Adding a color curve to the WHOLE project

[Oliver Darden]

I have a final project (not nested!!!) that I want to add a color curve to. It's about 60 video tracks and I don't want to have to add the same curve to each track as that would take forever. I already have to master the audio tracks (50 more!) and that's going to take a very long time.

Is there anyway to add a color curve (a preset that I made already) to the entire project vs all 60 track separately?

I am using Vegas 8.0b

[Chris Barcellos]

Why not save the project then open a new project, and drag the project on to the new time line, and then add the color curve. You could render video only, and then take it all back to other project lay it on a new track, to work on with your audio track.

[Oliver Darden]

Wouldn't that be a nested file then? Nested files are the worst thing on the planet using Vegas 8.0b.

Also, would'nt that compress it twice, and then I would have to go and delete every single video track?

[Chris Barcellos]

You didn't say what you were working in, HDV, intermediate HD, or SD.
But, what is worst than having sixty separate video tracks ? That seems to be what you are indicating-- I don't understand why someone would do that, but you must have your reasons for that, if that is what is going on.

Not sure what your "authority" is on "nested" files, but I have had success ediiting with project files saved and nested in a new project to achieve a final render.

Another solution is to render to a new track and then color correct that new track in the same project.

[Edward Troxel]

Drag the color curve effect to the preview screen. That will add it to the "Project" (and the little effects icon above the preview screen will turn green)

[Oliver Darden]

Originally Posted by Edward Troxel

Drag the color curve effect to the preview screen. That will add it to the "Project" (and the little effects icon above the preview screen will turn green)

whoa!! Nice, thank you....

[Oliver Darden]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

But, what is worst than having sixty separate video tracks ? That seems to be what you are indicating-- I don't understand why someone would do that, but you must have your reasons for that, if that is what is going on.

Maybe you could tell me a better way of working with Vegas then, I will explain what I am doing.

I am working on a film, the film has 23 scenes and is 78 mins. long. I have 23 Vegas projects in separate folders. When I feel like the scenes are where I want them to be I open a NEW Vegas project and then I open the 1st scene (so I have 2 Vegas projects open). I then use the tool to highlight the entire project files on the 1st scene and then I copy and paste them into the NEW project. I do this with all 23 scenes.

By doing this it allows me to transition into each scene the way I want and also allows me to add whatever plug in I want to the audio track but it also makes a HUGE project with lots of tracks.

[Oliver Darden]

Originally Posted by Edward Troxel

Drag the color curve effect to the preview screen. That will add it to the "Project" (and the little effects icon above the preview screen will turn green)

I actually had to click the "Video Output FX" icon above the preview screen and add a curve that way. Is that the same thing as your talking about?

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Oliver Darden

Maybe you could tell me a better way of working with Vegas then, I will explain what I am doing.

I am working on a film, the film has 23 scenes and is 78 mins. long. I have 23 Vegas projects in separate folders. When I feel like the scenes are where I want them to be I open a NEW Vegas project and then I open the 1st scene (so I have 2 Vegas projects open). I then use the tool to highlight the entire project files on the 1st scene and then I copy and paste them into the NEW project. I do this with all 23 scenes.

By doing this it allows me to transition into each scene the way I want and also allows me to add whatever plug in I want to the audio track but it also makes a HUGE project with lots of tracks.

Everyone has their own process. For me, I try to take a simple approach.

First, I edit in the Cineform codec, when doing HDV. It holds up in rerendering process, so, I can do my process without a lot of loss over successive renders. However, if I was editing in HDV, I think I would still do it the same way. It would result in two to three rerenders. SD DV also is relatively lossless and would standup to rerendering in the .avi Dv format as originally captured.

In your case, for each of 23 scenes, I would render out to my intermediate Cineform Codec.

Then I take each rendered scene in to a new compile project, drop them all on the same track, and work out any further trimming and transitions in that project. That is also the place to color correct the project, which can be done scene by scene, or by correcting the entire track of video. From this I render my full film to a final full intermediate codec file, and that becomes the master. Use that one in a new project to render to any format you need to deliver.

[Oliver Darden]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

In your case, for each of 23 scenes, I would render out to my intermediate Cineform Codec.

That sounds very interesting, I am actually unfamiliar with this process so I will research it...... unless you would like to elaborate on the subject...=)

Thanks Chris

I am editing SD footage btw.

[Michael Wisniewski]

Originally Posted by Oliver Darden

I am working on a film, the film has 23 scenes and is 78 mins. long. I have 23 Vegas projects in separate folders. When I feel like the scenes are where I want them to be I open a NEW Vegas project and then I open the 1st scene (so I have 2 Vegas projects open). I then use the tool to highlight the entire project files on the 1st scene and then I copy and paste them into the NEW project. I do this with all 23 scenes.

I've done 2 long docs/narratives in Vegas and I've had to do pretty much the same. For me it's just easier to make the scenes in separate projects, and then copy/paste them all into one timeline so that I can fine-tune the ebb & flow of the overall story. Nesting kinda works, but not the way I really want. Rendering out doesn't work for me either, as I want to make the changes to edits immediately or I am liable to forget the "intention" of the edit down the road. I found FCP is much better for longer more involved projects - mainly because you can store several sequences together in one FCP project. It's a small feature, but it makes the whole process much more efficient, especially when you're already brain dead after staring at the footage for what feels like an eternity. I usually go for Vegas when it's simple footage and under 30 minutes. But I'll reach for FCP if there's a mountain of footage and over 30 minutes. I still prefer editing in the Vegas timeline, but for me, media management in FCP wins. (I'm currently in the process of moving to Avid because the media management really helps to make the whole process more efficient)

The one habit I've picked up for both Vegas and FCP is to be very disciplined with every track. Each of my tracks has to be clearly defined, voice overs, sub titles, lower thirds, camera audio, camera video (broken down by character or scene or theme etc). I did this on the 2nd doc/narrative I worked on and it really helped cut down on the number of resulting tracks - and made the final fine-tuning process much much easier to handle.

[Chris Barcellos]

SD is relatively stable in terms of being able to run it through successive renders, and should hold up similar to the Cineform codec used as an intermediate file in HDV editing. Vegas actually won't even rerender scenes that are not subjected to editing processes.

[Edward Troxel]

Originally Posted by Oliver Darden

I actually had to click the "Video Output FX" icon above the preview screen and add a curve that way. Is that the same thing as your talking about?

Yes, that's the same thing.

[Oliver Darden]

Can someone tell me how to render to the cineform format in Vegas 8.0b?

[Edward Troxel]

File - Render As - and pick the cineform/HDV codec.