On Tue, 21 May 2002 14:17:40 GMT, info@internet-real-estate.com wrote:

>In article <3cec495a.3776139@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>,
d_ruether@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>> I would do it this way:
>> Make a B&W matte in a photo editor in TV-proportions
>> (4:3, not DV-proportions, to maintain the circle as a
>> circle in the rendered video) at double-size (slightly
>> soften the image to reduce the "jaggies"). Import it,
>> place the video on track V2 or higher, select
>> transparency for the video, "Image Matte", select
>> "reverse" (or not, as needed for correct display...),
>> and there you have it!

>Wouldn't a circular "wipe" to a black frame work just as well and
>eliminate the Photoshop step ... and less worries about jaggies?

This may work well - though in P-5 at least, the
"iris round" transition has a squeezed "circle"
due to the distortion introduced when 720 pixels are
converted to 640 horizontal during export to analogue...
All that is needed with your method (assuming a circular
mask *is* the result) is putting the video in V1A,
nothing in V1B, stretching the transition the full width
of the clip, and setting direction and percentage (same
at both ends) for correct circle size. The earlier
method is preferable when you want to control the
exact non-standard shape and edge softness (I often use
this method for progressive corner sharpening/softening).
Following the directions in my post above results in
high-quality results for this...