Title mix with SDMemory Card artwork
 

Hi

I've downloaded the MMC templates from canondv.com.
What I can't find in the manual or somewhere else, is how you can use these templates in a title mix.
Not that I would use it to record footage to tape, but I'm just wondering if it's possible to mix live footage with one of these template files.


Any idea?

Kind regards!
Bart

See page 129 of the manual, "Combining Images and Recording Them onto a Tape (Title Mix)." Hope this helps,

OK, I'm stumped.
 

Chris and Bart,

I've been wanting to do this too, so I followed the instructions on the web site and in the manual to no avail.

If I make my own title per the manual, the image is saved as USR00001.TTL in the title folder on the sd card.
AUX_xxxxx.JPG files such as the MMC files from the website are stored in the same folder that photos are normally stored.

The manual provides no clues about making your own title mix templates.

Have either of you been able to get this to work?

...
Guess I'll call the web site phone number on Monday...

Michael

Don't know if this will work, but try saving your .jpg with the .ttl extension and dropping it into the title folder -- maybe then it will be recognized as a title. Let us know what you find out,

Also see page 129 of the GL2 camera manual... "Creating a Title Image." Looks like you can choose a still image (.jpg) from your media card, and turn it into a title (for mixing purposes), with this menu function. Wish I had the camcorder so I could try it myself. Hope this helps,

I'm still unable to use the Canon templates as title mix files.
I'm going to contact canondv.com to ask them if they have any idea how this works .... should work somehow, otherwise it's quite useless to put such templates online. Or we should use them in NLE software.

Chris,
P. 129 tells how to create and select a title. BUT it's only *.TTL files in the title folder. And so far, I've found no way to create a .TTL file except through the camera, which can be useful, but not as useful as being able to bring in a file created elsewhere (watermarks, bugs, ...)

And I haven't been able to open the .TTL file yet, but I'm assuming it contains alpha channel info for the transparency part of the image -- thus implying there's no way to use a standard .JPG...

Bart,
Post here if you get something from Canon and I'll do the same.

Michael

Bad News
 

According to Tech Support, The MMC templates on the web site are not for the GL2. They are for the other camcorders that can use CARD MIX.

The GL2 does not support Card Mix. It uses TITLE MIX and the only way to make a Title Mix (.TTL) file is through the camcorder. This file is in a proprietary format and can not (as far as Tech Support knows) be created in third party software external to the camera.

So, to do Title Mix, you have to follow the procedures as outlined on page 129 of the manual. The suggestion is to use good lighting so that you get a good crisp image...

Michael

Thanks for your replay, Michael!

Too bad, not that I was planning to record footage with this image mix feature, but would have been cool anyway ;-)

Greetzz!
Bart

I have a PV-DV 851 that can also do Title Mix using image files with the .TTL extension. I emailed Pana Support to see if they knew of any way to create these out of camera. This finally came from Pana's Lab yesterday...

Re:
Thank you for your patience while waiting for a reply regarding your
Panasonic PVDV851. We received information on the PVDV851 this morning. We
have already provided information on the ASA rating, which is equal to
100. Panasonic does not provide software for creating Titles on a PC. We
are sorry but we are not able to provide information regarding the
contents of the Title file format (*.TTL) used for the title files.

Thank You,
Panasonic Consumer Support

...There has to be some way around this. Notice they say Panasonic doesn't make software to do it. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Anybody still looking elsewhere?

This video will help those of you trying to make your on title mixes

http://www.dvinfo.net/canongl2/media/titlemix.wmv

Thanks Alex...worked like a charm

Great! Glad to hear it! This is a big deal for Pana DVxxx owners.

An interesting note for you Pana owners. When following this tutorial to make your own image files for Title-Mixing, you can lower the R,G,B to 9,9,9 for darker blacks. Where as the Canon GL2 keys out any black under RGB 12,12,12 the Pana's key out blacks at 8,8,8 and lower. Cool. Better letterboxing for users of the 2001 Pana line that didn't have a widescreen mode, and for those who want to use a darker black in watermarks.

MMC Templates for GL2
 

You may find this useful, maybe not, but I was able to use the Canon-provided MMC Templates (supposedly not supported on the GL2) on my GL2 with a little tweaking.

All you have to do is exchange the blue in the .jpg files with black (RGB 0,0,0). I did this by selecting a color range, clicking the eyedropper on the blue in the image, and then filling the selected area with the foreground color, which I had previously made black (RGB 0,0,0).

You also have to save the .jpg with the accepted title mix image name, i.e. USR00001, USR00015, etc. You then upload it to your image card, and use it just like you would in the Title Mix tutorial video on this site.

Apparently the MMC templates are intended to be used in caremas that key out blue, but it seems relatively straightforward to turn that blue into RGB 0,0,0, which our GL2's will happily key out instead.

Thought that might help . . .

Can you tell us where to download the Canon templates?

You can try this link:

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=DownloadDetailAct&fcategoryid=326&modelid=7512#sapps

If that doesn't work, try going to www.usa.canon.com, then click on "Consumer" then on "Support." You can choose the GL2 from the drop-down boxes, then click on "Software" on the resulting page. From there you can download the templates in a .zip file.

There are about forty of them, and sure, they're really cheesy, but still kind of cool. :-)

I got the Canon MMC templates . While they are kinda cheesy, and probably won't suit my needs, I like anything that can make my or anybody elses camcorder more useful than originally intended.