Hi Eric: I've got Platinum. I've gotten a bit farther, but using the "duplicate track" technique, I can't seem to mask the area (lower third title) I want to blur. A bit more experimentation using Cookie Cutter FX, what I don't see is the x and y position and/or a way to size the preset. In this case a rectangle.

With Cookie Cutter you cannot alter X and Y axis individually. Use Vegas Bezier Masking FX which is new to VMS16. You can resize and position the rectangle preset and as a 'Mask FX' you don't need a duplicate track. In the FX chain you need Bezier Masking after your blurring FX. Trust this illustration explains

That's great Eric. Playing with that works perfect, much more control. I've decided I don't want a blur, but instead just a feathered black box....or something dark to cover the lower third and blend the edges. Let me experiment with that, unless you have a shortcut.

I've used similar to slightly darken the image behind titles. I place a black solid colour from Media Generators on a track above my video with title on a track above the black. Use the events opacity slider to reduce the blackness, Event Pan/Crop to position and Gaussian Blur FX to blur edge(s). There are probably other ways to achieve the same.

Thanks EricLNZ, that's a good idea + thanks for the screen shot. I was able to place "Brightness and Contrast" FX just before masking and that is pretty darn close. Then feather in the mask settings. But, I'll try your idea. Glad to have you on these community forums.