A little help if you please

Requiem_ad wrote on 6/21/2006, 4:17 PM
I am a complete Novice, and I have a 9 yr old soon to be the next Lucas, anyway he makes liitle movies with cars and trucks, monsters etc etc, so I bought him a sample disk of what are called "Artbeats real explosions and other stuff" actually it has all kinds of stuff on it, but anyway, we cannot figure out (even after reading the directions) how to put the little fireballs in his little fliksthe explosions looked like they were filmed in outter space, the clip is all black except for the explosion, anyway, has anyone worked with these before? if so could you please clue me in on how to help him out a bit,
Thanks

Comments

mjroddy wrote on 6/21/2006, 4:58 PM
Others can help you more thoroughly, but I seem to be first up here, so I'll give it a go.
I haven't worked with the particular clips you're referring to, but you should be able to:
Put your main footage on, for example, V2.
Put your explosion on V1.
Right Click on your explosion event (clip)
Go to Properties.
Go to the Media tab. At the bottom, you'll see an Alpha Channel pulldown. Try selecting Straight Alpha and click OK.
Did that work?
No?
Repeat that process and try some of the other Alpha Channel options.
Still no luck?
Ok... Let's try this:
Put the Mask Generator on your clip (it's an effect, found in er... your Effects Pallette). I don't have Vegas open in front of me, but I believe you start by pulling the 2nd slider to the Left. That should start removing your black. Fine tune to taste.
You can, and should, also play with the Composite modes. For this kind of thing, I'd suggest Screen of Add mode.
Good luck and have fun!