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  1. Member
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    Hello all!
    I am interested in purchasing Vegas Pro 12 or a comparable program, but am curious if it will meet my requirements. If not, it would be awesome if someone directs me to which program will. My question is two part:

    I need a program that has a "mask" feature, only I am planning on cloning in several figures at once, not just the standard two you see in most tutorials. I know Vegas can accomplish two figures by masking the first video on top of the second, but can this be done with more than two videos at once without combining the first two? Or do you have to start over from step one when adding the third video?

    This brings up the real problem however, and any tips and help would be much appreciated. I may want to mask scenes in a complicated way, where another figure may be standing or walking behind the first one. I take this to mean I will have to mask frame by frame and my question is, compared to Adobe Premier 3, which only has a maximum of 16 points to use for masking, which would be no where near enough to mask a moving person, does Vegas have a limit? Is it even possible to mask frame by frame with Vegas Pro 12? Every video I've found online shows a one-time masking.

    Thanks in advance for any and all help, it is very much appreciated!
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  2. Member racer-x's Avatar
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    AviUtl is free and can do multiple masks at once. You'll need to make custom masks in your image editor.
    Got my retirement plans all set. Looks like I only have to work another 5 years after I die........
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  3. Member budwzr's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Justicredible View Post
    I know Vegas can accomplish two figures by masking the first video on top of the second, but can this be done with more than two videos at once without combining the first two?
    Yes. Via Parent/Child of the tracks. The tracks are unlimited.
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  4. You may want to take a look at After Effects.
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  5. Member budwzr's Avatar
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    Yeah, the Vegas spline-maker mask is a real pain. I forgot how tedious that is.

    But Vegas does have several mask generators based on chroma. So you can use Vegas' Bezier tool to create a good garbage mask first.

    The Secondary Color Corrector can stack layers too, just like PhoShop. Use a Luminance mask with that and you have a traveling matte.

    AE is good for fX, but has a steep learn curve because Adobe has no idea how to make a Windows Native Application, so everything is crammed in cubbyholes like some kind of 1990's GUI. They're as bad as Apple.
    Last edited by budwzr; 19th Mar 2014 at 19:51.
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  6. vegas wouldn't be my first choice for "advanced masking" . It's primarily an editor. While you can do bezier masks with it, you 're going to have to a work a lot harder and the results won't be as good or as fast than if you did it in after effects. AE has more advanced tools , better workflow, and more control, for masking

    And rotoscoping (= moving masks) is only part of the job - presumably you want to composite everything so it matches and doesn't look like it was put together like patchwork from different sources and lighting
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  7. Member
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    Thanks for all the tips and suggestions everyone. Yea as a few of you mentioned, After Effects does seem to have amazing masking capabilities. I stumbled upon this tutorial (skip to 1:25) after posting in this thread, and it seems they used AE. Given that AE's price is double that of Vegas, I had a feeling it would be the better choice, just hoping otherwise lol. I recently found it on sale for $388 though, so if this is the newest release of the product, seems like a good deal.
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  8. Originally Posted by Justicredible View Post
    if this is the newest release of the product, seems like a good deal.
    It's not. Here's the lastest info $20/mo http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html?promoid=KFNYR
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