Vegas 8 Pro, text drop shadow & scroll duration

[Edward Troxel]

The scroll can be as long as you want. In the upper right-hand corner is a timecode. Make that timecode whatever length you want the scroll to be. Then resize the event on the timeline to match that length.

You can add a drop shadow by turning on “drop shadow” in the track motion box.

Edward Troxel

[Michael Gibrall]

Thanks for the tips. I got the duration to work on the credit scroll.

I did turn on 2d shadow under

tools – video – track motion

but i don’t see the drop shadow. What am I missing?

Thanks again.

[Edward Troxel]

Yes, just click on the 2D Drop Shadow checkbox. The default is a black shadow. To test this I put text on track one, WHITE generated media on track 2, then turned on the 2D Drop Shadow on track 1. It worked like a charm. Make sure your backdrop color is appropriate for the shadow color or change the shadow color.

Edward Troxel

[Michael Gibrall]

OK, I must be a complete moron.

I did what you suggested and it still doesn’t work.

Hmmm…could there be some kind of setting I have inadvertently hit that causes this to not work?

[Edward Troxel]

One thing you might need to watch out for is keyframes. For example, if you’re changing a keyframe AFTER the cursor location, you wouldn’t see any changes.

Edward Troxel

[Michael Gibrall]

Wow, still nothing.

I am using the trial version of Pro 8. Could it be something turned off by the trial?

I want to be sure the software does what I want it to do before I buy it. So far, it’s working out, but I’ll be surprised if I can’t do a simple drop shadow.

Thanks again!

[Edward Troxel]

No, that’s not something that would be turned off in the trial.

Ok, follow these steps and see what you get (I’m using 8.0a build 179 – if you’re on 8.0 instead of 8.0a, please update first)

1. Start a new project
2. Go to the Media Generators tab
3. Drag ANY scrolling media that is on a checkerboard background to track 1 (The checkerboard background means it’s on a TRANSPARENT background)
4. Drag SOLID COLOR media to track 2 directly underneath the scroll. Something like green.
5. Click on Track Motion on track 1 and turn ON the 2D Shadow.
6. Move the cursor to the middle of the event so some text shows. You should now see the drop shadow over the green.

Edward Troxel

[Michael Gibrall]

Thanks. I found the issue. Yep, it was creating a drop shadow after all, but underneath the given video footage I had, it was so faint it couldn’t be seen. I kicked up the intensity, and viola! A drop shadow I could see!

Thanks!