Indiana Jones Style Moving map
 

I'd like to create an "indiana jones" style map with route line for a travel video.

I've seen how to do this with two still images (one of the map with the route line and and one without), and then using a wipe to make the line appear.

But I'd like to zoom and pan the map whilst the line is being drawn.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as how to achieve this?

Not sure if it will help but Vol. 4, No. 3 (May 2006) of Edward Troxel's excellent Newsletters might help (www.jetdv.com :: Index).

Richard

Thanks for the link.

Those newsletters look very useful.

As a Vegas newbie they'll come in handy.

The mask idea looks like it might work, by zooming the map and adjusting the mask accordingly.

I'll have to have a play around with it and see how it comes out.

Hi,sorry 4 the stupid quest but if i don't have photoshop how could i draw the line?

thx

MS Paint can draw a simple line for this.

Or you can download and install (free) the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Programme) - a good photoshop-like alternative

GIMP

Sorry to revive this old thread, but other life events stopped me from making any progress.
But six months later I've made a start!!

I've had a go at doing a moving map with animated route line using Sony Vegas Pro.

I used Google Earth Terrain Maps Downloader to generate a large map image, which I could zoom into and pan.

I then used the Pan/Crop Tool to move the map and bezier mask animation to reveal the line.

You can view a short test file here:

YouTube - Map test.mpg

I need to work on the keyframe timing, and draw a better route line in photoshop, but it's along the right lines for the type of thing I want to achieve.

The video is for a compilation of footage I took in Western Canada on a holiday there. The plan is to finally burn it all to DVD.

I've also finished the photo montage intro. which can also be viewed here:

YouTube - Western Canada 2008

I'm a complete Sony Vegas newb, so be gentle with me!, but any hints or tips to help create a smoother sharper map clip would be appreciated. Especially the map text, which is fuzzy until the image stops moving.

Well done Neil!

I think you've done a very commendable job. If I really HAD to pick up on any points they would be as follows (all personal opinion, of course):

Re the map:

1. Looks nice, but would be better if the tip of the line was always pretty much dead centre - it wanders to the edge a little, especially at the end. I know you said it is a test so I expect you'll have thought of this already.

2. Might look even better with a dotted line? Just a thought!

3. You can't read any of the location namess so it's difficult to guess where in the world you are. That problem is exacerbated by the fact that the map is already zoomed in quite close when you start so it's hard to get ones bearings. Consider showing the start point in context of the whole of Canada with your map as an inset. You can then quickly zoom to the inset as the animation begins.

Re the montage:

1. The zoom into the globe takes too long - around 50 seconds before we see the flag. Aside from being a bit uninteresting, it also gives the viewer plenty of time to register the pixellation as you get closer - when you get in really close it looks a bit of a mess!

2. Then we have almost half a minute of the flag, which is again too long. I would perhaps bring the rows of images in sooner. I appreciate you're trying to tie in with the length of the music but it's not quite working for me.

3. On the subject of the intersecting rows of images, they cut off rather abruptly. Looks nice though. Bet that took a while!

4. Two consecutive images around 3m15s are almost identical - I may be missing something, but if so, whatever I'm missing is too subtle!

5. This may be a function of the compression for YouTube but the resolution of the images seemed low and the colours did seem a little washed out at times.

6. If this is an intro to a longer video I would be inclined to consider it overlong. That's personal taste though.

7. Because you're showing a lot of images back to back I wonder if the pan and zoom effect begins to get a little wearisome? Consider showing some static images occasionally.

These are minor points in an otherwise very pleasant few minutes viewing.

Thank you for your comments Ian. Much apprecated. As a newbie I find any criticism constructive.

Re the map, I agree with all your comments. It was just a first test. But I agree the timing of the line/scrolling and position of the screen require a lot of tweaking. But I was just pleased I could get the mask/panning effect to work roughly as I wanted. Believe me as a newbie that took me a lot of effort!!! But I know it needs work.

I agree also about the dotted line. I just need how to work out how to do that in photoshop.

Re the montage. I agree the the initial google earth globe zoom takes longer than is optimum, but you're right I did it to match the music. I'm not sure what to do to make it fit.

For the intersecting rows of images I have tweaked it to fade out more gradually. I cheated and used ProDad HeroGlyph for that effect, so it wasn't too much work really.

For the images around 3m 15s. They are both shots of Lake Louise from different perspectives. I do take your point about their similarity, but I like them and wanted to include them. All the shots are presented in a chronological order of the trip. Maybe that's wrong, and I need to shuffle them around a bit.

I think the image quality is down to You Tube, beacause on my original , they look much sharper and vibrant.

Re the length, again I take your point, but it was difficult for me to cut out shots. Believe me, I wanted to include more!!!

Thanks again for taking the time to view my video and reply with your comments.
I'm definitely not a professional editor, as many of you are on here, so I'm not aiming for professional results. I just want to create a permanent record of my trip, which was in reality a trip of a lifetime.

I think as with many holiday videos, to outsiders they may get a little tedious, for me I want to include as much of a record of my trip as I can.

I know I have so much to learn, but I'm enjoying learning all the same!

I certainly don't have the best ear in the world but it seems to me like you put two diffreent versions of the song together, the vocal and the instrumental. They appear to be at different tempos, which bothered me a little bit. Maybe nit-picking. I also agree that the intro zoom and flag were too long. You lose interest.

Neil - just a few thoughts.
Speed up the earth zoom. Underlay the flag image as you close in on the earth (whatever country you started in) will help to establish were you started, fade out earth to the map image overlayed on flag, start you journey, overlay pictures relevant to journey over map(boat, plane, points of interest, etc), reach destination with new flag image underlayed to identify new country, transition to vacation photos.
Try to increase speed of instrumental to get it closer to match vocal version. Ver 9 Pro has a new elastique effect for audio. I've played with adjusting tempos some and it seemed as though the pitch didn't change ( or maybe my ears aren't as good as they used to be). Looked real good for a starting point.

Jim

Neil,

It's funny because I was just looking into doing something almost identical to what you're up to... The tracing line of the ferry route from the mainland (Vancouver) to Vancouver Island, where I live. I was surprised to see that the map you were working on was the exact one I need to create myself. In fact I might be interested in buying the right to use your map.

The google earth thing wasn't really doing it for me - I've tried this in the past, with mixed results - usually what I do is do a still capture at every couple of thousand feet of elevation change and zoom in that way.

Thanks for the replies.

Terry - Yes you are correct, I am using two different versions of the song, the original and an instrumental. I must admit I just concentrated on making them "join" as best I could. I didn't even think about tempo! I need to look more closely at that.

Jim - I like your idea. It would certainly get rid of the monotony of the Earth zoom. I'll have ago at that. But it might take me some time, while I get my head around Vegas!

Ken - I actually used a shareware program to create the map image, called Google Maps Terrain Downloader. You can download it from here:

Google Maps Terrain Downloader

It's pretty simple to use, you basically input the long/lat coordinates of the extremes of the map area you want, set the zoom level, and let it download the images. You can then use an included utility program to stitch them all together and create one image file.

The free download only allows up to zoom level 10, I used zoom 12 (the max being 15). But the full version is only $30.

My image file for the map is 1280x2560 in size. I have no problem in letting you have it if you want. But it's pretty easy to do it yourself with the above software.

This leads me to another question, what is the general rule about image sizes in videos. I'm just using straight 7MP images for the photos, should I resize them to a smaller size before inserting them into a video project?, to improve clarity.

Similary for the map, Is that too large a size to use, I've read using too large an image can create artifacts in the final video. Is there a general guideline to follow on this?

I've had an attempt this evening to change the beginning of the video.

You can see the edited version here:

YouTube - Western Canada 2008 Intro

Hopefully I'm heading along the right lines!

I've not had a chance to try to match the tempos of the two songs yet though.

You're going to be a Vegas Pro in no time at this rate Neal.
Just a few more ideas -
1. I was confused as to where you were starting off from. If you can start with just a few bars of the UK National Anthem for take off and then transition to the maybe just the last part of the Canadian National Anthem would help with the start and destination concept and cut down on the length of the anthems. No disrespect to either anthem, there just hard to sit through unless followed by "Play Ball" or the drop of the puck.
2. Overlay a red travel line arcing from UK to Canada to convey the idea of the flight along with the photos of the planes would tie it together nicely. Shame you don't have a shot of you boarding and landing.
Keep up the good work! It looks like a great reminder of a great trip.

Jim