light trails. how to? at DVinfo.net

Federico Perale · January 13th, 2011, 08:16 AM

hi there
I am trying to achieve a similar effect to this
YouTube - Motion- light trail

I think this dude used after effects though. is there a similar way to do it on Vegas, maybe using a plug in?
also what makes this video interesting is that the dude didn't use a led at all!!

Fed

Jeff Harper · January 13th, 2011, 10:56 AM

I'm probably mistaken but it appeared to me not to be a post editing effect. Seemed to me to be occurring on the surface of the glass the subject was writing on. He was "writing" on glass, wasn't he?

Anyone else agree? It appeared to be drying a bit as they wrote.

Mike Kujbida · January 13th, 2011, 11:15 AM

Create an Illuminating “Light Painting” Effect using After Effects and Trapcode Particular.

Jeff Harper · January 13th, 2011, 11:20 AM

That is very cool.

Mike Kujbida · January 13th, 2011, 11:21 AM

So many great toys, so little play time :)

Federico Perale · January 13th, 2011, 11:29 AM

I certainly don't have the time for After Effects.... : (

Ian Stark · January 13th, 2011, 06:42 PM

If you don't have time for AE then you probably won't have time for my suggestion! It also involves expense in the form of BCC7/Genarts for Vegas.

I would shoot the footage of the finger writing in the air then keyframe something like the BCC Comet filter or one of the Genarts plugins like Smoke, Fireball etc (with appropriate tweaks to extend the life of the particles and their appearance), to follow the tip of the finger. You will need LOTS of keyframes to get it looking as natural as the clip shown here. A touch of glow, dropping the opacity etc should come close.

BCC has motion tracking but I'm not sure if you can map other plugins to the mocap data or whether it just features in specific BCC plugins (which I think is the case). I'm doing this from memory as I have removed the BCC/Genarts demos from my system.

If you can use the mocap data mapped onto an appropriate effect then draw a big red dot on the end of your finger to make the tracking easier. It will be masked by the light trail.

Of course you may have to put up with crashes every few minutes. I removed the demos of all OFX plugins and probably won't look at them again until I read here or elsewhere that they/Vegas work solidly together. Oh, plus they aren't cheap.

Gerald Webb · January 15th, 2011, 05:09 AM

Well its not quite as neat, but its all done in Vegas.
Prob bout 90min from putting the cam on tripod until render. Worth the time? I'll give it a go in AFX and see how much faster it can be done. The keyframing takes most of the time and you have to do that in AFX as well......
but, its fun to do it in Vegas anyways.
:)

For anyone who wants to see, here's the zip

Sam Houchins II · January 15th, 2011, 05:35 AM

Thank you so much Gerald!
You're incredible!

Robin Davies-Rollinson · January 15th, 2011, 07:50 AM

Awsome!
Well done for taking the time and trouble to do it.

Jeff Harper · January 15th, 2011, 11:21 AM

Very cool Gerald.

Ian Stark · January 15th, 2011, 11:24 AM

Excellent, Gerald. Thanks for sharing the veg. It wasn't until I replaced the 'handsome bloke' track with some generated media that I could see what the V E G A and S tracks were doing.

I couldn't quite work out how you had achieved the effect in the second part of your clip though. The letters looked much more 'handwritten' than in the veg (ie better). All looked excellent though - and all without third party effects. Nice work.

Gerald Webb · January 15th, 2011, 02:46 PM

Thanks for the kind words people :)
Ian,
Yes, I didn't think of that, without the background media and the text set to Dodge compositing mode, they wont show correctly.
I guess the only correct way to do these with a .veg would be to have a link to any required source files so it opens exactly as intended. Then people can begin to tweak things themselves.
Still, if people want to check out the FX settings and masks etc it might lead them in directions they havent been before, which is what I'm always looking for myself.

Ian Stark · January 16th, 2011, 06:13 AM

The comp mode is carried across OK, but as you say, you need something at the bottom of it all to show it up. What should be sitting on New Track 5 at the very top of the veg?

Gerald Webb · January 16th, 2011, 01:30 PM

new track 5 is just the mix down of the project to one track to enable the syncing of audio.
My PC was struggling a bit to play it all.
:)

January 13th, 2011, 08:16 AM	#1
Federico Perale Major Player Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: London Posts: 410	light trails. how to? hi there I am trying to achieve a similar effect to this YouTube - Motion- light trail I think this dude used after effects though. is there a similar way to do it on Vegas, maybe using a plug in? also what makes this video interesting is that the dude didn't use a led at all!! Fed

January 13th, 2011, 10:56 AM	#2
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	I'm probably mistaken but it appeared to me not to be a post editing effect. Seemed to me to be occurring on the surface of the glass the subject was writing on. He was "writing" on glass, wasn't he? Anyone else agree? It appeared to be drying a bit as they wrote. __________________ "The horror of what I saw on the timeline cannot be described."

January 13th, 2011, 11:20 AM	#4
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	That is very cool. __________________ "The horror of what I saw on the timeline cannot be described."

January 13th, 2011, 06:42 PM	#7
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	If you don't have time for AE then you probably won't have time for my suggestion! It also involves expense in the form of BCC7/Genarts for Vegas. I would shoot the footage of the finger writing in the air then keyframe something like the BCC Comet filter or one of the Genarts plugins like Smoke, Fireball etc (with appropriate tweaks to extend the life of the particles and their appearance), to follow the tip of the finger. You will need LOTS of keyframes to get it looking as natural as the clip shown here. A touch of glow, dropping the opacity etc should come close. BCC has motion tracking but I'm not sure if you can map other plugins to the mocap data or whether it just features in specific BCC plugins (which I think is the case). I'm doing this from memory as I have removed the BCC/Genarts demos from my system. If you can use the mocap data mapped onto an appropriate effect then draw a big red dot on the end of your finger to make the tracking easier. It will be masked by the light trail. Of course you may have to put up with crashes every few minutes. I removed the demos of all OFX plugins and probably won't look at them again until I read here or elsewhere that they/Vegas work solidly together. Oh, plus they aren't cheap. __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

January 15th, 2011, 11:21 AM	#11
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Very cool Gerald. __________________ "The horror of what I saw on the timeline cannot be described."

January 13th, 2011, 11:15 AM	#3
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	Create an Illuminating “Light Painting” Effect using After Effects and Trapcode Particular.

January 13th, 2011, 11:21 AM	#5
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	So many great toys, so little play time :)

January 13th, 2011, 11:29 AM	#6
Federico Perale Major Player Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: London Posts: 410	I certainly don't have the time for After Effects.... : (

January 15th, 2011, 05:35 AM	#9
Sam Houchins II Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Fredericksburg, VA Posts: 282	Thank you so much Gerald! You're incredible!

January 15th, 2011, 07:50 AM	#10
Robin Davies-Rollinson Trustee Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Gwaelod-y-garth, Cardiff, CYMRU/WALES Posts: 1,215	Awsome! Well done for taking the time and trouble to do it.

January 15th, 2011, 11:24 AM	#12
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Excellent, Gerald. Thanks for sharing the veg. It wasn't until I replaced the 'handsome bloke' track with some generated media that I could see what the V E G A and S tracks were doing. I couldn't quite work out how you had achieved the effect in the second part of your clip though. The letters looked much more 'handwritten' than in the veg (ie better). All looked excellent though - and all without third party effects. Nice work. __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

January 15th, 2011, 02:46 PM	#13
Gerald Webb Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Central Coast Australia Posts: 1,046	Thanks for the kind words people :) Ian, Yes, I didn't think of that, without the background media and the text set to Dodge compositing mode, they wont show correctly. I guess the only correct way to do these with a .veg would be to have a link to any required source files so it opens exactly as intended. Then people can begin to tweak things themselves. Still, if people want to check out the FX settings and masks etc it might lead them in directions they havent been before, which is what I'm always looking for myself. __________________ http://vimeo.com/livewebvideo

January 16th, 2011, 06:13 AM	#14
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	The comp mode is carried across OK, but as you say, you need something at the bottom of it all to show it up. What should be sitting on New Track 5 at the very top of the veg? __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

January 16th, 2011, 01:30 PM	#15
Gerald Webb Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Central Coast Australia Posts: 1,046	new track 5 is just the mix down of the project to one track to enable the syncing of audio. My PC was struggling a bit to play it all. :) __________________ http://vimeo.com/livewebvideo