Vegas Video discussions from 2005 (Q3Q4)

[Lorinda Norton]

LOL, Ian!

Most of us have been there, so don't worry about it! As far as you being the culprit? I don't know...it seems like those sliders and lines just drift on their own sometimes!

[Edward Troxel]

Originally Posted by Lorinda Norton

it seems like those sliders and lines just drift on their own sometimes!

What happens to me is that I think the track has the focus when, in fact, the track HEADER has the focus. Now I want to move left on the timeline so I use the left arrow. My cursor doesn't move so I click on the timeline and use the left arrow. If I'm not careful and look, I may never notice I just lowered the Levels slider below 100%.

[Lorinda Norton]

Aha!!! So that's it! And here I thought Vegas had gremlins. (Hey, if Excalibur can have its wizard...) :)

[Hugh DiMauro]

What are the benefits of rendering compressed versus uncompressed?

[Edward Troxel]

If you're capturing DV, you're already compressed. In that case, there's no need to go uncompressed as it's much larger and won't make things any better than they already are. There are times to use uncompressed (or one of the other codecs instead of DV) but when starting with DV, you might as well stick with DV.

[Patrick King]

Lorinda,

Speaking of Excalibur...Edward, isn't there something in Excalibur that will check if you've got unintended gaps or displaced sliders?

[Jeff Baker]

This always throws me when I am trying to convert 60i to 24p in Vegas 6:

I have de-interlaced a 29.97fps interlaced project to 59.94 fps progressive from After Effects using fields kit 2x setting which doubles the frame rate.

So now do I create a 59.94fps or 24fps project in Vegas 6? If I do a 59.94fps no fields project I will convert using the mpeg2 encoder to 24P with 2:3. If I import the 59.94fps footage into a 24p project I have no idea how to do the output.

Do both ways work or is one better or required for this kind of progessive project?
Or do I want to back to 29.97 interlaced using 3:2 pulldown for a film effect?

If I could just get this process right for output to DVD I would be very happy.

[Edward Troxel]

Excalibur will let you eliminate all gaps but it won't check for them. There is currently no way to check for a reduced track level slider other than manually looking.

Ultimate S has the ability to check if gaps exist on the timeline and eliminate them if desired.

[Devin Eskew]

Just wondering the major differences between Ultimate S and Ed's line with Excalibur, Neon ect. It looks as though I could buy almost all of Ed's line of products for the same price as U-S. Suggestions? I am looking to improve my work flow with short cuts. I tend to do two camera shoots, however there are times I will do three, and it looks as thought U-S will only do two. I liked Excalibur's interface but was unable to get my demo of if installed correctly and I gave up on it, this was over a year ago and I'm sure it had more to do with "user" error than any fault in the program.

[Bret Primack]

Hi.

I'm just upgrade from Vegas Movie Studio to Vegas 6.0.

After editing my first project, I've encountered a rather disturbing problem. When I render it, I get no audio.

I rebooted, tried again, in several different formats, and still no audio.

Suggestions?

[Peter Wright]

Which format are you rendering to?

If it's a DVDArchitect preset, this will be a video stream, and you need to also render the audio. If the video (MPG) and Audio (Ac3) have the same name and are in the same folder, then DVD Architect will automatically import both when you drag the video file to a menu.

[Edward Troxel]

They are both good products. You can try either of them out for a demo period and see the features you like best in each.

There is no longer a "Neon" or "Tsunami". Instead, Excalibur 4.x (now at 4.5) includes everything that was in Excalibur 3 + Neon + Tsunami + new tools and features. So now a single product gets you everything.

The new Ultimate S 2 update will do up to 4 cameras. Excalibur has presets for up to 25 cameras.

[Devin Eskew]

I've done that a few times with different reasons being the cause.

1. Check the master volume fader. Is it up to -12db or at least past -30? Also check the audio track volume settings. Also is the mute button enabled on your audio track?

2. Do you have markers? If so did you have the
render loop region only selected in the render menu? I once had a very small section that did not have audio selected. Shortest render I ever had, but not what I wanted.

3. Do you have any volume envelopes? Are the pulled all the way down on the event?

4. Are running V-6 out of the box, or have you downloaded the upgrade to 6b? I don't think this one should be an issue, I didn't have audio issues, but there were a few gremlins that 6b fixed.

What is your destination render format? MPEG-2, AVI? There are so many to choose from.

[Bret Primack]

Fixed. I went deeper into Render - Custom and found that the audio box was not checked.

works now!

thanks to all....

[John Rofrano]

The latest version of Ultimate S 2.0, the original all-in-one multi-tabbed scripting tool, is now available from VASST. We have really concentrated this release on exploiting the deeper features of Vegas 6. There are tools to import veg files into a master project and retain the markers, tools to save and trim projects with nested veg files (Vegas does not save and trim the nested project but we do), some convenience features like the ability to save pan/scan presets, improved marker manipulation, etc. You can read all about it here.

The 5 most advanced new features are:

QuadCAM: Four camera editing with custom tally indicators, real-time switching, and built-in Shuttle Pro support

Lower Thirds: A collection of 4 new graphics overlays packages called GrafPaks with animated lower thirds that you can just drop in and use or apply, push, dissolve etc. with a single push of a button. GrafPak-1 & 2 are included in Ultimate S2. GrafPak-2 Wedding and GrafPak-3 Worship are available for purchase.

Special FX: Compositing FX like Water Color Painting, Pencil Sketch, Romance Look, etc. to give an artistic quality to your videos.

Audio Mastering Plug-In: A DirectX plug-in from iZotope® custom made for VASST is included along with AudioPak-1, a package of 38 Track and Mastering presets specifically designed for voice over, mastering, and special fx.

4 New ReelPaks: There are now 5 ReelPaks in all with film looks from the past, Classic TV, and Hollywood looks. These can now be added to a track, events, or master video bus.

Ultimate S 2.0 is beyond just a scripting tool for editing convenience. It is a one-stop, multi-cam, film look, audio mastering, lower thirds, special fx tool; to not only keep you more productive, but improve the quality of your productions with the new content. No other scripting tool provides this.

The 15-day free Trial comes with sample content from GrafPak-1 & 2 and AudioPak-1. Check it out at VASST. Please read the ReadMeFirst.htm file included in the ZIP file you download. It contains important installation details concerning changes in our install procedure.

Attention Celluloid and FM users: A new free update to Celluloid is available that includes additional functionality and support for the new ReelPaks. A new free upgrade to FM is available that includes the iZotope® plug-in and AudioPak-1. (FM users contact VASST for AudioPak-1 after you have installed the new version) There is also a new update to Ultimate S 1.1 to support the new ReelPaks. Be sure to update your copy today.

Note: Because of the new Vegas 6 functionality we have exploited. This version of Ultimate S2 will only run on Vegas 6. We are working on a Vegas 5 version that should be available by August 1st.

~jr