watermark?

[rstryker]

Whats the easiest way to add a watermark to a video clip?

[beaumar]

Depending on the software you're using, it can be easy or hard.

If you've got Adobe AfterEffects, it's easy:

Open AFX, Add your current video clip to the timeline, add a single image with your watermark to the B video channel and adjust it's display duration to be the length of the entire clip.

Adjust the transparency of the video B layer until you get what you like and render the work area. It would certainly help if you created this image in Photoshop and it had an alpha channel that made everything but your watermark transparent...otherwise, whatever fill color you've got will impart a slight tint to your original clip even when you set the transparency very high.

If you've got a sequence of stills, and you've got photoshop (may be the same for Paint Shop Pro, maybe someone else could answer this), load up the first frame into Photoshop, go through the steps to apply the watermark image as a layer with transparency until you're satisfied with the result. Write down all the values that are pertinent, e.g. any layer transparencies you set, any bright and contrast changes you make, ...everything. Revert the primary image, create an "Action" and begin recording. Go through all these steps again and stop recording your actions when you've finished processing your example file. Create a destination directory for all the processed images on your hard drive. Create a Photoshop Batch command and select the folder with the images to be watermarked; then point the batch to your newly created output folder so it'll save the processed files there. Run the batch and, as quickly as your computer can handle it, you'll have a watermarked sequence of images ready to be assembled into a video clip. Specifics for Actions and Batch processing can be found in the Photoshop help files...they've gotten MUCH better and more complete over the years!

In the interest of brevity, I'm not going to detail every step of the process. Using the description above, you should be more than capable of using each program's help files to get the specifics (and maybe a search on the internet or two). I'm not trying to be an a** about this, but I've found a little reading in the help files actually helps more. When I was learning this stuff myself, I was always more interested in the "how" of things rather than the DETAILS of the "how."

OK, now I've screwed up the brevity thing anyway, but I hope this helps. If you've got some other program that you're using, reply to this post and I'll see if anything is different for that app. The steps above are general enough that they're pretty program-independent. Good Luck.

[rstryker]

Thanks a TON dude. I didnt have any idea what program to use. I will get Adobe AfterEffects and give it a run. Thanks again

[rstryker]

I made the watermark with Adobe Photoshop, and than opened the video file with Adobe Aftereffects but I cant figure out how to get the picture onto the video. please help!!!

[beaumar]

Hello,

Just so you know, I'm not trying to be a dick about this. This is probably one of the simplest types of AfterEffects compositions to do and there are a plethora of training sites on the net to walk you through all the capabilites of AFX (In addition to the excellent online help that comes with it). For details of the steps I'll list below, it would serve you well to read the help and go through a few of the online tutorials. You'll probably learn a few other things along the way...and that always helps in the long run. I'm a firm believer in the "If you give a starving man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach him to fish, you've fed him for a lifetime." philosophy. In that vein (and remember, I'm NOT trying to be a dick, like I've seen some ppl on this site be), I'll give you the basic steps to take and let you search AFX online help and web tutorial sites for the specific commands...

1. Open Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro and create a new image with 720x480 pixel dimensions (or whatever your video clip resolution is)

2. Create your watermark logo or text on the image in the same location you'd want it to appear on the finished video. If you're using PSP, flatten the image and make sure you save as a format that can have a transparency, or alpha, channel (e.g. targa, tiff, or psd). If using Photoshop, save as a plain ol psd file and keep your layers (you may want to consolidate them if you have a large number. For a watermark tho, you should be able to do it in just one layer with transparency.

2. Open After Effects and start a new project (probably use DV format, 720x480 resolution, or, if your clip resolution is different, choose the closest NTSC equivalent if it's going to be on ppl's tv screens or whatever dimensions you want if it'll be on computer screens.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the duration of your composition is at least as long as your video clip. You can adjust the duration from within AFX after you've created the comp, but it's easier to do it now.

3. Import your watermark image into your project bin. Drag it to the timeline.

4. Import your video clip into your project bin. Drag it to the timeline.

5. Scale the timeline view so you can see the entire duration of your video clip in one screen (use zoom in and zoom out tools).

6. Grab the right handle on the watermark image and, if it's not there already, drag it all the way to the right had side of the timeline, so it's duration is the same as the duration of your video clip. (By default, single images should have a display duration equal to the length of the comp, but you never know what AFX is gonna do sometimes if you miss a check box or a setting somewhere).

7. That's it! The key things are to make sure that your watermark image is the FIRST video layer in your composition and that it's display duration is the same as your video clip. Depending on the speed of your computer, you should be able to scrub through the timeline and see your watermark on every frame of video, or press the space bar to play your video with all layers shown.

8. Render entire timeline to a vid format of your choice, and you're done.

Hope this helps.

[rstryker]

The key things are to make sure that your watermark image is the FIRST video layer in your composition

THATS where I screwed up.

[Guest nicb1977]

Try to use Watermark Master. The best software to create video with watermarks!

Very much I recommend.