Thanks Ed. I tried your suggestion to no avail. I tried reinstalling Vegas and Cineform to no avail. I tried reinstalling XP to no avail. I'm at a loss. I think that I have the same problem as Will Scanlon, in that I have over 60 minutes of footage and can't load it at all. And I get no error message.

The only thing I can think of is if upgrading from Cineform 3.0??? to 3.3 screwed it up. I sent a tech support email to Cineform to try and get a link to download the old version of ConnectHD.

Other than that, I'd have to start over, which I'm hesitant to do, because it is a 90 minute project and I don't want to start over and have the same thing happen. Ahhhhhhhhh!

No my hard drive is pretty big, so I don't think that is the problem... I am going to try my SATA drive too and see what happens.

I am running an older high 8 camera through my digital camera into Vegas capture. It sees it and it captures ok, but stops each time after only about 8 seconds of video - how come? Capturing is fine any other time ,but this is strange - always 8 seconds and the video from the high 8 does not stop and it one continuous scene so I am not sure what is happening. Any ideas?

hard to tell, but do you have vegas set to stop capturing on dropped frames? It's in the cap. prefs..try unchecking that and see if frames are dropping..if so, is it something with your PC or the drive you are using?

Do you have scene detection off and any other prefs unchecked for camera control, since you are basically using firewire to send a dv signal, but don't want vegas to control the tape transport.

Sounds like trial and error will be needed to narrow down the problem. When you capture dv tape from that same digital camcorder, does it work ok? how about a different hi8 tape using your setup (do you have one)?

You may not want to fool w/ other software, but scenalyzer live is also decent for catpure... http://www.scenalyzer.com/

hope this helps a little .. maybe nothing you didn't think of ...

Thanks for the advice. I actually managed to capture using WinXp movie maker - don't ask me why it works.
I have scene detection and stop on dropped frame already off. Back in the VV4 days, I managed to do this using digital-analog pass, but with VV6 and XP, it doesn't like it and hence the 'stop after 8 seconds'. It is like clockwork - no matter where on the tape (and I have used two different high 8 units as well). I guess I will have to go with Moviemaker for capturing, although I would prefer Vegas because the file size seems to be smaller, or maybe it is just me...

I have scene detection and stop on dropped frame already off.

You didn't mention Device Control. As Dave said, that needs to be turned off as well.

I just started a "Using SONY Vegas for Editing" SKYPE cast .. . if you wish to talk about anything "Vegas": Bezier, Titling, Workflow etc. I've got a SKYPEcast up and running.

Do a search on Skype for my handle: BIGGRAZIE or SONY or VEGAS

https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/home

Grazie

I haven't really used movie maker, so can't say. file size should not vary based on the capture program. One difference could be type I vs. type II avi (and even then, I am not sure of whether there would be a file size difference based on whether the audio and video are interleaved in the file..maybe only a very small difference for overhead, if any, but I do not know for sure).

Other thing causing file size difference would be the codec. I have found gspot to be a very handy and really great tool for looking at codecs used, bit rates of a file, etc. (free). Highly recommended if you don't have it:

http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

install the tool, then in the file name box, click the little box with the '...' in it and it will pull up a 'file/open' dialogue box where you can find your avi file. it will then give you the file info. click 'render' at the bottom for more info.

Might be worth while using gspot to look at the version vegas is creating (do you get an integral file?) and the windows movie maker version and see if there are any codec differences (check the bitrates too although they should be the same).

......Considering I have been using vegas for almost three years now, but here goes. To make titles, video, etc fade in, I have generated an alpha channel and crossfaded the media in or out from that. Is there an easier way to make a clip, title, audio (right now for audio I use the volume env.), etc just fade in?

Seeing the fade offset on some lower thirds in Ultimate S led me to believe there is a way. I was unsuccessful in digging through the manual or searching the help.

Try the Opacity envelope.

Try the Opacity envelope.

yeah..just mouse over the upper left hand corner or upper right hand corner of your video event and click then drag..you can modify the opacity. And, if you right click on the curve that the envelop generates, you can pick from preset shapes of the envelope to boot!

1. I'm thinking this can't be true... but, does coloring actually degrade my original file!? or (as I'm thinking) only the file that is to be rendered?

2. Everytime I add/delete/change the colors/looks of my timeline am I degrading it on each edit? or... "no" that doesn't degrade it, it's just when I render out = the one time degradation. If I am degrading it on each edit, should I play around with it in one file... then when I finally get the look I want, start a new file and apply those "decided" looks once?

3. The more coloring, filters, looks I add degrades it more and more? or, is it just a basic combined small degradation when render out?

my goodness, it really is that easy, hahahahah


Thanks Guys, this is going to save me so much time in the long run!!!

1) no ..only when you render the new file it be slighlty different from the original ( which you still have on your HD)

2) if you are taking a rendered clip and dropping it back into TL and then re-rendering it ( i find no problem going 3-5 renders ) ... but if just changing CC adding filters to a original clip in TL there is NEVER a change to the original clip - Vegas is non destructive ...

3) all depends on how you look at it .. maybe in terms of pixel to pixel and on paper it might be less quality then the original BUT if you like the color better and the effects then that equals a improvement to the rendered clip ( again the original clip is still on your hard drive until you delete it)

when viewing your clip to external monitor when you add Fx's "preview auto quaility " will show artifacts and it will look unsharp - change it to preview full and you will see a much better image on monitor ... if using many fx's then good/best full will show you what the final will look like better then preview quaility ... - preview setting does not force a resample - best does force a resample ... = if you are doing slo-mo then preview will look different the best ( as best will force resample) ...

Well, I have been doing pretty well on my own for a while now, but......
Any reason why I can't edit some generated text (scrolling credits) on the timeline. I am using some nested vegs but the credits are not from a nested project. Adding text and not having the changes appear in the preview window even though they have been accepted and are there when I re-open the Generated text window. Must be something simple, but I am a bit slow...........
Cheers

That is what I wanted to hear and what I suspected but wanted to be sure. I have been coloring/tweaking ect. so much on clips on the timeline... was just worried. However, as you said... it is only after you render and then maybe bring it back in. Thank you.

Actually 2 questions...
How does one selectively color, say, a balloon in a video and leave the rest of the image in black and white. I saw a camera (just can't remember where) that had a special effect mode that let you selectively color up to 2 or 3 items like balloons in your video image while leaving the rest of the image in black and white. I know we all have seen this effect. How is it done in post?

The other question
I have an item I need to put against a blue sky and clouds background. I need to create a composite or "fake it" so that it looks as if it was shot against the sky, even though it really was not. I would really like to have the "Sky" background moving, panning behind the item to create some movement in the video. Any ideas how this is done?

I find myself doing this all too often: I make change in an event (text or otherwise) but the change doesn't appear.

Why?

Because I made the change in the wrong #$#@! event. Had the cursor on Event B, visible in the Preview window, but negelected to change the FX from the last event I edited, Event B.

Maybe you did the same?

I have a tutorial on the technique found at this link (http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/articles/Color_pass_or_Pleasantville.htm) and I believe Edward has a tutorial on multiple color passes on his website.

The upshot is that you use the Secondary Color corrector to select the color/s that you want desaturated, or saturated. Use the mask tool to see it, adjust with the various parameters until the mask clearly shows what you have selected and will be controlling. Then undo the mask, invert it, and slide saturation to "off."
If you're looking for a static image to have movement separate from the sky complete with parallax, you can use generated media to move the sky, or use an existing shot of the sky. Use alpha channels or bezier mask to cut out the static image. If you have a moving image, it's a bit harder. You either have to bezier it, or chromakey it to remove it from it's existing background.
I believe Edward has a "Kid Stays in the Picture" tutorial on his website; I have one in the Vegas books, so can't publish it online.

Passing multiple colors (including a quick single color pass description) is in Vol 2 #10. Kids in the Picture is in Vol 3 #3.

Thanks for the help Spot.

I will get the book/DVD training. Seems like I am going to need it.

John

my goodness, it really is that easy, hahahahah


Thanks Guys, this is going to save me so much time in the long run!!!

I am kind of the opposite. I learned everything in vegas from mousing around and seeing what tips or text popped up. I clicked everything.... right clicked everything, and just looked through the edit and view menus.

Consequently, I only learned the immediately available tools and nothing too complicated. As a result I have a wedding project that has about 12 audio tracks and 10 video tracks so I probably do things the most complicated way possible.

jason

Wow Kev, your old method for fades was really taking the long way home...I'm gonna be reexamining my Vegas techniques more closely now, since I'm sure I've got some editing habits that take me on the scenic route, too.

(in a Tommy Chong voice) Wow, I've done that too, man! Actually, I usually do that more than once per editing session, especially when I'm zoned in and trying to finish a project at 3 or 4 in the morning, and it all seems to blur together...

Recently completed a workflow to youtube, see my video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S45OJnQp6mI

This clip has lots of very smooth motion in the subject (you'll see), and I thought the motion through youtube was very acceptable.

I edited HDV on the timeline and used the mikecrash.com deinterlacer on the track for a render to 320x240 QT, which is what I uploaded. Note that youtube is 4:3 aspect ratio only, as near as I can figure out.

I'm very happy with the deinterlacer, would like to do more testing with the QT intermediate to see if I can improve the quality.

Hi,
I have a PC running XP SP2 with all in one ATI 128 graphic card.
When connect my A1, it is recognized as Microsoft AV/C Tape subunit device,
then when I try to capture with Vegas via firewire, it says the device could not be open or being use by another program,
meanwhile I can capture via the ATi.
I tried to turn it on and off, but nothing happened.

Please advise on where the problem would be and how to fix it.

Much thanks

tung

Nevermind, got to capture in HD since i taped in HD. I thought by choosing to capture in DV mode it would automatically downconvert for me, but no.

Thanks

Folks, we're trying to keep the forum tightly focused on Vegas discussions only... so, if you have questions for Graham about how to access his SKYPEcast, or for any more info about what he's doing with this and when, please contact him off of the boards via email at:

graham_bernard at lycos dot co dot uk

Thanks in advance,

I'm trying to prep/burn a disc, but I keep getting "there is not enough space in the prepare folder for the DVD." That's fine, but there's no clue given how I can remedy this. I've done the usual hard drive elimination of temp files, etc., but within the DVD3 program I don't know what to do. The disc contents are within the space limits of the DVD, incidentally (4.1 GB). Help!

Thanks...

How much drive space is free where you told it to prepare? Under Options - Preferences on the "Burning" tab, where is the "Default Prepare Folder" and "Temporary Files Folder" boxes pointing? How much space is fee in both of those locations? My guess would be the "Temporary Files" location is pointing to drive "C" and there's not enough free space there.

(blush)

My mistake--I wildly underestimated how much space was left in my hard drive, owing to some recent capturing. I've deleted various files and now I'm back on track.

Thanks again though for your advice.

I am having a hard time finding how to get a full screen view on Vegas 7. I just select Full Screen on my Mac but have not fiqured it out on the PC with Vegas. I am sure someone will tell it is page "X".

Hi John,

I'm not sure if Vegas does this on your primary monitor. If you are previewing on an external monitor via your camcorder or firewire device (ads pyro) then it will playback full screen.

Otherwise, drag the preview window out and set the playback quality to Best FULL. On my monitor here I get it showing about two thirds of of the screen.

If there is a way, I'm sure some of the more knowledgable Vegas guys will correct me.

Hope this is of some help.

Alastair is right.
If you don't have a 2nd monitor then undock the preview screen, set it to any of the FULL settings and it will be about as full size as you can make it. You can of course resize the screen but it will only get as large as the viewing screen. For edit work I check it on preview full and for color and exposure I check it on a seperate tv run thru the 1394 pass thru.
Don

Hi everybody!

I have a little problem, i'm testing vegas 7 with chromakey, everything seems to work fine exept when i render the file... the preview looks and sounds exactly how i want it to be but when i render it, it comes out very different, for exemple : i filmed myself in front of a greenscreen (track #1 & #2 / video & audio) also added a jpg file as background (track #3) then added the event FX : "Chroma Keyer" to track #1 and also a "timecode" to track #3, to see the timecode on the video file itself.

But when i render it as a AVI or MPG or whatever, the first 10frames of the video file are ok, but then a still image of another video file (not even involved in this project) pops up and blocks 3/4 of the screen, the sound is ok.

I'm new to Vegas 7, so i don't know much about this program, i'm in the learning and testing phase, i tought this would be the best program for my HDR-FX1.

Thanks in advance!! and happy holidays!!
Donald Blake

For some reason this hapens once in a while. I've found the only way to get around it is to close the project without saving-close the program and reopen and redo the work I did. Its a PITA but somewhere in there is a frame of something thats causing the problem. Luckily it only has happened to me I think 3 time over the years with Vegas. Once with 3, once with 4 and once with 5. I know its a pain to redo the work but also check frame by frame just to see if theres a frame in there that doesn't belong. Zoom the timeline a big as you can so you can see it frame by frame.

Don

This is a sort of hybrid question...I'm thinking of getting the new 24" iMac. I would like to use it to edit with Vegas on the Windows side using their beta version of Bootcamp to pull that off. Do you know if that's possible with the current version of Bootcamp or are there some inherent problems with Vegas that wouldn't be compatible with the iMac in its current configuration?

And one more question...looking forward, I'd like to be able to edit AVCHD footage as well. Are the current generations of iMacs not up to that and would it be better for me to wait 9 months or so?
Thanks!

Hi all

I'm creating an effect to have multiple video clips movin around the screen using track motion in 3D. Looks OK-ish - but I'd like to put a shadown behind each clip so that when one passes over another it adds a little depth.

I think this is one of those things where it's really obvious but I've got a mental block.

Since I first posted this I've just realised it doesn't look that good - when one track crosses another they appear to intersect and one 'slices' through - I was hoping that as wth normal editing, whatever is on the uppermost track would always appear in front of lower tracks?

Cheers

Ian

PS - Merry Christmas everyone.

I just bought myself a Zoom H4 which does a good job by the way. I have a 1 hour recording that I want to sync with my FX1. The audio on the Zoom H4 was recorded at 48K but as I suspected the clock may not be as accurate as on the FX1. I want to stretch the audio to sync with the FX1 audio. The change would be much less than 0.01% as I have tried this as a quick check. Ideally I would like to lock one end and just stretch the timeline until the waveforms line up. Is this possible? If so how do I do this?

Ron Evans

You'll need to add a parent track to the entire 3D sequence, make the other tracks children to this track, and add a shadow using the Parent Track Motion dialog. This will add shadow to all tracks found beneath.

Put the picture down,
Stretch the audio from your zoom, by holding CTRL+Drag.
that's it.
Don't forget to mute the audio track from your FX.

Thank you Douglas. Worked just great. I have not had to do this in the past but was sure it was possible. Trying to find it in the Help under lots of cue words got me nowhere.

Ron Evans

First question: Using Vegas 7, I will be doing several projects to be rendered to wmv 640X360 @ 10Mbs. All the templates for new projects in Vegas are set up for DV, so my preview window always letterboxes and crops off the sides like regular DV widescreen. How can I change this setting so that my entire 640x360 frame can be seen in the preview window? It will show the entire frame in the trimmer window, but not in preview window. Changing project resolution to 640x360 doesn't help.

Second question: If anyone watches the History Channel, they have an affect that they use on still pictures that lets them pan across the photo and it looks 3D, separating the foreground from the background. Anyone know how that is done? Thanks for any help!

And, for the first question, you can also check out the Colorize effect from our NewBlue Art Effects collection. Colorize reduces the picture to black and white and then repaints it using a limited palette of colors that you select, typically by choosing directly from the image with the dropper. If it does accomplish what you need, it will do it very quickly and efficiently. It all depends on the relationship of colors in the objects that you want to keep vs discard.

You can learn about it at http://www.newbluefx.com/art_effects.html as well as download the trial software to give it a try.

Todor

In the project templates there does not appear to be a template for PAL 25P 1080 only 720, am I missing something or is 720 the only one available.
Thanks Mike.

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how to capture video from a VTR via 1394?

Vegas cannot see the VTR no matter what I seem to do!

Any help appreciated.

Stuart

sometimes the most obvious of explanations are the quickest to be overlooked!

IEEE1394 cable not in properly!
Ha ha

Can't answer number 1 but for number 2 it's call "kids in the picture effect" -it's a bit labor intensive but what isn't these days.

Check out Edward Troxels Vegas newltter Vol 3 number 3 for all the info on how to do it.
www.jetdv.com

Don

1) suppose you have two clips on the time line but they're quite far apart from each other. Instead of trying to drag one of the clips to the other, there must be a command to bring them close together...right?

2) If i was to drag a video and accompanying audio clip to a different part of the timeline, is there a way to "lock" them to each other so you don't have to drag them separately?

thanks.

What video format is the source video in? DV widescreen? If so, I would leave it DV widescreen during editing and then save it to a custom template for the 640x360 WMV. If the source video is already 640x360 WMV, then you can define a set of custom project properties for the video and save it. You can even make that custom set of properties the default so whenever you open Vegas, it sets up the project for WMV. Alternately, you can use the Match Media Settings folder icon out to the right of the template drop down box to select a reference 640x360 WMV file. The properties of that file will then be applied to the project.

They should be locked together unless you unlocked them Or are using a seperate audio piece.
Ripple is your friend. You can ripple affect tracks, regions etc.
What I do many times is to double click the empty area so you're setting a region, CNTL X and then hit the F button. This will move everything to the right down the timeline and butt up to the previous clip.
HTHs
Don