Hi all,

I suspect I am over-complicating this so I would really appreciate it if someone out there could steer me in the right direction!

I am trying to create a timer (that is not related to the time code) so that I can use it in a sports video. It needs to be in the format MM:SS, start from 00:00 and count up to 15:00. The font (Verdana Bold 16) needs to be white (100% opaque) and the background needs to be black (55% opaque).

I have managed to create a timer using the ShowSMPTE function in AviSynth, saving the AviSynth file in VirtualDub and then importing the .AVI file into Premiere. The ShowSMPTE function creates a timecode in the format HH:MM:SS:FF so I have had to crop the clip down to size to remove the HH: and :FF parts. This leaves me with a rectangular sized black clip with white font.

The problem with this is that I want to make the black background of this clip 55% opaque but leave the white font 100% opaque. Opacity is applied to the whole clip, which makes the white font very dull. In essence, I need to do the equivalent of creating a title sequence as a timer so that I can overlay it over the top of a 55% opaque cropped black matte image.

I appreciate that this is a very odd way of going about this but I haven't found any other way of doing it. Has anyone got any ideas how I can either do this completely differently or suggest some ideas based on my current method?

Thanks,
Paul

Paul,

I need to do the same thing you are doing. I tried creating it my self in avisynth but at the moment I'm having issues getting scripts to work at all. The examples work but any that I create my self, even copying the exact code out of an example, won't play. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong and the doom9 forums for avisynth won't let me post for help till I've been registered for 5 days. Is there any chance I could get a copy of your script so I can take a look? It could possibly help solve my issue with scripts not running and will definitely help me out in the project I have going. Thanks!

To give some input to your question though I've been thinking it over my self and your method for getting your opacity levels is to overlay to copies of the video with respective settings is the only one I could think of.

Apply a luma key to your clip. This will make the black (or white if youhave it round the other way) completely transparent leaving the white as it is. Now just put a black box (with opacity adjustment) on a layer underneath it.

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I'm not young enough to know everything!

Hi,

I just about managed to resolve this in the end (although it's been a while since I've been doing any editing now so I'm a bit rusty on how I did this). Here is the script that I used (after installing AviSnth 2.5, obviously): -

BlankClip(length=22501, width=50, height=16, fps=25, color=$000000)
ShowSMPTE(x=27, y=21, font="Verdana Bold", size=18, text_color=$ffffff)

This gives you a 15 minute timer. White font on black background. The black surround is just bigger than the font (and it is central). Save this script to a text file and save it as timer.avs. Then open it in VirtualDub and save it as timer.avi. Import it into Premiere as a normal .avi file. Then, as Alan rightly states, apply a luma key to the clip to preserve the white font. Works really well.

Hope this helps,
Paul

I have created and used one for some Track Day video editing I have done for clients. It is simply a converted Flash video which I use as a layer in itself on the video. Take a look.

YouTube - MR2 Track Day Lydden Hill

Any further questions feel free to email me from my site.

Thanks

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Mark

www.onlinevideosolutions.co.uk
www.legalmedia.uk.com

Here you go. I just knocked up this quick two minute timer. It can be used as a flash file or avi. It can also be fully edited.

Online Video Solutions: Timer

__________________
Mark

www.onlinevideosolutions.co.uk
www.legalmedia.uk.com