How do I make a plane fly across a map?

fetch wrote on 12/20/2002, 9:25 PM

ok, I'm producing a video of all my travels around the world, and as an intro to the various places I've been to, I'd like to have a map with a little plane flying from one country to another leaving a trail of where I flew from.
I know this is an old classic, but I'm stumped as to how to go about this.

Any ideas from the experts would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 12/20/2002, 9:32 PM

Take a look a my tutorials 4 and 5
http://www.wideopenwest.com/%7Ewvg/tutorial-menu.htm

Once you understand how #4 works apply #5 to make your airplane or car or whatever.

The actual video files are over at Kelly's site. :-)

Spot|DSE wrote on 12/20/2002, 10:01 PM

Great tutorial, BillyBoy!
Fetch, if you don't have a plane, there are some nice ones over at clipart.com, no cost.

TorS wrote on 12/21/2002, 2:31 AM

Clipart is good, fonts easier. You can get planes (or cars whatever) from various dingbat fonts. Add them with your text generator and move them with 3DLE.
Mind you, if you want to add a shadow to the plane (to give it the above ground effect) use the track motion. Otherwise the shadow will turn as you turn the plane. In track motion, just decide where you want the sun and it stays there. Have a nice trip.

Tor

rextilleon wrote on 12/21/2002, 8:17 AM

The other thing you might do is get a jpeg of a plane, put it on a transparent background in Photo Shop and then import it into Vegas.---T

JohnnyRoy wrote on 12/21/2002, 6:33 PM

Once you find your plane with a transparent background, don’t forget to follow the theme throughout your video. Between major scene changes try adding the plane moving just in front of a wipe transition so it looks like the plane is pulling the wipe in its wake. You can vary the wipes, i.e., diagonal, left to right, bottom to top, to keep in interesting.

~jr

BillyBoy wrote on 12/21/2002, 7:09 PM

Didn't see it before, thanks for the kind comments SPOT.

BTW, if you're going to dress it up add some airplane sound effects too.

Now for a challenge, land the plane at your final destination on the map, zoom in first, maybe crash and burn, then again, maybe not. LOL!

PeterWright wrote on 12/21/2002, 10:28 PM

Further tactics ...
If you use a dingbat or other greyscale aeroplane shape, you can make this a mask and show maybe video of the area the plane is covering, in the shape of the plane.

fetch wrote on 12/23/2002, 11:21 PM

Thanks to everyone who put forward their ideas. It was exactly what I needed. I'm so overwhelmed by the quick & friendly responses I get from this forum, I don't think I've ever seen a forum so active & responsive. Regardless of what happens in the future I hope we can keep this forum alive.

Have a happy & safe Holiday.
Fetch