scripting bug

[John Rofrano]

This code doesn’t do what you think it is doing (or what you want it to do). The first parameter on the call to SubClip() is the name of the media file. Your brother is passing in the name of the Project file so it is making subclips of your entire project not just the media on the timeline. Also, the Vegas Script API will allow you to make subclips across media files when in reality this isn’t possible (a subclip by definition is smaller than the media and cannot be composed of multiple media). So the code has to guard against this happening. Creating a subclip like this would definitely cause an exception in Vegas. There are other optimizations he could make like once you find the media bin you want there is no reason to continue to look but the code still does. This is not a big deal since there probably won’t be many bins anyway but just adding a “break;” after you find the bin with short-circuit the search.

Tell your brother to use the name of the media file you are trying to make a subclip from not the name of the project and it should work as expected. He also might want to add checks to make sure he doesn’t create a subclip from a region that spans timeline events (and thus media files) unless you know that you would never create one like that.

~jr

https://www.johnrofrano.com/

[Dave Knight]

Thanks, John.

I realize that that is what I was doing, but what I was having trouble finding the name of the source video.

The project can be guaranteed not to have just one source media, as there will be previous subclips around, which are also media items.

I imagine its fairly straightforward to get hold of the source media’s path, but I just couldn’t find out how to.

If anyone has any pointers, I’d be grateful!

Dave

[John Rofrano]

Hi Dave,

You can get the source media from the active take on the event (i.e., trackEvent.ActiveTake.MediaPath). As I said in my previous post, a subclip is a subset of the original clip therefore it should be limited to a single piece of media.

What I would have the program do is require the user to select the video track that will be used to make subclips from regions. Your code should find the selected video track with something like:

private VideoTrack FindSelectedVideoTrack(Vegas vegas)
{
    foreach (Track track in vegas.Project.Tracks)
    {
        if (track.IsVideo() && track.Selected)
        {
            return (VideoTrack)track;
        }
    }
    return null;
}

Then iterate through the regions looking for events that are under them. I like to use a utility function to find an event at a specific position for this like the method below:

private TrackEvent FindEventAt(IList eventList, Timecode position)
{
    foreach (TrackEvent trackEvent in eventList)
    {
        // find the event that spans the position
        if (trackEvent.Start <= position && trackEvent.End >= position)
        {
            return trackEvent;
        }
    }
    return null;
}

This makes the iteration easier. Now you can use a loop like this to process the events:

// get the selected video track
VideoTrack videoTrack = FindSelectedVideoTrack(myVegas);

// iterative through the regions looking for events to process
foreach (Sony.Vegas.Region region in vegas.Project.Regions)
{
    // find the event at the region position
    TrackEvent trackEvent = FindEventAt(videoTrack.Events, region.Position);

    // get the path to the media
    string mediaPath = trackEvent.ActiveTake.MediaPath;

    // create the subclip and add it to the bin
    Subclip subclip = new Subclip(mediaPath, region.Position, region.Length, false, region.Label);
    if (subclip != null && subclip.IsValid())
    {
        InOrderBin.Add(subclip);
    }
}

Of course you’d want to add some error checks in that loop like checking that the event that is returned by FindEventAt() is not null, check that the trackEvent.End is greater or equal to the region.End and checking that trackEvent.ActiveTake is not null before you try and get the MediaPath from it.

But you get the idea. I can give you a running piece of code that does what you want with all of the error checking if you’d like but I know that some programmers love the thrill of getting it to work themselves so I don’t want to spoil your fun (unless it’s no fun for you in which case, just ask and I’ll post the working code) 😉

I’d like to point out that VASST Ultimate S Pro has the ability to create subclips from regions already (I am the developer if you don’t know who I am) but I realize you are doing something special with the clip naming here so you need a special script. Let me know if you have any questions.

~jr

https://www.johnrofrano.com/

[Dave Knight]

Cheers, John. I’ll give that a go!

[Robbie Knight]

i just wanted to say thanks to both of you for trying to sort this out… my original project that i wanted the script for is now finished, i cutup all my bits of video manually…

but another project coming up will need exactly the same script so i do appreciate the help…

ta x

[Jill Simpson]

I might be able to insert the script bits John Rofrano suggested into your script, in the right places, and remove parts from your script which should now be removed, but I expect I’d waste a good few hours as I’d be pretty much going by trial and error unless there is a clear logic to me, a non-programmer.
Can you post the script here or send it to me?
Thanks.

[Jill Simpson]

Hi John, 2 and a half days ago I asked someone else for help, but as this is pretty urgent and I don’t know if Dave is away, I want to ask you too:

Re: scripting bug

I might be able to insert the script bits John Rofrano suggested into your script, in the right places, and remove parts from your script which should now be removed, but I expect I’d waste a good few hours as I’d be pretty much going by trial and error unless there is a clear logic to me, a non-programmer.
Can you post the script here or send it to me?
Thanks.

(Since posting that I tried and failed to make sense of how to put it together.)

[John Rofrano]

Hi Jill,

Here is a working copy of my code. Save it to a file called RegionsToSubclips.cs and place it into the Script Menu folder of Vegas:

//********************************************************************
//* Program: RegionsToSubclips.cs
//* Author: John Rofrano
//* Description: Convert regions to subclips from the selected track
//* Last Updated: November 23, 2008
//* Copyright: (c) 2008 VASST, All Rights Reserved
//********************************************************************
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Sony.Vegas;

public class EntryPoint
{
public void FromVegas(Vegas vegas)
{
try
{
// get the selected video track
VideoTrack videoTrack = FindSelectedVideoTrack(vegas);
if (videoTrack == null)
{
MessageBox.Show("You must select a video track first");
return;
}

// iterative through the regions looking for events to process
foreach (Sony.Vegas.Region region in vegas.Project.Regions)
{
// find the event at the region position
TrackEvent trackEvent = FindEventAt(videoTrack.Events, region.Position);
if (trackEvent != null)
{
// get the path to the media
string mediaPath = trackEvent.ActiveTake.MediaPath;

// get the name of the region
String clipName = region.Label;
if (clipName == null || clipName.Length == 0)
{
clipName = "Region " + (region.Index + 1);
}

// create the subclip
Subclip subclip = new Subclip(mediaPath, region.Position, region.Length, false, clipName);
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}
}

///
/// Finds the first selected video track or returns null if no tracks is selected
///
private VideoTrack FindSelectedVideoTrack(Vegas vegas)
{
foreach (Track track in vegas.Project.Tracks)
{
if (track.IsVideo() && track.Selected)
{
return (VideoTrack)track;
}
}
return null;
}

///
/// Finds an event at the position on the timeline or returns null if no event exists
///
private TrackEvent FindEventAt(IList eventList, Timecode position)
{
foreach (TrackEvent trackEvent in eventList)
{
// find the event that spans the position
if (trackEvent.Start <= position && trackEvent.End >= position)
{
return trackEvent;
}
}
return null;
}
}


~jr

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

[Jill Simpson]

Beautiful! I may be mistaken, but I think this ought to be integrated into the core of Vegas. I tested it – and it worked, very fast, very easy.

[John Rofrano]

Great! I’m glad it worked out for you. Take care,

~jr

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