Inserting muzzle shots
by Jesse Davenport
on
Jun 27, 2008 at 5:47:23 am
Hey everyone, I'm making a movie and before I buy Sony Vegas I wanted to know how you insert muzzle shots. I know of some programs that provide them, but I would like to know how, before I go and buy the program. Thanks for your time.
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Adam Rose Esq. on Jun 27, 2008 at 7:25:07 am
1) buy the muzzle shots
2) drop them on the timeline on a new track above the video of the guns / shooting
3) right click the muzzle shot and choose PROPERTIES. Under the Media properties, change the Alpha Channel settings from NONE to either straight or premultiplied (you'll have to find out which is suitable, based on the muzzle shots)
4) use Pan / Crop on the muzzleshots to size & position them correctly
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Steve Rhoden on Jun 27, 2008 at 8:31:25 am
Exactly as Adam said,
And may i suggest you can also buy "Particle illusion" to create
impressive and realistic muzzle shots along with explosions and
tons of other effects.
Or download some free ones at 'detonationfilms.com
Vegas handles compositing these as good as any compositing application out there.
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Jesse Davenport on Jun 27, 2008 at 8:43:05 am
I can't afford Vegas Pro, would Vegas Platinum Edition 8 be good? Also, which program would be the best to get? EffectsLab Pro and Action Movie Essentials are just two that I know about.
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Steve Rhoden on Jun 27, 2008 at 9:12:01 am
Since you are working off a budget.....Go with video copilot action
movie essentials along with a few from detonationfilms.
No need to venture into 'FXhome effects lab Pro'.
You will experience various limitations using 'vegas platinum editions'
if you want to really push the envelope in terms of providing
impressive shots.
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Jesse Davenport on Jun 27, 2008 at 9:14:07 am
Well this is actually a no-budget movie. Money is only coming from my paychecks right now. All I really want is for it to look realistic when the guns shoot. Will I still be able to do that?
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Adam Rose Esq. on Jun 27, 2008 at 8:45:11 am
well, I for one don't know how Vegas Studio handles alpha channel, so it might be different. Just download a trial version and you'll be able to work it out.
try www.videocopilot.net too, for your muzzle flashes. They have a product called ACTION MOVIE ESSENTIALS from what I remember. muzzle flashes and blood and explosions etc. He uses them in After Effects, but same process in Vegas.
agreed that Detonation films has some good freebies.
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Rob James on Jun 27, 2008 at 8:39:47 pm
Jesse, Fuddam's detailed description is bang on, and Steve's advice about Particle Illusions and Detonation Films are both excellent! I've had great success with both. But you must get Particle Illusions it's unreal, you can even have muzzle shots, with shells flying out of the chamber (with or without smoke). Hard to top that!! All you need is a toy gun prop, and your movies will look incredible. Get all of the free Detonation Film stuff, blood explosions............everything you'll ever need, even rain and snow. Have fun............if you can dream it, you can do it with those products.........and Vegas of course.
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Jesse Davenport on Jun 28, 2008 at 8:30:10 am
Sorry if I seem really stupid about all of this, but this is my first time working with muzzle flashes. I downloaded the trial of Sony Vegas, and I downloaded a muzzle flash from Detonation Films, but it was in avi. and Vegas wouldn't open it. Anyone know where I can get one real quick so I can test this all out?
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Adam Rose Esq. on Jun 28, 2008 at 9:18:01 am
um............sounds like you're doing something fundamentally wrong. Sounds like you're trying to OPEN the avi, instead of simply dropping it on to the timeline, from either the Vegas explorer tab, or from a windows explorer window.
detonation .avi's are plain DV. nothing strange/unusual about them
Re: Inserting muzzle shots by Adam Rose Esq. on Jun 30, 2008 at 7:52:43 am
ok, I had a look. Because Detonation supply it as AVI, they don't necessarily include an alpha channel (i.e. RGB vs RGB+). Anyway, going to have to use a different method.
1) choose CHROMA KEYER from your video fx tab, and drop any of the presets on to the muzzle flash clip
2) it will look strange but that's because we have to tell vegas to lose anything black, not blue or red etc. Either set the RGB values each to 0, or drag the colour slider into black
3) then drag the LOW THRESHOLD slider to the far right
the text for Detonation Films will still be visible, so use the regular PAN/CROP tool of that clip to crop it out.
oh, and once you've cropped it appropriately (with stretch to full screen turned off), you'll have to use Track Motion to position it correctly
