Pixelating in VMS?

BT76 wrote on 3/21/2008, 9:01 PM
Can someone please tell me if I am able to pixelate a small section of video using Vegas Movie Studio 6.0?

I am editing some video from when my child was young and being nursed. I would like to pixelate a small section of the video image (you can probably guess what I would like to pixelate out) - but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to do it. I am even having trouble finding some of the buttons/options that I am told to use in the Vegas Help, which is why I am questioning if this capability is even included in my version.

If my version is capable of this, can someone please help me through the process?

If it is not capable of it, is there any nifty way to block a small section of screen another way? Thanks so much!

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 3/21/2008, 10:39 PM
My MVSP has a "pixelate" plugin. Place a mostly transparent image file on the video track above the normal video track, with a gray half-transparent section at the size of the face or thing you want to pixelate. Then, you apply the pixelate plugin on that image. Then, you change using pan/crop or trackmotion the position of the pixelated image frame by frame, using the pan/crop or trackmotion timeline, to match the video below it. I hope it makes some sense.
BT76 wrote on 3/22/2008, 2:23 PM
Thanks for your reply. I created just a white JPG using Paintbrush and placed it in the Video Track in the slot on top of the video I would like to pixelate. However, I did not make anymore progress when I could not figure out how to:
1. Make the image I created only cover a small portion of the video. How do I reshape the image to just cover a very small portion of the screen?
2. Make the image pixelate. I dragged the pixelate effect to the white image I created but I did not see it pixelate at all in the video.

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Chienworks wrote on 3/22/2008, 2:45 PM
Rather than use the image mask the cookie cutter is probably a better option.

Place your video on the timeline twice, on two separate tracks, lined up one exactly above the other. Add the pixellate effect to the clip on the lower track. Add the cookie cutter effect to the clip on the higher track and set it to "cut away section". Adjust the size and position of the cookie cutter to cover the "naughty bit"*. The cookie cutter will allow the pixellated version of the lower clip to show through the "hole" it creates in the upper clip. You can use keyframes to continually adjust the size and position as the clip progresses.

*Sorry, couldn't resist the Monty Python reference. ;)
BT76 wrote on 3/27/2008, 9:25 AM
Thanks so much for your help, your directions were much easier to understand than Vegas' online help.

My only question now is how to move the pixelation around when the subject I want to pixelate moves around in the frame? I can pixelate the image just fine, but when it moves I am not sure how to follow it. Any advice?
Terry Esslinger wrote on 3/27/2008, 10:26 AM
Open the cookie cutter window. Place the curser on the time line at the beginning and blur out your spot. Move the curser several frames (or until movement occurs of the spot you want blurred) If your sync curser is turned on the curser in the keyframe timeline (lower part of the cookie cutter window) will move to a new spot away from the original keyframe. Move the cookie cutter 'spotter' to cover the 'naughty' again. A new key frame will automatically be generated. Keep doing this for the length of your event. When played the pixalatede area will follow the 'naughtey' wherever it goes. By the way, my wife says that it isn't 'naughty' its natural.