I think curves is a really easy way to do what you're asking.

Another way to do it with curves:
Add to points, one a quarter of the way from the bottom. The other halfway from the bottom.

Move the first point around. The second point will keep the mids and the highs where they are.

Dave,
I do this with the levels tool while viewing the built in waveform monitor.
You can adjust the shadow areas without substantially affecting the rest of the scene. If the mid range does go up a bit, you can drop it with the gamma slider...adjust to taste.
Hope this helps.
Ken

Is it possible to do this effect? *pic inside*
 

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1179/examp5fs.jpg

I'm not so worried about just doing the effect on just the left and right of the screen, just doing it period is good. But if one of you guys can figure that out, that'd be great too.

Thanks alot!

Here's one possible method:
http://www.jetdv.com/vegas/BlurOutsideClearMiddle.veg

Here's what I did:

Tracks 1 and 2 contain the same video. Track 2 is clear. Track 1 had a Linear Blur and a Cookie Cutter. I used the cookie cutter to cut out the "clear" section and feather the edge of the cut.

Use bezier masking and linear blur.

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/950...fect6cx.th.jpg
I spent no time on that, so it's not a very good illustration of what can be done.

Bezier masking:
Go into pan/crop tool.
Draw mask.
You may need to turn the mask mode from positive to negative.
Feather both/out/in about 35%.

Filter:
Use Linear blur. Push the amount to whatever you like.
Look in the bottom lefthand corner for the little triangle for pre/post toggle.

EDIT: This is pretty much the same idea as Edward. The bezier masking tool allows greater control on the mask than Cookie Cutter.

Thanks Glenn and Edward for the quick and helpful responses! It's greatly appreciated.

Best encoder for RealVideo?
 

Hey --

Not too impressed with Vegas RealVideo encoding. What's the best app out there that would do a better job?


Thanks --

Yup, tried it already with no joy! Still, thanks for the suggestion!

To be honest I don't think this is a starter. I think the restriction lies in the device not in Vegas.

Have you tried Real Video's own encoder?

Yeah, I used the Cookie Cutter because it was quick for this test. Bezier Masking definitely would allow for more flexibility in the shape and size of the mask.

Thanks David (and sorry for the delay).
Also, I thought you might be interested in the following response I got on another forum. I'm going to try it both ways and see what the animation teacher likes best.

"1) Set the project's Properties to: NTSC DV 24p (720x480, 23.976 fps)

2) For each clip on the timeline, right-click on it, choose Properties, and set the Undersample Rate to .999 (one click on the down-arrow there), which slows the video from 24.000 to 23.976. This is completely imperceptible slowdown.

3) Render to regular NTSC (29.976). You might be able to render to 24p (23.976) but when I watch that on my set-top DVD player on my DLP TV, the NTSC version has a smoother cadence. It might just be that my DVD player is very old though, so you might want to do some tests for yourself."

How do I prevent Font Clipping?
 

I attempted to make large scrolling words(left to right) on the background but the font size is too big n some got clipped.I've seen someone do it with vegas.Can u guys help me?

The only way I can think of is to break up the word into characters (individual text media) and use a parent/child motion to keep the words intact when scrolling.

Ah..or do I keep the char size small n use the PAN tool to enlarge the area?

How to make "burning" characters?
 

I saw this nice effect of some characters "burning". Is there anyway to do it in Vegas6 natively? Or do I need something like blufftitler?

Dumb question, but how do I get the video from my GL2 to my laptop?
 

I've got the 1394 firewire from my new GL2 to the laptop. It recognized the GL2 and I thought everything was good. I have the trial version of Vegas Movie Studio + DVD Platinum and can't "see" the camera in the explorer tab.

Please forgive my true rookie question, but I do need help. :)

I want to get two tapes of video onto my hard drive so I can play around with editing, etc.

Thanks in advance,
joel

logo keying footage
 

Hi I'm a new member here and a new user of Vegas and I would appreciate if someone could give me the steps to create this effect:

I have a solid color logo with transparent alpha background in .png that I fade in small over A footage. I then want the solid color logo to change so that it's keying B footage, and as the logo zooms in larger, it acts as an overtaking transition so that B footage is the only footage on the screen.

Is that understandable?

I'm pretty sure I know how to do the zoom in, with PAN/CROP but the rest confuses me.

How can I achieve such an effect?

Looking forward to responses to this newbie question.

Thanks again!

-Jeff

Codecs instal
 

I'm trying to instal some DV codecs into my computer, but some codecs I can't see inside Vegas 6 or other authoring program even they have been install properly,(Cedocida codec or Canopus for example). For instance, I have install Main Concept DV codec, I can see it inside the Virtual Dub or Pinnacle but there is no such a codec in Vegas. Any sugestions for help?
Regards.

How to get 16:9 Video
 

I want to produce 16:9 looking video from DV AVI video clip. I have try with pan-crop tool inside Vegas but still without results.I rendered AVI file to MPEG 2, checking 16:9 field but final MPEG 2 file is still 4:3 format.I want to keep produced 16:9 format as a DV AVI file as well, without encoding to MPEG.
Regards.

Alpha channels
 

I'm using BluffTitler program for producing good loking 3D titles. I wonder how I can put produced titling text inside Vegas but to be some kind of overlay with transparent background (only letters to be visible). I have trying with alpha channel but I can't get desired results.
Regards.

You can make it appear 16:9 by applying the widescreen preset in the pan/crop tool in vegas.

I found that keeping the font small and then making it larger with a PAN distorts the font. So I make the font as big as I need it, then pan it down and keyframe it. I hope I read your post right, if I'm not telling you what you need to know, sorry!

I make the text the size I want it. However, I scroll the text using the Positioning tab on the text generated media. That seems to work quite well.

Render from Bluff as uncompressed AVI with alpha channel. Then you can just drop it into place. I describe the process in a previous version of BluffTitler in vol 2 #8 of my newsletters.

This may be related to the answer of your question:

Vegas does not use the Directshow subsystem for codec management because of reliability issues with Directshow. Fully implemented codecs for Windows work with Vegas.

Depends on exactly what you're looking for. If you want the letters themselves to appear to be on fire, you probably should use something else. If it can be fire behind the letters, Vegas can handle it. If you want fire inside the letters, Vegas can handle it.

Assuming the process in VMS Platinum is similar to the full version of Vegas...

There should be TWO capture programs, an "internal" one and an "external" one. SD cameras use the External one. Sounds like you're trying to use the Internal one.

If you checked the box to ALWAYS use this one, you'll need to go to Options - Preferences and change that.

I'm not sure I followed all of that but it sounds like you simply need the logo on track 1, the other two on track 2, and overlap "A" and "B" as need to create a crossfade. If you need a different transition than a crossfade, just drop that into place.

Now... On track 1, use Pan/Crop to change the size of the logo at the proper time to give the look you want.

Is text morphing possible.
 

I'm working on my demo finally, after [cough] [cough] years, and I had an idea for my titles. I wanted to text morph, similar to what you can do in Flash.

Can Vegas do this, for example, morph TITLE in 'x' font into TITLE in 'y' font?

Well... you have the standard dissolves you could use to dissolve from one to the other. Using some transitions may look more like morphing than others. However, there's also the tools from www.debugmode.com which includes WAX and WinMorph.

Awesome site. Thanks

Thanks Ed, I'll give this a whirl.

Thanks Edward --

Downloading their basic (free) encoder from their site now. Was wondering though what the best encoder for that platform might be --

RealVideo does have an encoder they sell -- more features, etc. Seems like that would be the best, but wonder if apps like Canopus ProCoder would be better...

Thanks --

Cubed pics, etc.
 

I am looking for the software to provide a way to spice up photo montages...I am especially interested in cubes to which I can add photos on each side that will spin away, and other similar 3D effects...

I run Vegas 6.0c

There's a Cubes transition:
http://www.endor.demon.co.uk/

Plus, Vegas with the 3D Track Motion can do this. Here's a couple of sample VEG files:
http://www.vegasusers.com/vegshare/s...cube&type=full

Thanks
 

The cube plug-in you referred me to is nice...especially for free! I'll check out the link you posted now...

Hi, thanks for the reply, Edward. But I don't think that is going to work for what I need.

I don't want A to simply transition to B in a crossfade. I want the B footage to appear inside the solid color logo (using chroma keying, maybe), so the solid color is used as a chroma key for the footage, perhaps. And as the logo zooms in, the B footage overtakes the A footage on the screen.

How would I do this?

Don't you have to change the properties of the avi inside vegas for the alpha channel to be recognised?
From the bluff site:
Vegas does not automatically recognize the alpha (transparency) channel in the AVI files. When you right-click on the clip in Vegas and choose Properties you can set the Alpha Channel. In Vegas, there are 3 choices for how to handle alpha channels:

* Straight (unmatted): this option does not seem to work.
* Premultipled: this option works somewhat, but there are blue edges and things are not looking quite right.
* Premultipled (dirty): this option works the best, maybe perfect.

http://www.outerspace-software.com/import.html

eltax DVR-555
 

I had this one job where I did not have time to render so I bought the a DVD/HDD, the eltax DVR-555 with 160GB HDD for SEK 4000 / USD 500.

The unit has a DV-in plug on the front, and the manual says "Select DV source by pressing the DV button on the remote". After looking at the remote for several minutes, and checking with a friend, we had to accept that there was no DV-button on the remote.

Other than that, it works fine.

http://www.eltax.com/eltax/index.php?item=10&id=11124

/magnus

Can u enlighten me how do I go the fire inside the letters?? Thanks!

Yeah thanks guys. I think Edward's idea is good. I think yr method has the least distortion.

3D Arsenal with Vegas
 

In my quest for 3D effects to add to my photo montages, I have been recommended 3D Arsenal by Toasterdudes...anyone used it?