[Neil Pollick]

In repsonse to your request Hector …………..

This is not a skill I need to apply right now. I guess I am hoping that there will be a high degree of control in making masks as there is in Photoshop wherre you can make black and white masks by selecting specific luminosity ranges within an image, using RGB channels or by selecting color ranges …. and you can add selections to make a mask that combines color ranges and luminosity ranges. The methods are powerful.

I am sure that the luminosity ranges can be done in Vegas. I saw that.

Any shot/clip I share with you will just be an example, there is nothing specific at the moment that I want to correct, but there will be in the future. I am not interested in making masks per se , I am interested in how to make selections based on color and luminosity ranges. Even if you do not see the usefulness of making such selctions in the sample I am sharing with you, these ARE the 2 things I want to learn.

In this clip the blues and greens of the background and the the lighter exposure of the background would be a good basis for separation. I have already developed a good mask for this clip that does separate her from the background but it is not perfect (it doesn’t have to be actually).

Image1.png 5 MB Image File - Click to view

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[Neil Pollick]

SOLUTION
The solution to the problem of the part of the image(s) being black at those places where I wanted the background to be showing through was to add another plugin to the top layer.
This was the MEDIA GENERATOR plugin and setting it to the LUMINOSITY preset.

Now any adjustment I apply to the bottom of the three layers only affects the background and the subjects head and shoulders remain unaffected.

I never found this method outlined in full anywhere, I had to put it together from bits and pieces. Do I need to make a guide? Or consult with someone who makes them?

[Neil Pollick]

Thanks to Derek Moran for giving me a lot of the solution.

[Neil Pollick]

I have figured a lot out but I am not there yet …. maybe someone can steer me over the finishing line…………

I gave up using the Mask Generator once I realized it was just a way to convert your clip into monochrome and that could be done using desaturation in HSL and then levels. I believe it is setting the blending mode of the top monochrome layer to “multiply (mask)” that makes it into a mask for the layer below and not that it was created in Mask Generator. Not sure though coz it still doesn’t work.

CURRENT SITUATION

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I have 3 identical layers on top of each other.

I made the top layer into a mask by desaturating it then using levels. It is monchrome now with the background black and the person white.
I set the layer blending mode of this top layer to “multiply mask”

I left the blending mode for the 2 layers below at the default setting.

I set the 2nd layer down as “compositing child”.

The bottom of the 3 layers is where I will apply luminance adjustents to reduce the exposure of the background. The person should remain unaffected by the changes on the bottom layer.

But it is not working. Instead of seeing the background on the bottom layer coming through I just see black, the black where the background has been blocked out from the second layer I assume.

Can anyone advise me how to get it working? Is it a problem maybe with the options in the preview window?

Thanks compassionate ones

[Neil Pollick]

Thanks. The video’s a good intro to layer masks for me but you create selections either using anchor points in edit pan/crop or using the gradient tool to select a horizontal section.
I need to create a selection based on luminance values or by manipulating luminance of a channel or with a combination (maybe even drawing/paiting too).

I think a mask like the one in the picture would separate the FG and BG well, as you see in the attached image. But I made that mask in PS and not Vegas. I still can’t make one in Vegas and I wouldn’t know how to apply it.

[Neil Pollick]

Thanks, I will try that

[Neil Pollick]

Good advice but how exactly do I search for information on a particualr NLE program? I would be searching for information on Vegas Pro mostly.
Can I search the vegas posts only?

[Neil Pollick]

My laptop does turn on immediately when the battery is empty if the psu is plugged in.
And on previous laptops I have had the laptop needed the psu plugged in no matter if the battery was fully charged in order to do the most resource intensive activities in video editing.

Nothing I read on the internet confirmed that fact but I witnessed it myself time and time again and that’s enough for me.

The original psu of my laptop was 100w, rather than 65w, for a reason, and I don’t think that the reason was to charge the battery faster.

And i would still like to know why the charger outputs at 20v as well as 15v if anyone knows.
I can find nothing on that anywhere on the internet. Thanks.

[Neil Pollick]

The rendering didn’t even get started, it crashed before the rendering dialogue box appears.

I didn’t find any files to be corrupt in the vegas projects that wouldn’t render. I tried various things, like making sure all the source files were in the same folder (in case vegas was “losing its way” when it was looking for the files to draw on. I made sure project settings matched settings I wanted to render with (fps, resolution, disable resampling).
It still wouldn’t render.

So I looped a 30 section section and prerendered it.
That worked.
So I rendered the same 30 s section and that also worked.

Then I tried to render a different part of the film, without pre-rendering it and that also worked.
I closed and reopened the project and now I can render all or any part of it, and the render dialogue appears so smartly now as if it the program were making amends.

It may be unscientific but I’d say the render engine is like the motor in a vintage car sometimes, it has to be hand cranked into action.

[Neil Pollick]

I’ll try that Erik when I get the time, just a bit busy with completing another project right now.
Thanks