On Sun, 09 Feb 2003 04:22:03 GMT, "Double-T" <not@home.com> wrote:

>I am attempting to blur out part of a clip of the birth of my first child...

>the part that friends shouldn't see... if you know what I mean.

>

>I copied the clip to video 2, used a Gaussian blur, then made a transparency

>using the four dots to cover the parts needed. However, I end up with

>blurred out area that has four sharp edges.

>

>I would prefer to make those edges softer, or perhaps even use a circle to

>cover up what I need to, but I can't figure out how to do either. I've

>looked in the help files, but can't find it.

You can prepare the matte as DMcC suggests, and place a copy

of the clip on V2 with the blur, as you have done, then

select for the V2 track "transparency", "image matte", and

there select the matte you have saved. You can control the

blur amount in the filter, or better yet (using the

maximum you want applied on V2), with the amount wanted at

particular points controlled with the level "rubber bands"

in V2 (opened). If the sharp/unsharp areas are reversed,

select "reverse matte" in the transparency controls.

This will work well only if the positions in the image

needed to be blurred remain constant...