Easiest way to make a cloud/thinking balloon

ShawnLaraSteele wrote on 5/23/2009, 11:18 AM
I was wondering if there was a quick filter or something so that I can pull a people talking clip in as a thought bubble in a different clip. (eg: the character's remembering something that happened before)

I'm using the "cookie cutter" oval shape, to mask but I was hoping for more of a cloud effect, and I was too lazy to make a bmp and do compositing.

Comments

Grazie wrote on 5/23/2009, 11:23 AM
See if you could import a MS WORD Balloon?

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 5/23/2009, 11:23 AM
Anything in the DingBats and WINDINGS?

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 5/23/2009, 12:03 PM
Yep! Webdings on my machine has a Thought Bubble! - Webding Character code: 0x58

Grazie
ShawnLaraSteele wrote on 5/23/2009, 3:35 PM
Ok.... I there an easy way to use a winding to mask a clip?
TheHappyFriar wrote on 5/23/2009, 7:36 PM
IMHO, I came up with a better, simpler, method vs using masks:
http://img36.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shoes01.png[/link]

that's three solid white events with the iris transition stopped & later & later parts in the transition.

http://img29.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shoes02.jpg[/link]
JohnnyRoy wrote on 5/23/2009, 8:39 PM
A Bezier mask on a piece of White Solid Generate Media is probably the easiest way and then save it a s a preset for reuse.

~jr
ushere wrote on 5/23/2009, 9:48 PM
photoshop - shapes - it's one of the default shapes....
TorS wrote on 5/24/2009, 1:23 AM
If you don't have Webdings, get it. It's free and it's out there (even though MS seems to have abandoned it.) It has several useful shapes.
Here's the drill:
Use the old faithful text generator. Select a shape in solid black. Make it fully transparent or choose a colour. Select outline (in black or whatever) and set its with. Even a width of 0.00 will draw a line, don't ask why, but its nice and subtle. Then you can manipulate the shape with the properties of the text generator.

To add text in your bubble it is probably best to make another text generator incident on a track above. Take a look at this little example: http://www.minorg.com/exmpls/fall.wmv -->The Fall - 1.6 MB wmv.
All the graphics are done with the text generator in Vegas. Why cross the brook to fetch water?
Tor
TheHappyFriar wrote on 5/24/2009, 5:46 AM
the only issue with using a graphic (image or font) is that it's fixed & will only work for the situation it's designed for. IE if the bubble has smaller bubbles below it, it will only work above the subject. If they're on the side, only the side. A graphic for the final bubble would be a great idea. Or, make a few generics & use the slide/shove transition to make it appear.
TorS wrote on 5/24/2009, 6:50 AM
Pan/crop is handy, to change the proportions of an image or font, turn it upside down or right/left or both. Webdings already have left/right versions of both speech- and thought-bubbles pointing downwards. It's dead easy to rotate them, squeeze them or make them point upwards, if that's what you mean.
I've seen a free truetype font that had a smorgasbord of different bubbles but it's hard to imagine a situation where the ones in Webdings won't suffice.
Tor
navydoc wrote on 5/24/2009, 10:52 AM
I think the original question was how to have a video play inside a thought bubble.

Here's a quick one I just did. To simplify, I used a still image as the main screen with a video playing in a bubble. I didn't do a very good job lining up the video within the bubble.

The bubble I made using photoshop shapes on a transparent background. I adjusted the size of the video playing in (actually behind) the bubble using track motion.

Bubble

Doc
TorS wrote on 5/24/2009, 11:02 PM
I think the original question was how to have a video play inside a thought bubble.

Indeed, sorry. The text generator is a powerful masking device but you can't use it for PIP. Not unless you render it out first and add it as a masking track. That would give you keyframing possibilities, but it's not simpler than getting a shape from a drawing program.

The cookie cutter can only give you some basic shapes.
cookiecutter.wmv 326 kb
I've faked a thought bubble by using three instances of the cookie cutter on the same event (on the upper track). The main bubble is set to "Cut away all but section" and the two smaller are set to "Cut away section".
You can do this quite subtly if you want, and it's quick.
But if you want more complex shapes for PIP you must render a text generator track or go outside Vegas to get them. If you are too lazy to do that, I suggest you make do with the simpler forms - which is usually the best thing anyway.

Tor