question about plug-ins...
 

I have a piece of footage I shot in a jungle dental clinic in Central America that I want to add an "old film" look to...that part's easy...I figured it out all by my ownself...but, I want to have the old film look on the first 7 or 8 seconds, then dissolve the effect away, reverting to the video in it's "as shot state".

That whole "disolve the effect in mid-clip" part...THAT'S got me stumped. Can I do it in Vegas 10? If so, how?

Thank you again, in advance!

Cut the clip into two halves, or whatever. Put your effect on the first half. Take the adjoining edges of the clips and overlap them to the desired amount. Adjust as needed, and you're done. It's so simple you'll wonder why you didn't think of it.

thanks Jeff! I knew I could do it that way, I was just concerned about losing continuity of the scene,,,I'll give it a whirl...
I suppose by minimizing the overlap I can disolve the effect out without making the scene jump too far. The clip was shot with a GoPro on a chest mount and focus is on the Dentist's hands and his hand movements during an extraction.
I have footage of the same dentist doing the same procedure and shot the same way, in his office...what I'm trying to portray is the fine hand movements that are exactly the same even though the setting in frame changes so dramatically from a hut in the jungle to his office

Just put the whole shot/scene down on the timeline, make a split where you want the dissolve, add the effect to the first part, then add a dissolve transition by putting the cursor on on the split, right-clicking and select Transition > Crossfade. That way you won't shorten the action and/or affect the timing.

Wait guys, I may be misreading what you just posted, but it sounds like you're telling Wayne to split the video and then drag them on top of each other to do a cross fade. That won't work, because he just wants the color to change and not overlap video.

If that's the case, then Wayne needs to copy the clip to another timeline and make sure they are exactly together in the timecode. Then, you would do the old color on one and the regular color on the other. Next, delete the portions on each that you won't use. I hope that makes sense and I hope I didn't misread what you just told him. If I did, then I apologize.

No, I didn't suggest to drag the clips on top of each other. I've actually just done the effect before I posted and my way works just fine - no need to use two tracks, just split the one clip...

An EASY way to add the crossfade, after pressing "S", press "/" on the numeric keypad!

Even better!
So many ways in Vegas, that's why I like it...

Russ, splitting the clip and transitioning the two halves will not affect continuity in anyway, unless you move them prior to placing the transition.


As Edward said, put the cursor where you want to split, hit s on your keyboard. Then drag the edges of the clips to overlap...don't move the clips at all, that will mess it up.

You don't drag the clips to create the transition, you drag the edges of the adjoining clips to overlap and leave the clips in place. For example, if you split the clips and transition them in this method and apply no effects to either one, they will playback exactly as the original clip did, not two separate clips.

I use this method for changing from black and white to color. The scene itself is not affected in anyway other than effects that are applied.

The further you stretch the transition, the more gradually the effect occurs.

Yeah, I misread. I'm sorry about that! Jeff, I didn't think about the fact that you could drag the edge over and not move the clip. That was a good point. Thank you for clarifying that!

disregard post

Shouldn't the OP be using keyframes on the timeline for this? Unless I'm misunderstanding what is trying to be accomplished it seems like this would be the fastest and easiest method.

Keyframes can certainly work. There is some elegance to doing it this way though. Here's some potential advantages:

1) The part of the clip that does not need the effect does not have the effect applied.
2) In some cases, even changing all settings to "off" does not necessarily change it back all the way to the original look. There are a few situations where this occurs.

However, keyframes was the first thing that jumped in my head too when I read the first post.

The suggested method is more efficient and as effective, if not more so. This method actually gives more precise control with less effort. Keyframing you have to go to effects window, adjust, playback, etc. The suggested method you never leave the timeline.

Keyframing will work, of course...I use it all the time for black and white. But for more complicated effects such as old time film looks, I find it easier to use the above method. Playback is smoother with certain effects this way than with keyframing.

But as with anything there are many ways to do things with Vegas, so pick your poison.

This is the simple, quick method:
Only one video track, split the clip, add effect to first part, then add mix...
Easy.

I hope it's what the OP wanted after all that...