Combine Real-Time HD Title Rolls with Effected Video in Leitch VelocityHD

It’s a style you’ve probably seen at the end of theatrical features - during the rolling titles listing the credits, small windows also roll onto the screen showing highlights or outtakes from the production. Here, we’ll combine VelocityHD’s DVE capabilities with HD title rolls in real time to create this effect, with an additional layer of motion video in the background. This tutorial is based on using 1080/59.94i uncompressed HD material. To start, bring your background video clip onto the timeline and place it on track V1.

We don’t want the background video to be too prominent and detract from the credits and foreground, so we’ll remove the color from it, and partially fade it. Select this clip on the timeline and hit on the keyboard (or click the video effects button or right-click) to open the Apply Effects dialog box. Double-click on the Video Proc Amp effect (under Real Time Filters) to expand the effects window to include Proc Amp controls. Lower the chroma saturation to 0, and click the Apply/Close button. Now right-click on the clip and select Custom Fade. Set the transparency to 50 percent and hit Apply/Close. The background video is now much more subtle.

Take your credit roll (created with the bundled Inscriber TitleMotion HD Pro) and put it on V2. You can drag the "in" and "output" of the title roll to time-stretch or compress it to your desired duration, thus affecting the roll speed. You can play the timeline now to immediately see the roll playing over the background in full quality, so you can adjust the speed and duration if desired.

Choose a line of the credit roll with which you want to line up the top of the foreground video window as it rolls on, and scrub the playhead to the point in the timeline just before that line of text rolls onto the screen. Double-click on the foreground video clip in the Gallery to load it into the Trim Window, and trim its length as desired. You want the clip to be placed on track 3 in the timeline, so hit (the number-pad 3 key) or select V3 in the target track drop-down selector in the Trim Window. Hit <=> on the keyboard (or click the "Overwrite from In Point" button in the Trim Window) to place the track on the timeline starting at the playhead position.

Select the newly added clip, and double-click on DVE Effect in the Apply Effects dialog box. On the Perspective tab, use the Image Size control to scale the foreground clip to 25 percent of its original size. In the Position control, change the X value to horizontally position the window relative to your credits text- in our example, 0.250. Use the Cursor in the Apply Effects window to scrub until the line of text chosen in Step 4 is aligned with the top of the foreground video window, and click the Add button to create a keyframe. Now we just have to make it roll on. Move the Cursor back to the beginning, and set the Y position to 0.600. Now the foreground video should roll on at the same speed as the text, with the top of the window lined up with the desired text line, and stopping and holding when it reaches the center of the screen. The timing can be refined if necessary by adjusting the Y position. Throughout this process, you will see instant feedback on the HD output monitor as you make adjustments, and you can click the Play button at any time in the FX window to check your timing.

Finish the effect by clicking the Transparency tab in the DVE Effect window and selecting the 15 percent Fade Out preset. This will cause the foreground video window to fade out (after rolling onto the screen and holding its position while playing). Using the DVE’s additional features, you can also add borders, expand the foreground window to full-screen when it lands in position and more. Click Apply/Close to finish. It’s ready to play back in real time. You can also add another dynamic graphics layer on track V4- a static logo overlay, a text crawl or another text roll- and still have instant full-quality playback.

Mike Nann Product Marketing Manager Leitch Technology

Mike has focused his technical and marketing background on computer-based media production solutions since desktop editing was in its infancy, and joined Leitch with its acquisition of DPS (Digital Processing Systems) in 2000. Mike holds a Computing Science degree from Simon Fraser University.

Traditionally, even just doing a title roll in high definition required rendering in a nonlinear editing system. VelocityHD’s real-time capabilities make such rolling titles easy, allowing two dynamic graphics streams (including rolls, crawls and static overlays) to be easily combined with motion video and other effects in real time in full quality, immediately ready for final output.

Extensive format flexibility, including 720p, 1080i, 1080PsF and SD formats; uncompressed and full-raster compressed video lets you choose your preferred balance of quality and storage; HDV support includes the ability to seamlessly mix content from HDV sources with other HD formats on the timeline; Panasonic VariCam variable frame-rate processing lets you take full advantage of VariCam’s advanced modes and fully integrated multi-camera editing.

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