Suggestion: Let 2.5D Parallax in Vegas easier and more user-friendly

lan-mLMC wrote on 8/18/2023, 8:27 AM

Suggestion: Dig out the unique feature of Vegas & make it more user-friendly — 2.5D Parallax

What is parallax effect? That is, when the camera moves, the distant layers seem to move more slowly than the nearby layers.

Why is it called 2.5D? Because they are always thin layers like cards in 3D space, not as thick as 3D models. Therefore, it is usually called fake 3D or 2.5D.

(00:00 - 00:20)

When we see these excellent Parallax commercial advertisements, we are amazed at the display effect it bring to the products. We may think, can we do Parallax effect in Vegas? Of course:
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When we discuss the unique advantages of Vegas different from other editing software, many users often ignore Vegas' built-in 3D Camera — Parent 3D Track Motion.

Among all main editing softwares ( Premiere, AVID, Resolve[cut & edit page], FCPX, Edius ), only Vegas has a built-in 3D camera.

If these other editing softwares need 3D Camera, they have to ask their partners for help (After Effects, Apple Motion, Fusion，etc.). However, Vegas doesn't need to do that, because Vegas own it.

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But I rarely see Vegas users using Parent 3D Track Motion. In a few years, I have only seen several users use it to create the 2.5D Parallax effect. Why is this?

This is because the current Parent 3D Track Motion is so unuser-friendly that it is difficult for Vegas users to use it easily.

Therefore, I very much hope that Magix/Vegas Team can pay attention to this unique advantage of Vegas and optimize it.

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In a word, compared with other major video editing software, 2.5D parallax effect is a unique feature of Vegas. This is worthy of being publicized and marketed by Magix/Vegas Team, and some efforts can be made to make Parent 3D Track Motion easier to use. I believe this will greatly help to expand the user base of Vegas.

Comments

lan-mLMC wrote on 8/20/2023, 9:37 AM

(5:05 - 8:24)

In this tutorial of making parallax motion graphics with Vegas, we can see how painful it is for the author to adjust the Parent／Child 3D track motion. He can't adjust them directly in the preview window.

This feature deserves to be improved and optimized by Vegas Team to make it easier to use.

Former user wrote on 8/20/2023, 10:09 AM

@lan-mLMC Hi. I know this isn't parallax or don't think it is, but using just a png traced image of a camera lens leaf I created this with 3D Track Motion, 👍

lan-mLMC wrote on 8/20/2023, 10:24 AM

@Former user Hi, parallax is caused by camera movement. In Z-depth, the distant layer moves more slowly than the nearby layer.

In that tutorial of Vegas parallax motion graphics, the camera (preview window) keeps moving forward in a 3D tunnel with Z- depth, which makes the nearby stars change faster and the distant stars change slower, resulting in the parallax.

In this example, you only used Child Track 3D Motion, but not Parent Track 3D Motion, that is, you didn't use 3D Camera, so it doesn't reflect parallax, but only reflects the occlusion relationship between objects in 3D space.

Former user wrote on 8/20/2023, 11:10 AM

@lan-mLMC Thanks I've got a fairly good understanding of parallax that's why i said "this isn't parallax", I had to learn parallax when tracking using Mocha but i understand what you're saying & was just sort of agreeing that the 3D options in Vegas are rarely mentioned, 👍

Former user wrote on 8/20/2023, 4:21 PM

@lan-mLMC I've been playing with this & one thing I'd like added would be some sort of on screen box to show where the event is once it goes 'off screen'.

This is different software (not 3D) the box still shows when totally off,

lan-mLMC wrote on 8/20/2023, 5:52 PM

@Former user It already exists in Vegas, that is, PIP or Bezier Mask. Unfortunately, 3D Track Motion cannot be adjusted in the preview window.

Former user wrote on 8/20/2023, 6:47 PM

@lan-mLMC Adjustment on-screen of Track motion would be nice but all i want at the mo is to be able to see where it is, Maybe one it'll all come,

bitman wrote on 8/21/2023, 4:34 AM

I would love to have a parallax tool in Vegas to use on stills of subjects of which I forgot to film.

But a good parallax tool is more than having separate images or videos of foreground and background combining. If you only have one still it requires also to be able to generate missing contend from the slower background layer as the foreground layer moves beyond the obscuring of the background layer...

lan-mLMC wrote on 8/21/2023, 2:34 PM

I would love to have a parallax tool in Vegas to use on stills of subjects of which I forgot to film.

If there are some overlay controls in the preview window to control the transform of track motion, which will make it a good parallax tool.

lan-mLMC wrote on 8/22/2023, 6:36 AM

Watch this video of making 2.5D Parallax effects using Premiere. It looks very fake and very stiff 😂 :

This is because Premiere doesn't have a built-in 3D Camera, so Premiere users can only manually scale each layer according to their feelings.

Compared with this, the Parallax effect produced by software with 3D Camera like Vegas is more realistic and organic :

This is definitely one of the advantages of Vegas beating Premiere and deserves more improving & optimizing. 😎

MikeS wrote on 8/22/2023, 9:47 AM

>parallax is caused by camera movement

Or by objects at different distances moving in front of a static camera. And that's the thing to remember - in Vegas the camera never moves, it isn't 3d. The parallax effect you get is a (useful) artifact caused by 2-d planar objects moving in 3d space, individually or in groups. I don't think you can describe it as a 'feature' of Vegas Pro any more than you would describe being able to create a tumbling cube (which can be achieved with exactly the same tool) as a feature.

Nevertheless, as you point out, the quasi-3d features are rarely mentioned.

lan-mLMC wrote on 8/22/2023, 10:15 AM

@MikeS 3D Camera system consists of Camera and the "World".

Vegas' 3D camera is its preview screen. It is called 3D camera because it is a camera in 3D space, not a 2D camera like PIP, Pan/Crop (they only work in 2D plane space).

The motion of Camera and the "World" is relative, depending on which stationary reference frame you choose. Although the 3d camera of Vegas cannot be moved, the "World" (box) of Vegas can be moved. If the moving "World" is chosen as the stationary reference frame, it is equivalent to the camera moving.

Therefore, the 3d parallax made by the 3d camera in Vegas is the same as after effects. It's just that Vegas is moving the World, and AE is moving the Camera itself. But according to the relative principle of motion, they are essentially the same.

3D camera has been a well-known term in post production. Therefore, it is more convenient for users to refer to the 3D features of Vegas as 3D camera. The effects of the two are almost equivalent.

MikeS wrote on 8/22/2023, 2:10 PM

>If the moving "World" is chosen as the stationary reference frame, it is equivalent to the camera moving

I already said that there were equivalents to the camera moving, it was my first point.

With one proviso - in Vegas 3D Track Motion the world (box) does not move either. I maybe wasn't clear on that. It is individual 2d planes (and groups of those planes, thanks to parenting), with each plane representing a track's viewport, that can be moved within the world box. Of course, you may have a different idea of a world box than me.

There is a reason that Vegas themselves do not describe this as any sort of 3D camera. They are clear that 3D Motion Tracking is simply the ability to manipulate the motion of a video track in 3D space.

In my opinion, It isn't a 3D camera - calling it such invites people to have higher expectations (lens settings, for example) than the reality. But I guess we are all free to call it what we like!

I'd also argue that if you want to do cool 3d stuff but stay in the Vegas world you ought to invest in Vegas Post if you haven't done so already, and have a look at Vegas Effects, which is a good AE replacement

lan-mLMC wrote on 8/22/2023, 4:10 PM

@MikeS As I have said, the term 3D camera has not been strictly defined by an organization or scholar, so its meaning is a loose range, and it doesn't have to have custom camera settings to be called 3D camera. In fact, vegas has some kind of built-in fixed camera settings, which doesn't mean it doesn't belong to 3d camera.

In fact, if you search for "3D Camera" on youtube, you will find the result is a lot of 2.5D parallax effect videos. This shows that in the eyes of users, 3d camera is synonymous with 2.5d parallax.

Therefore, In order to facilitate many users to quickly understand the 2.5d parallax effect that Vegas can make, I call it — 3d camera, the most widely equivalent word on youtube. This is its significance and value.

So the point of this post is that Vegas can make 2.5d parallax, and this feature is worth further optimization. If we shift to discuss how to narrowly modify the definition of 3d camera, it will cause serious digression.