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disabling Audio Proxy etc
Hi everyone.
Been using Vegas for a while now, love a lot of things about it, and of course i hate a few also. Namely, no cache directory, awkward pan/crop function, annoying clip looping, extremely limited time controls, among others.
I was hoping someone could help me configure some of these for a better workflow. Sorry for the long list…First off: is there a way to disable Audio Proxy building on startup?
It takes too long, consuming resources better put to use on the editing itself. I mainly use Vegas to create clips for vjing without audio, so it drives me nuts to keep clicking on the cancel button every time Vegas decides I need an audio proxy. Been searching through the preferences for that option but can’t find it anywhere. By the way, love the amount of costumization in Vegas’ preferences, just don’t tell they left this huge one out.Second: Is there a way to disable clip looping?
I’ve chosen the “ignore clip looping” option, but it still happens. Whenever i mess with a clip’s time, velocity or just pull on one of it’s ends to expand it, Vegas never treats the clip as a single instance of the media in use. This is even worse when i reverse speed, the clip won’t start and end at the same frames it was trimmed before reversing. Do i have to “render to new” everytime i want to work on a trimmed clip? That would be very counter-productive.Wich reminds me: Vegas is kind of glitchy when it comes to movie frames.
I can never be sure where exactly i’m trimming the clip until i render it – often to find out that Vegas has added frames from neighbouring clips or black frames despite of the preview showing a different frame. What’s going on? This is a very annoying problem. After rendering i have to spend a lot of time re-cutting the exported videos on a different software so they start and end at the apropriate frame.On the Pan/Crop function:
Please allow me to suggest separating the two. I often need to resize the clip, reposition it and crop out some of it’s parts. This is an extremely straightforward editing wich takes 2 minutes to achieve with Premiere and can take you half an hour with Vegas. After resizing and positioning, the only way to crop a clip is to use the cookie cutter, wich is very limited (rectangles for instance resize in proportion when they should allow width/height costumization). To make my point, i once had to use pan/crop with 4 cookie cutter filters to achieve the simplest goal. As a third suggestion, please consider adding a crop function with simple 4-directional parameters (bottom, top, left, right) to get rid of the sides of frames without repositioning them. If there’s a way to do this already and i just don’t know about it, please please tell me.Regarding clip time controls: The envelope is very intuitive, i’ll give you that, but also terribly limited. I should be able to speed up or slow down a clip in a much wider percentage. Is this possible? Once again i must refer you to Premiere on this issue.
Finally: what’s up the sfk and bak file littering?
I’m proud of how organized i am with my computer files, in today’s information era with already Terabyte-sized hard drives available to home users, data organization is paramount. Unless you’d rather search through 500GB for a file everytime you forget where you put it. This goes to say, i find it insulting when programs such as Vegas and Vista itself decide to clutter my directories with stuff i didn’t ask for. The “My Documents” folder in windows is a regular trash bin and wichever folder i select for my Vegas projects quickly escalates to the same state. Can i select a cache directory for all the junk files Vegas generates? -
4 Replies
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[Luis Dias] “First off: is there a way to disable Audio Proxy building on startup?”
Turn off the display of waveforms and frames and they won’t be built. However, you won’t see the video frames either.
[Luis Dias] “Second: Is there a way to disable clip looping?”
Options – Preferences – editing tab – uncheck the very first checkbox. Now all new items added to the timeline will have looping turned off. For all events already on the timeline, select them and then Edit – Switches and turn OFF the “loop” option.
However, it sounds like you may be getting confused with a trimmed clip that’s not really looping but, instead, showing footage before or after the trimmed footage. If that’s the case, just turn that segment into a SUBCLIP instead.
[Luis Dias] “Wich reminds me: Vegas is kind of glitchy when it comes to movie frames.”
Never seen that. Do you have “Quantize to frames” turned on?
[Luis Dias] “On the Pan/Crop function:”
Use the proper tools for the proper job. Use Pan/Crop to do your CROPPING. Use Track Motion to create and position your PIP. Should take MUCH less than 2 minutes (more like 30 seconds).
[Luis Dias] “Regarding clip time controls:”
I have an extensive article in my newsletters on speed changes. The short version is: you can get up to 3x using the velocity envelope. You can get up to 4x via the playback rate (or holding down the CTRL key and resizing the clip). If you use both, you can get up to 12x (or 1200%). If you need faster than that, you have to render and then apply speed changes again.
[Luis Dias] “Finally: what’s up the sfk and bak file littering?”
The .sfk files speeds up the audio waveform drawing on the timeline. This is the file that is being built under your #1 question. It will always be in the same folder as the associated video/audio file.
I would think you’d like .bak files as they can really save you if something goes wrong.
For some files, you CAN specify the location. Go to File – Properties and Options – Prefernces and change all file locations in those places.
Edward Troxel
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Awesome reply! Thank you very much for taking the time to go through all my questions.
If i can impose a little more:1 – Audio Proxy is fixed, thanks.
2 – When it comes to the looping problem i meant both scenarios (looping and the one you refered). Sorry for not being clear. I’m having trouble using the subclip on the trimmer window for now, but i haven’t explored it extensively so i’m sure i’ll get there. I was just hoping i didn’t have to recur to the trimmer and simply do it all on the timeline window – much more expedite. oh well…
3 – I do have Quantize Frames on. Should i not?
4 – Thanks a million for the Track Motion tip. I was sure i was missing something, there had to be a better way to do those tasks. Just one question: can i apply track motion to separate subclips on the same track or does it affect every media i put in it? Cause that would mean having to work with a different track for almost every clip… That would be a huge hassle!
5 – Nice one! Thanks again! I had no idea the playback rate and the velocity envelope were cumulative. That solves the problem!
6 – I understand the importance of those files, believe me. Just find it annoying to have them on the same directory as the media files. I’ll give your suggestion a try. -
[Luis Dias] “I was just hoping i didn’t have to recur to the trimmer and simply do it all on the timeline window”
You can create subclips from the timeline. Create a selection area on the timeline on the segment of the clip you want, press “S” to split on both sides of the selection area, right-click the piece you are wanting to keep, and then choose “Create Subclip”. On the timeline you DO have to split unlike in the trimmer, though.
[Luis Dias] “I do have Quantize Frames on. Should i not?”
Yes, it should be ON.
[Luis Dias] “can i apply track motion to separate subclips on the same track or does it affect every media i put in it? Cause that would mean having to work with a different track for almost every clip… That would be a huge hassle!”
As the name implies, it affects the entire track. However, you CAN put keyframes on the track so multiple clips could be put on the same track but still be placed in different locations.
Edward Troxel
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Very nice!
I can safely say now i love everything about Vegas.
Thanks Edward.
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