Need assistance with Project Setup and Render settings

[Kelly Griffin]

Hey Paco–

Here’s my stab at your questions:

(1) You don’t have to convert anything; Vegas can do that on the fly.

(2) I would transfer the footage to your internal drive, yes.

(3) I think I would match the project settings to your iPhone files. It may not matter, but Vegas may do a better job throwing away frames from the higher frame rate than interpolating new frames from the lower one.

(4) I don’t think you have to adjust source settings.

(5) I’m not sure what “bouncing” a file is, but don’t over-think things; Vegas is very powerful, and you should be able to add all your effects, transitions and graphics in one big mixing bowl. In a realtime preview it’s gonna look clunky because it’s got a lot to think about all of a sudden, but render it and all’s good.

(6) You might search the forum for DVD info, because it’s all there. You’re probably looking at MPEG2 and (I forget) for audio, because I haven’t had to burn a DVD in a couple of years.

–Kelly

[John Rofrano]

[Paco Pablo] “1) Should I try and convert all of the files to the same format and framerate prior to beginning editing? If so, which format? Does Vegas allow you to easily convert files from one type to another, or do you need to render each one?”

That depends… Why did you shoot the GoPro at 59.94fps? Were you planning on using slow motion? If so I wouldn’t convert those files because you would loose the ability to do slow motion. If you are not using slow-mo then stop shooting at different frame rates. I’m sure the GoPro has a 29.97fps setting. Use that instead next time.

You are correct that having everything in a single easy to edit format at the same frame rate makes for a smoother editing experience. This is why NLE’s like Final Cut Pro X offer you the option of converting everything to ProRes 422. You don’t have to convert anything. Vegas will handle it just fine. But your editing might not be as fast as it could be. It’s up to you. if you are going to convert them, I would convert to Sony MXF which edits very smoothly in Vegas Pro.

[Paco Pablo] “2) Should I transfer the raw footage to the internal hard drive instead of working from the external hard drive?”

Again, that depends… what is the interface for the external hard drive? If it’s USB 2.0 then definitely yes. If it’s USB 3.0 or eSATA then no you should be able to edit smoothly on an external drive. I edit all of my projects on external USB 3.0 drives. I would not do that with USB 2.0 or even Firewire 400.

[Paco Pablo] “3) For project setup, should I try and match settings to one of the source files?”

Yes. I would match the predominant footage on the timeline. Whatever footage matches the project is going to play back smoother so whatever you have more of on the timeline is what I would set your project to. If, however, you know that you are going to deliver in a particular resolution and frame rate, you might want to use that to avoid surprises. It’s a trade-off between editing speed and working with the final format.

[Paco Pablo] “4) Also in project setup, should I adjust source media to better match project or render settings?”

I like to keep that on. It saves a lot of work with having to crop when your source media doesn’t exactly match the project.

[Paco Pablo] “5) I have a fair amount of editing and FX planned for some of the shots. In audio editing, I can easily bounce files to create a new file. How do I do that in Vegas? If I could trim, add color collection, FX, etc on each file prior to bringing them into the “Real” project, I presume that it would make my resulting editing quicker.”

“Bouncing” is done with Ctrl+M (Render to New Track). This will render the visible tracks to a new track so that you can mute the original tracks and use the rendered file with the FX “baked in”. Of course there is no magic here. It’s just performing a render so you can render manually and drop the results on a track. Ctrl+M just does that with one key-stroke.

[Paco Pablo] “6) Sony Vegas inundates you with choices for Render As. Knowing what my source files are, what would be the best option for a DVD presentation?”

There is only one option for DVD presentation and that’s MainConcept MPEG2. Select either the NTSC or PAL Widescreen templates for DVD Architect depending on what country you live in. This will render the video only. Then go back and render the audio as Dolby Digital AC-3. DVD’s are authored from separate video and audio streams so you want to keep your video and audio in separate files with the same name but different extensions.

~jr

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

[Paul Smith]

Thanks so much for the information. I am a little late in responding back. I ended up transferring files to my internal drive and noticed a significant improvement. Still not great however. I have a couple follow up questions:
1) For future reference, is there an easy process to convert source media within Vegas? Sort of like a click on the file and select convert to MXF?

2) When using the preview window, I’ll set my settings to Full, but then when I hit play, it will revert to Half. Can’t quite figure that out.

3) I put in a text event that should add a words to a list over a course of about 20 seconds. It looked and worked great with my preview, but then when I rendered, only the 1st word on the frame appeared and stayed on the screen for the entire 20 seconds by itself. Any ideas?

4) I am considering getting a new laptop as I am enjoying this whole video editing thing. Will my Sony Vegas 11 work on Windows 8? I am on Windows 7 now and cannot find new computers with Windows 7 anymore.

Thanks again with all of the assistance I have received here. This website is a great resource for folks with varying degrees of expertise.

[John Rofrano]

[Paul Smith] “1) For future reference, is there an easy process to convert source media within Vegas? Sort of like a click on the file and select convert to MXF?”

You could place the files on the timeline, place a region around reach one and use the batch render script to render the regions to individual MXF files.

[Paul Smith] “2) When using the preview window, I’ll set my settings to Full, but then when I hit play, it will revert to Half. Can’t quite figure that out.”

It shouldn’t be doing that. That is what it should do when you set it to Auto. Sound like a bug.

[Paul Smith] “3) I put in a text event that should add a words to a list over a course of about 20 seconds. It looked and worked great with my preview, but then when I rendered, only the 1st word on the frame appeared and stayed on the screen for the entire 20 seconds by itself. Any ideas?”

How is it adding the words? Via keyframes? Check your keyframes and make sure they correspond to the extra words.

[Paul Smith] “4) I am considering getting a new laptop as I am enjoying this whole video editing thing. Will my Sony Vegas 11 work on Windows 8? I am on Windows 7 now and cannot find new computers with Windows 7 anymore.”

While Vegas Pro 11.0 was created for Windows 7, I don’t see why it shouldn’t work in Windows 8.

~jr

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