Another how-to: musical rollercoaster

rlc4810 wrote on 7/29/2005, 10:24 AM

Hello all! I have yet another how-to-do-an-effect question: I'll try to describe what I'm seeing in my head as best I can.

Picture a musical staff : 5 horizontal lines with a bunch of quarter, half, whole notes, etc. scattered on it, like out of a hymn book. Now, flip the staff over so one end is 'underneath' you. Stretched out in front of you, fading off in the distance is the other end of the staff. You're now in a rollercoaster, and the track is the musical staff!

The rollercoaster car moves forward, and the notes on the staff are flying by under it, faster and faster as the car gains speed. As you bank, flip and turn on the rails (the musical staff), the notes and staff are all in front of you as you drive over them. Note: I really don't want to include the rollercoaster car; just the illusion of speed and movement.

Is there a way to do this sort of effect in Vegas 6?

Thanks in advance for any help!
Rick <><

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 7/29/2005, 10:31 AM

Sounds like you need animation software rather than video editing software.

rlc4810 wrote on 7/29/2005, 10:52 AM

Thanks so much for the reply. I have zero experience with animation software. Does anyone here have a recommendation for some (extremely cheap) software that might be used to produce the effect I've described?

Thanks,
Rick <><

Spot|DSE wrote on 7/29/2005, 11:15 AM

Wow....twice in one day....Heroglyph.
You could have a scan of a staff, and multiple layers of Heroglyph using notes following paths. (they all them routes, which drives me nuts. then again, they call "themes" "motives" which apparently means "motif's") I guess German doesn't always translate well into Engrish.
www.prodad.com

rlc4810 wrote on 8/1/2005, 10:39 AM

Thanks for the responses to my question. I think I've decided to go with something a little less ambitious: I'm going to try to use an existing graphic of a musical staff and simply use Vegas' 3d track motion and zoom-pan-crop to simulate movement. Not exactly a roller coaster, but I think I can make it look pretty exciting.

One of the biggest learning curves I'm facing right now is figuring out what special effects can be done in Vegas, and what effects require additional software. As everyone can probably tell from my line of questions, I'm strictly an amateur with not a lot of money to spend on other software (blew out my entire budget for V V.)

When I get an idea for an special effect, maybe from something I've seen on TV, I wonder to myself, "could that be done in Vegas???"

I've looked thru the impressive tutorials on VASST to get some ideas. Are there other forums, books, galleries, resources that would help an extreme newbie get a grip on what can be done in Vegas?

Once again, thanks so much to all you folks. You are great!!!

Rick <><

Avanti wrote on 8/1/2005, 11:26 AM

Don’t sell your idea short, I think it’s a good one. I would (and have) made musical staff and notes in Photoshop with alpha channel backgrounds and imported them into Vegas as PNG files. Then use 3D track motion.

TorS wrote on 8/1/2005, 11:41 AM

It IS a good idea. Perhaps it needs a bit development? My first thoght was: you must make the note staff move towards you - the "camera" is sitting in the car. Maybe you can shoot a real drive and try to manipulate the footage afterwards.
Then, I think the important thing about this idea is the movement forward and the "eating up" of the notes. You can have them thrown to the sides, too. The ups and downs of a real rollecoaster is not important to the idea. Over-emphesising that part will weaken the idea, I think.
But then you're asking how to, and I have no idea. Notemaking programs like Finale will have a modus where the staff "passes" across the screen and when notes reach a certain point they are played. Registering such a sequence on avi and then manipulating it might get you some way ahead.

I hope the music you use is worth your great idea.

Tor

rlc4810 wrote on 8/1/2005, 12:26 PM

Thanks for all the replies. I had already thought of using the alpha channel method in a .PNG (using Paint Shop Pro) to overlay a moving musical staff onto some kind of abstract and colorful background.

As far as the rollercoaster effect goes, it doesn't have to be an exact replica of a rollercoaster ride. That's just the best way I could think of to describe it, where you'd see the staff and notes in the road immediately ahead, disappearing underneath as you 'drive' over them. I visualized that the staff might spiral, curve and bank in front of you as you move along. Couple this sequence with some exciting music, and I think it'd be pretty cool!

I experimented with track motion and panning on a 'flat' graphic to simulate movement across a musical scale. The effect looks pretty good, but I couldn't figure out how to create the illusion of curves, twists and turns in the road up ahead. That's when I thought I'd ask you good folks if there was a way to do 'track motion along a curve'. Once again, my fundamental problem at this point is one of newbieness, where I don't fully understand the capabilities of the base Vegas Video product. I have studied the manual, but I can't find anything that addresses this.

Thanks to one and all for their helpful suggestions!
Rick <><