Sony Vegas Pro 8: Trying to understand

[Paul LS]

Ryan by adjusting the Noise Texture settings you can get the rain so that it is very heavy and then it is very visible. Try changing the Min, Max, and Bias. The Progress in Degrees will control the speed.

In order to transform your face to become a monkeys face you need to use Morphing software. See these threads and the example videos:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2290&p=19158&hilit=morph#p19158
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2273&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=morph

Regarding your capture issue, this is probably because you are capturing over USB. If you have no Firewire connection on your computer buy a PCI Firewire card, they are quite cheap and require no drivers to be installed. So you just plug them in.

[ryan_khoo]

Ryan by adjusting the Noise Texture settings you can get the rain so that it is very heavy and then it is very visible. Try changing the Min, Max, and Bias. The Progress in Degrees will control the speed.

Thanks Paul, I have managed to get the rain. Thanks a million

In order to transform your face to become a monkeys face you need to use Morphing software. See these threads and the example videos:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2290&p=19158&hilit=morph#p19158
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2273&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=morph

Thanks Paul, I have downloaded the free Squilz Morph 1.7. I will try it and then let you know.

Regarding your capture issue, this is probably because you are capturing over USB. If you have no Firewire connection on your computer buy a PCI Firewire card, they are quite cheap and require no drivers to be installed. So you just plug them in.

OMG I think my PC has no more PCI slot. But nevertheless at least now I know the reason which is important. So that means even if I use Adobe Premier or Windows Movie Maker, there would still be no sound ? I suppose then my temporary solution is go over to my sister's house if I need to capture a clip with sound.

Thanks & Cheers

[ryan_khoo]

Hi there,

Now I encountered a very irritating problem in pan & crop. I was trying to follow the xample in the youtube tutorial where the eyes turn into red colour. To do that I need to be doing some rotoscoping.

I need help on the following:

(1) when I mask the shape of the eyes frame by frame, I sometimes need to edit. Say I got 10 points to form the shape of the eye. There are two different types of edit I need, (a) to move/adjust ONE out of the 10 points bcos maybe I need the eyes to be longer and (b) the shape is correct but it is out of phase so I need to just move all the 10 points simulateously to say the the left, ie move to the left while maintaining its shape.

The thing is that after I clicked the edit tool, I move to the points and move it, sometimes it works like (a) [when I wanted to do (b)] and sometimes it works like (b) [when I wanted to do (a)]

So, how do I make sure and change the editing format from (a) to (b) and vice-versa ?

(2) Sometimes as I clicked to draw the shape of the eye, some doted lines appear across and I cannot close the shape. How do I switch off the tangent/curve feature ?

(3) I wanted to do a text effect which I am impressed & saw on the youtube tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBYGXC_zD5Y

I did exactly the same thing I got the moving text but how come my text is not shining like cyrstal like the tutorial above ? Is there any button I forget to click/follow ?

Is it bcos of the background that I placed is different ? If so, can direct me to a picture where I can used to achieve the shinny effect.

Thanks again

Cheers

[Paul LS]

Hi Ryan, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I will take a look at this later today and report back.

[Paul LS]

Hi Ryan, the dear old bezier mask tool... hahaha... In the past I have spent hours trying to work out how to do exactly what you are asking... A) how to move a single point, B) how to move all points together. And I still haven't worked it out even after going through the help file... search on Bezier Mask.

So everytime I use it I manage to get the job done but it is through trial and error. The below is not the correct way to do it but it seems to work... some of the time. Once I have added the mask you can move a single point by holding down the Ctrl key and then using the Anchor Creation Tool to move the point. If you hold down the ALT key you can use the Normal Edit Tool to drag all the points. However if you then want to move a single point again I right click on a point and select Deselect and then All. I can then move a single point again.

Hopefully Andy will know the proper way and will be able to fill us in.

Regarding the Text Effect I will take a look at the tutorial and post back.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Paul LS]

Hi Ryan, regarding the shining text. I followed the tutorial and got a similar effect (I didn't move the text I just moved the background behind the text for speed). It had a shiny effect as it moved over the background. It did not stand out as much as his, maybe the background he used, but it was pretty good. Also make sure you use large text... this gives more of a shiny effect.

[ryan_khoo]

Hi Ryan, regarding the shining text. I followed the tutorial and got a similar effect (I didn't move the text I just moved the background behind the text for speed). It had a shiny effect as it moved over the background. It did not stand out as much as his, maybe the background he used, but it was pretty good. Also make sure you use large text... this gives more of a shiny effect.

Hi Paul,

I am really puzzled as to why mine doesn't work.

U used the same settings ?

I even used the same text but the surface was not shinny.

Could it be bcos of the background picture ?

[ryan_khoo]

Hi Ryan, the dear old bezier mask tool... hahaha... In the past I have spent hours trying to work out how to do exactly what you are asking... A) how to move a single point, B) how to move all points together. And I still haven't worked it out even after going through the help file... search on Bezier Mask.

So everytime I use it I manage to get the job done but it is through trial and error. The below is not the correct way to do it but it seems to work... some of the time. Once I have added the mask you can move a single point by holding down the Ctrl key and then using the Anchor Creation Tool to move the point. If you hold down the ALT key you can use the Normal Edit Tool to drag all the points. However if you then want to move a single point again I right click on a point and select Deselect and then All. I can then move a single point again.

Cheers,
Paul.

Thanks Paul, I tried the select & deselect. Like you said, it did not work all the time, but for me, it works some of the time. So that is good enough for me.

But do you know how to rotate the mask ? I have a situation where the head turns 90 degrees so I need to rotate the mask (of eye) by also 90 degrees.

Thanks

Cheers

[Paul LS]

Hi Ryan, regarding the shiny text effect I just used the settings in the tutorial, make sure you have set the Compositing Mode correctly for each trach.. upper track to Multipy, middle track to Custom with the values stated in the tutorial and the lower track to Source Alpha.

I am not sure if you can actually rotate the bezier mask without rotating everything... the clip included. You may need to redo the mask a number of times over time to follow the rotation... ie keyframing the mask.

[ryan_khoo]

Thanks Paul for your reply.

I have a "little complain" on the layout of Vegas. I find that the small preview window is not a true representative of the rendered files when play in full screen. I also find that the preview window is too small. I know that we can resize & make it bigger. However, in doing so, it sacrifices the space for timeline & others.

So, I was wondering whether it is possible to connect a 2nd monitor solely for the purpose of previewing while the 1st (ie original) monitor is used solely for editing ?

Is it easy to configure ? What do I have to look out ?

Thanks

Cheers

[Paul LS]

You can connect a secondary monitor for previewing the video playback. That is what I do. So the video will play fullscreen in the secondary monitor. You can then have more real estate on your primary monitor for the other panels. Note the quality of the playback is determined by the playback settings you choose above the preview window.

To use a secondary monitor you need a graphic card that supports two video outputs. By right clicking on your desktop you get to the video properties panel. In here you then extend the desktop onto the secondary monitor.

You then go to Options>Preferences in Vegas and select the Preview device tab. Here under Display Adapter you select the second monior.

[ryan_khoo]

Thanks Paul on your tips on the 2nd monitor. I shall call the computer technican and check whether I have dual output on my system.

I have some doubt on 2 areas:

(1) But in the meantime, I am having some problem with bluescreen. I actually bought some blue color cloths and sought the help of a tailor friend to sew them for me. The bluescreen is fine when I use it on still pictures. But when I filmed video on it, it is difficult to extract a clear cut video of the actor (which is my boy). The reason I suspect is that I cannot get a 100% straight bluescreen, everytime there are crisses, lines & folding marks of the cloths. So whenever I adjust the low threshold and high treshold in the chroma key effect, either my boy will dissappear together the background "rubbish noise" OR if my boy appear, it will come together with the "rubbish noise background". It seems that the chroma key cannot key-out the bluescreen properly. How do you guys setup the bluescreen flat straight ? I hang them from the top like curtain (I tried using thumb tack but my wall are too strong to be penetrated)

(2) Another thing is I have the King Kong DVD, I wanted to overlay a video of my girl screaming onto the video where KingKong is thumping his chest. But how do I extract that portion of scene from the KingKong DVD ? I am doing this only for own consumption as a hobby, so there should not be any legal implication in using the Kingkong DVD, right ?

Cheers

[Paul LS]

Hi Ryan,

1) Yes, bluescreen can be difficult. You really need to get the screen as flat as possible and just as important is lighting. see this article on using Chroma key and Chroma blur in Vegas. It details how to overcome the issues you are seeing:
http://amediaprof.com/content/index.php ... &Itemid=39


2) Regarding your DVD issue. The DVD will be copyright protected and so you will need to rip it to be able to use it. A freeware program for doing this is DVD Shrink. Once ripped you can import it into Vegas and cut out the bit you need.
http://www.dvdshrink.org/

[ryan_khoo]

Hi Ryan,

1) Yes, bluescreen can be difficult. You really need to get the screen as flat as possible and just as important is lighting. see this article on using Chroma key and Chroma blur in Vegas. It details how to overcome the issues you are seeing:
http://amediaprof.com/content/index.php ... &Itemid=39

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the link but I think the amediaprof.com website is down at the moment. I shall try again to click on it and watch it tomorrow.

2) Regarding your DVD issue. The DVD will be copyright protected and so you will need to rip it to be able to use it. A freeware program for doing this is DVD Shrink. Once ripped you can import it into Vegas and cut out the bit you need.
http://www.dvdshrink.org/

Thanks again Paul but I have problem looking for Vista version of this free program. If I install the XP version on my Vista OS, will it cause my system to go haywire ?

Thanks Paul.

[Paul LS]

Hi Ryan the link seems to be back up now. It is a good article, the raw footage has problems like I imagine yours does, with shadows due to creases on the bluescreen.

Regarding the DVD Shrink, worst that will happen is that it will not work. You could try to do an internet search for a Vista compatible DVD ripper. Might turn something up.