@CubeAce Hi, thanks, yes sort of, got to be honest I rarely look into the NB effects, I'll have a look 👍 Picture in shape is a PinP effect I think, so I'm guessing you've duplicated the clips to create the blurred background?. I need to have a look..

This is the Vegas timeline, not very clear but the shadow is central projecting out from both sides which helps isolate / make the Portrait clip stand out a bit,

I'll try create a clearer one..

This is a picture but you get the idea 😉.

Vegas's Black Bar fill doesn't have the option to darken the background & it doesn't create a separate track where a brightness effect can be added

It's just dawned on me that Boris have a similar fx, & their fxs have much more control to them.. I'll see how that renders & compare to your version.. 👍 20mins to render this simple thing is too long for impatient me esp when I know MMS could poss be faster, it's just getting MMS to do what I can do in Vegas so much easier.. not bitchin or complaining just trying to recreate this to compare 😉

@CubeAce Does 'Image border effects' work correctly for you & is it supposed to have a shadow? The clip I'm using is 2160x3840. AVC. I don't know if that makes a difference.

Ooo found the Boris version, it has loads of options

But render time rose to an estimated 1.07hrs & maxed out my CPU 😂😂 That's not good 😞

I'll try your MMS version. 👍

@CubeAce I didn't try exporting your version because I want the clip as big as poss, it's already hard to see what I'm doing because of the orientation, When I made it full screen the shadow gets cut off..

This is about where the shadow starts getting cut off

I used Cookie cutter to create a feathered edge on a duplicated & darkened clip. export time 30mins 😐

& I've noticed this a lot. sometimes it just 'mutes' the other tracks when changing the fx, this time it blacked everything out

@CubeAce Hi, this is my final choice.

• A pre-blurred still image as the background, I don't need the background to be moving & if anything that is distracting
• 
• A png black drop shadow, just a rectangle with a feathered edge
• 
• And then the 13min clip on top.

MMS exported this in 3mins-ish. Vegas estimated 9mins for the same layout, This is what I was hoping from MMS & why I tried it & still use it occasionally.

@Gid

Hi Gid.

I had deliberately used another video clip and shrunk the size of the clear video portion because I thought that was what you were after. The clear selection could have remained large. I am glad you have your own solution.

Sorry for missing your other posts. I had an unusually early night last night. Busy day today.

[Edit]

Have just read through your previous posts.

Yup/ there are nearly always tons more controls within Vegas compared to MMS or VPX of most of the OFX. I see no logical reason for this other than a deliberate dumbing down of MMS and VPX to separate out abilities in each program.

I did not see a shadow applied in the Image border effects.

There has been in the past problems applying shadows to text and other objects in VPX and MEP but had not used the effect in more recent versions to find out. Somthing at some point went wrong with using an alpha mask if applying a shadow. It was clearly visible with the use of text. I will check later today to see if this is still the case but I have other duties this morning.

Ray.

@Gid

Hi Gid

The simplest method, ie no need for any effect and does not hurt the render time, is to place an black rectangle image between the image and the blurred background and resize it to give the border widths you need.

The image I have used in the example below is a png image with a black rectangle and transparent border, I created this, to enable use of Gaussian Blur to 'feather' the edges.

HTH

John EB

@CubeAce Hi, yes I've had MMS a long time as you know & was fairly certain I could do this without problems but just like you I haven't tried to do it for a long time, I honestly can't remember what were the options then.

I've been going through the 100s of clips I made in 2022 before I got poorly & I have a few others that are orientated wrong but they just needed changing from 90º to 0º, I avoid filming in portrait like the plague.

@johnebaker Hi & yes I thought that was the way & mentioned it earlier, it was my final option in my last comment, thanks 👍

---------

Edit @johnebaker You deleted your comment so I guess you saw my comments, thanks for your input anyway 👍

@Gid

Hi Gid.

I'm not sure how it used to work either and I used it the other way around. To add shadows to still images within a PiP to a video background.

Ray.

@Gid

Hi Gid

I got called away, saw my comment was incomplete, so hid it until I finished it.

John EB

Hi John

I've been using the method you described above (inserting the black object behind my overlay photo) for years with MEP, and it's worked nicely. But with Movie Studio I can't find a way to Free Proportions in order to resize the black object. I've unchecked the "combine input fields" option on Size/Position, but if I grab any one handle (either vertical or horizontal) the opposite edge also moves making it very difficult to size and place it exactly as I need. Not sure why they dropped the "Free Proportions" option, but is there something that I'm missing here? I've attached a screenshot - show you what I'm trying to do (as easily as I did with MEP).

Thanks, Harry D.

@hdrechsel18

Hi Harry,

It's probably because the anchor point is at the middle. Scroll down in the SPR screen to the anchor points and in the quadrant graphic, select a corner, then try dragging the other handles around, in particular the handle diagonal from the changed anchor point.

John CB

@hdrechsel18 Hi, have a play with Anchor Point, If you put it in the corner you get free proportions,

@AAProds This video is 175% 😉

Wow! YES!...that's the ticket. I guess I should have learned more about the Center Point. Hefty thanks to all - I knew I was missing something.

@Gid

Perfect! Nice and clear.