Avid’s Elastic Reality

Changing the Face of Technology- andEverything Else

Who hasn't heard of morphing? Thanksto music videos and movies, we've all seen what morphing effects can do. Elastic Reality allows you to generate those same effects in your own home orbusiness.

Elastic Reality's installation is easy and uniform across all of thesupported NT platforms(Alpha, Intel, MIPS, and PowerPC). However, I did run intosome problems on the Alpha and Intel machines in my lab. The error messages foreach machine were identical and had to do with some software I had previouslyinstalled that had corrupted the Video for Windows system files.

Elastic Reality's interface is well laid out, although it might confuse youif you aren't used to morphing terminology. But, I was so impressed with ElasticReality's consistency across platforms that I decided to use it as one ofWindows NT Magazine Labs' benchmarks.

The documentation that comes with the software is first-rate, and anexcellent tutorial steps you through morphing your first images. Don't be fooledby how easy Elastic Reality is to use, though, because it's not just forbeginners: It's well suited to both experienced and novice image alchemists. Themorphing effects in the recent blockbuster movie "StarGate" werecreated with Elastic Reality.

Warping: During warping, you create Beziercurves that describe the starting shape and the ending shape of your image.These shapes are linked together and form a correspondence that describes theamount and direction an image will be pulled or distorted.

Compositing: Compositing usually consists ofmixing a percentage of each image to obtain a new distinct image. Thecompositing step gives the illusion that one image is transforming into theother.

Morphing from George to Grant
The tutorial I chose to follow for this review, as well as for ourbenchmarks, starts with two images (one of George Washington from a $1 bill, andone of Ulysses S. Grant from a $50 bill) and creates a third image that sharesfeatures of both Washington and Grant.

After I opened the project file (pres.er), I selected the "A"button from the tool bar to see the beginning image of George Washington (seescreen 1). I then pushed the "B" button to view the ending image ofUlysses S. Grant (see screen 2), and the "A/B" button to see bothimages at the same time (see screen 3).

Next, I outlined the images using the Bezier-curve outlining tools. Here,you outline only the part of the image you want to transform during the morphingprocess. I then used toolbar buttons--which look like VCR controls--in ElasticReality's preview feature to see these outlines one frame at a time. Thisparticular example renders 30 frames, and when I stepped through to the midwaypoint at frame 15, I could see a merged image of the two original sources (seescreen 4).

Video Effects
Once you are satisfied that the morphing process is doing what you want,you can start rendering your image. You can render either a single frame or theentire project, and you can save the rendered images in a variety of formats. Isaved the rendered image in a Video for Windows file so I could play back theresults whenever--and wherever--I wanted.

Also bundled with Elastic Reality is Transjammer, a digitalvideo-transitions editor. Don't confuse this with the sliding text or explodingscreens that come with presentation packages. Transjammer comes bundled withmore than 30 effects that you can modify. These effects range from a simple Band3 effect to a mesmerizing Tile Fly Away 3. The Band 3 effect is a variation ofthe classic three-band transition where the on-screen image is split into threebands that slide off to alternating sides to reveal a new image. Tile Fly Away 3takes the on-screen image and splits it into 30 tiles that recede into thedistance in staggered rings until they reveal a new image.

Elastic Reality is a powerful graphics tool in an easy-to-use package.Combine this with quality documentation and excellent technical support, andyou've got a real winner. It may even help you turn your leaden presentationsand graphics into golden multimedia extravaganzas.