How can Vegas do this masking effect?

Sidecar wrote on 12/27/2005, 3:16 PM
Can anybody explain how to pull of the arresting masking effect I saw at http://www.cdwindows.com/web_pages/home.htm ?

If you go there, mouse over the buttons at the top of the window. You'll see what must be Flash effects in the windows below and the text "CDW" appear and disapper as two frames of the same picture move left and right against each other.

Try as I might, I can't reproduce the effect in Vegas and there must be a way.

Help?

Comments

Bob Greaves wrote on 12/27/2005, 4:02 PM
There are two copies of the picture panned into the exact same place with similar speed but one is delayed in time from the other.

The lettering is a fixed unanimated mask that covers the first movement and shows the second movement through it. When the delayed second move reaches its destination the mask is showing the same picture that it is masking and the mask seems to disappear. Perhaps to keep the effect clean, the mask would be removed at that point in time.

Cool effect.
MH_Stevens wrote on 12/27/2005, 5:11 PM
Masking is a bit tricky - just needs some practice. Read the relevant section in the manual and just play around using some generated media text and graphics.


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GaryKleiner wrote on 12/27/2005, 10:04 PM
Track one: Your Text (white on black) with Sony mask generator FX applied, track compositing mode set to Multiply mask

Track two: Your Image, with track set to be compositing child of track one

Track three: Your Image again

Slide the track motion of tracks two and three on the x axis and set motion keyframes.


Gary
Sidecar wrote on 12/28/2005, 2:20 PM
Gary,
I bow before your brilliance.

I had the three tracks set up but utterly failed because I employed chroma key to generate the mask with horrible edgy results that were not even close to a clean mask. I also had to pre-render the masked result to pre-combine the mask and image number one. Didn't realize I could do it in one step via the compositing child switch.

By the way, it works by not moving track three. If you do, you see the edge of the frame. Track motion on track two (the child track) pulls the gag off better. The masked words appear and disappear nicely and very subtly.

So where do you go to learn this stuff?

How the heck was I to figure out that I needed to apply the "Multiply (mask)" compositing mode whose control I would find buried in the track motion control of that track?

You solved it in a minute with simple, direct instructions, but I would never have figured it out instinctively--too many variables.

GaryKleiner wrote on 12/28/2005, 3:07 PM
Glad to be of service.

I had assumed one would use a larger (higher res) image to allow for some zooming in and using the track motion without revealing the edges.

The Vegas manual has a lot on compositing (chapter 14) with the text effect in particular on page 245. I also demonstrate this in The Vegas 6 Companion DVDs.

Gary
Sidecar wrote on 12/28/2005, 3:38 PM
Reading? Surely you jest! (I know, don't call you Shirley...)

Perhaps I need to purchase the Companion set. That's from Sony?
GaryKleiner wrote on 12/28/2005, 4:06 PM
Sony's Seminar Series is Here

My Vegas 6 Companion set is at www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com


Sidecar wrote on 12/28/2005, 4:50 PM
www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com doesn't work.

Another link?
GaryKleiner wrote on 12/28/2005, 6:27 PM
The link works now.
Spot|DSE wrote on 12/28/2005, 9:31 PM
Maybe someone hijacked Gary's website. It would certainly be poetic.