Creating a text mask

jdv group wrote on 7/15/2009, 4:25 PM

I am sure this topic has been covered many times but I'm stuck at turning off the mask feature once I have it working. I followed the Sony tutorial ok but when I move the cursor to the rest of the timeline I get a "black" screen. What am I doing wrong?

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 7/15/2009, 7:19 PM

It is frustrating until you understand what's going on. Vegas using *any* black on that track to mask out what's underneath. Where you have no text, the entire frame is black, and therefore you get no video. You've got two options.

1) The not so pretty one ... add white generated media to the entire text track wherever you don't have text.

2) The better, but less obvious one ... move the part of the video being masked onto it's own new track, still underneath the text mask, but above the rest of the video. The mask will only affect that one track below it where the video to be masked resides. Then wherever the mask track and the masked track are empty you'll see the next lower track, which contains the rest of your video.

Rory Cooper wrote on 7/15/2009, 11:41 PM

You need to give more info

If you are multiplying your mask, using white text as a mask for video clip underneath, then next to the text add a white gen media for the length of the clip
This will allow you to see the whole clip

Here is a sample of using lighten composite. the Lady Salsa PNG brand is on top and the video underneath
Buy using lighten as a comp mode I can move the dancers with white pants in front and behind the text as if dancing in and out of the text
So by controlling the levels of the video layer this will control how much

The clip is not comp yet but will give you an idea,,just view the start..there is no masking at all in the clip

www.myvideo.co.za/channels/xfx

So if you have for example a blue sky with white clouds you can place text in the clouds by using this method
Ultimately you would need to do a gradient ramp or gradient wipe which Vegas doesn’t do

Maybe next release…?????

Grazie wrote on 7/16/2009, 12:29 AM

Rory? Wouldn't Vegas's Gradients assist? My personal knowledge base on this is weak.

Grazie

Rory Cooper wrote on 7/16/2009, 1:23 AM

Grazie I would say the work around in Vegas would be to duplicate the clip add mask gen then add levels as a choker then multiply
Because you want to use the gradient from the clip as a mask

the Gradient wipe or textured wipe in Boris or AE although sounding like a transition is an fx which gives you good control over the
amount of texture from the clip you want to map as a mask .Vegas lacks the restrained aspect but over here where I am subtlety is viewed as a weakness

Grazie wrote on 7/16/2009, 1:44 AM

No, not a "wipe" on the transition side of things but the Grads within GenMed? Couldn't they be employed? Their potency and dynamic can be changed over time.

That's what I was grappling with.

Grazie

Rory Cooper wrote on 7/16/2009, 3:26 AM

Grazie the WIPE isn’t a transition it’s a fx

I think it refers to wiping away the matt to reveal the undersurface

Vegas has good noise textures which are good for some things

Here is an example of blood cells and oval gradient to get fire ring www.myvideo.co.za/channels/xfx
“If anyone wants the veg I can send it to you.”

But are you suggesting using gradients or noise textures combined with RGB channels from a clip to get some stuff going on?

jdv group wrote on 7/16/2009, 8:19 AM

Thanks everyone for your responses. I am referring to Sony Tutorial
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/news/article.asp?articleid=25&keycode=3513
I am able to get the effect I want but the rest of the video is black. I have track 1 as the text mask track then my main video track on 2 and the background on 3. Are you suggesting that I add another track above track 1?

jdv group wrote on 7/16/2009, 4:53 PM

I followed your suggestions and they worked THANK YOU! Still cant quite understand why your second method worked but still. You would think if track 1 has a black background it would apply to any video underneath it and I would get the same effect as before.
Thanks again.

Chienworks wrote on 7/16/2009, 6:10 PM

Unmasked tracks cover up anything beneath them.

The mask effect only relates that track to the one below it. Those two become effectively a single layer working together, which then cover up anything beneath them.

bStro wrote on 7/16/2009, 6:23 PM

Another option is to insert a Fade To Color envelope (it's a track-level envelope), add points at the end of your mask, and drag the rest of the envelope up. This effectively 'turns' the rest of the track white thus letting through everything below.

Rob