Animated Cookie Cutter Help?

sodbuster-ca wrote on 8/4/2010, 10:33 PM

I use Vegas Pro 9 to make amatuer highlight videos for my nephew who plays High School football. (And of course I'm new to video editing.) I'm trying to spice up his videos a bit -- similar to the way they're done on shows like "Sport Center", etc. with the animated boxes, circles & arrows.

In Vegas, I know how to insert a "stop-motion" frame, make a "spot shadow", insert a Cookie Cutter item (circle, box, arrow, etc.) and use Key Frames to make the arrows or circles blink or rapidly change their colors but that's all.

On Sports Center, I've seen animated arrows, highlight circles with multiple dashed lines spinning in oposite directions, hightlight circles with multiple lines: some blinking & some static, etc.

Is Vegas capable of making highlight videos similar to the ones on Sports Center? Can someone show me how to change the shape & angle of the arrows in Cookie cutter?

If I can get a little more out of Vegas, that would be cool. If not, then I'll be happy with what I've got.

Thanks.

Comments

kkolbo wrote on 8/5/2010, 12:04 AM

Boy, you asked a lot of different things here.
ESPN uses a specifically designed piece of hardware to do all of that and it is FUN!
We can simulate a lot of it but it takes work.

I put the arrows (made in a paint program or graphics program) on a track above the video and use track motion with key frames to move it, turn it, and such as needed. If I need a different shape, I can use standard transitions to make the change look cool all on that same track.

You can do the same with a Circle made in a graphics program.

I save these graphic pieces from the graphics program as a .PNG file with transparency. That works well for Vegas Pro.

As for the shadow highlight, I place a solid color gradient with the transparency lowered in the generated media setting on a track above the video (not the one for the arrows and such). I drop a cookie cutter on the solid color event. Then I position the cut out and keyframe it's motions during the event.

It is too late tonight to record a tutorial video for you, but if I get time I may try to do that tomorrow. (3 am here)

farss wrote on 8/5/2010, 12:06 AM

I can get you part of the way there.
Add another video track above. Insert an empty event, extend as needed. Apply CC FX and adjust to taste. Then use Track Motion to control size and angle. Cut bits out of the empty event to make your arrow etc blink.

As far as I know the CC shapes are fixed. The highlights you see on sports programs are done on dedicated boxes with a graohics tablet or touch screen.
You could draw the shapes in a graphics program and then use a mask in Vegas to reveal them so they appear hand drawn. In dedicated compositing programs you can 'stroke a path' but even that would become tedious if you want to do it a lot.
Perhaps you could do it once in Vegas e.g. create a hand drawn circle video and then render it out with an alpha channel. Then add that on an upper track and use Track Motion to size and position it. Rotating each one a little bit differently would help hide them being the same.

Bob.

darkframe wrote on 8/5/2010, 5:01 AM

Hi,

probably something like Evolution could be useful for you? All those flourishes, arrows etc. come as MOV files and can easily be used in Vegas as well.

kkolbo wrote on 8/6/2010, 3:10 AM

There are so many ways to do these things and words just do not explain them well. I have made a video (goofy) using some of the techniques and elements that you have mentioned. I have uploaded the Veggie (project file) and all of the media for it to my site in a Zip archive. You can download it there and take it apart to see how it is all done.

I also added some parent/child tracks for demonstration, velocity envelopes, and 3D track motion. I even change one of the graphic arrow's color using the Sepia video fx. Make sure to explore all of the track motion set ups, the cookie cutter's keyframes, and such to see how it all comes together. It is really very easy and fast, just hard to explain.

It is all located at http://amediaprof.com

Have fun.

kkolbo wrote on 8/7/2010, 5:59 PM

Sodbuster,

Did that veggie help at all?

KK

sodbuster-ca wrote on 8/7/2010, 8:46 PM

"Sodbuster,

Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

You are so kind. That's mostly what I was asking about. The only other thing I wanted to do would be something like making the arrows sparkle or twinkle. But, you've given the basics and pointed me in the right direction for more elaborate things.

If I get a good graphics package and a GIF Animator I think I'll be in business. (Well, the business of making good amatuer videos, that is.)

I am very very grateful for your help. No one has ever helped me like this before.

Thank you.

kkolbo wrote on 8/8/2010, 6:36 PM

I am glad it helped. I have moved it to my other site where I could set up an area for questions comments and such. It is at http://kolbokorp.com. It is under Free Mini-courses, Articles and Archives. You have to register to participate in the discussions, but the veggie, explanation, and video are all available to anonymous guests.

Have fun with the highlights. At school I have to do a bunch of those every year for the students.

KK

sodbuster-ca wrote on 8/9/2010, 7:38 PM

Here's a couple of examples of animated highlight indicaters that get close to what I would like to do. These don't appear to be real Cooke Cutters but seem to be GIFs generated in PhotoShop or some other GIF capable drawing application.

The ones on the cable sports analysis shows are more elaborate but the movements shown in these are OK. (The white dots moving down the arrows or moving around the inside box line).

I just have to get my "GIF making" chops together. Its not as easy as it looks.

kkolbo wrote on 8/9/2010, 10:47 PM

You do not have to go to all of the work of an animated .gif unless you want to. Why not just make a looping video clip in Vegas, or a nested project? Give me an hour here and I will have a sample. It is slow because my edit system blew the motherboard two days ago. $300 down the tubes :( I am using a backup.

KK

Grazie wrote on 8/9/2010, 11:20 PM

Y'know you COULD make those "GIF" elements in Vegas? Even the Stars zipping around a Rectangle too!

1] Choose shapes from wingdings or Dingbats, some such text-based-style. There will be a Rectangle and a Star.

2] Copy and paste these into our standard SONY Text.

3] Track 1 Stars

4] Track 2 and 3 Rectangles

5] Use Pan/Crop to move the elements around.

6] Render out to something that preserves the Alpha channel - I'd be using Lagarith.

7] Re-import rendered out rectangle and stars video and place on a track above your footage . . .

Done!

Would you like the VP9e "Stars and Bars" Veg? Email me . . .

Grazie

Grazie wrote on 8/9/2010, 11:39 PM

OOps! Apologies Keith . . . I had done the VEG and posted without reading your last post . . .

Grazie

kkolbo wrote on 8/10/2010, 12:46 AM

No apologies, the more the better.

kkolbo wrote on 8/10/2010, 1:15 AM

Ok, they are not as pretty as I bet Grazie created, but the method is the same. I have added an archive with nested veggies and QT animations with Alpha to demonstrate how to do this in Vegas Pro rather than a .gif. Again, these are not pretty, just a demo of the concept.

The archive is at http://amediaprof.com

Have fun.

Grazie wrote on 8/10/2010, 3:35 AM

Hooo.. . nice Keith!

And no I CAN'T use Lagarith for preserving Alpha . . ! What is it with VEgas?

Grazie

sodbuster-ca wrote on 8/10/2010, 4:17 PM

Keith, Grazie,

That's it guys. Nested veggies is the way to go. I'm still rather new at this and I wasn't aware of that functionality. (I upgraded from Movie Studio a few months back).

I thought the GIF approach was the only way to do this. But thanks to you guys I now know that there are many ways to accomplish this task.

The GIF approach has a sort of sterile neatness about it but the timing of the moving objects would be fixed. However, using nested veggies offers complete flexibility to change everything as required.

Vegas Pro 9 is much deeper than it appears.

Again, thanks guys...you've been a great help.

kkolbo wrote on 8/10/2010, 5:15 PM

We like it when folks ask questions like these. There are a lot of folks here to help you. Keep them coming.

Grazie wrote on 8/10/2010, 10:04 PM

The GIF approach has a sort of sterile neatness about it

but the timing of the moving objects would be fixed.

You'd think? . . read on . .

However, using nested veggies offers complete flexibility to change everything as required. Exactly! Nests provide that extra control, surety and then flexibility as my ideas change and adapt. GIFs are kinda set in stone. But they themselves could be a Nests that can be opened again and again via the OpenInGrpahicsEditor Script <wink> - It's all very possible . . .

Vegas Pro 9 is much deeper than it appears.

No argument here!

There is another option in having PSD layers open as Tracks, back in Vegas. This means exactly as it says: I can open my PSD (for me that is Paint Shop Pro) layers back in Vegas. I did an example of this over on DVInfo and I believe it has relevance here. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/what-happens-vegas/478482-importing-photoshop-layers-into-vegas.htmlWanna see (click here)? My examples are about half way down[/link] - This should hopefully give you further food for thought.

As I have been with Vegas for 8 years, I have seen some truly inspirational development occur. And yes, along with that has been some ugliness in terms of workflow, but moving on . . it has been this drive forward for making better that keeps me going with Vegas. If at times bleeding edge hardware stretches the program, I can kinda resort to my comfort zone of NOT being on the front edge of that particular wave, but several "crests" behind - but that's me. As I say, Vegas has shown me that s/w in this field can develop and that the guys and gals at SONY are continually driving forward new ideas in how we can be more creative and more responsive to those ideas in an urgent, effective and meaningful way.

It has always been this that makes me excited with what the future holds for our s/w.

Grazie

sodbuster-ca wrote on 8/11/2010, 12:43 PM

"There is another option in having PSD layers open as Tracks, back in Vegas. This means exactly as it says: I can open my PSD (for me that is Paint Shop Pro) layers back in Vegas. I did an example of this over on DVInfo and I believe it has relevance here.

Yeah, I saw that and downloaded the files. Great example...and yes, this does provide further "food for thought".

With so many options available, I guess it all comes down to the tools you have, your skill level and your workflow preferences.

In my case I have VP9 (which is great), a 10 year old version of Photoshop, something I downloaded called "Photobie" and the skills of a beginner. But as the man says, "...ya gotta' start some place...". As a beginner, my workflow is truly "hit-and-miss". Well, that's not exactly true. Its more like "hit-miss-and-learn".

Thanks, Grazie.