Quick reference: Vegas shortcuts and mouse gestures 1.0b
 

I have made the first release of
Vegas shortcuts and mouse gestures
available for download.

It's a three page quick-reference which covers about
100 of the most common shortcuts and some mouse gestures.
Also has a brief "New to vegas?" section.

I am sure there are a few errors in the document, pls
help by sending comments, errors and omissions to
vegas-at-modernafilmer.se

I spent 5 years developing interactive e-learning so this was fun to do, and I hope you will find it useful. For me this was the best way to learn a new program.

To download the 1.0b version use
http://www.modernafilmer.se/se/vegas_keys.pdf (450 KB)

For updates in the future pls check the download page
http://www.modernafilmer.se/se/vegas.htm

A big thank you to everyone at this forum for ideas and expert advice on Vegas and everything DV, and to admin for keeping dvinfo.net up and running.

/magnus

UPDATE Feb 5
Official 1.0 release
Direct: http://www.modernafilmer.se/se/vegas_keys.pdf
Page: http://www.modernafilmer.se/se/vegas.htm

. . Boo Hoo . . .
 

Magnus - Great Stuff!! - However, I've tried 3 times to download. Ist time I got to the first PDF page and my system locked . . 2nd & 3rd time I just got a "white" screen . . nothing m,ore. I know I can download PDFs . .not a problem . .Just thought you'd like to know . .maybe it's just me . .maybe others will have better success . .

Grazie

Re: . . Boo Hoo . . .
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Graham Bernard : Magnus - Great Stuff!! - However, I've tried 3 times to download. Ist time I got to the first PDF page and my system locked . . 2nd & 3rd time I just got a "white" screen . . nothing m,ore. I know I can download PDFs . .not a problem . .Just thought you'd like to know . .maybe it's just me . .maybe others will have better success . .
Grazie -->>>

I´m using Acrobat 5.0 to produce the document from a word doc, which reader are you using? Try downloading from http://www.modernafilmer.se/se/vegas.htm instead of opening in the browser - there are a lot of screendumps and special fonts embedded, might crash your browser... or... it could be my bandwidth quota rapidly expiring. Mirrors anyone?

/magnus

Nice sheet. Looks like you put a lot of work into it. Love the layout.

Here's a few recommendations:

Page 1:
Somewhere in the "new to Vegas" section, I would definitely add the "S" to split a clip. People coming from Premiere are always looking for the razor tool. (I later saw this WAS on page 4 but it should probably be on page 1 as well.)

Effects can also be added to clips in the media pool which will affect that clip no matter where in the project it is used.

I consider myself a "power user" and hardly ever use the trimmer. I usually trim on the timeline itself.


Page 2:
Create Selection: You can also click and drag.
Move/Play/Scrub: Space Bar will Play/Stop OR Play/Pause (depending on preferences setting)
F12 will play from any window and Stop/Pause depending on preferences.
ESC will stop playback

Goto Start/End
CTRL-Home, CTRL-End same as W and E.


Page 4:
Event Pan/Zoom should be Pan/Crop
CTRL-Up/Down arrow controls zoom level
CTRL-SHIFT-Up/Down arrow controls track height
Cut/Paste commands are backwards compared to the keystokes listed. May also want to add COPY.
Numpad: 4/6/1/3 keys and also be used to "nudge" clips when not in "edit" mode. 2/8 will move clips between tracks.

Grazie, right-click the link and choose "Save As". Then open it from your hard drive. It will probably work better that way.

I knew that ! ;-)
 

Thanks Edward . . . Yup got it in one, you did! - Straight on the Button!

Coo. .Magnus you've been busy . . .


Grazie

Nice reference Magnus!

One thing you might want to add: rotating the mouse wheel
in the track "window" changes the time and holding shift while
rotating the wheel moves through the timeline.

Nicely done.

Gary

Wow, these are great shortcuts. Make this thready a sticky?

With your permission, I would be happy to post the shortcuts file on my download page to conserve your bandwidth.

Magnus, with your permission, I would like to translate it in french when I could get some time.

Great work by the way, I am a vegas newbie myself I have learned many tips to speed up my work with your reference shortcuts!

Thanks a lot!

Very cool, Magnus. Small comment, you might want to change the trademark of "Vegas Video" to just "Vegas" as that's the name of the product since version 3.0. Sony is pretty particular about that, I've learned the hard way.
Nice layout, congrats on the very hard work.

Excellent reference- I'm leaving it in a folder on my editing desk!

Hei Magnus,
That looks very good. Tack så mycket! I've not gone through the details yet, but I will.

Are you planning a Swedish version? Maybe a Scandinavian one would be possible (Svorsk)?

Anyway - a good help for beginners would be a simple selection, one that omits the more exotic and expert functions. Because the complexity of Vegas, the multitude of possibilities can be blinding when you just start looking. I know I felt like that in the beginning. A beginners' sheet showing the basic operations would help a lot of people. (It would also sort out some of the most commonly repeated questions in forums like this.)

BTW - don't let Edward discourage you about the Trimmer. It's a very good tool when you know how to use it ; )

Europe back on line...
 

Thank you all for encouragement and responses!

I have included most comments and published a 1.0 release this morning. Also replaced images of Elias (15 months now..) with motorsports - reflected on that it did not help Vegas current image as a home movie editor with 1080 HD & RT effects - just seems difficult for some people to grasp this.

Shift-Z is "unmute all" - very handy.

Here is the official 1.0 release
Direct: http://www.modernafilmer.se/se/vegas_keys.pdf
Page: http://www.modernafilmer.se/se/vegas.htm

------- Douglas,
I'm very honored to read your comments.
The trademark stuff is confusing - I got cold feets when I published the document and checked Sonys legal stuff and among many mind-numbing ("You own the medium on which the Software is recorded, but SPD retains full and complete title to the Software and all intellectual property rights therein.") things I found
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...ightnotice.asp
Vegas Video(tm)
Vegas(tm) video and audio editing software

So I couldn't figure it out - you know first hand so I'll change it back to "Vegas(tm)" - it makes more sense. Sony buying a piece of Nevada is a little unrealistic.

Jean-Philippe,
pls send me an e-mail and I'll send you the word doc, but pls distribute the french version as PDF (word viruses, incompatibilities [which is a very difficult word to spell for non-natives, almost in the same league as "license", why would you have two letters for the same sound? ])

Guy,
thank you! pls email URL and I'll include it on the download page and in the document.

Tor,
I found that saving regions in the trimmer and dragging the regions from explorer works for me. You can't assign FX to the clips, which you can in the bin, but it's great to be able to sort the clips/media/audio/images in folders when capturing - the bin I'm not friends with yet, everyone has their own style depending on use. I think a scandinavian version would be confusing, with French and English we should be OK!

/magnus

Magnus,
I have placed Vegas Keys in the Downloads on my website. It can be reached from the main page of the website

www.fortvir.net

or by direct link

www.fortvir.net/downloads/vegas_keys.pdf

Again, thanks so much for a fine piece of work. I'm honored to be of assistance in making it available.

<<<-- Originally posted by Tor Salomonsen : BTW - don't let Edward discourage you about the Trimmer. It's a very good tool when you know how to use it ; ) -->>>

Hey... I'm not saying the trimmer is BAD - just that I seldom use it. Having said that, I DID use the trimmer several times Tuesday night!!!

Great job...this is REALLY convenient...thanx

One little thing. When I printed it out, a bit got chopped off on the sides.

just select, "fit to paper size" when you print

I've stickied this thread at the top of the forum for all to see,
thanks again for the great work Magnus!

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman : I've stickied this thread at the top of the forum for all to see,
thanks again for the great work Magnus! -->>>

Hi Rob,
really happy so many liked the guide. I just got the DVX-100AE today, and the batteries are charging. I'll be over in the DVX-100 forum for a while, that menu-button sure opens up a lot of interesting options and I will need to locate the Restore Factory settings feature real soon now.. Master Pedestal and Chroma Phase - here we go... shooting with the Arri 16 was a little less of a hassle, if it didn't work it was most likely the batteries. Good thing we don't have to change tapes with two hands in a velvet bag. That's an improvement.

Off topic: under optimal storage conditions, what is the expected/maximum time that the DV footage will be readable from the DV-tape? 6mo? 1year? 10years?

/magnus

Please post that question in the tape forum under a new thread.
I don't know the answer to that question I'm afraid...

Wow! This is great!

Is v.5 coming up?
 

Thanks!

Re: Is v.5 coming up?
 

All the shortcuts are the basic ones, and they
are the same from V4 to V5, so I could just remove
the version number - you can use the same keyboard
and mouse gestures. In V5 you can also reassign
all key mappings...

There is some new UI stuff in V5
with transition envelopes and subclips, but I think
of the "shortcuts" as a basic introduction so I don't know
if it's needed..... let me know if you find anything confusing in
the document and we'll fix it.

/magnus

Re: Re: Is v.5 coming up?
 

>There is some new UI stuff in V5
>with transition envelopes and subclips, but I think
>of the "shortcuts" as a basic introduction so I don't know
>if it's needed..... let me know if you find anything confusing in
>the document and we'll fix it.

Just wasted another hour of my life trying to punch a hole
through a clip with a mask - not noticing that the "parent compositing mode" button has moved to the very left of the track display - together with the "parent motion" button. The compositing mode button to the right of the track opacity display has zilch, nil and nada effect.

Might add this to the shortcuts...

/magnus

Both compositing mode buttons have their uses.

After Effects Quick Reference?
 

Has anyone seen a similar Quick Reference/Shortcuts guide for After Effects?

Being married to Vegas, I hardly open up AE, but soon I may require the use of tools which are only available in AE, and "intuitive" is not a word I would choose to describe AE.

Any thoughts?

Brian

A million Thanks.

Your work is greatly appreciated.

A new tip
 

A friend of mine found out that you CAN see the original date and
time your footage was recorded (from the DV file) if your camera
saves this! As some may know besides time code extra information
like date and time (which is used to automatically split files during
capture for example) is also present inside DV files.
To view this information in your project do the following:

1. go to your media pool

2. select views -> details (the little icon above the media pool with a little grid and an arrow pointing down, click on this little arrow)

3. now the mediapool will change to a column view.

The third column from the end is "Date/Time Stamp" which is the
date/time the DV camera gave to the file.

I've never seen anyone mention this and a couple of people have
asked about showing this extra information. Now you can in Vegas!

This has been tested and confirmed in Vegas 5 only.

wow!!
thanx

. . .?
 

. . er . . it is there vegas 4 too?!? . . Where's the Fire? . . . BUT it would be neat to see on screen the camera's settings? I can get this from my XM2 . .


Grazie

Grazie: I just indicated that I didn't test this under version 4. So
I didn't know whether it is there or not. Glad to hear it is there
as well. I just didn't know about this trick.

Unforunately extra information is not visible. I've done quite a lot
of research into how the extra information is stored in the file
and it appears that:

1. there is a central place
2. the manufacturers can choose how to store certain information

So it is unknown whether extra information like shutter speed,
iris and other settings are using the same identifiers and scales
accross manufacturers (doubtfull).

Apologies Rob . . .

Yeah, pity I can't "see" this info. without pumping out from my XM2 .. .

Grazie

Color correction tutorials:

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~wvg/tutorial-menu.htm

In the official Sony forum, there's a thread about "EDITING FEATURES IN VEGAS YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE FOUND"
LINK: http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...lies=12&Page=0

I learned a few useful ones such as the Vegas equivalent of slip and roll edits.

Hold "alt" to get slip edits. ALT while mousing over a clip... drag left/right to slip
ALT over a transition edge to slip trim the transition.

"crtl+alt" gives Vegas equivalent of roll edit.