Carlton Rahmani
Forum Replies Created
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Currently I’m working on Sony Vegas, which I’m enjoying.
I’m not trying to limit my repertoire to any one program, but I haven’t seen any producers that use Edius, or places looking for anyone experienced with the format. (It’s almost ALL Avid and FCP, with some Premiere and Vegas on the periphery.) My philosophy in terms of NLEs is Whichever works best for you, then use it. But what does Edius have that, let’s say, Sony Vegas doesn’t (especially since it does costs more)?
Is there a field that it’s particular to? I think I saw something about news broadcasting, but that’s a maybe. . .
Idle curiosity, mostly.
Thanks. . . -
Transferring the files to m-jpegs seems like a good idea, even though I’ve already transferred the files I need via Vegas 7 (on my old XP machine) for my current project to AVIs that are recognizable to Vegas 9.
But on the subject of M-jpegs, does that mean that Vegas 9 can also ‘natively’ work with video footage coming off of DSLRs?
As for other codec issues, I’m just going to have to meet them as they come. Although, I’m going to say, right now, that I think Sony is shooting itself in the foot in not accommodating P2 media. I originally was more enthusiastic about Vegas because it seemed to be more of a ‘workhorse’–more versatile and durable–than other NLEs; but now I’m beginning to get daunted by what seems to be its limitations, while other NLEs are making it a point to be compatible with other software(s). I recently had to forfeit a chance to edit a fairly ambitious project owing to the fact that it was shot on a Panasonic P2 camera. I know there’s a plug-in (or whatever) that can transfer the material to be compatible with Vegas, and the producer of the project still wants me to be involved. . .but that doesn’t negate the fact that things can be needlessly cumbersome.
Don’t get me wrong, because I’m still a Vegas enthusiast, definitely over FCP and Premiere. In fact, it’s still my ambition to try and edit an entire feature using Vegas. But until Sony resolves some of these issues, I can (almost) understand why people aren’t looking for Vegas editors. And that’s something I CHOKE on to admit (because I hate Apple).
I’m glad, though, to see that I’m not the only person who started with humble beginnings–i.e., with crappy little cameras. Wish I was only more of an editor/filmmaker/videographer to validate my enthusiasm for this approach. Not to wax nostalgic on your time, but I broke all the rules back then: editing (w/a consumer NLE until I bought Vegas 7) on a 1-Gb laptop, and rendering onto the 5400-rpm c-drive until I ran out of space. . .and I still can’t say those videos suffered as a result. In fact, I’d say that the creative freedom that not having to bug with technical issues allows adequately compensates for amateurish attributes. Or at least how cool it is to know that you can make a whole ‘movie’ simply with what you’re carrying on your back. . .which is, again, one of the reasons I wanted Vegas in the first place.
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Ran the AVIs through gspot–sorry it took a while; I have trouble feeling comfortable downloading ANYTHING that sounds, uh, ‘sexual’–and found out that it’s an old codec called “indeo” which is not supported on any post-XP system. (And it is not guaranteed to work even if you purchase it.) So. . .c’est la vie, aside from the usual frustration I’ve encountered with codec issues.
As for the crappy camera I was talking about, it came as part of a “Digital Editing for Dummies” pack I bought a couple of summers ago at a Wal-Mart in Wiggins, Miss.
Check it out:
https://www.technooutlet.com/cx32390.html?source=GGAN
I’m not going to rave on and on about it, but it was what introduced me to the wonderful world of digital editing and media, and I still like the junky camera that came with it more than anything else I own.
Off/on the subject, is there any reputable freewares out there you can suggest for transferring MOD files to AVIs (compatible with Win 7 systems)?
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Thanks for the link to gspot. As for the codec from Magix, I doubt that’s entirely the case:
–First, I went ahead and installed Magix on my new laptop–the one with Vegas 9–a while back.
–And second, the AVIs on my old laptop–the one with Vegas 7–won’t play on the windows media player (only audio), while it all shows up on Vegas 7; also, AVI video from another camera–a crappy one–will show up on the local windows media player, but not Vegas 7 (but it DOES show up on Vegas 9).Will do some more snooping around to try and figure out what the deal is. . .try and make some sense of it all. Stupid codecs.
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Turn the track(s) that your stills are on into a composite child whose parent track has nothing else on it. Then do motion tracking on the (otherwise empty) parent track to get the zoom in/out, etc. effect you’re looking for.
Let me know how this works out. -
Nice vid. But I’m a little confused when you say ‘completely animated’. I’ve used Vegas to help with my animations before, so I’m not completely out of my league here, but some of the animations–like R. Murdock’s arm for instance; or the 3d video game machine at the beginning–kind of skip my understanding. What other software did you use? Just curious, and would almost like to see a ‘making of’ video for the thing.
Still, good job. -
Thanks for asking that question, because I want to know as well.
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Hey Alf, I gotcha. I had already resolved to get Vegas 9 before the driver situation between V7 and 64-bit OS became apparent. Checked out the trial version, and no real problems from the meager amount of editing I did. Just ‘venting’ a general frustration about upgrading one thing means you gotta upgrade just about everything. Personally, I like XP way more than I like Windows 7, if for no other reason than the ‘feel’. But I DO like what I’ve seen with Vegas 9, so far (actually, I was hoping to hold out for 10, but there’s no news of that.)
Apart from all that, though, there’s the principal of ‘built in obsolescence’ (though incompatibility with upgrades) that bugs me; when something I bought a year ago is no longer usable, even if I had all the money in the world. (My grandfather, who would be 108 if he were alive, used to say: We can’t afford to buy cheap.) Has very little to do with my original topic, but it is relevant in that these cumbersome technical matters are really starting to bog down the issue when all I want to do, basically, is create something interesting and make it look as pretty as possible. . . -
Yeah, I think that’s it. Any more trying to dig down to this I think is gonna twist my head worse than a corkscrew. When the time comes, we’ll just see how it goes.
One of the reasons I’m asking this, BTW (though not that it makes any difference), is that I was completely happy with Vegas 7 until I got my new computer with its 64-bit OS. . .driver issues and all, but I’m still happy to be working with the newest of everything this time around. Just trying to make sure I get the most bang for my buck here. -
So there is an 8k. . .at least that is occasionally practiced. Thanks for filling me in. As for the press regarding production–and I don’t know why shooting anamorphic would get so much buzz–I acknowledge that editing is perhaps the most overlooked, in terms of popular attention, aspect of production. . .definitely the least in terms of the major talent needed to execute a film, the other two being director and DP. Probably why it didn’t even occur to me to check out IMDB.