Simple Animation with Help from Power Point?

[solarblast]

Probably this post should be a branch to my thread "Simple Animation with Vegas 6.0", but I have no idea how to make a branch, nor display a branch structure. In the other thread, I posed a question about animating a line that continues to grow in length as it travels from coast to coast on a map.

I'm quite new at Vegas, but let me try this idea out. Is there someway to take images from my computer display onto a video tape? Here's where I'm going with this. Suppose I construct a PPt slide show with a lengthening line from left to right, or whatever direction or path I'd like it to go. Can I somehow record that into my Sony TRV-480 camera, and then haul it into Vegas 6.0? Once into Vegas, I would think I could superimpose it on the map, and produce the desired effect.

Assuming the above might work, how does one really merge or superimpose the path on the map? Does the PPt image background need to blue? If so, how does one make the blue background disappear once in Vegas?

[Cobra]

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1557574#1557574

One topic is enough. Please don't re-create threads to get them to the top of the forum - if a few days go by, and you dont' get an answer, simply post a reply in your own thread and that will knock it back up.

[Cobra]

My mistake - it's a different post. Sorry, solarblast.

[guns1inger]

This is actually pretty easy to do in Vegas, and uses the same principal as the map problem to solve. The attached file shows the output, that took all of about 5 minutes, from photoshopping the original still, through to rendering the video file.

In Vegas, open a new project. Add you still of the final timeline to a video track. Drag the length out until you have the right running time.
Add a new video track above the first one. On this track, add a generated media object - in my case it was a white block.
For the generated media object, click on Track Motion (look it up in the manual if you can find it). Move the framing around until it covers only the parts of the still image that it needs to. Add the first key frame. Drag the time slider to the final frame, and slide move the media object to the end position of the reveal. In my case, across to the right. Add the next key frame. You now have a simple left to right animation that reveals the frame underneath.

For the map, create two versions of the map. One with the red track, one without. The must have identical registration. Add the one without a line to a video track in Vegas. Add the one with the line to the track below the first one. On the track without a line, drag the transition out curve akll the way to the left, so the transition runs the length of the clip. Now drag a Linear fade (left to right, hard edge) onto the transition space of the first clip. Preview. You will have a left to right reveal that looks like the line is tracking across the screen. Use key frames to adjust the speed of the transition.

These are but two possible methods. I am sure there are more. You could also look at other options, such as Wax2, which can act as a plugin to Vegas, or ZS4.



evtest.wmv

[solarblast]

I thought I'd give gunslingers remark a go, but didn't find the object item mentioned in: "Add a new video track above the first one. On this track, add a generated media object - in my case it was a white block. " Is this part of 6.0?

[guns1inger]

Yes. The example video was done in Vegas 6. Go to the Explorer windows (by default bottom left corner of Vegas), and scroll to the Media Generators tab. Select Solid Color from the list, then drag the white block to the timeline (or whatever colour you need).

[solarblast]

I finally arm wrestled track motion* to the mat yesterday, so I'm pretty much on board with the (two) map idea. It's just a matter now of getting the fade set properly. When you said "block", I had the impression of some rectangle in the middle of a screen that abstractly represented a car (a vechicle, arrow, ...). I get it now.

More likely, in my case, I'll Corel PSP an arrow pointing to the left, and use track motion to do what it needs to do. It's somewhat unfortunate, I suppose, that Vegas doesn't have some way of creating simple things like arrows for generated media. Actually, I found the Wingding font helps, but it's not easy to determine which key produces what special character. Somewhere in my memory, I recall a tool that does show the correspondence. Word?

*Hats off to anyone who can fathom this by reading the Sony Vegas Reference Guide, which is, nevertheless, a good reference guide.

[olyteddy]

Programs -> Accesories -> System Tools -> Charachter Map on a standard XP install. Boy, they buried that one!