football highlight help

[ynbh7]

Hey guys, I have searched for this but I cant really find it. I need to make a football highlight tape. For every play I need to have the screen pause for 2 seconds and have an arrow pointing to a player (or something else that will make him stand out). What software can I use to do this and if anyone could give me the steps it would be great. I would prefer the software to be free but if not then I am willing to spend. Also I am a complete beginner.

[kschang]

Can't think of anything free or even SIMPLE/CHEAP to do that. Since what you're talking about here goes far beyond what most people do with video.

What format is your footage in any way? Hopefully it's already digitized...

Pause is easy enough.. Pick a frame and copy it and lenthen it for 2 seconds, easy enough. Adding an arrow... THAT's harder.

[ynbh7]

I dont even know how to split the video up into frames lol... A friend suggested I split it up into frames and photoshop the frame to have the arrow and replace it. Would that work?

[rkr1958]

If it were me I'd use a combination of VirtualDub, AviSynth and a photo editing package (e.g., photoshop, paintshop pro).

1) If the source video is AVI go directly to step 2, otherwise if it's MPEG2 or VOB files I'd use AviSynth to frameserve the video to VirtualDub. Make sure you load MPEGDecoder.dll in order to open up the MPEG2 or VOB files.
3) Use VirtualDub to identify and save the frame for the start of each play.
4) Open up thoses frames in your photoediting package and add an arrow as desired to each of those frames.
5) Use AviSynth to create a 2-second clip using each of those edited frames, which is the 2-second pause you wanted at the start of each play.
6) Open each of the AviSynth scripts (clips) in VirtualDub, check them out, and save them as AVI (make sure you're using some compression (e.g., Huffyuv) or these clips could get quite large.
7) Use VirtualDub to edit in these clips into the original video.
8) Either save the edited video to AVI (again using some compression) or frameserve it to your favorite encoding package.
9) Author, burn and enjoy.

This is the way I'd do it. Using freeware tools by the way. I'm sure there are many other ways. The steps I've outlined are not trival and will require some learning on your part to execute.

[mikiem]

As a beginner (no offense intended), and at the cheaper end of the scale (nothing wrong with that ) I think I'd suggest the approach of looking at what software you have available, then checking out free and trial tools, including most importantly editors like wax. Might also look at the software sales going on currently, and check the sites selling software originally intended for bundling. Then coming up with a few workflows from there, after seeing what tools I had, figuring out what I could do.

That said, personally I think I'd create a video overlay effect. Basically something like a crudely drawn arrow with an intentional amount of jitter as seen on TV quite a bit, that would also tend to mask any errors. The idea would be to overlay this on a frozen frame that would loop for the duration of your arrow clip.

You could use an image editor for the arrow, might get away with characters out of a symbol font, might even get away with it all at once in V/Dub, creating a video from a still, then using subtitle filters & font character. Planting the overlay could be frame by frame in an image editor, easy given video editing software, or if you're up to a bit of learning, avisynth.

Splicing in the edited clips would be easy in V/Dub or any editor, but the audio's going to be a bit sticky. To do it right I think you'd almost have to blend in some generic sound from the crowd, taken from elswhere in your recording, probably as backing for a voiceover track.

[daamon]

Hi ynbh7,

Welcome to the forums.

Firstly, as kschang says, you'll need your footage in a digital video format. I'd strongly recommend DV AVI - it's easily edited and is smaller (filesizes) than uncompressed. Though DV AVI is still around 13.5Gb per hour.

Next, free editing software. I've not used either, but they do look good (especially for free):

Avid Free DV - www.avid.com/freedv includes tutorials
Zwei-Stein

That said, personally I think I'd create a video overlay effect.

I agree. Here's how:

Freezing the picture, again as kschang says, shouldn't be too difficult.

Putting an arrow on - well, if the above two support it (which I'd be surprised if they don't) it's a simple case of creating your desired arrow on a transparent background in software that'll do that for you. Saving it as a JPG should be OK - but you might need a specific format for either of the editors.

Then, in your editor, have your footage in one video track and your arrow in a higher video track. "Higher" being literal - footage at the bottom in, say, track 1 and the arrow in the track above in track 2.

These editors should also take care of your audio - so no worries there.

All in all, I reckon this'll be the easiest, quickest and cheapest way for you to go.

Of course, you're gonna need to do some learning on non-linear editing and you'll have to trial and error to get your arrow right. But the basics are there and, once you've got the hang of it, it won't be difficult.

Good luck.

[ynbh7]

Ok, after countless hours this is what I have managed so far. I was getting errors frameserving with avisynth so I converted the vob file to avi. Next I used uleads videostudio 9 to put a transparent overlay (i just used a yellow box). Now I have the avi with that. I am not able to pause and lengthen the frames with the overlay. Videostudio doesnt let me do it and I cant figure it out in virtualdub.

Any suggestions?

[dipstick]

ynbh7 wrote:

I am not able to pause and lengthen the frames with the overlay. Videostudio doesnt let me do it and I cant figure it out in virtualdub.

You can export the frame that you want to freeze. Then edit it in Photoshop (or whatever you have), then import back into the Timeline and adjust the length of time you want it displayed.

[ynbh7]

ynbh7 wrote:

I am not able to pause and lengthen the frames with the overlay. Videostudio doesnt let me do it and I cant figure it out in virtualdub.

You can export the frame that you want to freeze. Then edit it in Photoshop (or whatever you have), then import back into the Timeline and adjust the length of time you want it displayed.

When I import it in videoshop it can only be placed at the end of the timeline. And for some reason its not working in virtualdub

[daamon]

@ ybh7: What you're trying to do is best done in NLE (Non Linear Editing) software.

I've already referenced some possibles above. See here:

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1443788#1443788

Although you don't want to spend the money to get Adobe Premiere (nor am I saying you should), this guide shows you exactly how to do what you want to do.

www.wrigleyvideo.com/videotutorial/tutdes_colorpass.htm

Just take the principles and apply it to your NLE software of choice.

Like I've said, I've not used either of the ones I referenced but, from reading their descriptions and from my knowledge of NLE's (Premiere 6.0 and Pro 1.5), I'd be surprised if one or the other doesn't do what is a relatively simple task.

I was getting errors frameserving with avisynth so I converted the vob file to avi

This is the first time you've mentioned your working with VOB files, even though it was asked very early on. One of the best and most common formats for editing in an NLE is DV AVI. You can easily get DV AVI from a VOB:

* Download and install the Panasonic DV Codec.
* Load the VOB file into VirtualDubMod.
* Click Video -> Compression and select the Panasonic DV Codec.
* Click Video -> Full processing mode.
* Click File -> Save as AVI.

Use this AVI in your chosen NLE.

While AVISynth can be quite powerful, IMO it's tricky to master for a beginner. And VirtualDub isn't a full editor - it just trims and alters the video using filters. You can't do effects.

This is why you need an NLE. I'd suggest you watch the tutorial so you know what functionality you need, then review the two NLE's I've mentioned, and any others, and pick the one that suits.

[ynbh7]

UPDATE

Just to let everyone know I am done with my project. I would like to thank all of you for helping me out. The way I finally did it was by:
1. Split up each play into DV Avi
2. Edit in Vegas 6.0 (I used the trial) using this tutorial:
http://www.martyhedler.com/homepage/Vegas_Tutorials.html
***click on Draw-on***
3. Encode into mpeg-2 using TMPGenc
4. Demultiplex using TMPGenc
5. Make a VIDEO_TS file in Ifoedit
6. Burn using NERO

The video does exactly what I want it to. The only problem I ran into with this method is that the first DVD I burned was missing some plays probably because I forgot to put them in. After replacing them, the second dvd had no music, but I think thats because I forgot to check include audio while encoding. Since I had to send it out, I didnt go back to put the music on because it isnt that important.