-
frame capture in Sony Vegas sucks!
In many instances of a given project I freeze frame a video footage using the save still feature in Sony Vegas. I set the preview window to Best, select the desired frame and save in either jpeg or png. When I bring that still image into Vegas, the colors are different than that of the footage. They are darker with more contrast. I try to match it with the Brightness and Contrast plugin but can’t get them to match exactly.
I don’t understand why a powerful program such as Sony Vegas can’t take proper frame stills compared to a lesser program like Pinnacle studio that does it without a problem. Is it a bug?
The workaround is to split the desired frame in the timeline, copy and paste it into a separate instance of Sony Vegas and render it as an image sequence. The resulting still image is much closer to the original frame. But it’s a lot of work when you have 30 or so still images to produce. And you have to set the de-interlacing properties to Interpolate Fields prior to rendering the image sequence otherwise it looks interlaced, something I don’t understand since a rendered still is progressive.
-
9 Replies
-
Which version of Vegas are you using and is it Vegas Pro or one of the Movie Studio versions?
I’ve been reading a lot of complaints about this lately so I tried it once again for myself in Pro 7, 8, 9 and 10.
I set my Preview window to Best/Full, take a snapshot and do both a visual and scopes comparison.
In my experiences, the change between the two is very minor to the point of being unnoticeable. -
I’m currently using Vegas Pro 10 but I had the same issue in Vegas Pro 9. I’m aware that others are having the same issue.
Trust me I’m not that picky in terms of comparison. The difference between video and still is very noticeable, both in the preview and the final render.
I’m doing this as instructed in the manual. Could it handle m2ts files differently? That’s all I’ve been working with since I started working with Vegas.
-
I don’t know about m2ts files as I use 1920 x 1080 MXF files myself.
Having said that, here’s a trick you can try that should result in a better image for you.
Insert a Velocity envelope on the event.
Add a point at the desired freeze mark, add another one just after it, right-click the second one and set the speed to 0% and then move it over directly under the first one.
Check it to make sure the speed remains at 0% after moving it.
Move over the desired freeze length and double-click the line twice to add two more points.
Leave the first one (point 3) where it is, right-click point 4, set it to 100% and move it directly above point 3.*** To make sure your points don’t change values when you’re moving them, hold down the Alt key when you’re doing this as that restricts movement to one axis only.
-
Thanks for the idea Mike. I’m not sure what that procedure is intended to produce. Is that prior to taking a snapshot or to slow down the footage to a point where it’s “frozen”? I tested it out on a footage. I didn’t know what you meant by “Move over the desired freeze length” so I moved the cursor to the right or the first two velocity points and followed the rest of your directions. If I can’t use the save snap shot feature as is, I think I’ll stick with my workaround of rendering the isolated frame as an image sequence.
Thanks.
-
Colin, what that procedure does is to instantly freeze the video at the desired point.
“Move over the desired freeze length” means that if you want it to be frozen for 5 sec., move over 5 sec. from the freeze points and add the other two points to instantly start moving again.
I’ve done this numerous times and it works like a charm 🙂 -
Ok I get it. This can only work if you have enough footage to spare beyond the frame you want to freeze. Like you couldn’t apply this method if you wanted to freeze at the very last frame of your footage, correct?
-
“Like you couldn’t apply this method if you wanted to freeze at the very last frame of your footage, correct?”
You certainly can.
Options – Prefs – Editing and disable the Enable looping on events by default option.
Drop the event on the timeline and stretch it out.
As long as it’s the original event and not shortened in some way, shape or form, the last frame will the one that gets stretched out. -
You know what, your trick works really well! Thanks a lot!
-
Glad to be of help Colin.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up