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Note: The RT2000 has been replaced by the new RT2500. |
MegaPack - More stable and easier to install
New 3D FX
TitleXpress
What is keyframing?
Real-Time Keyframing
Since it's introduction this product has improved dramatically. While initially we did have some compatibility issues, Matrox has attacked the problem diligently. They have released 3 Service Packs and tested most of the current motherboards and configurations. The 2.0 drivers will fix the few remaining issues. Matrox has updated the compatibility page on their website constantly and they provide you technical tips such as what slot to put the RT2000 in, special BIOS settings and direct links to any needed drivers. Special Kudos to Matrox for offering this exceptional level of pre-sales configuration support!
The new RT2000 MEGA Pack gives you a a ton of new 3D FX and other product enhancements:
Before I get into all the super cool new 3D FX and stuff, I want to go into set up and stability improvements. When the RT2000 began shipping it became clear to me that while it offered incredible features, they came with a cost. Not a cost in dollars and cents, but one in time, effort and unfortunately for some users, frustration. The RT2000 is a two-board solution, and with two boards to install, came twice the IRQ and compatibility headaches. Matrox worked diligently to fix these issues and released several service packs, each one fixing more and adding increased compatibility and stability. With the introduction of the MegaPack, Matrox has taken a major step forward. We have found that installing it in a fresh WinME or Win98 machine is quite easy, and the result is a very stable and reliable NLE system. The MegaPack also gives the RT2000 much better and more accurate DV device control and compatibility. Let me make this very clear, with the MegaPack the RT2000 is much easier to install and set up. Just give it a clean system, with a 600+ Mhz processor, 128+ Megs of RAM and screaming video storage and you are going to be up and editing in no time at all. Now lets talk about all the cool new Real-Time 3D features that make the MegaPack so amazing. Each of these new features is cool, but what makes them amazing is your ability to combine them with each other, all in real-time!!!
First, lets start with the new particle, distortion and tile transitions. You see transitions like this all the time in music videos and Xtreme sports footage. Video track 1 will shatter in a dozen or hundreds of little pieces, revealing the second video track. Or you'll see a close up of an athlete shimmer and ripple into a picture of the entire stadium. One of my favorite new FX is the flying tile transition. Basically the screen breaks up into a checkerboard pattern, and each rectangle flips over and flies off screen. Very coo FX, just don't over use them! You may even know some wedding or event videographers who use these FX in their editing. Well, did you also know that they probably spent hours waiting for these FX to render? With the new RT2000 MegaPack they are all real-time; in full motion, full screen resolution on your TV monitor. Since you don't have to spend any time rendering, you get the added flexibility you need to make sure the transition is just right. If you like to use 3D FX in your productions, getting to see them instantly, in real-time is a huge productivity boost!
Now lets add the new titler from Inscriber called TitleXpress. It is fantastic. Super easy to use and the titles look great. Even cooler, you can apply any of the RT2000 real-time 3D FX as a filter to your titles. That's right, they can fly on and off the screen, page curl, explode, organically wipe/dissolve in real-time. If you've ever tried to make an involved title sequence with moving graphics, you know it can take a whole day just to get a single 5-minute sequence just right. Of course, you had to spend most of the time rendering, not editing. With the RT2000 MegaPack you get to see your entire title sequence instantly, in real-time on your TV!! Once again, if you like creating involved title sequences, the RT2000 MegaPack is a huge productivity boost!
Real-Time Keyframer
The third major new feature of the MegaPack is the one I like the best. It is the real-time keyframer. If you have ever worked with a 3D or compositing program like Boris FX, Hollywood FX or After FX then you already know what a keyframer is. But I think most digital videographers have heard of it, but you may not be quite sure. I'm going to take few moments now to explain just what keyframing is, then I'll go into why the real-time keyframing of the RT2000 MegaPack is simply the most important productivity tool I have ever used for NLE.
Keyframing allows you to customize a transition or effect over time. You can go to any single frame in the transition and change some of the settings. As an example, lets say we have a Picture In Picture (PIP) effect. Video 1 flies in from the upper left hand corner of the screen then fills the entire screen. With the keyframer I could make the PIP fly in & bounce on the screen, or stop in the upper left hand corner at ¼ size, stay there for a while, then simply shrink away. By being able to manipulate how the FX will happen over time, I get complete and total control of my 3D transitions.
I'm sure by now you would agree with me that keyframing is very cool. But with most NLE systems, the more you keyframe, the longer you render and the longer it take to edit. That is why the real-time keyframer on the RT2000 is so cool. Let me give you a few examples of how you can use the real-time keyframer with the new MegaPack FX to create some really great video. These video sequences could take several hours to create using a 3D FX program like Boris FX. With the RT2000 you can create them and make them fit perfectly in less then 15 minutes each.
I wish I could have had the time and ability to give you some streaming demonstrations of each of these RT2000 real-time keyframer examples. Perhaps in the future I will be able to, or some of our customers may want to send me some. In the meantime I hope you were able to grasp the power, flexibility and creativity the RT2000 MegaPack will give you. If you are into 3DFX, make no mistake about it; the RT2000 is the card for you. No other card comes close to offering you this level of productivity with such a wide variety of 3D FX and transitions. One of the key features that make the RT2000 a great investment is Matrox's commitment to constantly improving the performance, features and stability of the RT2000. The RT2000 will let you take full advantage of all the latest new technologies in the industry.
Lets say you are editing a home video from New Years Eve or some other celebration. Get a nice shot of someone opening a champagne bottle. Make sure you get the cork exploding off the bottle and/or a bit of the bubbly shooting out of the top. Use this as your base footage. Now shoot some footage of everyone hugging/ kissing/ congratulating each other around the room. Here is what you can do with the RT2000 real-time keyframer. Use a particle effect; my favorite for this sequence is the exploding hearts. Use the real-time keyframer to position the effect to begin directly over the just opened champagne bottle. Then manipulate the rotation of the effect, so that the particles explode with the champagne coming out of the bottle. This looks really cool!! Next, for good measure, add a few more keyframes so that the motion of the particles matches the motion of the camera as it begins to pan the room. This effect can also be used when someone is opening a present or gift.
We've all seen the photomontages at the beginning of most weddings. A great place to use page curls. Here is an even cooler way, using the RT2000 real-time keyframer. Have the bride and groom hold an empty photo album. Shoot them either standing or sitting down. They should act like they are looking at some really great old photos. Then have them turn it around, kind of like the way a teacher shows the class the pictures in the book she is reading. Scan in a cool picture or make a graphic in Photoshop with something like “This is our life” in fancy script on it. Have a printout of this image pasted on the page the couple is now showing. Use the RT2000 real-time keyframer to position the same graphic over the video. You will be amazed at how simple and easy it is to get the image to fit almost perfectly with the RT2000. Then have the graphic grow to full screen. Now you can use a series of page peels between each photo in the montage. At the end of the montage lets use the real-time keyframer again. This time we'll have a shot ready of the couple looking at the album from behind and over the shoulder. I have them look at the album for a while, then turn and give each other a little kiss. Use the RT2000 real-time keyframer to position the last video and have it shrink down to fit on the last page of the album. Then have it fade to black just before the couple starts smooching. This sequence can be used for any kind of photomontage sequence. It takes a little bit of set up work with your camera shots, but once you get the hang of it, you can make photo montages that will have your audiences going “WOW!!!”
Here is a great use of the RT2000 real-time keyframer for family videos. How often do you take some great footage of the kids playing with the grown-ups and you find that there is a television or picture frame in the video? I don't mean in the corner, but really in the video. As an example lets say it is some Thanksgiving footage of the kids playing with their favorite uncle. The only problem was that he was sitting in front of the TV watching the football game. So about ¼ of the picture is filled with the football game, ly distracting from your main footage. See if you have some old footage of the same uncle or perhaps a prior years Thanksgiving. Use the RT2000 real-time keyframer to position this old footage over the TV. Now when you are ready to cut to the next scene, use a particle transition. Have the video from inside the TV explode using the RT2000.
Here is one you can do for a corporate video. The head of the company is explaining his plans for a new facility they have just built/ acquired/expanded. Your basic talking head shot, and not very exciting. See if he has a picture of the new facility. Position it in the shot so the camera can see it. It can be on his desk or hanging on the wall behind him. As he is explaining the different things about the new facility, have same video you shot on the new site fly in from the picture frame. Sometimes have it go full screen, other times position it over the guys shoulder at ¼ screen. In the end I have the talking head video fly off the screen and into the open door of the new facility. This can really look great. If the corporate video is about several different products, have him hold up the box for each one as he begins to talk about it. Then use the real-time keyframer to have the product demos fly-in from his hands.
You can make your kids videos look like amazing X-game footage by combining the new RT2000 tile transitions with real-time keyframer. Lets say it's some footage of your little superstar's soccer game. Using the real-time keyframer position a tile transition on the soccer ball. Preferably with your kid kicking the ball or better yet scoring a goal. Now use the tile transition to change to a close up of your kid, either pumping her fist in the air or getting mobbed by teammates. By positioning the beginning of the tile transition and the motion path it takes as it goes, you can really make some pretty basic footage look like sports show hi-lite clips.
RT2000 Now includes Premiere 6!
Congratulations to Matrox. Not only is the RT2000 certified by Adobe for Premiere 6, it is the first real-time card shipping with Premiere 6.0 in the box! You get the complete version, including all the new bonus goodies like Cleaner EZ, SmartSound, TitleDeko and more.
The RT2000 has been replaced by the new RT2500.
Matrox RT2500 Now Shipping
Single PCI-bus card provides three-layer realtime editing and broadcast-quality 3D effects. RT2500 builds on the incredible success of our RT2000 realtime editing platform that has won numerous awards and been delivered to over 35,000 users worldwide in just over a year. RT2500 NOW SHIPPING! $899.95
RT2000
MAJOR PRICE DROP!! $999.95
RT2000 named one of Videoguys' Top 10 New products of 2000!!!
The RT2000 is a Native DV & MPEG2 editing system with DV & analog I/O plus CD & DVD authoring. But what makes the RT2000 so special is the 3D Flex technology that delivers amazing 3D FX in real-time! It is these 3D FX that make this card so powerful and so much fun to use. The new 2.0 version (October release, Free upgrade for all registered owners) adds real-time keyframing to these FX. This means you will get complete control over the positioning, motion, size and timing of your FX. Unlike 3rd party plug-ins that cost hundreds of dollars, the RT2000 Mega3D FX let you work in a real-time full motion WYSIWYG keyframing environment. WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get. And what you get is the ability to manipulate and scrub through your keyframed FX in real-time. No rendering at all!! And since you don't have to waste time rendering, you can spend more time getting your FX just right!! 
With the addition of this MAJOR upgrade (FREE to registered users) the RT2000 becomes even more powerful. For under $1,000 it is a phenomenal value. If you love 3D transitions and FX like I do, then RT2000 is the card for you!!!
For more great tech tips and to hear what real people have to say about the RT2000, join on of these RT2000 groups!!
The Unofficial RT 2000 discussion board
An excellent web based discussion board of very knowledgable and helpful RT2000 users.
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