Masking Tutorial for Vegas Movie Studio (AKA-Masking on Gimp)

[xGotMadSkillsx]

When i hit "cut," the cut out area turns white instead of the gray squares (nothing is there basically). Any idea?

[IsrafelMNG]

@xGotMadSkillsx Did you add an alpha channel? (4:23) Layer, Transparency, Add Alpha Channel. That should work.

[xGotMadSkillsx]

Dude you just saved me from saving up $500 to go from movie studio to vegas pro. I lahv ya! :D

[DBZDALKIA]

i was about to levee a comment about sky rim or some thing but this helped thank you

[HeelCa]

THIS helped me so much ^^

[arirandoms]

i do everything but when i go to vegas movie studio its not transparent in my background Do you know how i can fix it?

[saiton1PS3]

thanks soo much really needed to know this :D

[capelry]

when u say masking, it doesnt acually tell you how to put one movie part ontop of another, which is what maskking is and so now im confused and still lost

[cherrrysakura]

so how do u mask a video on movie studio?

[cherrrysakura]

ok so i did everything you said! letshope it works! btw could u do the same thing on photo shop?

[GothicsChocolate]

does it become part of sony vegas?

and aslo anyone know any good websites i can download? My computer ... kinda doesn't wanna accept it so to speak .... aka - firewall

[foreverkhin]

but how do u do the same thing for a video? :O

[TheEpicSearchers]

thx

[spongbobschnegge]

hey .. i know gimp ...but it´s only for pictures .. does it mean i can´t mask videos with movie studio?

[sweetiepie1709]

Oh my god, thank you SO much!

Now I can make my MMVs! <3

[IsrafelMNG]

@sweetiepie1709 : Yay! (And bw you and me, I find MMVs harder to make, partially because they basically REQUIRE masking. orz)

[sweetiepie1709]

@IsrafelMNG Ugh, I know. :p I actually DO have a masking feature on my Sony Vegas - I have Pro 8 - but for some reason it won't work right, so I really need this. Thanks for your help! :)

[sweetiepie1709]

@IsrafelMNG I forgot to add this, but when my MMV is finished I'm going to credit you for help with the masking, cause you deserve a shoutout! :D

[IsrafelMNG]

@sweetiepie1709 : Aw, thank you. ^-^ Be sure to drop a comment and let me know when it's done. =D

[Benihime1003]

sorry, but I don't find the "gimp" T_____T how can I find it?

[IsrafelMNG]

@Benihime1003 : Hm, should be the first link under google. just go to gimp(dot)org

[ihazastrawberry]

how the hell do u do that it isn't possible it just cuts out the picture not the backround u didnt show us exact;y how to outline it cause doesnt work

[IsrafelMNG]

@ihazastrawberry : It's completely possible. I believe you're missing some of the steps from 1:40 to around 2:15. (I finished outlining at 1:40 and the next steps are ones you need to do consecutively without clicking on anything else.) You can try googling for some nice and detailed written tutorials. (I would actually suggest it. They're very helpful.)

[Trey4King]

hey thanks for the help with this :) however when i cut at 2:18 i get a white background not a transparent why do you think you could help, thank you :)

[IsrafelMNG]

@Trey4King: Sorry for the late reply. Did you add an "alpha layer" to the layer where your picture is at? I show that part near the end of the video. If you don't do that, you'll just get white. Also, make sure you don't have a white layer underneath your picture layer. Hope that helped. =D

[Mauselmais]

what when I want so mask a VIDEO???

[xxn00berxx]

mmm its not working for me the the path this dosnt work

[IsrafelMNG]

@xxn00berxx When it comes to paths, which step doesn't work? Like, is the path at the end completely different from what you thought it was and cut the wrong parts of the picture? Or do you not get a transparent bg or something of that sort?

[CandiSkerah]

@xxn00berxx Same Here

[xJemiStoriesxx]

how lucky! i just got GIMP :D

[IsrafelMNG]

@xJemiStoriesxx Hope this was useful then! =D

[Clik19]

It may not have masking, but I discovered that the "video in video" option under cookie cutters when used correcty can be used instead of masking.

[hcchope]

can u make a totural on how to use it

[Clik19]

I woul, but I just stumbled uppon it. When I figure out how to, I will. -is still getting used to Vegas-

[hcchope]

hahaha yeah i just download trials i want the full one soooo bad ugg tell me if u do :)

[IsrafelMNG]

@Clik19 True. ^-^ It's useful, for example, to do the whole cloning thing with live video, etc. But sometimes you want to make specific shapes *like an octagon* or rotoscope something and, unless you filmed in front of a green screen, it's impossible to do with cookie cutters. T-T

[MissFelly]

Nice tutorial. But..how do you keep the transparent background when you save it as a PNG? The background just goes to white when I do that.

[IsrafelMNG]

@MissFelly : Your bg was transparent before you saved, right...Hm..did you have the "save background color" and "save color values from transparent pixels" checked in that little box that pops up when you're saving as a png? (2:43)

[StarTora]

Recently I got Vegas movie studio platinum.

Now I know gimp can do the still frame masking but is there any way to do moving character masking with gimp or any other form of downloadable software??

The thing I really want to get is for example naruto running across the screen without the rest of the shot.

Sorry I know you have probably been asked this a milling times -_-*

But I would really appreciate the help

[IsrafelMNG]

@StarTora I have tried finding out if there is any possible way of doing that in Gimp, or any other program without having to do tons of still frame masking but I haven't been able to find anything. T-T (Well, except for Vegas Pro and all those other expensive programs.) Sorry!

[StarTora]

ohh thats cool thanks ^_^ I guess ill join you in the search for a cheep moving masking program lol

[thecyanidekid]

Wow- you can do this a lot easier using the "extract" filter in Photoshop!

[xXAnimeDEMONgirlXx]

cool, this helped alot, I'll have 2 get used to masking though, & the same thing happened 2 me in the vid, I had no clue there was a sony vegas and vegas movie maker, I just saw the cash difference '-_-

[SeaBlueAngelUni]

thanks for this, youre a life saver! (or at least a amv idea saver! XD)

[MarbleScratch]

Thanks, kind of complicated but better than spending 600 dollars for Vegas Pro.

[IsrafelMNG]

Trust me, it looks more complicated than it is. (I was so confused when I first read a tutorial on how to do it.) Once you try it out and get used to it, it's pretty simple, albeit time consuming. But yes, it's that, or spending all that money. Or downloading the program illegally. (Which I don't really approve off, hence why I learned this method. xD)

[MonkeyDNami]

Well, I can do it, its just one problem. When I click on from path, there come lines that go throught the picture. and when I do the next two things then, it cuts to much away.. do u know what i can do?

[Iamjustherek]

Whenever I put the picture in the film it's transparent and hard to see. Please help?

[Dnab55]

OMG i love you man i can't run gimp on vista for some reason but luckily i have another computer and it's running ubuntu! and this trick works! thanks so much man! 5/5 10/10

[trojansluver31]

Wait wats GIMP were is it????????????????????

[iBuizel90]

Oh, its ok, I found it, I just did something wrong! -_- Thanks so much for making this vid! It really helped!

[iBuizel90]

I cant find my pic in GIMP, can you help?

[AkatsukiSpySakura]

Yeah I made the mistake of getting Vegas Movie Studio 9.0 Platinum Pro Pack. It's nice, but the masking thing isn't there, of course. Now is the gimp thing just like masking in almost everyway or...? Btw, is there different types of GIMP? Cause I want to download the right one, lol. ^^ Thanks and nice video!

[IsrafelMNG]

It's pretty much the same but a bit more work since in Vegas you can set key frames a bit apart and the mask will change to fit them making masking just a bit faster. There are some different ones. (One of them looks a bit more like photoshop for example) Just go to gimp(dot) org though. The one that is currently up under "Download" is good. ^-^

[AkatsukiSpySakura]

Thank you very much. :) But i have another question ^.^'' Would this work for moving frames? Or is it just still frames? I thought it could do moving frames because I saw some of your videos like the "Anti-SasuSaku" MEP part with some moving crops...Soo...lol xD

[IsrafelMNG]

I've been trying to find out for ages about moving frames but I haven't found a way. So just still frames. Well, for my Anti-SasuSaku MEP part 0:04 to 0:05 I just used pan/crop to make the screen show up as a rectangle/square and then used the track motion to make it move a bit. I didn't use Gimp at all for that. =)

[dancekat]

I just bought sony vegas 9.0 platinum pro pack and it still doesn't have the mask option? I find that odd since it's the newest out so far. Is there a link up on the tool bar i should click for it to appear?

[IsrafelMNG]

You bought the Vegas Movie Studio 9.0 Platinum Pro Pack. There is no Vegas Pro 9. As long as it is Vegas Movie Studio, it will not have any masking capabilities other than chroma key. It has to specifically Say Vegas Pro 8for it to have masking. (or Vegas 7,6) You can normally tell for sure which one it is from the pricetag. The platinum pro pack is around $130 while Vegas Pro 8 is around $700.

[dancekat]

So how would you use the chroma key? And instead of gimp could photoshop cs3 work just fine? If so what would be different? sorry i'm full of a lot of questions lol

[IsrafelMNG]

No problem. ^-^ Well with the chroma key you'll be able to make one solid color transparent. You just have to fiddle around with the options. It doesn't work as well as masking lots of the time but, if you choose a clip with blue bg for example, you can get rid of it decently. Photoshop would work perfectly. (I'm photoshop inept)I'd suppose you'd just set a transparent layer below your pic and then use the pen tool to mask. There are several tutorials on yt for that I think.

[dancekat]

I"m sooo glad I watched this video!!! You are such a great help!! lol I have just one more question..and just for your help I'll make an amv for you!! And rate you 5 stars! My question is...Can u only mask still pics or can I do moving ones as well on photoshop?

[IsrafelMNG]

I'm glad I could be some help! =D And, yay! I think you can only mask still pictures. So you'd have to take a picture of each frame you want masked and do that on photoshop. Painful but worth it.

[dancekat]

Definately!! Thanks for all your help! And I will be making a video or amv in dedication for ya! ;) So i'll let ya know when it's done!

[skatachick911]

Theres move studio 9.0 platinum i have it. it came out around decemberi sure hope theres masking on it!! PLZ!! HELP!

[IsrafelMNG]

There is no masking on any of the Vegas "Movie Studios". Only on the Vegas Pro models.

[2Stubborn2GiveUp]

how much more memory does that take up than masking in Sony Vegas Pro, though? that's the problem with my suckish computer -- memory =.=

[IsrafelMNG]

I don't think it takes much. My computer sucks and it works fine. *It probably tells you on the home page for Gimp*

[2Stubborn2GiveUp]

oh, well thanks!

[lolitadoll1203]

Thank you soooo much for this tutorial! When I was trying to mask, I had to refer to a website how to mask but it did not provide specific information. Thanks and Merry Christmas!

[SecretKeeperofLight]

You are my new hero! When I got movie studio I was all excited and then I'm like:

Wait...WHERE'S THE MASKING!?!

You really helped out a bunch.

BTW, nice Sebastian background, I even paused to stare at it(4:32) like a rabid fangirl(minus the drooling).

[Sgofyyah13]

LOL I don't know why I favorite this I guess I will use it for future uses :D

[penciles909]

can you had unlimited video tracks in vegas studio?

[IsrafelMNG]

If by unlimited you mean 4 tracks of audio and 4 tracks of video, then yes. xD (So, to answer your question, no you cannot. T-T)

[inuyashachick85]

OMG!

I don't have this, but I like watching tutorials for some reason..o.O

This is SO complcated!! xD

[IsrafelMNG]

I do that often too...IDK why either...You really think so? It looks more complicated than it really is. xD

[inuyashachick85]

..Oh, wow.

Gah! I don't wanna think about it anymore! It makes my head hurt. Dx

[mightuchaaaan]

#44 - Most Viewed (Today) - Howto & Style - Poland

lamo :D

[IsrafelMNG]

xD I know!

[killerkunoichi]

Oh wow o_o; that looks harder than I thought! xD Usually I just speed through the whole thing

and then check back to see if I missed any masks

x_x; woe is to us maskers. XD

I agree with mightu, no wonder you said that masking Naru was a pain.

XD I would have been like GAH! -smacks computer- XD

I should send this to everybody so they stop asking me! lol xD

5/5~!

[IsrafelMNG]

Masking and rendering are the devil's creations. xD I remember when I had the trail of Vegas Pro and just masked like 3 things. Why didn't I use it to it's full potential when I had the chance!?!

Yup, 39 pictures to edit all in one go. (Because I was stupid and didn't space out the work)And then have to go back to Vegas and line them up in the correct order and make sure the transition into each one was smooth enough and that it played at the right speed. Fun stuff.

[narutoforever102]

i get a white bk when i cut o_o

[IsrafelMNG]

That means that your pic was probably not a png to start with. Look at the part of the tutorial starting at 4:14.

[GentleHana]

Thank u SOOO much for uploading this! It really helped A LOT!!

Can't wait to try it out!XP

[IsrafelMNG]

Yay! xD You actually reminded me that I had promised to do a tutorial of this a while ago to some people. So you gave me a push to finish this.

[GentleHana]

Really? Wow! I'm glad i could, well, help in a way! ^_^

It was one of the best tutorials i've seen! U were very detailed and spessific! Others are really not that good AT ALL!

So again, tx sooo much for helping us out! ^_^

[Secretsakura]

sooo much work!

but i guess its worth it!

wow...sooo much work ()__()

[IsrafelMNG]

Indeed it is. Patience is a big necessity. (Hence why I rarely mask moving shots) But your amv will turn out so pretty afterwards. =D

[narutoforever102]

awesome! ive been wanting to learn that in gimp!

[IsrafelMNG]

Thanks! Glad this could help. ^-^

[TheXLastXPiece]

OMG. I'm definately going to try this out when I Get home. Is..whats it called. Gimp? Safe for the comp?

Except, I didnt qutie understand what you were talking about at 3:05?

and also-- I ADORE THE DESKTOP BACKGROUND!

[IsrafelMNG]

Yup, Gimp is completely safe. Just be sure to get it from the main site. I thought that part would be confusing. Well, sometimes, you may want to lip-sync, etc. and you have several pictures that are the same except for the mouth movement.(Like at 0:06 on my Sasuke Sucks amv)If you do what I describe at that section, you won't need to start from scratch on the next picture since you have the path saved already.

xD Sebastian keeps my dad and brother off of my computer. (He scares them) So yay!

[seminarutochan]

madness

good thimg

but you have to be patient

[KibasInu]

Wtf with you, its not the first time I see you trying to 'copy' mightuchan. So pathetic...

Thanks for the tutorial! :))

Its awesome and Im sure itll be veryy useful.

[IsrafelMNG]

Thank you. ^-^

[IsrafelMNG]

Thanks. =)

[kheartsterra]

wow that must take forever to do! D: but kudos on the patience and your awesome masking in gimp! 8D its very kind for you to make this tutorial for those people who do not have masking in vegas =) and omg its been so long since i've heard the Teen Titans theme song! xDD it brings back so many good memories! 8D

[IsrafelMNG]

It does take quite a while. T-T I think if I ever learned something other than basic editing on Windows Movie Maker...it was how to be patient. xD (Although I still often lose it which is why it takes me a while to get amvs out) And yes for Teen Titans! xD (When I unearthed it in one of my music folders I was like..."HELL YES!")

[mightuchaaaan]

its madness O_O

IT TAKES FOREVER! id make at least 4 masks in the time you make one o_0; oh gawd poor you *recalled your antinarusaku vid with talking naruto* lul X^X

but good tut, everythings so understandable :3

[IsrafelMNG]

xD That's why I seldom do moving clips. It's too much work.

Yay, I wasn't sure if it would be understandable since I suck at explaining things...plus I did this in like an hour when I was bored yesterday.

[blackssk88]

i have this with photosho make... OMG this is HOLYSHIT WORK

[IsrafelMNG]

xD Yup, this probably works for photoshop as well. And yes, indeed it is.