Thread: Sony Vegas 8.0 Platinum - Masking

Hey,

I've just bought Sony Vegas 8.0 Platinum. I already had Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus, and the main reason I wanted to have Sony Vegas is because of the awesome masking. But now, I can't find the masking option anywhere and some people told me that you have to get the -way more expensive- Pro version for that.
Is that true? If it is.. Well.. Then I feel like I spent my money for nothing :(

Thanks for reading,

Yzel07

(Sorry for my weird English, I'm from the Netherlands)

It is true and it isn't!
The bezier masking tools within P and and Crop are NOT available in Movie Studio/MS Platinum. However there are still plenty of masking capabilities. For example create a mask in PhotoShop or whatever - white being the bits you want visible.
For a simple example, suppose you have Video events A&B and you want video A to appear as a circle in the middle of video B.
Place Video B on the "Video track" and video A on the "Overlay" track.
Now place your still image (white circle on a black background) on the Text Track
Now two bits of magic..
Change the compositing mode of the text track (the circle) to Multiply (Mask)
You should now see Video A as a circle with nothing (ie black) surrounding it.
Now make the "Overlay Track" a child of the text track ad Video B will surround the circle.

You could then use track motion to move the overlayed mask and substitute different shaped masks as appropriate.

The limitation is that you can't change the shape of the mask using keyframes.

Yes, Vegas Pro is much more expensive, but then it has more advance features such as Bezier Masks. Movie Studio/Platinum represents excellent value for money and give you everything you're likely to need for 90% of the time. And most things can be worked round with a little imagination.

Awesome, thanks

Originally Posted by Yzel07

Awesome, thanks

You're welcome. Let us know how it works out for you.