NewBlue FX--Light Rays Plug-in

[Ron P.]

Here's a short animation I done today, playing around with the Light-Rays plug-in.



The video was from my archive, an establishing shot done a few years ago. The clip art is from CorelDraw, I created all the audio with the exception of the werewolf howl and woman scream. I applied reverb, echo (delay), and pitch-shift to create the eerie sound. The thunder is also from my personal archive, taken from some video clips I shot of a thunderstorm. The whole thing was done in VS X3..

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

[teknisyan]

Hi Ron,

Nice one!!

Great Video!!! Happy Halloween!!!

[Ron P.]

Thank you Abiel

[Tom]

How did you import the Corel clipart?

I've been trying to import objects (in this case, art with no background so it can 'float' above other tracks) into VideoStudio for months. The only way I've come up with so far is to convert a vector to a bitmap with a unique color in the background, then use the chroma-key effect. Doesn't come out very sharp.

I tried to figure out what format was used to create the 'objects' that VideoStudio provides under the 'Graphics' tab. I tried JP2 (hoping it would retain the alpha channel) and transparent .GIF with no luck.

The only format that looks promising is the .UFO format, but I don't have anything that exports to it (I have photoshop and the old Corel7 and Corel12 suites).

I'd love to be able to just use vectors. I kind of worked around this limitation by coverting an object (our agency's logo) into a font which I can resize easily and leaves no halo around it, but it's limited to one color and it's kind of a pain to do (I use CorelDraw).

I look forward to reading how importing transparent art can (apparently) be done. Thanks...

Tom

[Ron P.]

They're not vectors, they are raster (png). In CorelDraw GS X4, I exported them as png files with transparency. As you know VS does not allow vector images.

[Tom]

Hi:

I still don't understand how you import rasters with transparent backgrounds. I've prepared both transparent GIFs and PNGs (reduced to eight colors with one of them designated as the transparent color), but the background isn't transparent when placed into VideoStudio.

I've tried dragging and dropping the file into the timeline, dropping it directly into the "Graphics" section, and using the 'Insert Decoration' option in the Graphics section. In all cases, it failed. The one thing I haven't tried is the "UFO (Ulead file for objects)" format, due to the fact that I don't have any Ulead products (besides VideoStudio), and I was assuming that was the only way it can be done before I saw your post.

I have CorelDraw 7 and 12, and PhotoPaint 9 and 12. What I'm trying for is something like the 'duck' (D19) that is located under Graphics. I'd like to have our logo and other standard art available to use as a transparent overlay. Hopefully, I can replicate the process you used...

Tom