Adding Effects to a Video Track

Adding Effects to a Video Track

Scenario: "There's a problem with this video," your boss tells you.

"First of all, there's this black splotch at the beginning of the film. It really doesn't do anything. Take it out."

"Second, lets make the beginning of the film a little bit more exciting. Put in some kind of exciting color that turns into another exciting color. Try using our corporate colors."

"Orange and Aqua?" You ask in disbelief.

Your boss nods. "Yeah, I think the stockholders will like that," he says.

"If they're colorblind," you mutter to yourself.

Your boss doesn't hear you. He's already left to play golf.

MainActor comes with many different effects that can be applied to animation tracks that will alter their default appearance. This scenario will show you how to apply special effects to your project.

  1. Open MainActor Sequencer.

    RESULT: the Profile Window appears.

    tutorial-profile window.gif

  2. Click Accept.

    RESULT: Profile Window closes.

  3. From the Toolbar, click the Insert Multimedia... btn_insert_mm.gif button.

    RESULT: The Select file(s)... dialog appears.

    tutorial_select_files.gif

  4. In the /library/video/ directory, select house.jpg and click Open. Due the filesize in the online version we have to use a jpeg, but you can use any other video instead of this still image.

    RESULT: The Select file(s)... dialog closes.

  5. Move your mouse into the Va track.

    tutorial_insert_clip.gif

    RESULT: Your mouse pointer will change shape -- it will have a tiny film clip at the end of it. Also, a large gray rectangle will follow it (the gray rectangle represents the file you have just opened.)

  6. The gray rectangle will have a time signature in the upper left hand corner. This time signature represents when in the project the animation will start. Drag the mouse along the Va track until the time signature reads 0:00:01.00, then click on the left mouse button.

    RESULT: The picture (or your animation) is inserted into the Va track starting at 0:00:01.00.

  7. Drag the right end of the picture until the time counter in the upper-right-hand corner reads 0:00:05.

    tutorial_insert_clip2.gif

    RESULT: The is inserted into the Va track starting at 0:00:01.00 and ending at 0:00:05.

  8. From the Toolbar, click on the Insert Color button.

    tutorial_colorfade_panel.gif

    RESULT: The Color Plate appears.

  9. From the Basic Colors region, click on the orange color then click OK.

    tutorial_colorselection.gif

    RESULT: the Color Selection Dialog closes. The start color in the Color Plate is orange.

  10. Double-click on the end color.

    RESULT: the Color Selection Dialog appears.

    tutorial_colorselection2.gif

  11. From the user Basic Colors region, click on the aqua color then click OK.

    RESULT: the Color Selection Dialog closes. The end color in the Color Plate is aqua.

  12. Move your mouse onto the V1 track.

    RESULT: Your mouse pointer will change shape and it will have a tiny film clip at the end of it. Also, a gray rectangle will follow it (the gray rectangle represents the color fade you have just created.)

  13. The gray rectangle will have a time signature in the upper left hand corner. This time signature represents when in the project the animation will start. Drag the mouse along the V1 track until the time signature reads 0:00:00.00, then click on the left mouse button.

    RESULT: The animation is inserted into the V1 track at 0:00:00.00.

    tutorial_fade1.gif

  14. Drag the right end of the color fade object on the V1 track until the time counter in the upper-right-hand corner reads 0:00:02.00.

    tutorial_fade2.gif

  15. Save your project in the /temp directory as colorfade, then return to the main screen.

  16. Click the Show Quick Preview button.

    tutorial_preview_button.gif

    RESULT: when the Preview Window starts to play, the orange to aqua fade will be completely solid, and will obscure the video clip from view.

  17. Move the orange to aqua color fade to the Vb track.

    tutorial_fade3.gif

  18. From the MainActor Browser Window, choose Additive Dissolve from the Dissolve section of the Video Transitions button.

    tutorial_additive_dissolve.gif

    NOTE:the MainActor Browser Window is a general-purpose toolbox that can perform a variety of tasks. The MainActor Browser Toolbar will allow you to access seven different functions: Video Transitions, Video Effects, Video Paths, Audio Effects, Import/Export Modules, Browse Your Computer, and Library.

    Objects in the MainActor Browser Window can be dragged and dropped into a project. Depending on the object you select, you will sometimes add it to the Fx track (if it is an effect that transitions from one track to the next,) and you will sometimes add it to an object itself (if, for example, it is an effect that will turn a video clip from a color video into a greyscale video).

    Video Transitions. Video transitions enable you to create elaborate transitions from the Va track to the Vb track (or vice versa).

    tutorial_additive_dissolve.gif

    Video Effects. Video effects allow you to perform various manipulations on a clip such as warping, fading, solarizing and so on.

    tutorial_video_effects.gif

    Video Paths. With video paths you can cause a clip to appear to follow a 2D or 3D path.

    tutorial_video_paths.gif

    Audio Effects. The audio equivalent of Video Effects, you can take various options from this area and use them to modify any audio tracks you may have in your project.

    tutorial_audio_filters.gif

    Import/Export Modules. This part of the MainActor Browser Window gives you access to the various import and export modules for MainActor Sequencer to use. These modules control how multimedia files are loaded into MainActor Sequencer (importing) and saved to files from MainActor Sequencer (exporting).

    tutorial_import_export.gif

    Browse Your Computer. This section of the MainActor Browse Window gives you access to the drives on your system as well as any network drives. This enables you to access files and drop them onto the MainActor Sequencer Timeline.

    tutorial_browse_your_computer.gif

    Library. An alternate means of storing media, this allows you to keep a repository of clip-art-like pictures for easy accessibility.

    tutorial_video_library.gif

  19. Drag the Additive Dissolve effect from the MainActor Browser into the 0:00:00.00 position on the Fx track.

    tutorial_dissolve1.gif

  20. Stretch the right border of the Additive Dissolve object so that it ends at 0:00:02.00.

    tutorial_dissolve2.gif

  21. In the Additive Dissolve object on the Fx track, double-click on the arrow so that it points from the color fade object to the video clip object.

    tutorial_dissolve3.gif

  22. Save your project.

  23. Click the Timeline Player button.

    tutorial_preview_button.gif

  24. Result: the Preview Window will show that that the orange to aqua color fade dissolves into the video clip.

  25. Export your project the same way you did in the other scenarios, but name your animation colorfade.

  26. Close MainActor Sequencer.