Mirage effect. . .

AFSDMS wrote on 9/13/2003, 3:22 PM
I'm trying to find if there is a filter in Vegas 4 that I can use to create something similar to a mirage. This will be a small part of the screen over which I am showing a distant object, but trying to convey that ambiguousness of whether the scene is real or not.

The effect I'm looking for would be some sort of moving ripple displacement, if you can visualize that. Anyone know of something in Vegas that can be tweaked to do it?

I'm also open to other ideas to convey the feeling. The scene will begin with the mirag4e appearing in place, then the mirage will fade out of the scene.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 9/13/2003, 4:08 PM
A simpler way? I should write a book...

Hmm... Begin by adding a track, then place a copy of the original on it.

Next try a combination of following filters and distort the video on just the top track.

Deform, Gaussian Blur, Gradiant Map, Invert, Linear Blur and Mirror for starters.

Once you're close to something acceptable, drop the opacity of the top track, and shift the timeline just a little nudge.

In just messing around a minute or so using only mirror, I got a nice ghost like effect that looked like a mirage to me with faint ghost like images of the subjects drifiting in and out.

Imagine what you could do if you really work at. Just another reason why Vegas is so far beyond the others... if you know how to use the filters to good effect. Use key frames to adjust as needed to control the effect.
AFSDMS wrote on 9/14/2003, 8:42 PM
I familiar with about half those filters, so I'll make a point of working with the rest. Thanks for the suggestions. I think duping the track and the offset is going to be a great idea, something that hadn'/t come to mind.

Thanks very much!