Help...I'm going insane!

jinks

jinks

Well-known member
I need your help please. I'm working on a project that requires me to show on a map the path or route that the group will be traveling. What I've done is duplicate the map in photoshop, that is one plain and the other with paint showing the route. I know that I can just overlap these two files in vegas and just slap on a wipe transition which is the quick and cheesey way of doing it but I need a little more control on how the path is revealed. And that's why I'm going insane, becoz I have no clue about compositing in vegas. Could someone please tell me the best way to do this?

This project has so many places and routes that need to be shown on a map and it's gonna be ongoing for the next 8 months that's why I need to figure out this techique once and for all.
Please save me the madness! Thank you so much.
Jim.
 
I would think one way to do it would be to create a solid above your footage and mask it down to a line for just the route part and animate that with keyframes. That way you could have it move ala "Raiders" map lines. Then you can prob apply some effects to it to give it a drop shadow or something, give it some depth.

You do mean, like a line moving over the map, indicating the route as they go, right?
 
Yes Mark, I want a line moving over the map. I don't know how I could animate a solid to make S curves and follow the road the way I want it to. Bear in mind that it's just not drawing straight lines across the map, but rather a line following the road as it is on the map. In some cases these roads are twisted with curves and so forth, I hope you get my point. Maybe you could explain a little more in detail about your procedure. Thanks for your help.
 
Well the principal is the same, whether curves or lines.

The other thing might be - and this might actually be easier - would be to go over the map roads in photoshop or something and make them chroma green or come up with some other way you can key out JUST the roads.

Then make two solid layers UNDER your map layer. The bottom layer white or whatever you want the color of the line to be. The layer directly above, the road color.

Then keyframe that road-colored layer to move out of the way as the road is supposed to unfold. Again with keyframes. The only white that will show through will be where the roads have been keyed out, giving essentially the same effect.

I dunno there might be even easier ways to do this. Those are just two off the top of my head.
 
Jinks,

I did this recently for a local school play that needed something ala Raiders -

I did as you did, two images of the same map - one with the route drawn, one without.

Using the bezier mask tool in the pan crop settings I then masked the line, revealing it bit by bit - you have control over turning the mask, revealing curved portions of your route. Add a feather to the mask and the reveal is very nice.

After you've keyframed your route image, take your solid map and zoom in and create your movement (if needed) then copy those attributes to the masked route graphic.

I'm happy to email you what I did if it will help. It's by no means something I would broadcast but sold the point of the "traveling" that needed to be done in the play. Took about an hour to do as well.

cheno
 
If the files are otherwise identical, do you even need a mask? Can you just slide the top one away from the bottom and then pan and crop on a zoom as the line is "revealed?"
 
Hi Mark, I tried that option but it didn't look smooth at all as the top map was being moved to reveal the line. I think masking would be a good option but my trouble is moving the whole mask along the road. I need some basic tut' on how to do it. Cheno I pm'd you and Mark thank you so much for all your help.
Jim.
 
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