is a trick to create reflections. Instead of computing the real reflections,
which is very slow, the reflections are taken from a picture that contains the reflections in all
directions.

A correct reflectionmap (spheremap) looks like this.

In practice, pictures like this are used as reflectionmaps. This picture is not a correct spheremap,
but is much easier to create and produces great results. Don't be afraid to use ordinary pictures
and photos as reflectionmaps.

Applied as a reflectionmap, the result looks like this. The effect used is Effects/Reflectionmap.

What are other names for a reflectionmap?

Reflectionmapping and environmentmapping are general names for all techniques storing the
reflections in a texture. The technical term for what BluffTitler calls a reflectionmap is a
spheremap.

How do I create a reflectionmap?

You can use Bixorama to convert 360° photos in various formats to reflectionmaps.

Normal pictures and photos work surprisingly well as reflectionsmaps so don't be afraid of
experimenting. When using normal photos don't forget to unmark the Try to keep textures and
effect matched checkbox to turn off the associations.

Which effects support reflectionmapping?

Some of the effects that use a reflectionmap are:

 Effects/Reflectionmap

 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapReflectionmap

 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ReflectionmapAdditive
 Cubemap
What is a cubemap?
Cubemapping does the same as reflectionmapping, only in a better quality. A cubemap contains 6
squares, representing the 6 faces of a cube. BluffTitler accepts cubemaps in the DDS format.

A cubemap contains the 6 faces of a cube.

The texture used is Textures/CubeMap.dss.

This is how this cubemap looks like rendered on a text. The effect used is Effects/Cubemap.
The fun starts when you apply cubemaps to 3D models!

How do I create a cubemap?

You can use Bixorama to convert 360° photos in various formats to the DDS format for use in
BluffTitler.

Cubemap layer
Next to loading cubemaps from DDS files, BluffTitler can also use cubemaps generated by the
cubemap layer. In this screenshot you can see a text, a model and a mirror layer being reflected
into a sphere. Learn more

Which effects support cubemapping?

Some of the effects that use a cubemap are:

 Effects/Cubemap

 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/CubemapAdditive
  Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapCubemap

Cubemap layer
The reflections on the 3D model in the above screenshot are rendered with
the cubemap layer. The template used is from BixPack 15.
What can I do with the cubemap layer?
With the cubemap layer you can generate cubemap textures for use in other
layers.

How do I create a cubemap layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add cubemap layer... to create a new
cubemap layer.
The new cubemap layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the
cubemap layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Cubemap folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

The cubemap layer creates a cubemap

The cubemap layer does not render anything. Instead, it creates a cubemap
texture in memory that can be used by other layers.
Any effect that can use a cubemap, can also use the output of a cubemap
layer. Examples are:
 Effects/Cubemap
 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/CubemapAdditive
 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapCubemap

How do I make my layer use a cubemap

layer?
Click on the Select cubemap layer button in the Change textures and
effect dialog.

3D space
Only objects in 3D space can be seen in the cubemap. A picture layer using
the Fullscreen or the 2D in foreground style is invisible in the cubemap.

Inspired by game technology

The cubemap layer is inspired by game technology. For example, racing
games render a new cubemap for every frame to make the current scenery
reflect in the car.

Cubemap layer properties

Position
The position where the cubemap is rendered. Use <F2> to inspect the
position of the cubemap. Make sure only layers positioned near this position
use this cubemap.

Normalmap
What is a normalmap?
A normalmap contains the surface normals (vectors perpendicular to the surface). It is used to
simulate bumps. The normals are encoded in the red, green and blue colour components.
A normalmap looks like this.

The texture used is Textures/Pebbles_Normalmap.png.

This is how this normalmap looks like rendered on a text. The effect used is Effects/Normalmap.

The fun starts when you combine normalmapping with colour and cubemapping. This text has
been rendered with the AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapNormalmapCubemap effect.

Learn more

What are other names for a normalmap?

Normalmapping is sometimes called bumpmapping. This is confusing because
displacementmapping is also sometimes called bumpmapping.

How do I create a normalmap?

Our favorite tools are Filter Forge, Substance, Genetica, Materialize and PixPlant. NVIDIA
offers a Photoshop plugin to create normalmaps.

Which effects support normalmapping?

Some of the effects that use a normalmap are:

 Effects/Normalmap

 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapNormalmapReflectionmap

 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapNormalmapCubemap

Displacementmap
What is a displacementmap?
A displacementmap is a greyscale picture describing the heights of the surface. Black is low and
white is high. In contrast to normalmapping that simulates bumps by changing the lighting,
displacementmapping also changes the geometry of the surface. This is more expensive, but
gives a more realistic result.

A displacementmap looks like this.

The texture used is Textures/Pebbles_Displacementmap.png.

This is how this displacementmap looks like rendered on a text. The effect used is
Effects/Displacementmap.

Compare this picture with the normalmap.

The fun starts when you combine displacementmapping with colour and cubemapping. This text
has been rendered with the AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapDisplacementmapCubemap effect.

Learn more

What are other names for a displacementmap?

A displacementmap is also called a heightmap, heightfield or bumpmap. This is confusing
because normalmapping is also sometimes called bumpmapping.

How do I create a displacementmap?

Our favorite tools are Filter Forge, Substance, Materialize and PixPlant.
 HDR displacementmaps
To prevent the terracing effect when rendering landscapes with heightmaps, make sure your
heightmap is in a HDR format.

Which effects support displacementmapping?

Some of the effects that use a displacementmap are:

 Effects/Displacementmap

 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapDisplacementmapReflectionmap

 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapDisplacementmapCubemap

Furmap
What is a furmap?
A furmap is used to simulate hairy surfaces. A transparent pixel means no hair, and an opaque
pixel a hair.

A furmap looks like this.

The texture used is Textures/Fur.png.

This is how this furmap looks like rendered on a text.

The effect used is AdvancedMaterials/Furmap.

The fun starts when you combine furmapping with colourmapping. In this example a tiger
texture is used.

The effect used is AdvancedMaterials/Furmap.

How do I create a furmap?

Use your favorite paint app.

Which effects support furmapping?

Some of the effects that use a furmap are:

 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/Furmap
 Voxelmap
What is an voxelmap?
A voxelmap is a 3D texture containing tissue density and normal information. It is mostly used to
visualise medical datasets. Only the Voxel layer can render voxelmaps.

BluffTitler accepts voxelmaps in the DDS format.

This is a voxelmap generated by a CT scan of a molar (tooth).

The effect used is Effects/Voxel/VoxelLightened.

Voxelmaps can also be mathematically generated in realtime by an effect.

This way you do not need a DDS file. This example uses the Voxel/VoxelGoursatSurface effect.

What are other names of a voxelmap?

Voxelmaps are also called cube models or simply 3D data sets
 How do I create a voxelmap?
Voxelmaps are mostly generated by customized scripts for specific projects. Outerspace Software
does not offer a tool to create voxelmaps.

Which effects use voxelmapping?

You can find the voxelmapping effects in the Effects/Voxel folder.

Cartoonmap
What is a cartoonmap?
A cartoonmap contains a horizontal gradient used for custom lighting. It is called a cartoonmap
because an old hand drawn cartoon can be imitated by using a gradient with only a few colours.

A cartoonmap looks like this.

This is how this cartoonmap looks like rendered on a text. The effect used is
Effects/Cartoonmap.
 What are other names for a cartoonmap?
A cartoonmap is also called a toonmap.

How do I create a cartoonmap?

Cartoonmaps can easily be created in Photoshop with the gradient tool.

Which effects use cartoonmapping?

Some of the effects that use a cartoonmap are:

 Effects/Cartoonmap

 Effects/Text/RainbowText

Alphamap
What is an alphamap?
A alphamap is a greyscale picture describing the alpha channel(transparency) of the surface.
Black is fully transparent and white opaque.

A alphamap looks like this.

The Effects/Filters/GradientWipe effect uses an alphamap to wipe between 2 pictures.

What are other names for an alphamap?

Alphamapping is also called Transparencymapping or Opacitymapping.

How do I create an alphamap?

Alphamaps can be created in any paint app.

Which effects use alphamapping?

Some of the effects that use an alphamap are:

 Effects/Filters/GradientWipe

 Effects/Filters/Blur

Tonalartmap
What is a tonalartmap?
A tonalartmap is used to imitate hatching. Instead of rendering a texture darker, tonalartmapping
renders more lines or dots. This gives the impression that it is pencil drawn.
A tonalartmap looks like this.

Using this texture with the Advancedmaterials/Tonalartmap effect produces this result. Notice
that the darker parts are darker not because the lines are rendered darker, but because more lines
are rendered.

What are other names for a tonalartmap?

tonalartmapping is also called realtime hatching or abbreviated toTAM.

How do I create an tonalartmap?

There are no paint apps that can generate tonalartmaps. They have to be created with a custom
script.

Which effects use tonalartmapping?

Some of the effects that use a tonalartmap are:
  Effects/Advancedmaterials/Tonalartmap

 Effects/Advancedmaterials/ColourmapTonalartmap

Depthmap
What is a depthmap?
A depthmap is a greyscale picture describing the distance to the camera. The depthmap of the
current scene is available for effects applied to the camera layer. It is used for effects like fog and
depth of field.

A depthmap contains the distance to the camera. In this example the letters to the right are closer
to the camera than the letters on the left.

The depthmap of the above scene looks like this. The effect used to produce this picture is
Effects/System/CameraViewDepthmap, applied to the camera layer.

What are other names for a depthmap?

A depthmap is also called the z-buffer or depth buffer.

Which effects use depthmapping?

Some of the effects that use a depthmap are:

 Effects/Camera/CameraDepthOfField

 Effects/Camera/CameraFog

 Effects/System/CameraViewDepthmap

Stencilmap
What is a stencilmap?
A stencilmap is a greyscale picture describing a mask. BluffTitler uses stencilmaps in the mirror
layer and to render shadows.

When rendering shadows, the stencilmap contains the shadows.

The stencilmap of the above scene looks like this. The effect used to produce this picture is
Effects/System/CameraViewStencilmap, applied to the camera layer.

Which effects use stencilmapping?

Some of the effects that use a stencilmap are:

 Effects/System/CameraViewStencilmap

Associations
Effects work in close cooperation with textures. For example the reflectionmap effect requires a
reflectionmap texture.

For convenience BluffTitler associates texture filenames with effects.

For example if you load a texture containing the word reflection (as in ReflectionMap_Silver.jpg)
BluffTitler automatically loads the Reflectionmap effect.

Part of the texture filename Associated effect

colourmap or diffusemap Lightened
reflection or spheremap Reflectionmap
cube and .dds Cubemap
normal Normalmap
displacement, heightmap or bump Displacementmap
cartoon Cartoonmap
tonalart, hatching or tam Tonalartmap

You can turn this system off by unmarking the Try to keep textures and effect matched
checkbox.

Default textures
When you select a new effect, the default textures are selected in the 3 texture slots. For example
when you select the Reflectionmap effect, the 1st texture is set to ReflectionMap_Silver.jpg
because the effect wants a reflectionmap in the 1st texture slot and this is the default
reflectionmap.
 Use your own default textures
You can set the default textures in the Default textures tab of the SETTINGS > Options dialog.

You can turn off this system by unmarking the Try to keep textures and effect matched
checkbox.

Multitexturing

Some effects use 2 or even 3 textures. This is called multitexturing.

For example the Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapDisplacementmapCubemap effect

combines colourmapping with displacementmapping and cubemapping.

You do not have to use all supported textures. Effects are smart enough to turn off a part of the
effect if the required texture is missing.

Blending techniques
BluffTitler effects support the following blending techniques:
 No blending
Without blending, your layer overwrites the background.

The effect used in this example is Effects/NotLightened.

Additive blending
With additive blending, the colour of your layer is added to the colour of the background. This
way, black is transparent and brighter colours are rendered with extra brightness. This works
great with particles.

The effect used in this example is Effects/NotLightenedAdditive.

The Effects/Flare effect also renders your layer with additive blending. It offers a few extra FX
properties.
 Subtractive
With subtractive blending, the colour of your layer is subtracted from the background. This way,
black is transparent and brighter colours make the background darker.

The effect used in this example is Effects/NotLightenedSubtractive.

File dialog
When you choose FILE > Open show..., a file dialog is presented that looks
like this. The templates are from BixPack 25.
Navigating
Click on one of the folder names in the upper left to select a parent folder.
Double click on one of the blue folder icons to select a child folder.
Double click on a file to select that file.
When you right click on a file, a menu is presented that allows you to open,
rename or delete that file and to create a new folder.
Shortcuts
Click on the App button in the upper richt to jump to the templates that
came with the installer.
Click on the Personal button to jump to the default save folder.
Click on the Desktop button to jump to the desktop.
The BixPack25 button in the above screenshot is the custom folder. It can
be set in the SETTINGS > Options... dialog. Learn more
Use the standard Windows file dialog
 If you prefer the standard Windows file dialog, mark the Use standard
Windows file dialog checkbox in the SETTINGS > Options... dialog. Learn
more
Alternatively you can hold down the <Shift> key when choosing FILE >
Open show...

Options dialog
Choose SETTINGS > Options... to open the options dialog.
Language
With this option you can translate the BluffTitler GUI. All interface texts,
except the error messages, are translated.
The translations that come with the installer can be found in the
BluffTitler/Media/Locales folder.
Visit the download page for a list of all the available languages.
Home page
This is the show that is opened when you start BluffTitler or click on the
Home button.
Custom folder
This folder is added as a button in the upper right corner of the file dialog for
quick access.
Temp folder
This folder is used to store temporarily files. It is used in the following
situations:
 When exporting a show containing audio or a video file
 When exporting a show as an MP4 file
 When playing a show with a VJ effect
Temporary files are automatically deleted after use. To make sure they are
also deleted in case something went wrong, all temporary files older than 1
hour are deleted next time you start BluffTitler.
On Windows 10, the default folder is C:\Users\
[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Outerspace
Software\BluffTitler\Temp.
Use a folder an another drive when your C drive is almost full.
Max texture resolution
This is the maximum texture resolution. Bigger textures are scaled down to
this resolution. It can be used to prevent out of video memory issues when
using super high resolution photos. Set this value to 0 to accept all
resolutions.
Default font
This is the font that is used when you choose FILE > New show. The default
font is also the font that is used when a font can't be found or loaded.
 Emoji font
This is the font that is used for rendering the emoji characters. The default
value is Segoe UI Emoji. Optional you can use Segoe UI Symbol or
OpenSansEmoji.
Stereoscopic format
This option is used when the Pupil distance property of the camera layer
has a non-zero value. It offers the following standards:
 Half SBS. The 2 screens are rendered side by side with a double pixel
aspect ratio (PAR)
 Full SBS. The 2 screens are rendered side by side, without adjusting the
PAR. To keep the same viewport, double the width in the FILE > Set show
resolution dialog.
 Half TAB. The 2 screens are rendered on top of each other (Top and
Bottom) with a halved PAR.
 Full TAB. The 2 screens are rendered on top of each other, without
adjusting the PAR. To keep the same viewport, double the height in the FILE
> Set show resolution dialog.
Open all shows in the same resolution
When this checkbox is unmarked and you open a show, the resolution is
changed to the resolution that is stored in the show file.
But when this checkbox is marked, shows are always opened in the very
same resolution. Click on the Select resolution... button to set this
resolution.
Always show tool window at startup
The BluffTitler executable is an editor as well as a player. Choose SETTINGS
> Tool window to switch between the two.
When you start BluffTitler by double clicking on a show file, it starts up in
player mode. When this checkbox is marked, it starts up in edit mode.
Auto folding layers hierarchy
When this checkbox is marked, all layers are hidden that are not root layers
or parent or child layers of the active layer. This can make the layers
dropdown look more clear.
Add - sign to non-default properties
When this checkbox is marked, a minus sign (-) is added to the property
name when it has a non-default value. This makes it easier to find out how to
recreate an effect.
Auto mark ALL KEYS checkbox
When this checkbox is marked, the All keys checkbox is automatically
marked when you select some properties. Learn more
Use standard Windows file dialog
 BluffTitler features its own file dialog that offers nice big thumbnails and
handy App and Personal buttons for quickly switching between the files
that come with the installer and your own files. It is used in the following
situations:
 Opening and saving shows
 Opening and saving presets
 Selecting effects
Mark this checkbox if you prefer to use the standard Windows file dialog.
Unload show before running MP4 encoder
When this checkbox is marked, the show is unloaded before the MP4 encoder
is started. This frees precious memory that can be used by the encoder. On
an average system this is only necessary when exporting in 4K or higher.

Camera layer

The above screenshot shows 4 camera layers, 1 perspective and 3 parallel. The template used is
from BixPack 1.
 What can I do with the camera layer?
With the camera layer you can create a view to your scene. A show needs at least 1 camera layer.

How do I create a camera layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add camera layer... to create a new camera layer.

The new camera layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the camera layer. Choose
FILE > Open show... and select a show from the BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Camera folder.

To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the installer, click on
the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of the file dialog.

Camera layers and viewports

Every time you add a camera layer, a viewport is added. Every viewport has its own camera
layer with its own settings and keyframe animation. You can create as many camera layers as you
want, but BluffTitler renders a maximum of 4 viewports at the same time. You can temporarily
hide a viewport by unmarking the Visible checkbox of the corresponding camera layer.

Extra info when editing

By pressing <F2> or choosing SETTINGS > Render coordinate system you can show/hide
extra information including the camera coordinate system in the lower left corner, the local
coordinate system of the active layer, the crosshair in the centre and the safe. This information is
automatically hidden when exporting to picture or video.

For example you can visualise the position and rotation of the camera layer (or any other layer)
by making it the active layer and pressing <F2>.

The active viewport

Next to using the Layers dropdown, you can select a camera layer by double clicking on its
viewport. Make sure not to click on a layer because this way, the layer will be selected instead.
The active viewport can be identified by pressing <F2>.

Attaching a new layer to an existing camera

Make the camera layer the active layer before creating the new layer.
 Attaching an existing layer to an existing
camera
Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach active layer.

Post-processing
When you apply an effect to the camera layer, the render output is used as the 1st texture. This
way the effect can be used as a post-processing effect.

Effects specifically designed for use in the camera layer can be found in the Camera folder. The
effects in the Filters folder also work great applied to the camera layer.

Blur
Apply the Effects/Camera/Blur effect to blur the whole screen.

Fog
Use the Fog range and Fog colour properties to add fog.
 Depth of field (DOF)
Apply the Effects/Camera/CameraDepthOfField effect to make the blur depend on the distance
to the camera.

With the FX DOF range property you can set the depth range (DOF) that appears sharp. A large
range creates a deep focus, a small range a shallow focus.

The FX DOF blur property controls the amount of out of focus outside this range.

Halftones
This example uses the Effects/Filters/Halftones effect.
 Swirl
This example uses the Effects/Filters/Swirl effect.

Many more effects are available. Have fun experimenting!

Distortion
This example uses the Effects/Filters/Distortion effect.

It can be used to simulate decoding/encoding bugs and connection errors.

Simulate LED screens

 Circles
You can simulate a low resolution LED screen by applying the Effects/Filters/Circles effect to
the camera layer.

The number of LEDs can be set with the FX Tiles property.

Squares
This example uses the Effects/Filters/Squares effect.

The distance between the LEDs can be set with the FX Padding property.

Stereo rendering
When you set the Pupil distance property to a non-zero value, 2 viewports are rendered, one for
each eye.

Set the stereoscopic format in the options dialog.

 Anaglyph
To render for red/green anaglyph glasses, apply the Effects/Camera/StereoAnaglyph effect to the
camera layer (click on the Change effect... button).

Oculus Rift
To render for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, apply the Effects/Camera/StereoOculusRift
effect to the camera layer.

The current version of BluffTitler does not use head tracking and does not automatically adjust to
your headset. You have to fine-tune the rendering properties yourself by using the FX properties.

Camera layer style 1

 Perspective projection
In this projection, objects that are further away from the camera are rendered smaller. Use the
Field of view property to zoom in and out.

Parallel projection
This projection is called parallel because parallel lines remain parallel. The size of the objects is
independent of their distance to the camera. Use the Size property to set the global size of all
objects. This projection is also called orthographic.

Camera layer style 2

 Solid
Normal view.

Wireframe
All layers are rendered as wireframes.

Camera layer style 3

Render all
This mode renders everything.

Render back
This mode only renders layers in the background, for example a picture layer using the
Fullscreen style.
 Render 3D
This mode only renders layers that are part of the 3D scene.

Render front
This mode only renders layers in the foreground, for example a picture layer using the 2D in
foreground style.

Camera layer properties

Position
The position of the camera. Note that moving the camera to the left has the same effect as
moving the scene to the right.

Rotation
This is the direction towards the camera is pointing.

Field of view(FOV)
This property is only used in perspective projection.The field of view(FOV) determines how
much you can see of the scene.A small FOV reduces the perspective 3D effect, a big FOV looks
like a fish eye lens.

Size
This property is only used in parallel projection and controls the global size of all elements.

Arm length
This is the distance between the camera position and the camera rotation centre. When this
property is not zero, the camera position is the rotation centre around which the actual camera
rotates. With this effect you can create spectacular movie like camera movements.

Target layer
This keeps the camera looking at another layer. The Rotation property is now relative to this
direction.

Pupil distance
This is the distance between your eyes. This is used for stereo rendering.
 Motion blur frames
The number of previous frames that are rendered half transparently on top of the current frame to
simulate motion blur.

Motion blur intensity

The alpha channel of the motion blur frames.

Brightness
The global brightness. Set this property to 0 for a black screen.

Gamma
Gamma

Colour intensity
0 means greyscale, 1 is the neutral value and when using values higher than 1, the colours are
exaggerated.

Fog range, Fog colour

The fog starts at the distance of the 1st slider and is full at the distance of the 2nd slider. The Fog
colour property sets the fog colour.

Fade stage, Fade colour

When moving the Fade stage property from 0 to 1, the colour of the screen is faded to the Fade
colour property.

Note that fading to black can also be done by setting the Brightness property to 0.

Active camera
Up to 4 cameras can be rendered at the same time, all in their own viewport. If the Active
camera property is set to 0, all cameras as exported in the video.

If this property is set to 1 or higher, only this camera is exported. By animating this property, you
can easily switch between shots during the animation.

Light layer

What can I do with the light layer?

With the light layer you can lighten your scene.

How do I create a light layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add light layer... to create a new light layer.
The new light layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the
active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the light
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Light folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.
Point light
With the first layer style dropdown you can set the light type.

This example uses the Point light

Shadows
With the shadow properties you can make layers cast shadows over
themselves and other layers.

You can prevent a layer to generate shadows by marking the Never

generate shadows checkbox in the LAYER > Active layer properties...
dialog.
Learn more
Light flare
You can make the light itself visible by loading a flare texture by pressing the
Change texture... button.

By default the light is behind the camera so you might have to move it to
make it visible.

This example uses the flare16.jpg texture and the Flare effect.

Lightbeams
With the Beam length property you can add lightbeams to text, EPS,
picture, model and sketch layers. Note that you have to position the light at
the other side of the text to create this effect.

You can prevent a layer to generate lightbeams by marking the Never

generate lightbeams checkbox in the LAYER > Active layer
properties... dialog.

The current version has 1 limitation: transparent pictures can't generate

lightbeams.

Multiple lights
You can create up to 4 point lights. This example uses a red, green and blue
light.

Light layer style 1

Ambient light
An Ambient light has no position and no direction, it illuminates everything
the same way. The colour of the ambient light determines the background
colour of the scene. You can override this by choosing FILE > Set
background colour....

Point light
Point lights have a position and cast light in all directions, like a light bulb.

Light layer style 2

Click on the Change texture... button to load a flare texture. The default
light position is behind the camera, so you might have to move the light to
make it visible.
Flare is always visible
The light is always visible, even when it is behind another layer.

Flare is visible if light is visible

This is the realistic situation.

Flare is visible if light is invisible

This unrealistic option can be used for special effects.

Flare is always invisible

The light is never visible.

Light layer style 3

Shadows are turned on with the Shadow intensity property. The 3rd
dropdown sets the shadow algorithm.
Projected shadows on floor
Projected shadows (also known as fast or fake shadows), are super fast, can
handle transparent textures, can handle morphing effects, but only render
shadows on the floor. Set the vertical position of this floor with the Shadow
plane position property.

When using a mirror layer, make sure the position of the mirror layer
matches the Shadow plane position property and use the Not clipped
style. When using a picture layer as the floor, use the 3D in background
style.

Projected shadows on wall

This projects the shadows on the wall. Set the depth position of this wall with
the Shadow plane position property.

Shadow volumes
Shadow volumes (also known as stencil shadows) can render shadows on all
surfaces of other layers, but are slower, can't handle transparent textures
and can't handle morphing effects.

In contrast to fast shadows, shadow volumes need other layers to receive the
shadow. And the layer that receives the shadow must write to the depth
buffer. For example, picture layers must use the 3D in 3D space style to
receive shadows.

Particle and scroller layers do not cast shadows.

Shadows are rendered incorrectly if the camera stands in the shadow.

Plasma layer
The background in the above screenshot is rendered with a few plasma
layers. The template used is from BixPack 27.

What can I do with the plasma layer?

With the plasma layer you can create colourful animated backgrounds.

How do I create a plasma layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add plasma layer... to create a new plasma
layer.
Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach plasma to active layer... to
attach a new plasma layer to the active layer.
The new plasma layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the plasma
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Plasma folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Blobs
With the 1st layer style dropdown you can set the plasma style.

This example uses the Blobs style.

Density & Radiation

With the Density property you can set the amount of plasma elements.

The Radiation property controls the size of the elements.

Additive blending
Plasma layers are rendered with additive blending. This means that plasma
layers are mixed.

This example uses 2 plasma layers.

Filter effect
In this example, the Effects/Filters/Circles effect is applied to the plasma
layer.

Plasma as colourmap
Click on the Attach plasma to active layer.. button. The 1st texture is now
replaced by the plasma layer.
Plasma as displacementmap
There are 2 ways to use a plasma layer as a displacementmap:
1) Attach a plasma layer to a picture layer that is using the
Displacementmap effect.
2) Render the plasma layer as a child of a colourmap layer and use this
colourmap layer as the displacementmap in a picture or landscape layer that
is using a displacementmap effect.

For the best quality, select the HDR displacementmap style in the 2nd
dropdown of the plasma layer. Make sure to use the HDR style in the
colourmap layer as well.

Looping plasma layer

You can make the plasma layer seamlessly looping by adapting the show
duration to the plasma speed. For example when using a show duration of 10
seconds and a plasma speed of 0.1 it loops seamlessly. The formula is:
Show Duration * Plasma Speed = 1
Duration is the duration of the show in seconds that you can set with the
FILE > Set show duration... menu item. Speed is the Speed property of
the plasma layer. Here are some examples:
Duratio Spee
n d
2 0.5
4 0.25
5 0.2
10 0.1

Plasma layer style 1

With the first layer style dropdown you can set the plasma style. The current
version features the following styles:
Solid

Vertical gradient

Double Vertical gradient

Horizontal gradient

Radial gradient

Blobs
Spots

Lines

Horizontal lines
Vertical lines

Line segments

Circles
Triangles

Rectangles

Tunnel
Spiral

Rays

Copper list
Fractal cloud

Perlin noise

White noise

Text layer
The texts in the above screenshot are rendered with the text layer. The template used is from
BixPack 5.

What can I do with the text layer?

With the text layer you can create 3D texts.

How do I create a text layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add text layer... to create a new text layer.

Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach text to active layer... to attach a new text layer to the
active layer.

The new text layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the text layer. Choose FILE >
Open show... and select a show from the BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Text folder.

To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the installer, click on
the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of the file dialog.
 Fonts
Choose MEDIA > Change font... to change the font.

This example uses DIN-Bold.

Textures
Choose MEDIA > Change texture... to change the texture.

This example uses DangerousArea.png.

 Effects
Choose EFFECT > Change effect... to change the effect.

This example uses Reflectionmap.

Compositions
Use the 1st layer style dropdown to change the composition.

This example uses String 2.

Font styles
Use the 3rd layer style dropdown to set the text style.

This example uses Wireframe.

 Inside borders (bevels)

Borders on the inside are created by attaching a text layer using one of the Outline styles to a
text layer using the Inside style. Select the style with the 3rd dropdown below the textbox.

Easiest way to add a border on the inside is to click on the Attach border to active layer...
button (or choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach border to active layer...) and select one of
the bevel presets. Set the size of the border with the Bevel property of the parent layer.

Outside borders (stroked)

Borders on the outside are created by attaching a text layer using the Stroked style to a text layer
using the Solid style. Select the style with the 3rd dropdown below the textbox.

Easiest way to add a border on the outside is to click on the Attach border to active layer...
button (or choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach border to active layer...) and select one of
the stroke presets. Set the size of the border with the Stroke property of the attached layer.

Text effects
 Dancing fool
In the Effects/Text folder your can find effects specifically designed for the text layer.

This example uses the Text/DancingFool effect.

Text layer style 1

Left
Every line starts at the same horizontal position.

Left, pivot point in centre

Every line starts at the same horizontal position. All lines are centred.

Right
Every line ends at the same horizontal position.

Right, pivot point in centre

Every line ends at the same horizontal position. All lines are centred.
 Centre
Every line is centred. This is the default effect.

Justify
All lines are scaled to the same width.

Fixed space
All characters use the same space.

Circle
The first line is drawn in a circle. In combination with the text rotation this creates a nice merry-
go-round effect.

Wave
The characters follow the path of a sinus wave. The 3rd slider of the Spacing property controls
the phase.

Spiral
The first line is drawn as a spiral.

Roll
The lines are placed on a roll.

String
The characters of the first line are walking a tight rope. The 3rd slider of the Spacing property
controls the elasticity of the string.

Text layer style 2

Vertical align top

Vertical align centre

Vertical align bottom

Text layer style 3

Single sided
The back of the text is invisible in this style.

Flat
Fonts look depressingly 2D in this style.

Solid
Fonts are extruded along the edges to create solid 3D objects.
 Straight bevel
Use the bevel effect to create fonts with eased edges.

Round bevel
This gives the font a very smooth round shape.

Stroked sharp
This adds a border to the outside of the text. With the Stroke property you can adjust the size
(1st slider) and depth (2nd slider) of the border.

Stroked round
This does the same as Stroked sharp, only with rounded corners.

Box
This effect renders each character as a solid block. Set the margin with the Bevel property.

Inverted
This effect looks like the font has been cut out of a solid block. Set the margin with the Bevel
property.

Tubular square/round
The outline is drawn as a tube. Use the Bevel property to adjust the radius of the tube.

Wireframe
The text is rendered as a wireframe model.

Sphered
The text is blown up. Use the 3rd slider of the Text size property to make the effect more subtle.

Inflated
The text is a balloon.

Horizontally revolved
The text is rotated around the vertical axis. You can use the Revolved Angle property to set the
amount of rotation. The 2nd slider controls the rotation offset. The 3th slider controls the radius.

Vertically revolved
The text is rotated around the horizontal axis. You can use the Revolved Angle property to set
the amount of rotation. The 2nd slider controls the rotation offset. The 3th slider controls the
radius.

Convex hull
Turns every character into a convex shape. Use the Stroke property to blow up the shape.
 Filled holes
Fills all holes (counters).

Holes
Only renders the holes (counters).

Light discs
Adds 2D light discs to the text to create a marquee effect.

Light bulbs
Adds 3D light bulbs (spheres) to the text to create a marquee effect.

Comb
Turns your text into a comb.

Spikes
Adds spikes to the text.

Hairy
Adds hairs to the text.
 Sequinned
Decorates the text with sequins.

Diamonds
Decorates the text with small diamonds.

Extended outlines
Extends the outlines at sharp edges.

Ornaments
Add rectangles to the font ends that can be textured with nice ornaments. Make sure the
ornaments start at the centre of the texture.

XY-Slices
Cuts the text into slices in the XY plane. Use the Slice properties to control the effect.

Z-Slices
Cuts the text into slices in the Z plane. Use the Slice properties to control the effect.

Straight slices
Renders the text as rectangular plateaus. Use the Slice properties to control the effect.
 Round slices
Renders the text as round plateaus. Use the Slice properties to control the effect.

Pixels, Cornered pixels, Rounded pixels

Use the Pixel Size property to control the size of the pixels.

Floating triangles, cubes, hexagons, cylinders,

spheres and Bubbles
Use the 2nd slider of the Pixel Size property to control the size of the individual triangles, cubes,
hexagons, cylinders, spheres and bubbles.

Inside flat
This style can be used in combination with the Outline Flat style to create a flat text with a
border.

Inside
This style can be used in combination with one of the outline effects to create a text with a
border.

Inside sphered
This style can be used in combination with the Outline Sphered style to create a sphered text
with a border.
 Outline flat
Only the outline is drawn in this mode. Use the Bevel property to set the size of the outline

Outline no bevel, Outline straight bevel, Outline

round bevel
Only the outline is drawn. Use the Bevel property to set the size of the outline. These effects are
commonly used in combination with the Inside style to create texts with borders.

Outline sphered
Only the outline is drawn in this mode. Use the Bevel property to set the size of the outline

Text layer properties

Text position
The position of the text: horizontal, vertical and depth.

Text rotation
The rotation of the text: heading, pitch and roll.

Pivot point
The point around which the text rotates when animating the Text rotation property. Press F2 to
visualise the pivot point.
 Character rotation
The rotation of the individual characters: heading, pitch and roll.

Font size
The font size. Notice that the All keys checkbox is automatically marked when you select this
property. This way the font size of all keyframes is adjusted. Unmark this checkbox when you
want to animate the font size.

Text size
With this property you can stretch the text in all 3 dimensions. This way you can create thick,
thin, deep or wide characters.

Character size
The size of the individual characters.

Colour
The diffuse text colour: red, green and blue. Note that the light colours also affects the
appearance of the text: for example a red text illuminated with a green light will appear black.
For most textures you want to use a white colour. Press <F3> for the standard colour dialog.

Specular colour
The colour used for specular highlights. If this property is (0,0,0), the diffuse colour is used as
the specular colour.
 Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
The transparency of the text. 0 is opaque, 1 is fully transparent.

Spacing
The 1st slider controls the distance between the characters (letterspacing or tracking).

The 2nd slider controls the distance between the lines (linespacing or leading).

The 3rd slider is only used by the Wave and String compositions.

Space width
The width of the space character (wordspacing).

Kerning
Some character pairs like AV, 69, AT and // can be put closer to each other than their rectangular
bounding boxes would allow them.

Italic
This makes the text italic by shearing it. Doing this procedurally is also called faux, fake or false
italic. The true way is to use the italic version of the font in the MEDIA > Change font... dialog.
However, not all fonts offer an italic version.

Twist
Each succeeding character is rotated a little bit further.

Stroke
This property is used by the Stroke and Convex hull styles. It controls the size (1st slider) and
depth (2nd slider) of the stroke.

Bevel
The 1st slider controls the thickness of the bevel. The 2nd slider controls the outer height. The
3rd slider controls the inner height. Creating bevels is an expensive operation, so it is best not to
animate the bevel size. Notice that some fonts have small details that could intersect extreme
bevels.

Writer
With this property you can simulate a type writer. A value of 0 means that no characters are being
drawn, 0.5 means only the first half are drawn and a value of 1 draws everything. The 2nd slider
controls the start position.
 Flexibility
With this property you can make the characters behave as if they are attached to each other by
springs. The 1st slider controls the delay in seconds of the slowest character. This is also the time
you have to extend the duration of the show in order to give all the characters enough time to
reach their destination.

The 2nd slider controls the pickup point, 0 means the first character and 1 the last character.

If the 3rd slider is greater than 0, every character has its own random delay. If the 3rd slider is -1,
the text is split into words instead of characters. If the 3rd slider is less than -1, the order of the
words is random.

Counter
The 1st slider sets the number, the 2nd slider the minimum number of digits and the 3rd slider
the number of decimals. The number is rendered when you use the <counter /> tag in the
textbox.

Encrypt
If this property is set to 1, every A is turned into a B. If this property is set to 2, every A is turned
into a C.

Emoji
The first slider controls the size of the emoji characters. The second slider its vertical position
and the third its depth position.

Texture position
The position of the texture.
 Texture size
The size of the texture.

Texture mapping
The way the texture is mapped. 0 is box, 1 is planar. The difference can be seen at the sides of
the texts.

Slices position
This property is only used by the Slices, Straight slices and Round slices styles. The 1st slider
controls the height of the slices, the 2nd the distance between the slices and the 3rd the position
of the 1st slice.

Slices rotation
This property is only used by the Slices, Straight slices and Round slices styles. The 1st slider
controls the rotation of the slices.

Pixel size
This property is only used by the Pixel styles and controls the size of the pixels.

Decoration density
This property is used by the Light discs, Light bulbs, Comb, Spikes, Hairy, Sequinned,
Diamonds, Extended outlines and Ornaments styles. A higher density means more
decorations.
 Decoration size
This property is used by the Light Discs, Light Bulbs, Comb, Spikes, Hairy, Sequinned,
Diamonds, Extended Outlines and Ornaments styles and controls the sizes and positions of the
decorations. The exact behaviour depends on the selected effect.

Revolved angle
This property is only used with the Revolved styles.

Jumble
Use this property to create some chaos. The 1st slider adjusts the positions of the individual
characters, the 2nd the rotation and the 3rd the random seed.

3rd slider has special meaning when using a negative value: range[-5.5, -6.5> only displaces the
horizontal position, range[-4.5, -5.5> only displaces the vertical position and the range[-2.5,
-3.5> only displaces depth position.

Explosion
With this property you can explode the text. The 1st slider controls the translation, the 2nd the
rotation. Notice that you can use the edit boxes next to the sliders to enter values out of range for
the sliders. You can use this to make the text explode completely out of the screen.

Characters
This property is only used in the EPS layer. It controls the number of times the EPS shape is
rendered. The 2nd slider controls the number of lines.

Bounds
With this property you can define the maximum size of the text. If the text is bigger it will be
scaled to fit. This is very useful when using the show as a template or for dynamic content.

Depth bias
This property can be used to solve sorting problems.

Transparent layers have to be sorted according to their distance to the camera. This sometimes
goes wrong when using very big, very small or irregular shaped layers. When this happens, use
the Depth bias property to fix it.

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Traced picture layer

The photo in this screenshot is rendered with the traced picture layer. The
template used is from BixPack 24.
What can I do with the traced picture layer?
With the traced picture layer you can convert a 2D picture to a 3D model and
render it with the same effects as the EPS layer.

How do I create a traced picture layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add traced picture layer... to create a new
traced picture layer.
The new traced picture layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to
make it the active layer.

Turn your 2D pictures into 3D models

With the traced picture layer you can easily turn your 2D logo into a 3D
model.

This is how the logo looks in a paint app.

This is how the same logo looks, traced and rendered by BluffTitler.

From bitmap to vector

The traced picture layer converts a bitmap image, like a PNG, BMP, TGA or
GIF file, into a vector image. This way, the effects the EPS layer has to offer
can be applied to your pictures as well!

Input picture
Best results are achieved when using a logo on a transparent background,
saved as a PNG file with a resolution of about 2000 pixels without small
details at the edges. For logos without round edges the resolution can be
smaller.

How do I trace another picture?

Click on the Change EPS... button.

Quality
You can improve the quality by tracing a higher resolution picture.
But realize that this also generates more polygons, which takes longer to
render and can even surpass BluffTitler's polygon budget. For high detailed
logos you might have to scale down the input picture.
The traced picture layer also listens to the SETTINGS > Low/Normal/High
quality menu items.

Reflectionmapped sides
When you create a new traced picture layer, the
AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapFrontReflectionmapSides effect is
automatically applied. This effect colourmaps the front and reflectionmaps
the sides. Of course you can replace this effect by any other effect.

Traced picture & EPS layer

The traced picture layer uses the same interface and has the same features
as the EPS layer, only it operates on traced bitmaps instead of EPS files. For
more information see the EPS layer.
The EPS layer also accepts picture files and you can trace another picture by
pressing the Change EPS... button.

Traced picture & picture layer

When you trace a picture without transparency, a rectangle is generated,
which is comparable to the picture layer, only with all the options the traced
picture layer has to offer.

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EPS layer

The shapes in the above screenshot are rendered with the EPS layer. The
template used is from BixPack 13.
What can I do with the EPS layer?
With the EPS layer you can render vectors shapes.

How do I create an EPS layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add EPS layer... to create a new eps layer.
Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach EPS to active layer... to attach a
new eps layer to the active layer.
The new eps layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the
active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the EPS
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/EPS folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Bixelangelo
EPS files for use in the EPS layer can be created with Bixelangelo.
Text layer
The EPS layer has the same interface and features as the text layer. The EPS
file is treated as a font with only a single glyph.
Use the Characters property to set the number of times the EPS shape must
be rendered.
For more information see the text layer.

How do I use another EPS file?

Choose MEDIA > Change EPS... or click on the Change EPS... button.

Limitations
BluffTitler has limited EPS support. It only imports filled shapes built out of
lines and curves from uncompressed, unoptimized EPS files.
Only the vector shape is imported. All other info, including bitmap data is
ignored.

Built-in bitmap tracer

Next to EPS files, the EPS layer also accepts bitmap files. Learn more

Fixing problems with highly detailed

logos
To make sure animations perform at an acceptable framerate BluffTitler uses
a triangle budget. In the current version this budget is set to about half a
million triangles per object.
You can optimize your EPS file in the following ways:
 Scale down your bitmap in a paint program before tracing it.
 Remove small details in a paint program before tracing it.
 Switch BluffTitler to low quality mode with the menu item SETTINGS >
Low quality before loading the EPS file. This can help because in low
quality mode BluffTitler generates less polygons.

Potrace
For creating and editing EPS files for use in BluffTitler we recommend Peter
Selinger's Potrace.
Potrace is an excellent tracer. It transforms bitmap into vector images, the
input is a .BMP bitmap file and it outputs an .EPS vector file. To create an
.EPS file that BluffTitler can handle you have to use the -c and -q options. For
example to convert the file X:\test.bmp to X:\test.eps type the following
from the command prompt:
potrace -c -q X:\test.bmp
Make sure your bitmap is a black logo on a white background.
You can instruct Potrace to generate less curves with the a command line
option:
potrace -c -q -a 0.7 X:\test.bmp

Vector Magic
Another tool that works great creating EPS files for use in BluffTitler is Vector
Magic.

Adobe Illustrator
When exporting as EPS from Adobe Illustrator, use the following settings:
 Version 8 EPS
 No preview
 Untick all options
 Postscript language level 2

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Scroller layer

The 4 scrollers in the above screenshot are rendered with the scroller layer.
The template used is from BixPack 1.
What can I do with the scroller layer?
With the scroller layer you can create smooth scrollers.

How do I create a scroller layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add scroller layer... to create a new scroller
layer.
The new scroller layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the scroller
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Scroller folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Scroller layer style 1

The scroller layer supports the same positioning modes as the picture layer.

Scroller layer style 2

Not Filled
The text is not repeated.

Filled
The text is repeated until it fills the rectangle as set with the Width property.
Scroller layer properties
Position
The position of the scroller.

Rotation
The rotation of the scroller.

Width
The width of the scroller. When editing, the width of the scroller is drawn as a
transparent box.

Font size, Spacing, Space width, Kerning,

Colour and Transparency
See the text layer for more info about these properties.

Scroll speed
The speed of the scroller. If you are writing in Arabic, Farsi or Hebrew you can
use a negative value to make the text scroll to the right.

Emoji
The first slider controls the size of the emoji characters. The second slider its
vertical position.

Depth bias
This property can be used to solve sorting problems.

Transparent layers have to be sorted according to their distance to the

camera. This sometimes goes wrong when using very big, very small or
irregular shaped layers. When this happens, use the Depth bias property to
fix it.
 Picture layer

The screen showing the painting in the above screenshot is rendered with the picture layer. The
template used is from BixPack 1.

What can I do with the picture layer?

With the picture layer you can render pictures.

How do I create a picture layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add picture layer... to create a new picture layer.

Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach picture to active layer... to attach a new picture layer
to the active layer.
The new picture layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the picture layer. Choose FILE
> Open show... and select a show from the BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Picture folder.

To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the installer, click on
the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of the file dialog.

Sources
The picture layer can render pictures, animated GIFs, videos, your webcam,... Learn more

All textures are scaled to the same height: 250 BluffTitler world coordinates. The width is scaled
proportionally.

Shapes
With the first layer style dropdown you set the shape.

This example uses the Rounded style.

 Borders
Click on the Attach border to active layer... button to add a border to your picture.

Effects
Click on the Change effect... button to apply an effect. This example uses the
Effects/Filters/Squares effect. Learn more
 Attach particles
Click on the Attach particles to active layer... button to attach a particle effect.

This example uses the Sparkles 1 preset.

Colour invert
The Effects/Filters/ColourInvert effect inverts the colours of your picture.

With the FX Colour Mixer property lots of variations are possible.

Grey
The Effects/Filters/Grey effect turns your picture to greyscale.

The FX Contrast property adds extra contrast.

 Cloth simulation
With the Cloth effect that you can select with the first layer style dropdown you can simulate
effects like cloth, waving flags and stretching rubber. Use the Flexibility property to control the
cloth effect.

Codecs
If BluffTitler fails to render your picture, you are probably missing a codec. Learn more about
codecs.

Green screen

To make green transparent apply the Effects/Picture/GreenScreen effect.

The effect supports adjustable tolerance, blur and spill suppression.

Picture layer style 1

Plane

Rounded

Abgeeckt

Circle
Use the Morphing stage property to create a pie part.

Heart

Star

Cube
 Cylinder
Use the Morphing stage property to bend the plane.

Sphere cap
Use the Morphing stage property to bend the plane.

Sphere

Egg

Donut

Cloth
Use the Flexibility property to set the flexibility of the cloth effect.

Picture layer style 2

Fullscreen in background
In this mode the picture is rendered fullscreen in the background.

Fullscreen in foreground
In this mode the picture is rendered fullscreen in the foreground.
 Skybox
In this mode the picture is always rendered at the camera position. Use it in combination with the
Cube or Sphere mode.

2D in foreground
In this mode the camera position and rotation is ignored. This is useful if you want to keep a logo
fixed on screen when animating the camera.

3D in background
In this mode the picture is always rendered in the background.

3D in 3D space
In this mode the picture can intersect other layers.

3D in foreground
In this mode the picture is drawn in front of all other layers.

Picture layer style 3

Single sided

Flat

Solid
 Straight bevel

Round bevel

Inside flat

Inside

Outline flat

Outline, no bevel

Outline, straight bevel

Outline, round bevel

For more information take a look at the descriptions of the styles of the text layer.

Picture layer properties

Position
The position of the layer.

Rotation
The rotation of the layer.
 Pivot point
The point around which the layer rotates when animating the Rotation property.

When you press F2 the pivot point is visualised with cyan, yellow and purple arrows.

Size
The size of the layer.

Colour
The diffuse colour of the layer.

Specular colour
The colour used for specular highlights. If this property is (0,0,0), the diffuse colour is used as
the specular colour.

Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
The transparency of the layer. 0 means opaque, 1 means fully transparent.

Bevel
The size of the bevel. For more info take a look at the description of the bevel property of the
text layer.

Texture repeat
The number of times the texture is repeated.

Model repeat
The number of times the layer is repeated.

Flexibility
This property is only when using the Cloth style that you can select with the first layer style
dropdown. In analogy with the property of the same name of the text layer, the 1st slider controls
the delay in seconds of the slowest part of the picture. The 2nd slider controls the horizontal
position of the pickup point (0 means the left side, 0.5 the centre and 1 the right side). The 3rd
slider controls the vertical position of the pickup point (0 means the bottom, 1 the top)

Filmstrip frames
A filmstrip is a single picture that contains all frames of an animation. The frames are placed
next to each other. For example, you can store a 10 frame animation with a resolution of 100 x
100 pixels in a filmstrip of 1000 x 100 pixels. The picture layer can play filmstrips and this
property sets the number of frames.

Filmstrip frames per second

The frames per second of the filmstrip.

Radius
This property is only used by the Rounded and Abgeeckt styles.

Star
This property is only used by the Star style. The 1st slider controls the number of points, the 2nd
the sharpness and the 3rd the shape.

Explosion
The 1st slider controls the translation, the 2nd the rotation.

Bounds
This property controls the boundaries. Press F2 to visualise the boundaries. If the picture is
bigger it will be scaled to fit. This is very useful when using the show as a template or for
dynamic content.

Volume
The audio volume when using a video texture.

Morphing stage
This property is only used by the Circle and Cylinder styles.

Depth bias
This property can be used to solve sorting problems.

Transparent layers have to be sorted according to their distance to the camera. This sometimes
goes wrong when using very big, very small or irregular shaped layers. When this happens, use
the Depth bias property to fix
it.DownloadBuyBixPackExamplesUser
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Video layer
What can I do with the video layer?
With the video layer you can render videos.

How do I create a video layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add video layer... to create a new video
layer.
The new video layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the
active layer.
The video layer uses the same interface and has the same features as the
picture layer, only it operates on videos instead of pictures. Visit the picture
layer page for more information.

Start position
Video files start playing at the beginning of the show and the audio streams
are mixed with all other layers containing audio.

Video codecs
If BluffTitler fails to play your video, you are probably missing a video codec.
Learn more about codecs.

Video capture layer

What can I do with the video capture layer?
With the video capture layer you can render the output of your webcam or
TV tuner.

How do I create a video capture layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add video capture layer... to create a new
video capture layer.
The new video capture layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to
make it the active layer.
The video capture layer uses the same interface and has the same features
as the picture layer, only it operates on the output of your video capture
device, like your webcam or TV tuner. Visit the picture layer page for more
information.

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Skybox layer

The clouds in the above screenshot are rendered with a skybox layer.
What can I do with the skybox layer?
With the skybox layer you can render 360° backgrounds.

How do I create a skybox layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add skybox layer... to create a new skybox
layer.
The new skybox layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the skybox
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Skybox folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Skybox
A skybox renders a 360° photo in the background. The photo must be an
equirectangular colourmap or a DDS cubemap. Both formats can be created
by Bixorama.
Choose MEDIA > Change texture... to change the texture.

Example skyboxes
The BluffTitler installer comes with 2 example skyboxes for you to play
around with:
Textures/Skybox_Equi
rectangular.png
 Textures/CubeMap.dd
s

Picture layer
The skybox layer uses the same interface and has the same features as the
picture layer, only it defaults to the skybox style. Visit the picture layer page
for more information.

Skybox effect
The Effects/Picture/Skybox effect works great in the skybox layer.

Mirror
Set the FX Mirror Sky property to 1 to mirror the sky.
Fog
Use the FX Fog properties to add fog.

Blur
Use the FX Blur property to blur the sky and/or the mirror.

Ground
Use the FX Ground properties to colour the ground.
Lighting levels
Change the lighting levels with the FX Lighting levels property.

BixPack 22 - Dutch skies

BixPack 22 offers a collection of 16 skyboxes. All photos are in the standard
equirectangular format:
 Horizon straigtened
 Sun centred
 No ground objects
Skyb
ox 1
Skyb
ox 2

Skyb
ox 3
Skyb
ox 4

Skyb
ox 5
Skyb
ox 6

Skyb
ox 7
Skyb
ox 8

Skyb
ox 9
Skyb
ox 10

Skyb
ox 11
Skyb
ox 12

Skyb
ox 13
Skyb
ox 14

Skyb
ox 15
 Skyb
ox 16

Learn more
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VR 360° layer
A BluffTitler generated VR 360° YouTube video. Click and drag your mouse on
the video to look around. Notice that a higher field of view (press - on the
numeric pad) increases the sharpness.
What can I do with the VR 360° layer?
With the VR 360° layer you can export your show as a 360° picture/video.

How do I create a VR 360° layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add VR 360° layer... to create a new VR
360° layer.
The new VR 360° layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the VR
360° layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/VR360 folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Equirectangular
A VR 360° layer does not add any elements to your show. It only renders it in
the equirectangular format for the creation of 360° pictures and videos.

2 layers
When you add a VR 360° layer, 2 new layers are created: a cubemap layer
attached to the camera layer and a picture layer using the Fullscreen in
foreground style and the System/ViewCubemap effect.
Unmark the Visible checkbox of the picture layer to temporarily switch to
normal mode.

Resolution
A 360° video has a horizontal field of view (FOV) of 360°. For a normal, flat
video this is about 90°. This means that in order to achieve the same
sharpness, your resolution has to be fourfold. Roughly speaking, a 360° video
with the same sharpness of an HD video has to be rendered in 8K. Learn
more

YouTube
Before uploading a 360° video to YouTube, you have to run their 360° Video
Metadata Tool to mark the video as a 360° video. When you forget this,
your video won't be recognized as a 360° video and be played as a normal,
flat video. Learn more

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Landscape layer
The island in the above screenshot is rendered with the landscape layer.
What can I do with the landscape layer?
With the landscape layer you can render landscapes.

How do I create a landscape layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add landscape layer... to create a new
landscape layer.
The new landscape layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make
it the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the
landscape layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Landscape folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Displacementmaps
The landscape renders displacementmaps (heightmaps) generated by apps
like:
 World creator
 World machine
 Terrain party

16 bits displacementmaps
Make sure to export the displacementmaps as 16 bits.
Learn more

8 bits displacementmaps
With 8 bits displacementmaps the surface is not smooth. The limited height
resolution creates terracing.
Learn more

Effects
The landscape layer needs a displacementmap effect. The following effects
can be used:
 Effects/Displacementmap
 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapDisplacementmapCubemap
 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapDisplacementmapReflectionmap
Learn more
Hardware tessellation
BluffTitler uses DirectX 11 hardware tessellation. This makes low details
visible. You can control the amount of tessellation with the FX
Displacement detail (tessellation) property. A low value looks like this.

Multitexturing
The best results are achieved by combining displacementmapping with
colourmapping. Without a colourmap, the landscape looks like this.
Learn more

Standing in the landscape

Choose LAYER > Stand in landscape to make your layer stand in the
landscape. The vertical position is now relative to the landscape surface.
Landscape layer properties
Position
The position of the landscape.

Size
The size of the landscape.

Colour
The colour of the landscape.

Specular colour
The specular colour of the landscape.

Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
The transparency of the landscape.

Texture repeat
The number of times the texture is repeated.

Depth bias
This property can be used to solve sorting problems. When the water and
landscape layers are placed at the exact same position, you can force the
transparent water to be rendered on top of the landscape by setting the
Depth bias property of the landscape to 1.

Tripod size
A higher value makes the rotation of layers standing in the landscape (using
the LAYER > Stand in landscape menu item) less sensitive to small
details.
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Water layer

The water in the above screenshot is rendered with the water layer. The
menu item LAYER > Float in water is used to make to text layers float in
the water.
What can I do with the water layer?
With the water layer you can render water.

How do I create a water layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add water layer... to create a new water
layer.
The new water layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the water
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Water folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Water simulation model

The water is simulated using the Gerstner model. In this model the water
surface is not only moving vertically but also in the horizontal plane.
Complex patterns are created by adding lots of waves with different wave
lengths, amplitudes, speeds and directions.

Sinus wave
Sinus waves have round extremes.

Set the Waves steepness

property to 0 for sinus waves.

Gerstner wave
Realistic water has sharp peaks
and wide troughs, which is
perfectly modeled by the Gerstner
waves.

Set the Waves steepness

property to 1 for Gerstner waves.

The simulation is deterministic. No random variables are used, so the water

always looks exactly the same.

Effect
The water layer needs the Effects/Special/Water effect.

Floating in the water

Choose LAYER > Float in water to make your layer float in the water. The
vertical position is now relative to the water surface.
Water layer properties
Position
The position of the water.

Size
The size of the water.

Colour
The colour of the water.

Specular colour
The specular colour of the water.

Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
The transparency of the water.

Texture position
The position of the foam texture. Choose MEDIA > Change texture... to
change the texture.

Texture size
The size of the foam texture.

Depth bias
This property can be used to solve sorting problems. When the water and
landscape layers are placed at the exact same position, you can force the
transparent water to be rendered on top of the landscape by setting the
Depth bias property of the water to -1.
Waves
The number of waves. More waves create a more complex pattern, but is
slower to render and simulate. For realistic water use about 100 waves. For
cartoony water 10 can be enough.

Waves length range

The 1st slider sets the minimum and the 2nd the maximum wavelength. For
realistic water use a minimum wavelenght of about 0.1. For cartoony water
use about 10.

Waves height
The ratio between wavelenght and amplitude. Use 0 for a motionless sea, 50
for a calm sea and 500 for a storm.

Waves heading range

The 1st slider sets the minimum heading and the 2nd the maximum heading.
All waves are positioned randomly in between these values. To make all your
waves move to the same direction, use a small range by settings the 2
sliders close to each other.

Waves speed
The ratio between wavelength and speed. Warning: this property can not be
animated without discontinuities so keep it fixed during the whole show.

Waves steepness
When using a value of 0, the waves are only moving vertially, creating round
wave tops. This can be used to simulate a small pond or bath water. A value
of 1 creates sharp wave tops that can be used to simulate a rough sea.

Start time
This sets the simulation time in seconds at the start of the show. This can be
used to immediately jump to a nice effect without having to create a long
show.
Buoy size
A higher value makes the rotation of layers floating in the water (using the
LAYER > Float in water menu item) less sensitive to the water.

Particle layer

What can I do with the particle layer?

With the particle layer you can render effects like fire, smoke, stars, sparkles and flares.

How do I create a particle layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add particle layer... to create a new particle layer.

Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach particle to active layer... to attach a new particle
layer to the active layer.

The new particle layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the particle layer. Choose
FILE > Open show... and select a show from the BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Particle folder.

To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the installer, click on
the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of the file dialog.
 Attached particles
When you create a particle layer by choosing LAYER > Attach layer > Attach particle to
active layer..., the particles are emitted (launched) from the surface of the active layer.

In this example, the particles are attached to a text layer.

The NotLightenedAdditive effect makes them blend into each other (choose MEDIA > Change
effect...).

Independent particles
When you create a particle layer by choosing LAYER > Add layer > Add particle layer..., the
particles are independent and the launch position is set with the Launch position property. Use
the Launch area property to define a bigger area.

In this example the Launch area is set to (100,100,100).

 Physics
With the Gravity property you can set the direction and size of the gravitational force. To make
them fall downwards you set this property to something like (0,-100,0).

With the Floor level property you can set the vertical position of the plane the particles bounce
off.

The Bouncing property controls the amount of bouncing.

Particles also bounce off a mirror layer.

Pointillism
By attaching your particles to a picture layer and setting the Chameleon property to 1, the
particles take over the colour of the picture.

Pre-export simulation time

It can take a few simulation steps before the particles fill the screen. To prevent this initialization
time to appear in your exported video when using a playlist or server rendering, you can use the
Pre-export simulation time option int the FILE > Show properties... dialog.

Launch plane

When the Launch plane size property is bigger than 0, the particles are only emitted from this
launch plane.

You set the position and rotation of the launch plane with the Launch plane position and
Launch plane rotation properties.

When you apply the Effects/Special/Clip effect to the layer the particles are attached to and
animate the FX Clip plane and Launch plane properties you can create nice dissolve effects.

To learn more, take a look at the particle shows that come with the installer.

Target layer

When the Target layer property is bigger than 0, the particles fly to this layer. Take a look at the
Layers dropdown to find the index of the target layer. You can set the flight speed with the
Launch speed property.
When you prevent new particles from being emitted (by setting both sliders of the Min/Max
particles property to the same value) you can move them around by animating the Target layer
property.

To learn more, take a look at the particle shows that come with the installer.

Particle layer style 1

2D rectangles
Particles are rendered as 2D rectangular billboards.

This example uses a picture of a heart as the texture and the NotLightenedAdditive effect

2D circles
Particles are rendered as 2D circle shaped billboards. This mode is very effective when using the
Effects/Special/Masked effect.
 3D cubes
Particles are rendered as cubes.

3D spheres
Particles are rendered as spheres.

3D pipes
The path of the particles is rendered as a bended pipe. Use the Trail length property to set the
pipe length.

3D blocks
Particles are rendered as blocks.

3D blobs
The particles are rendered as 3D intermingling, blending blobs (metaballs).

The blobs are rendered with the marching cubes algorithm.

 3D model
Every particle is a 3D model.

You can select a 3D model by choosing MEDIA > Change model....

Particle layer style 2

Pointing upwards
In this mode, the particle is not rotated.

Pointing flight direction

In this mode, the particle rotation depends on its flight direction.

Pointing randomly
In this mode all particles have a random rotation.

Particle layer style 3

Vertical align top
 Vertical align centre

Vertical align bottom

Particle layer properties

Launch position
This is the position where the particles are being emitted.

Launch area
The shape and size of the launch platform.

Examples:

(0,0,0) All particles are emitted from the same point

(100,0,0) The particles are emitted from a random point on a horizontal line.
(0,100,0) The particles are emitted from a random point on a vertical line.
(100,100,0) The particles are emitted from a random point on a plane.
(100,100,100) They are emitted from a random point in a box.

Press <F2> to visualize this property.

Launch direction
The launch direction in angles (heading, pitch, roll).
Examples:

(90,0,0) To the right

(90,0,90) Upwards
(90,0,180) To the left
(90,0,-90) Downwards
(0,0,0) Away from the camera
(180,0,0) Towards the camera

Press <F2> to visualize this property.

Launch speed
The initial speed. Note that you can reverse the launch direction by using a negative speed.

Time dilation
The speed of time. The neutral value is 1. A value higher than 1 makes the time run faster. A
value lower than 1 makes the time run slower. 0 makes the time stand still.

Spread
This is the maximum deviation from the launch direction (heading, pitch, roll).

Examples:

(0,0,0) The launch direction is always the same.

(10,0,0) The heading of the launch direction has a maximum deviation of 10 degrees.
(0,180,0) The pitch of the launch direction has a maximum deviation of 180 degrees.
(180,180,180) The launch direction is completely random.

Emission
The number of particles emitted per second.

Min/Max particles
The 1st slider controls the minimum number of particles and the 2nd the maximum. When they
are set to the same value and you set the Maximum age property to a very high value, the
number of particles is constant and no new particles are emitted.

Gravity
The direction and size of the gravity field (horizontal, vertical, depth).

Examples:

(0,0,0) There is no gravity, the particles maintain their launch speed and direction.
(0,-30,0) The particles fall to the ground.
(10,0,0) There's a soft wind to the right.
(60,0,0) There's a strong wind to the right.

Press <F2> to visualize this property.

Lifetime
The maximum age of the particles in seconds.

Particle size
Just like humans, particles grow and shrink during their life. With the 1st slider you can set the
size of the particles in the middle of their life. The 2nd slider controls the size at the start and the
third at the end of the particle's life.
 Effect size
This property scales the whole effect.

Colour 1, 2
All particles have a random colour in between these two colours. Press <F3> for the standard
colour dialog.

Specular colour
The colour used for specular highlights. If this property is (0,0,0), the diffuse colour is used as
the specular colour.

Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
This determines the transparency level of the particles. 0 is completely opaque, 1 is completely
transparent. If the particle layer is attached to another layer, the transparency of this layer is
added to the transparency of the particle layer.

Chameleon
This property allows you to mix the colours of the particles (as set with the 1st and 2nd colour
properties) with the colours of the parent or target layer. When using a positive value, the colours
are mixed with those of the parent layer. When using a negative value, the colours are mixed
with those of the target layer, as set with the Target layer property.
 Launch colour and Launch colour tolerance
If the Launch colour tolerance property is less than 1, particles are only launched from points
that match the launch colour, as set with the Launch colour property. If the tolerance is less than
zero, particles are only launched from points that do NOT match the launch colour.

If a target layer is used as set with the Target layer property, this is also used for the target
points.

Launch normal and Launch normal tolerance

If the Launch normal tolerance property is less than 1, particles are only launched from points
that match the normal, as set with the Launch normal property. If the tolerance is less than zero,
particles are only launched from points that do NOT match the launch normal.

Examples:

(0,1,0) upsides, for example to create snow

(0,-1,0) undersides, for example to make your layer drip

If a target layer is used as set with the Target layer property, this is also used for the target
points.

Rotation
The rotation of the particle (heading, pitch, roll). When using a 3D model to render the particles,
this is an offset because the particle models are always pointing towards their fly direction.

Rotation speed
The rotation speed of the particles (heading, pitch, roll). For the 2D particles you might only
want to use the roll (the 3rd slider).
 Trail length
The length of the trail in particles. Note that a big trail slows down the framerate considerably.

Trail density
This value determines the distance between the particles in the trail. A high density means a
smaller distance.

Grid
When this property is not zero, the particles are placed on a grid.

Min distance
New particles must have this minimum distance to all existing particles. This prevents collisions.

Variation
The variation in particle size, trail length and maximum age. When this property is set to 0 all
particles have the exact same size, trail length and maximum age.

Turbulence
This property adds some chaos to the flight path of the particles.

Launch plane position

This property is used when the Launch plane size property is greater than 0. The particles are
only emitted from this plane.

Press <F2> to visualize this property.

Launch plane rotation

The launch plane rotation in angles (heading, pitch, roll).

Examples:

(90,0,0) Vertical plane

(90,0,90) Horizontal plane

Press <F2> to visualize this property.

Launch plane size

This controls the thickness of the launch plane. Set this property to -1 to turn off the launch
plane.

Press <F2> to visualize this property.

Floor level
This is the vertical position of the floor. Particles are bounced off this floor. The particles also
bounce off mirror layers.

Bouncing
This property controls what happens if a particle hits a mirror layer or the floor as set with the
Floor level property or a mirror layer.
Examples:

-1 The particle ignores the mirror/floor and continues its path

0 The particle does not bounce
0.5 The particle bounces a little
1 The particle bounces normally
2 The particle bounces heavily

Target layer
If this property is bigger than 0, the particles fly to this layer. Take a look at the Layers dropdown
to find the index of the target layer. You can set the flight speed with the Launch speed property.

Depth bias
With the Depth bias property you can move the particles a bit closer to or further away from the
camera. For example when attaching sparkles to a text layer, you want all the particles to be
rendered in front of the text. You can do this with a negative Depth bias. But when attaching a
glow effect you want all the particles to be rendered behind the text. You can achieve this by
using a positve Depth bias.

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Waving flag layer

The flag in the above screenshot is rendered with the waving flag layer.
What can I do with the waving flag layer?
With the waving flag layer you can render a waving flag.

How do I create a waving flag layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add waving flag layer... to create a new
waving flag layer.
The new waving flag layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to
make it the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the waving
flag layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Wavingflag folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Cloth simulation model

The waving flag layer is simulated using a mass spring damper model. In this
model the vertices of the cloth model are connected with springs.
The cloth simulation is not deterministic. The flag is not reset when you start
playing/exporting and the wind noise is random so the cloth looks different
every time.
Pre-export simulation time
It takes a few simulation steps before the flag hangs realistically. To prevent
this initialization time to appear in your exported video when using a playlist
or server rendering, you can use the Pre-export simulation time option int
the FILE > Show properties... dialog.

Waving flag layer style 1

Mirror back
Mirrors the back of the flag.

Do not mirror back

This style can be handy for flags with texts.

Waving flag layer style 2

Cord inside flag
The cord is sewn inside the flag.

Cord outside flag

This style can be handy for transparent flags.

Waving flag layer properties

Position
The position of the flag.

Rotation
The rotation of the flag.

Size
The size of the flag.
Colour
The colour of the flag.

Specular colour
The specular colour of the flag.

Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
The transparency of the flag.

Depth bias
This property can be used to solve sorting problems.

Transparent layers have to be sorted according to their distance to the

camera. This sometimes goes wrong when using very big, very small or
irregular shaped layers. When this happens, use the Depth bias property to
fix it.

Wind force
The direction and size of the wind force. For realistic behaviour, prevent
using 0. For example to make the flag wave to the right use (2, 0.1, 0.1). And
to make it hang down use (0.01, -1, 0.01).

Wind noise
Without some noise, the flag will eventually hang still. Use the noise property
to keep it alive.

Max stretch
The elasticity of the flag.

Air resistance
The air damps the movement of the flag. Use a higher value to make it less
flappy.

Pole radius
The radius of the pole. This is used for collision detection.

Attached to pole
The 1st slider controls the top, the 2nd the middle and the 3rd the bottom.

Flag position
The vertical position of the flag.

Cord length, radius

The length and radius of the cord.

Cord colour
The colour of the cord.

Bounds
With this property you can define the maximum size of the flag. This is
important for templates that must render flags with different dimensions
correctly. Press <F2> to display the bounds.
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Sketch layer
The roller coaster in the above screenshot is rendered with a sketch layer.
The model layers are attached to the sketch. The template comes with the
installer. It can be found in the BluffTitler\Media\Shows\Sketch folder.

What can I do with the sketch layer?

With the sketch layer you can render animated handwritten texts and
sketches.

How do I create a sketch layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add sketch layer... to create a new sketch
layer.
The new sketch layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the sketch
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Sketch folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Bixelangelo
EPS files for use in the sketch layer can be created with Bixelangelo.

You can load another sketch by choosing MEDIA > Change EPS....

Pen size
You can set the pen size with the Pen size property.

Use a negative value to render the inside for tunnels.

Writer
You can animate the sketch with the Writer property.

Attach picture layer

You can attach a picture by choosing LAYER > Attach layer > Attach
picture to active layer....

The picture position and rotation are now relative to the tip of the sketch
layer, as set with the Writer property.

Attach text layer

You can attach a text by choosing LAYER > Attach layer > Attach text to
active layer.
The text position and rotation are now relative to the tip of the sketch layer,
as set with the Writer property.

Attach camera layer

You can attach a camera by choosing LAYER > Attach layer > Attach
camera to active layer.

The camera position and rotation are now relative to the tip of the sketch
layer, as set with the Writer property.

Attached layers are rotated 90 degrees, which is the common situation for
texts attached to a 2D sketch. To follow a 3D sketch from the viewpoint of a
roller coaster cart, use the following settings:
2nd layer style sketch layer: Attached layers follow sketch
Position property camera layer: (0, -2, 0)
Rotation property camera layer: (90, 0, 180)

Bitmap tracer

Bitmap tracer
Next to EPS files, the sketch layer also accepts bitmaps, like PNG, BMP, TGA
and GIF files. The picture is automatically traced and turned into a vector.
You can trace another picture by choosing MEDIA > Change EPS....

Input picture
Best results are achieved when using a logo on a transparent background
with a resolution of about 2000 pixels without small details at the edges. For
logos without round edges the resolution can be smaller.
Quality
You can improve the quality by tracing a higher resolution picture.
The sketch layer also listens to the SETTINGS > Low/Normal/High quality
menus.

Sketch layer style 1

Flat

Square
Bevel

Circle

Halfpipe
Rails

Star

Sketch layer style 2

Attached layers point upwards
Attached layer always point upwards.

Attached layers follow sketch

Attached layers follow the curves of the sketch.

Sketch layer style 3

Closed
The sketch is a closed at both ends.
Open
The sketch is open at both ends.

Sketch layer properties

Position
The position of the sketch.

Rotation
The rotation of the sketch.

Size
The size of the sketch.

Pen size
The width and the height of the pen.

Pen size progression

This controls the way the pen size changes along the path. The 1st slider
controls the size in the middle and the 2nd slider at the start and end points.

Pen rotation
The rotation of the pen.

Colour
The diffuse colour of the sketch.

Specular colour
The colour used for specular highlights. If this property is (0,0,0), the diffuse
colour is used as the specular colour.
Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
The transparency of the sketch.

Offset
A position offset relative to the orientation of the sketch points.

A roller coaster rail can be created with 2 or more sketch layers all using the
same EPS, but with different offset and radius properties.

Italic
The extra displacement of the last point.

Writer
Animates the sketch. 1st slider controls the end position, 2nd slider the start
position. This is in analogy with the same property of the text layer.

Writer offset
This value is added to the Writer property after applying physics. This can
be used to keep a fixed distance between the cars of a roller coaster train.

Texture position, Texture size

The position and size of the texture.

Smooth
Smoothes the sketch.

Gravity, Friction, Initial speed, Minimum speed

When the Gravity property is not 0, the sketch is animated with physics.
Animate the Writer property at constant speed and BluffTitler does the rest.
This can be used to simulate roller coaster cars, planes, trains and other
vehicles.

Use a higher Gravity value to make the vehicle respond more to the ups and
downs. Use a higher Friction value to make the vehicle slow down faster.
The Minimum speed is used to prevent the vehicle from standing still or
even moving backwards in badly designed roller coasters. The initial speed is
set with the Initial speed property.

The start, end and duration of the animation is controlled with the keyframe
positions and values of the Writer property.

Depth bias
This property can be used to solve sorting problems.

Transparent layers have to be sorted according to their distance to the

camera. This sometimes goes wrong when using very big, very small or
irregular shaped layers. When this happens, use the Depth bias property to
fix it.

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Model layer
The headphone and microphone in the above screenshot are rendered with
the model layer. The template used is from BixPack 7.

What can I do with the model layer?

With the model layer you can render 3D models.

How do I create a model layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add model layer... to create a new model
layer.
Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach model to active layer... to
attach a new model layer to the active layer.
The new model layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the model
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Model folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

How do I change the model?

You can change the model of the active layer by choosing MEDIA > Change
model...

Model layer properties

Position
The position of the model.
Rotation
The rotation of the model.

Pivot point
The point around which the model rotates when animating the Rotation
property.
When you press F2 the pivot point is visualised with cyan, yellow and purple
arrows.

Size
The size of the model.

Colour
The diffuse colour of the model.

Specular colour
The colour used for specular highlights. If this property is (0,0,0), the diffuse
colour is used as the specular colour.

Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
The transparency of the model.

Submodel
A model is built out of submodels. If this property is set to 0, all submodels
are rendered. If this property is set to X, only submodel X is rendered. If this
property is set to -X, all submodels except X are rendered.

Depth bias
This property can be used to solve sorting problems.
Transparent layers have to be sorted according to their distance to the
camera. This sometimes goes wrong when using very big, very small or
irregular shaped layers. When this happens, use the Depth bias property to
fix it.

Textures
Every submodel can have its own texture. Make sure to place the textures
next to the model file.
When you apply a texture to a model layer (by clicking the Change
texture... button or pressing F8), this texture overrules the texture as
defined in the model.

Submodels
A model is built out of submodels. If the Submodel property is set to 0 all
submodels are rendered. If this property is set to X, only submodel X is
rendered. And if this property is set to -X, all submodels except X are
rendered.
You can automatically create a separate layer for every submodel by
pressing <Control> U.
The container layer can be used to group the submodels together:
 Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add container layer
 Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add model layer...
 Select the model layer
 Press <Control> U
This way you can give every submodel its own colour, texture and effect.

Demo models
The BluffTitler installer comes with 3 models to play around with.

Bix
Bix is the alien mascot of Outerspace Software.
You can bring him to life by applying the Effects/Special/Bix effect. With
this effect you can move his arms, legs and eyes.

EZ
Bix's sidekick is called EZ, pronounced as "easy".

You can bring EZ to life by applying the Effects/Special/EZ effect.

Avatar
The avatar model is a low-poly, low-res game character. By editing
Avatar.png next to the model file, you can easily create your own characters.

You can bring your avatar to life by applying the Effects/Special/Avatar

effect.

BixPack models
Many BixPack template packs come with 3D models.
BixPack 1 - Virtual Studios
BixPack 1 comes with a collection of virtual studio models.
Learn more

BixPack 16 - Newsrooms
BixPack 16 comes with a collection of newsroom models.
Learn more

BixPack 3 - Home Videos

BixPack 3 comes with a collection of home video models.
Learn more
BixPack 21- Candy
BixPack 21 comes with a collection of candy models.
Learn more

BixPack 28- Flowers

BixPack 28 comes with a collection of flower models.
Learn more

Stock models
There are many sites where you can download 3D models.
3D CAD BROWSER
3D CAD BROWSER offers all its models in the .x format. (choose DirectX
ASCII (.x) from the dropdown)

humster3d
humster3d offers many models in the .x format.

cgtrader
cgtrader offers many models in the .x format.
GrabCAD,
GrabCAD offers CAD models.

Generate models
Tree It
Tree It generates trees in the .x format.

SpeedTree
SpeedTree generates trees in the .fbx and .obj formats.

Convert models
BluffTitler can import 3D models stored in the .x format. The following apps
can be used to convert to this format:
Open 3D Model Viewer
Open 3D Model Viewer supports 40+ 3D model formats including the .x
format.

Accutrans
Accutrans software can be used to easily convert common 3D formats to .x.

Greentoken
Greentoken offers online 3D model format conversion.

3DS MAX
Pandasoft has published a plugin for 3DS MAX allowing you to save your 3D
models as .x files.

Google SketchUp
This plugin for Google SketchUp allows you to save your 3D models as .x
files.

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Hand layer

The hands in the above screenshot are rendered with the hand layer.
What can I do with the hand layer?
With the hand layer you can render a virtual hand.

How do I create a hand layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add hand layer... to create a new hand
layer.
The new hand layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the
active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the hand
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Hand folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Hand layer style 1

Right hand
Renders a right hand.

Left hand
Renders a left hand.

Hand layer style 2

3 Fingers
Renders 3 fingers.

4 Fingers
Renders 4 fingers.

5 Fingers
Renders 5 fingers.

Hand layer style 3

Cartoon
Renders the hand in a round cartoon style.

Blocks
Renders the hand in a low poly blocky style.

Hand layer properties

Position
The position of the hand.

Rotation
The rotation of the hand.

Size
The size of the hand.

Colour
The skin colour of the hand.

Specular colour
The specular colour of the hand.

Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Transparency
The transparency of the hand.

Thumb
The rotation of the thumb.

Index finger
The rotation of the index finger.

Middle finger
The rotation of the middle finger.
Ring finger
The rotation of the ring finger.

Pinky
The rotation of the pinky.

Thickness
The thickness of the fingers.

Length
The length of the fingers.

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Mirror layer

The reflective floor in the above screenshot is rendered with the mirror layer.
The template used is from BixPack 15.
What can I do with the mirror layer?
With the mirror layer you can create mirrors.
How do I create a mirror layer?
Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add mirror layer... to create a new mirror
layer.
The new mirror layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the mirror
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Mirror folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Specularity property
With the 2nd slider of the Specularity property you control the transparency
of the mirror image.

The 3rd slider controls the fade-out.

Texture
You can change the texture of the mirror in the Change textures and effect
dialog.
The Effects/Filters/SoftBorder effect can be used to add soft borders.

Not only a reflective floor

The mirror can be positioned with the Position property and rotated with the
Rotation property.

This way you can turn your reflective floor into a reflective ceiling.

Mask
When you use a transparent texture, this texture is used as a mask. You can
set/clear the texture in the Change textures and effect dialog.

Instead of using a texture, you can also use an EPS file as a mask. Click on
the Change EPS... button to select an EPS file.

If no texture/EPS is used, the mirror is endless.

3D space
Only objects in 3D space can be seen in the mirror. A picture layer using the
Fullscreen or the 2D in foreground style is invisible in the mirror layer.
Inspired by game technology
The mirror layer is inspired by game technology. For example, in racing
games it is used to render the mirror image in the rear mirror.

Mirror layer style 1

Clipped
The scene is clipped to the mirror plane: nothing is visible at the other side of
the mirror.

Not clipped
The scene is not clipped.

Mirror layer properties

Position
The position of the mirror.

Rotation
The rotation of the mirror. Examples:
(0,90,0 Reflective floor
)
(0,- Reflective
90,0) ceiling
(- Mirror on the
90,0,0) left
(90,0,0 Mirror on the
) right
(0,0,0) Mirror in the
back
Specularity
The 1st slider controls the lighting of the mirror. The 2nd slider controls the
transparency of the mirror image. The 3rd slider controls the fade out.

Size
The size of the mirror.
Colour
The colour of the mirror.

Transparency
The transparency of the mirror.

Texture repeat
The number of times the texture is repeated on the mirror.

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Voxel layer

The mathematical shape in the above screenshot is rendered with the voxel
layer. The effect used is Effects/Voxel/VoxelGoursatSurface.
What can I do with the voxel layer?
With the voxel layer you can render voxel models.

How do I create a voxel layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add voxel layer... to create a new voxel
layer.
The new voxel layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the
active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the voxel
layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Voxel folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Medical visualisations
The voxel layer is mostly used to visualise medical datasets of CT and MRI
scans.

This example shows a molar (tooth) converted from a DICOM file.

Voxel layer style 1

Not clipped
The voxel model is not clipped.

Front clipping plane

The position and rotation of the clipping plane can be set with the Position
clipping plane and Rotation clipping plane properties.

Back clipping plane

Renders the other side of the clipping plane.
Clipping plane
This renders the clipping plane itself.

Voxel layer properties

Position
The position of the voxel model.

Rotation
The rotation of the voxel model.

Size
The size of the voxel model.

Tissue density
The 1st slider controls the minimum, the 2nd the maximum density.

Colour
The colour of the voxel model.

Specularity
The size of the specular highlights.

Position clipping plane

The position of the clipping plane.

Rotation clipping plane

The rotation of the clipping plane.
Voxel resolution
The number of slices used to render the voxel
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Audio layer

What can I do with the audio layer?

With the audio layer you can play audio files.

How do I create an audio layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add audio layer... to create a new audio
layer.
The new audio layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it the
active layer.

Start position
Audio files start playing at the beginning of the show and are mixed with all
other layers containing audio.

Codecs
If BluffTitler fails to play your audio file, you are probably missing an audio
codec. Learn more about codecs.

Audio layer properties

Volume
The volume.
VJ dialog
Choose LAYER > VJ... to display the VJ dialog.
With the VJ dialog you can connect layer properties to the audio volume. This
way you can make your show dance to the beat. In sync, fully automatically
and in combination with any effect.

Property
This lists all properties of the active layer. Use the dropdown to select the
property you want to connect to the audio volume.
Up to 3 properties can be connected per layer. Use the scrollbar to the right
to add another property.
Frequency range
The layer property can be connected to a limited audio frequency range.
From very low (20 Hz) to very high (8000 Hz).
For example, to make your layer listen to the bass drum, select the low
frequencies.
The default range of (20 Hz, 8000 Hz) makes your layer listen to all
frequencies.
Sensitivity
The 3 sensitivity textboxes correspond to the 3 sliders of the selected
property. The values are added to the property when the audio is maximum.
For example, when the Text position property is selected, a value of
(0,100,0) means that at most 100 is added to the vertical position. Use a
lower value to make the text jump less high.
When a colour property is selected, a value of (255,0,0) means that the
audio can turn blue (0,0,255) into purple (255,0,255).
The default value of (0,0,0) does nothing.
Threshold
Audio with a volume below this value is ignored. This value must be between
0 (silence) and 1 (maximum volume).
For example, a value of 0.5 means that the layer only begins to respond to
the music when the volume is medium high.
Max
Audio with a volume higher than this value is treated as maximum volume.
This value must be between the threshold value and 1 (maximum volume).

VJ effects
Next to using the VJ dialog, you can also make your layers dance to the beat
with the VJ effects.

How do I apply a VJ effect?

Click on the Change effect... button. You can find the VJ effects in the
Effects/VJ folder. Learn more

Make your text dance to the beat

Apply VJ/VJ_Dancer to your text layer.

Make your speakers pound to the beat

Apply VJ/VJ_PoundingSpeaker to your picture layer.
Create 3D spectrum analyzers
Apply VJ/VJ_SpectrumAnalyzer_3D to your text layer.

Create 2D spectrum analyzers

Apply VJ/VJ_SpectrumAnalyzer_2D to your picture layer.

Create abstract music visualisations

Apply VJ/VJ_SpectrumAnalyzer_Circles to your picture layer.
Create VU meters
Apply VJ/VJ_VUMeter to your picture layer.

Make your 3D models jump to the beat

Apply VJ/VJ_Dancer to your model layer.

Make your particles dance to the beat

Apply VJ/VJ_Particles_Additive to your particle layer.

Audio issues
Silent videos
A popular AC3 filter claims that it can handle MP3 files, but in fact it can't,
resulting in silent videos. To prevent BluffTitler from using this filter, open the
AC3 filter config tool system tab and disable MPEG Audio under Use AC3
filter for.
Synchronization issues in realtime/editing
mode
BluffTitler uses DirectShow to play video and audio files. This means that you
require a DirectShow decoder filter for the format you want to play.
Unfortunately not all filters behave as they should.
A popular MP3 decoder filter adds a delay of almost a second to songs
encoded with a bitrate of 320 kbps. Luckily the exported video file plays fine,
but if realtime performance is important this bug can be worked around by
re-encoding to a bitrate of 256 kbps or by converting it to a WAV or WMA file.
Synchronization issues in exported videos
A video with audio contains 2 streams: a video and an audio stream. Sync
problems can occur when your video is too big for your system to load both
streams in time. This can be fixed by using compression.

Audio stock sites

There are many sites where you can download music and sound samples.
music-for-video.com
Music for video offers great music and sound effects produced by BluffTitler
fans for BluffTitler fans!

audiojungle.net
Audiojungle offers great samples for a fair price.

partnersinrhyme.com
Partners in rhyme offers great music packs.

gettyimages.com
Getty images offers great music.

epicstockmedia.com
Epic stock media offers awesome sound packs.
audionetwork.com
Audio network offers monetisation codes with their professional licenses to
remove YouTube ads.

contiverse.com
ContiVerse offers unlimited access for its members

Colourmap layer
The monitor in the above video is a picture layer using a texture created by a
colourmap layer. By pasting another show inside the colourmap
layer(<Control> M), you can play a show inside a show.
What can I do with the colourmap layer?
With the colourmap layer you can generate colourmap textures for use in
other layers.

How do I create a colourmap layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add colourmap layer... to create a new
colourmap layer.
The new colourmap layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make
it the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the
colourmap layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Colourmap folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

The colourmap layer creates a colourmap

The colourmap layer does not render anything. Instead, it creates a
colourmap texture in memory that can be used by other layers.
Any effect that can use a colourmap, can also use the output of a colourmap
layer. Examples are:
 Effects/Lightened
 Effects/NotLightened
 All effects in the Effects/Filters folder

How do I make my layer use a colourmap

layer?
Click on the Select colourmap layer button in the Change textures and
effect dialog.

Show inside a show

A colourmap layer is like a show inside a show. The only difference is that the
output is not rendered to screen, but to a texture.

Attaching a new layer to an existing colourmap

layer
Make the colourmap layer the active layer before creating the new layer.

Attaching an existing layer to an existing

colourmap layer
Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach active layer.

Import show
Make the colourmap layer the active layer and press <Control> M to import
a show inside the colourmap layer.

Export as show
Press <Control> B to turn the active colourmap layer into a show. After that
it can be saved with FILE > Save show as....

Clear colourmap layer

Make the colourmap layer the active layer and click on the Delete all active
layers button to clear the colourmap layer.

Colourmap layer style 1

LDR
The generated colourmap is a 32 bits per pixel RGBA texture.

HDR
The generated colourmap is a 64 bits per pixel RGBA texture. This can be
necessary when the colourmap is used as a displacementmap.

Colourmap layer properties

Resolution
The resolution of the texture that will be generated. A higher resolution looks
sharper but requires more memory and is slower.

Background colour
The background colour.

Transparency
The transparency of the background.

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Cubemap layer
The reflections on the 3D model in the above screenshot are rendered with
the cubemap layer. The template used is from BixPack 15.
What can I do with the cubemap layer?
With the cubemap layer you can generate cubemap textures for use in other
layers.

How do I create a cubemap layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add cubemap layer... to create a new
cubemap layer.
The new cubemap layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the
cubemap layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Cubemap folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

The cubemap layer creates a cubemap

The cubemap layer does not render anything. Instead, it creates a cubemap
texture in memory that can be used by other layers.
Any effect that can use a cubemap, can also use the output of a cubemap
layer. Examples are:
 Effects/Cubemap
 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/CubemapAdditive
 Effects/AdvancedMaterials/ColourmapCubemap

How do I make my layer use a cubemap layer?

Click on the Select cubemap layer button in the Change textures and
effect dialog.

3D space
Only objects in 3D space can be seen in the cubemap. A picture layer using
the Fullscreen or the 2D in foreground style is invisible in the cubemap.

Inspired by game technology

The cubemap layer is inspired by game technology. For example, racing
games render a new cubemap for every frame to make the current scenery
reflect in the car.

Cubemap layer properties

Position
The position where the cubemap is rendered. Use <F2> to inspect the
position of the cubemap. Make sure only layers positioned near this position
use this cubemap.

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Container layer
What can I do with the container layer?
With the container layer you can group layers together and move, rotate and
scale them as one.

How do I create a container layer?

Choose LAYER > Add layer > Add container layer... to create a new
container layer.
The new container layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the
container layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Container folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

A container layer groups layers together

The container layer does not render anything, it only groups layers together.
And when you delete a container layer, all attached layers are deleted as
well.
It is useful in situations where you would like to animate several layers at the
same time. When you move, rotate or scale a container layer, all layers that
are attached to this container layer are automatically moved, rotated and
scaled as well.

Attaching a new layer to an existing container

Make the container layer the active layer before creating the new layer.
Attaching an existing layer to an existing
container
Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach active layer.

Detach a layer from a container

Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Detach active layer.

Attaching containers to containers

Make the container the active layer and choose LAYER > Add layer > Add
container layer.

Container layer properties

Position
The position of the container layer.

Rotation
The rotation of the container layer.

Pivot point
The point around which the container rotates when animating the Rotation
property.
When you press F2 the pivot point is visualised with cyan, yellow and purple
arrows.

Size
The size of the container layer.

Transparency
The transparency of the container layer.

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Lightning layer

What can I do with the lightning layer?

With the lightning layer you can render flashes of lightning.

How do I create a lightning layer?

Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach lightning to active layer... to
attach a new lightning layer to the active layer.
The new lightning layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.

Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the
lightning layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Lightning folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Parent to child
Flashes are rendered between 2 layers: the parent and the child layer. The
parent layer is the layer the lightning layer is attached to. The child layer can
be set with the Target Layer property.

Fractal dimension
When the Fractal Dimension property is set to 0, straight lines are
generated.

Attach to light layer

When the Target Layer property points to a light layer, flashes are
generated between the text and the light.
No target layer
When the Target Layer property is set to 0, the flashes are launched
perpendicular to the layer surface.

Attach to yourself
If the target layer is the same as the parent layer, flashes are generated
between different parts of the same layer.

Size
If the 2nd slider of the Size property is less than 1, the flashes do not reach
their target.

Lightning layer properties

Flashes per second
The number of flashes that are generated per second. Note that you can use
values lower than 1. For example a value of 0.1 means that 1 flash is
generated every 10 seconds.
Flash duration
The time a flash is visible in seconds.

Flash size
The 1st slider controls the thickness of the flash.

The 2nd slider controls the length of the Flash. If the Target layer property
is set to 0 this length is absolute, otherwise it is relative to the distance to
the target layer.

The 3th slider controls the detail level of the flash.

1st and 2nd colour

The colour of every flash is choosen randomly in between the 1st and the
2nd colour.

Fractal dimension
This determines the shape of the flash: a higher value generates a more
freakish shape. A straight line has a fractal dimension of 1, a shape that fills
2D space has a value of 2 and a value of 3 completely fills 3D space.

Branching
This determines the amount of branching. A value of 0 never branches.

Target layer
Flashes are generated between the parent layer (the layer the lightning layer
is attached to) and the target layer. Take a look at the Layers dropdown to
find the index of the target layer.

If the target layer is the same as the parent layer, flashes are generated
between different parts of the same layer.

If this property is set to 0, the flashes are launched perpendicular to the layer
surface. You can set the length with the 2nd slider of the Flash size
property.

SupportCommunity
Lens Flare layer

The lens flare in the above screenshot is rendered with the lens flare layer.

What can I do with the lens flare layer?

With the lens flare layer you can render lens flares.

How do I create a lens flare layer?

Choose LAYER > Attach layer > Attach lens flare to active layer... to
attach a new lens flare layer to the active layer.
The new lens flare layer can be selected from the layers dropdown to make it
the active layer.
Examples
The installer comes with shows demonstrating the possibilities of the lens
flare layer. Choose FILE > Open show... and select a show from the
BluffTitler/Media/Shows/Light folder.
To quickly switch between your own shows and the ones that come with the
installer, click on the Personal and App buttons in the upper right corner of
the file dialog.

Lens flare and light layers

Lens flare layers cooperate with light layers. You create a lens flare by
attaching a lens flare layer to a light layer. You move the lens flare by moving
the light layer it is attached to.

The lens flare can only be visible if the light is visible. Light layers are
positioned by default behind the camera, so you might have to move the
light (with the Position property) in order to make the lens flare visible.

Flare texture
Click on the Change texture... button to change the flare texture.
Random seed
You do not have to set the positions, sizes and colours of the flare elements
separately. Instead, you only have to set the ranges with the Positions,
Sizes, Colour 1 and Colour 2 properties. Every element is placed, sized and
coloured randomly within this range.

Lens Flare layer style 1

Always visible
In this mode, the lens flare is always visible.

Visible if light is visible

In this mode, the lens flare is only visible if the light is visible.

Visible if light is invisible

In this mode, the lens flare is only visible if the light is invisible.

Never visible
In this mode, the lens flare is never visible.

Lens Flare layer properties

Elements
The number of elements.
Positions
All elements are positioned on the straight line through the light and the
centre of the screen. This property determines the positions of the elements
on this line. A value of 1 means the light position and a value of 0 the centre
of the screen. The 1st slider controls the minimum position and the 2nd
slider the maximum position. This allows you so set the range.

Sizes
This property determines the sizes of the elements. The 1st slider controls
the minimum size and the 2nd the maximum size.

1st and 2nd colour

The colour of every element is choosen randomly in between the 1st and the
2nd colour.

Random seed
All the elements have a random position, size and colour within the ranges
set by the Positions, Sizes and Colour properties. The random values are
changed when you change this property.