I read a couple articles recently that said about the same thing. Wish I'd known this when I put together my computer at the beginning of this year. You pay a premium for the faster RAM.

Links to the articles are below.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1637781,00.asp
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118372,00.asp

A useful feature of Vegas...
 

Color correction requires adding one or more color correction effects to an event, track or clip.

A very useful Vegas feature is its ability to apply effects to an event, track or clip.

For instance, if you are cutting a scene based on 3 clips and you only need to color correct one of them, you can right-click that clip in the Media Pool and apply the color correction effect there. Thus all the events based on this clip will be color corrected.

I had to do this with my last project as I had to intercut shots from a clip taken at 2pm with shots from another taken at 3.30pm - natural light changed, I had to introduce a hot light etc. which later required me to color correct all cuts based on this clip separately.

Regards
-- Andre

1) uncompressed works for intermediate between the 2 ..
for smaller size rendered clips you could use huffy codec ( download it) ..

2) i assume in vegas you would render out your uncompressed at 23.97 progressive no pull down added .. then use the same set up in AE ...

3) if you are editing 24progressive then use progressive

4) don't use AE.. but could be that RAM preview is in 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 color space then you render using a DV codec which is 4:1:1 = less color , less detail , more bleeding etc ???? to test ram /render .. try rendering out to a uncompressed file to see if it's more of a match to RAM ... also if you are rendering in AE using dv codec then take that rendered file into Vegas it will NOT look the same becuase vegas codec works 16-235rgb and AE ( defaults to microsoft dv codec) works 0-255rgb = they will not look the same ... thats why persons render out using intermediate codec to take between programs.
NOTE that AE6.5 has excellent color correction using synthic apertures CC ...

Don...

R U sure Vegas works in 16-235 RGB? It has an option to select this range, however, I don't think it's the default value. If I use the Mainconcept Codec v2.4.4, it will give me the choice of clamping to NTSC or to studio RGB. However, that doesn't say that the processing engine of V5 uses studio RGB or not. I wouldn't expect that the engineers at Sony(SoFo) would have coded with this limitation. I do know that when I use the histogram in V5, I can get colors between 0 and 255.

Don - thanks for the information, that answers some very basic but critical questions I had.

i meant that VEGAS DV codec is 16-235 ... you can use other codec's with Vegas .. you can switch Vegas to use the microsoft DV codec and then it will read/write 0 -255 .. and of course if you bought the mainconcepts you have choice ...

the scope is for reference .. it is defaulted to 16-235 (NTSC) ..note that 16RGB is 7.5 ire .. studio 16-235 just changes the scale to fit 16-235 into the 0-100ire scale so 16rgb is black (NTSC ) so it becomes 0ire ..235 is white for ntsc so it becomes 100 (which i believe is 601 spec) .. note that when you switch to 0-255 your 16 is now 7.5 and your 235 is now around 94 .. nothing has changed in the clip it just how it is read on which scale depending on your output needs - ? NTSC , WEB , HD , computers ?

BUT do note that if you do use the 0-255 and put something at 255 it will read 100ire while over on the 16-235 scale it will read 108ire and it is out of NTSC spec .. use the 16-235 for NTSC output ... 0-255 for film out, web , viewed on HD tv/monitors, good digital projectors ...

i CC using 16-235 .. however when i render my web based , computer based clips i will change the scale to 0-255 , add the color curve FX to output and lower blacks to 0 ( take 16 down to 0) and raise the upper range to 100 (235 to 255)

My understanding is that the Sony codec works in 0-255.

I agree Edward. I never heard before that the Sony codec was hamstrung with 16-235. That's only an NTSC standard. If the Sony codec was limited in this way, you'd never be able to produce MPEGs at 0-255 using the Sony codec.

<<<-- Originally posted by Bill Ravens : I agree Edward. I never heard before that the Sony codec was hamstrung with 16-235. That's only an NTSC standard. If the Sony codec was limited in this way, you'd never be able to produce MPEGs at 0-255 using the Sony codec. -->>>

Similarly, there would be no need to apply a broadcast clamp when printing to tape something that will be broadcast. Sony handles it correctly. However, there ARE some codecs that don't. Don't ask me which ones - I haven't studied the various codecs to see how they all work.

Selecting in the Trimmer window
 

Hi - I hope I can describe this is a good way - maybe I just need to change my way of working but here goes:

I like to look at a piece of video in the trimmer window and then make my rough edits, and drag the piece up to the time line.

If I do this one way - Vegas won't select the piece but if I do it another way it selects it just fine.

What I generally do is move the cursor line to the point I want to select - then IF I move the cursor over that line - the cursor changes into a 2 pointed arrow; if I left click and slide the cursor over to the right it won't select the clip. If on the other hand - I just move the cursor to some point - with a single headed arrow showing up - then click and drag - it selects the piece just fine.

Now I know I can hit the I button and began the selection and then hit the O button - I can select it that way too. But it really seems that I can't preview the piece exactly by moving across it, and have Vegas select it.

Help!!
Milt

That's one of the new features in Vegas 5. Go to Options - Preferences and uncheck the "Allow edit cursor to be dragged" and see if it works as you expect.

Vegas 5's improved mpeg2 encoding
 

I'm reading the magazine Sony mails out to learn more about my new software. (I wish I was kidding. :) Can someone explain the following in really plain language, please?

"Vegas 5 software features improved, high-quality 2-pass VBR MPEG-2 encoding for DVD...Enhancements from the previous version include 4:2:2 High profile/Main level, and Transport stream support."

Basically, are the days gone that I send nice-looking SD video through an MPEG-2 render just to be disappointed with the dvds? I'm asking because at the moment I'm finishing up a little project at home--still on Vegas 4. If there's a big enough difference I'll move it to the pc in town with V5 and put up with another nine-hour render.

Another Audio Question
 

Ok,

Let's say I have a cut from a medium shot to a close up shot.
Now the medium shot has good sound, but when I cut to the close up shot, the audio becomes different in the dialogue, louder. Is there a way to tell so that it can match. Or is it just adjusting the volume of the close up shot to the medium shot?

Are you changing audio to the other camera when you switch the shots? If you are, why not let the first camera's audio continue under the second camera's video?

There were several improvements made to the DVD encoder between Vegas 4 and Vegas 5. The one most people were really looking for was the ability to do 2-pass VBR. This tells the encoder to go through the video twice - once looking at the video and a second time encoding the video. This allows for a better quality encode.

<<<-- Originally posted by Edward Troxel : Are you changing audio to the other camera when you switch the shots? If you are, why not let the first camera's audio continue under the second camera's video? -->>>


No, the audio wasn't changed but the mic was closer to the close up shot when we shot it.

I've seen a test of what I have so far on dvd, when some scenes from medium shots cut to the character's close up shot, you can tell that the sound is louder, or more upfront. Don't know how to explain it. It just doesn't match.

This might not be the proper question on this topic, but:
what does the DVD architect do? I mean, I can use AVIs into DVDA2 and then compile the DVD but I cannot find any options on the MPEG2 encoding...

You can give DVDA an AVI file and it will automatically convert it to MPEG2 and AC3 for you. However, you get much less control over the settings which is why most people recommend encoding in Vegas instead.

The real purpose of DVDA is to author the DVD (create the menus and how the items interrelate). It will then create the required files for burning to a DVD. You can then burn with it or some other program.

A/B Type editing in vegas?
 

I'm fooling around a bit with vegas, and so far I like what I see. I'm sure I could get used to doing all my fx transitions on one line, but is there any way to do a dissolve or something like that from one track to another? Sort of along the lines of premiere, etc?

Yes, you can transition between tracks, but if what your after is a more Premier-like representation, right-clik on the track header and choose Expand Track Layers.

Gary

Flashing Text
 

Hi guys,
getting my feet wet learning Vegas 5 and having a blast.

I have this instant replay i'm creating in vegas, slowing it down and it looks great. Right now it says "Instant Replay" but i thought it would be nice if it flashed. Does any here know how to make it and control the flashing speed?

Thanks
andy

Thank you! Much less cluttered to my premire trained eyes!

Chop up the text with the s key. Delete every other slice.

Gary

Kevin, keep trying as a single track too. Eventually you'll come to see how cluttered having TWO tracks when you only need ONE really is!

cAN'T find the "s" key
 

Funny, i looked for the "slice" feature but i couldn't find it. So i did an index search and nothing came up. Does Vegas use another word maybe? Right now i'm using the media generator for the text (the one named "text" in the left pane). Can this be sliced?

thanks,
tim

<<<-- Originally posted by Gary Kleiner : Chop up the text with the s key. Delete every other slice.

Gary -->>>

Lorinda: if you want serious MPEG2 quality you should look into
TMPGEnc or Canopus ProCoder, both are better than the coupled
Cinemacraft encoders that come with Vegas and Premiere Pro
(although it certainly is not bad in a good VBR mode!)

Everything can be sliced, just place the "line" over the place to
slice and hit the 's' key on your keyboard. This splices everything
underneath the line (including ALL tracks with media). If you just
want to splice one event (media on a track) click on the event
first so that it is blue (selected) then move the line with the cursor
keys to the right place and hit the 's' key.

There are all sort of ways to solve your problem from cutting to
masks or keyframing.

Re: cAN'T find the "s" key
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Andy Dufrain : Funny, i looked for the "slice" feature but i couldn't find it. -->>>

Search for "Split" instead.

>cAN'T find the "s" key <

Those buttons on your keyboard with the letters on them are also called keys (hence the name "keyboard").

The s is located in the middle-left area between a and d.


Gary

Rob: Serious MPEG2 quality...Yes, that's what I want!! I'll have a look at those others. Thank you.

And thanks to you, Edward, for always explaining things so well.

Doh! Sony Chroma Blur filter
 

For ages I've been wanting a deartifact filter for Vegas to solve problems such as stair stepping in reds etc as well as other problems with DV footage.

I then stumbled upon a filter that for some reason I haven't noticed in Vegas 5 before! The Chroma Blur Filter. As per always when I discover such a thing I haven't got much in the way of footage on the hard drive that has any problem colours on it to try it out properly on!

Does anyone know how this filter differs from the deartifact filter in the AE Magic Bullet Suite, or the one from Digital Film Tools?

Gary, thanks for the literal interpetations of the meaning.

To the others, thanks i got it to work. My vegas calls it split.

This is a cool feature and i wanted to know other times this feature comes in handy, how others in this group have used it? Having this board room really makes vegas a) more fun b)more powerful then simple cuts!

Excalibur Question -Multicam
 

Hi,
I was using the multicam feature in the Excal. Demo and was wondering if you could apply the multicam script to only a highlighted segment? The reason I asked this question is because I was editing a project and used the script on a previous segment and w/o deleting the markers, I prepared another part of the file for this script. Well, needless to say, when I ran the script again I had problems with the prior segment.

I also considered moving just that segment to a new .veg file, but after copying the highlighted segment over, I lost the markers. Is there anyway to copy higlighted markers and clips over to a new file?

Thank You

I don't know if or how it differs, but I can tell you that it works.
I've tried it on some footage with red in it and it definitely
smoothed out the stair-stepping in the red colors!

I mainly use it to cut clips to size (trimming) before I put them
back-to-back to create a movie <g>

Multi-cam can be set to work in a small area of the timeline. In Excalibur 3 it is very easy, just check to option to only work in the selected area after selecting the small area in which you want it used. Manually you can set up a command marker and "end" marker but the option in Excalibur 3 makes that automatic.

Problem with cookie cutter
 

I was using the search but I have not seen this problem there so I decided to make a new thread.
Today I was making a small clip and I noticed that was a little spot on my lens during filming, unfortunatly on top of the lens so it shows very clearly on the blue skies.
Well, I had good luck with tke cookei cutter and placing a small circle on top of that spot and making that the same color as the background.
I have captured 2 clips. I cut a scene to the right length from clip A and put it in the time line. There I applied the cookie cutter. Now when I cut a scene from clip B in the timeline I have no problem. But when I put a piece of clip A in the timeline it has this spot from the cookie cutter, but it does not show as an FX event in the timeline so there is no way I can remove it.
Strange thing is that when I look at the clip in the trimmer window, nothiongs shows, but as soon as I drop somethnig on the timeline from that clip, is has the cutter effect while I did not select it for that piece. What am I doing wrong?

Sounds like you put the cookie cutter effect on the TRACK instead of that one EVENT. If it was applied to the track, everything on the track will be affected.

hmmm, when I put a scene from another capture on that same track, there is no effect on that scene, and it does not show any FX event on the track. But I will take a deeper look on your suggestion. Thanks so far

Thanks for the hint Edward, I just found it..guess what, I applied the effect to the whole clip. I could see the eventFX option when I right click on the clip in the media pool and there was the cookie cutter set as well, so I removed that and nos all is fine again :)
Might have been from fatigue working late last night that I was clicking and setting weird things, better go sleep earlier today lol