@Allan-Finney6747

This should at least get me a cup of coffee.

Thanks Jack - I'm not working with two images. I'm placing multiple images over my main video track. The video is 1080 p. Also, I want to CROP the overlayed image (as per the photos in my original post.) and put a border around it. I'll edit my original post to make that clear.

@Allan-Finney6747 Hi, here i have an image that i've used Track Motion ( button on the track header) to shrink the image

I've placed the Border FX on the event & at the top of the FX window i've moved Border in front of Pan/Crop. the border then follows the image rather than the project aspect

problem is if i crop that image & try to do the things above the border gets cropped too

So you have to crop the image using Photoshop or whatever, if it's video you have to render that video out at the cropped resolution,

Here i've just cropped the image i used above

then when you import that image, use Track Motion to shrink/place the image & add Border, swap Border around with Pan/Crop at the top of the FX window it follows the size correctly

Thanks John_dennis - closer. Looks like it can work for one photo. Can you show me how to place 20 consecutive photos over my original video doing that? I have to use "track motion" on 20 tracks or keyframe track motion 20 times? Also, it looks like you kept the original aspect ratio of the photo - what if I wanted to selectively crop the sides (as per the photos in my original post). Is that technique going to work? Also, can I use a transition on each of my 20 consecutive photos or would they all have to be jump cuts? And thanks for the input - much appreciated!

@Allan-Finney6747 I forgot about that one @john_dennis showed & he did crop the image as i've done below (ignore the second image on the top track, look at where the cursor is), turn the blur down to 0 at the top of the settings to get a solid border, & untick Lock Aspect Ratio if it isn't the same width all-round

PS yeah that version affects that whole tracks events/pics

@Allan-Finney6747 Hi, here i have an image that i've used Track Motion ( button on the track header) to shrink the image

I've placed the Border FX on the event & at the top of the FX window i've moved Border in front of Pan/Crop. the border then follows the image rather than the project aspect

problem is if i crop that image & try to do the things above the border gets cropped too

So you have to crop the image using Photoshop or whatever, if it's video you have to render that video out at the cropped resolution,

Here i've just cropped the image i used above

then when you import that image, use Track Motion to shrink/place the image & add Border, swap Border around with Pan/Crop at the top of the FX window it follows the size correctly

I guess I didn't mention in the original post I don't want to use third party software to edit photos to accomplish this. Or have to pre-render video overlays because I need to work with 20 or so consecutive photo overlays.

 This is how you do it in Vegas Pro 19 (see attached image).

Place large image on track 2. small image on track 1.

Apply Vegas PIP to image on track 1. Resize and move to where you want.

Apply Vegas Border effect to image on track 1.

In the Video Event dialog, move the border effect to before the PIP effect.

Done.

Probably not quite as quick as Pinnacle, but I wouldn't have thought the time difference was much. As you said Pinnacle is a consumer product. Vegas Pro is, well, a professional product with waaay more features than Pinnacle.

@Jack S You can't crop the image in your version tho?

Vegas also has a crop Fx if you're using animations with pan/crop and want it to do other things.

@Former user That's true, unless you add a Bezier Masking FX after the PIP. But then you can't add a border to the cropped image.
However, that's academic, as that method isn't what the OP wants.

no combination of fx's or the order they are in at the top of the fx window will allow me to crop the mage & the Border fit the cropped image? (Crop is added but not turned on in this pic, i was just experimenting)

I would just edit the pics/media first then reimport them as in my first post.

@Allan-Finney6747

"Can you show me how to place 20 consecutive photos over my original video doing that?"

Not for a cup of coffee. For 20 consecutive photos, I would probably place each of the photos in a Vegas Pro project, do the cropping, locating and fX, save as a project with the original photo name, then nest the project on to the master Vegas Pro project.

"I have to use "track motion" on 20 tracks or keyframe track motion 20 times?"

That's why they pay you what they do.

...and Pinnacle can't do that either. You have to manually crop each photo yourself and then add borders for each one. What @Allan-Finney6747 is asking for, no "professional" editing software can do it, to automate the entire process. Each crop is different even if all the images are the same aspect ratio.

@Reyfox it sounds like he's happy with what Pinncale can do, he wants the same ease with a 'professional editor' . Resolve can do the same with Collage Video or DVE plugins,variable frame size/dimensions/crop/borders/drop shadow , but I don't think Premiere has a similar plugin built in.

It can be done but it'll cost you $1271.25 for a copy of Boris Sapphire (S-Effect) to crop & add a border, a preset can be saved but if each event needs cropping individually it's not one click you have to open the effect, crop & reposition the border (a solid vignette i used), then you'll need a copy of Continuum to move that cropped event or you'd have to have each event on a different track to use Track Motion to move it on screen. 😂 (I don't there's an fx that moves the image on screen like Track Motion does?)

@Allan-Finney6747 just crop the images before importing to Vegas.

@Former user yes, Resolve can sort of do something like what the user is looking for. But the process of cropping each individual image would require a lot of work. Especially if the images "subject" is not in the same position for cropping. There are some things Pinnacle can easily do (customizable split screens) that Vegas can't. So, you use the right tool for the right job.

I know exactly what the OP is talking about. I've used Pinnacle for many years and have done videos with tons of images that had to be cropped, aspect ratios changed, etc... It's time consuming, but that's part of the "job" and billing includes this. Doing it for yourself can be a pain, but when finished, it's well worth the time.

Resolve can sort of do something like what the user is looking for. But the process of cropping each individual image would require a lot of work. 

Even in Resolve, it would require using the 'Transform' FX or button on each image to position the image in its assigned frame (e.g. in Collage) - which isn't all that hard to do IMO. It might be able to be done in Fusion by re-assigning the pixel size for each image (an individual process for each image AFAIK) - the name of the FX to do that escapes me at the moment (perhaps its the Inspector), but then there's the problem of differing aspect ratios which would again require the 'Transform' FX to un-squeeze the V or H of non-16:9 images. Overall, it would still be a fiddly process for 20 images - not automatic.

Just based on all the expertise represented here I'm going to have to conclude there is no elegant solution in Vegas. Pinnacle offers an elegant solution but it would require a round trip to do the overlays, render and then bring it back into Vegas for everything else I need. Anybody know how to use Pinnacle as a plugin??? 😂 OR just spend the $1,271.25. Let's see at about 20 pictures or so that's $63.55/photo but I may be able to amortize that over a bunch of videos and get it down to a reasonable cost. 😰 Decisions, decisions.

Use the right tool for the right job. Most editors have more than one piece of editing software. One piece may excel in speeding up workflow in one specific area, while another does something else better.

Sometimes, there is no "easy" way....

It seems much easier to me to do cropping, sizing, and even borders in a photo program. some programs allow batch processing for effx like borders.

😂 OR just spend the $1,271.25. Let's see at about 20 pictures or so that's $63.55/photo but I may be able to amortize that over a bunch of videos and get it down to a reasonable cost. 😰 Decisions, decisions.

@Allan-Finney6747 Don't forget about the $521.25 for Continuum 😂 I use GIMP for editing photos, it's free n once you get to know it it's easy, 👍

then there's the problem of differing aspect ratios which would again require the 'Transform' FX to un-squeeze the V or H of non-16:9 images. Overall, it would still be a fiddly process for 20 images - not automatic.

@Reyfox @Dexcon In resolve I'd have 1 video track, 1 photo track underneath, then put cuts in video track to match duration of photos, then create 2 tile properties in video collage fx, 1 for portrait, 1 for landscape, highlight all video segments associated with landscape photos, paste landscape attributes, do same for portrait photos., use the onscreen controls of transform tool to position and zoom each photo within tile frame.That's fast and simple. Then check to see if any of the photos need a unique aspect ratio.

If Vegas had this plugin or Pinnacles it would be very helpful to many, and there's nothing advanced about it, but manual process takes so much more work

@Former user this is where I find consumer editors excel. It is much easier to do this in Pinnacle than Resolve or Vegas. Working with Pinnacle's Split Screen Editor, way too easy. I've used Pinnacle for almost 2 decades. But I do my editing in Vegas.