[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

[John Rofrano]

Normally no. Vegas won’t allow you to drop a file with AC3 onto the timeline. You could look for a free AC3 to WAV converter and process the audio separately. You could also try a converter program like Super(c) and have it just process the audio.

~jr

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

[John Rofrano]

What audio codec does GSpot say the file is using? Perhaps it’s a codec that Vegas can’t edit.

~jr

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

[John Rofrano]

> 1)…Do you know how i am supposed to pull these files in so that only one will show up on the DVD menu to select when playing on your TV?

Just drag one of them not both (usually just the video). DVD Architect is smart enough to pull in the audio. It created two links because you dragged both files. Just drag the video next time.

> 2) if i didn’t render the audio and video separately and just rendered as i had been by changing aspect ratio to 16:9 (giving me 1 video/audio file). Is there going to be a quality difference between this final product and one where i render the video and audio separately as you had suggested i do?

Yes, there will be quality loss by not doing this. If you render to MPEG2 audio, which is quite compressed, DVD Architect will take that and further re-compress it as AC3 because MPEG2 audio is not part of the NTSC DVD spec. So by creating your own AC3 file you get better quality because you avoid double encoding. (Note: MPEG2 audio *is* part of the PAL DVD spec so this does not apply to PAL users)

~jr

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

[John Rofrano]

Chances are it has nothing to do with Vegas. If previous projects are now effected it is probably something that has changed about your computer. What have to changed lately? Added any software? Updated software? Do you have Windows Auto Updates turned on and did Microsoft update any software? Something has changed about your computer.

You said you did a virus scan. I would start by turning off all firewall, virus scanning, and any other resident programs and see if the problem persists. There is a free utility called EndItAll2 that will kill everything running on your PC. This may help you find it. Good luck!

~jr

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

[John Rofrano]

You can add an additional empty track above the others and then make the other tracks children of the top “parent” track. Then use Parent Motion on the top track (which becomes available only after making the other tracks children) to move all of the child tracks together.

~jr

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

[John Rofrano]

Glad setting the PAR to 1.2121 cured the problem. I wonder why Vegas didn’t figure this out for itself. Anyway, you should perform your MPEG2 renders using the DVD Architect NTSC Widescreen video stream template. Then render the audio using the Dolby Digital AC-3 render type with the Stereo DVD template. If you name the files with the same name (with only the extensions being different), DVD Architect will know that the audio and video go together. If you use another DVD authoring program you may have to manually point it to the audio.

~jr

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

[John Rofrano]

What camera did you use? Does it really shoot 16:9? Is this DV, HDV, or HD? After you capture, open the properties on the clip and make sure the pixel aspect is set to 1.2121 for NTSC DV Widescreen or 1.3333 for HDV.

~jr

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

[John Rofrano]

Download the latest update from the Sony web site which is 8.0c. Make sure you have uninstalled the trial. Then install the 8.0c version and when you start it, it should prompt you for your license key and ask you to activate it.

~jr

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

[John Rofrano]

> i use Imagineer Monet…

…and the new After Effects CS4 comes bundled with Imagineer Mocha which is an excellent 2D tracker. I also use REALVIZ MatchMover which is a 3D tracker but AutoDesk bought it and discontinued it. 🙁 If you are going to be doing a lot of special effects shots like this it pays to invest in a tracking tool that can calculate camera movement for you.

~jr

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