Mrs

[Penny Rose]

I like to put maps in my videos and show the route by having moving indication  along railways and roads. I cannot find out how to do this in VideoPad. Please help.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

This is quite a difficult and time consuming thing to do in VP.

One way would to simply film the map  and every few frames draw a line ON the map extending along your route. i.e create an animation. This is what used to be done in the old days when using film. The resulting clip could then be placed in its relevant place in your project. For novelty you might use a little model of your car!

One  approach using  VP would be to ..

• Film your map for the requisite duration, or use an image.
• Create a transparent  png image (or use a jpg) of a suitable indicator..e.g an arrow.or a circle etc (It would be very difficult to try to use a continuous line)
• Place the map image on Video track 1 and adjust the duration to the required value.
• In the example below I am using a jpg of a red dot (circle) on a white background. This has a green screen set to white so the background to the dot is transparent. This is set on Video Track 2
• The overlay image is now set to a duration of say, 1 second and is scaled down so the red dot  is of a suitable size for the map.
• The red cursor line is moved to the right hand edge of this image on the timeline. The image is then copied and pasted repeatedly (using Paste( insert)) This repeatedly places the dot image one after another forming a continuous line of 1 second mage clips on the overlay track ....each one of 1 second duration.........

• Initially the dot is not in the correct position relative to the map, so starting with the first image, use the Position effect  to place each of the dots on the map at the correct point, one after another.. Do this with the guide rectangle on the Clip Preview screen and monitor the result with the Sequence preview screen. This made much easier if you set up the Dual preview displays in the Options menu. This is shown on the image above. 
• The following gives you an idea of what you are aiming at. A lot depends on your patience.....
•  
• 1st position
• 2nd Position
• 3rd position
• 4th Position
• 5th Position    etc.

The red marker now moves at one second intervals along the route as you play the sequence.

This is just explaining the principle. You can refine it by using shorter intervals or a different shaped marker. With a lot of patience and a bit of ingenuity you can almost achieve a solid line if each overlay is placed on a separate track with the lower ones extending always to the end of the clip from the place where they start.

As I said it's a bit   time consuming doing this but it works.

Nat

 

 

[borate]

Along the same lines, to have a dot (or any png image) track along a route...

Create the png or download it from the WEB.

Load it and your map or video into VP, with the map on track one and image on track two.  Drag the right border of the image track to make it the same length as the track one.

Click the fx button on the image track.  The effects window opens. (Under the preview window, click the chevron to the right of the VIEW icon and choose Clip & Background.)

Click the large green + sign at the left of the toolbar and choose the MOTION effect.

Use the SCALE field to size the image (in this case, a red dot) as desired.

With the scrubber (the red line in the effects window) positioned at the far left, drag the dot in the preview screen to the start of your route.

Click the small green + sign on the toolbar to set the first keyframe.

Move the scrubber to the right by a grid square or so (no need to be precise), then drag the dot to the desired next position.  This sets keyframe two.

Repeat this action along the path you want to take until you reach the end point.  (If the dot won't drag to where you want it, use the Horiz/Vert/Base sliders.)

The closer the keyframes are to one another, the faster the action is between them.  You may need only a few keyframes, depending upon the route and its length.

If you make a mistake, press <ctrl-Z> to backtrack step-by-step.

The result will resemble this...

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

Yes of course! keyframes are a simpler answer (VP is pretty versatile) but they don't leave a dot trail. With each image on a separate overlay track and extended to the end of the clip that is possible...the dots moving along the map but remaining visible...

Still a bit of phaffing about though!

Go for Borates Keyframes.

Nat

[Penny Rose]

Thank you very much for all this detail. I will try to do it but it is complicated. It was very simple when I used Corel Studio. Maybe it could be an upgrade for VP?

[borate]

Just follow the steps outlined in my previous post, if you want tracking to look like it does in the video there.  Not difficult.