Question on Tutorials
 

Hi Everyone,
I am editing a video for training and I need to draw a circle around an item in the video in order to highlight it.. I have seen it done before in other tutorials however I'm puzzled on how to do it myself.

My editing software is PremierePro CS5 Win 7 64bit. I have taken the Lynda.com tutorials but nothing in those tutorials covers this. I've also search here and on the net but unable to find what I'm looking for. I hope I've explained my problem clearly enough.

Any help will be appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Harry

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

I have used the title tool to highlight players in sports videos, maybe it will work for you too. Open a new title and use whatever character you want O, 0, [ ], etc. The great thing about the title tool is that you can change the size and color easily and after you have created the title you can still resize and/or animate the character to move with the video if you need.

Hope that works for you.

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

You could also put a circle (or whatever) on a transparent video layer above.

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

Lloyd and Peter:
Thank you for your suggestions. I will try them out. Also I was looking around to find an example I was looking for. Attached is something I found on youtube that would great to use. However I don't have a clue as to how to do it. Being able to draw a circle like that would be great.

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

The example you showed was probably done in a motion graphics program like After Effects, or a third party motion effect plug in for PPro.
I've done similar things many times with the AE "paint" function.
I don't believe PPro natively has effects like that.

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

It sure looks to me like that clip was made using a screen-capture utility and it just recorded the action of drawing an ellipse using a pencil tool. It's not, to my eye, an actual animated title.

You could do the same in CS5 by just choosing the ellipse tool and dragging it around whatever you like, just as in any drawing program, while capturing the action on the screen using another utility. It seems to me that you're saying you want to see the circle draw itself, not just pop in and out the way it would with a title or graphic on another layer, but even the method in the clip won't do this, as you can see the mouse pointer making the action happen.

Re: Question on Tutorials. Puzzle solved
 

Looks like I stubbled onto the answer to my question. Click on the link below. Actually the first tutorial is the one that I could use. Now I'm sure that there are other ways to do it but this one looks good. Thanks for all the ideas from everyone.
Harry

Tutorial:Creating ESPN Style Video Effects - Adobe Premiere Pro

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

I am not quite sure what it is you are looking for as the sample has been taken down.
But what i have gathered is drawing a cirle live. If so try the Write-on effect.

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

Wow, Ann, you're good.

Here's a more complete explanation:

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 * Write-on effect

Not clear from the tutorial just how to do anything other than a straight line, but I'm sure you can... somehow.

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

You're not kidding...
I never knew PPro had any sort of write/paint effect.
I always jumped over to AE for anything like that.
Maybe someday I should actually look thru the PPro user manual.
I might discover all sorts of interesting things :)

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

Looks like another of "Jeff Schells" podcast tutorials. They are great. Check them out.

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

Use keyframes, in the Program Window you will have Bezier handles.

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

If you go to youtube you'll get an idea of what Ann is talking about.

Click here.. YouTube - The Write-on Effect in Adobe Premiere Pro

There are some other tutorials there that are amazing. Well worth your time to check them out.

Thanks Ann
Harry

Re: Question on Tutorials
 

Right, that was the one I was referring to, that only shows straight lines.

The Jeff Schell versions wouldn't play on my PC.... I probably need a newer version of QT or something.

Re: Question on Tutorials