I need to create a project where I can separate clips into categories, and then sub-categories

[John Rofrano]

I really can’t understand what you are trying to do. Perhaps if you explained what the problem is that you are trying to solve, someone can offer a solution.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Raymond Pace]

Sure, I’d be happy to explain further. Okay, we have our project:

And on the project, I’ve created six groups of events, each separated by a marker. Those are the “subcategories” I was talking about. So, let’s say we have this:

Category A:
Marker 1
Marker 2
Marker 3

Category B:
Marker 4
Marker 5
Marker 6

This is going by the numbers shown on the markers themselves.

The blue line (which I added in Windows Paint) represents the “separator” that I need, so I can keep the groups of clips separated.

So basically, I need a way to tell Vegas that Markers 1-3 is “Category A,” and Markers 4-6 is “Category B,” so they can be separated accordingly.

I hope I explained that well. I kinda suck at this 😛

[Stephen Mann]

Like John, I am having trouble following what you want, exactly. You may want to look at subclips. Here’s an excerpt from my personal wiki:

Trimmer

I hate the trimmer

Almost every NLE out there is inspired by the ancient days of analog video. We used to put a tape in a source deck, scroll through the tape to the beginning of the cut, set an IN POINT, then scrub to the end of the cut and set an OUT POINT, hit the Assemble Button and watch the source deck wind back the tape, tell the destination deck to be ready, start to play and trigger the record deck to start and stop recording.
(phew)

MOST NLE software mimics this model to make it easier for the old farts to migrate from the Analog paradigm. You load your footage into a source/trimmer window, set IN/OUT points, then move the video to the timeline. Vegas started as an audio editor, and treats video as audio… The whole clip goes to the timeline, where it becomes an event, and you trim it there.

The Trimmer and Timeline panes are unrelated by design. The timeline represents your entire project with all its edits and effects and transitions.

Everything on the timeline is an event – there are no clips on the timeline. The Trimmer window is designed to work solely with a single media clip at a time.

Personally I never use trimmer/source windows and consider them an extra step. When I am trimming the video why not do it on the timeline?

If you prefer the Trimmer Window, here’s some tips:
Preferences Go to the “OPTIONS” drop-down menu at the top of the screen and select “Preferences” and the “General” tab, and check “Double-click on Media opens into Trimmer instead of Tracks,” and files you double-click in Vegas’s Explorer will go to the trimmer instead of the cursor on the timeline.

Subclips You can easily create “subclips” in the trimmer (actually it’s better in the trimmer than on the timeline). This is particularly useful if your original media is nonlinear – that is, you need bits and pieces scattered over the file. Set an in-out point for each bit then click on “Make Subclip” and give it a descriptive name. The subclip appears in the Project Media window and can be used on the timeline like any other event. The subclip is not actually a piece of the original media, it’s just a shortcut to the in/out points you set on the original media. (Like any other event).

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Raymond Pace]

Let me try to explain it like this:

See the two sections I’ve outlined in blue? Is there any way to essentially do that within Vegas? To isolate a group of events, and keep them separate from another group of events? Any type of visual aid to let me basically “box in” a group of events, I guess, so then I can have two, three, etc. “boxes” of events (like I have in the pic, with the light blue squares).

[Joe Mantaratz]

I’ve read your post a few times over in an attempt to grasp what you are asking. The question to you would be why would you need to use the time line as a means of categorizing events and sub categories via visual clues?

I do understand that you don’t want any of the events from one section to mix with another sections events. You can highlight all the events you want and then make them all part of the same group (Shift+G). That will make them all move in unison but wont prevent the group from being moved. I’m not sure if you can create a group then use properties and LOCK them or if that has to be done to each event. If it did work as a group function then you would not be able to do any further editing with them since they would all be locked.

Now if you simply would like to organize all the media into logical folders and sub folders (called bins), you can do that in the Project Media window by right clicking and creating all the bins you require then dragging, or importing media into their respective bins.

Hope one of the two is what you are looking for, if not then I totally missed the mark.

[Stephen Mann]

As john said – what are you trying to solve?

Your post was also at first, and still is, confusing because you started the question in the subject line. The subject line is the subject line – not the first sentence of your post. It makes the content so much easier to read when you use complete sentences in the body of the message.

I think I understand part of your question that you are looking for event-level markers. There are no event markers in Vegas, only timeline markers. Events are only pointers to the original clip in Project Media and the event doesn’t know where it is on the timeline.

Another option you may consider is embedded projects. You edit your “groups” in separate projects then bring those veg files into a master project where each veg file is treated as an event.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Angelo Mike]

He’s just trying to be able to readily identify different events on the timeline like when he wants to edit one series of events as opposed to another. Having those blue markers he put on using Paint would be an example of that, were it possible in Vegas.

I would say, first, on the Project Media window, right click “Media Bins”, click “Create New Bin”, and make a name for the clips in there. Find the clips in your Project Media window, highlight them, and drag them into that bin’s folder icon.

Or, since you already have some of the events on your timeline, select the events on the timeline, right click on them, and click “Select in Project Media List”. Then drag them into the folder of that bin.

That doesn’t change the appearance of the events on the timeline, but it does make it easier to at least keep those clips in a different category, though that’s assuming that the events on your timeline aren’t all from the same clips. In which case, this solution won’t help.

I would say just put each series of events you want separated on a different track, and name the track with a description of the events on it. You may have a ton of tracks, but I don’t know of a way to create different colored markers around different events, so that may be the best solution. Though maybe there’s some plugin that will do that.

[John Rofrano]

Maybe you could create regions around the groups of events. This would give you the outer grouping while the markers are the inner grouping.

You still haven’t told us why you need this peculiar arrangement. Maybe subclips or nested project would be a better approach but without knowing why you are doing this it’s hard to say.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com