Yes, that was my initial thought and attempt but it didn't actually look like it was emerging from the water. It just looked like the new event just gradually covered the old one.

That why I began to think I would need three tracks, maybe using masking to somehow make the new event appear with water both in front of and behind it.

Not sure if I'm really giving a clear indication of what I'm trying to achieve.

Thanks for you help, anyway :)

"it didn't actually look like it was emerging from the water"

To make something appear to come out of water is a quite complex task requiring 3D modelling and fluid dynamics software and a lot of time learning how to use all of it.
At a more achievable level I'd consider simply keyframe the compositing level so it fade into view as it gets larger. Changing the colour will also help and adding some Gaussian Blur. You can get even more advanced and use a displacement map from the water surface to make the image appear diffracted by the waves. All of this can be done using Vegas. It still will not look photo realistic but good enough to get the message accross.

Bob.

If I understand what you're trying to achive, it's fairly straight foward. I've made up a simple Vegas project using generated media to illustrate.

Download the VEG file here

Jim

> "That why I began to think I would need three tracks, maybe using masking to somehow make the new event appear with water both in front of and behind it."

That's exactly what you need to do.

(1) Create a new track ABOVE the Track Motion track and Duplicate the video event from below it onto this new track so that it covers the Track Motion.

(2) Then use the Mask tool in Event Pan/Crop to create a Positive mask around the bottom half of the lake. This will mask out the top so that the track below will show through.

(3) Finally, feather the edge of the mask so that it's not so sharp, and when the Track Motion on the track below rises above the mask, it should look like it's coming out of the lake.

~jr

I've actually manage to achieve what I wanted by by pursuing my method in post 3.

So I duplicated the initial even from tract 1 to track 3, then placed a rectangle mask on track one that covered a great deal of the water where I wanted the next even to emerge from. Set some feathering then used Pan/Crop ( I know I could have used Track motion but I remember reading years ago that Pan/Crop renders better - but that was to MPEG2 for DVD and maybe that's all changed now?) and set the end even the the initial size I wanted and hidden behind the mask. Then used keyframes to move the 2nd event up then to full size.

It works but seems to be a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Jim, thanks for your veg. It does wht I want and with only two events.

It is nice to know I was looking along the right lines with my initial thought of using cookie cutter, just couldn't fathom out how.

Cheers.

Edit: JohnnyRoy posted just before me. :)

Edit2: Guys, I hope you don't mind, But I'm going to stick with my own solution - only because I know at the end it's all my own work and I feel I have achieved more. But with your help I have learned a lot more.

Glad you've found your solution Maverick.

Just to add to ideas in the thread, initially the emerging video could look horizontal until it leaves the water, so you could skew it using Deform, or rotate it in 3D Track motion, then bring it back to vertical as it fills the screen.

> "initially the emerging video could look horizontal until it leaves the water, so you could skew it using Deform, or rotate it in 3D Track motion, then bring it back to vertical as it fills the screen."

Yea, if you really want to "sell" that it's coming out of the water, use the technique that I show in this tutorial while it's under water:

Floating Text on Water in a 3D Perspective with Sony Vegas Pro
[url=

~jr

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I have used deform to make the 2nd event more or less match the shape of the pond.

JohnnyRoy. Thanks for the tutorial. Off to Crimea tomorrow so may set up some shots with the misses to try and replicate it in some way to use as an intro. So much cool stuff we can do here.