Thanks for your help guys! Looks like i can use vegas after all :)

Boris RED
Boris FX
Boris Graffiti

I just gave a large list of links in this thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?threadid=20925)

Since you have Vegas, you may want to consider DVD Architect.

Edward,

Thank you for releasing the beta RC3 version of your film look plugin. Pretty cool.

since After Effects doesnt support the 24p pulldown, do i have to import my footage into Vegas, apply the pulldown, save AVI's and then edit like normal in After Effects? I'm a newbie so excuse me if i dont know what im talking about. Thanks.

This thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20012) may be of help.

According to this, Vegas drops frames to achieve 24p.

perhaps i should clarify... the video will be shot at 24pA with my DVX100

I love vegas because its so rock solid and PPro does have crash issues. Actually a lot of my clients for the wedding videos I do love the cheesy wedding transitions and since I'm always juggling 10 clients at once its a lot easier popping in some pre-made trans then having to spend hours making one. You can't tell me you never use a simple cross dissolve? Of course in my corporate videos I never bother with trans either.

I CAN say that 99.9% of my wedding transitions are crossfades. Very rarely I'll use a flash transition and even more rarely something like a page curl.

No problem. Also thanks to Dave ("filmy") for creating the install program and looks.

Yeah I use about 80 percent fades, then a lot of quick cuts, I like to use an imaginative trans at title sequences for small vignettes I produce inside the project. I think just sticking to one thing throughtout ie direct cuts makes the wedding video a bit boring. I try to make it like an action video when producing a wedding, I want people to want to watch it more then once as in most weddings all people want to see is the rings, kiss, and the crazy drunken dancing at the end. How many of your own friends have you tortured with your own wedding video, not people want to watch you greet your ten thousand cousins!? Of course it starts with good shots!

First off, this maybe somewhat old news...but maybe it may not be for others.

I shoot with a XL1s and at times due to no control over lighting (weddings...etc), the footage is less than ideal. Vegas does a fairly good job getting rid of the video noise...but in spite of NUMEROUS configurations, I never got the "Look" I desired. Well... I finally found a somewhat simple process to REALLY clean up less-than-ideal lighted footage and give it a unique look.

I simply frame serve out to Virtual dub and
use Donald Graft's Smart Smooth Filter (http://neuron2.net/). Try it...you may be blown away as I was the first time using it.....

Donald's got some nice papers archived in the Library (http://neuron2.net/library/library.html) of his site.

Those looking for the filters will find them under the Mine (http://neuron2.net/mine.html) section. (It took me a few minutes to figure this out.)

Is anybody familiar with which Quicktime settings are best for importing into Vegas? I'm attempting to rebuild a project from FCP and would like to lay a Quicktime output from FCP under the EDL I already brought in, to use as my guide tracks for laying in the Vegas media files.

When doing a Quicktime output from FCP the optional settings include everything from "video" to Uncompressed (8 bit or 10 bit) to MPEG-4 to Sorenson Video (reg or 3) to DV/DVCPRO - NTSC, and more.

Thing is, I may just use it as a guide track then chuck it, in which case the settings are all that critical, but there is one piece of footage that I'd thrown into this project from a tape that I can't find, in which case, for that piece, the best settings I can come up with to blend with the other DVX footage could matter a great deal.

As always, any insights anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Marcia

Thanks Robert for posting the link to Don's filters....I'm so used to navigating his website that I forgot it might be difficult on first visit....

if the original clips are dv/dvcam 25 .. then ouput from FCP as ntsc Dv/ dvcam ( not dvcpro 50 ) ...

This controller looks awfully cool, and it just might let me program the buttons to take care of some of the shortcuts I'd like to set up. But do I have to unplug the regular mouse to use it? (The back of my machine is very un-handy.) Would it cause system confusion to have them both plugged in at the same time?

You can have both the mouse and the shuttle pro attached at the same time. I frequently use the shuttle pro in the left hand while using the mouse in the right hand. It works well with Vegas.

Great! Thanks, Edward. Again.

Will order one tomorrow.

Do you have any before and after pictures of footage processed
with it, Mark?

(I've seen the ones on the site, but I'd like to see some in full
resolution of DV footage).

Also see Edwards review here on the site (http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/post/troxel3.php) for more information.

Hi,

When I select multiple files from the media pool Vegas nicely puts in my default crossfade. Now I wonder how to do to add media later and have vegas position my cursor at the right "insert" point so that the new automatic crossfade will look like all others?

... and secondly - where do I see the length ( in time ) for a transistion? ( without trying to read the ruler )

Best regards,

Lazze Z

See where the transition is? Okay, double click the crossing lines of the trannie, and the the area of transition - its length - will be highlighted. Now look at the bottom far right of the T/L. You will se 3 little timecode readings. The one on the far right is the one the highlighted region covers - the transition. There you can read of the highlighted area - neat eh?

Grazie

I tried reduce INterlace Flicker and i think it works.

Okay, here's dumb question #863: I have interlaced video I want to deinterlace. Please explain to me the difference between the following setups and when to use them:

1) IN FILE/PROJECT PROPERTIES/FIELD ORDER I change the setting to NONE - Progressive Scan (Do I do this to deinterlace the video or is this done with video I have already shot in 30p or 24P? Also, do I set this up prior to capturing or after I capture?)

2) When I right click the clip on the timeline and bring up my PROPERTIES BOX, I check off the box REDUCE INTERLACE FLICKER and also go to the MEDIA TAB and switch FIELD ORDER to PROGRESSIVE. Do I need to do this on each and every clip on the timeline as well as #1? When I do #1 the clip itself still says LOWER FIELD FIRST until I manually change it to PROGRESSIVE.

3) When I render, I choose the CUSTOM TEMPLATE and click PROGRESSIVE.

So then, do I need to do all of the above just to deinterlace my interlaced footage? Do I need to right click every clip and select PROGRESSIVE SCAN? I hope I am making sense to the person asnwering this convoluted question.

Hi all, I'm a complete Newbie here and am in the process of putting together my first video editing rig.

Has anyone purchased the Canopus ACEDVIO/Vegas 4 bundle? If so did it come with a full version of Vegas or a stripped down version?

It seems like a great deal, you get Vegas 4 as well as dv and analog in/out capability. It just looked like "too good" of a deal to me and that always makes me wonder.......

Thanks for any input.

Paul.

<<<-- Originally posted by Graham Bernard : The one on the far right is the one the highlighted region covers - the transition. There you can read of the highlighted area - neat eh?

Grazie -->>>

I'm not at the editing box right now so I'm not sure, but I think you can also double-click the time indicator for highlighted area (transition time) and enter a specific time for the transition... does it change the transition/crossfade or just the selection?

/magnus

The latter - :-(

Grazie

Hugh,

1) You only need to do this for video you have shot in progressive or frame mode. (e.g., video that is already deinterlaced). You set this up after you have pulled the clip(s) to the timeline. Open File/Properties and set the Field Order to (None) Progressvie Scan.

2) If you are going to deinterlace all your clips, you don't have to do this.

3) Yes. This will deinterlace all the clips on the timeline.

No, you don't have to select every clip. Number 3 will do it for you.

you mention interlace , 24p & 30p ....

you want to deinterlace the 60i clips ?
and you want to take 60i to 30p ? or 24P (24fps) ? or 24p (29.97with pull down)?

OR are you mixing 60i , 24p , 30p in a 29.97 project ?

are the 24p clips in the TL as 24fps (without pulldown) or are they in TL as 29.97 (with pull down) ???

and the final render wil be to 24fps clip or 29.97 clip??

Yes, it's the full version of Vegas.

You will have to position the cursor in the proper spot in order for the correct overlap to occur on a newly added clip. However, there ARE some ways to adjust the cursor position. When you click on the timeline, there will be the timecode position in the lower right hand corner. If you double-click that timecode, you can then type in the exact value for cursor placement. So, if you wanted a 1 second dissolve, just change the second position to be one smaller.

To EASILY overlap a clip with the previous clip, check out Neon and Excalibur (http://www.vegastrainingandtools.com). See the Overlap Wizard in Neon and the Gap Wizard in Excalibur.

Matter of fact, I don't think there even exists such a thing as a stripped down version of Vegas. The free demo has limitations of course, not least where outside licences are involved (Dolby and Main Concept) but that's another story. There is, however Vegas 4 and Vegas 4+DVD. The difference is DVD Architect which is a bargain because it includes the Dolby AC-3 encoder.

Thanks for your replies!

Edward - I better get my scripting knowledge udated ;-) I do work as a professional .Net developer, so making a few scripts myself for Vegas should be fun, or else - defeat - and buy the already made working ones :-)

// Lazze \\

I don't want to drag this thread too far, but I thought some might be interested in my weekend attempts. I tried the un-install, re-install suggestion and I got the same error messages using both the Vegas 4.0 rendered MPEG2 and AVI files. I downloaded a trial copy of TMPGEnc and used it to render the MPEG2 file from the Vegas AVI file. Viola! MyDVD didn't complain about the file format and it proceeded to a successful DVD burn. I haven't fixed the real problem, but at least I have a work-around. I'll buy a registered version of TMPGEnc soon. It has the flexibility and options to make MyDVD happy

Again, thanks for all the suggestions.

Joseph

I do not have a camera capable of shooting 30p or 24p. My only concern so far is to deinterlace interlaced footage. I think Mr. Bruner hit the nail on the head:

Rendering to progressive does the trick in it's entirety. I believe he means that's all I need to do in order to deinterlace. I don't need to right click each clip on the timeline and I don't have to set up the project properties to progressive. Did I get that correct?

I agree. I know of NO stripped down version of Vegas. There's Vegas, Vegas+DVD, and the demos of each. Of course if you WANT something that is like a stripped down Vegas, there's always "Screenblast"!

Lars, the scripting language is, I believe, one of the greatest features of Vegas 4. You can automate tasks such as this to work the way YOU want them to work. With Excalibur & Neon, we've tried to give you a series of functions to help extend the power of Vegas.

If MyDVD is not happy with the Vegas created file, there is some setting that is incorrect in the custom screens. Compare the TMPGenc settings with the Vegas Custom settings. Make sure the Vegas settings match.

Also, which Vegas templates did you try? You may want to try the DVD Architect presets as well. If you want audio in the MPEG file, just turn the audio back on in the custom screen.

60i to 30 progressive ..
there are different ways to get progressive ..
1) you can set up your project (VEG) properties as Progressive ( field order NONE) .. and then choose BLEND as deinterlace method... when you render double check the field order ( none)

2) your project properties is interlace ... then when you render you change field order to NONE .. but it will not tell you which deinterlace method you choose .. so before you render - check project properties to make sure it is BLEND.

3) you can also Print to tape from Time line - again you can go into custom and choose progressive etc . Vegas will have to render every frame from interlace to progressive ...

Thanks a mil, Don!

For example, I might be interested in getting a deep announcer's voice. Is it possible to setup Vegas so that it applies audio effects so I can monitor what the effects will do and adjust my mic technique accordingly?

Thanks for the quick responses, I placed it on order today.

Sincerely,

Paul Rooney

Paul, welcome to the Vegas family.

Apologies in advance for my stupidity...

I downloaded the demo version of Vegas 4 a couple of days ago, and have done a lot of playing around. I really like the product and have found it easy to navigate and for the most part fairly intuitive. Until, that is, I inadvertently changed the "tiling" of the default workspace, if that's the correct word. Where I was previously able to see both the Media FX screen and the Preview screen at the same, I now have to tab between the two.

This is, obviously, frustrating as I cannot see the effect of adjusting an FX in "real time": I have to make the adjustment and then tab to the Preview screen to see what it looks like.

Try as I might, I just cannot tile the screens so that both are visible at the same time.

I would be grateful if anybody could tell me how I can achieve this and, preferably, return to the default workspace.

Many thanks
Duncan Wilson

After some fiddling I think I got the same "problem" as you have.
I couldn't find a way to reset it back to factory defaults, although
an uninstall/install will probably do this for you, there is an easy
way to get the preview out of there.

This is what you do. Select the Video Preview tab. Now on the
left side of the preview area is a small vertical line that starts
under the close and maximize buttons and runs down to the
left side of the preview information (resolution / frame rate etc.).

Now left-click and hold on that line and drag it to the far right of
your screen and let go. It should move the preview outside of
the tabbed area now.

To the best of my knowledge this is not possible in the capture
tool. It might be possible in Vegas itself if you arm a track for
record that has track effects in place? But it wouldn't suprise
me at all if it simply ignores this for performance reasons. Try
it out!

Rob
Thanks very much - I'll try that.
Duncan

In the last few weeks I edited a few short films with Vegas, the last 2 consisting of multiple cuts taken from the same scene/source. I felt that the workflow I used worked ok for short projects but would not work for something longer. Below is a description and questions.

Logical approach:

1. Capture tape onto big drive
2. Create new project, name it and save it
3. Open a scene into trimmer, mark the rough cuts
4. Take cut from trimmer, move it to timeline,
5. fine adjust cut/add envelopes
6. go to step 4
7. watch, readjust cuts till happy or time runs out
8. add text
10. add timeline effects,watch, adjust till happy
11. render

What I ended up doing however was copying an existing event and paste it repeatedly on the timeline, readjusting [alt-drag] the content within it and then readjust the length. This was possible because the cuts were coming from the same file.

Q1. I believe there is a more effective way to work in trimmer. How do YOU do it?

Q2. Also, I noticed that markers createdin trimmer remain in the "cut" when moved to the timeline, but for some reason I can't read their labels. How can I access that info?

A few more questions:

Q3. Technical tip/question: I am using a 160Gb external drive to capture and edit. Initially I would render on the same drive. This however leads to the drive reading/writing small chunks of data from and to itself. Not optimal. Next I started rendering onto another physical drive and it worked much smoother.

Any experience with this? What is your setting? 1 drive for everything or A for capturing/final storage and B for rendering_to.

Q4. I found it hard to manage alternate entries for the same cut. Say I want to see the timeline with cut A and immediately after that with cut B in order to make my mind of which one to keep. What's an effective way to do this without moving everything around? Duplicate timeline?

Q5. How do I move a cut to a different place quickly? Insert Time? How do you do it?


Thank you all!
-- Andre
-- See Tim O'Gara's music video at http://dv.instantclassic.org/sometimes-andre-512.mov
-- 3 short films coming soon to my signature!

Once i render a full AVI file, if i want to do a print-to-tape it apparently needs to re-render the entire project....

would it not be better to just pull in the already fully rendered AVI file into a new project with all the transitions, etc done already or would this cause degredation of video quality?

It seems silly to have done an AVI render for close to two hours and then run a PTT and have to wait another good bit.