How would you reproduce this Camtasia effect in V?

Jeff Waters wrote on 11/1/2009, 6:43 PM
Hi All,

I'm starting on some new software product demonstration videos after several years away from that kind of work. Camtasia Recorder does an excellent job of capturing screen recordings, and the newest Camtasia Studio has some really slick new features.

However, I'm totally spoiled by the editing workflow and flexibility in Vegas... so I just feel too limited trying to edit and move things around in Camtasia studio.

I do really like some of their Callout effects. In particular, I like the "spotlight" callout as described in this video:


What would be the fastest, simplest, or easiest way to accomplish this in Vegas? I'd be happy with it just being a box shaped "spotlight", but need to be able to easily stretch that to size over the element I want to draw attention to.

Thanks!
Jeff

PS: I tried using cookie cutter on a half-transparent generated media solid color (black). That worked great, except you don't get any control over the shape of the rectangle (far as I could tell anyway).

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/1/2009, 6:56 PM
solid black generated media, 50% transparent, pan/crop curve masks.

Piece of pie! :D
A. Grandt wrote on 11/1/2009, 6:58 PM
Wouldn't an inverted mask on a semitransparrent solid black event do the trick?

You'd still have to use the event pan crop to do the trick, but still...
kkolbo wrote on 11/1/2009, 7:23 PM
Happy has the fastest method in Vegas. Do you need a Camtasia Video to show you how? (Just kidding) Learning to do it in Camtasia takes a minute, but it is really fast and easy in Camtasia as well.
Jeff Waters wrote on 11/2/2009, 5:14 AM
Hey, that works great guys! Thanks. Note: you need to set the "path mode" to negative to get the desired effect.

Now, how can you easily drag the shape around as a perfect rectangle? Get's a bit loosey goosy on me.... not sure how to keep everything orthogonal.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/2/2009, 5:32 AM
type in the x/y points by hand. then save it a as a preset, then move it around.
kkolbo wrote on 11/2/2009, 5:34 AM

After making the shape like happy says, select all the points at one time and then drag them around.
Jeff Waters wrote on 11/6/2009, 12:58 PM
Sometimes, it seems like I am able to grab one side of the box and stretch it out. Other times, it seems like I just convert the points on either end of that line from 90 angles to swoopy bezier curves.

What's the trick there? Is there a certain box select or maybe ctrl method to moveing 2 points at the same time?
TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/6/2009, 6:25 PM
SHIFT+left click selects multiple points.
Jeff Waters wrote on 11/7/2009, 9:04 AM
Shift Left Click doesn't appear to be working for me. Are you sure?
TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/7/2009, 10:18 AM
Yup, I tried before I posted.

Are you in "select" mode (little pointer cursor) or in "create" mode (little pen cursor)? You need to be in "select".
Jeff Waters wrote on 11/7/2009, 10:54 AM
Thanks Friar, got it figured out. It's a little odd. You have to hold down shift and click the first node, then the second node, then let go, then go back and move the 1st node... and both should move at the same time then.