Greets.

I was just checking this thread out and tried the shift/scrollwheel method of moving left/right on the timeline and discovered something cool I thought worthy of adding:

If you've got one of those trackball mice you can click the scrollwheel and you'll see a little left and right arrow appear on the screen.....then you can move left or right by moving the ball. Try it.....it's going to be a very useful function for my style.

You can also zoom in/out via the scroll wheel, plus hold both right/left buttons and scroll...lots to discover in that little mouse.

I just tried the hold both buttons thing and it didnt work for me. Do you mean the same thing as both left and right clicking simultaneously while moving the scrollwheel?

BTW, I should add that with the maneuver I mentioned above the left or right scrolling slows down or speeds up depending on how far into that direction you move the trackball....it's sort of like j/k/l scrubbing without the preview vid/audio. With the shift/scrollwheel method it seems to be just one speed which is pretty slow. This method feels like your floating on a magic carpet.

If you've got one of those trackball mice you can click the scrollwheel and you'll see a little left and right arrow appear on the screen.....then you can move left or right by moving the ball. Try it.....it's going to be a very useful function for my style.

This works with a regular mouse with scroll wheel too, you just move the mouse to the left or the right after clicking on the wheel.

To start off with, I am so used to Premiere, and working with its time line, that I am having some trouble adapting to and working with the programs in Movie Studio, but my impression is that once I learn the changes in the workflow, I will likely be a confirmed Vegas user--
Chris Barcellos

After all I've heard about Vegas, I was keen to get it. But decided to have a play around with the trial version first. Luckily I did, because I just cannot get a feel for it at all!!! It feels so foreign compared to FCP or Premiere. I feel like Im back in Pre-School or something. Even the Help menu was all over the place to me, and didnt have remotely sufficient information to help me figure out Vegas at all. Everyone seems to think Vegas is so wonderful and relatively easy to learn compared to Premiere and other NLE's. But I have found the opposite in fact. However, given all the positive opinions of it, I am keen to learn it, but it feels all wrong.

Is there some really huge detailed Vegas Manual anywhere?? Because Im lost on the whole thing. And I want to give it a proper go.

Tracey

It is a different way of working - not like the source / composer window setup.
You should be able to download the manual from the sony web page.

Here's the 408 pages manual:

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/download/step2.asp?DID=571

Is there some really huge detailed Vegas Manual anywhere?? Because Im lost on the whole thing. And I want to give it a proper go.

I suggest downloading all of Edward Troxel's excellent newsletters at http://www.jetdv.com/vegas/forum/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=7a6c1332654a26a188b50add7a79c3a4 as they're a great learning tool/resource.
There are also a number of tutorials on the VASST site at http://vasst.com/
You will need to register but it's free & painless :-)
Finally, http://www.blue7media.com/vegas/ is another resource site with lots of Vegas links.

Mike

Am downloading that manual as I write this. Also....the other links are great!
This should definately get me going in the right direction with Vegas. Thanks.

Tracey

I still have this feeling about Vegas, that I am missing something.. And perhaps that is because I have the limited version that is in Movie Studio +DVD Platinum. In meantime, I have ordered the 2.0 upgrade to Premiere, and will be deciding my direction after I test that one out.

I have ordered the 2.0 upgrade to Premiere, and will be deciding my direction after I test that one out.

Yes.....I was all revved up for Vegas, but even after reading some of the manual.....I dont feel anymore in tune with it. Although, I will persist for another 2 weeks before making a decision on going with Vegas or PPro2.

I would be most interested to know how you get on with your testing.

Tracey

Well, my 30day trial is almost over... Still don't know if I want to invest another wad of money for another NLE. I don't know....

Hey Chris or Tracey! Did you decide yet???

Well, my 30day trial is almost over... Still don't know if I want to invest another wad of money for another NLE. I don't know....

Hey Chris or Tracey! Did you decide yet???


Yeah, John. With my upgrade of Premiere Pro 2.0, I'm able to get a clean edit in native HDV. When I was looking at anothe $ 400 to $600.00 on Vegas-- I am not going there now. I use Pemiere Pro 1.51 to captur in the Cineform intermediate codec, if I want to take advantage of any benefis of that format. After capuring in there, I can also edit it in Vegas Movie Studio if I think there are definite benefits. By the way, how did your camera issues work out?

Well, my 30day trial is almost over... Still don't know if I want to invest another wad of money for another NLE. I don't know....

Hey Chris or Tracey! Did you decide yet???

Yes, I decided to go with Vegas....but because I wasnt 100% sure I only purchased Vegas M.Studio Platinum. I figure I will upgrade within the next 6 months to the full featured version. Everyone keeps saying how simple it is to use..... but for some reason, i find it incredibly confusing and messy, even with the built in tutorials which tell me all the things I do know ,but none of the basic things I NEED to know. (The trimmer window drives me crazy!)

Bottom line is though, i think its features and price make it great value in many ways. So I have just decided to commit to learning it. Iam hoping that once I get over that initial steep learning curve (its so different to premiere), that it will all have been worth it!!!

Tracey

Yes, I decided to go with Vegas....but because I wasnt 100% sure I only purchased Vegas M.Studio Platinum. I figure I will upgrade within the next 6 months to the full featured version. Everyone keeps saying how simple it is to use..... but for some reason, i find it incredibly confusing and messy, even with the built in tutorials which tell me all the things I do know ,but none of the basic things I NEED to know. (The trimmer window drives me crazy!)

Bottom line is though, i think its features and price make it great value in many ways. So I have just decided to commit to learning it. Iam hoping that once I get over that initial steep learning curve (its so different to premiere), that it will all have been worth it!!!

Tracey
Tracey: Keep us posted. I have the same feeling about confusion and messiness... I'd like some idea how its gone in a month.

Everyone keeps saying how simple it is to use..... but for some reason, i find it incredibly confusing and messy, even with the built in tutorials which tell me all the things I do know ,but none of the basic things I NEED to know. (The trimmer window drives me crazy!)

Tracey, I find it VERY logical in how it works. The great thing for me is that everything is treated equally no matter what kind of media it is. As for the trimmer, I very seldom use it. It has it's uses but for normal cutting I just drop the clip on the timeline and start trimming there.

Have you looked over the "Beginner's Corner" series in my newsletters? They may help.

Yes, you can pre-render in Vegas. The biggest problem with Vegas pre-renders is that they're easy to "lose". However, you CAN pre-render.

THAT'S the truth. It's an area where Vegas can learn from Liquid.

Have you looked over the "Beginner's Corner" series in my newsletters? They may help.

Hi Edward,

I over the Beginner's Corner which is a great resource!!! However, I still cannot figure out 2 things in particular which is very frustrating.
1. The FX icon is often on clips that dont have any FX on them! I dont understand this.
2. I did decide to go experimenting on vegas yesterday and managed to apply effects to slowly rotate my entire film (upside down and around) as it plays. This was amusing for about 2 seconds! But now I want to delete this effect and can't recall how I even added this effect and how to delete it!!! I;ve looked all over the programme and the manual explanation was not detailed enough to be useful. I've clicked on the Fx icon which doesnt do anything except provide a big list of possible effects. (am I missing something here????)

Im sure there's a simple answer to this. The fx icon should be a simple thing and deleting an effect should be simple. Im sure it IS easy, once one understands it!!!!!!

If you or someone could shed a bit of detailed light on these 2 issues, I think it would solve quite a few of my vegas problems (of which many relate to this fx icon).

Any explanations would be most appreciated, as i really want to understand Vegas.

Thanks.

Tracey

Any explanations would be most appreciated, as i really want to understand Vegas.

I'll give it a shot and (hopefully) answer both questions simultaneously.
The biggest problem is that selecting FX on the timeline clip is only one of four ways to do this.
Since you're not seeing the green FX icon on the clip, but it still has an effect on it, there are three other possibilities.
The first is that you applied the FX to the clip while it was in the media pool. Try right-clicking on the clip there, select Media FX and, if the FX window comes up, remove it.
The second is that you applied it at the Track level. In the video track header, see if the Track FX icon is highlighted (i.e. green). If so, either click to bring up the FX box and delete it or right-click and select Bypass All or Delete All.
Finally, the FX can be applied as a Video Output FX. The icon for this is just above the Preview window and right next to the Preview on External Monitor icon. FX removal is the same as above.

Hopefully I've helped to clarify things here. Please let us know if this is still confusing you.

Mike

Tracey, if you see effects but you effect icon is not green on the event, I agree with Mike, it's either been applied to the track, media, or project. That's talked about in vol 1 #12 of the newsletter. You have to remove the effect from whereever you applied it.

As for rotating, I'm betting you either applied Pan/Crop or Track Motion to rotate it. Just go back to Pan/Crop or Track Motion and delete any keyframes there and reset the first keyframe. That should get you back to normal.

Yeah, John. With my upgrade of Premiere Pro 2.0, I'm able to get a clean edit in native HDV. When I was looking at anothe $ 400 to $600.00 on Vegas-- I am not going there now. I use Pemiere Pro 1.51 to captur in the Cineform intermediate codec, if I want to take advantage of any benefis of that format. After capuring in there, I can also edit it in Vegas Movie Studio if I think there are definite benefits. By the way, how did your camera issues work out?

I was kinda thinking the same direction. It's just to hard to teach an old dog like me new tricks.. Even though I am really a puppy in this venture ;)
As far as the camera goes. I took it back to the fella that worked on it the first time and he said it would be ready before I do the shoot on my sons wedding video... Well I went to pick it up the day before the shoot I was told they had to order more parts. (It kinda looked like he broke the part I seen putting it back together...) I told them this was probably going to cost me the video and walked out. Well I went and bought a little Sony DCR-HC21 to go with my Hi8 camjunk and made a video that was actually very good. That little HC21 is a package for it's size. I had about 2 hours to learn it and could have done so much better if I had my VX2K but... Videos will be videos ;) Anyway I went back to pick up the 2K and they didn't charge me a dime. I felt kinda bad and demanded to at least pay shipping and parts but he refused. I still feel bad cause the camera is perfect and I found out it only had 286 hours on the head too. Thanks for all your help, John

I was kinda thinking the same direction. It's just to hard to teach an old dog like me new tricks.. Even though I am really a puppy in this venture ;)
As far as the camera goes. I took it back to the fella that worked on it the first time and he said it would be ready before I do the shoot on my sons wedding video... Well I went to pick it up the day before the shoot I was told they had to order more parts. (It kinda looked like he broke the part I seen putting it back together...) I told them this was probably going to cost me the video and walked out. Well I went and bought a little Sony DCR-HC21 to go with my Hi8 camjunk and made a video that was actually very good. That little HC21 is a package for it's size. I had about 2 hours to learn it and could have done so much better if I had my VX2K but... Videos will be videos ;) Anyway I went back to pick up the 2K and they didn't charge me a dime. I felt kinda bad and demanded to at least pay shipping and parts but he refused. I still feel bad cause the camera is perfect and I found out it only had 286 hours on the head too. Thanks for all your help, John

John:

Glad things are working out with the VX. And as for the wedding video, they all say you can fix it in post... :)

Being a member of the best forum in the world -------------> Priceless!!!!!

Thanks Edward Troxel and Mike Kujbida!!! I actually ended up purchasing the 2 Vegas manuals(Vegas 6 revealed and Instant Vegas)...figured I needed all the help I could get. Have been filming for the last few months and now am just about to really get stuck into some serious editing!!
But I just wanted to say thanks for your help!!

Tracey

If you came from Premiere, what made you switch to Vegas?


I've been a Premiere user since v4.2

Adobe has been rising prices on each upgrade and I've just bought the B&H special for Vegas 6.

I'll keep everyone posted on my journey in learning Vegas...

I've seen all the rave reviews in Vegas so I thought I would take a chance in seeing what everyone is talking about....

Good luck. Dun forget to chk out the Pro 8 upgrade from B&H. Extremely good offer.

I used Premiere over several versions and was sticking to that, but when I got a job that used Vegas I fell in love with the interface. It's so intuitive. I can cut about 40% faster than I could with Premiere. I only used PPro 1.0 so maybe they've improved things in subsequent versions, but I will do the bulk of my work with Vegas from now on.