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Tutorial: Page (1) of 1 - 11/02/09

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Creating Effective Reflections in Sony Vegas Pro

Give titles and logos more pizzazz by adding a reflection

By Jeffrey P. Fisher

Here's how to add a mirror reflection that makes your titles and logos stand out. It's quick and easy inside Sony Vegas Pro and it looks great.

First, add four new video tracks to your project. Next, click the Media Generators tab, navigate to Text, click the Default Text preset, and then drag it down to the empty track two. The Text dialog box will display so you can edit the title.

Tweak the settings for the title until you're happy with its look. When that's set, click it on the Timeline, hold down Ctrl, and drag this title to track three (Ctrl+Drag).

The Paste Options dialog appears. Be sure to check 'Create a new copy of the source media' and click the OK button. This ensures there is an exact duplicate of the original title, but as a separate media event. This technique requires separate control of the two identical titles.

These two titles now nest precisely on top of one another. Click the Event Pan/Crop button on the duplicate title that's on track three. This opens its Event Pan/Crop dialog box.

Right-click in the Event Pan/Crop workspace and choose 'Flip Vertical' from the pop-up. This turns the duplicate title upside down and backwards.

While watching the Video Preview, use the mouse or the keyboard down arrow key to precisely position the reflected title underneath the original. The result will look like the figure below.

With the Event Pan/Crop dialog box still open, switch to and enable the Bezier mask tool (the Mask keyframe lane along the bottom of the dialog box). Draw a mask that intersects the title about halfway. You must connect all the points in a closed, complete polygon for the mask to work. In the path settings for this mask, select 'Feather type:' and choose 'Both' and then adjust the 'Feather %:' to taste. Watch the Video Preview as you make these adjustments.

Next, try adding a slight amount of Gaussian blur (0.005 to 0.010) to the reflection title only on track three to better sell the illusion. At this point, the title reflection is quite convincing, but you can always sweeten the look.

Select and drag the Media Generators > Color Gradient > Soft-Blue Backdrop to track four. Adjust the settings in the dialog box to create the background you want. It's important to align the background's horizon line with the title's horizon.

Click the 'Make Compositing Child' button for both track two and track three so that they become child tracks to the empty track one's parent. This effectively locks the title and its reflection together into one composite.

Open up the Parent Motion of track one and make the composite '3-D Source Alpha.' Use the controls to position the title composite as needed. You can also add keyframes to the Parent Motion and animate the title (along with its reflection) for a more interesting look. Making it appear as if on a slow turntable seems to work well for this effect.

Adding a Bump Map Video FX to the background video on track four and using an Omnidirectional Light type is another good detail. Position the light above and behind the title so it looks like it's the main light source for the text. The Lens Flare effect and even Light Rays can also work in some circumstances.

After following these steps, the figure below shows the title's final look.

This reflection effect is not limited to just text. Any picture, graphic, or logo can benefit from the same treatment. Follow the same workflow as detailed in this article. Here are two more examples:
 

Logo example

Take advantage of a few basic tools inside Sony Vegas Pro and you can realize some amazing looks for your projects, too.