Have you tried the tutorials on the VASST site?
They're at http://vasst.com/?v=ultimate/tutorial_links.htm

Look for a PDF file in the folder in which it was installed.

Thanks Ed.


ian

Learning Vegas/other programs
 

Hi guys,

I was just wondering if anyone has tried these online, I guess you would call them classes. It's an online "school" that teaches you vegas, as well as many other programs. Here is the link http://apex.vtc.com/welcome.php. Just wondering if anyone had any feedback. Thanks.

Vegas Challenge
 

I appeal to the your ego to let me know if the following is possible. Is it possible to do a live mask. For example, have you ever seen those premade portrait things at fun parks. You can walk behind the big board, stick you head through it, and take picture of you as someone else.

Well can you do this with a video camera and a mask?

Yes, but not live, at least with Vegas.

There is no live processing/keying available with Vegas, but it would have great capabilities to do it very fast and output it to tape or a monitor, if that would be acceptable for your application.

You would do that with a switcher with keyer. THat's how the amusement parks do it. The people stand in front of the blue screen or green screen, the camera is routed through a switcher with keying abilities, and the video is then routed to tape or disc.

Oh, hehe, holy crap. I was thinking of using it as a tool for wedding shows. I'll keep thinking about the above information.

If you search on this site and on the Sony Media Software forum (and dvxuser.com) for user reviews about the various training products out there.
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/for....asp?ForumID=4

VASST is one company that offers training DVDs for Vegas (and other programs) and they sponsor this site. Douglas Spotted Eagle is the trainer for the core set of Vegas training DVDs (1-3) and he knows his stuff when it comes to Vegas. He beta tests Vegas, flies everywhere to do training for it, has way too many cameras, is a Certified Sony Vegas Trainer (the official Sony Media Software certification), etc. etc.
http://www.vasst.com
http://dvinfo.net/sponsors/#vst

Of course if you read my signature you can see that I'm a little biased. But certainly do a search on this forum and others, you'll find that a lot of people have good things to say about the VASST training DVDs. There's also sample excerpts on the VASST website.

I just finished a project that had some blurring issues and I looked in help and I was sent to this preferance option to insure I was "ignoring third party codec" as well as "always using Microsoft Codec". Was I wrong to change this? It has not seemed to have any adverse effects as of now? Could you please elaborate on this subject Ed!.

Thanks in advance ,

All mt best,

video scopes question, re: 7.5 IRE Setup, Studio RGB settings
 

When editing my footage in Vegas and looking at the video scopes, specifically the waveform, if my DVD is going to be viewed on a television, should I have the 7.5 IRE setup box checked in the settings? Meaning, when someone pops this DVD in their set top player, it will add 7.5 IRE (it says NTSC video in the USA adds 7.5 IRE) And when I look at my specific player, it has options to add setup or not...If I color correct my project so that black is at 0 IRE on the waveform (without the box checked), then if setup is added on the dvd player, it will cause the black to look a little washed out.

Actually, I don't KNOW if my DVD is going to be played on a computer or on a TV.. Not sure what to do here..

Then there is the other checkbox that says Studio RGB. Not sure what to check there either. If I check BOTH boxes, it's basically the same as not checking either box...

TOO confused...

IMO for the USA .. check studio RGB 16-235 box ..do NOT check 7.5 ...

if you end up playing it on a HDTV you can go into the HDTV menu and choose 7.5 black

on a computer sceen the 16rgb blacks will be a little lighter then 0rgb black = you could make a special DVD using 0-255 scale ( uncheck studio RGB box) ..you could use that DVD for HDTV's - go into HDTV menu and set black for 0.

beleive it or not, there is absolutely no standardization amongst SD DVD players. In other words, some add 7.5 IRE, some don't. To make matters worse, the product literature never says whether it's added or not, nor does it tell you how top switch it on or off. Pretty disgusting, isn't it? So, IMHO, it's best to leave your blacks at zero, no matter what the playback venue is. If the player is set at zero, you're gonna be OK. If the player is set at 7.5, you'll clip anything below 7.5, or crush your blacks. To my eye, crushed blacks aren't as apparent as that washed out look of clipping your highlights.

Ok thanks for the input. So if I have a person teaching in front of a solid black background (or what I want to be seen as solid black), then I should NOT check either box on the video scopes settings AND I should color correct so that that black background in the video falls to 0 on the waveform scope.

Does that about cover it?

The Sony codec is better than the Microsoft codec. It holds up much better on multiple renders.