Vegas Pro tutorial

Vegas 6, 7 & 8 are all similar in operation, you do search in You tube there plenty out there, including the odd V8 tutorial

see cheema.co.uk/vegas

Whooooo...that was quick Cheem! Yes I've seen the stuff on youtube, but I want something more comprehensive. 'From the ground up' kinda thing.

Might be easier to call me i can get you going from the ground up....

Did you look at my link and some of the other tutorials out there?

you also tried the built-in tutorials? not tried them meself, but are a new addition to vegas

oh, and look on creative cow for tutorials there. used to be a tonne of them, and even if for older versions, would still apply.

You can get some on Ebay item 190179824358

They are from the US but mine turned up ok..

This site looks pretty good: http://www.learningvegas.com/
UK based too!

OK, ploughing through a few basics now. Amazed that simple mark-in/out doesn't seem to be explained. (It's 'I' and 'O') I have the folder with keyboard short cuts too!

Can anyone shed a bit more light on the multicam feature? I've got as far as enabling multicam and playing through. But: when you select a take, (using 1. 2. or 3) is that making a cut to that take at that point? Also, can I select which audio to use separate from the video? I'm assuming that you then render as a complete video file, or can it be inserted into another project file as is?

Cheers in advance! :confused:

multicam:

using the built-in tool is very easy, though the script add-ons that people have been using for years do a more versatile job (excalibur & ultimateS) at a price.

downside of the built-in method: you can't see the original tracks once you enable multicam.
My solution: before I multicam specific tracks, I duplicate them (right click track header) and multi the originals. Helps with the audio especially, since can see the audio waveform.

Yes, it's cutting as you press the number. For a bad cut, you can select the offending clip, cut it ('S') where necessary, and swop out the bad portion by pressing 'T' to cycle through the takes. Is one method.

you can insert a veg file into another project with the same ease as adding a clip. Just drop it on the timeline. Right click it to edit in original, if required.

HTH

the in and out can be done several ways
1 you can put the clip in the trimmer select the bit you want and drag it onto the time line, if you only get video or audio use the tab key while in trimmer to cycle through the Audio, video, Both option.
Or you can pres R (region) on the highlighted bit to mark the clip, when the clip is then used on the time line those marks show up.
Drag the clip onto the time line and drag the front and/or end of the clip to the desired frame, you can use the wheel on the mouse to zoom in to make fine trims

Thanks for the replies guys. Back to multicam; Can you select to use the audio from 1 particular cam all the way through? Not sure what you mean Fud by 'multi' the originals? Do you mean copy and paste a 2nd copy of each video file, then put them on the timeline too? Also; Can you change the view of the video file on the timeline from thumbnails to filename? Would help identify which clip is from which cam.

1) no copy 'n paste, just duplicate the tracks that you intend to use for the mulitcam - right click track and duplicate

use the original tracks in the mulitcam

could use the audio from one of your duplicated tracks all the way through

2) change view of clips: there's a way to disable the thumbnails but can't recall right now. Could use CTRL + SHIFT + i to show active take info - get best of both worlds that way

:)

Nice tip Fud. I'm slowly getting to grips with Vegas - seemed a bit clumsy at first. Is it possible to 'add' to a group? At the mo, I'm having to 'clear' the group, then create a new one with the extra tracks added. I'm sure there must be a simpler way. :o
Oh, and is it possible to select which clip to preview? Rather than the one on the top track?

adding to a group: to select existing group, click a single member of the group, press SHIFT + G to then select all members, then CTRL + select the new members to add, and finally press G to group the whole bunch

preview? only by soloing the track.............
via the exclamation mark on the track header

Thanks for that Fud. To go back to multicam; After the multicam edit, can you 'un-multicam it, and go back to the 3 clips on separate tracks?

un-multicam? nope.

It works by combining multiple tracks into multiple Takes on a single track, and there isn't a way to separate out Takes.

that's the reason I duplicate the relevant tracks before multicamming, to keep a backup, as it were

:)

As usual I'm probably missing something simple, but.......I've used track motion to add a PIP, how do I 'undo' it? :confused:

on that track, reopen the Track Motion, right click the frame and choose Restore (or something similar - can't remember offhand)

if you have multiple keyframes, just right click and delete the ones you don't need

HTH

Thanks fud. On the previous version of Vegas that I tinkered with (6d) there was an option to feather the PIP. Don't see it in this version?

This doesn't seem to be working. If I move/resize/rotate it now, I can restore. But the PIP that I set previously seems to be fixed. I find it strange that there's not an 'OK' or 'Apply' button either. :confused:

The only way I could get out of this was to create another video track and move the video with the PIP on to it. Weird!

On the track motion click on the first marker and then right click the box and go for (I think) restore (or restore box if in 3d mode), if there are no other markers on the tL for that track and you have done the above and the pip is still there, click on the top icon on the right of the clip and see if the the picture is set as a pip in here, the F should cover the whole picture if it is normal. if not RC and do set to project .

If it still does not work mail me the VEG project (no media) and I will have a look for you.

An FX question: When colour correcting/matching a clip My usual NLE (MSP 8.0) has the facility to copy paste those attributes to the rest of the clips on that track. Vegas also has this, but it seems to be very clumsy by comparison. If after pasting the event attributes you go back to do a bit more 'tweaking', and then copy/paste to the rest of the track again, that gets added to the first adjustment. So if the first one was say 10% less blue and you tweak that to 7% less blue, you end up with 17% less blue. MSP gives you the option to 'append' or 'replace' the FX. Even worse, although the option to paste event FX to is there - delete event FX isn't. Meaning I have to select each clip individually and remove the FX. I'm really really REALLY hoping I'm wrong with this and there's some keyboard shortcut I don't know! :confused:

agreed the 'paste fx' could be much better.

you CAN select all events with existing FX (eg right click and 'select events to end') then right click one of the FX buttons (of any clip/event) and choose 'delete all'

I don't know of any append/replace choice (hoping to be proved wrong) and must admit to liking the FCP method (which no doubt exists elsewhere) where one can choose which particular FX to paste. Mebbe vegas will improve it with enough nagging....

Cheers Fuddam - thank gawd for that!
Another question. Are 'markers' searchable? For instance; in MSP, all the cues (equivilent to vegas markers) are accessable by using 'go to' in the search dialogue. You can then go to any individual cue when you want to find something specific that you've marked/named. In vegas it seems that unless you write down the marker number on a piece of paper, (which you then go to via the keyboard numbers) you've just got to drag through the timeline to find it.

And another one. :o I 've got different preview qualities for the main video track and the overlay track, so as it plays along the timeline I get crap preview on the main track, and good when it plays across an overlay track?? I wasn't aware that this was possible - not that I want it! :)

never heard of diff preview qualities for diff tracks. don't know that it's possible intentionally......

;)

you haven't lowered the track opacity on the left, in the track header? or diff track aspect ratio, or even added FX to the video (assuming it's one clip) in the media pool itself? very curious. or added FX to that track header?

search markers: go to the EDIT DETAILS window (Alt+6) and change the SHOW box to 'Markers' - can then browse them at will, edit them etc. Sometimes I will copy and paste stuff from the Edit Details windows into Excel. Can select the text by clicking on the extreme left numbering column and dragging your mouse - it highlights entire rows.

also, look up the MARKER TOOL in the help - might be useful.

No, there isn't anything set in the track FX. I can get out of it by setting the preview to 'Best' though. Then both tracks preview the same.
Re deleting the FX. When I select events to end, then right click the FX button on a clip, it only deletes the FX from that clip, not on all of the selected clips?

Arthur you can drop FX into the track itself (where the sliders are on the left) so you only have to do any correction once and all clips on that track will be corrected, handy for multi cams

There is a Script for V8 that allows you to search markers ( pretty sure) uses the new script files so not valid for V7
Checked it brings a box up with all the markers in the project (go to Marker V1.0) also does regions and will play automatically if required

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=572672

It's not a whole track that I want to 'un effect' though Cheema. It's from a particular clip onwards to the end of the track. Seems daft to be able to 'paste event attributes' to all selected clips, but NOT to be able to 'delete event attributes' on all of the selected clips.

sorry, my bad. I tried it before I scribbled my reply, so thought it was ok - must be the jetlag.
There might be a free script to do the business - will let you know if I find one - but in the meantime, might be useful to get UltimateS from vasst.com to speed up a lot of things, including your FX problem:

http://www.vasst.com/ultimate/ultimatetutorials-FX.htm

EDIT: found one - http://www.jetdv.com/vegas/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2962
I just installed it myself. works hunky dory. on all events selected. Could give it a button or key command and you're up to speed :D

Cheers for that. I've registered for the forum, but I have to wait 'til they 'activate' me. So how do you "give it a button"?

What do you recommend for rendering settings for DVD?

once you install the script (by simply pasting it into the script folder on under Programs/Sony/...), it will appear in the script menu. That means it can become a button

Double click anywhere an empty area of the menu bar will bring up the relevant dialogue. find the script and click it across to the Right. like customising most menus in other progs.

my SD dvds usually have max of about 7.5m, average of about 6m and minimum of 2m. Might have to adjust if trying to put 2hrs on to regular dvd.

higher than 8m will usually cause compatibility problems

Thanks for the info Fuddam - it's much appreciated.

That is my point if I had a lot of clips all needing the same filters I would create a new track and keep them on there so saving any extra work i have to add the filters all the time.

Yup, when I went back & started again that's exactly what I did. All part of the learning curve. :) In a lot of areas, Vegas is a big improvement on MSP - stability for one. But in others it's clumsy by comparison. At the moment I get a feeling of 'workarounds' rather than work flow sometimes. It's early days though. ;)

Keep at it Arthur, they may seem like workarounds form were you have come from as that is what you are used to but to us they are the norm adn not a problem

see here for more info cheema.co.uk/vegas

The 'script' works a treat Fuddam - cheers! Thanks for the heads up Cheema, looks a useful site. :)

When I click on the audio FX button, I get an error: "sonic foundry trackFX is disabled because sonic foundry vegas is not properly registered". Doesn't provide a link to register it either. Any ideas? I thought sonic foundry had long gone?

Well this little mystery just went away when I carried on as if it wasn't there! All of the 'demo' symbols disapeared.
A couple of negatives: There doesn't seem to be a simple 'amplify' audio filter. Also, nothing to do with audio, but there's not a simple 'freeze frame' option. Again, more workarounds. Don't know how Sony have got to Version 8 of this programme without those simple options?

freeze frame: easy peasy, and YEARS before the other NLEs - set your velocity to zero via keyframe. couple of clicks and done

also, can stop a clip from looping, if that's what you meant, by altering its properties (right click)

amplify? you mean volume up? you mean the slider on the left? ;)
Vegas has more audio ability than all the other NLEs bunched together and then some. It's a fully fledged DAW. Some big production houses in hollywood do all their video on Avid all their audio on Vegas. factoid.

;)

Doesn't that just stop on that frame and go no further? How do you extend it to say a 5sec freeze? Nosing around the net, most people seem to go the copy frame/paste as still route. It's odd, but MSP 5.0 had an ideal very flexible freeze frame which worked perfectly. But then for some strange reason they went away from it and basicly f****d it up! :rolleyes:
Slider on the left is track volume isn't it? Which leaves just the rubber band to up/down volume for clips?
While nosing around I came across this cool effect:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgXIYh60EPM&NR=1
No tutorial on it though. :(

Sorry to jump in.
Extend freeze frame: Just drag the clip to required length after you have applied velocity envelope, added a node and set that to zero.

Audio volume: There's audio gain in each clip to control the level. The volume is controlled at track level. There's volume slider as Fuddam says plus you can add volume envelope at track level, add nodes on this to adjust the level as you go. If you really want to wizz it up use volume automation.
oh, BTW, there are also audio busses which you can use to control volume of group of tracks.
and there's master volume at the output

and.. there's more.

Lots to learn then....:)

Well, the more I use Vegas, the more I like it. :) Still have questions though. If I vary the speed of a clip using drag/control, can I tell how much I'm speeding up/slowing down the footage? Seems a bit hit and miss. Velocity is superb, but keeps the footage the same length. (Bl***y clever!!)

How do you get rid of a preview area (loop area?)

When using shift/B to preview an area in RAM, the cursor plays through the area I've set OK, but then reverts to a much smaller area for preview. Hmmmm....Is this dependant on how much RAM set for Vegas to use in prefs?

OK, the preview to RAM area is dependant on how much RAM is set in prefs.

yep, ram it is.

to get rid of preview, simply push "i" and "o" straight after one another. sets the preview to nothing, basically, since the same place (current cursor position)

using velocity, the clip duration stays the same, as you said, but will extend the content / go into a loop if required. Will be able to see the notch on the top edge of the clip for the looping position(s).

I don't know a way of judging exact speed change with the CTRL + DRAG method, other than to look in the properties of that clip and see the playback rate value

Hi guys, a couple more questions for you.

Can the default duration of photos and titles be changed? Also, when I delete a clip from the timeline, I have to delete the video and audio separately. This wasn't always the case, so I've obviously clicked on something without realising it! :) Up until deleting, the video/audio act as a group as normal.

default duration: in the OPTIONS/PREFERENCES or whatever it's called. Think it's under the Editing tab

if you have to delete video/audio seperately, will be affected by whether you have the IGNORE EVENT GROUPING (ctrl + shift + U) button pushed down or not.

or you might have ungrouped a partic pair by pressing U on its own.

You can use the the BACK ARROW to go back to previous items you have ranged on the time line.

That's a bit wierd. I posted a reply to you both, but it's disapeared!
Reply was; the length under the 'edit' tab only seems to apply to pics - not titles which are dropping on at 9;29. Strange time length!
Also, am I missing something simple (again) or is there really no keyframes for effects like brighten/contrast?

Thanks in advance guys.

every effect can be keyframed til the cows come home - use the timeline within the particular FX you have open.

whatever setting for duration of still images I enter under OPTIONS/EDITING sets the duration of the Titles, same as it does for stills. Don't know why yours isn't doing the same.....

EDIT: although I notice for the first time that this doesn't apply to titles created via the Pro Titler - not too surprised, but it could be annoying.

in that case, would create the titles first, then edit length of all simultaneously using the EDIT DETAILS (Alt + 6) window.

I think I'm going to have to do a clean re-install. Just checked out some tutorials on youtube, and you can clearly see the keyframe timeline on them. On all of my effects, the effect window is blank below the actual effect adjustments! No keyframe timeline.

Clean re-install has done the trick - strange or what? :confused:

Adam, The titles always come in at 10seconds regardless of the still image length set are you sure what you say is correct?

for Pro titler, agreed, but for normal vegas text, mine is set by length of still image in OPTIONS

The "missing" keyframe timeline is a known problem. It's not actually missing, it's hidden at the bottom of the dialog.

Checkout the most recent newsletter from JetDV:

http://www.jetdv.com/vegas/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2897

The section "Missing Timelines In Dialogs" is the one you want.

Ah ha! I tried dragging the edges of the window 'windows' style but it made no difference - just more blank. I'll know next time :) I joined jetdv a while ago, but I've never had a newsletter. Must check out why. Thanks.

Arthur I have most of the previous newsletters if you wan them, just e-mail

Cheers for the offer cheema. They all seem to be available at jetdv so I'll just plow through them a bit at a time. Thanks

The Protype titler: I find the keyframing a bit 'perplexing'. No traditional keyframe controllers? i.e. 'next keyframe' 'last keyframe' etc. I'm trying to bring one word in from infinity, and another sliding in from the side. There seems to be lots of control for fancy rotations and complicated sliding paths, but straight forward looks to be absent!

Pro titler is very capable - one of the most flexible on the market - but I find I hardly use it, esp due to the interface. That's the problem with incorporating a program/plugin that doesn't obey the logic of the parent app

:(

You sure, sure, mine is set to 8sec's and the titler always comes out at 10secs.... is there another setting.

Same here with the new titler, seems more complicated then it needs to be, if you can work it it is very flexible. There are some down loadable presets out there, get them and see how they work

lol. I played around with it, and the following is true on my systems:

inserting normal text from Media Generator tab brings text as 10 sec, from toolbar button as (eg) 4 sec

For Pro Titler, also 10 sec from tab, but (eg) 4 sec if from Insert/Generated Media menu option. Is not the way I did it the other day to test it out, but is what works now that you ask.

Naturally I mapped a global keyboard shortcut for Insert Gen Media and so it comes in at 4 sec. Didn't find option to map command for Pro Titler specifically, but mebbe was too cursory in my looking.

8)

That's interesting Fuddam. How do you go about assigning the keyboard shortcut?

1) OPTIONS / CUSTOMIZE KEYBOARD

2) Click on the Global option for the shortcut to work no matter where you are in Vegas.

3) Search for the appropriate function

4) click on it

5) click in the SHORTCUT KEYS box, and press the new key combo. It will warn you if the combination you want is currently assigned to something else. I used CTRL + ALT + (whatever) since less common than the CTRL + SHIFT + route

6) click ADD

Bob's your aunty!

you can customise anything in Vegas - :D

Thanks mate. :)

You can also save the keyboard mapping and import others have done.

You can also assign Scripts to Shortcuts,

I have assigned the key to the left of the 1 key to Lock and unlock the audio form the video as this is only key instead of the 3 keys CTRL+SHIF+U, which is impossible for for my one hand.

Adam, Checked the insert media and drag and drop and you are correct, 10 seconds with drag & drop and the preferred length in the insert media, how odd never assumed it to be different , as a still dropped in was always my preferred length, live and learn..

Is there a simple way of adding a 'keyline' around a clip when resizing it, (as in PIP) either using track motion or pan & crop? There's an option to add 2D shadow or glow with TM, but don't see anything with P&C. At the mo, I'm adding the clip over a white solid colour which is also TM'ed but kept slightly bigger - giving the effect of a keyline. Must be an easier way though?

use a glow but make it hard-edged, by adjusting the blurryness

another method, though I've never used it, is to resize using TM, then add a BORDER FX - can get bevels and things that way

Border FX will do it it you need to click the little arrow thingy on the left of the tab at the bottom, to make the border follow the clip size.

If you are going to to do many of them make one track the PIP TL with TM and add the border to the left of the track where the faders are it then effects the whole track.

Thanks for the (super quick) answers guys. :)

I don't see 'border FX'. Once I apply the glow, I can only move/resize that. How do I get back to the clip if I want to change it?

if you use border fx, no need for a glow

if you mean to resize the clip within TM, make sure you click on the POSITION keyframe timeline

border fx is just another fx, available on the VIDEO FX tab (with brightness & contrast, etc)

Ahhhh, now I see. I was looking for border fx in the TM window. Didn't realise there were 3 timelines in the TM window either! Thanks again.

:) Today's Vegas master class:
I've added some scripts to the tool bar. Can they be made into nice looking buttons instead of the 'script' icon?

yes, they can

how to do it? don't ask me

Blimey Fuddam...I've asked something you don't know about Vegas!! :D

I never said that, I just said, "don't ask me"

;)

oooohhh...you tease!

some more links for you
http://www.blue7media.com/vegas/

http://www.cinegobs.com/index.php?topic=64.0 a good interaction tutorial

Cheers for that Cheems. Very interesting. The instructional DVDs look....gulp....involved. :)

Todays little problem is 'nested files'. When I use a .veg as a nested file, it has no audio. It does come into the project with an audio track, bit it's 'flatlined' as though the audio track was muted in the original .veg
Looking around, it seems that using nested files in 8.0 is causing problems that weren't there in earlier versions.

I used to use nested vegs a fair bit in v7. I found them slowing down the render in v8, so kinda left them in the cold now.
:(

I've come to the same conclusion myself Fud. Shame, because they can be a real time saver. I had one a couple of weeks ago that had audio peaks fine for about 2 thirds of the file, then flatlined (and silent) for the rest of the file. Odd! :confused:

I'm capturing stills using 'save snapshot to file', but using Scenalyzer to capture stills produces far superior results - and because they're deinterlaced they don't jitter. Even selecting 'reduce flicker' doesn't really cut the mustard. Is there a better way to do this within Vegas?

need to
1) set project to progressive
2) set video preview window to BEST - FULL
then take snapshot

might seem like a hassle, but can get a free script which will do it all invisibly, every time you run it / click a button

Cheers fuddam. I'm guessing the script is available at jetdv?

somewhere - prob there. mebbe check Cheema's links

You can get that HERE Arthur

Cheers Pete. :)

I get an "error occured during execution of the script" message. Error No 80131600
Is this script OK with Vegas 8 Pete?

Works ok for me Arthur, if you can't get it sorted, pm me with you email address, I'll send you a copy of the one I have.

Thanks for that Pete, that one works a treat. I notice that it doesn't change the size of the snapshot either - which Vegas's own snapshot does very slightly.

Just wondering....

At the mo, I'm doing my colour corrections after I've finished editing a multicam track. (Too processor intensive for my system to do it first) By moving all of the clips from one cam on to a separate track afterwards. Is there a better way?

I suppose one option might be to do the CC to the media in the Project Media pool, thereby affecting wherever it was used on the timeline

just right click your clip/event and choose MEDIA FX. Not an obvious place to do it, but might save some time for your situation.

:)

another option (though admittedly quite coarse) would be to CC one clip on the timeline, then copy/paste attributes to the remaining clips on the timeline you want to CC the same way.........

The CC in media pool looks to be the way - as long as you can 'tweak' individual clips afterwards that is. I knew there'd be a better way. Cheers Fuddam.

the one thing to note: DURING the vegas inbuilt multicam, I noticed the FX on the clips is disabled. As soon as you finish multicam, you can see the FX in effect

haven't tried it on US2/excalibur's multicam, since haven't upgraded to v8-compatible version.

:)

Morning Guys.

I'll be playing with Vegas and Hi-Def footage soon. Just wondering if there are any 'gotchas' to watch out for? Any particular settings in preferences to pay attention to? I know for example, that MSP 8 creates a low res proxy file to work with. How does Vegas treat Hi-Def?

Thanks,

Arthur.

it doesn't create proxies. You can if you want, esp using a prog like Gearshift (from VASST). If your PC is fairly recent, shouldn't have any problems though.

Remember a useful way to set up a project is to match it to the media being used. Accessible by opening FILE/PROPERTIES then clicking on the browse-type button in the top right of the dialog (looks like a folder). Find one of your clips and once you click that, all settings will be right for the media.

And do SD downconversion at the render stage, not via the project properties.

Vegas can certainly handle 2K and IIRC, 4K, so HD is not an issue.

Oh, there's also smart rendering, which is useful if doing a simple edit (eg cuts only etc, no CCing). If outputting to mpeg2, will only render the parts that need it. etc etc

Thanks for the info Fuddam. Very useful as usual. :)
It's a shame that 'smart render' doesn't work like MSP's. If you render a file, then decide to make some changes, it'll only re-render the changes. (As long as you select to overwrite the original) Vegas re-renders the whole thing regardless. Or maybe, you'll tell me different? (I'm kinda hoping) :D

Morning all,
Having problems with HDV capture. Wondering if you can shed any light?

http://forums.dvdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=43127&page=3

Goes through to Page 4.

Artur, are you using internal capture utility in Vegas 8? I am sure you know but, In Vegas 8, file>capture video, would give you option of SD or HD capture. In HD capture, under preferences, Device tab should show IEEE 1394/MPEG2-TS Device.
The application header for HD is 'Capture'. For SD, it is Sony Video Cature 6.0

Hmmm...I don't appear to have the option under 'capture video' of SD or HD.

Ahhhhh...got it! :) In Vegas preferences, the default setting is to use 'external capture programme'. Unticked this box, and a different capture process started. This one has the HD/SD options. Bit of a quirky way to go, as the 'external' capture is listed as Sony/vegas 8.0/vidcap60.exe

Still, problem sol-ved. Cheers Mahesh. :)

Arthur, you have the same problem as I have. At some stage, you selected an option of SD capture PLUS remember this setting. So now, the clever software does not bother you with HD capture.
As I use Sceneanalyser for SD capture, I selected HD capture as default. This weekend, Sceneanalyser threw a wobbly and captured a 110 minute clip with Upper field first. Three quarter of the way thro' edit I realized this but could not get Vegas to capture HD. Fortunately, for SD, Vegas uses external util called vidcap60.exe. So I could use this to recapture and replace the clip.
I digress. To get back to the solution for the problem, I do not know the answer. It probably lies in the Internal Preferences setting. I was going to post at Creative Cow or Sony forum for an answer.
Soory, I am stuck here as well.

Thanks Arthur, I had forgotten about that.

Something I've been meaning to ask for ages; Working on a 16:9 project. When I preview out to my 4:3 TV (via firewire) the picture is stretched vertically to fill the screen. To be expected I thought. But when I preview a 16:9 project out in exactly the same way in DVDA, the picture is letterboxed in the correct aspect ratio. Is there a setting I'm missing in Vegas?

Arthur, if you open a new project and re-import the MPEG file on the time line you can make your changes and as long as you render out in the same template there will be no rendering on any unchanged bits, it will say on the screen No ReCompression"

You could of course drag the MPEG into your original project and taking the bits you require.

Some info on the HDV
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=602126&Replies=105

Yes, understand that Cheema. But if for instance, I want to change the audio balance between the 'live' audio and the background music, I have to do it in the original project file, because the rendered file will obviously have them combined. In this instance, Vegas re-renders the whole thing again, for what may be a very minor change. For this reason, I've changed my work flow. I now render out each section of a project, (say, bridal prep, ceremony, etc) then put them all into a 'final' project. and render - which doesn't re-compress. Then if there are any minor changes, it's not so time consuming.

I wonder if you should just render the audio separately, then use something to remux the streams

I always render the Video out as an MPEG2 no audio and then render the audio as an AC3 file, which is a lot quicker to render and smaller, also takes less space on the DVD

In DVDA if the parameters are set the same then there will be no re-rendering of any audio or video.

I do exactly the same. ;) We seem to be talking at cross purposes Cheema! :)

So what is that we are talking about, then Arthur?

well....smart render. If you re-render a file with MSP, it only re-renders the changes - so it's super quick. Vegas doesn't do this, it re-renders the whole thing. I only used the audio thing as an example. A minor change such as using a different transition in one place would also require a complete re-render. I know there are various work arounds, but by the time you faff around with them, render the part/parts you want to change. replace them in the original rendered file. Then re-render (even 'no compression' takes time) there's not enough time saved to worry about it. May as well do it properly....and go and have a cuppa while the PC does the work. :)

nope, not true. reread Z's posts. will only render the altered parts

Well that's a strange one, because it sure don't do that for me! I've just tried it on Ver 6 too - same result.

Just to clarify: I render out a project, then decide there's a couple of things I want to change.
I open up the project file again, make my changes, then choose render. Clicking on the first rendered file, I get asked; blah blah blah already exists, do you want to replace it? I click Yes.

At this point, MSP would wiz through, only re-rendering the changes. Vegas doesn't. So is there a setting somewhere to turn this feature on?

will get my workflow for you, but v6 didn't have it anyway - only v8

Hi Guys,

I'm attempting to change the colour of a vingette. Made using the cookie cutter, with feather to max, and size adjusted to suit. Whatever colour I choose, the vingette stays black. Obviously I'm doing something wrong - again. :(

Also, Is there any way to change the background colour from black?

Thanks in advance.

try drop a coloured media on the track below

OR

change the border size, then you'll see the colour come into play

Morning Fuddam,

Yes, I've sussed dropping a coloured media below to change background colour. Just wondered if the default colour of black could be changed?

I've varied the size of the cookie cutter endlessly. Just to confirm; I drop the 'reset to none' cookie cutter on the clip. I then increase feather to max, and reduce it in size to show a vignette around the clip. Now, no matter what I do with the colour controls, nothing happens. It stays black.

like i said, THEN increase the border setting, to anything above zero. the colour will appear

:)

Ah ha! NOW I see! Sir Fuddam to the rescue....again. :D

The thing to remember Arthur is that the Cookie Cuter is just that a cutter so anything that is cut out is a hole so anything underneath will show through.

Also usefull for blurrign faves/number plates out.

Yeah, I'm used to MSP where you add a vignette over the top, then choose whatever colour.

I'm guessing you mean 'blurring'? What's "faves" Cheema?

Sorry not Faves but Faces, just one letter but makes all the deference.. sorry.

Blimey, you've done it again Cheema! :D

I know I am useless amazes me I can edit, perhaps it's because I use the mouse and not the keyboard, it makes all the difference or I am dyslexic ?? or perhaps I should wear glasses now.

Morning Guys,

Today's little conundrum........

After completing a multicam edit, I CTRL+SHIFT+D to disable multicam. Although I can add, say colour correction, at track level, or to individual clips. I can't copy and paste from one clip to another - the 'effects' cross stays greyed out on the clip I want to paste to. Tried CTRL+A then 'U' to ungroup, and also just 'U' to the individual clip without success. My workaround is to CTRL+A then copy/paste to a new timeline. Obviously, I lose all my markers etc doing this though.

Is there an easier way?

you're doing right click and Paste Event Attributes, right?

works for me.........

Yus. As soon as I paste the whole timeline to a new one, paste event tributes then works. I'm assuming it's something to do with multicam associating all the clips as one? :confused:

i just did a quick multicam before I posted, and no problems on my side. turned off multicam, added CC to a clip, pasted attributes to other clips, all good

have no idea why your's is misbehaving

Ive been tersting Vegas 8 trial with my Canon HV30 camera. When I try to render the timeline to preview through the camera I set it to MPEG 2 and it does its render stuff. But if I then try and play the timeline it plays for a very short period. Then a green bar appears in the center of the playback and a splash screen shows. The program is still running in the background but the splash says Vegas has commited an error and will be shut down. Is it possible to preview the timeline or am I trying some thing that will not work ?.
Dougie Leaver

explain your rendering idea. not getting you. why do you need to render anything before final export?

sounds like you're doing a ram preview (Shift+B) which will render from the cursor position (or current In/Out points) to the capacity of your RAM, and is only temporary, like After Effects - which is different from PreRendering (which is how most other NLEs work for any fx/changes to be viewed) that I hardly ever use, and only then for very heavy fx work to play back smoothly.

if you simply want to play back your timeline, to an external monitor etc, no rendering required.

Dougie,

Rendering the timeline, and previewing it are two different things.

If you just want to preview as you work. Choose your device under tools/preferences/preview device. (In your case it sounds like firewire.) Obviously, turn on 'preview' when back to the timeline. (the little blue monitor above the preview screen) Then set a preview quality that your PC is capable of. (2 icons to the right of little blue monitor). Mine is OK at 'Good/full'. It's also very important that you choose the correct template for the timeline for the type of video file you are working with. Fuddam describes the foolproof way of doing this in a previous page of this thread. Then just hit the space bar!

For some more complicated sections of your projects, you can 'preview to RAM'. Drag across the area to preview, and then shift/B. The amount of RAM you use for this is set in tools/preferences. If you haven't got enough RAM assigned for what you want to preview, it'll just stop at the point it runs out of RAM.

I'm sure the real Vegas Gurus will be along to offer more advice soon. ;)

Edit: ones already beaten me to it.

Arthur, your getting up to speed, soon you will be ready for the initiation ceremony

If that involves nakedness and the anointing of oils...I'm up for it. :)

It also involves Anne Ford, two donkeys and a vacuum cleaner, but it's all done in the best possible taste.

Right, back, so here goes. I had trouble with the export to tape. I kept getting still frames in the tape with large chunks of movement missing. My idea was to pre-render the timeline and feed it out to the camera and try and see where the problem was coming from. I have always pre-rendered DV off the timeline to a screen to check output.
Since then I have changed the preview to full auto and I have found three dodgy clips. They show up as letterboxed in the preview window at the start and then about half way in they change to full screen. Remove these from the timeline and this then will pre-render as normal. And export to tape gives me no problems.
Seems I have the same "odd problem" as encountered by John Disdle in that the three clips have metadata that has been corrupted by dropout. Hence they do not import as HDV at 1440*1080. The tape used for these tests was a normal Sony MiniDV. One of the clips was from the beginning of the tape and the opthers about ten and fifteen minutes in. I now have a supply of Sony HDV tapes so hopefully the problem will not come back !.
Dougie Leaver
PS anyone know where I can download the full Vegas 8 as a download that will take a British debit card or Paypal, Worldpay or the like. No credit card so can not get it from the USA. And can not afford the full £180.

Any of you guys had experience with network rendering? From scouring around, it seems that you have to have Vegas rendering service running on both PC's. The only way I've found to get it to run is to 'render as' and then tick 'render using networked computers'. It then throws an error, but the render service icon pops up in the system tray. Problem is, I can't do that on the other PC, 'cos it has a blank timeline with render options greyed out.
If I run the render service on the main PC anyway, it doesn't find the other PC.

Ok, got a bit further with this. Found the rendering service in the Vegas programme folder. Added a shortcut to it on the desktop. With both running, the 2 PC's find each other OK now. But, the render fails. Any ideas?

nope. never used it. was intro'd in v6, IIRC, and never bought that version, and by time v7 came out, cpus had gotten fast enough that wasn't curious to try it out.

good luck!

;)

HD has been the driving force for me. If I could utilise this laptop's CPU it could be a real boon. But then the time I'm spending on getting it working......:D

see if this helps, Arthur (never done it myself)
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=601095

Here's what I did: (not me)
1. made sure I could see each machine on the network and could see all shared drives and folders and could ping each from the comand prompt.
2. made sure that port 53704 was open on both machines.
3. install latest version of vegas pro on proposed render machine (using same serial number as installed on host)
4. set up desktop shortcut for vegsrv80.exe on desktop
5. restart both machines
6.disabled firewall programs on both machines.
7. started vegsrv80.exe on host machine
8. under renderers tab added ip address of rendering machine
9. trys to connect, but always states "unavailable"

Well, I followed up that thread Cheema, and did some digging around on the Sony forum. It seems I'm not alone. The guy that posted the below seemed to be having almost exactly the same problem. He solved it, but after reading through the thread, I ain't too sure it's worth while going through all that grief! :eek:

That's why i never went there, get a quad core the render rips trough it..

A problem today. :(

Dropping some large PSD's on the timeline - 370meg each. The first one drops on OK, but any after that from the 2nd onwards ,display as solid red. I'm guessing this is a memory issue. Don't really want to convert to .jpg unless neccessary. Any clues guys?

I to would guess memory issues, now that I use 10mp camera as my stills and that slows V8 down when browsing the clip browser.

red normally means it cannot see/find that clip or sound is not lined up to frames (see quantize to frames icon)

dunno. i tend to convert most pics to PNG files anyway. Not so convenient if editing the files after inclusion on the timeline, I know.
FWIW, what res are these files?

Morning guys,

Well, there's no sound to line up - they're just stills. I converted to both .jpg and .bmp and still have the same problem! Yet I can drop any amount of other stills for say, a slideshow onto the timeline at once, no problemo!!

Resolution of both the PSD's and jpg's is a necessary 350dpi. I will be zooming in very close. I usually do this in Imaginate, but thought it'd be easier to use Vegas as there's none of that constant changing tools for rotate/size etc. Looks like I'll just have to do them one at a time.

i shoulda asked it this way: what size are the pics, in pixels?

some more scripts for V8 pro

http://sony.vegas.1.free.fr/

Batch Replace

Goto

Show Event Length

Proxy Stream

Sync Events

Add Markers At Interval

On hols at the mo Fuddam, so can't access the exact size of the pics. Will post it when I get back.

Cheers Z, handy looking scripts there.

Oh well, back to the beach beer in hand in sunny Mexico. :)

Back from holibobs. :(

Pixel size is: 9646 X 5348

While we're at it. Is there any way to change the length of all pics in a slideshow without going back to the insert stage? Or is there a 'fit to music' option anywhere?

your size: HUGE. Way too big IMHO for any NLE to like too much, methinks.

here's a handy tip I learnt recently: Track Motion resizes after down res-ing, while Pan/Crop resizes first, then down-res'es, resulting in a cleaner image.
Nutshell: Pan/Crop will result in higher res results

to change all them pics, easy way (without scripting) is something I use often.

1) select them
2) look in EDIT DETAILS window
3) select all LENGTH properties, by dragging from top to bottom. They should be highlighted.
4) type new length, eg 4:00 for 4 secs duration or .12 for half sec. (i.e. don't need to write entire 00:00:00:12)
5) press ENTER

done. :D

Cheers Fuddam. Looks like it's back to Imaginate then eh?
Knew there had to be a quicker way with the pics length. :o Why is .12 half a sec?

25fps divided by 2

Playing with masking today. :) I've just made a cutout with the anchor creation tool. Problem is the bit that I want to show isn't. The bit that I wanted to blank out is showing. Can the selection be inverted as with a photoshop document?

look on the left hand side - can invert

Ah yes, I see it now Fuddam. It's in the 'path' menu. Thanks.

Not sure if this can be fixed as such, but one thing that annoys me with Vegas is when opening a saved project that I use as a template for a new project (such as an opening sequence). I get an error message "blah blah.mpg can't be found" etc. I choose to ignore all missing files, then replace those with the new ones. I save it. But the next time I open that project/template it still looks for the original files - even though I've resaved the project without them.

Before saving your project
Tools>clean up project media

Ah Ha! That's an odd one. Thanks Mahesh.

You could also try when saving the finished project, there is a tick bx to move all the media to a new folder so when saving to external dive you can be assured that all the media is on that drive, including media that are on different storage devices.

Latest problem. I've created a 3D title in Cool 3D studio. Exported to .TGA with transparent background. Can't get the background completely transparent in Vegas. I've got over it by dropping the .TGA onto a .PSD with a transparent BG. But just curious as to why Vegas sees the transparency in a PSD but not a TGA?

right click on the targa sequence in the timeline and choose properties, look at the media tab, find the Alpha channel drop down and select Straight. This should get you your transparent bits :)

Yes it does Tom, thanks.

Hi Guys, looking for opinions. The two Blu-Ray templates for 50i 1440 x 1080 are 8 mbps and 25 mbps. Just wondering if you consider the huge difference in file sizes to be worth using 25 mbps?

not used bluray before, but hear-tell that average used is 15mbs, IIRC........

Vegas can't seem to make up it's mind on the render. Using either template, it alternately renders and flashes "no compression required" all through the clip. Just to confirm this is a clip straight from the camera - no corrections at all.

'Lo chaps,

Playing with the 5.1 surround thingy (whoooooooo!!) Trying to keyframe a pan across, but as you can guess, it ain't working. I'm right clicking to get the surround pan keyframes up, then clicking 'add point', then moving the pan thingy in the centre, then doing 'add point' again a second or so later in the track, and moving the panner to the opposite side. Don't get a pan across though, just stays where it was set at the last movement of the panner. Tried left to right, as well as back to front. Any advice gratefully received. :)

Edit: Have selected 5.1 in project audio prefs, and surround mapper in Vegas audio prefs too.

Still no success for me with this. I'm guessing not many here use the 5.1? As far as I can see, I'm doing exactly what Douglas Spotted Eagle does here:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0-FZp7DVmzgC&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=Vegas+8+5.1+keyframe&source=bl&ots=N2V_zXBnwm&sig=B9iizds1D32Xq3VcRfqK__QD1Rg&hl=en&ei=PRj4SbaUCpyRjAeAk_TEDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#PPA310,M1

I set up as described on page 309. When I follow the steps 1 -4 as detailed on Page 310 though, I don't get the little dots following the orange dot when I move it. The orange dot flashes blue after moving, which I guess is trying to tell me something!

Cracked it! The one thing I wasn't doing was selecting automation.

and lo, his knowledge was revealed to be truly excellent!

;)

nope, never tried that 5-1 thingie, but thought it might be automation. danke for clarification, squire

I am updating the Sony Vegas site boys if you want to have a look and give me some feedback.
if you have any hints or tips I can add to the site then to pass them on and I will add them on to the site, Thanks

http://cheema.co.uk/site/

hi guys,

Just wanted to let all vegas fans know that I've posted a thread on the classifieds section for a editing PC with Sony Vegas pro 8 loaded

Thanks

Steve

Got this odd problem (not like me at all :) ) since changing back to stereo. Every clip I drop on the timeline now appears HUGE. Takes up all the available space in the work space. Can't be dragged and resized until I either min or max the track size. Then I can drag it to any size I want as usual. All the prefs in the project are back to normal stereo, as is the 'global' Vegas audio prefs. Any thoughts peeps?

give us a picture, eh

:)

oops! forgot to turn off 2nd monitor. I'll upload another one.

http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=PKbDrTJLqi8u1e2mezlCkg%3D%3D

No difference with 2nd monitor off, but you can click on it for a zoom.

you have a mutant version of Vegas. The mobsters have taken over, and only a ruthless elimination of the opposition will suffice.

in other words, I have no idea. :D

would try creating new project and transferring clips across, or restarting vegas with SHIFT held down (with CTRL too? I forget) in order to reset preferences. Bit of a hassle though.

be brave

Yeah, I wuz hopin' it wouldn't be a re-install jobby. But.........

Aurther have you tried double clicking the the bar on the right of the time line?

That normally will make all tracks the same size.

Too late Z, did a clean re-install yesterday. That sorted it. I'll remember that tip for next time though!
Thinking on that; This 19 page (so far :) ) thread could be an invaluable resource to anyone starting out with Vegas. Hope it's helped a few others besides myself.

OK, up and running with the new 64 bit system, and Vegas 8.1. WOW! is the first impression. :) A little problem when capturing though. HDV capture tells me that "video preview is unavailable". Capture works flawlessly, but I don't see an option to turn on video preview. Or is this the norm for 8.1? (which would be a bit odd)

Second problem with 8.1 (though looking around it seems to be all versions of Vegas). Created my first file for Blu-Ray, using one of the Mainconcept templates. Missed a tick box though, and it's created an m2v with separate audio stream. Anyways, wanted to re-edit a couple of things, but......Vegas doesn't recognise the m2v that it created. How stoopid is that? :rolleyes: Tried changing the file extension to mpg, or m2t, but it throws an error if I try to import to TL. Another 'gotcha' with 8.1 is rendering quality in the templates is set to "project settings" rather than good, or best. I take it that if you had your preview quality set lowish for speed of preview, that's the quality you'd get?

8.1 now officially dropped - way too buggy. Was OK for most of the day, but in the last hour or so it just kept throwing errors. Sometimes as soon as it opened. The two error 'exceptions' were always either; msvcr.dll (Microsoft C Runtime Library) and bizarrely, sfmarket.dll - which is a Sonic Foundry marketing tool apparently. Anyway, back to 8c now which is running like a champ - touch wood - at the mo. :) A 32bit application running on a 64bit OS better than a 64bit app on a 64bit OS. How does that work then? :eek:

Ac3 cannot also be dropped on the tL either a pain

I tried a m2v last year and your right no go. Makes the odd edit change a nightmare, Mpeg is better as it go's back on to the TL so change can me made a no re-render.

It seems crazy Z doesn't it? To be able to create a file, but not read it! By the way, for HD, m2t works fine. 8.1 was starting to remind me of how MSP went when it when it went a version too far (8. something). Even refused to keep my saved templates for Blu-ray. Just kept going back to m2v and NTSC. 8.0c does this without problem.....not to mention giving a preview when you're capturing. :)
I'm wondering if it's worth getting 9 now at the upgrade price, and waiting for the 9b version to be released before using it. Definitely want to take advantage of the 64 bit OS.

I would wait for the 9.0a Arthur, the Production assistant is good, can automate a lot of things.

I'd buy it now to get the freebies and $50 discount, but only install a later version, if you're worried that it doesn't run smoothly enough.

I have just put a tip on my site a tip on how Copy regions or markers to other open instances of Vegas or I guess put it in a spread sheet and use it latter as a template..

http://www.cheema.co.uk/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51:copy-regions-or-markers&catid=7:vegas-8-pro&Itemid=4

Unfortunately, it looks like Vegas (8.0c or 8.1) doesn't 'smart' re-render HDV/BR files. So if you need to make any small changes, it's a complete re-render jobby. Odd that this works with normal MPEG2 but not m2t. :(

I don't have personal experience of this issue, so can't help, but I have faint recollection that it might be possible.........

have you tried the sony forums? prob best bet for guidance on that subject.

Can you point me to which forums you mean Fuddam?

It looks like Sony didn't have their thinking cap on at all when they went into Blu-Ray authoring. Vegas doesn't recognise m2v at all. And guess what? DVDA wants to re-render any m2t completely - but m2v is OK!! Madness.

sonycreativesoftware.com - forums found under SUPPORT

Thanks Fud, I found it yesterday. Reading some of the posts there, Sony have just created a rod for their own back. 9.0 looks to be a nightmare for many people too.

DOn't forget the same was also true for MPEGs in the dark days and now no re-rendering, so as usual time is what it takes.

I think you're being very kind to Sony Zed. How long has HDV been around? Seems we've been all the way through one version of Vegas (8) with no smart render for HD, and now into 9.0 and still not there. Surely they must have realised that it would be a required feature? :rolleyes: Instead of bloating the programme with lots of so called 'pro' features, why not concentrate on their real client base? You only need to visit youtube to see who that is. Bring back Sonic Foundry......

Partly solved: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=660456

Seems an m2t isn't always what it seems! :)