Vegas Video discussions from 2005 (Q3Q4)

[Jason Simpson]

Ok here is my issue. It looks great on the computer but as soon as it gets to the dvd and on to the tv whatever I have placed at the bottom of the screen as lets say a logo it is cut off. Also there is a scene where I have some text come sliding in on one side of the screeen. It to is cut off. I come back and look at the video but it just fine on my screen.

Now, I am watching this dvd on a big screen and I tried both setting 4:3 and 16:9. Same results. My logo that is on the bottom is the standard width except for the height which has been reduced and then I moved it acorss to the bottom. The logo on the bottom is all the way across the screen and has a truck on it. Well on the computer the truck wheels you can see. On the tv they are cut off.

What causes this? I went back in and moved stuff around just to make it work but don't want to have to keep burning disk to make it work.

Thanks, Jason

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Placed at the bottom of the screen using *what* as your guide?
In the Preview window, you can enable "Safe Areas" which are indicated by a dotted line around the preview window. Anything outside of this title or action safe area is potentially going to be cut off by television bezel/overscan. You want to always check on an external monitor, even when using safe area indication. Do you have an external monitor connected to your computer? That would prevent you from having to burn a DVD each time you want to test/check it.

To enable safe areas, click the button that looks like a grid, or tic-tac-toe game. In the drop down box of the grid,choose Safe Areas.

[Jason Simpson]

Ok thanks. Did that. Now yes I do have an external monitor but how do you get it to play on that monitor?

Thanks, Jason

[Edward Troxel]

Definitely turn on the safe area indicators and note that the INSIDE dashed line is the "title safe area" and the outer dashed line is the "action safe area". Plus note that the safe area varies by TV so this is STILL just a guideline. Generally speaking, though, keep the titles inside the inner dashed line.

As for connecting the external monitor, run firewire to your camera/convertor/deck and than S-Video or RCA from that to your monitor. Click the "External Preview" button just above the preview screen and you should be there. You *may* need to go to the Exteral Preview tab in Options - Preferences and pick the proper device.

If you have multiple computer monitors, Vegas 6 can now use the secondary monitor as a preview device as well.

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Originally Posted by Jason Simpson

Ok thanks. Did that. Now yes I do have an external monitor but how do you get it to play on that monitor?

Thanks, Jason

http://www.vasst.com/resource.aspx?i...c-7d5f37e4297e has a tutorial on the subject of connecting an external monitor to Vegas, you might find it useful.

[Bob Costa]

Just want to repeat what Edward said in case you missed it.

EVERY TV IS DIFFERENT. Just because you edit on a production monitor, it does not mean that every TV will have the same "edges" Use the safe area lines shown in the preview window, and you will be good for MOST TVs.

[Chris Thomas]

Anyone really know the difference? I have heard to render most projects on the Good setting, but will the video benefit from the longer render associated with the Best setting? Does it break down to resolution bit rate or anything else?

[DJ Kinney]

Yeah, it makes a difference. Maybe only slightly, but the difference in render time is small enough that it's a really good trade-off. Why go for less, when more is only a setting away?

[Richard Firnges]

At every project I've got the same problem: When I want to render the finished video to HDV 1080i somewhere in the middle of the file the render engine crashes(An unknown error occured). I usually do prerender the takes to one file first. Rendering to WMV (after deinterlacing) is no problem.

Richard

[Edward Troxel]

If you're using photos (or anything higher resolution that is being scaled), use Best. If you're going from DV-AVI to DV-AVI, stick with Good - you won't be able to see a difference and will get faster renders. Here's an overall explanation thanks to Dr. Dropout:

Different conversion algorithms are used for the different video rendering quality options, (which you choose from Render as>[format]>custom>project.) You'll have the option of draft, preview, good, best.

Quality: Best
Scaling: bi-cubic/integration
Field Handling: on
Field Rendering: on (setting dependent)
Framerate Resample/IFR: on (switch dependent)

Quality: Good
Scaling: bi-linear
Field Handling: on
Field Rendering: on (setting dependent)
Framerate Resample/IFR: on (switch dependent)

Quality: Preview
Scaling: bi-linear
Field Handling: off
Field Rendering: off
Framerate Resample/IFR: always off

Quality: Draft
Scaling: point sample
Field Handling: off
Field Rendering: off
Framerate Resample/IFR: always off

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Scaling:
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These methods come into play when conforming sources that differ from the output size. They are also used when panned, cropped or resized in track motion.

Bi-Cubic/Integration - Best image resizing algorithm available in Vegas. Quality differences will be most noticeable when using very large stills or stretching small sources.

Bi-linear - Best compromise between speed and quality. This method will produce good results in most cases.

Point Sampling - Fast but produces poor results.


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Field Handling:
------------------------------

This refers to the field conformance stage of Vegas's video engine. This includes Interlaced to Progressive conversion, Interlaced to interlaced output when scaling, motion or geometric Video FX and Transitions are involved. Skipping this stage can sometimes result in bad artifacts when high motion interlaced sources are used.


---------------------------------
Field Rendering:
---------------------------------

When the output format is interlaced, Vegas will internally render at the field rate (twice the frame rate) to achieve smooth motion and FX interpolation.

---------------------------------
Frame Rate Resample / IFR (Interlace Flicker Reduction):
---------------------------------

Frame Rate Resample:

This kicks in when speed changes are made through Velocity Envelopes and/or event stretching. In can also be used when up-converting low frame rate sources. This only kicks in if the resample switch is turned on _and_ quality is set to good or best.

Interlace Flicker Reduction:

This kicks in if the event switch is turned on and quality is set to good or best. See Vegas' documentation for a description of this switch.

Vegas will bypass any or all of these potentially expensive processing stages if the resulting output won't be affected by the process (e.g. no-recompress pass-through, field render bypass when settings don't change and so on ...). Differences in the output between different quality settings may not always be noticeable, but that largely depends on various attributes of the source media being used. If you want to see some of these differences first hand, trying using extremely large or small sources or high-motion interlaced shots with extreme pan/crop operations.

Please note that you should never render your final project using anything other than good or best when interlaced sources are involved unless the project only contains cuts. If preview quality is used, the resulting video will vary between acceptable to disastrous depending on your project and its media content.

-----------------------------------------

[Steve Crisdale]

Originally Posted by Richard Firnges

At every project I've got the same problem: When I want to render the finished video to HDV 1080i somewhere in the middle of the file the render engine crashes(An unknown error occured). I usually do prerender the takes to one file first. Rendering to WMV (after deinterlacing) is no problem.

Richard

Well... you've got me. I haven't ever had this happen, but that doesn't mean it might not.

Have you done the usual - you know... Analyze and troubleshoot the problem.
If the error always occurs in the same spot, you're well on the way to finding a solution, because the problem isn't just random but has a specific cause at a specific point.

If it is always at the same point, try rendering out only the clips from before the crash - say from beginning of the project up until to the last edit before the crash point. If that works, then try a render of the projects remaining clips from the clip just before the crash point.

I hope the logic of what I'm proposing is starting to become evident? It's unlikely that you have a hardware problem (stranger things have occured though!!), because you seem to be able to deal with other HD/HDV functions, so tracking down what software request to hardware is causing your crash should be a process of elimination.

Hope you figure it out...

[Jeff Toogood]

I did a small production that required some interior shots of an office. There is a whiteboard on one of the walls with some writing and stuff on it. They would like me to remove the writing and digitally put their company logo on the whiteboard.
Is this possible to do in Vegas? It isn't a static shot, it is a pan across the office.

Thanks in advance.

[Edward Troxel]

Yes, it is possible. you can use Bezier Masking to clear the writing off the board. You will need to use keyframes to follow the pan.

To add the logo, you will probably need to use 3D track motion in order to get the angle(s) correct. Once again, keyframes will be needed to follow the pan and adjust angles/sizes as required.

[Glenn Chan]

This will be much easier using a program such as Combustion, especially putting the company logo onto the whiteboard.

If you want the logo to "stick" perfectly (which is really painful and hard if you manually keyframe in Vegas) then you should take it into programs like Combustion (Boris Red and AE should do the same thing I think). Those programs have motion tracking, and it needs to be 4-pin/points/corners to get the perspective right.

If people will pass in front of the logo, then you need to rotoscope (time consuming). It may take about the same time to reshoot if you need to rotoscope (and cheaper if you don't own one of the aforementioned programs).

[Chris Thomas]

Nice description... Just the type of thing I was looking for.