Transferring a Sony Vegas file to Adobe Premiere on Another Computer

[John Rofrano]

[Susan Harding] “I didn’t think that would be possible but he insists that it is. I”

Well… if you have Vegas Pro 12.0 you can use File | Export | Premiere/After Effects (*.prproj) which exports your project for use in Adobe Premiere or After Effects. There are, however, a lot of things that probably won’t translate simply because of the different capabilities of Vegas Pro and Premiere Pro. Things like Deinterlace method, Motion blur type, Track Composite mode, Loop switch for events, Effects, etc. will all be ignored. So unless you had an extremely simply project with no effects, compositing, etc. the chances of him having something he can use is very slim.

[Susan Harding] “But wouldn’t he need to have all of my raw footage/music tracks/motion backgrounds etc. for it to work? I know if I just move a file to a different location on my computer it will no longer show up in Vegas.”

When you export it will ask you if you want to Export Media Pool? and you should click Yes to have all of the media copied to the target folder. I would not move any media; let the export make copies in a new folder.

~jr

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

[Susan Harding]

Thanks John! I’m new to Creative Cow but have read the forums for quite awhile and you always have great advice.

I have Vegas Pro 11 though, not 12.0, so is there a way to make it work?

[John Rofrano]

[Susan Harding] “I have Vegas Pro 11 though, not 12.0, so is there a way to make it work?”

I’ve read about people using the XML export and importing that into Premiere Pro but that’s even more limited.

There is a more fundamental question here if I may ask:

Do you own the source content? or does your contract with the client say that they own the source content?

If you own the source, you don’t have to give the client anything and you should be charging them more money for the source files because they obviously have no intent to give you more business (i.e., they are cutting you loose by asking for the source so that THEY can make future changes). I don’t mean to sound mean but if your contract is to deliver “finished product” then you don’t owe them anything more than your finished product.

If they own the rights to the source, then copy everything to an external hard drive including the Vegas project files and give it to them and tell them to “have a nice day”. Unless your contract specifically states that you will supply them with Premiere Pro ready projects, you have no obligation to figure out how to do this at all. Just give them what you have. In the simplest form, they are asking for the Vegas files so they can import them into Premiere Pro. So give them a hard drive with the files and let them do whatever they want with it.

~jr

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

[Susan Harding]

Thanks John! And yes, the contract is just for the “finished product”…I’ve been stressing over this way too much.

Much appreciated!

[Phil Seymour]

John is 100% right. We all get clients like yours somewhere along the track, and when they pull a stunt like that with no respect for your professionalism, just cut them loose. Be polite and put a realistic (profitable to you) price on the stuff he wants – with a limited use caveat if you think you might want to use the footage yourself in a later project.

Windows 7 Pro64, i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, SSD boot drive, GTX 570 Graphics, Vegas Pro 12