Overlay tracks in VS 10 Plus.

[drvbmathur]

Using Overlay tracks: I wish to slide the bottom of a video playing in the main window in VS 10 Plus with a new video appearing in the bottom blank part so created (like in ESPN Sports channel on TV where Ads appear at the bottom while the playing video shifts upwards on screen to provide space for the ad. Any ideas how to do it painlessly ??

[Ron P.]

To do this with VS, the Adds portion is what needs to slide up, since it will be overlayed onto your main video. What you are creating is a Lower Third. It is possible for the main track to appear to slide up, however that would require cutting the main clip at that point and using the Distort Video to resize it. VS does not theoritical have moving paths, something that it's big brother MSP8 does.

I'm going to throw in a quick plug (again) for Charlie Hill's book, Getting Results with VideoStudio. You can learn to do this and tons more with it. Now with that out of the way, here is a real fast way to do what you are after. This is not going to be detailed, so if you want more, buy the book...

This is assuming you have your main clip in the main video track and your adds clip in the overlay track.

1. Resize your Adds clip in the overlay track, to a smaller size. You will have to be on the Attribute Tab.
2. Place the Adds clip where on the screen you want it to be seen, lower left, lower right, or lower center.
3. On the Attributes Tab you will see Direction / Style boxes and arrows. These are the directions that you want your clip to enter and exit your stage/video. Click on the Up Arrow located at the bottom of the Enter box.
4. Below that you will see two graduated bar looking icons. Two of them have arrows. Those are for a rotation effect. The others are the Fade-in, and Fade-out. Click the one below the Enter box to have your Adds clip Fade-in.
5. On the Exit box Click on the Center Icon to have it stay on screen, or an arrow to have it exit off of the stage to one side.
6. Below the Exit box click on the right-most graduated icon (Fade) to have your clip Fade-out.

Now preview your work. Your add should slide from the bottom, into your main video while fading in. Then after a pause, it should either just fade out, or exit to one side while fading out. You can play around with the various settings to get it how you would like.

Further to this if you are wanting to have a blank area where the overlay comes in, you would simply use a color image clip from the library, placing it on Overlay Track 1 then your Adds clip would go on Overlay Track 2. You would need to time the fading in/appearing of the color (background) with your Adds clip.

Ron P.

[drvbmathur]

Thanks a lot for your tip. I will try it out over the weekend and will give you a feedback. I live in New Delhi, India. I wonder if the book you mention is available in India. I will check the internet too and would buy the book you recommend. Thanks again for your help.

Dr V B Mathur.