• VEGAS Pro

  Creating simple letterbox effect. Why am I having so much trouble?

  Posted by Frank Manno on January 2, 2006 at 6:46 am

  I want to create a simple letterbox effect except I want the ‘background’ letterbox section which is normally black, to be a blurred copy of the main image with a red thin line seperating the main image from the blurred image. (aspect ratio needs to be right – no squeezed images) Sounded simple to me at first. To look at this it should look like a normal shot except the top and bottom of the screen is blurred with a red line seperating the blurred section from the focused section, nothing fancy.

  Here’s what I did.

  I put 1 clip on top of the other and blurred the bottom one and I went into the pan/crop tool of the top clip to try to ‘letterbox’ it. I held down ctrl-alt while dragging the top section down and bottom section up so that it didn’t drag the sides as well. This was cool except it just didn’t look quite right, it didn’t seem to line up properly. At certain points the result looked ‘mirrored’ in a way and I had to drag even more until it looked right. Kind of had to have it at the right point if you know what I mean.

  I’m wondering, is the pan/crop tool the right tool to use for what I’m wanting to do? i.e., simply drag the top of the screen down and the bottom of the screen up? Or should I be using something else like the cookie cutter or something?

  Also, how do I get a line across the screen where the letterbox border is? I thought the border effect was the one of choice except it creates a square around the whole thing. I only want horozontal lines.

  -Frankie

  Frank Manno replied 20 years, 4 months ago 4 Members · 6 Replies
• 6 Replies

• 

  Gary Kleiner

  January 2, 2006 at 7:50 am

  [Frankie] “I held down ctrl-alt while dragging”

  Hold just Ctrl (turning off Lock Aspect Ratio).
  For the red lines, either create them as a graphic file, or using generated media that is resized with pan/crop and positioned with track motion.

  Gary Kleiner

  

  Learn Vegas and DVD Architect

  http://www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com
• 

  Frank Manno

  January 2, 2006 at 12:55 pm

  Thanks Gary – Will try holding down just CTRL.

  As for those red lines – Yeah a graphic file was going to be my next source of attack. Was hoping there was a way within the effects chain that would do it. No drama though.

  Thanks for the response.
• 

  Richard Klimesh

  January 2, 2006 at 1:53 pm

  Couldn’t the red lines be achieved by using Track Motion Border on the top video track?
• 

  Gary Kleiner

  January 2, 2006 at 4:21 pm

  Track Motion 2D Glow with no blur applied to the track with the pan/cropped video will do the trick.

  Gary Kleiner

  

  Learn Vegas and DVD Architect

  http://www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com
• 

  Seatlanta

  January 3, 2006 at 6:44 pm

  Hi:
  I’m not sure if it’s what you wanted, but I created a letterbox with blurred bands at the top and bottom, and with a red border, by using the following:

  Cookie cutter (four instances)
  Chromakey

  I put the event on one track and the blurred event on another track.

  I added the letter box bands at the top and bottom with (two instances of) the cookie cutter, using a black rectangular shape–one for the top and one for the bottom band. Slide one toward the top and one toward the bottom to get the bands positioned where you want them.

  I repeated the cookie cutters with red bands, letting the top and bottom bands extend a few pixels past the black bands.

  Next, I used chromakey to make the black bands transparent, exposing the blurred background at the top and bottom with a bright red border.

  Here is the result:

  https://woodlandproject.com/JHSpix/letterboxblur.jpg

  There are probably simpler methods, but this one worked, and it was quick.

  Good luck.
  James (seatlanta)
• 

  Frank Manno

  January 4, 2006 at 7:30 am

  Yes that’s it! Exactly what I wanted. Will give your method a shot.

  Thanks James..

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