How do I make a calendar for use in Video?

[mathis]

Hello, all.
I have MediaStudio Pro 8.0, PI 12, and Cool3D PS and until Saturday night at about 10:00 PM to get this done. What I want to do is put a calendar of the month with dates on it to fill up the screen, maybe in light blue looking like acrylic with maybe a picture in the background, and when the voice over mentions the date, the box around the number spins, or turns and the camera zooms in on that box and the calendar vanishes and whatever video is behind it fills the screen. When that video is finished, the camera pulls back, the box closes and the camera zooms back out on the calendar and this repeats for the next date mentioned.

So, how do I make said calendar easily? And how do I make the boxes turn?
I think I can figure out how to use the Zoom and Pan filter to get up close on the box and back, but the opening and closing of the boxes is over my head.

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

Mathis...
Plainview, TX

[Ron P.]

You only have until Saturday to complete this, and you posted on Thursday? Are you going to be working 24 hrs a day on this project?

With what you're wanting to accomplish, it is going to take a considerable amount of time, producing the 3D "spinning" numbers. This would be done in Cool 3D PS. You need to create 30 or 31 (depending on the month) short clips. These would be used as your bumpers or wipes. Once created you would then need to sync them to your voice-over so that they are placed at the start of their respective voice-over. You'll need to use the Cue Marks in MSP to mark where each one of these spinning numbers need to be.

Now the calendar could be a static image done in PI. Once you've inserted this into MSP, you will need to position each 3D spinning numbers at the precise location on the calendar, OR just wait until your zoomed in, then the 3D clips are seen. Basically your 3D spinning numbers are just transitions into the video "beneath" them. A bumper or wipe is just a distracting transition. The eye pays attention to that wipe, while the change from one clip to another is taking place. To really get the full benefit of wipes you must understand mattes, and how to use them in this manner.

I would say that you might be able to meet your deadline if you knew how to accomplish it already. However we know that rendering times for Cool 3D PS are extremely long. So to prepare 30 or so separate clips will take a very, very, very long time.

A possible outline to follow could be:
1. Prepare your 3D spinning numbers.
2. Prepare your voice-over used for the 3D spinning numbers.
4. Prepare your calendar image.
5. Insert your Calendar image to the timeline, setting the duration and pan/zoom.
6. When the camera is zoomed in tight on the Date of the calendar, you would position your 3D spinning box/number. You're voice-over would start just prior to this.
7. Have the video that is to be viewed on a track below that of the 3D clip, and positioned so that it starts playing towards the end of the 3D. You need to determine if a Fade-In/Fade-Out, or hard-cut is to be used to transition from the 3D into the video.
8. At the end of the video clip (date) being viewed, it would be a matter of just zooming back out on the Calendar image. You could use a single image with a lot of key-framing, or separate image clips.
9. Rinse and repeat for each day of the month...

Now if you're wanting some type of box that actually opens up, that can be done, however it would take me some time to figure out just how to do it.

[mathis]

Thanks for the info, Ron. Luckily, I only need about four days to do this, for this project, not the full month. So it won't take as long as it would if I needed the whole month. After I get this project done, I can continue for each other day for future use.

You only have until Saturday to complete this, and you posted on Thursday? Are you going to be working 24 hrs a day on this project?

With what you're wanting to accomplish, it is going to take a considerable amount of time, producing the 3D "spinning" numbers. This would be done in Cool 3D PS. You need to create 30 or 31 (depending on the month) short clips. These would be used as your bumpers or wipes. Once created you would then need to sync them to your voice-over so that they are placed at the start of their respective voice-over. You'll need to use the Cue Marks in MSP to mark where each one of these spinning numbers need to be.

Now the calendar could be a static image done in PI. Once you've inserted this into MSP, you will need to position each 3D spinning numbers at the precise location on the calendar, OR just wait until your zoomed in, then the 3D clips are seen. Basically your 3D spinning numbers are just transitions into the video "beneath" them. A bumper or wipe is just a distracting transition. The eye pays attention to that wipe, while the change from one clip to another is taking place. To really get the full benefit of wipes you must understand mattes, and how to use them in this manner.

I would say that you might be able to meet your deadline if you knew how to accomplish it already. However we know that rendering times for Cool 3D PS are extremely long. So to prepare 30 or so separate clips will take a very, very, very long time.

A possible outline to follow could be:
1. Prepare your 3D spinning numbers.
2. Prepare your voice-over used for the 3D spinning numbers.
4. Prepare your calendar image.
5. Insert your Calendar image to the timeline, setting the duration and pan/zoom.
6. When the camera is zoomed in tight on the Date of the calendar, you would position your 3D spinning box/number. You're voice-over would start just prior to this.
7. Have the video that is to be viewed on a track below that of the 3D clip, and positioned so that it starts playing towards the end of the 3D. You need to determine if a Fade-In/Fade-Out, or hard-cut is to be used to transition from the 3D into the video.
8. At the end of the video clip (date) being viewed, it would be a matter of just zooming back out on the Calendar image. You could use a single image with a lot of key-framing, or separate image clips.
9. Rinse and repeat for each day of the month...

Now if you're wanting some type of box that actually opens up, that can be done, however it would take me some time to figure out just how to do it.