Football Recruiting Tapes
 

Hi,
I am new at using Vegas and have a need for our High School Football tapes. We create "highlight" films for those players that have a chance to play at the next level. When we film wide receivers, we use a wide angle that makes the players appear very small. I would like to identify the player in question by either placing a circle around him or an arrow pointing toward him. These tapes are only selected plays. I can use a still frame for a few seconds to identify the player in question and then remove the marker so the coaches can watch the pattern that the player runs.

How do I create an overlay with a symbol such as an arrow and locate it to point where I need it. Sorry if this is wordy and remedial, but I want to provide the best chance at a free education as I can. Thanks for any help

Chris Barnes

Well, I would create the arrow with the players name on it, one for each, then you can just put the arrow/graphic on it's own channel above the player's channel, then you can use pan/crop on the arrow's event, keyframe it to where you want the arrow to go along the timeline. Simple.

...in photoshop, export as a png with transparency, then follow what Steven said...

With keyframing you could follow the player all over the field.

Graphic that follows motion
 

Is there any way to create a motion "profile" or set of key frames by specifying a spot on the video and saying "follow this"? I have often wanted an arrow to stay pointing at a moving subject in the video and this ability to apply some sort of motion tracking would be very handy, but I cannot seem to find it in Vegas.

Vegas does not have motion tracking.

Keyframing is certainly your friend, but it's not quite as easy as saying "follow that player".

(Tries to remember football terms)

Let's say a player on offense runs a simple post. First, get your arrow on a track above the video clip. Pause at the first point at which you want the arrow to appear. Drag your arrow event and snap the beginning of it to the cursor. Click "track motion" in the header of the arrow track. In the track motion window, click the "sync cursor" button on the lower left.

Position the arrow (video is still paused), this creates your first keyframe.

Advance the video to when the player starts moving, add a keyframe. You can drag the cursor in the keyframe area, drag the timeline cursor, or hit Alt-0 to move focus to the timeline to advance the video.

Advance the video to when the player hits full speed, add a keyframe.

Advance to when the player changes direction, add a keyframe.

Advance to each subsequent motion change of the player, add a keyframe.

Now, play the video. The arrow position will interpolate between keyframes, and the arrow follows the player.

A little deeper, with additional keyframes when the player changes speed will fine tune the tracking. Also, if you right-click on a keyframe you can pull down to several different types of control for that keyframe.

See the Vegas help, and also Volume 2 issue 8 of Edward Troxel's excellent newsletters at jetdv.com to learn more about keyframes.

Thanks for the information. I will be trying it this weekend.

Chris