Day 25 - Sony Vegas - Cinemagraphs :(

What I did:
Today, I attempted to make cinemagraphs in Sony Vegas. The reason I say "attempted" is that it didn't work out very well. That part will be explained in the "what I learned" section though. Today, I made cinemagraphs from stock footage I found on youtube. It was Royalty Free Stock Footage so it's fine if I use it and you can find the video here. I used Sony Vegas because that's my main video editing software but it turns out that there might be something wrong with my settings or I was doing something wrong. Sony Vegas is a great software for editing videos and doing voice-overs but there was only one tutorial I could find that involved using Sony Vegas for cinemagraphs and it can be found here. So here's what I did:

1. First, I added the video clip in.

2. Then, I needed to take a screenshot so I could put in a layer under the video and add mask to it.

Finally, I added a mask to the image in "pan/crop" mode and outlined the part that I wanted to be moving during the cinemagraph. 

What I learned:

Today, I learned to never do cinemagraphs in Sony Vegas. It was probably a sign that there weren't many videos on how to cinemagraphs on Sony Vegas. Sony Vegas definitely isn't made for cinemagraphs because it doesn't even have a save as gif option in the save settings. It's mainly for editing videos and not for making gifs/cinemagraphs although it is possible. I learned that the mask tool did not work for me and I'm not sure why that is. When I tried making the mask and applying it, it did not work and the video did not change one bit. This was also an issue back when I tried using keyframes back in my keyframes post on Sony Vegas. Although the failed attempt of making a cinemgraph in Sony Vegas, I learned a lot about it.

1. First, I learned that you need to take a screenshot so it can be used as a mask and bottom layer when you go to the "pan/crop" section.

2. Next, I learned that the dark parts when you make a mask are the parts that won't be moving while the parts that stay the same 

3. Finally, I learned that there isn't an option in Sony Vegas to save as a cinemagraph so you need to use third-party softwares like virtual dub which will let you save a gif.

What I plan to learn tomorrow:

Tomorrow, I plan to learn how to make cinemagraphs in After Affects. It will take a few days since the tutorials are very long. I especially want to learn how to do this because I think it's a really cool effect. It definitely won't be benefiting me in the long run because it's a gif but I think it's a really neat effect that I can have fun with. So tomorrow, my plan is to create a cinemagraph in After Effects. I apologize for not posting regularly but I'm taking calculus and playing badminton at the moment so I don't have a whole lot of time to post on the weekdays but I always manage to get my posts in. 

EDIT (April 15, 2017):
Tomorrow, I plan to continue learning new things about Sony Vegas and maybe even start on my final project. This change of heart comes from realizing that I do not want to do anything with cinemagraphs. I want this blog to be about things that will benefit me in the future and all the things leading up to this will. I am a video creator so I want to learn things that will help me with that. One of my final projects is going to be making a montage and I think I will start that tomorrow and continue to work on it for a few days until I have collected enough information to start my English  project. Tomorrow, I will learn more things about Sony Vegas.