I have not encountered any problems using MPEG2 and AC3 rendered in Vegas in DVD A.

The main way people have done this in DVD A 3 is to have multiple menus that look identical except for the video being played in that area. When the selection moves to a particular button, have it auto-activate to point to the appropriate menu. If selected in THAT menu, then it would play the proper video.

Mike, batch render is built in to Vegas 6. It's under the scrip menu (under tools> sripting) entitled "Batch Render."

If you have it installed in Vegas 5, you may be able to just copy it over to Vegas 6 to use there.

Still confused over aspect ratios
 

I posted something a while back but got no takers so thought I'd try again - god loves a trier!!

I have a PAL Dv Widescren project - 720x576 pixel aspect ration 1.4568

I drop a .m2t file onto the timeline - properties are 1440x1080 - pixel aspect ratio of 1.33333

The preview window is filled vertically but slightly less than filled horizontally - ie there are fine black bands running the height of the picture left and right.

So I figure to fill the frame vertically Vegas must be dividing 1080 by 1.875 = 576. But if you divide 1440 by 1.875 you get 768 - so surely this makes the horizontal size BIGGER than the project size - NOT smaller.

I can switch off 'maintain aspect ratio' which stretches the picture horizontally to fill the frame - but I'm not sure which version is actually correct.

Please help so I can sleep at nite!!!

Ian

Please check if you have any devices, such as a keyboard, shuttlepro, or any other device capable of simulating a keyboard active.

For example, if one of these devices is inadvertantly putting out a keystroke, it may cause the problem you are seeing.

If you have these devices, just unplug them for a brief test.

Keyboard Shortcuts Stop Working in Trimmer
 

Hi all.
When I'm in the trimmer, there are times when the keyboard shortcuts stop working (spacebar for play/shop, I and O for in and out, etc...) I can't figure out why this is. I have to click on an area inside the trimmer a few times to get the shortcuts to work again, like the window has lost focus. Any ideas on this? Thank you for the help.

AC3 Plugin in Vegas
 

I wonder can I render project to MPEG 2 in Vegas 6 with AC3 audio on the fly.Maybe some plugin is needed. That is possible in Premiere Pro, but in Vegas????.
Regards.

In DVD architect
 

If you install DVD Architect you get the AC3 plugin for vegas.
Maybe this will work
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ac3encode/

/magnus

Not sure what you mean by "on the fly" but you can certainly render to both in one step via a batch render script. The Batch Render script included with Vegas should do this for you. As Magnus said, you need DVD Architect for AC3 to be active, though.

Sounds like that's exactly what's happened - the trimmer window has lost focus and you must return focus to it (which you're doing by clicking in it). You could try returning focus to it by pressing ALT-2 instead of clicking.

With the project's pixel aspect ratio set to 1.3333, try right-clicking on the video preview and selecting "simulate device aspect ratio." That should do it. You may begin to see some weird macro blocking in the image when you select this setting, but it's only in the preview and does not actually affect the footage in any way.

Either of the two adjustments you are talking about will actually effect the true aspect ratio of the video files when you render them out. You definitely don't want to do that. "Simulate device aspect ratio" is a preview-only setting, and will not effect render settings.

"Fit to disc" with MainConcept encoder?
 

In the past when encoding for DVD authoring with DVDA, I have rendered from the Vegas timeline to an intermediate .avi and then encoded to MPEG-2 from DVDA. DVDA will allow you to choose the optimum bitrate for your project based on the size of the media.

I've recently decided to switch workflows and render to MPEG directly from the Vegas timeline using the MainConcept encoder and then render audio separately, as with some projects this would seem to cut out a round of encoding by bypassing the DV intermediate altogether, and thus potentially giving better results.

The problem is that when you choose this route, you have no idea if your encoded MPEG-2 file will fit on the disc or not, or likewise, if you could have squeezed in a little more bitrate to improve quality.

Is there some way to optimize the bitrate like in DVDA? Or is it necessary to calculate the optimal bitrate based on some kind of formula? If so, what is that formula?

YOU have to figure out the proper bitrate. I have a bitrate chart in vol 1 #7 of my newsletters. There's also several bitrate calculators available for download.

Thanks, Edward. Seems like if Vegas were able to give you the final file size before you encode, you wouldn't have to worry about potentially having to re-render a project because your MPEG-2 was either too big or too small. But I guess there's no way for Vegas to predict the filesize when using variable bit rates. Anyway, the chart will help. I appreciate it.

Washington Baltimore Vegas User Group Meeting
 

Mark your calendars!

The next Washington Baltimore Vegas User Group (WBVUG) meeting will be held on Saturday, September 16th 2006, from 1:00pm - 3:00pm at the Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library. The Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library is located 1 1/2 blocks south of Chevy Chase Circle at the Maryland state line in Washington DC, NW near McKinley Street and Connecticut Avenue. We currently have reserved a meeting room that seats 50 people so there is plenty of room for everyone. There is no charge for attending the meeting but come prepared to share "Tips, Tricks and Lessons Learned" while working with Sony Vegas.

So come on out and meet your fellow Sony Vegas video editors located in the Washington, Baltimore and Northern Virginia area!

Thanks and we hope to see you there.

If you have any questions, please contact Mickey Grackin at www.oicproductions.net/wbvug.html.

Tentative Agenda:


1:00 - 1:20 Meet & Greet/Networking
1:20 - 1:40 Introductions/Past & Present Projects
1:40 - 2:20 Presentation? Show and Tell?
2:20 - 3:00 Closing Discussion

Track Motion
 

Is there a way to use Vegas' Track Motion /3D Track Motion to effectively track camera motion? It seems like the key frames might not be accurate enough, and the tutorials I've found detail how to create an excellent picture-in-picture effect, but nothing for actually tracking the motion of the camera. Perhaps I've missed a tutorial on point?

I'm studying tutorials for Voodoo, Icarus, and others, but I'm hoping there is a way to keep it in Vegas.

The desired effect:

Inserting animated CRT displays into intentionally handheld footage in which the practical CRTs have been covered in green chromakey material.

Thanks for any advice.

Brian

you might be able to get away with 2 ( 2 1/2) D tracking software ..
combustion might do it - it will track the 4 corners of your TV set and then set in the B roll and apply tracking info ( it will bend the corners ) ..
IMO vegas is not really set up for motion tracking ..

here's effect done on FLAME - keying/stabilize/tracking a clear plastic size sceen ( edges of screen are lit so you see edges) with blue screen material on it .. and then keyed with image that gives illusion you can see thru image to back wall..

Trying to render 5 min clip to 100mb file size
 

Excuse my ignorance but I'm trying to target a 100mb file from a 5 minute clip. Is there a formula: time 5 mins = 300 seconds x 256kps = 76.8mb?

I'm trying to max the quality and keep it under 100mb.

Any schooling on the subject is appreciated.

Yeah, it seems now that they've given us an inch we try to stretch it out ot a mile... The keyframing in all the NLE's are a nice BONUS but they are no replacement for things like After Effects and such in any serious keyframe/motion tracking work. These things CAN be done in Vegas but they are rediculously tedious and less than ideal.

5 minutes = 300 seconds
100 MB = 800 Mb (8 bits per byte)
800/300 = 2.667 Mbps

Thanks Guy.

Here is the simple calculator I use
http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

Vegas could provide an estimate of file size - doesn't matter if it is variable rate; for variable rate you specify an average rate, and that can be used in the calculation. It would need to do the same for the audio (as generally these are rendered separately). But it doesn't....

Since the pixel aspect ratios are different the clips will never match full frame. What you need to do is open Event Pan/Crop on the M2T file, Right-click on the frame and select Match Output Aspect. This will crop out the black so that the HDV footage matches the PAL DV Widescreen project aspect.

~jr

Oh. Oops. I misread the original post and then misunderstood the question. John's right.

Thanks, Mark. That calculator will be very handy.

Scene Detection Problem
 

Vegas 6, Scene Detection Box Checked, sometimes gives me 2 or three files (out of many record start stops on the tape), generally doesnt. In v5 it sould give me a seperate scene for each time record was started and stopped. I'd like 6 to do the same. Any ideas? Thanks!

Is the clock set in the camera? Scenes are detected via jumps in the date/time code. If the clock is not set, scene detection will not work.

Brian, have you tried SynthEyes?
If not here is the link to their main page.

http://www.ssontech.com/

The clock was not set, thanks for the great information (again)!!

Overclock, Borders on composite
 

Two more questions for today =)

The first, is there a way to get more than 300% velocity on video?

The second (I have done this before, but it was two years ago and have since forgotten) is how do I put a border around a track I have reduced in size?

Thanks guys!

1) Yes there is. Also set the playback rate (i.e. hold down the CTRL key and resize the event smaller) and you can get up to 12x.

2) Look to the left of the word "Border" for the small triangle. Click it. (It's the "pre/post" flag).

Edward, is this check box in the pan/crop menu?

Edward's probably having dinner so I'll take a shot at it.
Apply the Border FX and then look for that triangle.
It makes a major difference to the FX which way it faces.

Ahhhh, I have to add an effect....I'll check that out after this prerender finishes

Actually, I probably was having dinner! :-)

Yes, you have to add the border effect. Then look to the left of the word "Border" at the bottom of the FX dialog box (left of the keyframe timeline). That little triangle is one of the best kept secrets of Vegas!

Sincere thanks to people like you who discover these "secrets" and then share them with the rest of us.

Thanks guys, this little project is turning out great. I feel like I should add posters names to the associate editors credits on every project ;)

Joe,

Thanks. From a cursory glance, it looks like SynthEyes is a great program, but may represent a substantial overkill for the modest needs of my project.

As I mentioned, there are a number of worthy programs out there which we are evaluating, but I was hoping Vegas would prove to be up to the task.

Brian

Filmic motion blur
 

When I make videos for the Web, I halve the frame rate to 14.985fps to keep the file sizes reasonable. Obviously, this makes the motion jerky. My question is whether Vegas is capable of obtaining a convincing motion blur? I have tried fiddling with the motion blur length and type but in the end I still have an unconvincing sequence of superimposed frames. I am looking for streaking like you would get by increasing the exposure time.

I already know about RevisionFX's motion blur plug-in for After Effects, but I do not have the time to render the project once more just to run it through After Effects.