Creating a non linear line that can be moved over time

Rainer wrote on 11/5/2018, 2:20 AM

If I understand you properly, why create a line, instead use a mask on a partly transparent shape to show the whole territory held by one of the opposing forces (e.g. pale red for the red army). That way you could have as many anchors with bezier curves on the front as you needed and animate the changes. You've probably already though of that, if so, apologies, otherwise it does seem to me you're talking animation, which really isn't Vegas' main purpose, and you would be better off using say, Moho, Blender or After Effects.

thomas-d wrote on 11/6/2018, 2:52 PM

Hello. First of all, thanks for answering. I indeed already thought about using a partially transparent shape and mask it on the way but the thing is that I don't really want to figure a surface but rather a moving line. As it is really easy to play around with masks and I basically want to do the same but just with one line, I thought it would be easily doable on Vegas but it seems it is rather not.

I already know (partially) how to use Vegas so I would prefer to try as many possible options working there before putting myself in learning a new software.

matthias-krutz wrote on 11/6/2018, 5:01 PM

Take a look at the freeware plug-in Route Animation Filter. This allows you to draw easily editable curves and adjust the width.

Film_Digital wrote on 11/6/2018, 9:33 PM

Followed above link. Things to know: 1) you will have to register to download the filter. This can be a bit of a problem due to language but it's doable. 2) you will have to modify the .bat file that registers the filter to reflect the proper location. What I did was move the RouteAnimationX64.dll into the Video Plug-Ins folder and modify the .bat file accordingly. 3) you may find a Vimeo tutorial a bit helpful on how to use (https://vimeo.com/164775536). I have successfully tested the filter and it definitely does its job. Thanks, Matthias-krutz for the pointer! Update: the plug-in seems to be limited to 1920x1080; it will work with larger resolutions (e.g. 4K) but requires using right mouse to move image around.

thomas-d wrote on 11/7/2018, 4:24 PM

Thanks Matthias-Krutz and Film_Digital for this helpful information. This is exactly what I am looking for. I will give it a try tomorrow. Many thanks again.

thomas-d wrote on 11/8/2018, 1:55 PM

Hello everybody. It indeed looks like what I am trying to do. However, unfortunately, I happened to have a Windows 10 version. Do you think this might work anyway although it has been made for a WinXP or Win7?

On top of that, I don't manage to figure out where the video plug-ins folder is located. I have two possible routes (none of them having such folder) being C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Shared Plug-Ins\ or C:\ProgramData\Sony\Vegas Pro\13.0.290. I tried both and changed the .bat files as recommended but none of them worked. Any idea? Thanks in advance

Film_Digital wrote on 11/8/2018, 5:43 PM

Hi. I am running Win 10 and, except as noted for resolution, the plug-in seems to work fine. Here are a couple of specifics that may be helpful. 1) I should have mentioned in the Things to Know to be sure and grab the 64 bit version - RouteAnimationX64_V1.02.zip on the website. 2) The zip will contain 3 files: RouteAnimationX64.dll; Win7_RegRoutAnimFilterX64.bat and Win7_UnregRoutAnimFilterX64.bat. A way to deal with these is to drop RouteAnimationX64.dll into C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Pro 13.0\Video Plug-Ins then modify Win7_RegRoutAnimFilterX64.bat to reflect this location like so: regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Pro 13.0\Video Plug-Ins\RouteAnimationX64.dll" You should be good to go. As noted, there is a Vimeo tut, not in English, but visual enough to be helpful as there are a couple of steps in using the filter (1st you fire up the filter and make your path, you can preview it before calling it Done. 2nd, when you call Done, you then set keyframes for start/begin points on your map or whatever for the track to lay on.) Hope this helps. P.S. Am using filter in Vegas 16 and, as noted, Win10.

karma17 wrote on 11/8/2018, 6:50 PM

IDK if this will help you, but it's an alternative method.

https://www.robertsproductions.net/animate-lines-sony-vegas/

Musicvid wrote on 11/8/2018, 7:02 PM

Creating a non linear line

That one's had me chuckling for a couple of days now.

You are suggesting two linear Y- outputs for one X- coordinate, perhaps? hmm...

thomas-d wrote on 11/9/2018, 1:08 AM

Thanks for your patience. I indeed had a look at the Vimeo and what I can see is that they actually don't edit the circuit of the line over the timeline, they just make it appear. I will have a look to see if it is actually possible to make the line move, once I will be done with the installation.

Because, yes, I am still struggling with the installation... I followed everything you said step by step and I get an error message when I try to execute the .bat file (after changeing the path), I have an error message saying "The modulus "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Vegas Pro 13.0\Video Plug-Ins\RouteAnimationX64.dll" has been loaded, but the call to DllRegisterServer has failed wich the error code 0x80070005. For more information about this problem, make an online research while using this error code in the research bar" (rough translation from French). I am now struggling in checking the updates of my computer to see if that's the problem but it doesn't seem like.

One last thing, as I said in my previous post, I don't have any folder for the video plug ins so that I created it but maybe this was a wrong location. Below is the complete structure of the available folders:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Shared Plug-Ins\Audio_x64
-Shared Plug-Ins
   -Audio_x64
       -ErrorReport.dll
       -mchammer_x64.dll
       -sffrgpnv_x64.dll
       -sfppack1_x64.dll
       -sfppack2_x64.dll
       -sfppack3_x64.dll
       -sfresfilter_x64.dll
       -sftrkfx1_x64.dll
       -sfxpfx1_x64.dll
       -sfxpfx2_x64.dll
       -sfxpfx3_x64.dll
       -xpvinyl_x64.dll
   -Help Files
       -mchammer_x64.chm
       -mchammer_x64_fra.chm
       -PluginWrapper.chm
       -PluginWrapper_fra.chm
       - ...

matthias-krutz wrote on 11/9/2018, 9:35 AM

The meaning from error code 0x80070005 is ACCESS DENIED. Have you run the .bat on an account with administrative privileges?

I will have a look to see if it is actually possible to make the line move, once I will be done with the installation.

You can use Pan/Crop or Track Motion to move the line.

Film_Digital wrote on 11/9/2018, 1:17 PM

I think Matthias-krutz nailed it. Let us know.

3POINT wrote on 11/9/2018, 2:01 PM

Peter_P alias elCutty is the developer of this OFx tool and is also member of this forum. Probably he can tell you what you're doing wrong, but I also can imagine that the missing admin rights causes your problem.

thomas-d wrote on 11/9/2018, 2:40 PM

yes yes yes... amazing!!! it works!!!! It was that simple. Administrative rights. Sorry. I feel so stupide.

I thank you all for your help and your patience... Many Many thanks.

PS: with the Track Motion, I can only move the whole line as a single unit but not some part of it to display an evolution (if we take again the example of a battlefront, it will not all move in the same direction). Or did I miss again something?