Emulating the zoom system of Camtasia Editor in VEGAS – a script that copy the last keyframe and add a new one (1 second later)

[Xavier Dolz]

Do you see? and in your video you are placing the cursor position by clicking with your mouse, thing that is not always suitable. When you have a complex and big timeline you need to zoom or reduce the timeline (not the video) and then, moving the cursor just 1 second is not always so easy.
Anyway, we have 7 seconds.
In camtasia 1 second.
We have 6 extra seconds.
For a large project with 400 zooms, for example… 400 x 6 seconds = 2400 seconds / 60 second (which are 1 minute) = 40 minutes.
With your workflow, a timeline using 4000 zooms, would need 40 minutes.
With Camtasia, it would need only 400 seconds, which are 400 / 60 seconds (which are 1 minute) = 6 minutes.

As a result:
A project in Camtasia with 400 zooms takes 6 minutes
A project in VEGAS with 400 zooms, take 40 minutes.
We have wasted 34 extra minutes (half an hour).

I upload many videos to Youtube, and really, I suffer a lot this.
Thanks for doing the video 😉

[Xavier Dolz]

With your workflow, a timeline using 4000 zooms, would need 40 minutes.
With Camtasia, it would need only 400 seconds, which are 400 / 60 seconds (which are 1 minute) = 6 minutes.

Sorry I meant…

With your workflow, a timeline using 400 zooms, would need 40 minutes.
With Camtasia, it would need only… 400 zooms, 400 zooms x 1 = 400, so 400 zooms take 400 seconds, which are 400 / 60 seconds (which are 1 minute) = 6 minutes.

[Marco Baer]

You are correct about the fact in Vegas Pro you’d always need to set focus to the Pan/Crop or Trackanimation timeline first and especially for using screen recordings (which usually are longer clips) most of the time it would need extra zooming of the timeline. Both of them I didn’t do in my demo video and it would take several seconds additionally.

[George Dean]

Hi Xavier,

Perhaps I can help, although I do understand this may be taking a risk. “Hi wwaag, it’s all clear, you don’t want to help“, just an observation, you might be cutting off your nose to spite your face,. Wayne didn’t say he didn’t want to help, he replied he was reluctant to provide help, for what appears to be good cause. He did ‘save your life” providing a script and instructions in a previous post request you made. No one else did, Wayne did, and you have never replied and provided any acknowledge of Thank You for his help.

A gracious and sincere Thank You would go a long way to establish a relationship with others who you ask to help when you are in need. I’m pretty broad minded and thick skinned, but I think Wayne’s reply was reasonable and respectful, yet you responded to that with a bit of an attitude.

Please, I hope you will not take my comments above personally, as I offer them in a helpful spirit. For the short two years I have been visiting this forum, Wayne has always been respectful, and very helpful to me and others as well as you. Maybe his factual reply caught you off guard, at a bad moment. Perhaps you would consider rereading it in a new light. I’m sure you really did appreciate the script and instructions he provided you earlier this month. Taking the time to offer some recognition may go a long way. No insults intended, just an opinion from another member who may also want help on scripting in the future, as well.

Best Regards…….George

[Wayne Waag]

@George
Thanks so much for the kind words although completely unnecessary. I must say, however, that you hit the proverbial nail on the head. I’ve really enjoyed being of help to others like so many of the “gurus” have helped me. One thing I’ve learned is that simple common courtesy goes a long way. No accolades–just a simple “thanks”. I’ve always been appreciative of others who have helped me and as such, I think I can count on asking them again in the future when the need arises. But like the OP, others don’t share this view. Fortunately, they are in the minority. Again, thanks.

wwaag

[Xavier Dolz]

@George
It’s cool friends support each other in the forum. I don’t want to talk about different things about what is indicated in the topic. Reluctant (plus) telling I should learn scripting, (in my opinion) reveal the intention that is not interested to help, which is very legitimate. As I said, everyone help in the measure they consider in the forum, so anyone is obligated.
Let’s focus in the problem and the whole community, not me, you, waag, etc. The problem still open. It has been demonstrated that doing zoom for videotutorials (with a fixed time) in VEGAS involve 7 seconds or more, which takes a lot of time for large projects. It has been demonstrated with a video that inserting the keyframes manually is very slow and reduce dramatically the editing performance.
If someone want to help giving the whole community a script, it will be very welcome. I will be glad to use it, because I really need this script, but I suspect also, thousands and thousands of people using VEGAS and uploading videos to youtube, they, will also love this script and use it.
Unfortunately I am not so smart to code scripts and probably I would be lost starting to code one, for a specific task like this one.

@Marco
Thanks for your support and sincerity. Yes, in fact, some additional seconds are involved. However, 7 seconds of delay, as it is demonstrated in your video, is enough to prove the tremendous amount of time, it is wasted. Again, thanks Marco.

[Marco Baer]

I’m now thinking about the most effectiv steps to take for a script.

Assumed you let timeline synch enabled, wouldn’t it be:

– Open Pan/Crop window.
– Set cursor of Pan/Crop timeline back 1 second first.
– Create a keyframe.
– Go forth 1 second.

When you now do your cropping you’re done because this will automatically add your second keyframe.
And you needn’t copy keyframes or restoring a keyframe this way.

[Xavier Dolz]

My God Marco, I’m reading you and I suspect what you want to do… you want to create a script that even open the pan Window in VEGAS and work like in Camtasia !!!!!!!!!!!
My God !!!!!!!!! that would be wow amazing 😀 !!!!!!
Okay, okay.
Let’s think about how to make it work fine.

This is normally how you would work… doing a videotutorial that need lots of zooms.

1. You are in VEGAS taking a look to your movie… you have the timeline in front of you.
2. Now you decide you want to create a zoom
3. We must have a button in the VEGAS toolbar that when we click on it, launch the pan / zoom window. Then, we can dock this windo in any area of the screen. This way, you could attach the window somewhere in the screen, it would be fantastic… in that case you would have always that window in front of you (again, you save seconds editing and mouse clicks)
So it could be a good idea a button, I can press in the toolbar.
When I press the button, I get this pan / zoom window opened. Now I can attach this window in any area of the screen or dock it…

Why having always the Window? because we don’t have to launch it everytime we want to create a zoom. It is always there, waiting for us. Again, we are saving mouse clicks, seconds and editing time…

4. The pan / crop window is opened, we have docked it, and it is ready for us.
5. We have the cursor in the timeline, in the position we want to add the zoom.
6. In the pan / zoom window we take one of the box corners and drag or move it to reduce or increase the zoom…
7. Then, automatically, two keyframes are inserted.
First keyframe A is a copy of the previous keyframe inserted in the timeline. In that way we won’t have any animation before keyframe A, because the first keyframe inserted, A, copy the information of the previous keyframe we could have in our timeline.
Second keyframe B have the zoom information.
In this way, the animation will take place from A to B in a specified period of time.
8. By the fault, the zoom animation time is 1 second.
9. In the pan / zoom window could be possible to have a box, in which we can add the animation time for zooms?
If so… in the pan / zoom window you should be able to configure how many seconds you want for the zoom. 1 sec, 2 sec. etc.

This script would be perfect. It would be the best invention ever made, the saving time would be incredible.
😀

[Marco Baer]

Just to avoid a misunderstanding: I’m not able to code such a script. I only drop some ideas about how the steps taken in such a script could be simplified without losing desired functionality.

Not sure about your steps 1. to 3. If you dock Pan/Crop window in Vegas Pro, it will stay there. All it needs is to refresh the docked window for the current event which needs to click onto the Pan/Crop button again.
Now if you either click onto the Pan/Crop button or click onto a script button for refreshing the window doesn’t make a difference. Though having said this – if refreshing the window is combined with the steps following, it would save time again.

Your steps 6. to 8. should be fulfilled by the steps I described above.
If Pan/Crop timeline cursor is set back 1 second first to add a keyframe, this is just like having copied last keyframe. It requires there are not yet any further Pan/Crop keyframes used to the right of the timeline though.

[Marco Baer]

Why the heck is this forum software using italic typo suddenly???