Movie Studio Platnum 12 Question Help Please

[Jeffrey W. Arnold]

Hello Everyone my name is Jeff and I am new to this sight. I am working on a project in Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12 and can't find the anchor creation tool for masking. Did Sony take it out of this version? How can I mask out specific things in this version? If anyone can help that would be awesome. Thanks!

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, Jeffrey. Welcome to Muvipix.

As I show you in my books, you can easily use custom-created shapes to create masks and track mattes on composited tracks.

What kind of masking are you trying to do? Blur out someone's face, as they do on TV's COPS? Use a garbage matte to hide parts of a chroma key shot that you don't want to key? Black out an area of your video?

I'm not familiar with the term "anchor creation tool". But if you'll describe what kind of effect you're trying to create, I'm sure we can help you find a way to do it.

[vkmast]

The OP should note that the Event Pan/Crop window's "Masking Tool", which enables the anchor creation tool, is a Vegas Pro feature only and NOT part of the Movie Studio Platinums.

[Steve Grisetti]

Thanks, vk!

[Jeffrey W. Arnold]

Thanks for the quick reply Steve, and VK,
Steve I actually found this website in your book titled "The Muvipix Guide to Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12 on the first page. The book has helped me with many things. In answer to your question of how I would use the mask, I once saw a tutorial somewhere that showed someone mask around a person in the video, and then create the effect of them running jumping and then flying. I would like to either do this, or be able to clone someone multiple times in the same scene. Is this effect possible in the Sony Platinum 12 version? Thanks for any assistance, by the way I was impressed and pleasantly surprised to get a response so quickly, from more than one person, and from the author of the book I am reading. By the way I also purchased the Muvipix Guide to DVD Architec.

VKmast, Do you know if there are any plugins out there that duplicate the anchor creation tool? Maybe Steve can help me find a work around with the tools already in Platinum 12.

[Bob]

Steve, FYI: the anchor creation tool is similar to the pen tool in Premiere Pro. It's used to create masks by setting anchor points for Bezier curves and adjusting the handles.

[Steve Grisetti]

I think the best tool to make someone look like they're running or flying is the Chroma Keyer, which I show you how to use on page 183.

You'll need a good "key" shot to do it effectively, and I show you also how to do that in this sub-chapter of the book.

Have a look and tell me if this is will give you effects you're trying to achieve.

[vkmast]

Jeffrey, Bob's post above may give you a clue for googling. I don't know of any inexpensive plugins regarding this.

[Jeffrey W. Arnold]

Thanks Steve, I have actually reviewed that part of your book before. It was definitely helpful, and did improve my use of my green screen. The thing that I learned was that I didn't always need to use Sony Chroma Blur to get a good result. The Chroma Keyer can certainly be used to make someone fly in my movies. Thanks.