[Wayne Waag]

Have you tried resizing it? Just drag mouse over any edge and you should see the symbol for resizing.

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[Wayne Waag]

Is there a plugin or anything else i could do, to be able to copy the keyframes of the top track to the two bottom tracks? (picture below)

The easiest way, unless I misunderstand what you want, is to simply duplicate the top track twice. Your keyframes will be the same. Then you can change your timeline events for each track at will without altering the keyframes.

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[Wayne Waag]

but the colors are a bit off and darker

Most likely, you have not applied the correct Levels FX prior to render. Still images are usually full range (0-255) or in Vegas terms Computer RGB. Your rendered output will have a range of 16-235 or in Vegas terms Studio RGB. You must apply a Levels FX using the Computer RGB to Studio RGB preset somewhere. You can apply it to each image or since you have nothing but images, you could apply it as a video output FX.

As far as render settings, 22 Mbps should be sufficient using either Mainconcept or Sony AVC. My preference is to use Handbrake that employs the x264 encoder. The important thing about use of still images is to do your resizing before importing them into Vegas. The recommended size is usually double your project resolution. So for an HD 1080 project, I usually resize the image so that the vertical size is 2160. This allows sufficient room for any panning or zooming that you might want to do to create apparent motion. In doing so, the quality will be better and the renders quicker.

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[Wayne Waag]

so far I mostly stayed away from GPU rendering, because I’ve read that it delivers lesser quality as CPU

Then you have a basic misunderstanding. What I suggested is to enable GPU support for video FX processing, not rendering. In other words, it processes your effects such as color curves, sharpening, etc. which is much faster than simply having the CPU doing all of the processing. For certain render templates, there are options for GPU support, including Sony AVC and Mainconcept AVC, but I never use these. Again, your rendering times are improved, often dramatically, as a result of FX processing, not the actual render process itself. Regarding render quality, IMHO there are better encoders outside of Vegas including Handbrake (my current choice) and TMPGEnc’s Mastering Works. These also support true GPU rendering using QuickSync which you could also use since you have an Intel processor. For high bit rate renders, I can’t tell the difference between a QuickSync and CPU renders, except that QuickSync is much faster. The bottom line is that you already have a pretty powerful system and you will not see dramatic improvements with new hardware. The recommendation for an AMD card is probably good one, but you will see improved timeline and render performance only because of a better GPU implementation for faster FX processing.

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[Wayne Waag]

the preview will be completely black (While the audio continues, usually the program freezes and crashes at this point)

This usually means that you have a problem with your media files, not your PC or Vegas. Vegas is not correctly decoding the video portion of your clips–hence the black screen. You will have to provide detailed information about the media that you are using. The best is a screenshot of a representative file using MediaInfo. Also screenshots of your project settings and render settings would be helpful.

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[Wayne Waag]

[Tamas Tamas}

Before embarking on a massive upgrade project, you need to find out why you are getting such long render times. Something is definitely NOT set up correctly. As a test, I took a 1 min clip of 4K footage. I added a crop, a white balance FX, a color curve FX and an Unsharp Mask FX. I then rendered these to XAVC S (a digital intermediate using avc/264). For a UHD (3840 x 2160) render, the time was only 5:18 minutes. For a render to HD (1920 x 1080), the time was 2:04. I’m running an i7-3770K processor with an inexpensive Nvidia 650 card. With your specs, you should have even quicker render times. Again, something is definitely not set up correctly.

Question, have you enabled GPU processing in your preferences? Under the video tab, there is a drop-down menu for “GPU acceleration of video processing”. Make sure that your GTX 970 is selected.

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[Wayne Waag]

It’s hard to see exactly your transition since it is so rapid, but it appears as if the second clip slides in from the bottom with a black border. If that is correct, then the transition you want in Vegas is Slide, with the preset Slide in, Bottom-up. Once the window opens, there is an option to add a Border.

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[Wayne Waag]

Sorry that I can’t answer your question directly regarding ProRes, but here is a thread from the Vegas Pro forum a couple of years ago that may have some valuable information. https://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/showmessage.asp?messageid=889085 I might add, however, that the notion of rendering an AVI with an h.264 codec seems like a bad idea. Why not a more conventional mov or mp4 container?

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[Wayne Waag]

To help you isolate your problem, you will have to provide a lot more detailed information including: 1) the media that your are using–your input files-what format and specific codecs that are being used. A representative screenshot from MediaInfo would be the most helpful. 2) your project settings. Again, a screenshot from your project window. And finally 3) your render settings–again a screenshot. Most likely, there is a mismatch somewhere in your workflow. The more detailed information you provide, the more likely someone can assist. Right now, all we know is that Vegas crashes.

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[Wayne Waag]

You can also get standalone boxes. E.g. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensity/techspecs/W-INT-03

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