Any Way to Lock a Track in Vegas Pro?

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apit34356 wrote on 7/7/2010, 12:17 AM
"SCS created the scripting API so that we can have a lot of functions that we want that they haven't added. It is such a blessing" Agreed! But the one button "lock" anything on the track and a button for locking the track position would be a good feature for a lot of users. Nesting may have a problem with locking location but a more in depth look maybe required to resolve that issue.

Strictly guessing but I think SCS has looked at locking tracks before......
ushere wrote on 7/7/2010, 1:16 AM
agree 100% with kkolbo..... (another fanboi!)

i'm still not proficient with writing them, but scripts, in the hands of edward (excalibur) and the vasst team run circles round 'locked' nle's.

there's a script for that.........
rmack350 wrote on 7/7/2010, 10:26 AM
Locking all events on a track with one click is effectively doing the job.

Define the job. Locking the events doesn't lock the track keyframes. It's also not obvious to anyone who isn't reading this particular forum thread.

From a marketing standpoint Vegas needs to have a lock button sitting there on the track header from the moment you install it.

I have plugged Vegas many times here where I work. The owner of the company (our main editor as well as the guy who writes the checks) was in on Media100 when M100 and Avid were still new products. He has very, very fixed expectations and little things like the lack of a track lock really get down to credibility issues. The feature is SO FUNDAMENTAL that it's absence makes it hard take Vegas seriously.

So I think it comes down to whether SCS wants to build the user base solely out of new users or whether they also want to attract existing users from other platforms.

Rob Mack
rmack350 wrote on 7/7/2010, 10:38 AM
I'm having trouble visualizing the idea of locking the track *position*. I assume this means locking a track's position relative to all the other tracks, so track three cannot be moved to the track two position, for example.

If that's the idea then locking the third track into the third position (example) effective locks all the other tracks too. If you move T4 to the T2 position then T3 drops down one.

I don't think a track lock that simply prevents the track from moving up and down in track order is very effective, but maybe I'm not picturing it well.

What *is* useful is the ability to lock the track so that the contents can't be altered, including the track's keyframes. And consider this...If you could lock a track could you also render it in the background? That's a bit beyond what Vegas does but I can see it as being useful for folder tracks, where the whole thing could be locked and prerendered.

Rob Mack
rmack350 wrote on 7/7/2010, 10:42 AM
...scripts, in the hands of edward (excalibur) and the vasst team run circles round 'locked' nle's.

It's not an either/or proposition. This script isn't doing what a track lock can do...like locking the track keyframes.

If the scripting API could lock a track rather than the events on the track then that'd cover it. But if that were the case why not just put the button on the track header?

Rob
je@on wrote on 7/7/2010, 11:07 AM
Sorry for being late to the thread. I've used the track lock on FCP and PP and it's all good. On Vegas I always right click > select events to end > switches > lock. I always thought the Vegas way was a bit more elegant. Your mileage may vary.

Edit: And BTW, thanks to Ed for the scripts.
PerroneFord wrote on 7/7/2010, 11:10 AM
I don't think SCS has the resources to truly mount a campaign to win customers over from other pro NLEs. Nor do I think Vegas is feature rich enough to do it. Winning new customers stepping up from consumer level NLEs is an entirely different matter,and Vegas may well provide an excellent landing spot for those users.

It also seems to attract the "maverick" who doesn't want to stay between the lines that other NLEs dictate. And I think in that vein Vegas can gain some traction if they continue along the path of being a good tool for indie production.

I think if I was prioritiizing things to make Vegas more attractive to the indie market of today I'd have the following on the list

* An effective means of collaborating with FCP.

* Some basic locking and synching tools

* An accelerated editing codec. Preferably 10bit and 4:2:2. 100Mbps minimum.

* GPU support. This *HAS* to get done in today's market to be viable

* Real real-time playback of AVCHD/H.264 in at least good/full using the hardware spec written on the box

* Collaboration with Matrox or Blackmagic to provide effective off-board monitoring solutions

* Fix the memory problems once and for all. Nothing will lose a customer faster than having them get to the end of a project and watching their render fail. NOT good.

* Fix the issues going from Vegas to DVDA for BluRay.


There are a few other niggling things but these seem to be biggies for a lot of folks. And it's just hard to take the product seriously for indie projects with some of these glaring faults.