Preview text

4110 wrote on 8/9/2004, 9:13 AM
Hi,

I am working with some old family 8mm film I had digitized. It is silent and some of it is over 50 years old so many of the people are gone and not well known to their descendents watching it now. Therefore, I would like to add a text overlay of names. The people don't appear in any systematic manner, may be anywhere on the frame and may move so I need to use keyframes to control where and when a text field appears. I have added a text tract above the video tract and can create text easily enough. If I am working with a single video tract I can step through the video from the keyframe bar and see the result in the preview window. However, with the two track composting, I haven't been able to get the combined text tract and video tract to appear in the preview window so I have to place keyframes by trial and error, which is very time consuming. I suspect I am missing some little thing to make this work. Any ideas?

Thanks,

David

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 8/9/2004, 10:48 AM
Perhaps instead of keyframes you can create a new text event for each name when it appears, then use the Placement tab in the Text generator window to position it.
JaysonHolovacs wrote on 8/9/2004, 11:03 AM
There's something weird about the feature that links the Vegas timeline cursor to the cursor on the keyframe line in a dialog box. For some reason, it doesn't work on generated media events, in my experience and from what I've heard on the forum. Maybe this is the problem you are running into?

I think Chienworks idea of using separate events for each text piece is probably the best way to go. Note that if you want to ensure that all the text is the same font/color/etc, you can copy a generated media event. Just select the event, hit Ctrl-C, move the cursor to the new location, and hit Ctrl-V. Then edit the actual text and the position if needed on the new event.

-Jayson
TorS wrote on 8/9/2004, 11:31 AM
4110,
Don't use compositing. You only need one regular track with text events over the video track. Then you should see text and video together in the preview window. You can move the text with keyframes - but text is always easiest to read when it stands still. If you highlight the person when he or she appears, and put the person's name on the lower third part of the frame, you can either let the highlight follow the person a little while or believe that the audiece will follow the person around once they've read the name.

Want to know an easy way to highlight a person? Make yet another track above the video. Add a text event. Write a dot in a bold typeface and set it large enough to cover the persons head. Then make the dot transparent and the background semitransparent.
Move it around with keyframes in pan/crop or even easier, with the placement tab in the text event dialogue.
Tor
4110 wrote on 8/9/2004, 11:48 AM
Wow! I can't believe how quick and good you all are. I went in to try Cheinworks idea and came back to report on it and now I have another idea to try from TorS. I'll try it next.

Chienworks' method works. I used the contribution from JasonHolovacs to copy and paste to avoid recreating font info. Using this method I can step through frames and see the video in the preview window. When a person appears then I paste. There are some quirks. I found it wasn't enough to click the clip to select it. had to click the little film strip or I end up changing another selection. Also, I couldn't get separates clips to fall on top of each other without a fade in/out so I ended up adding multiple video tracks for the text. The number of video tracks needed is the maximum number of names I need at one time.

I'm off to try TorS' solution.

Thanks all,

David
4110 wrote on 8/9/2004, 12:11 PM
I tried Tor's idea and have a problem. When I put text in the same track with the main video all I get is the text with a black background. The main video doesn't show through. In other words, it doesn't honor the transparency around the text that is represented by the checkerboard pattern like it does when the text clip is placed in a separate video tract above the main video track. Is there something I can do to make this work?

I did try Tor's idea for highlighting and it does work and is pretty neat. Unfortunately it reintroduces the original problem. I decided to leave the text stationary and that works well once the person is identified. However, the highlight needs to follow the person. That means keyframes and with two video tracks I have to place the keyframes by trial and error because the video doesn't move from the keyframe location bar like it will with a single track.

David
TorS wrote on 8/9/2004, 12:20 PM
The text must be in one track, the video in the one below it. Never in the same track. If you have hightlight as well, put it above the text or below it, but in another separate track.
Tor
JaysonHolovacs wrote on 8/9/2004, 12:38 PM
4110,
Yes, that is something to get used to. Windows that show for for controlling a particular effect are tied to the event you launched them from; the window does not dynamically change as you highlight different events. It's not really wrong or right, just a different user interface decision. I think you just need to get used to it.

Because every event could have different FX associated with it, maybe it is not practical for Vegas to try to update that window every time you select a new event. And if the new event has a bunch of effects associated with it, which one should you see? I understand your frustration(I've felt it too), but it might be the only way that works in this environment.

-Jayson
4110 wrote on 8/9/2004, 1:12 PM
Thanks guys,

Jayson, I was hoping I just didn't know how to do it but I guess the capability doesn't exist now. Perhaps an enhancement to Vegas would be to show the complete, composite video of all tracks from any keyframe timeline. Sure would be a lot easier to position keyframes. If a single track or effect was desired it could be soloed.

David