How do you mask a moving character in Vegas 5.0?

Crazed_Asian_Girl · Post by **Crazed_Asian_Girl** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 10:54 am

I looked on The Idiot's Guide to Vegas for masking and I got the basic masking done. I just need help with masking a moving character. It says something about doing it frame by frame using the keyframes but I don't understand what that means and how to do it.

"To mask a MOVING CHARACTER using the masking tool you must do it, frame, by frame."

How do you do it frame by frame exactly using the keyframes? Sorry to ask but I'm just curious as to how since I've seen it done in videos by Fra Chan on Youtube for example. Thanks to those that answer my question though.

DeinReich · Post by **DeinReich** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:23 am

You do it frame by frame in a program like Photoshop (Paint.net is a free alternative). Take each individual frame and remove everything in that frame except the character.

Theres a start, but I'm sure that someone else on here can explain it more in depth.

x_rex30 · Post by **x_rex30** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:49 am

Or.. you could also do it in vegas.

On the video in the timeline "there is on the right of it an option called "Event Pan/Crop" and another one called "Event FX"

Click on the "Event Pan/Crop" option. When in there on the bottom left there is two options to choose.. "position" and "Mask"

click on the mask one and check the check box next to it.. on the top left there is all sorts of option.. click on the anchor icon to use the anchor tools.. then cut around your character.

easy eh? might be easier in photoshop maybe.. I don't know. I like doing it through vegas though.

DeinReich · Post by **DeinReich** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:45 pm

<<<still learning Vegas, just got it a few months ago

So it's basically the same thing, while just doing it in the editor itself, correct?

Flame-X · Post by **Flame-X** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:56 pm

shouldn't this be in the Video Software Help?

well anyways, doing the masking frame by frame is a pain in the ass, what i usually do is use chroma keyer and click on the eyedropper to extract the background color... depending on the color, it can leave the character(s) in. good luck~ ^^

x_rex30 · Post by **x_rex30** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:09 pm

SOAD2k8 wrote:<<<still learning Vegas, just got it a few months ago

So it's basically the same thing, while just doing it in the editor itself, correct?

pretty much but you don't get a magic wand.

Maybe there is something like it in Vegas but nothing I haven't read about or found while searching around.

Oh and for key timing.. when your zoomed in a lot move the playhead while holding Ctrl. VERY useful IMO. It scrubs exactly the same way as if you were to move the arrow keys left or right in your project in premiere.

more info here..

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... hp?t=70464

x_rex30 · Post by **x_rex30** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:45 pm

Another thing that might help you cut out parts in the picture is "Chroma Keyer" located in the "Video FX" tab.

Rorschach · Post by **Rorschach** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:34 pm

One trick I also use for cutting things out of the scene in Virtual Dub is using a logo-adding filter to overlay the stuff I want to vanish from the scene with a piece of the background taken from a still frame. If Vegas has any kind of method in it for adding logos, you could try using that.