How can I create this slow mo effect?

[rocco123]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLTF8kPUF_c

Watch at 0:27, when Freezer gets hit by Goku's knee and he spits blood in slow motion, the frames are sort of fading into each other. I have thought this can be done by making small cuts and overlapping the frames so they appear by fading in. I use Sony Vegas, is there any plugin that does this, or I need to do it manually? also any other advice into what is going on there helps me. Thanks.

[theewizard]

its anime. they draw it that way,
they can blend any frames they want as single pix/frames using a photo editor, probably the same software they draw it with,
then insert them before rendering the video

[poisondeathray]

It's just frame blending. Vegas does this by default for it's slow motion. No plugins required. When smart resample is enabled, it will frame blend; when smart resample is disabled, it will duplicate or drop frames for speed changes

[rocco123]

It's just frame blending. Vegas does this by default for it's slow motion. No plugins required. When smart resample is enabled, it will frame blend; when smart resample is disabled, it will duplicate or drop frames for speed changes

You mean that I just need to stretch the sequence while holding ctrl and it will do that? I always have re-sampling enabled (as by default) because I like the smooth look it gives to my animations.

Edit: I just tried and it does exactly what I wanted thanks. Now I need to know if there is a way to smoothly transition from normal speed to slower, then to normal again, because I only know how to do this by slicing the piece of video I want to slow down and then expand it while holding ctrl, so when it goes back to normal it doesn't do it in a smooth way.

[poisondeathray]

Edit: I just tried and it does exactly what I wanted thanks. Now I need to know if there is a way to smoothly transition from normal speed to slower, then to normal again, because I only know how to do this by slicing the piece of video I want to slow down and then expand it while holding ctrl, so when it goes back to normal it doesn't do it in a smooth way.

You can use a vegas velocity envelope to gradually ramp up or down the speed. Shift+left click to insert "knots" that you move up or down to speed up or down gradually. It will use the same method of blended frames or duplicates according to the settings (resample on vs. off)

But note "smooth" is relative and a matter of perspective. "Blended" frames aren't really smooth - they are sort of blurry and ghosted. Interpolated frames are generally more smooth. External plugins such as twixtor are required for this in vegas. This uses motion interpolation techniques to generate new "inbetween" frames, but they run the risk of generating unwanted edge morphing artifacts. Some types of content interpolates better than others. So it's pros vs. cons. There are plenty of comparisons and this is discussed fairly frequently if you want more info. Out of the 3 methods, motion interpolation is the smoothest, blends the next, duplicates are the "choppiest". There are free methods outside of vegas for motion interpolation such as avisynth mvtools2 (svpflow and interframe as well), slomovideo. Ramping is more difficult in avisynth, slo mo video has a graphical curve editor

[rocco123]

Im playing with the velocity envelope and it doesn't do what I need it to do. I thought it would actually stretch the footage and play it slower as you turn the envelope down, (stretching the sound too like when you ctrl+ expand the piece of footage) but it doesn't.

I need the footage to expand and then contract to it's original speed so to speak in a smooth way. With the velocity envelope the duration of the footage is not changing.

[poisondeathray]

It's not "either or" ; you use both methods. Stretch out the footage (ie. slowing it down with blended frames) , then use the velocity envelope to fine tune ramping up/down the speed . If you want even more control, there is a twixtor plugin for vegas, but it's lacking some features that the After Effects version has

[rocco123]

Ok this is annoying. I remember the other day I managed to get the smooth frade my frame transition by simply stretching the clip while holding ctrl, but now it doesn't work, it goes from frame to frame abrutly without the fade in effect (blending), or ghosted, whatever the technique in the video I posted is like. I remember I got it looking like that, but unfortunately I didn't save the test project so I don't know what I did. I remember I only just stretched the clip with default velocy, I only stretched it while holding ctrl, but not I doesnt work. I have smart resample enabled so I don't get it.

[rocco123]

Please help, I have no idea why its not blending anymore when I stretch the clip. Now im stuck until I solve this.

[poisondeathray]

Did you check if smart resample is enabled ?

It could also be a problem with the source file. If you already have lots of duplicate frames (low effective frame rate), you will get less blending. You need unique frames to see blending, otherwise the inserted frames will just be duplicates. You can try with a different clip to check

[rocco123]

Did you check if smart resample is enabled ?

It could also be a problem with the source file. If you already have lots of duplicate frames (low effective frame rate), you will get less blending. You need unique frames to see blending, otherwise the inserted frames will just be duplicates. You can try with a different clip to check

Im using exactly the same clip and I have smart resamble enabled so this is nonsense, I dont get it.
I have tried with different clips and it doesn't work, there's no blending, it just goes from one frame to another with no transition.

[poisondeathray]

Not sure, it works ok here. IF you tried it on a "normal" video in an new project and it still doesn't work, maybe something got corrupted with your vegas install

But if you're doing "very" slow, note vegas can only go 0.25x per instance (you have to render it out and re-import if you want more). If you right click and check playback rate that's what changes when you ctrl+drag. (you can also change the playback rate without dragging it out by manually entering a number)

[rocco123]

Not sure, it works ok here. IF you tried it on a "normal" video in an new project and it still doesn't work, maybe something got corrupted with your vegas install

But if you're doing "very" slow, note vegas can only go 0.25x per instance (you have to render it out and re-import if you want more). If you right click and check playback rate that's what changes when you ctrl+drag. (you can also change the playback rate without dragging it out by manually entering a number)

I have no idea what's going on tbh. Can you upload a project with a small size video and then make the slow mo effect to see if I can also see it? (to discard my Vegas somehow it's broken and can't do frame blending anymore?)

[rocco123]

Oh well, I just realized what was going on: I had the preview in draft mode, apparently the blending only shows up in good or best.
Thanks for your time anyway