Quick question re white balance

[Jim Andrada]

I'm trying to edit a few clips taken by a friend who clearly didn't think to switch from daylight to indoor balance as he came in from outdoors.

Is there a quick/simple way to re-balance the clip in Vegas?

The index doesn't turn up anything too helpful.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Open color corrector tool.
Starting on the right (counterintuitive, but it's correct) select an object in the frame that should be white.
Move to the middle wheel, find a neutral/grey color in the frame
Move to the left wheel, find black.
That should fix it for you.

Glenn Chan's Vegas Color Correction DVD from VASST covers this nicely.

[Jim Andrada]

Thanks for the response, but I have to admit that this is my first ever attempt at color correction and the meaning of the little eyedropper tools isn't particularly clear. There seem to be two of them under each color wheel.

I've tried fooling around with the color wheels and seem to have gotten closer to where it should be, but, the color changes seem to apply to every clip I drop into the time line. Can the effect be limited to certain clips?

[Renton Maclachlan]

If you select the Event FX button on the event you can then choose the colour correcter from the list and the changes made will only apply to the clip.

[Mike Kujbida]

Originally Posted by Jim Andrada

...the meaning of the little eyedropper tools isn't particularly clear. There seem to be two of them under each color wheel.

Use the negative sign (Complimentary color) eyedroppers.

In addition to the DVD Douglas suggested (I have it and it's great!!), there are a few tutorials on this site that may be helpful.

[Edward Troxel]

Originally Posted by Renton Maclachlan

If you select the Event FX button on the event you can then choose the colour correcter from the list and the changes made will only apply to the clip.

Ok, let's clarify some terms here: everything on the timeline is an EVENT. If you use the Event FX, it will only apply to that one EVENT on the timeline. If you apply an effect in the Project Media, it will apply to the CLIP - no matter where it's used on the timeline.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Use the complimentary color adjustment (it's the left one beneath the wheel). This tool lets Vegas find the correct color balance for you. The other eyedropper is the ADJUSTMENT color, and allows you to manually select the color range you wish to modify, and adjust without input from Vegas.
Once you've allowed Vegas to choose the proper shift and value, it may still be adjusted manually.

[Jim Andrada]

Great! This was really helpful.

Still a few questions, but making progress.

Re applying the effect in the project media - I take it this means to select a clip on the timeline (Where it'has become an event) then going into the Project Media area and applying an effect. This would apply the same effect every time the clip appears on the timeline, be it once or many times. Is this correct?

If so, then if one selects multiple clips in the project media area before applying the effect, would the same effect apply to all clips when and if they are placed in the timeline?

[Edward Troxel]

Originally Posted by Jim Andrada

Re applying the effect in the project media - I take it this means to select a clip on the timeline (Where it'has become an event) then going into the Project Media area and applying an effect. This would apply the same effect every time the clip appears on the timeline, be it once or many times. Is this correct?

Basically. You don't actually need to select the event on the timeline. Just go to Project Media, select the clip, add the effect, and it will be applied to that clip everywhere it appears on the timeline - be it once or many times.

Originally Posted by Jim Andrada

If so, then if one selects multiple clips in the project media area before applying the effect, would the same effect apply to all clips when and if they are placed in the timeline?

Yes. If you apply the effect to multiple clips, the effect will be on all of those particular clips no matter where they are used on the timeline.


Here's the four basic levels of effects:

1. Event Level - applies only to the event to which it was applied
2. Track Level - applies to all events on that track
3. Project Media Level - applies to that one clip no matter where it is on the timeline
4. Project Level (just drop the effect on the preview screen!) - applies to everything in the project!

[Jim Andrada]

Edward,

Thanks much. I've been trying it and still have a bit of confusion left.

I"m trying to adjust a series of clips where the guy just forgot to switch the white balance when he came indoors. I have to admit I was hoping there would be a "blunt instrument" in Vegas to rebalance.

Instead, there seems to be a rather precise set of scalpels with a bunch of different handles!

Be that as it may, I'm certainly learning something from the experience.

Now to the confusion...

I can select a bunch of clips in the media window and I can select the color corrector.

However - if I don't have the clip on the timeline I can't see it in the preview window - hence I can't see an area to select with the eyedropper tool and I can't see the effect of the correction.

I must be missing something here, but what?

Also, I tried bringing in a bunch of clips but thn can't find any way to apply the same correction to them all in the timeline that won't affect additional clips I ay drop onto the timeline

Should I just put all the clips which I want to correct the same way on a video track and apply the correction to this track and then put correctly shot clips on a different track?

[Edward Troxel]

Here's how you can do it:

1. Add the clip to the timeline. Add the effect to that one event and adjust everything as desired. Now save that setting as a preset.

Delete the event from the timeline and then drop that new preset onto the clip in the Project Media. Now it should all work as you expected.

2. You can also drop the clip on the timeline, make sure the cursor is on that event (so you can see it), drop the effect on the Project Media and adjust away seeing it in the preview monitor. This doesn't require creating a preset.

Now if you only want it to apply to a portion of the original clip (i.e. after he came inside), create a Sub-Clip of that section and do the same thing working with that sub-clip.

[Jim Andrada]

Edwad,

Thanks again!

I was just going to ask if there were a way to save a preset. Logically I think I'm looking for the equivalent of a 1/4 or 1/2 CTB filter, but if I coud adjust the clip and then save it as a preset I'd be retty much home free! How do you save it?

Also, when you say "drop the clip" - where do you drop it from?

There's a little symbol at the end of the event that when I click it I get a menu and can select the color corrector from a menu. Is there a different way to get a list of effects and then drag and drop them?

I'm torn between wanting to hit my buddy on the head with the camera for forgetting to color balance, and thanking him profusely for forcing me to learn something about color correction in Vegas! I think the later is the best idea, thanks to you and the other folks on this forum.

[Edward Troxel]

You save the preset by typing in a new preset name and clicking on the disc icon to the right of the preset name. By "drop the preset", you can click and drag effects presets from the effects tab to any event/track/project/media without going through the "add effects" button.