Questions for the pros.
by Bruce Quayle
on
Jul 10, 2008 at 3:20:13 am
Hi everone,
I have been studying and practicing with my new Vegas pro8 software and have been blown away by its abilities. But I have a number of queries that may seem basic to many of you pros out there. I would really appreciate your insight to these questions below.
1 When I go to Preferences > Preview Device, I see no option to preview in HD.
Is it possible to preview in HD?
If so, how?
2 I will be editing on a laptop that has two HDDs in it. Spot recommends using three HDDs. In my situation, can I use an external HDD or fast flash drive (via USB port) for capturing and playing back audio?
3 If I have a choice of HDDs inside my laptop, does it make a difference if they are 7200rpm or 5400rpm?
4 A dumb newbe question: How do I delete video from my system from within Vegas? I can delete from projects, but the clip still remains on my drive.
5 Is it possible to automatically add a 2 second “handle” on either side of a video clip when capturing? In other words, as I am viewing my video material and am selecting in and out points, can Vegas automatically add a 2 second buffer zone onto the beginning and end of the clips?
6 Can one create a travelling matt with Vegas? IE: One created with Bezier points or out of existing material (graphics, CK, etc)? If so, can this movement be linked to a point of reference in the matt? Further to this, can one then link an event on another track to this same point/movement?
Re: Questions for the pros. by John Rofrano on Jul 10, 2008 at 3:38:32 am
Hi Bruce,
We all started somewhere so no question is too basic. ;-) I'll do my best to answer them.
> 1 When I go to Preferences > Preview Device, I see no option to preview in HD. Is it possible to preview in HD? If so, how?
The Windows Secondary Display option should be used to preview HD material. This assumes your secondary display is HD capable of course.
> 2 I will be editing on a laptop that has two HDDs in it. Spot recommends using three HDDs. In my situation, can I use an external HDD or fast flash drive (via USB port) for capturing and playing back audio?
While I agree with Spot that having 3 hard drives is optimal; you can easily get away with two. I use an external firewire drive on my laptop for capture and I only use two on my desktop. With HDV, you will be CPU bound while rendering so hard drive speed will be the least of your problems.
> 3 If I have a choice of HDDs inside my laptop, does it make a difference if they are 7200rpm or 5400rpm?
7200rpm will be faster and therefore you can stream more tracks simultaneously. 5400rpm should be fine for most editing tasks but if you can get 7200's I would go with them.
> 4 A dumb newbe question: How do I delete video from my system from within Vegas? I can delete from projects, but the clip still remains on my drive.
You can delete them from the Project Media window. Just right-click on the media to delete and select Remove from project and delete file(s).
> 5 Is it possible to automatically add a 2 second "handle" on either side of a video clip when capturing? In other words, as I am viewing my video material and am selecting in and out points, can Vegas automatically add a 2 second buffer zone onto the beginning and end of the clips?
No not while capturing.
> 6 Can one create a travelling matt with Vegas? IE: One created with Bezier points or out of existing material (graphics, CK, etc)?
Yes. Open the Pan/Crop tool and use the Mask option to draw the Bezier points. You can add keyframes to move it.
> If so, can this movement be linked to a point of reference in the matt? Further to this, can one then link an event on another track to this same point/movement?
No. You would need a plug-in like Boris FX or Boris RED to do motion tracking. Vegas can only do manual keyframing of motion.
Re: Questions for the pros. by Bruce Quayle on Jul 10, 2008 at 8:56:42 pm
Thanks so much guys. Everything and more! What a great resourse this forum is.
I get it now. The device has to be plugged in to have the option available...Duh!
If the CPU slows me up with HDV, I guess it's going to be even more of a problem with the HD from an EX1. Hmmmm. I just had a thought. What if I first capture while downconverting to DV - complete the edit, and then re-digitize at full HD. Would this be possible?
As far as the handles were converned, I was interested in limiting the amounts of video on my system by performing the basic shot selection during capture from the production notes provided. It's not a train smash...just wondered if I was missing something.
I did the >Remove from project. Delete files> thing, but the files were still on my hard drive. Will now completely remove them from Explorer. Thanks.
It would be nice to have motion tracking in Vegas...perhaps in a later version?
Thanks again for all your advice.
Bruce
Re: Questions for the pros. by John Rofrano on Jul 10, 2008 at 9:17:32 pm
> What if I first capture while downconverting to DV - complete the edit, and then re-digitize at full HD. Would this be possible?
Unfortunately no. Vegas uses a different capture program for DV and HDV so there is no way to replay the DV capture in the HDV tool. What we at VASST have done, is create a plug-in to Vegas called GearShift that will convert your HDV footage to DV Widescreen for editing and then it swap out the DV media for the HDV media for final rendering. It does the same as you described except that both HDV and DV media are on your hard-drive at the same time. You can delete the DV media before you archive your project so it's a small price to pay for DV editing performance on HD projects. There is a 15-day free trial so you can try it on a project and see for yourself.
> As far as the handles were converned, I was interested in limiting the amounts of video on my system by performing the basic shot selection during capture from the production notes provided.
You can certainly mark your in and out points a little before and a little after during capture to make the handles yourself. It's just that Vegas doesn't do this for you.
> I did the >Remove from project. Delete files> thing, but the files were still on my hard drive.
I works for me. Vegas does ask some intimidating "are you sure" questions after you make the selection so be sure to answer YES and the file will be deleted from your hard drive. I use this all the time to get rid of bad takes.
> It would be nice to have motion tracking in Vegas...perhaps in a later version?
Considering there are tools like Boris FX and After Effects that already do this, it's not very likely that Vegas will take this on but... you never know. I have to agree, it sure would be sweet.
Re: Questions for the pros. by Bruce Quayle on Jul 10, 2008 at 10:15:42 pm
Hi John,
Thanks for your reply. I did see the Gearshift trial software on the Pro 8 disk, but didn't realise that benifit. Thanks. You talk in terms of HDV - what about material originated on the EX1 (ie. MPEG 2 Long GOP)? Would this be handled with Gearshift in the same way?
Thanks,
Bruce
Re: Questions for the pros. by John Rofrano on Jul 11, 2008 at 12:06:17 am
Yes, GearShift will handle the EX1 files just fine. When I say "HDV" mean any variant 1080i or 720p. Gearshift can use native .m2t, .mts, .m2ts, or .mxf files directly with DV proxies or any other file format that Vegas supports if you generate both the CineForm and DV proxies.
Try it and see. If you have any questions you know where to find me. ;-)
Re: Questions for the pros. by Bruce Quayle on Jul 11, 2008 at 3:16:11 am
Thanks John. I don't have my EX1 yet, but will do as you suggest when I get it. I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row.
Thanks again...to you and all answering my queries.
Cheers,
Bruce
