Sounds like you're on the right track, but you're also correct that only one mask can be applied to any clip. Two ways to do this come to mind.

The first is to produce the clip with the rectangular mask first, then import the new version and apply the custom mask to that.

The other option is to place a copy of the background clip on track 3 and use your custom mask there, so the masked "background" will be overlaid on top of the main clip on track 2.

Hopefully this montage will help explain what I mean:

Quote Sounds like you're on the right track, but you're also correct that only one mask can be applied to any clip.

Hello,

This is not quite correct. You can add up to 5 selection masks on a single clip. My suggestion is to just use a selection mask for your case, which can be customized to fully fit the area you want masked.

https://help.cyberlink.com/stat/help/powerdirector/20/win/enu/14_03_04_selection_mask.html

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

Quote Sounds like you're on the right track, but you're also correct that only one mask can be applied to any clip. Two ways to do this come to mind.

The first is to produce the clip with the rectangular mask first, then import the new version and apply the custom mask to that.

The other option is to place a copy of the background clip on track 3 and use your custom mask there, so the masked "background" will be overlaid on top of the main clip on track 2.

Hopefully this montage will help explain what I mean:

Thanks for the import suggestion. I think that may be a key concept. Can one export just a clip? Or do you have to produce the whole sequence. Thanks if you have the answer. Re second idea---I'm not sure how your template works with only the custom mask on track 3, but I will give it a try and see. I appreciate the suggestion.

Quote


Hello,

This is not quite correct. You can add up to 5 selection masks on a single clip. My suggestion is to just use a selection mask for your case, which can be customized to fully fit the area you want masked.

https://help.cyberlink.com/stat/help/powerdirector/20/win/enu/14_03_04_selection_mask.html

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

Thank you for this
link, I see what you mean. one other question--whenever I do a selection
mask, it seems not to remove what I want unless I invert the mask. Am I
doing something wrong or is this the way it works. I will try the
multiple selection masks. Thanks!

Hello,

Well I'm sure embarrased at how wrong my answer was! I was referring to the standard masks and clearly I've haven't spent enough time playing around with the custom mask options

Thanks to PDM's enlightenment, you can make one rectangular mask along each edge then create a final custom mask somewhere in the middle as shown here (each colored dot is drawn in the middle of the corresponding mask):

Quote Well I'm sure embarrased at how wrong my answer was! I was referring to the standard masks and clearly I've haven't spent enough time playing around with the custom mask options

Thanks to PDM's enlightenment, you can make one rectangular mask along each edge then create a final custom mask somewhere in the middle as shown here (each colored dot is drawn in the middle of the corresponding mask):

Thank you Optodata.
This screen shot is intruiging. I didn't see before that one could pile up masks (are these are all custom?). I will have to try this.
one other question--whenever I do a selection
mask, it seems not to remove what I want unless I invert the mask. Am I
doing something wrong or is this the way it works? In your picture it seems to not be inverted.
Thanks again.

I no longer have PD19 so I can't share a project with you, but each of the 4 sides is a custom rectangular mask which shows the clip it's applied to, not the background. In other words, the background clip would show through the dark areas, like this:



None of the masks are inverted, and I think the best thing to do is to simply experiment so you can get a hands-on understanding of how this all works.

Quote I no longer have PD19 so I can't share a project with you, but each of the 4 sides is a custom rectangular mask which shows the clip it's applied to, not the background. In other words, the background clip would show through the dark areas, like this:



None of the masks are inverted, and I think the best thing to do is to simply experiment so you can get a hands-on understanding of how this all works.

Thanks again Optodata,
I did as you suggested and did a lot of playing around and think I have a handle on the whole thing now. You and the moderator were super helpful. I appreciate the time you took to assist.
Thanks.