Tutorial: Page (1) of 2 - 12/12/05

Customized Transitions in Sony Vegas Software

Easily create simple transitions By Douglas Spotted Eagle

Sony Vegas comes with many manufacturer-generated transitions. However, sometimes a custom transition is called for, and they're much easier to create than you might think. You can easily use any photograph or video image, or even generated media to create simple transitions to get you from event "A" to event "B." In fact, you can get seriously crazy with transitions should you want to spend the time. This tutorial will get you up and running in one of the more basic methods in creating your own transitions. This works with either Sony Vegas 5 or 6, and the same technique can be applied in Vegas 2, 3, or 4 if you build the graphics in your graphic editing software.

We're going to start with this still image and turn it into a customized transition.:

You can download this image in the demonstration veg file . (.zip file)

Place the still image on the Vegas Timeline.
Open the Pan/Crop tool on the image, and right-click the image, selecting Match Aspect Ratio so that the image fits the screen aspect ratio correctly.

After matching the aspect ratio, click on the Mask tool in the lower part of the Pan/Crop tool, enabling a mask by checking the Mask box.

Using the grids/straight lines in the metal facing of the still image, draw a mask using the Bezier mask tool. For this particular image, you won't want any Bezier curves. Draw completely around the image until you've got a completely masked area. (for more information on using Bezier curves/drawing masks, view this tutorial)

When you're finished, the mask should look like the image below.

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