Photo Montage

Washview wrote on 11/9/2008, 7:34 AM

I'd like to place a series of slides one on top of the other. Each image will zoom to more or less fill the frame then zoom out to a small area on the screen. All images to remain on the screen.

I thought photo montage in Excalibur or Ultimate S would create something like this but so far all I can find that they do is string slides together adding zooms and pans.

Comments

AlanC wrote on 11/9/2008, 8:18 AM

Something like

this[/link] perhaps.

bStro wrote on 11/9/2008, 8:22 AM

Put each picture on its own track and use Track Motion (there's an icon for it on each track header) to size and position them. For each one, set a keyframe at the start with the image full size and a keyframe with it "shrunk."

Rob

Harold Brown wrote on 11/9/2008, 1:18 PM

Track Motion in Vegas

Terry Esslinger wrote on 11/9/2008, 2:16 PM

I've seen the .veg file for picyure wall 2 and it looks like they made a single image with dozens of photos in it for the wall. Maybe made in Photoshop. And then use that photo zoomed and panned and bring in the individual pictures as needed.

johnmeyer wrote on 11/9/2008, 2:20 PM

I have to respectfully disagree about using track motion to resize photos. This is ALWAYS the wrong thing to do. It is OK to use track motion to move photos, but when you use it to resize photos, you will absolutely the photo quality. The reason is that track motion always FIRST resamples the photo down to project resolution and THEN performs the resize. So, if you start out with a 3000x2000 photo, it will first be downsampled to 720x480 (or whatever your project resolution happens to be). If you then zoom into the photo so that only 1/4 of the area is shown, you will have only 360x240 pixels. It will look horrible.

By contrast, when you zoom using the pan/crop control at the event level, the zoom is done on the original photo. Thus, when you zoom into 1/4 of your 3000x2000 photo, you will end up with 1500x1000 pixels. Then, only when the project is rendered is this downsampled to 720x480 (or whatever your project resolution happens to be).

The difference is NOT subtle.

However, there are lots of movement effects that are far easier to do with track motion, so if all you are doing is moving the photo, go ahead and use track motion for that.

jrazz wrote on 11/9/2008, 2:28 PM

I see that the file Harold posted used my veg file (that I built from Dave's veg- FrigidNDEditing).

j razz

kentwolf wrote on 11/9/2008, 8:58 PM

>>...my veg file...

Is there a link to the veg file anywhere? Looks nice!

biggles wrote on 11/9/2008, 9:59 PM

Wow - that is very, very impressive!

jrazz wrote on 11/9/2008, 10:01 PM

My veg file...
Not that I care- I just thought it was neat somebody used it.

I think it is still in my Vegas directory. I could be wrong.

The link

j razz

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 11/9/2008, 10:54 PM

I've got my original file here:

original veg

and a video showing it here:

Original Vid

(had to dig a bit to find it, but, anyone that wants, feel free to use it, as I'm always happy to help).

Jeremy,

I've got the direct link to your baseball veg here.

Dave

Rory Cooper wrote on 11/9/2008, 11:53 PM

Hi Everyone

Nice post thanks for the Veggies makes me nice and strong

Just wondering with ref to Johns comment which is correct, how do you guys handle the problem of transition on the same level?
For example when your pic comes into view you hold and do a lightray transition to a dif pic .then move on to next pic in 3d space

The rays would be cut to the pan frame size
So do you?

1 zoom out in pan crop window to allow for the rays or and then move forward in 3d space to fit
2 what other options are there?

Hope this makes sense!

Rory

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 11/10/2008, 12:52 AM

xfx, you need to put the FX on the track rather than the clip, and then I'm not sure if you need to have the pre/post toggle set to pre or post ( the little triangle next to the effect keyframe header). Haven't tried it, but check it out, and let us know :).

(I always love saying that because then I can get someone else to do the leg work for me :P ).

[EDIT]

Ok, so I was up, so I checked, and the only way I was able to apply a light FX that showed outside of the track that the media was on was to put it on the preview window video FX or the master video bus, however that will apply the FX in 2D on the 3D view, and on the entire 3D view, not just one image.

I'd guess your best bet is to just simply do the P/C tool to shrink it and move in more in 3D space ( and just make sure you take the FX all the way off before you move out of that frame size ).

Dave

Rory Cooper wrote on 11/10/2008, 3:06 AM

Thanks Dave

I knew if I waited a little longer you would do the leg work for me.

Rory

Harold Brown wrote on 11/10/2008, 4:11 PM

I didn't remember who posted it but when I downloaded it it was called Ruths 80th. I mentioned in once on DVinfo hoping somebody would remember it. I couldn't find the veg file for a year or so until I found it on a dvd backup a couple of months ago. The zip file included the pictures as well. I used it on a DVD as an intro to a slide show. I do remember seeing the Boaco video.

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 11/10/2008, 7:09 PM

Ya, that .veg file of mine made it around quite a bit, i started seeing stuff on youtube etc..., which is great. I love being able to inspire someone else to come up with something new and different... or just saving them 45minutes of placement and setup for that matter :).

Dave

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 11/10/2008, 10:26 PM

I was asked via email a question of how to really use these files, and because no-one can benefit unless it's publicly posted, I'm tossing my response up here as well for all to see and benefit from.

"What I would do is just open the veg file, and start experimenting to see how things work ( 3D parent Motion on the parent track moves the whole group of child tracks ).

The best way to "use it" is to swap out your pics for mine more or less the same way you just said, but you have to be careful that you don't accidentally delete the KF's (keyframes) when you delete the offline media so what you want to do is go to the project media tab or window (if you have it detached from the UI), and then select all the media in there and hit the delete key, and it will ask you if you want to remove them and you say yest to all. This removes all the media, and leaves all of the Key Frames so you can just drop on your photos as you please.

I always suggest using something as close to the project aspect ratio ( this is SD so 720x480 should work alright, or you can change the project properties for HD and use something closer to the resolution that you want.

A warning for you to be aware of is that 3D motion rendering causes quite a bit processing for your processor, so I just simply nest all my 3D stuff. That way Vegas only renders all those tracks where I want it to, and then not where I don't want it. that little trick can save you hours of rendering time on something like this if your project just had all these tracks sitting there empty for the whole project."

Dave