sorting video/audio in bins that has already been synced
 

I am editing a drama that was recorded double system, and i'm trying to find a way to sync up my audio clips and video clips, and then place them in bins sorted by shot number.

Obviously it's easy to sync up audio/video on the timeline and then group them, but how can i move this group off the timeline and into a bin so I can retrieve it later while i'm editing?

You did not mention what format you are editing, and if you are using an intermediate codec. I use Cineform, so I would have no issue with synching each shot and rendering out, making a brand new file.

Absent that, how about saving each shot you synch as .veg file in a folder that holds all synched shots in the form of .veg files for a particular scene. You can then import your .veg files into a new time line, to build your scene. The veg file will look and act like clips on your new time line.

Personally I rarely use bins, and it's mainly for the reason you mention - you lose the relationship with other media once you take it off the time line (unless, as Chris suggests, you render it first).

This might not be a solution for you, but what I tend to do is to have a 'sandbox' track (sometimes several) which contains little clusters of media that I think work well together or are otherwise related in some way (location, time, subject etc). I build this sandbox track first and from there I assemble mini segments and build the piece up into a story. When I don't want to see it I minimise and mute the track (which is always the topmost track).

In these situations I am invariably assembling a case study or short documentary from a lot of random (well, maybe not random, but unstructured) footage. I would imagine in your case you have a clearly defined shooting script and storyboard that you're following. Still, as a way of grouping media for later use it works well for me and you may be able to adapt it for your own needs. You might consider a variation on Chris's suggestion which would be to build a completely separate sandbox veg file with all the groupings on the timeline (or in separate tracks for each shot?). If you keep a second copy of Vegas running you could just copy and paste from the sandbox to the master project.

hey Chris thanks for the .veg suggestion, that has seemed to do the trick for me. ian, yes I initially had done what you suggested, having a second vegas app open.

i think i will get by fine, since this is a short film and there are only about 20 shots. still, it's hard to imagine how I'd deal with this issue if I was editing a feature film with 200 + shots. Can I then accept that Vegas is really not made to be used to edit feature films or complex projects with many shots?

Never done a feature, but I would work a scene at a time, and then compile it all in the end, by rendering each scene out and piecing together from there. You just keep building scence until its all done. I have no doubt that a feature can be built that way.

Not sure that's a safe premise.

I (and many others on this forum) regularly work on projects with hundreds of shots and I get along fine with Vegas. In fact, for my way of working, it's better than any of the other NLEs I have tried in the past, when it comes to complicated and lengthy projects. As an example, I shot and edited a documentary about a schools building charity in Africa from about 22 hours of footage using just two veg files. I also shot and edited a 20 minute documentary about the Montessori method of education in the UK - 12 locations, around 30 interviewees, around 9 hours of footage. Vegas was so flexible in terms of how I wanted to organise the material. Note, how *I* wanted it organised - which is a subjective thing.

I doubt that you'll find a single NLE that does everything exactly the way you want it, in any price bracket, but if the only limit you're experiencing is the inability to store grouped clips in bins then I would say you're onto a winner with Vegas (but please let's not get into yet another emotional 'Vegas v The Rest' debate!)