Jeff,

As with all the Track motion, FX, etc, you can isolate the settings for a particular part of the track by using keyframes.

In some instances it's easiest to just create a different track for each effect.

Gary

White Letterbox??
 

I am trying to create a white letterbox around my video instead of the standard black letterbox.

Any idea how to do this? I usually just bring in a photoshop mask to letterbox my video, but now matter what I do the masked out area always appears black. Any way to make it appear white?

Edward,

I wanted to zoom in on a cutout and to make it appear the "camera" is coming around at an angle...I

As I mentioned, the project is done, and the client is extremely happy with what they have seen...but I had extra time to spend on it and wanted to play with the 3d features...

Gary, I know what you mean about the keyframe, but the timeline in the 3d workspace includes the entire project, just as Edward mentioned...I can't select the photo I want to (in this case) angle one way or the other away from the front to give it a touch of added dimensions.

I have to select the whole track for 3d, which makes the tiniest move in the keyframer move the effect 10 mins down the timeline instead of just a little further along that photo or video clip.

So if I have an 3d effect that I wish to use on a 2 to 5 second photo, the timeline in the 3d keyframer doesn't represent the length of time of the photo but instead represents the entire length of the project.

My plan is to learn 3d compositing because I plan to use it a lot in the future on almost all stillmotion projects...I want to use the 3d effect for things like routine creation of things like a video begin to play within a picture frame within a photo, etc...you guys know what I mean...

Do I just need a dedicated 3d program?

Until then, would you suggest I create a scene as a separate project, and then import the veg file into the main project?

Thanks for your input...

Put the white file down as a layer underneath your main layer and crop your main layer. Should work fine in any program.

KW

HDV to SD 704x480
 

I find that if I render HDV to SD 720x480, I either have black "pillarbox" areas on either side of the frame, or I have to crop a little off the top and bottom off the image in order to have the image fill the frame. I can also stretch the image to fit, but I hate changing the aspect ratio even that small bit (though I doubt anyone would notice). On the other hand, an HDV to SD render to 704x480 mpeg 2 is the same shape and requires no extra scaling or stretching. For now this seems to be the way to go. Is there any reason I sould avoid 704x480 for HDV to SD renders?

Yeah...I'm aware. Thaz why I was wondering if there is any other new tech that can counter that.Anyway,I'll work on a nice & affordable product instead..thanks

Sony Loops
 

I supposedly have a collection of Sony Loops that come with Vegas Video 6 but for the life of me can't figure out how to use them or access them.

The file I have is...

Sony_Sound_Series_Loops_and_Samples.en-US.medialib-bak

and is 319MB in size. I have looked at the manual and done as much as I can think of. I still can't access them.

Since all the smart people are on this website I would appreciate your help. I need to have some background music for a project we are doing.

Thanks,

Tery

Typically, you will use an external program such as Acid or Sound Forge for the creation, then export the finished product as a wave file back into the NLE. I don't use Vegas specifically, but that's how it works with FCP and Soundtrack Pro. Doesn't Vegas include one of those two applications I referenced?

-gb-

That was easy!
Thanks, sometimes I think I try and make things harder than they need to be.

Jeff,
If you just put the particular photo you're working on (needing 3d track motion) on a seperate track you can key frame it to your hearts desire manipulate the heck out of it and not affect any other part of the project. I do that frequently.

Don

To be honest, using 3d track motion will affect the rendering of the ENTIRE timeline - not just where it's used. I would take that one small section and make it its own project. Do what you need, render it out, and then put the rendered version back in the original project.

In lieu of rendering, you could also use nested VEG files in Vegas 6.

Are you rendering 16:9 HDV to 4:3 SD? (you didn’t say) I render my HDV to DV Widescreen (1.2121 pixel aspect) and everything looks fine at 720x480 retaining the complete 16:9 image and correctly letterboxing in 4:3.

At 704x480 what is your pixel aspect ratio? If it’s 0.9091 you are going the wrong way and loosing resolution. Try 720x480 with a PAR of 1.2121.

~jr

If by "transfer" you mean print-to-tape, Vegas should not have a problem with printing m2t files from any PC that can already capture m2t files. If your PC can capture and print DV then it can capture and print HDV. This is because the transfer rate is the same for HDV as it is for DV (13GB/hr).

Your PC's ability to preview HDV has nothing to do with printing to tape. The print is a digital copy of the file back to tape (just like a file transfer). It has more to do with hard drive throughput than anything else.

~jr

Yes Edward...the 3D feature isn't as simple to utilize as pan and crop, and you're right of course...last night I created a cool opening scene using 3d features...imported the veg file into the main project...the nesting feature is awsome...never used it before...

thank you very much for your input...and you too Gary and Don....

Greg,

Thanks for the info.

Vegas is a very good audio editor in itself. In fact it is known for it's ability as an audio editor. I have done numerous multitrack audio projects in it but haven't needed to use loops until now. I'm sure it can handle the loops if I can find someone out there how can help me get them to the timeline.

Thanks,

Tery

Audio only capture
 

I am trying to capture audio from a device, direct to Vegas 6. I have plugged the line out of the recorder, to the line in on my sound card. I can hear the audio from my PC speakers, (with or without Vegas open) but in Vegas, when I arm a track for recording, I am not getting anything on the meter, or when I try to record.

I changed the default setting in the audio options from Microsoft Sound Mapper to my Sound Blaster Live (no other options are available for change)

I have the most current sound card driver.

I can record and monitor audio in vegas if I plug into the mic input, but the recorder line out, is only a headphone jack, and it is too hot. When I try the line in on the sound card, there is nothing.

Any ideas?

In the preferences in Vegas, you must pick the proper sound devices. You must also pick the proper input for the track itself. Make sure all the various settings are pointing to the correct input.

Thanks, I found a PC setting in the control panel under Sounds, where there was a record setting and the default device was Microphone. I switched it there and it seems to work great.

So should I use a .m2t file from a DVD-R to print to the FX1 via Vegas? (DVD has no fragmentation)

It is highly, highly unlikely that your DVD drive can sustain the throughput to print HDV to HDV tape, coming off of a DVD. Copy the files to a hard drive, THEN print to HDV tape via Vegas or CineForm.

How do you ripple multiple tracks
 

I need to add some shots to a mostly finished project but I have to have all the related tracks move together so to keep text and PIPs on other tracks in their proper places. How do I do that?

Thanks,

Tery

you can do it in a couple of different ways but usually what I do is highlite the top track press shift and highlite the bottom track (this will highlite everything in between) then right click to select events to the end and you can move them forward or backward on the time line and keep everything together OR you can highlite the events as above and press G to group those events and move them.
Rememer control Z is your friend (in case theres an OOOPPPS and you need to go back to the original)
Don

I'm rendering to SD widescreen.

Here's another way to say what I mean:

If you start a standard SD 720x480 widescreen project and you import a HDV clip, then you go to the pan/crop window, right click and select "match output", it will crop a little off the top and bottom. If you change the dimentions to 704x480 then right click and select "match output", the frame will remain unchanged. In both cases the aspect ratio is a standard DV widescreen 1.2121. Obviously there is no 704x480 DV codec setting, but this size is an option when you render straight to mpeg (which I do anyway in order to get the improved colorspace).

I installed SP2 and now everything seems to work. Thank-you for the help.

I have found Multimedia Builder extremely easy to use and still be able to handle everything, buttons / video / URL's / multi-page / slideshows / navigation / etc. It has a scripting language so I was able to write a MPEG-4 / Xvid installer - and there is a big community sharing scripts and plugins - all for $199 ;)

Have a look at
http://mmb.mediachance.com/index.html

/magnus

Batch conversion of clip properties
 

Hello all,

I'm looking to convert the pixel aspect ratio of about 150 clips.

I've tried selecting them all on the timeline and changing the properties; I've tried selecting them all in the media pool and changing the properties; I've tried changing the properties of just one clip on the timeline, copying it and pasting the event attributes to the rest.

In all cases I've been unsuccessful.

Am I doing something wrong or is there no way to batch convert the properties of a large number of clips?

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Ian . . .

I usually leave rippling turned OFF and, instead, use "Post Ripple Editing." In this case, you delete the pieces you need to delete and then you can:

Post-edit ripple affect tracks: F
Post-edit ripple affected tracks, bus tracks, markers, and regions: CTRL+F
Post-edit ripple ALL tracks, markers, and regions: CTRL+SHIFT+F

Frequently I'll also manually move the events as needed. For example, I'll use a script to select all events after the cursor and then move them to the new location.

I suppose another option would be scripting. Were you changing it under a right-click, properties, and then the Pixel Aspect Ratio setting? If yes, I'm not sure how to do multiple events without scripting. I know Excalibur can change that particular setting on multiple events but am unsure about how many other scripts work with that particular setting.

Now, if you're changing things using Pan/Crop, the copy/paste event attributes should have worked.

How exactly were you making your change?

Hmmm. I started with HDV and rendered to SD Widescreen simply by creating the project in a HDV 60i timeline and then when I rendered I selected the DVD Architect Widescreen template. What this does is create an anamorphic image for playback in widescreen for DVD on a 16x9 monitor. Also, what this does is create a flag that will automatically crop the image for a 4:3 tv monitor - I think although I actually didn't try that but that's what I understand. I'm not sure why you would need to force the cropping or import the HDV into a 4:3 timeline. ph

There are several scripts on the VASST site that will accomplish this for you.
http://www.vasst.com/search.aspx?text=Aspect

If you have Ultimate S 1 or 2, they also have in the Audit tab, a switch that will accomplish this for you. but the above scripts are free. Look at Dithermaster's, and John Rofrano's.

XP sp1 will operate sony HDV camera BUT the 1st time you will have to manually set it up to see it ... the 1st time XP will ?? it when you plug in the 1394 .. go to device manager and look for the yellow ? then install new driver - you want XP to give you a selection to choose from - look under sony then choose ( i think it gives you 2 choices ) AV/C device ...

and of couse when you capture with vegas you must choose internal "HDV capture device " when you open V capture utility

XP w/SP 2 usually will reconize the sony HDV and install the sony driver ..

Take me through it step by step.
 

i don't have the XL H1, but i'll be renting one for a friend's wedding @end of the month. while i'm familiar with DV, i haven't touched HDV yet. can ya'll check the following steps to see if i still need to buy/upgrade any plugins so i can edit HDV effectively?

1. connect XL H1 to my wxpp computer via 1394a firewire. my computer should recognize it immediately right? no special drivers since it's based on OHCI? i currently have no means of testing it. but since you guys have done it. are there any surprises?

2. open up vegas 6c's "internal HDV" video capture and start recording of the footages. what format will they be? m2t? .avi? i couldn't quite figure it out.

3. after capturing, i'm going to assume it's m2t. in which case i need to either conver to cf codec and put it into .avi container (which will eat up lots of HD space) or use gearshift's $50 plugin. if i had to choose, i think i'll probably go with the gearshift plugin.

4. after editing, render to mpeg2 and then have DVD Architect make a DVD out of it or render to .wmv-HD.

5. i can also print edited footages back to tape, right?

6. now, how does gearshift's DV proxy work? i've downloaded those clips that Mr. Ito&Charles made. i'd like to join all those together. i haven't bought the plugin yet, is there a how-to somewhere?

1. It will connect, should be recognized and if it's not, it's very easy to get it to be recognized.

2. Vegas will capture the files as m2t files. All HDV capture tools do this, unless you're using something that converts on the fly, and even then, most tools allow you to keep the .m2t. (this is what is on the camera/tape)

3. I might have missed a question?

4. You're correct in your comment, or was there a question there?

5. Yes, you can print edited footage back to HDV tape, no problem. You'll just need an HDV deck or camcorder to do so.

6. On the GearShift page of the VASST website, there is a video tutorial as well as a printable text tutorial that explains all steps.

Thanks to both of you for your usual speedy and helpful responses! I'll start investigating!

I'm not talking about 704x480 letterbox. I'm talking about 704x480 anamorphic. I find it strange that no-one else is complaining about the slight difference between the rectangular shapes of 16:9 SD and 16:9 HDV. 16:9 anamorphic 720x480 video is a little wider than 16:9 1080i HDV video. 704x480 SD video is a better match.

Terry,

I understand about multitracking, but as for loops, think of it this way. Let's say you are doing a project with ambient sound, voice over narration, and a music bed. Vegas will be a great app for mixing the multiple tracks. However, to get that song for the music bed, you turn to loops but you need an application that is designed to work with multiple loop tracks(ie: drums, bass, guitar, horns, strings, synth, etc). You then create a finished tune which is put onto your music bed track in the Vegas timeline to be 'multitracked' with the dialog and other sound. Make sense? In essence, when you start to work with loops, you are composing music and need a dedicated application for that.

Maybe DSE will help with this answer since he uses Vegas and is also familiar with musical composition.

-gb-

FWIW, I use Vegas for "short" compositions or ambient scapes quite regularly. In Vegas 5, Sony added the ability to read ACID loop tempos, but I suspect few people actually use the feature.
You need to go into Properties/Audio, and enable "import audio at project tempo" in order to accomplish this.
For short compositions that are not complex, Vegas is great for this. But for anything that requires many pitch changes, tempo changes, etc....you really need ACID, Sonar, or something similar. While you *can* do it in Vegas, it's a lot more hassle than it's worth.

ACID is the bomb if you aren't a musician and need to create some sweet tracks.

Velocity Envelope - any way to shorten duration to match speedup?
 

Well, the title says it all. When I change velocity (speed up in this case) using Velocity Envelope, as you all know, the clip either loops (if I have that checkbox checked), or freezes on the last frame. Either way it's footage I don't want, and I have to go in by hand using trial and error to trim it just to the point at which the loop would begin.

Is there a cleaner solution to this?

P.S. - I'm aware of (and sometimes using) CTRL-drag to change the playback rate so I really do specifically mean changing the length of velocity envelopes to play only the original footage, not the original length.

. . er . . if I'm getting you right, and you don't want to "trim" post veloenvel, how about doing the "trim" preparation prior to VeloEnvel. How about creating a Subclip from Trimmer? OR highlight the area on the t/l event; open in trimmer; create subclip that way. Put Subclip onto t/l insert VeloEnvel and reduce to the first repeat notch - done!

This gives you your exact "trim" and an option to add the VeloEnvel 2 ways. Any good?

. . hey, there is gonna be others with further solutions . .. love Vegas!

Grazie

Sorry Edward, in reply to your question, I was selecting multiple events either on the timeline or in the media pool then right clicking/properties/pixel aspect ratio.

From experience of changing the properties of multiple audio clips with various audio editing tools I guessed (wrongly!) that this would work.

Thanks again for your advice.

Ian . . .