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How to letterbox all the events in a project at once?
I assume it would have something to do with changing the project properties as well as the render properties, I just don’t know how. I’d also like to be able to see the letterboxing in the preview window, if possible.
Thanks.
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21 Replies
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Hey Raymond–
Just make a black bar graphic top and bottom and stick ‘er on the top video layer.
Boddaboom.
–KG
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but the ‘black bar graphic top and bottom’ option wouldn’t allow you to accurately letterbox to specific cinematic aspect ratios, like 2.35:1.
If you’re clips are all the same resolution – for example 1920×1080 – you could adjust one clip so that it was 1080×800 (in the case of a 2.40:1 aspect ratio), then copy that clip, and then paste event attributes on all other clips. The problem is, if you’re clips each have different effects such as colour correction, they will be erased and replaced with the effects of the first clip you copied.
Perhaps you could change your project settings to 1920×800, for example, and then render out to 1920×1080,. This might generate black bars in your final render.
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What if my clips aren’t all the same resolution?
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Sorry but I have to ask… why on earth would you actually want to add letterboxing to your project?
Letterboxing is a mismatch between source footage and a playback device and should be handled by the playback device unless you were specifically told by a broadcaster that you must letterbox your footage in which case you should let the render do this for you.
You never want to letterbox your actual project. You want to keep the project in the proper aspect and let the render add the letterboxing as needed.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
I want to add the letterboxing because I feel it gives my video a more professional look. I know others may disagree, but this isn’t really about that.
The reason I want to do it within the project is so I can see the letterboxing as I’m editing events and such.
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[Raymond Pace] “I want to add the letterboxing because I feel it gives my video a more professional look. I know others may disagree, but this isn’t really about that.”
Well… it is really about that because you’re going about it the wrong way. The correct way is to set your project up to the aspect that you want and then render to the delivery format and let the render do the letterboxing. You will get your letterboxing in the end so don’t worry. You’re just approaching this in the wrong way.
So let’s start by finding out what aspect are you looking for?
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Honestly, getting the letterboxing itself isn’t the most important part. I’m probably not gonna finish this project for at least two weeks, so we can cross the “rendering” bridge when we come to it.
I was just wondering if there’s anyway to letterbox “properly” and also be able to see it in the preview window as I edit.
Oh, sorry: I’m going for NTSC widescreen 720p, either 25 or 30 FPS (haven’t decided)
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[Raymond Pace] “I was just wondering if there’s anyway to letterbox “properly” and also be able to see it in the preview window as I edit.”
No there is not because letterboxing should not be part of your project. If you do make lettrboxing part of your project, your next post will be, “I added an effect and it’s bleeding onto the letterboxing, what should I do” and the answer will be the same. Don’t put the letterboxing in your project.
I understand that you want to letterbox to give your video a more cinematic feel. I get it. What aspect ratio do you want it to be? Once you figure that out, you set your project up to be that aspect ratio and all of your editing will be in that aspect ratio and when you render to a different aspect ratio, the letterboxing will occur. You never need or want to see the letterboxing in your project. That gets added during the render.
Let me give you an example to help illustrate the proper workflow:
(1) Let’s say you want your project to have the Cinema Aspect 2.39:1.
(2) Let’s also say that your footage is currently HD 1920×1080 16:9.
What you would do is change your project properties to 1920 x 804 with a frame rate of 23.976 fps. That’s an aspect of HD Cinema 2.39:1. Now you edit your footage as you normally would cropping everything to fit the project perfectly. Then you render to NTSC Widescreen and during the render, you will get black bars on the top and bottom to compensate for the fact that your project is 1920×804 2.39:1 and you are rendering to 720×480 16:9 Widescreen. That is the “proper” way to letterbox.
Does this example help?
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Yeah, that definitely helps. I was just worried that I might render it, view the finished product, and then realize it looks differently than I thought it would because I wasn’t able to see the letterboxing until after the fact.
Also, the aspect ratio I’m going for is 1280×720, although I edit the project in 720×480, so it’s less of a load on my laptop. I hope that’s not bad either (not being sarcastic or anything, I’m just not a Vegas expert by any means, so I could be making a lot of mistakes without realizing it).
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[Raymond Pace] “I was just worried that I might render it, view the finished product, and then realize it looks differently than I thought it would because I wasn’t able to see the letterboxing until after the fact.”
There will be no surprises. Everything you see in the project preview will be present in the image. The letterboxing will not take anything away at all. You could put black tape above above and below the preview window on your computer and get the same effect. I think you need to try this to see what I mean because I get the feeling that you think your video will somehow look different once it’s letterbox and it will not. It will look exactly as it did when editing.
[Raymond Pace] “Also, the aspect ratio I’m going for is 1280×720, although I edit the project in 720×480, so it’s less of a load on my laptop. I hope that’s not bad either (not being sarcastic or anything, I’m just not a Vegas expert by any means, so I could be making a lot of mistakes without realizing it).”
Yes that is bad. It’s bad because you are placing more of a load on your laptop not less. You should be editing in the resolution of the original footage. Otherwise you are asking Vegas to convert your footage on-the-fly in order to preview it on the timeline.
What is the resolution of your original source video?
What is the resolution of your delivery format? (is that 1280×720?)
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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