Side by side pictures in Vegas?
 

For a video I am making I would like to have two separate videos playing side by side (like for a taping a telephone conversation). Does anyone know how to do this in Vegas 4? I tried cropping and track motion but I can only change the overall size of the events which leaves blank spaces at the top and bottom. I want them side by side filling the entire screen (kind of like what it looks like during a squeeze transition).

Any advice?

Dan,
use track motion but UNLOCK the icon to keep the aspect ratio the same. Then you can adjust the size to get exactly the area you want. If you don't care that the images will be squeezed a little bit. That's the only way I know how to do that effect, AAMOF, I'm working on a wedding video right now that I'm doing that with.

Yes, either Pan/Crop OR Track Motion can do what you want. Just turn OFF the Lock Aspect Ratio button OR hold down the CTRL key while resizing the box. Then move the box to get it positioned on the proper side.

Suppose one did not want the squeeze effect but rather to create a side-by-side effect by taking half the screen width of one clip, half the width of another, and placing them left and right?

Did I miss something about Vegas? Is it the case that crop always crops equally on all sides? With an image editor, of course, the crop can be any size, perhaps nothing removed top and bottom but something removed from both sides.

Nope. With the Pan and Crop OR the track motion you can LOCK or UNLOCK the aspect ratio for sizing. With a little keyframing on either one of those you can get some very very cool effects.
Oh yeah, there are also some free plugins that work really great as well.

Also, if you sqeeze only the left/right sides, you can move the "F" window left and right to move it ot the left or right side of the frame.

If you want the left half of one video clip and the right have of another video clip, there are even more options available. For example, you could use the cookie cutter, generated media with luminence, or any other of the tools that will block sections of video.

Very cool. That works great. Thanks everyone.

Thanks for the tips. I'll give it a try.

GL2 Frame mode ->DVD w/ Vegas
 

Hi all,

I was wondering if I have the correct process for burning
30p DVDs.

I did all of my taping using my GL2 set to Frame mode.

I created a new template in Vegas by modifying only
one thing in the current NTSC DV default template. Instead
of choosing between lower and upper fields, I set it to none-progressive.

I captured footage, edited away, and then rendered as
an mpeg 2 file. I modified the DVD NTSC template and simply
chose progressive again.

I am now ready to burn...or am I? Did I miss anything?
Will this play correctly on a progressive scan DVD player with 2-2 pulldown?

Thanks,
Cesar

Excalibur Add-on for Vegas
 

Announcing the official release of Excalibur : Tools to slice through your editing tasks.

Excalibur was created by Edward Troxel and Gary Kleiner and includes 12 Wizards (tools) that are designed to speed you through many editing tasks, and are accessed through a pop-up interface that integrates seamlessly with Vegas.


Excalibur Wizards:


· Sync Wizard: Makes it a snap to synchronize any combination of video and audio events.

· Mutlicam Wizard: Instantly creates a finished edit with cuts and dissolves according to your instructions. Has to be seen to be believed!

· Gap Wizard: Automatically deletes spaces between timeline events with optional dissolves. Perfect for creating photo or video montages faster than you ever have before.

· Voice-Over Wizard: Takes less than a second to place volume envelopes to raise and lower the volume of an audio track based on wherever you have placed your narration.

· Orphan Wizard: Instantly places missing audio or video events back in your timeline in sync with their video or audio "parents."

· Unsplit Wizard returns events that have numerous splits to their original state.

· Velocity Wizard allows to you easily set a playback speed for your clip and automatically lengthens the event in the timeline to match the new duration.

· Marker Wizard automatically places markers at intervals or at the beginning of each clip. Perfect for making chapter stops for DVDs.

· Randomize Wizard shuffles clips in random order.

· Solo Wizard turns Solo on for selected track, and off for all other tracks.

· Align A/V Wizard restores sync to Video/Audio pairs.

· Fade Wizard allows you to set and apply specific fade lengths or fade to current cursor position. Also allows you to apply fades with a simple keystroke!


Pricing is:
CD with printed manual $36.00 USD
Direct E-mail with .pdf manual $29.50 USD
Order together with Vegas Video Editing instructional video and get $10 off!


For more information and link to an online demo, visit http://www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com

Excalibur requires Vegas 4.0b or above

Edward, It sounds fantastic! I do have two questions about Excalibur... How does it sync the audio? Is there a version for Premiere?
Thanks

Premiere - NO. It is a script for Vegas - hence the need for version 4.0b or newer.

I assume you mean the Sync Wizard. It is designed to simplify syncing multiple sources (i.e. multiple cameras, external audio from Minidiscs, ...)

To sync, you need to find a common point - such as a sudden noise. Then you find that point on the first camera and add a marker. Find that point on the second camera and add another marker. Find that point on the extra audio and add another marker. Then, the wizard will automatically sync all of the clips on the spot indicated by the markers. No more fiddling back and forth trying to get them synced.

I like that. It's a shame I'm not a Vegas user :(

Keith,

I remember thinking, "It is a shame I waited so long to become a Vegas user."

Too many things I like about Premiere, not enough about Vegas. You know, chocolate vs vanilla?