Masking Question: Photoshop v.s. Sony Vegas

[Kero777]

For a while now I've masked using Sony Vegas, but I'm struggling with a particular frame (especially when trying to make a dark border for around the edges) because it's very complex and has a lot of edges. I've also heard that Vegas may not be frame accurate at times when it comes to masking and that makes me nervous... so it hit me that using Photoshop for my masking might be easier for this particular project.

However, I am not only just masking a lot of frames while lipsyncing, but I also wanted to use Vegas' pan feature to move the character across the screen at the same time. This is no problem when I mask from the .avi video in Vegas instead of using the exported frames from Photoshop because I can lipsync the mouths, export it as lossless huffy file, mask the frames, and then finally use the pan feature to move the characters across the screen... but if I only have the .psd files from Photoshop, I cannot gradually move the pictures so it doesn't look jumpy since I'd have to edit the pan/crop position on every single .psd file. The only thing I can come up with would be to put the .psd files over a green screen, export, re-import the clip into Vegas and then chroma key the green out which doesn't always produce desirable results (and doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose of using Photoshop?).

Is there a way I can pan/move many .psd files across the screen without having it look jumpy since I'd need to guess where every frame or so ends up on the screen?

(Also, has anybody had trouble with Vegas being not frame accurate? I haven't yet, but I'm just curious.)

I hope it explained it okay. Thanks.

[BasharOfTheAges]

I know Premiere has the option to import image sequences as video - someone with more Vegas knowledge than I might be able to tell you if you can do the same thing with it. If so, you simply export an image stream from vdub, edit the images in photoshop, then import the edited sequence and you can move it around and manipulate it as if it were video.

[JaddziaDax]

There is a way to import an image sequence into Vegas but scob face is being all jerkey and confusing me on how to do it... the jerk O.o he says however "it's exactly like premiere when it comes to image sequences" O.o

also for panning use Track motion rather than pan/crop

[LivingFlame]

If you want to import an image sequence as video, then you have to stick to a naming convention for your stills. i.e. something like:
Still Frame_001.png
Still Frame_002.png
Still Frame_003.png

Obviously, it doesn't have to be exactly that, but all the file names have to have a format to them because that's what Vegas will look for when it tries to detect an image sequence.

Put all of those stills into one folder.

From there, click on "Import Media" in Vegas. Navigate to the folder that has all of your stills in it and click on the first still. Now, at the bottom of the "Import Media" dialogue box, click on the little check box that says "Open still image sequence." Set the clips settings in the next dialogue box and then click OK. You now have a still image sequence that will act as one whole clip.



Also, on the note of Vegas not being frame accurate: as long as the "Quantize to Frames" option is enabled, Vegas should remain entirely frame accurate. It's found under the "Option" drop-down menu. (If you are editing with .avs files or fake .avi's, then that may not necessarily be true; that could cause it to become frame inaccurate.)

Vegas has the option to disable quantizing to frames (which can basically be thought of as turning off frame snapping) because it can work moderately well as an independent audio recorder/editor. Since audio isn't broken down into frames the way that video is, it's helpful to be able to get rid of the frame snapping when audio is all you're working with. (It's a great option for making a mix for something, such as an MEP.)

If you want to see it yourself, then zoom in to where you can see individual frames on your timeline. Grab the edge of a clip and drag it around and you will be able to see it jumping from one frame to another. Disable the quantizing option, and it will no longer jump from frame to frame. It'll slide in between frames (which is what causes the frame inaccuracy some people complain about).

[Autraya]

or you could do it in AE >.>

[Kero777]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll give that a try, Living Flame (also, thanks for the audio tip: I never new that and that will come in handy for sure.)