Yeah I've seen quite a few on the net, but I'd rather wait for them to become locally available. I just prefer not to buy electrical gear over the net. Hopefully only have to wait a month or two. One PC shop I spoke to said they are trying to get them, but haven't been able to yet. And seeing they are selling the eSATA cases, surely there will be customer demand for the pc express cards.

Hello everyone. This is my first post, as I have just downloaded Vegas Movie Studio Trial for a look. My current editor (Movie Edit Pro) is running out of puff with lots of files. If anybody can shed some light on the following, I'd be grateful:

1. Editing events: Does Vegas have an option where I can split an event and the program automatically deletes either to the left or right of the split (depending on the action taken by me) and then close up the gap? I'm aware of the ripple edit where if you delete an event the gap closes automatically, but I was wondering if there is an option that circumvents the need to manually delete the bit that's left first. In MEP, I can hit K, which will split the event, then delete the resulting event to the left of the split and close up the gap ie ripple. Likewise, I can hit U and MEP will split the event at the cursor and then delete the "new" event on the right of the cursor and ripple the movie to close the gap.

Can this be done in Vegas?

2. Vegas MS has 4 video tracks and 4 audio tracks. You can't use a video track for audio. Does the real Vegas have dedicated video and audio tracks or can a track be used for either video or audio events?

3. My trial download didn't include DVD Architect Studio. Does anybody know if this was intentional or a download glitch? When I try to create a DVD, all the program says is "Sony DVD Arcitect Studio does not appear to be installed". I have tried asking Sony but I cannot register for support because I don't have a computer number as I haven't bought anything yet.

Thanks a lot,

Alwyn

1. You use "S" to split and then manually delete whatever event. I suppose you could use scripting in the full version of Vegas to create such a function. Scripting isn't available in Movie Studio, though.

2. The full version has unlimited video and audio tracks. Need 35 audio tracks? No problem.

3. Did you download the DVD Architect Studio trial? It's a separate download from the Vegas Movie Studio trial. Both are listed on this page:
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/download/step2.asp?DID=684

Ed,

Thanks. Does the full blown Vegas differentiate between video and audio, or can you put either on any track you like? For example, could I put audio on track one?

I'll download the architect demo; I didn't even see it there. Thanks.

Cheers, Al

Hello Alwyn,

in the full version of Vegas it is possible to have a Audio Track on top. But Audio and Video tracks are still different

Greetings Richard

Audio and video tracks can be placed in any order. That does not matter at all. However, audio tracks can ONLY contain audio and video tracks can ONLY contain video. If you want track 1 to be an audio track, that is no problem at all (and I would think that would also be no problem in VMS as well).

When you open the full version of Vegas, there are NO tracks on the timeline. You then start adding tracks as needed. So, for example, you could have a project with 10 audio tracks and ZERO video tracks.

I've just come up against the nested 5.1 VEG problem myself, and I am not happy :-(

Not sure what the point is of not allowing 5.1 to be carried over onto the master timeline, but is has just caused the start of an absolutely huge headache for me on a project that I need to complete double quick time!

Do you mean that the nested file renders as stereo, or simply appears stereo but renders surround?

As far as I can tell all nested projects are stereo only, and when I queried the development team on this they also told me that nested projects are stereo only. Note that my query was about Vegas 7, so this is the latest version of the program.

Thank God for DSE's Trackaliser script! At least now I can easily render out each track for placement in the master timeline.

Trackaliser (http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id=c217cca0-5add-4e90-ba36-caf3e6041ea1), for the rest of use.

Hi all,

Just finish the portion of a Lynda.com tutorial. This part was to capture, manage and render.

I understand the intermediate part but the thing is when you render in Vegas it uses "Good" as the default quality. So if I only choose the Avi type then the 1080 60i template it will be at "good" settings.

Should I use "Best" instead.

Thanks

Somebody here knows the details better than I do, but, the general guideline is that you only need "best" when you are rescaling the video.

For example, rendering DV to WMV 320x240 pixels. Or, HDV (M2T or Cineform) to standard definition for DVD.

Nothing wrong with using "best" under other circumstances, but you won't see improvement in the video and it will take a lot longer to render.

So I should then use the "best" setting for when my work is done and I want render the whole project back to mpeg2.

Right...

Im sorry, i've searched the forum and searched vegas help and I cant find the answer. I am wondering if it is possible to add an effect to all audio or video clips. Grouping doesnt work. I dont know. Thanks for the help.

Trying adding the effect at the track level. Third icon from the left.

Thank you Emre and Simon for pointing this out. I am going to try this out - looks like it will save me hours of work!

Fellow Vegans,

I posted some scenes from my film "Catch A Rising Bullet" online at the Yahoo Talent show.

http://tinyurl.com/yhtqwv

This production exists only because of Vegas (having started with Vegas 4).

Comments, thoughts, and even flames are appreciated.

The film has been in post since Vegas 5, and will be finished in Vegas 6. The audio is still rough, but I couldn't resist taking advantage of Yahoo's generosity. Running time will exceed two hours, yet maintain a brisk pace.

Has anyone else entered?

Thanks,

BMW

Drag the effect into the preview window for video and the master volume for audio

AND, It's time to figure this out. I have been needing to finish simple projects, so I have just put all of my video on one track and trimmed them appropriately.
Now I am ready to be a grown-up about it and use my composite envelopes etc.

I'm sure it is something bonehead that I just haven't been able to figure out., probably a button to press. I have spent about 3 hours experimenting, reading the manual and Eagle's Vegas book, to no avail.

To be clear, my envelopes work fine. I can get the top video track to fade out in color or composite. I can also just use the level fader in the control strip to the left. The challenge is that the video tracks directly beneath it do not become visibile when the top track get transparent. the screen/preview window/rendered file just goes black the more transparent, the more black shows through).

Help!

Mark

most obvious first:

Is the track enabled for viewing? I can't remember the icon (is it the "!"), but if it is selected, you won't see or hear what's on a particular track.

Even if it is enabled, to you have transparency set to 100% ? That would also make it invisible.

Of course, as soon as I hit send, I noticed that the top track was further left than the other tracks by a quarter inch.

I added a new video track, moved my clips to it, and it works fine.

Somehow, I don't know how, I have tracks in my project that look like video tracks, but don't show up. They have a quarter inch space to the left of the track controlsjust left of the minimize/maximize buttons.

Does anyone know what these are, what they are for, and/or how to convert them to normal tracks? For now, I will just move the clips on them to "working" tracks...

Thanks!

mARK

kind of sounds like you have PARENT/CHILD set up on the tracks. I could be wrong but there's nothing else that I know of that sounds like what you have described. If you don't need P/C then release it by clicking on the up arrow of the bottom track.

Don

Thanks for the responses guys.

Another couple of questions:

I have now installed DVD Architect. It seems that I have to render the MPEG and audio files, then as a separate action set up your DVD menus and burn/author. Does this sound right?

Also, is it possible to "burn" the project to the hard drive? In other words, can Vegas MS/Vegas full create the VIDEO TS folder on a hard drive without actually putting it onto a DVD ?

i recently got a new laptop, i'm trying to open up an old project i have, i moved all the media fine but everytime i open the veg the damn thing still links it to my old pc locations and i have to specify the files again each time? even though i hit save it still doesn't remember the new locations, how can i do this?

thanks

It should remember once you save, but the correct way is to move using the Project Media tab.

I have now installed DVD Architect. It seems that I have to render the MPEG and audio files, then as a separate action set up your DVD menus and burn/author. Does this sound right?

You can do that. Just render the video to MPEG2 (adjusting the bitrate as appropriate) and the audio as AC-3 and then give DVD Architect both of those files. Alternately, you could render to DV-AVI and let DVD Architect do the conversions for you.


Also, is it possible to "burn" the project to the hard drive? In other words, can Vegas MS/Vegas full create the VIDEO TS folder on a hard drive without actually putting it onto a DVD ?

Yes it is. That's what the "Prepare" process does - create a folder containing the Video_TS and Audio_TS folders. You can then burn that as many times as desired.

Has anyone else noticed that Soundforge saves user data in the wrong place? It should be under %USERNAME%\Local Settings\Application Data\Sony\Sound Forge, but some programmer omitted a backslash so it became %USERNAME%\Local Settings\Application DataSony\Sound Forge instead! No biggie but it caught my attention when I was re-installing another application.

I'm creating a short promo from HDV 1080i footage - just about got the edit done. The destination formats are various for google video, yahoo video and youtube.

The one thing I think they all have in common is that they'll do better with progressive, 30p.

I think my next step is to render the 1080/60i timeline to a 1080/30p cineform or sony yuv to serve as my digital master for all these renders to other destination formats.

Will setting up the project properties for progressive influence what's rendered, or, is that just determining display within Vegas?

Or, is the proper approach to specify "progressive scan" in the field order drop down in custom render setings?

Or is there another approach? The help file and manual are no help...

Tools - I have what comes with Vegas, I don't have Connect HD.

Hi.
Is it possible to "unlock snapping" to a soundtrack in Vegas 7? I want to move the music a half frame to exactly match the beats to the frames.
Howe can this be done?

Turning off "Quantize to Frames" (in the toolbar or under the Options menu) will do this for you.
If the audio is locked to the video, you'll need to ungroup it. "Ignore Event Grouping" is one way of doing this.

"Quantize to Frames" (in the toolbar or under the Options menu)
Thats the one.
Thank you.

Try mike crash's de-interlacer if you want slightly better results.

notes on how to use it:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=52097

2- Actually I may not even bother with it, because with 1080i you can do this:

Nest your .veg into a new project.
Set the new project to progressive, under file-->properties. (Not sure if this is necessary, since the file-->render as settings tend to override things.)
In the de-interlace method, select interpolate field. Vegas will discard a field, and use the remaining field. You lose half your 1080 resolution (which is fine) and you don't have any motion artifacts.

You can also apply the "studio RGB to computer RGB" preset in the color corrector if necessary. Your video is usually studio RGB, while encoders for wed streaming formats typically expect computer RGB. Video formats (with Vegas default codecs for DV, MPEG2) usually expect studio RGB levels so don't use this color corrector FX/filter for those exports. That's why I recommend nesting, so you can have seperate vegs for seperate outputs.

So, that is what I mean:
As you can see, this dark skin of Vegas is what I want to get, and it doesnt depend on any Windows theme. So???

I'm going to be away from home for a while and must get a wedding video finished before the bride strings me up!! I'm planning on taking a laptop with all the captured tapes on an external USB drive.

But at some point I'll want to finsih the edit on the home desktop PC and there's a good chance it will assign it a different drive letter to the laptop. Is this gonna cause a major problem in Vegas - is there a way of saying within a project "Replace any reference to S: with T:"

Thanx

Ian

and it doesnt depend on any Windows theme.

Do you have proof of this? Because I don't think it is possible. You would need to modify the entire windows theme from your desktop to get Vegas to look like this.

This is from memory so the wording won't be exactly like I say below.

When you eventually start the project up on your home PC, Vegas will say "can't find file01.avi - what do you want to do" and give you 3 or 4 options. Choose the "I'll tell you where it is" option and then select it on the external USB drive. Usually once you select the first one, it'll say "I found file02.avi here as well. Do you want to use it?". Say Yes and everything else should load in automatically. Worst case scenario is that you'll have to reload all the files one at a time. Been there, done that :-(

Mike

Nice one - thanx Mike

Ian

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/tuttidog/stats.jpg

I'm worried about this. Is my page file usage out of control? It caps out around 1.4gigs. Also I thought maybe my thread count should be lower...I have Vegas's thread usage set to 4, Dynamic preview ram at 1 gig (highest it can go)

This is what I see after about 5 minutes of rendering. Doesn't matter what kind of original file it is or what type of codec/file type I render with, I end up with an approximate 2 frames per second render speed at this point. The renders all start off really fast but then slow right down. It doesn't matter what kind of effects I have, I can be doing something bare-bone.

My system stats are 2.6 GHz Pentium Dual core, 4 gigs (seriously) of RAM, plenty of hard drive space, decent pci-ex video card.

Any suggestions? I could really use the help :(

Try lowering the Dynamic Preview RAM.

The way I understand it, this should free up more RAM for Vegas to use for other activities, such as rendering.

Some friends got married in Hawaii and setup their camcorder at the beach, there is basically no useable audio on the tape. However the minister had a hand help cassette recorder which has useable audio, so I digitized it and dropped it into Vegas 6. I guess the speeds of the dv tape and audio cassette are way off. My first question is how do you line up a start point to single frame accuracy, I've dragged the audio track but can never get a perfect match to a clapping sound start point that matches the video...it's close but looks off by a couple frames? Is there a way to move the audio track, or even the video track that accurately....I've just been dragging left or right?
Also, when I do get the audio track to a very close starting point, by the time the video gets to the end of the last speaking by people on camera, the matching audio finished like 10 seconds before.....?!?! How do I change the speed of the audio track.....I used a velocity envelope on the video to change it slightly slower (or faster, I forget) and that helped somewhat, but the sync is still way off.
Any help would be appreciated.

I'm new to Vegas, but I know that you can nudge the tracks by a single frame using the arrow keys. Hopefully someone will come along and tell you how.

Also, I believe on each track there is a slider that has a "rate" on it, where you can slow down or speed up play a bit.

Good luck with your issue.

Is it possible to create an adjustment layer (as in After Effects) in Vegas – whereby all layers beneath are effected by the FX of the adjustment layer?

Or you could force the external drive to have the same drive letter on both machines maybe?

Just some things to consider, rather than a certain solution:

1. Turn off snapping. That may help you line up your start points. To get the best possible synch point it helps to zoom in really close, greatly increase the height of the audio tracks and find some useful audio spike that matches the audio on the original video footage.

2. To reduce the cumulative effect of the synch problem try chopping the video track (together with the original audio track) into smaller chunks and adjusting those to suit (make sure you aren't splitting the new audio track with it as well or you won't get anywhere!). You could either make these split points at a fixed frequency, say every 3 minutes, which should help to counter the cumulative delay, or you could make them any time there is a nice audio spike you can line up with the original footage.

Hope that helps in some way.

Ian . . .

I'm new to Vegas, but I know that you can nudge the tracks by a single frame using the arrow keys. Hopefully someone will come along and tell you how.

This is done using the 1 and 3 keys on the numeric keypad.

Hi,
Whatever I do, the result in Vegas color correcting doesn't satisfy me. Is there any plug-in for Vegas like Synthetic Aperture Color Finesse, which can do more than Vegas's one? Color Finesse seems to be one of the best, I think. A lot of options and settings there. With more saturation or not, the picture is pretty nice and you can feel density of the colors, while the color correctors in Vegas are so poor. So, any suggestions?

i use both ... i find the CC in vegas works 90% of the time ..there are some difficult shots that CF works better ... i think you'll find it the same with most NLE's ... CF was created for CC and it does it better then most NLE's ..

Glenn, thanks.

You seem to be indicating that the project properties settings not only change preview performance, but also interact with the render process.

I appreciate your suggestions of computer RGB and the nesting strategy - great way to assure that your results are easily repeatable through revision processes, kudos for thinking out the workflow to this extent.

I have never found a way of doing this. There is a video bus which you can add fx to but that affects all of the video tracks.