"weatherman" needs help

staka wrote on 4/28/2002, 9:55 PM
Can Vegas Video 3 do the following:

Basically what I need is to have 2 feeds, 1-live video from my Sony miniDV through a firewire input, 2-my graphics. About the second one, my graphics are going to be still .jpeg images will that work?

I would then record/merge these two images in real time: Myself (and the blue screen) live and the weather maps onto one composite in real time so my monitor would display an image of me and the maps (minus the croma wall).

So in the end it would be like going to a TV station and doing it there, in real time. Not sure if you know how the whole "weather" set up work, I'm sure you do but the weather person stands in front of a croma wall BUT has a monitor on either side of him/her displaying a composite of themselves and the graphics so they know what and where to point, that is what I'm after. I could work with what I have right now (Adobe premiere 6.0), just tape myself in front of the wall point randomly save it and then merge it with the graphics hoping I've pointed at the right things I guess but that's lame.

Hope this software can help because I don't feel like coughing up $800 plus for a real-time capture card or Avid's $1000.00 price tag. I'm hoping to add this video to my web site once I get the right software.

Thanks

Mike

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 4/29/2002, 10:34 AM
I'm a little unsure of what you mean by "real time". Will people be watching this via streaming WHILE you are taping it live? Or will you be taping it live and then people only be watching it after the fact? If it's the latter, then Vegas can handle assembling all the images. If you want to show the full composited image in real time while taping then you're probably looking at a dedicated hardware solution rather than a software package running on a standard PC.
Former user wrote on 4/29/2002, 10:46 AM
YOu won't find any PC software that will do this effect in "real time". You would need an hardware Chroma Key setup for that.

Dave T2
staka wrote on 4/29/2002, 6:08 PM
Yeah let me spell it out a bit more:

Right now I can record myself with premiere 6.0 and see it on my monitor in the little movie window BUT all I see is myself and the croma wall. I want/ need to
have the movie window display BOTH myself and the maps (in other words have the software take out the blue croma wall and show the weather maps instead) as I'm recording.

I would then save the movie and export it to my web site. I'm going to try using Flash MX now that it can turn movie files into flash files so I don't have to worry about using windows media or real video.

I hope this explains it a little better.

Thanks anyway

Mike
HeeHee wrote on 4/30/2002, 2:16 PM
Nope, don't think you can do "Real-time" with Vegas. Besides, you probably want to be able to switch maps on the fly as well. The best VV could do with that is timed pictures. VV3 is an editing tool not a broadcast system.
HPV wrote on 4/30/2002, 8:06 PM
Being as your not going "live" to the internet, why not just use the Chromakey in Vegas?

Craig H.
HeeHee wrote on 4/30/2002, 10:34 PM
<<Being as your not going "live" to the internet, why not just use the Chromakey in Vegas?>>

If I understand it right, he wants to be able to see what he is pointing at during the mock broadcast. Otherwise, he may be blindly pointing in the wrong direction or place. The monitors set up on the left and right of the screens need to show him superimposed over the weather map in real time so he can both read the screen and point at what he wants to as well as keep himself in camera view.
Chienworks wrote on 4/30/2002, 11:26 PM
Maybe Mike can dig up an old Amiga with Video Toaster real cheap someplace. I bet there are places who would be happy to give them away to clear up some shelf space. They're capable of real time compositing and chroma keying. I think they only run at half resolution (320x240) though, but i'm not sure. The last time i played with one was probably 16 years ago.

Videonics makes a cute little A/B video mixer. It's capable of real-time compositing, but i don't know off the top of my head whether it does chroma key or not. Last i saw them they were selling for under $300.

While neither of these devices would be considered broadcast quality, they could be used just to run the off-stage monitors. Vegas could then be used to produce the final version. Of course, if the destination is web streaming, then these devices would probably be more than good enough for generating the recording signal as well.
HPV wrote on 5/1/2002, 12:56 AM
Ahhh, I see the problem with "after the fact" blue screening.
The Video Toaster only did luma keying. There was an add on Chroma keyer available from a third party company. BTW, the Toaster does full D1 752x480 resolution. Have two here. Also, they came out in 1990, boy how time flys. 8- )
Panasonic makes the AVE 55 and the prosumer brother MX20. Both have chromakeying, but I think it only has four settings for clipping level. Still, might be the ticket as the AVE55 sells for around $800 new (street price). Also a clean signal with 50db signal to noise ratio.
Or just use the cheapest unit you can find and only use it for reference. Do the final Chroma keying inside Vegas. I bet this is the best option as good live chroma keying cost big bucks.

Craig H.

Craig H.
staka wrote on 5/1/2002, 6:20 PM
I think "HeeHee" got the right idea, it also sounds like I hit a dead end.

Maybe I'll call one of the local TV stations and bug them for a few, I knew those
A/V geeks in high school would come in handy one day!


Thanks

Mike