Turning an Map image into 3D in Vegas

[John Rofrano]

How about this?

I added an Alpha Channel in Photoshop so that only the land remained. Then in Vegas I added the Sony Bump Map to give it the 3D effect and turned on 2D Shdaow in the Track Motion. To make the effect more visible I added a gradient background to the track below.

~jr

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

[Mike Kujbida]

Excellent job John!!
I’m sure this will meet Don’s needs.

[Don Kimball]

Many Thanks to John and Mike for help and encouragement. Can I say enough thank you’s for the advice I get here. I am very appreciative.

Guys what I had done by stumbling around in Photoshop is find a tool feature that allows for a beveled edge. I think it worked pretty nice overall. One major major thing I fell off the wagon with was showing you guys how these maps will be used. The maps are used to show the home range in Australia of each parrot species in the footage.

I had never used the 2D feature in Vegas before so I turned it on to a setting to make it quite mild but I think it worked quite well. I tried the bump feature and although I liked it I think I like the beveled edge I created in photoshop a bit better. This gives the map a hopefully attractive look but its low key and doesnt take away from the beauty of the Cockatoo in the footage. I am a ripe newbee in many areas so would love your imput. Please remember that the map is small but once viewed on television it hopefully gives the viewer the information they need. What do you guys think?

Thanks very much!

Don Kimball

[Mike Kujbida]

Don, I really like the beveled edge look!!
Two comments to make.
#1 is make sure your whites don’t go over 235-235-235 as this is the acceptable limit in Vegas.
Fortunately this is easy to do in Photoshop.
#2 (and it’s nitpicking on my part) is that the green colour you used blends into the tree bark.
I’d use either a brighter green (200-0-0 maximum) or go with something like yellow (200-200-0 maximum).
Values higher than these will put you over the legal limit.

[John Rofrano]

Don, You are much better off doing the beveled edge in Photoshop so that Vegas has less to render. The bump map that I used is quite render intensive. I agree with Mike that the colors need to stand out more. I would make the map a pale yellow like a car map and then maybe use blue as the range color. Good work!

~jr

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

[Don Kimball]

Hi Mike and John:

Thanks for your constructive comments! I toyed around with the colors for the map and decided on a yellow/tan color. What do you think?
Mike thanks for letting me know that according to a breathalyzer my whites are over the limit. Sorry a bit of New Years humor. Seriously Mike I really dont know what I am checking for? Can you tell me where I can find those figures/levels that let me know if my color is over the limit for Vegas or not?

Thanks very much and here is my adjusted map. (Oddly I seemed to have lost some of the 3D effect in the beveled edge but it may have originally been a hybrid using the bump map feature and Photoshops beveled edge tool that I created unwittingly. Thanks again!

Don

[John Rofrano]

> Seriously Mike I really dont know what I am checking for? Can you tell me where I can find those figures/levels that let me know if my color is over the limit for Vegas or not?

These are not Vegas limits, these are Broadcast limits. Blacks should not be below RGB 16 and whites should not be above RGB 235. If you have Photoshop CS2 or later, look under the Actions palate for Video actions and you should see a “Broadcast Safe” action that will add an Adjustment Layer to ensure you don’t exceed the broadcast limits for luminance and saturation.

~jr

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

[Don Kimball]

Thanks John for the kind reply. Looks like I dont have that ability since I am using photoshop elements 4.0. The white areas look fine on my television screen but if my documentary made it to broadcast television could there be a problem? Thanks and since I am pretty new to this I am learning a great deal!

Don

[John Rofrano]

> The white areas look fine on my television screen but if my documentary made it to broadcast television could there be a problem?

Yes, there might be a problem. Your tape might get rejected for having illegal values depending on who you submit it to. Not to worry, this is easily fixable in Vegas. What I would do is add the Sony Broadcast Colors with the Lenient – 7.5 Setup preset to the master video bus (above the preview window). This will clip all of your output to legal values.

~jr

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

[Don Kimball]

Hi John:

I hope I did this correctly. I went into Vegas Fx and simply clicked on Broadcast colors. The default box was already checked for me for the setting of 7.5. Is that all there is to it for this clip? Is it now broadcast safe? I played the clip and looked at it on my computer monitor. I didnt notice any visible change as to the way it was before.. ie. color density or quality etc. I did not see an icon or any thing that I could identify as the master video bus (above the preview window as you mentioned)… What am I missing… hmm…

Okay here is a screenie to show what I did.

Thanks and it would be fantastic if all I had to do was go into FX and keep setting for Broadcast colors for each clip. Can it be this easy to prepare my footage for Broadcast safe colors?

Thanks very much!

Don

http://www.polytelismedia.wordpress.com