Because Advanstar Press ceased publication of Newtekniques Magazine recently, all links to the original articles are down. Due to the number of requests for my reviews, and in the interest of making the information in these articles available to the public, I have posted them here through my site. I am told that the original html docs and image files are being released soon. When I get them I will add the extra text and images.
Have you ever been working on a Toaster/Flyer Project and realized that you are missing a segment? Or perhaps you have thirty talking head shots in a project but only twelve that need key pages? When was the last time you returned to the edit the next day and couldn't remember where you left off? How many sticky notes have you used to remind yourself of some "fine tuning" adjustments that were needed in a project? If you have ever fallen prey to the old "Where does THIS go?" ploy, fret no longer because Empiricons have come to your rescue.
The Empiricons Collection comes in three sets and are described as passive visual croutons for all VideoToaster and Flyer systems. Color croutons are only viewable on Amiga A4000 computers. A2000/3000 users will see the usual black & white croutons. Each set has approximately 65 croutons included. Many of the icons are aimed at the wedding videographer, but there are also many that will be suitable for all forms of video production.
Empiricons can be used for just about any application during video production. They can be quite handy during those long and complicated projects. Simply drop as many of these visual reminders into your projects to make the storyboard-editing task even easier. Empiricons will not affect the playability of your project...they're simply note-like icons to aid in the editing process. They are so colorful and well designed that they are very easy to spot while scanning through a project. Many are visually descriptive, like a smily face or a pointing finger. Others are simply colorful croutons that have the word "Credits" or "Logo" on the crouton.
Volume One contains 64 croutons. Many of them are geared towards weddings, with directions like "1st Dance", "GarterToss", or "Limo". But there are many here that would be welcome for general production. There are croutons that tell you about a cutaway; to insert an animation; to insert credits or music; or to warn that a new scene needs to be produced for a particular segment. My favorites on Volume One are " Bad Clip", "ADD Overlay", "CG Page", "Start/End Here", "Insert Effect", "Music End", "Needs Work", "Redo", "Title", and "Start/End Voice Over".
Think of these croutons as electronic "post it notes" made specifically for the Toaster/Flyer. Many of them have open interpretations as to how you assign them. Yes, there are a few lame ones (as you might expect with a set) but all in all, there is something for everyone included in each set. I am sure that more sets will be forthcoming and with Empire Productions soliciting input from Toaster/Flyer users there should be some interesting and useful new crouton design applications. And priced at an average of only $.38 each, it's well worth the price of admission even for a few throw-aways. Individually, each set of Empiricons sells for $29.95, or you can get the entire collection of 195 Empiricons for $74.95, saving you $15 in the process. You can also place your order online from Empire Productions, Inc., at their website http://3nails.com/cgi-bin/thatsanorder_LE.
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