WIPES or SOMETHING WITH EFFECTS in CS3

[Dave Watterson]

Paddy is having login problems and asked me to post this for him ... - Dave

PREMIER QUESTION

I generally don’t have the use for wipes and transitions in my films, perhaps in common with many members.

However, in documentary I am finalising, I need to use a cross wipe or something similar. It is not a cross fade from one image to another, but something else.

I have a on my timeline, a map on video1 and a .BMP image with a drawn line on video2. The line drawing has an transparent background, so it can just appear as a trace on the map.

I want to give the impression that the line is following the line of a route progressively. I thought that just exposing it slowly with a wipe, would give this impression that it was tracing or following a route on the map.

I have laboured hard yesterday afternoon, but I just cannot get any of the transitions or SFX to work in the way I require.

Has anyone done something like this? If so could you possibly divulge the secret?

Many Thanks PW

[chrisk]

I would think that any sort of wipe would only work if the route to be traced does not double back on itself at any point. An excellent free program for tracing a route on a map can be found here http://www.routegenerator.net/ This works with a BMP or JPEG image of the map and produces an AVI file that can be imported into the Premiere project. I have successfully used it with images captured from Google Earth and Virtual Earth bird's eye view.

Another way is to use 'Write-on' which is in the 'Stylise' folder in Prem 2, not sure about CS3.

Chris

[chrisk]

Another way may be to use keyframed motion controls on a plain background to reveal your line over time, render this composite and superimpose it over the map. You can probably go round bends by using horizontal and vertical motion.

For example make a blue matte (File>New>Color Matte>Blue) and place this on video tracks 1 and 3. Put your BMP image of the line on track 2 and use the motion controls to move the track 3 so revealing the line superimposed over the blue in track 1. Render this and you should have your line being revealed over time. Make the avi file and superimpose it over your map using using the 'blue screen key' to see through the blue. The result should be your line being revealed along the route.

I use Prem 2, but I think the controls are much the same in 3

Chris

[Dave Watterson]

ChrisK - thanks for the routegenerator tip. I've tried out the program and am impressed.

Paddy - I still use Premier Pro but my aproach for this sort of thing is to start with two identical pictures.
In an art program, I draw the finished line onto one of them.
I import those images into the Premiere project, then put them both onto the same timeline, the "lined map" second.
Next I apply a Wipe transition and stretch the borders of the wipe over as many frames as I want it to take for the line to appear - usually around 75 frames (3 seconds).
Premiere call the transition simply "Wipe". The effect's control allows you to choose which direction the wipe goes and whether to start it from an edge or a corner. So long as what you want is a line that will appear to draw itself going in roughly the same direction all the time ... that should work.

- Dave

[ADBest]

Like Dave I use Premiere Pro and because I have a rotten memory I make a note of the method used.

The following is a copy of my note:-

The object of the exercise is to have a map in Premiere and then to have a route traced on it. The route will appear gradually, running from the start position to the finished position finally showing the complete route as a black, (or coloured), line.

The method used places the map on a layer in Photo Shop and draws the route over the top of it on another layer. The map is then deleted leaving the route as a black line with a transparent background.

The map is then imported into Premier Pro and the separate black line placed over it. A wipe transition is then applied to the black line to gradually reveal it from left to right or vice versa. The black line then gives the impression that it is being drawn in real time on the map.

Method

Load ‘Map’ into Photo Shop

Size = Custom

Make size and resolution same as ‘Map’ and select ‘transparent’

Go back to ‘Map’

Ctr A to ‘select all’

Select ‘Move Tool’ and drag map onto ‘transparent layer’

Select ‘Layer’ then ‘New Layer’

Select ‘Pencil’ and draw line

In ‘Layer box’ click on ‘Layer 1’ and drag to dustbin

Select ‘File’ then ‘Save as’, name the file, and ‘Enter’.

In Premiere Pro place ‘Map’ on a video line and the ‘Black line’ on a higher video line.

Place a ‘Wipe’ transition over the ‘Black line’ clip.

Hope this helps.

Arthur

[Pqtrick]

Thanks for the posts about the problem I highlighted about creating a line progressing over a map.

I have now made it work. I drew my map in Illustrator, and then made a copy of it. On the copy, I drew the line along the route.

Next, I brought them into Premier, and sat the two clips on the same timeline next to each other. Then selecting a basic wipe and positioning it between the two clips, and adjusting it in the effects palette, it worked as I needed.

I did try a line on plain coloured background and use a key colour to make it transparent. But then decided two full drawings were the best option.

So it worked. Thanks folks for the time and tips you have given, I appreciate it.

As a by the bye, I tend to use Illustrator as a drawing tool. I make the drawing and then I export it as a .BMP file for each stage I require a change on screen. As you can select a screen boundary of 16:9 or 4:3, anything you draw and place outside the drawing area, are not saved within the File-Export. This is useful for bits you may want to add and take away for an animation. - PW

Dave - We don't seem to have those munching problems here - They seem to take cinema going more seriously - Thank goodness - And the lights stay low while the credits are run out.

[Dave Watterson]

Paddy's last comment refers to a mention of cinema going in our private emails as we sorted out his problem about getting onto the forum ... I said I didn't like going to cinemas full of pop-corn chewing kids with cell-phones.
Dave