[John Gleason]

Find the media event which has the text you need “blacked out.”

Click the Event Pan/Crop button on the media even in the time line.

Check the “Mask” box in the lower left hand corner of the Event Pan/Crop window.

Click the pen icon which says “Anchor Creation Tool” (or press D).

Use the pen to create a “box” around the text you do not want.

Click the Mode from Positive to Negative. [This should be right under “Path”]

Create a new video track on top of your current track. Add a Media Event and put your new and improved text over the masked event below it.

Profit?

This works well when you have a solid background color. If you need to match a solid color, create a video track underneath your masked media event track and add a solid color to the timeline via Text Media.

[John Gleason]

[Sebastien Gravel] “I’m on it like a fat kid on a twinkie”

Oh no, please no resolution references…

[John Gleason]

Photoshop is your best bet. Old photographs tend to have

-Less color, more of a single color tinge (not necessarily no color)
-Less line definition/focus
-More grain/artifacts
-More physical damage, rips, bleeds, warps

This is back when photography was still associated with painting and the character posing tended to reflect that, as well as mirroring stage play/theater framing. Getting a close up on the for instance a face was practically a call of indecency.

https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/4071494420_ac4988e47f.jpg
https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2800/4068841045_da50f0c20e.jpg
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3498/4069370119_358d5cde00.jpg
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3335/3645032140_6a1bab12b0.jpg
https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2437/3630187450_cf8fa26621.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/PinkertonLincolnMcClernand.jpg This is interesting, see how clear the tent rope is in between the DoF, if only the photographer had focused better and Lincoln hadn’t been distracted enough to look slightly left.

As far as tutorials, there are some pretty bad ones, this one seems decent. but https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOqPbPcYEXQ

Also make use of Adjustments —-> Black and white —-> tweak the desaturate until it looks wonderfully old and then add a tint of your choice.

If you can get some good grunge brushes, you can make it look like your photo was ripped, there are also tutorials on how to add things such as coffee mug stains and so forth.

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[John Gleason]

Another thing you could try. If you have had a windows automatic update in the last while, you can uninstall the latest updates and see if it restores your Vegas functionality.

If you wish to try this, go to (on Vista) Control Panel. Programs and Features. Click on “View installed updates.” Then right click and uninstall the lastest update(s) since your problem occured. If the update was the problem, you are now fixed. If not, you can easily enough reinstall the updates.
This happened to me recently when Vegas stopped loading on “loading sound drivers…” on the the splash screen.

[John Gleason]

Sorry not to have a solution, but I did want to point out at least that mainstream movies sometimes suffer from too much noise. One movie in particular, I think it was Pathfinder, I thought should have been renamed “The Vikings Who Forgot to Turn off the Gain.”

I’ve done a couple evening weddings, and it can be tricky dealing with low light. I was fortunate to at least have enough not to use gain; slowly adjusting the iris as the light dimmed prevented noise. Once it gets dark enough though, it’s impossible to avoid.

I hope you can find or get one of those plugins to work, I often wish there were more plugs types in general for Vegas.

[John Gleason]

I’ve added effects to a clip using AE, rendered it, then took that new video file and dropped it into Vegas. Not sure what other work flow you could do using AE.

[John Gleason]

To explain slightly further, most footage shot with at 29.97 Frames per sec (usually said to be 30 FPS) or 24 FPS cannot be slowed down that much without exposing the slight jittery “slideshow” mode it goes into. Here’s a fun activity: If you’ve practiced slowing down various shots enough to get the feel for slow motion, try to see when major motion picture editors slow down a shot where it was filmed in 24 FPS. A skilled editing eye should be able to catch the slight jittery movement being forced on regular footage. Editors try to get by with this all the time, it’s always fun to catch them at it : )

A movie like 300, on the other hand, had parts specifically filmed with high FPS so that when the frames are played back slower, the motion is slow but the intra-frame movement is smooth. Unfortunately, most DvCamcorders or even prosumer camcorders do not offer increased or decreased FPS beyond basic 24 P, 30 P, or interlaced formats.

[John Gleason]

Or, conversely, you could select the loop around what you would like rendered and check “render loop region only.” You’ve just got so many options!

[John Gleason]

This really upsets me. I really admire D. Spotted Eagle for his Vegas expertise. I remember seeing him at NAB doing a demonstration for Vegas and using his multicam plugin to edit his skydiving footage faster than real time. I really hope he recovers…

[John Gleason]

I have heard an interesting solution to voice overs. Take your DV Camera. Plug it into your computer and open the Vegas capture program. Plug your microphone into your DV camera and start recording your voice over. Discard video track and use the audio for your project.

I have not yet tried this, but the person I heard it from assured me the DV Camera acted as a signal booster and the audio quality was much better than when plugging the 1/8th inch mic jack straight into the computer.