@Turkana

Hi

. . . . Does anyone know if VEGAS has a curve drawing function? Is this program worth the investment? . . . .

AFAIK it does not - everything I can find appears to use effects to crop/pinch/punch images to achieve this.

If you have never used Vegas before and are comfortable/familiar with MEP, then you would be in for a steep learning curve - it is a very different beast and has some, IMHO, quirks - I would not go back to it.

John EB

@Turkana

Hello

. . . . Does anyone know if VEGAS has curve drawing permission? Is this program worth the investment? . . . .

If you've never used Vegas before and you feel comfortable / familiar with MEP then a steep curve awaits you - it's a completely different beast and has some quirks - I won't go back to that.

Thank you John EB - that is a very valuable opinion for me.
All the best - Richard

@Turkana @johnebaker @browj2 @CubeAce

Pleased to hear you're reasonably happy so far. But if you're still keen on creating that Gedi type of animation (i.e. with a curved line, not several straight ones), you can do so entirely within MEP.. Use the 'reveal' method described up-thread by Ray and myself but reveal with a mask. Here are some detailed notes for you or anyone else who wants to experiment:

1. Track 1. Make an image of the map or drawing or whatever, without the route. Call it say Background.jpg. Place this in track 1.

2. Track 2. Place a rectangle, ellipse or other shape, say called Colour.jpg with a solid colour in track 2. This mask will become the colour of the Route, say RED. More on this later.

Alternatively, always choose say white and then use Art Filter > Substitution to change it.

3. Track 3. Make another identical map, Route.jpg etc but with the track fully drawn in one of the solid colours used in the Chroma effects (BLUE, WHITE, BLACK, GREEN). Place in track 3.

Take care to avoid a colour that already appears prominently on the map, at least close to the reveal area along the route. So for instamce if the map is from GE avoid black or white as labels contain these, or green which is prevalent (unless changed beforehand in your image editor), or blue if the line is close to sea/river/lake/etc.

4. Track 3. Select Route.jpg and use Video Effects > Chroma key to make the route transparent.

Only the line/path/route/track is now transparent, so this the only area that will let the solid colour in track 2 be seen.

5. Track 2. The trickiest part. Select Colour.jpg and use KFs in Size/Position to carefully reveal Colour.jpg gradually. Your Gedi example highlights a major challenge, because there are sharp corners and adjacent intrusions, so it's hard to avoid revealing 'past'and 'future' sections of the line. There are tricks to minimise this, e.g. by careful use of 3D Distortion, or rotation, or judicious choice of the mask's shape, but it's not the no-brainer I'd like. Trial/error will prevail!

EDIT: Note: I'm sure that John EB ( @johnebaker ) and Walter ( @wabu
made some improvements to the masking procedure, but so far I cannot find them. I think one was to make the mask a white JPG and place the KFs before giving that Choma key > Alpha? That makes it easier to position the KFs. Your Gedi tour remains a tough challenge though!

Terry

Hello Terry!
I understood your and Ray's algorithm. It is absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, I am outside my home and I don't have a computer. I will experiment as soon as possible. I suppose exposing sharp turns might be a problem.
I can't wait for the moment they start experimenting.
I am going to animate the Gedi path again using your and Ray's methods. Then I will ask you to pass the exam.
Thank you for your time - Richard

@Turkana

I did this in Travel Maps using your image. It took me about 15 minutes.

Of course, if it were for me, I would put pauses at locations where I stopped and took photos/videos, cut up the file and insert the photos/videos, etc., between the sections of the route.

Here is an example, but done with Vasco da Gama:

John CB

This was my way

and

very simple :-))

and best regards!!

@browj2

Hi John,

Masterly!

Almost tempting me (again) to bite the VdG bullet!

P.S. But I'm not sure Bernadette enjoyed walking backwards for much of the route?

Terry

This was my way

and very simple :-))

and best regards!!

@wabu

Thanks Walter! Good to know you're still keeping us company here. 🙂

Just to be sure I have it right, could you also show a screenshot of your timeline and note the Chroma settings please?

@terrypin

Hi Terry,

Thanks for the compliment.

Of course, I used Vasco StreetMaps which helps greatly with those mountain shots moving into the detailed parts. I'm a couple of versions behind as it's getting too expensive to upgrade every year. The current mapping in StreetMaps 9 is quite spectacular; wish I had it. Maybe with the Easter discount.

John CB

Buu ... John CB passed my animation exam for me 😪
And the clip from Iran - a revelation.
I'm glad to meet some great people at Forum Magix.
I greet -
Richard

@terrypin

Hi Terry

This was my take on @wabu method I did back in 2010 - the red line is a png image with transparent background and the mask is an odd shape to enable rotation as well as positioning to go round corners

HTH

John EB

perfect - I loose my mvp :-(

@johnebaker @wabu @browj2 @Turkana

Thanks John. And that's a good example of a moving rather than static background.

Terry

@terrypin

Hi Terry

. . . . And that's a good example of a moving rather than static background . . . .

It is - the area of the map you can see is about 1/4 of the total size so it and the line both scroll together to maintain the 'end' of the line near the centre of the image.

The distance from Europort to the destination near Alzey, is about 300miles (480 km) and a 5 hr drive not including one stop at Bedburgerland - always essential for me - I love German Kuchen/Torte 🍰.

John EB

@johnebaker @wabu @browj2 @CubeAce @Turkana

I continued my attempts to make an animated, curved line exclusively with MEP and its tools. But the reveal method proved beyond me for Richard’s Gedi example. (Or the equivalent method of doing the reveal in a layer-supporting program like Paintshop Pro etc, and recording it there.) Even with John EB's special 'half-diagonal’ mask, the adjacent lines and sharp turns took an unreasonably long time to get a good result. Life's too short!

That sort of line is typical of my walking tracks. Mostly circular, sometimes crossing the same location, and often retracing sections. (It's a bonus if there are two usable public footpaths meeting at the same pub!)
All those issues can be handled with various work-arounds, of course, but thankfully GPS plus GPX files and Google Earth etc avoid all that, as well as offering other advantages I've mentioned in occasional posts over the years.

When no external map tool is appropriate, such as for hand drawn lines, perhaps curves may not be essential? For sightseeing, such as the Gedi Ruins, simple straight, animated lines could be effective, especially as that approach lends itself to pauses at each sight.

I'd like to have reproduced John CB's impressive results. Unfortunately Travel Maps' predecessor, Travel Route Animation (TRA), doesn't work in MEP 2016/2017, giving script errors. I've done a fair amount of research but have not seen any solution?

I do have Vasco da Gama HD Esssentials v9. Not for the first time, armed with John CB's tutorial and notes from a few years ago, maybe I'll eventually get around to trying it. 🙂

BTW, I'm curious why I can't get VdG working from MEP 2016/2017? Despite hopefully adding this promising folder:
C:\MotionStudios\Vasco da Gama 9 HDEssential\program files\MotionStudios\Vasco da Gama 9 HD Essential\osgPlugins-3.2.0

@johnebaker

Hmm, time for my next weekly Sainsbury order...

Terry

I did this for a friend....

The base is this tutorial:

https://www.magix.info/de/tutorials/der-punkt-und-das-echo--1189525/

in german, sorry.....

Thanks Walter, great example of the Echo method!