Media Bin Workflow

[Stephen Mann]

“I saw the new Premiere actually tells you if the selected media has been put into the timeline. Now that would be an advantage I would understand. Pretty sure we dont have that yet. ”

Vegas has always been able to tell you what media hasn’t been used on the timeline. One of the columns in the Project Media window is “Use Count”.

I usually edit straight to the timeline, but sometimes I will use the Project Media window because of a very subtle difference in how Windows selects files in a drag/drop operation. If you sort your media files in Explorer then click on one of the selected files and drag it to the timeline, Windows will drop the one your mouse is over in the first position on the timeline, not the first in your selected group. If you drag them into the media window, then to the timeline, they events will be in the correct time sequence (oldest first).

This is a “feature” of Windows that has been around since before Windows.

In this image, I am in windows Explorer, and I’ve selected six media files to drag into Vegas. Note that the files are in date/time sequence from newest to oldest. Note also that my cursor is on the file ending in “334.m2t”. Let’s drag this selected bunch to the timeline.

And the first event on the timeline is “…334.m2t” – the file that was under the mouse pointer when I dragged the selected files to the timeline. The rest of the events are “sort of” in sequence, but rearranging them is a pain in the butt.

Now, lets instead use the Project Media window in Vegas. Select the same media files in the Project Media window and drag the group into the timeline.

Now the events are all in the correct sequence.

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

[Graham Bernard]

[Craig Meeks] “I saw the new Premiere actually tells you if the selected media has been put into the timeline. Now that would be an advantage I would understand. Pretty sure we dont have that yet.”

We’ve had this for at least 10 years(?).

What Vegas also has, is the ability to:

1] Search for Unused Clips. Select the “count” option and for a value use “Less than = 1”

…then . .

2] This will create a list and makes a Bin of those Unused Media/Clips.

…and then . .

3] Allow you to rename that Bin as anything you want.

“Craig’s Unused JPGs” or whatever!

Cheers

Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Phil Peacock]

Craig, check out this tutorial from Andrew Devis. It may have something of interest in relation to this question.
https://library.creativecow.net/devis_andrew/Sony-Vegas-Pro_4/1

There are a couple of tuts relating to the media bins. Worth watching.

[Craig Meeks]

Great info! I guess I just assumed sv never had that feature. That will come in very handy with alot of clips.

Craig Meeks
Intel i7 x990 6-core 12 gigs ram
gtx 560 dual monitor

[John Rofrano]

[Craig Meeks] “Is there an advantage to draging all your media into SV media bins, then dragging them again onto the timeline?”

Only if you need this level of organization which is usually dictated by the complexity of your project. I shoot mostly live events (concerts) so all of my shots are sequencial and most of my shots are used in the final video therefore, I just drop everything onto the timeline and cut away the bits I don’t want. No need for any bins.

If you were shooting a movie where the closing scene was shot on Monday and the opening scene was shot on Tuesday and the middle bits where shot out of order over the next 2 weeks, you might want to start sorting footage into bins so you can assemble the final movie later.

The bins are there to keep you organized. If you don’t need this level of organization then you don’t need bins.

~jr

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

[Neal Barlow]

I have tried using the bins, but in the end for me, it ends up being more trouble then it is worth. I do all my organization in Windows modeling a cool work flow I got from Andrew Kramer, and then made it my own. I really like how the project manager helps locate and give me feed back on missing or used files, but as for the bins they just never seemed to help my work flow. I think what used to get me was I could create different bins, but it seemed to always default to the main one where I would see all the clips, and I was constantly click back to get to the sub level of bins. Again, in the end, I just found it easier to do my file breakdown in windows, but you can do all that in the “Explorer” tab. Renaming and adding folders there has been a really cool ability. Working on my last film, I could go through and rename all my shots and place audio into separate folders all in Vegas. It was a major time saver.

Neal Barlow
To The Skies – Productions
The Cult Classic Returns in ZOMBIES DURING THIRD PERIOD: AGAIN

[Craig Meeks]

I agree. I like the idea of using the bins but my projects really dont require that much organization. I think a third monitor will help exponentially. Thanks everyone for your input.

Craig Meeks
Intel i7 x990 6-core 12 gigs ram
gtx 560 dual monitor