Keep doing creative "experiments" -- we love 'em. And feel encouraged to post them here as well.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/post-your-vegas-creations--109464/

@Grazie - Thank you
@Musicvid - That's kind, but these are just experiments in exploring parts of Vegas (13, 15, 19) I haven't used that much.

Here I've used one negative mask on the top track using a red solid and animated it from a pentagon to a star, then added initial blur. To get the points (or anchors) in the right places I created a quick black and white image ...

.. to use as a template. The red dots are to help with the rotation of the pan & crop mask points (or anchors).

The yellow glow in the centre of the star is created using the Track Motion glow and the black shadow is provided using Vegas' Layer Dimension filter.

The underlying green solid has text applied to make the 'reveal' interesting.

@Selina - More please! I love throwing shapes and experimenting.

@Grazie - Thank you

Here I've used two masks - one inside the other. The outer one is Negative and the inner one Positive to get a combined shape. In the project there are two tracks the top one is a magenta solid with text applied before the pan & crop so it is affected by the mask. The Track motion has both Gloss and Shadow applied. The Magenta solid has the Layer Dimensionality filter applied.

The second track is a 50% grey solid with a Filter applied to get the brick pattern.

@Selina Hi, Love masks 👍👍😊 sorry if you already know this, but have a look at this YT vid about compositing, in this he shows how to apply a black & white mask, change the composite on the track to Multiply (Mask), make the track below a child & add Mask Generator, this allows you to see through more layers using the mask 👍😊

@Gid - Thanks, I think compositing would be a logical next step. All these experiments use the "Source Alpha" setting.

Here I've experimented to see if it's possible to switch from positive to negative... It is!

Two tracks the top one has a black solid applied and three square masks all positive. Each, in turn is switched to negative whilst the other two remain positive. Keys on the timeline are set to hold.

The bottom track has a 50% grey solid

@Selina 👍 If you right click & Copy on an event on the timeline, you can then Paste on to another event, that will then paste exactly the same mask onto that other event, 👍

Here's the simple version of what he does in that vid with black & white masks,

Track one is black & white, the composite at the track header is set to Multiply (Mask),

Only the pink shows through where the white is,

But if you make the second track a 'Child' of the top track, those two top tracks sort of work together as one, then add Mask Generator to the Black & white event & it shows the 3rd green track through

using a combinations of masks, with Mask Generator added & the track set to Multiply (Mask), many tracks can be seen through, it all depends on where the black is & where the white is, & as you've tried it depends whether Mask Generator is set to negative or positive, a lot of this is easier with the masks in Pan/Crop but it shows there's many ways to play with masks 😁👍👍 (also try Darken & Lighten in the composite setting)

PS it doesn't have to black & white, any shade of grey

Why is my brain spinning? Selina, my suggestion remains, if only for that reason that the thread I suggested is durable, where your wonderful examples will get noticed and remembered, and not drift into obscurity. I don't think anyone will mind...

@Grazie - Thank you
@Musicvid - That's kind, but these are just experiments in exploring parts of Vegas (13, 15, 19) I haven't used that much.

Here I've used one negative mask on the top track using a red solid and animated it from a pentagon to a star, then added initial blur. To get the points (or anchors) in the right places I created a quick black and white image ...

The intro to this one is a really simple "Reveal" mask I did in Vegas 8.0c (I think).

Now, here's a real oldie I did back in 1998, by creating a custom b/w mask and using it in Spice Rack (a Pinnacle 2 transition package).

When I was a kid, our local theater projectionist would start the film rolling, then open the double curtains to reveal the screen. It was the motivation to do this for an old DVD highlight reel.

@Gid - Thank you for more ideas.
@Musicvid - Thank you for your concerns and fine examples.

In this experiment I have two tracks (like all the others just two tracks to play with and the Pan&Crop mask feature.) The top one is a rendered version of the bottom one - a Cyan solid with text applied which is then muted.

The top track has a positive, soft out mask applied with the "Apply to FX" option enabled. The mask is moved across the text. A Gausian blur is added to the tack and animated over time.

This is a follow-on from the one before. I tried to see if it was possible to turn off and on the "Apply to FX" option. It isn't, but what is possible is to alter the opacity - which makes sense!

For my experiment I thought an 80s blinking text idea would be a good basis. But now I'm confronted with the thought of creating lots of keys to lower and higher the mask's opacity. But I soon discovered it is possible to duplicate whole ranges of keys across the effect timeline by simple selecting the first, holding SHIFT and selecting the last, then holding down the CTRL key to drag these across the timeline to duplicate and place in their new positions.

What this meant in practice was to first create two keys - one 100% opacity and the second 0% opacity. Then select both and drag now I have four to select and drag, then eight, etc, etc. Now I can select all and change the interpolation from linear to smooth in one swoop.

I must admit, I'm not one to read the manual - it's probably in there somewhere...

What Have I Learnt?

• Several Masks can be applied at the same time and animated - both anchor number, anchor shape (square / smooth) and the mask as a whole
• By combining both positive and negative masks it's possible to have compound shapes.
• New exciting shapes can be had by tracing a template image and pasting the pan/crop to the target video - stars, donuts, hearts, you name it!
• Masks can be applied to effects and turned off using opacity.
• Animation keys can be duplicated easily across the effect timeline using CTRL+Drag.

I think this wraps up my brief excursion into Pan&Crop Masks for now...