Absolutely Amazing - the long awaited EDIT Button!

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 4/23/2009, 12:08 AM

Alright - so I'm maybe partial, because JR is a great guy and my friend, and he has done a great deal of work on this Production assistant tool.

Now let me make sure it's clear to you just how amazing this software is.

(FYI - this is from what I've seen and shown at the pre-release demo's etc...)
We've all talked about how we just want the "edit" button to make it all easy, now we can create a Vegas file template with all the lead-in's, bumpers, stingers, etc.... and then just drop empty media events on the meat of the show where you want your clips to go. Now from there you save that in the "templates" folder. Following that you can just open up PA (not vegas, not anything but PA), and you set the template that you want, and you set the name of the show/project. Then you start adding clips in the order you want them to replace the empty timeline events, tell it what version of Vegas Pro to use (depending on what's installed).

Then click OK!

Now *it* opens vegas, *it* loads the template project, *it* swaps the media events out in the order you specified, then you can fine tune as you see fit (slip clip contents etc...). From there (Production Assistant is inside Vegas as an extension) you just select a pre-saved (or create and save a new) series of processes for PA to do to the current project, then set the target preset ( or create and save a new one for future use ), and then click the process button.

Imagine how fast a person could produce content of a consistently structured nature. I was out at a broadcasting company where the field shooters were assembling short stories (packages) and they then uploaded to the station where these defined length segments were assembled into a 30 min show or something.

Vegas has just gone from the little guy to the little guy with a freakin bazooka in my opinion.

You've GOT to see this thing in action!

Dave

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Comments

TeetimeNC wrote on 4/24/2009, 5:57 AM

Hi JR.

There was a lot of interest and discussion about PA at last night's Raleigh Vegas User Group meeting.

In an earlier post I asked if I could use PA to set up complex multi-track motion slugs, and then just specify the clips that I want to insert. Spot answered "yes, you can do that". Now I am curious: how I do that outside of the Vegas environment? Or do I somehow create a template veg inside of Vegas that PA populates?

Jerry

ken c wrote on 4/24/2009, 6:06 AM

Looks interesting (and lol blink, great post re taking the bull by the horns, well said!)... hmm I'd order the packaged version, but it probably won't come in that nice box will it? If it's like the Vegas upgrade package, it's a disc in a paper sleeve only.. so a download should be fine... and DSE if you and JR were involved in it's production then it's a "must have" I'd think, like your other products.

-k

JohnnyRoy wrote on 4/24/2009, 7:44 AM

> In an earlier post I asked if I could use PA to set up complex multi-track motion slugs, and then just specify the clips that I want to insert. Spot answered "yes, you can do that". Now I am curious: how I do that outside of the Vegas environment? Or do I somehow create a template veg inside of Vegas that PA populates?

Hi Jerry,

You create a template inside of Vegas that PA populates. Here's how it works: Take your existing project and substitute an Empty Event for every piece of media that you want to populate. Then save the project in a special folder that PA looks for templates. That's it.

Outside of Vegas you start the PA launcher which is a stand-alone application. The project template you made will show up in a drop down list of templates. You select it, give the project a name, and then press the Add button to add media from your file system into the media list on the GUI. Add each piece of media in the same order as they need to be replaced in the project template (the interface allows you to reorder them). Then press the OK button and PA will copy the template to a new project, start Vegas and load the project, then finally proceed to replace each empty event with the media that you provided in your list. It's that easy.

When complete you have a project all ready to go. I believe it will work fine for your multi-track motion project and save you hours of replacing takes like you're doing now.

~jr

JohnnyRoy wrote on 4/24/2009, 7:46 AM

> and DSE if you and JR were involved in it's production then it's a "must have" I'd think, like your other products.

Thanks Ken for the kind words. It's been demoed all week at NAB and is production ready to go when Vegas Pro 9.0 ships.

~jr

farss wrote on 4/26/2009, 5:15 AM

"Feel free to ask more questions"

So this is not adding core functionality to Vegas.
I've been creating Vegas projects with slugs for years. Pretty simple to swap the slugs for real vision when there's only a few to swap over and if the real vision is shot consistantly. It kind of falls apart if the cameraperson shoots differently e.g. buttons off a few times during breaks in play or action.
What we need is tools that can analyse the vision or audio content. The latter is already with us but not in Vegas.
Much more can be had from asset metadata but Vegas is totally out of the loop on this. Sony cameras have had this for years and it gets even better with XDCAM.

Don't get me wrong, not knocking what you guys have done and I'll quite likely buy it and use it. Just that compared to where the Vegas competition is at this is not exactly revolutionary.

Bob.

JohnnyRoy wrote on 4/26/2009, 8:01 AM

Bob, The template workflow is just one part of what Production Assistant does. The process automation within Vegas and the functionality it brings, has never been done before on that scale. It can save you hours of sitting in front of a computer doing these tasks manually. The architecture is in place for more processes to easily be added as customers find new uses for the tool so the future potential for growth is there.

~jr

RBKC, Inc. wrote on 4/26/2009, 12:38 PM

Everything I am reading here and elsewhere. Is that this does Rock. I have several clients that I can just pop there footage into and give them a proof to review overnight from a shoot. Saving the client time and money and me looking like I am part of his profit center. This is a good tool. I can now get more clients.

Best

Norman Willis wrote on 4/27/2009, 2:36 PM

>>We didn't say much, but Gearshift for RED is very useful too.

I purchased PA, and look forward to learning about your other tools as well.

Where might I find Gearshift for RED? I did a Google search, and came up with nothing.

Thank you.

Norman

Steve Mann wrote on 4/28/2009, 11:02 AM

JohnnyRoy - Does PA do Proxy?

JohnnyRoy wrote on 4/28/2009, 11:50 AM

> Where might I find Gearshift for RED?

It will be available on the VASST web site around the time that Vegas Pro 9.0 ships.

~jr

JohnnyRoy wrote on 4/28/2009, 11:51 AM

> Does PA do Proxy?

No, PA does media slug substitution. GearShift does proxy.

~jr

Laurence wrote on 4/28/2009, 2:07 PM

Ultimate S also does proxy substitutions.

stevengotts wrote on 4/30/2009, 12:07 PM

Does PA Work in all versions of Vegas and will it burn a single clip dvd from its timeline.
Thanks
Steven

JohnnyRoy wrote on 4/30/2009, 12:18 PM

> Does PA Work in all versions of Vegas

PA works with Vegas Pro 9.0 32 & 64-bit and also with Vegas Pro 8.0 & 8.1. Previous versions of Vegas are not supported.

> and will it burn a single clip dvd from its timeline.

Vegas does not have the capability of burning a DVD from the timeline and neither does PA. What PA can do is prepare a timeline for burning by adding chapter points and render to DVD format but you would still need DVD Architect (or some other application) to make the physical disc image and burn.

~jr

stevengotts wrote on 5/1/2009, 8:15 AM

Thanks Johnny, Im Sold.