how do I add a censor bar?

weaver wrote on 11/24/2009, 12:46 PM
How do I add a censor bar? I would like to add a black bar that appears across someones eyes to mask their identity. I tried adding a solid color, but I encountered 2 problems:
1) I added a black solid to another video line but it filled the whole screen black (like it should). So I tried changing the size from 720x480 to something smaller. Well, it worked but didn't work. I tried various combinations of sizes ... but when I did, sometimes the black box would reduce in size like I would think it should ... but sometimes it would revert back to blocking out the whole screen (on the preview window) with say 100x60. Then it would seem to get stuck and wouldn't allow any more adjustments. I would have to delete the entry on the video line and try again. So I never could get the small size I wanted.
2) Even with a massive sized black block ... I couldn't pan the block to where I wanted it to go. The black box always seemed to stay around the center of the screen.

Maybe I'm using the wrong feature. Any suggestions? I'm using MovieStudio V6
Thanks
IW

Comments

Terry Esslinger wrote on 11/24/2009, 1:56 PM
One way would be to place your video on top track and generated black on track beneath. Then use Cookie cutter fx on top track. You could use whatever shape or size you wanted and can keyframe its movement. Basically it cuts out a section of the top track and shows what is underneath (the black)
Chienworks wrote on 11/24/2009, 2:18 PM
The cookie cutter is definitely the most sensible way to do this.

Another alternative is to use a photo editor to create a still image twice the size of the frame + the size of the bar. For example, for NTSC DV the frame size is 655x480. If you wanted a bar 100x60 you would create an image 1410x1020. This image should have the 100x60 black bar in the middle and the background transparent. You can then use Pan/Crop to slide it around. Lotta work though; use the cookie cutter instead.

Interesting that Terry suggests having the video on top and the black on the bottom. That works fine, of course. But when i set this sort of thing up i put the black on top and the video on the bottom simply because i think of the black bar as covering the video, rather than punching a hole in the video to see the black bar. Vegas is fun in that it lets you do things so many different ways.
weaver wrote on 11/24/2009, 5:57 PM
Thanks for both ideas. The cookie cutter worked great. It took a bit of fiddling with the size and shape - but it works.
Thanks
IW