Blackmagic Forum

Hi everyone.

New to this program but loving it so far.

I do have a couple of issues that need resolving though... haha....

1) I have created using cropping and scaling a PiP look, involving 2 videos. I need if possible a filter or something to allow me to blur the edges of these videos so they melt more with the background.
Is there an easy way to do this? Like a border option?

I thought maybe creating in Photoshop a png with transparency and overlaying it over so it fades into the background (if it was a solid colour), but how would you go about this if the background wasn't a solid colour?

2) Is there a way to creating scrolling text... but going across... not just up?
I have tried every option and can't seem to find a way apart from animating the text across it myself in keyframing...
I want to also crop it so that it appears only in a certain spot i.e like it is coming out of a tunnel into another tunnel, however only way I can think this is possible is putting overlay boxes of the background colour over the text, as the normal crop function just acts as a stop, so the text goes to a second line, then a third, etc, etc.

/text here, text here, text here, text here\ <- a crop with it scrolling across but not creating a new line. Otherwise you end up with this

/text here, text here, text here\
text here, text here, text here

Hope you can understand that.

Thanks

You can do a lot of this with After Effects, Fusion, and similar VFX and graphics programs. Resolve is great as a color correction program and can edit to a point, but it's not intended as a full-featured VFX and graphics program. Even though it can do some limited composites and some graphics.

Okay haha, I didn't even know Fusion was a thing...
So that can edit as well but do more what I need?
I really need to get up to date with all these.

So Resolve is mainly just a colour grader?
Fusion could do edits and more VFX styled stuff that I require?

By that definition, you could probably with time do the same with Fusion as you could easily in Resolve

Kyle Dumigan wrote:1) I have created using cropping and scaling a PiP look, involving 2 videos. I need if possible a filter or something to allow me to blur the edges of these videos so they melt more with the background.

Resolve can do that really well:

• Select your clip in the timeline, and switch to Color.
• Add a serial node.
• In that node, Add a window that does what you want -- you can select a shape, then drag both the boundaries of the shape and the feather zone. When you click the little filled-circle-in-a-box control beside the shape you want, it toggles between "just my shape" and "everything but my shape", so if it's the wrong way around click it again.
• Add an alpha node and connect it to the serial node you created.
• Go back to the timeline and you'll see that your clip is masked with feathering over the underlying clip.

Kyle Dumigan wrote:2) Is there a way to creating scrolling text... but going across... not just up?...

Keyframing is the way to go to make it scroll sideways. I sometimes zoom it way in and drop the font size, to stop it from line-wrapping (so you get a single line of text).

Kyle Dumigan wrote:I want to also crop it so that it appears only in a certain spot i.e like it is coming out of a tunnel into another tunnel

I recently learned in this forum from Walter Volpatto that you can in general do adjustments on a title as though it was a clip by converting the title to a compound clip. Handy trick. Thanks, Walter.

I just played around with it a bit. This method seems to work:

• Create the title, complete with side-scrolling keyframes.
• Right-click the clip and create a new compound clip.
• In the inspector for the compound clip, adjust the crop and positioning to your liking.
• Now the text scrolls only within the cropped and repositioned area, against a cropped and positioned black background.

You can use composite mode "lighten" or "darken" in many cases to get rid of the background. "Screen" might also work, and others give various effects. "Diff" is particularly bonkers when the text is on top of a busy background.

You can also mess with the compound clip in the color tab, for example if you want to keyframe the text color or blur. That's also a way of getting rid of the background (rather than using composite modes, as described above):

• Add a qualifier, and set the luminance to key out the background.
• Add an alpha node and connect it
• Back in the timeline, use composite mode "Normal"
• You should see your scrolling, cropped text with a transparent background

Thanks so much for the help. I have managed to do it and it works!
Couldn't have done it without you.
See, I knew Resolve could do it :p

Very useful Tips Scott! Thanks for sharing.

I have to admit, I've been able to fumble through sorta/kinda doing things like this in Resolve, but there's a point where you're better served using a real VFX program like Fusion or After Effects.