Custom overlays and fx

BuZZarD · Post by **BuZZarD** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:19 pm

I was sat here looking at one of my productions thinking

Wouldn't it be good if....

I have enough transitions but would love some additional filters or FX that I can apply.

Such as an overlay that could look like an aircraft HUD or missile tracking system.
Something like a console similar to that used to simulate the view that Arnie had in the original Terminator.
I've seen hundreds used in films but I absolutely am awful with photoimpact, psp8 and photoshop.

I assume they are easy to do with basic knowledge and surely some of you have done so already.
Anyone care to share?
Or are there additional user friendly apps to do such a thing?

LGO · Post by **LGO** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:50 am

Why don't you Google searching for the HUD image you want, and then save it to disk? From there, depending upon the image, you can chromakey the background out, or at worst, erase the background yourself and save it as a png with transparency? Heck, even save it as a JPEG and chroma key the white where the background was.

From there, just use it in your overlay track where needed.

Modifying an image like I suggested above is not rocket science. It requires more patience than skill. It may seem a bit tedious, but I bet you could erase the background of a HUD in 30 to 45 minutes and then you have it to use as often as you want. If that's too much effort, good luck in your search.

LGO

LGO · Post by **LGO** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 4:43 am

Okay, I practiced what I preached. I was wrong in suggesting that you find the HUD you want and erase or chroma-key out the background.

Much simpler to great the HUD yourself. Unless you want an extremely complex one, it shouldn't be too difficult even if you don't like photo editing.

Here's one I found (below) that shouldn't be too difficult to create. Just load it in photo editing software, add a new (transparent) layer on top of it, and just re-create the parts of the HUD you want in the new layer. Then, delete the back layer (this original image) and save it as a transparent png or GIF, or a JPG. Then load it in the overlay track and chroma-key if you need to.

http://www.blogsouthwest.com/wp-content ... eakout.jpg

Still not too terrible, just totally different than the first post I suggested!

Good luck,

LGO

Post by **Ron P.** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:17 am

Here's a screenshot of one I done fairly fast using PI-12. It's just a bunch of lines, maybe a triangle and some text..

BuZZarD · Post by **BuZZarD** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:05 pm

I shall have a go using PI-12.
You cannot imagine how useless I am with image editing.
I can use video, animation and sound but have never been able to successfully use anything since MGI Photoshite.

(That was meant to say photosUite but I genuinely mis-typed it and thought I'd leave it in for comedy effect

)