A sketch map is a texture map that does not contain colour, but time information: every pixel contains the time it has been touched. This makes a sketch map a recording of a handwritten text or drawing.

Amazing compression

With a 24 bits picture and a time resolution of 50 frames per second it is theoretically possible to store an animation with a duration of 4 days into a single bitmap. The limitations are that your can't use different colours and that you can't erase anything.

Supporting standards

Your drawings are saved as standard .PNG bitmaps and DirectX .FX effect files. This means that they can be used in any application that supports texture maps and DirectX effect files.

Examples

The following examples have been created with Bixelangelo and BluffTitler DX9 with no post-processing other than converting it to a Windows Media File (.wmv) with Microsoft Windows Movie Maker.

Animated handwritten texts

Record your handwritten texts with Bixelangelo and animate them inside BluffTitler. Your recorded text can be played back at any speed.

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Splines

No matter how trembling your handwriting or sketches are, Bixelangelo turns them into smooth, perfectly connected curves! And if you don't trust your artistic talents, a picture can be loaded into the background for tracing.

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Mixing 3D animation with sketching

With BluffTitler you can mix your animated sketches with 3D animation. This example combines a sketch mapped picture layer with a text layer.

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Transparent glow

A nice additive glow can be added to your sketches! The mist has been created with the particle layer.

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Your drawing can also be used as a path along which you can scroll a 3D text (or any other object).

Text following a path

This technique can be used, for example, to make your text follow the sensual curves of an outer space alien.

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Roller coaster

Or how about this roller coaster?

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Your drawing can also be saved as an EPS file. This EPS file can be imported in any application that supports EPS files. The following 2 examples have been created with BluffTitler DX9:

Glowing Particles

A particle layer has been attached to a black sketch layer.

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Silver Sketch

This sketch layer is rendered with reflection mapping.

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Attached Picture

In BluffTitler you can attach a picture layer to a sketch layer with the menu item Layer > Attach Picture to active Layer.... This technique can be used to create the impression of a hand drawing the sketch.

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Your sketches are saved as standard .PNG bitmaps, .EPS vector drawings and DirectX .FX effect files. This means that they can be used in any application that supports texture maps and DirectX effect files, including BluffTitler DX9 and Bix's Photo Book.

BluffTitler DX9

In BluffTitler DX9 you can select the sketch map effect file with the menu item Media > Change Effect....

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Bix's Photo Book

In Bix's Photo Book you can select the sketch map effect file by right clicking on a photo and choosing Change Effect....

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