Hi Bob Mc,
Without seeing your clip or having a full impression of what your end game is my answer would be a conservative yes.

Using a custom mask would localise the display of the effect.

For example place in Track 1 and 2 the same video clip.
Select Pip Designer, 3rd tab, a mask and apply it to Track 2's clip
Select Wind effect and apply to Track 2' clip.
The displayed mask area will show the Wind effect.

Therefore in theory the Wind effect can be applied to a specific area of a clip - note "area of a clip".
1. You'll need to create a suitable mask effect - easy to do. PD10 tutorial (one of the 3 "missing tutorials", How to create 3D video effects, will be uploaded soon) covers custom masks.
2. Use Motion Paths, tab2 in PiP designer to localise the Mask over the player. Take a look at a video I uploaded - should help you with positional settings and keyframes.
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/19405.page#104015

Hope this helps, let me know.

Dafydd

Hi Dafydd,

Creating a Mask by... “Select Pip Designer, (“3rd tab”), and apply it to Track 2's clip”. And then... “Select Wind effect and apply to Track 2's clip” ...would indeed be an elegant solution/workaround, since... “Therefore in theory the Wind effect can be applied only to the area" of perhaps a player as he dashes across the screen.

In step #1, after settling on a suitable mask, you said in step #2 "Use Motion Paths, tab2 in PiP designer to localise the Mask over the player".
But in Add/Edit Motion (“tab2”), any created Motion Paths , affects the whole (layered) clip in track 2. Not just the Mask.

If the Masks behaved like the Focus effect in the Effects Room does, that would be great. But as there are no Key Frames available in the Mask window/room. How does one give an internal PD Mask a motion path, so that the (Wind effect) Mask, follows a player moving across the screen?

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Hi Cranston,

You're right, the mask itself cant have a motion path in the third tab. I could have sworn the mask area displayed on the 2nd tab (when I looked last night), it doesn't, the whole frame displays. Right, localising a mask to a specific area will display the Wind Effect, only in that area.

Motion Paths only apply to the clip/image and not to the mask. Thanks Cranston for correcting my error.

I'm sure there is a solution to what Bob has asked about.

Dafydd

Hi Bob -

Cranston & Dafydd have far more experience with this stuff, but it would seem to me that the mask suggestion would work fine if the camera tracked the player so that he/she occupied the same part of the screen throughout the clip.

If the player wasn't being tracked (and was therefore changing position on the screen), the mask limitation Cranston mentioned (no keyframing or motion path) would be the inhibiting factor.

I'll keep playing with it. Might learn something!

Cheers - Tony
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Thanks for the help.. To be honest I am still a bit confused on the process to try. I'll go over your suggestions again and see if i can figure out where I should be. In the meantime I've uploaded the specfic clip I'm trying to work with, maybe it will help.

Thanks again for all the help!

Bob PD15
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Since one can’t apply a motion path to an internal Mask, then using the Focus effect (with some modifications), as mentioned above, and then Pre-Producing > then Chroma Keying as a layer, will work. It is a viable option. Though there may be other options as well.
But, the Wind effect really isn’t suited for this “isolating” type of application, as it still remaims a bit random and not all that directional when isolated. And the results, well… I’m not so sure it’s worth the effort, as seen here…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0w7Y2yCXFw


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