How To Mask (Overlay Only)

INTRODUCTION:
Because I'm fairly certain every new vidder wants to know how to mask. However, this tutorial isn't for amateurs, so I'd make certain that I know at least a bit about Sony Vegas before devouring this. I'd also like to point out that I am only using Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8.0, which is far less advanced than most of the other Vegas programs [i.e. Sony Vegas 7.0, Sony Vegas Pro 8.0, Sony Vegas Pro 9.0, etc.]. Therefore, this is very simple masking and I am only using the tools I have on hand [i.e. Luminance Mask and Cookie Cutter]. So please bear with me. This is the type of effect we'll be aiming for today.

PLEASE NOTE:
This is only an overlay. I will not be teaching you how to cut someone out of something or how to put someone into something or something fancy like that.

This tutorial was made using Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8.0, and is presumably compatible with all versions.


+ For this tutorial you'll need two different clips. If you haven't already, import them and then place them onto the timeline, one on top of the other [The clip you are going to be masking should be placed on top].


+ Next find your VIDEO FX tab and click it.


+ Now once you've done that, scroll down until you reach the "Mask Generator" option and drag and drop the "Luminance Mask" option to your TOP clip. [You may use any of the other masks but, as a general statement, Luminance Mask seems to work best.]


+ Now a window ought to pop up with options for you to edit your msk. You may need to move it aside to be able to see your video. Now, if you've picked nice good clips you may not even need to do any of the following. It may just look perfect just like that. If not, you can mess around with the settings in Luminance Mask. "Low In" will make your [TOP] clip darker, "High In" brighter, "Low Out" lighter, and "High Out" will make it blend just a bit more. Anywho, you can fool around with those settings a bit. I've set mine as follows. (:

[Note; if you'd like your TOP clip to be a bit more prominent, simply lower the opacity of the BOTTOM clip a bit. Mine is set to 67%.]


+ Now you have two options, you can either leave it alone [as I normally would for this particular scenario I've created] or you can clean it up a bit more using the Cookie Cutter tool [which I'll be doing, simply for the sake of education. (;]

+ Again, find your VIDEO FX tab and click it. Scroll down and find the "Cookie Cutter" option. Drag and drop "Circle, Center." to your TOP clip.


+ Now when the window pops up, set Feather to 1.00 and Border to 0.00. Increase the size so that you can see all of the image that you would like to. Feel free to move the "Cookie Cutter" around by clicking the small box within the white model to the left of these settings.


+ Close out of this window, and you're done. (:


Please remember, all clips are different. Some work better with this technique than others, so please don't send me messages complaining that it didn't work. It all depends on which clips you choose.