“Track Motion” except not the whole track (?)

[John Rofrano]

[Kelly Griffin] ” I know about keyframing, but I can’t imagine that being the “elegant solution”.”

Actually keyframe is the solution and it’s very elegant. You just create a keyframe and the beginning of each event on the track to position it however you want.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Mike Kujbida]

[Kelly Griffin] “I’ve got a 30-sec. spot with several graphic overlays needing various positionings and dropshadows with various values”

I’d create them in Photoshop, save them as PNG (handy if you need an alpha channel) and drop them on the timeline at the appropriate locations.
That way, there’s no need for Track Motion or keyframes.

[Kelly Griffin]

Yikes… okay, I’ll try to wrap my head around that.

Thanks.

–Kelly

[Kelly Griffin]

Mike: Well, I thought about that, but depending on what the graphics fall on top of makes the determination of how dark to make my shadows. I was hoping to keep things flexible in that regard.

I’m going to try to get used to John’s suggestion, but I’m nervous about how easy it seems like it would be to screw something up with keyframes all over the place with just positioning static elements.

[Mike Kujbida]

Kelly, here’s something else to try.
Go to https://sony.vegas.1.free.fr/ and grab the free “Open In Graphic Editor” script.
Unzip it and follow the installation instructions.
Once installed, this script allows you to click on an image, click the toolbar icon and have it open in Photoshop (or whatever graphics program you designate to the task).
Once it opens in Photoshop, it automatically saves a copy as a new take over top of the image you just clicked on.
Make your changes, re-save the image, exit Photoshop, go back to Vegas and continue working.

In your project, I’d create the graphics with a light drop shadow and save them as PSD files.
That way, when you run this script, the original file with all its layers opens up allowing you to darken the drop shadow as needed.

p.s. I use a few of the scripts on this site as they are very useful but the one I mentioned is my favourite.

[Kelly Griffin]

Thanks Mike!

I’m betting my version of Photoshop won’t like it, though…!

–Kelly

[Mike Kujbida]

Kelly, I still have Photoshop 7 on my computer and it works for me.
I just got CS5 at work but haven’t had the time to try it out.
Based on what I’ve read on various forums, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Just make sure to follow the installation instructions and you should be fine.

[Kelly Griffin]

A man after my own heart. I’m still using Photoshop 6 (I’ve been boycotting “upgrades”).

[John Rofrano]

[Kelly Griffin] “I’m going to try to get used to John’s suggestion, but I’m nervous about how easy it seems like it would be to screw something up with keyframes all over the place with just positioning static elements.”

Keyframes are just a marker in time where you want a change to happen. Kind of like appointments on your calendar. You can change the keyframes to be HOLD keyframes by right-clicking on them and changing their type. Then those parameters will hold until another keyframe is encountered.

You might want to watch Sony’s free webinar replay:

Mastering Keyframing Techniques

You could always use multiple tracks if keyframes seem to complicated.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Kelly Griffin]

Thanks, John. No, it’s probably fine, just another instance where I have to change my thinking from what I’ve been used to for so long…

–Old Dog, New Tricks