Blackout Effect?

thompent wrote on 11/25/2004, 7:56 PM

I'm looking for something in Vegas that will duplicate the "blackout effect" that you'd see on some documentaries where the person who is talking has a black bar over their eyes. How could I achieve that black bar?

Also, how about blurring out a portion of the screen, like making an offensive T-Shirt blurry or blocking a product brand name?

Thanks

Comments

Tattoo wrote on 11/25/2004, 8:49 PM

Highly recommend you use the "search" function of the forum to find previously written solutions.

Search for "pixelate" and you'll definitely find one or more solutions to the blurring question. Search on "censor" and you'll probably find solutions for both, as these are the two most commons TV censorship techniques.

I'm no Vegas "power user," so I'm sure there's an easier/better solution, but I was able to achieve the black bar effect by inserting a "Color Gradient" (Media Generator). Select "rectangular" for the gradient type, with 2 control points. Make #1control point black, #2 control point completely transparent, and put #2 just a hair outside #1 (on the "Distance" option). Move them around to get the size you need. If you're having problems with that, just set the aspect ratio you want and use the Pan/Crop to zoom in/out as required. Keyframe the on the Pan/Crop section to keep the black bar in the right place as your subject moves.

Again, I'm sure there's a better way. That was just what I figured out while satisfying my curiosity. There's some friggin' brilliant people on this forum, and you know this topic HAS to have come up before.

T

musman wrote on 11/25/2004, 10:53 PM

There may even be a script for this on the VASST site. If you have Boris fx, they have a tutorial on how to do the blurry face thing automated to a certain pixel on the person in question. This way you don't have to use pan/crop and keyframes to move the blur as the person moves.

thompent wrote on 11/26/2004, 3:18 PM

Thanks for the replies. No doubt this has been asked before, but I had no clue as to how to phrase the search to get this topic as I don't really know what this type of effect is actually called.. Thanks for the searching suggestions.

jetdv wrote on 11/26/2004, 7:11 PM

Just add a cookie cutter effect and adjust the size and shape as needed to delete the area. If you have no tracks underneath, the result will be a black area.