create an opening birthday card

[phnxrsngbr]

Hi,

sorry for the very simple question but I haven't been able to find this anywhere and I'm not very good with Videostudio. I'm trying to make a birthday video for my son and want to start it off with a birthday card that opens. I have no idea how to animate this or make it, at all, and hope I can get some help here. To look like a page turning and being able to see the inside of the card, both pages, then turn over to the back of the card.

I'm trying to create an actual birthday card that will turn the page from the front to the middle pages, then turn the page to the end.

Thanks very much for your help!

[Black Lab]

What version are you using? Some versions came with an Album transition that looked like a book opening or pages turning, though I'm not sure how you could make that look like a birthday card.

[Ken Berry]

The Album/Flip transition in X3 allows you to Customise both the front cover, the background and the Pages A and B, with your own images. So I guess you could use it for the purpose you are wanting...

[phnxrsngbr]

I'm using X2. Sorry I forgot to post that.

[Ron P.]

VS X2 has more Album transitions available than VS X3. Each one of those can be customized. You can choose from the provided backgrounds to each page, or use your own. However it is a transition, so I don't know if it will resemble a card.

You might look at some of the templates in the Movie Wizard. Not really any that are cards that would open, but some of the slide-show templates are nice.

[phnxrsngbr]

Thanks very much for your help! ) I'll check out the transitions.

If they don't work, do you have any idea how I would word a web search to hopefully find what I'm trying to achieve?

[phnxrsngbr]

I've tried all 6 transitions and although they look different in their thumbnails, when I preview and/or try them out, they are all doing exactly the same thing: accordion motion to the left, no page turn. Is something wrong with VS, do you think? They don't all do that, right?

[Ron P.]

One of the album transitions opens to the top, other than that, yes they use a motion opening to the left. They do represent photo albums, so trying to get them to resemble a greeting card would be tough.

What's your means of presentation, email, or DVD? How much time do you have to produce this? If you're running out of time, and you're going to send it via email, you might think about using an internet based card. There's numerous ones around. Just search for ecards, you'll get a decade's worth of hits.

If you have some time, then it may be possible to use VS in the process. However you also should have some type of graphics program, to create the card image. The hard part will be the animation. That may require yet another program, which nowadays would be a flash authoring program. There's several of those around too, ranging from a very pricey Adobe Flash CS5 or whatever version they're on now, to others around the $50-100 range.

Corel still has offered in their store, an older program called Media One Plus. One part of that program includes what's called Smile box. It is an on-line source for templates, such as greeting cards, slideshows, ect. Media One Plus only costs about $20.
http://store1.corel.com/corel/product/i ... OP2ENGPCPF

[phnxrsngbr]

I'll be making this a DVD, with the beginning of the "card" being the actual birthday card opening. At the end of the video, the birthday card will close. It won't be emailed, it will be put onto a DVD and also posted on FB for him. I have 1 month to make it so will look for ways to animate it through other means than VS. Yes, I have both Publisher and Paint Shop Pro to make the card in. I just have to animate it properly. It's interesting, you see this type of animation all the time. I would have thought it would be easier.

Thanks very much for your help! I appreciate it!

[Black Lab]

It's interesting, you see this type of animation all the time. I would have thought it would be easier.

Just because you see the animation all the time doesn't mean it is easy to produce.

Corel still has offered in their store, an older program called Media One Plus. One part of that program includes what's called Smile box. It is an on-line source for templates, such as greeting cards, slideshows, ect. Media One Plus only costs about $20.

Smilebox itself is actually free, http://www.smilebox.com/, unless you're talking about a different Smilebox.

[Ron P.]

That's the same Jeff, it's accessible from within Media One Plus, and you can download the templates into Media One Plus to customize.

HOWEVER, there is a way to do this with VS X3... I knew if I thought about this long enough it would come to me. Use the New Blue PiP effect filter. You need to create your card images in one of your photo or illustration programs, then insert the image into one of the overlay tracks. Apply the full mask to that image, then drag the PiP filter to that image. Now customize the PiP filter, which allows you to customize the axis, X, Y, and Z as well as the size, ect. I've only played with it for a few minutes, but can now see how this can be done.

I'll work with it, and see if I can come up with a template for you to use. Then all you'll need to do is replace the images, using the nice function of replacing clips/images by holding down the CTL key while dropping your images onto the clip in the time-line.

Might take a little time to get this done, so check back...

[Black Lab]

You'll have to think harder, Ron. The OP is using X2.

[Ron P.]

Well %$%* darn!! Ok, that sure threw a monkey wrench in the project. There's no replacing clips in VS X2, so it would take a clip that has the design that the OP wants, and be in the form of a video clip or SWF. Can be done, however no way for the OP to customize it. There's still time, I'll see what can be done to make it compatible with X2. Be much easier if the OP would upgrade to X3 though..

[phnxrsngbr]

I actually ended up making a real birthday card and filming it on a green screen table while my hand opened it. It worked well. Thanks to you both for your input!