reverse footage with vegas 4 at DVinfo.net

Luke Gates · July 17th, 2003, 04:00 AM

I have a question for Vegas Video 4 and I'm sure that it is pretty simple. Usually its right in front of me but I just don't know where to look for them. Question is...in a lot of skate videos the skater does the trick, lands and it then pauses and it goes in reverse, he does the trick backwards. It then pauses again and it shows it in slow motion. So basically, I'm wondering how you play normal footage backwards. The film "Rules of Attraction used this a LOT. Is there a way to do this with Vegas 4? If so how? thanks

Don Bloom · July 17th, 2003, 04:49 AM

Insert a VELOCITY ENVELOPE into the clip you are working on, pull it all the way down to -100% and TADA! Skaters going backwards;-)
Don

Tor Salomonsen · July 17th, 2003, 05:20 AM

If you add points to the volicity "line" you can stop the action smoothly, reverse it, hold it, whatever.

Glen Elliott · July 17th, 2003, 08:04 AM

The one thing about velocity envelopes I don't quite understand is if you insert a velocity envelope and speed the footage up- shouldn't the clip get shorter, and vice versa if you slow the clip down- making the clip longer. I'm assuming if it maintains it's size (length) on the timeline the clip will repeat or hold the last frame depending on which you choose in preferences. How would you work with varing settings with the velocity envelope accuratly? I'd get lost as to where I'm at in the clip and the actuall length etc. Does anyone understand what I'm trying to say?

George Brackett III · July 17th, 2003, 08:37 AM

Sonic Foundry has apparently found a way to access the space/time continuum. I don't get it, either...

Tor Salomonsen · July 17th, 2003, 08:46 AM

The events on the timeline are only "representations" of the original footage. If you speed it up, it will simply fill in with extra frames from the original until its lenghts and speed matches. If the origninal does not have the extra length, the event on the timeline will loop as you increase the speed. You will then see a small triangle at the event, marking the point in time where the original has played out its length and the loop begins.

Luke Gates · July 17th, 2003, 08:56 AM

I'm having trouble here....I add an envelope, and yes it puts the clip in reverse. It works great. Only problem is when i try to cut or split, I have tried both, it doesn't cut the clip where i want to. It always goes back to like the beginning of the clip or something. Even when I split the frame before I add the envelope it still adds time on to the clip and it is never in the spot i want it to be. Hope you can understand my problem. thanks.....

Tor Salomonsen · July 17th, 2003, 09:31 AM

You want to reverse it, -100%? OK, it will play from the end to the beginning, but it will start where the beginning is, and reverse into whatever lies AHEAD of that - if anything. If there is nothing, it will loop. Therefore you must move your event so the end of it sits where you want the reversed event to start play, and drag its length out to fill the gap. Do this with track layers expanded, and it becomes very graphical and easy to grasp.
(This is for events that you want to reverse in full. )

Luke Gates · July 17th, 2003, 10:09 AM

ok...I did exactly that. I just tried it again and it still doesn't work. To be exact this is what I did...took a short clip, copied and pasted so it was the SAME EXACT thing. Added an envelope, set to negative 100. It automatically takes that clip and jumps ahead to part of the clip that wasn't on it. Its not simply reversing the clip. Whats up with it? sorry for the hassle, but i would like to get this to work. thanks

Tor Salomonsen · July 17th, 2003, 10:32 AM

Did you read carefully what I said?
Ok, here's another attempt:
Your event is normally playing A to B. You want it to play B to A. It is postioned on the timeline between point 1 and 2, so A and 1 are the same.
You do the envelope thing and pull it down to -100%. Press the little icon at the far left of the track header, the one that says Expand track layers. With you mouse, pull the entire event so that B is at point 1. Expand the event (by pulling at the edge of it) until it refills the gap left by your moving it. You now have an event twice as long. So you pull at the left edge of it towards right, until it has its original length again. The part that is on your timeline now is actually B to C, but it will play from B to A anyway.

Go on and try this, it get easier when you see what's happening.

Glen Elliott · July 17th, 2003, 10:39 AM

*head spinning*

Umm ahhh.....ah yeah- what he said.

It's proabably much easier to "see" it done rather than in written form.

Tor should release some of his own training DVDs- lol.

Luke Gates · July 17th, 2003, 11:31 AM

ok...I got it. I didn't know how to expand the track layers and that was my prob. I guess you may just take for granted the things you allready know about this software...that "newbies" like myself don't know. Thanks for the help and putting up with me.

Edward Troxel · July 17th, 2003, 12:46 PM

Reversing a clip is VERY easy as long as you follow one simple rule: START at the END.

Just play the timeline and then STOP where you want the reversing to begin (i.e. at the END of the clip in forward motion). Now press "S" to split this clip at that point, add the velocity envelope t0 the RIGHT clip (you can delete the left side of the split) and change the velocity to a negative value.

Now for the reason why the size does not change: First of all, how long should a 0% clip be? Infinitely long? Say you have a 30 minute clip and you slow it down to 10% speed. Do you really want the clip to become 5 hours long? What if you have a clip in a 10 second hole that is currently 7 seconds long and you want to change the speed to 50%. Do you want it to extend 4 seconds into the next clip? What if you change to reverse speed, does the clip become a negative length? Plus, since the velocity envelope allows varying the speed as much as desired, how complicated do you think it would be if a clip started at 100%, moved to 0%, moved back to 100%, moved to -100%, then moved to 200%?

Personally, I think they were wise in allowing as many speed changes as desire and then manually adjusting the length to suit the needs. However, if you INSIST on the clip changing length as you change the percentage (and there is only ONE constant speed), the Velocity Wizard in Excalibur will do that for you.

George Brackett III · July 17th, 2003, 01:22 PM

I think jet has mastered the space/time continuum, as well...

Glen Elliott · July 17th, 2003, 01:24 PM

Thus another reason Excalibur is looking more and more appealing to me. It also lets you set the clip speed by percentage, and updates the length of the clip automatically...right?

That's my main concern- say if I have a 10 second clip I want to run at 50% speed, it should in turn be 20 seconds. If I add a velocity envelope and lower it to 50% it'll play at 50% but cut off where the clip would have ended at 100% speed? I need it to automatically stretch the clip to the new size- similar to how it's done in Premiere by right clicking and choosing "Speed". After you enter the percentage # and hit enter, the clip automatically adjusts in size according to you slowing the clip down (longer) or speeding it up (shorter). Does Vegas have a way of doing this by default- or is Excalibur needed for this?

July 17th, 2003, 04:00 AM	#1
Luke Gates Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: new jersey Posts: 151	reverse footage with vegas 4 I have a question for Vegas Video 4 and I'm sure that it is pretty simple. Usually its right in front of me but I just don't know where to look for them. Question is...in a lot of skate videos the skater does the trick, lands and it then pauses and it goes in reverse, he does the trick backwards. It then pauses again and it shows it in slow motion. So basically, I'm wondering how you play normal footage backwards. The film "Rules of Attraction used this a LOT. Is there a way to do this with Vegas 4? If so how? thanks

July 17th, 2003, 08:37 AM	#5
George Brackett III Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Waterville, NY USA Posts: 83	Sonic Foundry has apparently found a way to access the space/time continuum. I don't get it, either... __________________ If the quality of mercy is not strained, then how do they get the lumps out?

July 17th, 2003, 01:22 PM	#14
George Brackett III Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Waterville, NY USA Posts: 83	I think jet has mastered the space/time continuum, as well... __________________ If the quality of mercy is not strained, then how do they get the lumps out?

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

July 17th, 2003, 04:49 AM	#2
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	Insert a VELOCITY ENVELOPE into the clip you are working on, pull it all the way down to -100% and TADA! Skaters going backwards;-) Don

July 17th, 2003, 05:20 AM	#3
Tor Salomonsen Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Stavanger, Norway Posts: 265	If you add points to the volicity "line" you can stop the action smoothly, reverse it, hold it, whatever.

July 17th, 2003, 08:04 AM	#4
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	The one thing about velocity envelopes I don't quite understand is if you insert a velocity envelope and speed the footage up- shouldn't the clip get shorter, and vice versa if you slow the clip down- making the clip longer. I'm assuming if it maintains it's size (length) on the timeline the clip will repeat or hold the last frame depending on which you choose in preferences. How would you work with varing settings with the velocity envelope accuratly? I'd get lost as to where I'm at in the clip and the actuall length etc. Does anyone understand what I'm trying to say?

July 17th, 2003, 08:46 AM	#6
Tor Salomonsen Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Stavanger, Norway Posts: 265	The events on the timeline are only "representations" of the original footage. If you speed it up, it will simply fill in with extra frames from the original until its lenghts and speed matches. If the origninal does not have the extra length, the event on the timeline will loop as you increase the speed. You will then see a small triangle at the event, marking the point in time where the original has played out its length and the loop begins.

July 17th, 2003, 08:56 AM	#7
Luke Gates Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: new jersey Posts: 151	I'm having trouble here....I add an envelope, and yes it puts the clip in reverse. It works great. Only problem is when i try to cut or split, I have tried both, it doesn't cut the clip where i want to. It always goes back to like the beginning of the clip or something. Even when I split the frame before I add the envelope it still adds time on to the clip and it is never in the spot i want it to be. Hope you can understand my problem. thanks.....

July 17th, 2003, 09:31 AM	#8
Tor Salomonsen Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Stavanger, Norway Posts: 265	You want to reverse it, -100%? OK, it will play from the end to the beginning, but it will start where the beginning is, and reverse into whatever lies AHEAD of that - if anything. If there is nothing, it will loop. Therefore you must move your event so the end of it sits where you want the reversed event to start play, and drag its length out to fill the gap. Do this with track layers expanded, and it becomes very graphical and easy to grasp. (This is for events that you want to reverse in full. )

July 17th, 2003, 10:09 AM	#9
Luke Gates Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: new jersey Posts: 151	ok...I did exactly that. I just tried it again and it still doesn't work. To be exact this is what I did...took a short clip, copied and pasted so it was the SAME EXACT thing. Added an envelope, set to negative 100. It automatically takes that clip and jumps ahead to part of the clip that wasn't on it. Its not simply reversing the clip. Whats up with it? sorry for the hassle, but i would like to get this to work. thanks

July 17th, 2003, 10:32 AM	#10
Tor Salomonsen Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Stavanger, Norway Posts: 265	Did you read carefully what I said? Ok, here's another attempt: Your event is normally playing A to B. You want it to play B to A. It is postioned on the timeline between point 1 and 2, so A and 1 are the same. You do the envelope thing and pull it down to -100%. Press the little icon at the far left of the track header, the one that says Expand track layers. With you mouse, pull the entire event so that B is at point 1. Expand the event (by pulling at the edge of it) until it refills the gap left by your moving it. You now have an event twice as long. So you pull at the left edge of it towards right, until it has its original length again. The part that is on your timeline now is actually B to C, but it will play from B to A anyway. Go on and try this, it get easier when you see what's happening.

July 17th, 2003, 10:39 AM	#11
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	head spinning Umm ahhh.....ah yeah- what he said. It's proabably much easier to "see" it done rather than in written form. Tor should release some of his own training DVDs- lol.

July 17th, 2003, 11:31 AM	#12
Luke Gates Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: new jersey Posts: 151	ok...I got it. I didn't know how to expand the track layers and that was my prob. I guess you may just take for granted the things you allready know about this software...that "newbies" like myself don't know. Thanks for the help and putting up with me.

July 17th, 2003, 12:46 PM	#13
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Reversing a clip is VERY easy as long as you follow one simple rule: START at the END. Just play the timeline and then STOP where you want the reversing to begin (i.e. at the END of the clip in forward motion). Now press "S" to split this clip at that point, add the velocity envelope t0 the RIGHT clip (you can delete the left side of the split) and change the velocity to a negative value. Now for the reason why the size does not change: First of all, how long should a 0% clip be? Infinitely long? Say you have a 30 minute clip and you slow it down to 10% speed. Do you really want the clip to become 5 hours long? What if you have a clip in a 10 second hole that is currently 7 seconds long and you want to change the speed to 50%. Do you want it to extend 4 seconds into the next clip? What if you change to reverse speed, does the clip become a negative length? Plus, since the velocity envelope allows varying the speed as much as desired, how complicated do you think it would be if a clip started at 100%, moved to 0%, moved back to 100%, moved to -100%, then moved to 200%? Personally, I think they were wise in allowing as many speed changes as desire and then manually adjusting the length to suit the needs. However, if you INSIST on the clip changing length as you change the percentage (and there is only ONE constant speed), the Velocity Wizard in Excalibur will do that for you.

July 17th, 2003, 01:24 PM	#15
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Thus another reason Excalibur is looking more and more appealing to me. It also lets you set the clip speed by percentage, and updates the length of the clip automatically...right? That's my main concern- say if I have a 10 second clip I want to run at 50% speed, it should in turn be 20 seconds. If I add a velocity envelope and lower it to 50% it'll play at 50% but cut off where the clip would have ended at 100% speed? I need it to automatically stretch the clip to the new size- similar to how it's done in Premiere by right clicking and choosing "Speed". After you enter the percentage # and hit enter, the clip automatically adjusts in size according to you slowing the clip down (longer) or speeding it up (shorter). Does Vegas have a way of doing this by default- or is Excalibur needed for this?