[Don Bloom]

RENDER AS-this will give you AC3 options. You cannot use the SAVE AS command as Vegas doesn’t see AC3 audio only DVDA sees it.
Don

[Don Bloom]

There are a lot of ways to accomplish the squiggle look. Satish has some of those effects in his WAX plugins, also Damaged Goods has that look in their plugins.

As for slow motion it depends on when you see it look choppy, if you see that in the preview, I wouldn’t worry about it as generally once rendered out it’s fine BUT it depends on how slow you make the clip AND whats going on in th eclip. If you have a lot of right to left or left to right motion covering th efull frame you could have a problem with choppiness. If so then slow it down a bit at a time and render it out – IE, if you want to slow the clip down to say 20% of original, then try 50% and render, then slow down the new render by 25% and render etc. however I can tell you that I personally have never had to do that and I slowed clips down to 10%. Properies is one way to slow a clip down, you can also add a VELOCITY envelope and slow it that way OR hold down the CNTRL key and pull the RIGHT edge of the clip to the RIGHT unti you have slowed it down to where you want OR a combination of the 3.
Don

[Don Bloom]

Well having never seen the show (Smallville-I DO remember the original Supeman on TV with George Reeves though) I would first get the speed right. You can do this in a number of ways. First use a velocity envelope to 300% then render to AVI and bring back into Vegas apply another velocity envelope to it ETC until you achieve the proper amount of speed. I would think no more than 1 pass as an AVI with and additional velocity envelope maybe up yo 150 or 175 would probably be OK but I’m guessing. It’s trial and error. Another way to do the spped effect is with TIME BANDIT plugin if you have it. It’s part of Excalibur and also available seperatly. This will allow for very very high percentages and is actually figured on time not percentages of speed like the envelope. Either will accomplish the spped aspect. As for the motion try adding MOTION BLUR to the video bus OR try the NEWBLUEFX which has some effects that I think will be very very close if not exactly what you’re looking for.
HTHs
Don

[Don Bloom]

OOOPS! Right again Edward, that’ll teach me to say something before I’ve had enough coffee to really think it though. 🙂

Don

[Don Bloom]

Yes you can IMPORT the DVD into Vegas but frankly MPEG format is very difficult to edit-IMHO you are better off playing the DVD into Vegas with a set top DVD player and if needed a passthru, that way you are capturing it in an editable AVI format.
As for REVERSING the clips, yes you can. Split the clips on either end and right click the clip-in the drop down there is “REVERSE” highlight that and the clip is now reversed. Be aware that if there is movement in the clip you “might” have to trim or lenghten a frame or 2 to get it to where you want it.

Don

[Don Bloom]

2.5 hours should be no problem at all. If you’re useing DVDA to author the DVD try setting the bitrates to 8,000—3,823—and 2,000 WITH AC3 audio.
These figures came straight off of Edwards newsletter VOL 1 Number 7 (June 2003) and I have been using it since. It’s flawless in the numbers. BTW these numbers assume a VBR. While 3823 seems low for quality it actually isn’t bad at all. I recently did a job of about the same length with pretty much the same numbers and it played nicely on a 42 inch TV.
HTHs
Don

[Don Bloom]

There are a lot of choices but the first thing is how do you plan to use the mic? A wireless lav is great for some things and not for others, a shotgun the same, a hyper caroid or caroid has the same issues. If you’re looking for a “general purpose” mic depending on you’re budget again many many choices. AT 897, 4073 Sennheiser ME64,66,67 or 416. These are “shotgun” mics but remember that its the pickup pattern that counts. Shotguns generally are not the mic of choice when indoors unless it’s on a boom and within about 2 or 3 feet of the subject. On camera they will pick up ambient room noise to about 270 degrees or so deoending on the mic. Wireless lavs the same depending on the mic. I have caroid, omni caroid and uni directional mics for both of my wireless systems and use what is best for the situation. I use an AT897, a Sennheiser ME66 and an AKGSE300/CK93 hyper caroid the same way. For most outdoor work I tend to stick with the AT897 or the ME66(a bit hotter than the 897 – good for sports and news type work) but indoors for social events (weddings) I use the AKG hyper caroid. What I’m getting at is there is no 1 mic that will cover ALL the bases but for starters you might want to consider the AT897-it’s not expensive and does a really nice job. just remember that the only way to knock out ALL of the background is with the mic really close OR in a sound room.
HTHs
Don

[Don Bloom]

why not just play it back into your computer thru a pass thru and then you get an AVI file, easier to edit and when compressing for DVDA you’re not losing anything.

Don

[Don Bloom]

COPY the clip then right click on the new clip and PASTE EVENT ATTRIBUTES-this will place all of the FX and crop/pan you did in the other clip.

Don

[Don Bloom]

Highlight the vid track (or audio track either one) hit the “U” button-that will “unlock the 2 tracks. Then highlight just the video clip you want to split PRESTO! it’s split and the audio isn’t. Delete the portion of the clip you want out and replace it with the new clip.

Don