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Scripting – Is it for me?
After about 18 months where Vegas Pro was not a part of my daily job, things change and I am back to using Vegas 3-4 times a week. One of the projects I do frequently is a highlight video of High School Basketball games.
My current workflow is to capture the entire game, then burn a DVD of the game for the coaches to review. I then watch the game and drop a pair of markers when I see a play for the highlight video. I then delete the rest of the game and save as a new veg file. Now I add five video tracks with things like text and graphics for teams, game date, our logo and so on.
This whole procedure is rather repetitive and would seem to beg for automation. I have done PHP programing, but I have never used the scripting language for Vegas.
Now for my questions:
1. How involved is the scripting process?
2. Would it make sense in my case to proceed with learning the process?
3. Can scripting help my workflow? For example can a script cut the video and each marker, delete what I don’t want and squeeze all the other clips closer together?Any input is appreciated.
Mark
Mark Carrara
Technology Coordinator
School District of Gilman
Gilman, WI -
4 Replies
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That tool already exists. Look at the ‘Extract Good Clips’ tool in Excalibur. Just pop a series of regions around the good sections (mark them all up front), run the tool, and it will pull out all those “good” pieces onto a new track at the push of a button.
Edward Troxel
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To answer your questions:
> 1. How involved is the scripting process?
You could get by with using JavaScript but most script developers I know prefer to use C#. Just download the Vegas Pro 8.0 Script Developers Kit from the Sony site for the documentation and some good code examples. See if it’s something you might want to tackle.
> 2. Would it make sense in my case to proceed with learning the process?
That depends on how valuable your time is. You will need to make an investment in understanding the Vegas Script SDK object model and it does have it share of pitfalls and workarounds that you need to be aware of (meaning if you point a gun at your foot it will let you pull the trigger unlike the Vegas GUI that may stop you from doing something stupid)
As Edward pointed out, there are scripts on the market that already do this. In addition to Excalibur, the VASST Ultimate S Pro tool has two ways of accomplishing this. There is a tool to Delete Between Markers and one to Keep / Remove within Regions which would keep everything you have placed a region around, delete outside whats is outside, and ripple the gaps so that you are left with one continuous timelne with only the events you want and no gaps.
> 3. Can scripting help my workflow?
IMHO, scripting in Vegas Pro is the biggest productivity enhancement of any NLE. I can’t imagine an efficient workflow without the use of scripting but I am biased. 😉
> For example can a script cut the video and each marker, delete what I don’t want and squeeze all the other clips closer together?
Yes, and as I mentioned, the Ultimate S Pro Keep / Remove within Regions function does exactly that with one click! You can buy the answer or you can build the answer yourself. It’s your choice.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
I have read a lot about Excalibur, it seems to do just about everything. I think I may take a closer look. I did not know Vasst had tools, I have purchased a DVD training tape from them and I have been happy with the purchase. So I guess it is why reinvent the wheel? I think a better investment of my time would be learning the little tips and tricks with Vegas. I know that my time learning Photoshop has really paid off.
Mark
Mark Carrara
Technology Coordinator
School District of Gilman
Gilman, WI -
> I did not know Vasst had tools,
In addition to our 6 regular scripting tools we have 7 free script tools in our VASST Freeware collection. Our freeware is fully supported just like our regular tools. You should check them out as well. (hey… the price is right) 😉
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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