Transition/shortcuts question at DVinfo.net

Marcia Janine Galles · January 27th, 2004, 12:42 PM

Hello all,
I'm just playing around with the Vegas demo (have been evaluating it for some time and am increasingly impressed with it) but there are a few things that are driving me crazy, being used to doing things differently in FCP and Avid. A case in point... is there a way to change the length of transitions numerically? I find it speeds up how I work to use keyboard/number pad shortcuts, whereas dragging the length of the transition around on the timeline in Vegas is very slow in comparison. Is this typical of Vegas or have I just missed how to do things in this NLE by keystroke/numerically? I need to make a call pretty quick as to which program I'm going to go with. Any feedback would help.
Thanks,
Marcia

Edward Troxel · January 27th, 2004, 01:49 PM

Quote:

is there a way to change the length of transitions numerically?

Yes - but it's not necessarily a FAST process with straight Vegas. Personally, I've never been overly worried about an "exact" length - who can tell the difference between 30 frames and 35 frames or 25 frames? However, I understand it is sometimes desirable to have an exact length. So, here's a couple of options.

1) Create the transition normally and then double click the transition. This will create a selection area of the transition and the beginning, ending, and duration times will be shown in the boxes on the lower right hand side of the timeline. If you double click the duration box, you can type in an exact duration and then adjust the clips to match that new duration (when adjusting they will snap to the selection area edges).

2) If you would like a simpler method, use a script such as Excalibur which has a "Gap Wizard" that will overlap a series of events to a set time or the "Overlap Wizard" in Neon which will overlap a clip a set amount over the previous clip. This will more quickly give you an exact overlap size and illustrates the power available via the scripting language.

Marcia Janine Galles · January 27th, 2004, 02:44 PM

Thanks Edward. Will try that out. Thought of something else after my post... I'm used to having a handy little button/square to click on the left of the timeline if I want to cut something out of the video track (on one of several video tracks) so everything below is locked and remains undisturbed (video, audio). Can't find anything like that in Vegas. Can you point me in the right direction insofar as how to do that? The manual brings nothing of help up under lock(ing) and/or tracks, so I'm at a loss as to what to even ask its search engine.
Marcia

Edward Troxel · January 27th, 2004, 03:02 PM

You can't lock tracks. You CAN lock events. If you select events, only those events will be affected on a split or delete. However, you *may* have to ungroup events or the audio that goes with the affected video may also be affected.

Marcia Janine Galles · January 27th, 2004, 04:55 PM

Well that certainly works easy enough. And if I want (I keep hijacking my own thread here...) to add video only to the track, is there a toggle for that? Can't seem to find that either in the help manual. I add it to the track and get both no matter what. On FCP and Avid you can easily select which track to patch the audio + video, or just the audio/video alone to.

These are such small things in reality when evaluating a program with as many strenghts as Vegas seems to have, but then again, these are things I do a zillion times without thinking, and I need to find out how close I can get to being able to work like I'm used to. I'm going to have to be cutting like lightening when everything hits, and the things I do on auto pilot will come into play in that regard, which is why I kept thinking Avid. On the up side, Vegas seems to be far more reliable so far in terms of stupid little glitchy things that have always made me nuts with other programs, annoying hiccups that eat up hours of time because their setups and systems are so tempermental.

Gary Kleiner · January 27th, 2004, 07:26 PM

If you right click/ drag the media up to the timeline, you can select video only or audio only.

> I need to find out how close I can get to being able to work like I'm used to<

Why try to force yourself to work the same as in inferior NLEs?
Better to aspire to master the quick and easy way you can edit in Vegas. That is its main stength.

Gary

Marcia Janine Galles · January 27th, 2004, 10:40 PM

Thanks for the tip, Gary. Appreciate it. And I am trying to "master" Vegas, even while it's doing its best to drive me batty. I've found clips are now "events," ovewrite and insert are now "punch in" and "auto ripple," but I haven't a clue what "envelopes" are as the manual never actually says. Though this is a first for me... I'm actually reading a manual cover to cover. I must be impressed with what I've seen of Vegas so far if I'm actually willing to do that. ;-)

Edward Troxel · January 27th, 2004, 11:58 PM

I agree with Gary. In many ways you have to "forget" how you do things in other editors to learn how Vegas does it. It is really logical once it "clicks". Marcia, if you haven't already, take a look at the "Beginner's corner" articles in my newsletters at http://www.jetdv.com/tts

Gary also has a set of DVDs teaching how to use Vegas at http://www.vegastrainingandtools.com

BTW, Welcome, Gary, to DVInfo!

Gary Kleiner · January 28th, 2004, 01:07 AM

Edward,

Looks like I got here in time to witness your 1000th post :-)

Gary

Gary Kleiner · January 28th, 2004, 01:09 AM

<<<-- I haven't a clue what "envelopes" are as the manual never actually says. -->>>

Think "rubber bands".

Gary

Edward Troxel · January 28th, 2004, 08:36 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Gary Kleiner : Edward,

Looks like I got here in time to witness your 1000th post :-)

Gary -->>>

Getting really close (This is 999)

David Mintzer · January 28th, 2004, 01:37 PM

Ed, for being the 1000 poster in the DVI Community Vegas Forum you receive a free copy of Excalibur, Tsunami, and Neon---! Couldn't resist

Marcia Janine Galles · January 28th, 2004, 02:13 PM

Edward, great newsletters. I've downloaded them all and added them to my already buldging Vegas notebook.

Thanks again for the help guys. You made my decision a snap. Off to order Vegas + DVD.
Marcia

P.S. Is the EDL feature included in the pkg. compatible for use in rebuilding a show into an Avid? A .txt file is a .txt file, isn't it? On another post someone mentioned a different script or something out there, but I haven't been able to find it.

Edward Troxel · January 28th, 2004, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Edward, great newsletters. I've downloaded them all and added them to my already buldging Vegas notebook.

Thanks. Hope to have the next one finished this week.

Quote:

Is the EDL feature included in the pkg. compatible for use in rebuilding a show into an Avid?

No. Avid expects something different. There IS a rudimentary script that may work in some instances. However, there is no fool-proof path from Vegas to Avid.

Edward Troxel · January 28th, 2004, 02:25 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by David Mintzer : Ed, for being the 1000 poster in the DVI Community Vegas Forum you receive a free copy of Excalibur, Tsunami, and Neon---! Couldn't resist -->>>

Thanks David. Where can I download them??? :-)

January 27th, 2004, 12:42 PM	#1
Marcia Janine Galles Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Camarillo, CA Posts: 340	Transition/shortcuts question Hello all, I'm just playing around with the Vegas demo (have been evaluating it for some time and am increasingly impressed with it) but there are a few things that are driving me crazy, being used to doing things differently in FCP and Avid. A case in point... is there a way to change the length of transitions numerically? I find it speeds up how I work to use keyboard/number pad shortcuts, whereas dragging the length of the transition around on the timeline in Vegas is very slow in comparison. Is this typical of Vegas or have I just missed how to do things in this NLE by keystroke/numerically? I need to make a call pretty quick as to which program I'm going to go with. Any feedback would help. Thanks, Marcia

January 27th, 2004, 02:44 PM	#3
Marcia Janine Galles Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Camarillo, CA Posts: 340	Thanks Edward. Will try that out. Thought of something else after my post... I'm used to having a handy little button/square to click on the left of the timeline if I want to cut something out of the video track (on one of several video tracks) so everything below is locked and remains undisturbed (video, audio). Can't find anything like that in Vegas. Can you point me in the right direction insofar as how to do that? The manual brings nothing of help up under lock(ing) and/or tracks, so I'm at a loss as to what to even ask its search engine. Marcia

January 27th, 2004, 03:02 PM	#4
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	You can't lock tracks. You CAN lock events. If you select events, only those events will be affected on a split or delete. However, you may have to ungroup events or the audio that goes with the affected video may also be affected.

January 27th, 2004, 04:55 PM	#5
Marcia Janine Galles Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Camarillo, CA Posts: 340	Well that certainly works easy enough. And if I want (I keep hijacking my own thread here...) to add video only to the track, is there a toggle for that? Can't seem to find that either in the help manual. I add it to the track and get both no matter what. On FCP and Avid you can easily select which track to patch the audio + video, or just the audio/video alone to. These are such small things in reality when evaluating a program with as many strenghts as Vegas seems to have, but then again, these are things I do a zillion times without thinking, and I need to find out how close I can get to being able to work like I'm used to. I'm going to have to be cutting like lightening when everything hits, and the things I do on auto pilot will come into play in that regard, which is why I kept thinking Avid. On the up side, Vegas seems to be far more reliable so far in terms of stupid little glitchy things that have always made me nuts with other programs, annoying hiccups that eat up hours of time because their setups and systems are so tempermental.

January 27th, 2004, 07:26 PM	#6
Gary Kleiner Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado Posts: 166	If you right click/ drag the media up to the timeline, you can select video only or audio only. > I need to find out how close I can get to being able to work like I'm used to< Why try to force yourself to work the same as in inferior NLEs? Better to aspire to master the quick and easy way you can edit in Vegas. That is its main stength. Gary

January 27th, 2004, 10:40 PM	#7
Marcia Janine Galles Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Camarillo, CA Posts: 340	Thanks for the tip, Gary. Appreciate it. And I am trying to "master" Vegas, even while it's doing its best to drive me batty. I've found clips are now "events," ovewrite and insert are now "punch in" and "auto ripple," but I haven't a clue what "envelopes" are as the manual never actually says. Though this is a first for me... I'm actually reading a manual cover to cover. I must be impressed with what I've seen of Vegas so far if I'm actually willing to do that. ;-)

January 27th, 2004, 11:58 PM	#8
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	I agree with Gary. In many ways you have to "forget" how you do things in other editors to learn how Vegas does it. It is really logical once it "clicks". Marcia, if you haven't already, take a look at the "Beginner's corner" articles in my newsletters at http://www.jetdv.com/tts Gary also has a set of DVDs teaching how to use Vegas at http://www.vegastrainingandtools.com BTW, Welcome, Gary, to DVInfo!

January 28th, 2004, 01:07 AM	#9
Gary Kleiner Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado Posts: 166	Edward, Looks like I got here in time to witness your 1000th post :-) Gary

January 28th, 2004, 01:09 AM	#10
Gary Kleiner Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Fort Collins, Colorado Posts: 166	<<<-- I haven't a clue what "envelopes" are as the manual never actually says. -->>> Think "rubber bands". Gary

January 28th, 2004, 08:36 AM	#11
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	<<<-- Originally posted by Gary Kleiner : Edward, Looks like I got here in time to witness your 1000th post :-) Gary -->>> Getting really close (This is 999)

January 28th, 2004, 01:37 PM	#12
David Mintzer Rextilleon Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Pleasantville, NY Posts: 520	Ed, for being the 1000 poster in the DVI Community Vegas Forum you receive a free copy of Excalibur, Tsunami, and Neon---! Couldn't resist

January 28th, 2004, 02:13 PM	#13
Marcia Janine Galles Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Camarillo, CA Posts: 340	Edward, great newsletters. I've downloaded them all and added them to my already buldging Vegas notebook. Thanks again for the help guys. You made my decision a snap. Off to order Vegas + DVD. Marcia P.S. Is the EDL feature included in the pkg. compatible for use in rebuilding a show into an Avid? A .txt file is a .txt file, isn't it? On another post someone mentioned a different script or something out there, but I haven't been able to find it.

January 28th, 2004, 02:25 PM	#15
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	<<<-- Originally posted by David Mintzer : Ed, for being the 1000 poster in the DVI Community Vegas Forum you receive a free copy of Excalibur, Tsunami, and Neon---! Couldn't resist -->>> Thanks David. Where can I download them??? :-)