Feather edges of all images in slide show, en masse /not individually

Philip0521

Newbie Joined: Nov 08, 2013 09:00 Messages: 37 Offline

Solved by

Jun 22, 2018 14:14

I have created a slide show with still images over a moving cloud background (cloud clilp).

The edges of the images are too sharp over the soft cloud background so I want to soften them. I want to do this to all images without softening them one at a time in the Pip object room.

I thought I could do this by creating a "Picture frame" image in a lower track of the timeline so that the frame is imposed over all the images in the tracks above - the frame is opaque over the edges of the images but the interior is transparaent so the images show through.

I am able to do this by masking the lower timeline image and inverting the mask so that the interior of the image becomes transparent and the border of the image remains to overlay the images above as a "picture frame".

This works for all masks except the rectangular ones which are what I need since the images to be framed are rectangular /they need a rectangular frame to cover their edges. When I mask the rectangular image, leaving room for the frame edge, and then invert the mask, it should make the border opaque and the center transparent, but it doesn't - the entire mask is transparent so there is no "frame" effect. This works with other shapes like the heart and circle, etc. Why not with the rectangular masks?

Is there another way to create a "frame" image with interior transparent so images above it on the timeline show through within the imposed frame?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 22. 2018 14:17

Philip Anderson
Charlottesville, Virginia USA

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jun 22, 2018 15:33

Hi Philip -

The simplest way to do that is to:

Produce the slideshow without the clouds background

Overlay the produced slideshow on the clouds background video

Resize & reposition as necessary

Apply a soft edged mask to the slideshow video

Feathering the edges of a regular rectangle mask (in Mask Designer) may work for you. Alternatively, you could use a mask like the one attached, which gives a screen layout like:

Cheers - Tony


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Philip0521

Newbie Joined: Nov 08, 2013 09:00 Messages: 37 Offline

Jun 22, 2018 16:26

Tony,

Not sure I understand the procedure you are suggesting.

With a few exceptions, the images in my slide show are in the same screen position and are the same size, so I should be able to overlay these images with an image of the same size in a lower timeline, and then mask that image so that its interior space is made transparent by inversion.

Even if I can follow your procedure, I still cannot get the enterior of a rectangular-shaped mask to be transparent with the edges opaque so it will frame the images above.

I overlaid the image/mask you provided but it just blackens out the images above it. I tried masking it so only its borders are opaque (a picture frame for the images in the timelines above) but have the same problem of not being able to invert a rectangular-shaped mask.

I am a novice so maybe I am not understanding the proedure you proposed.

thanks,

Phil

Quote Hi Philip -

The simplest way to do that is to:

Produce the slideshow without the clouds background

Overlay the produced slideshow on the clouds background video

Resize & reposition as necessary

Apply a soft edged mask to the slideshow video

Feathering the edges of a regular rectangle mask (in Mask Designer) may work for you. Alternatively, you could use a mask like the one attached, which gives a screen layout like:

Cheers - Tony

Philip Anderson
Charlottesville, Virginia USA

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jun 23, 2018 15:08

Hi again Philip -

Maybe I'm not properly understanding what your timeline structure is. Could you post a screenshot of your timeline, showing what you've done so far?

You were asking how to apply soft edges to a series/sequence of images without doing it one-by-one. That's why I suggested pre-producing the slideshow, which makes that sequence into a single element that can be masked.

The mask I attached previously is not intended to be placed in the timeline. As you found, all it does is block out part of the screen with a fuzzy black blob. It is intended to be used in Mask Designer, where it works as expected.

Aside from the suggestion I made, I can't think of an alternative that doesn't involve masking each image separately, which is what you were trying to avoid.

Cheers - Tony
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Philip0521

Newbie Joined: Nov 08, 2013 09:00 Messages: 37 Offline

Jun 23, 2018 17:31

Quote Hi again Philip -

Maybe I'm not properly understanding what your timeline structure is. Could you post a screenshot of your timeline, showing what you've done so far?

You were asking how to apply soft edges to a series/sequence of images without doing it one-by-one. That's why I suggested pre-producing the slideshow, which makes that sequence into a single element that can be masked.

The mask I attached previously is not intended to be placed in the timeline. As you found, all it does is block out part of the screen with a fuzzy black blob. It is intended to be used in Mask Designer, where it works as expected.

Aside from the suggestion I made, I can't think of an alternative that doesn't involve masking each image separately, which is what you were trying to avoid.

Cheers - Tony

Thanks Tony, I'll try it in Mask Designer. Philip Anderson
Charlottesville, Virginia USA