batch-set pixel aspect ratio on events?

john-beale wrote on 5/15/2007, 4:32 PM
Using Vegas 7.0e with a DV project. I'm using the preset marked NTSC DV (720x480, 29.970 fps) which is a 4:3 frame, and the Project PAR is 0.9091 (NTSC DV).

When I import photos which are cropped to be 4:3, they show up with small black bars at left and right edges. (I think I know why, Vegas calculates PAR assuming that my full frame is 704 pixels wide, instead of 720. )

All I really want is to get rid of the black bars on my 4:3 photos and the logical way seems to be to set each photo to have a Pixel Aspect Ratio of 1.023

...that works ok, BUT I just can't figure out how to set PAR of a selected group of events. I've got 174 photos. Setting event PAR seems to work only one-by-one. Surely there's a way? I have the Excalibur script but I don't see this ability there either (might have overlooked it).

Note: Excalibur does offer Event / Match Aspect ("set Match Output Aspect" for all selected events) which almost does what I want. It removes the black bars, but it does so by zooming in the photo, such that the top and bottom edges are now slightly cropped. I could also just change the project PAR to 0.8887, that would make the photos correct, but the 4:3 video then gets black bars top & bottom.

EDIT: Found a solution! in the "Event Pan/Crop" window on the first photo, select Maintain Aspect Ratio: NO. Copy that object's properties, select all remaining photos and paste event attributes. Voila, problem solved.

Comments

rmack350 wrote on 5/15/2007, 5:22 PM
Don't know about scripts but I don't think Vegas itself offers a direct way to do this.

There are some workarounds, but nothing I know of will do the job en masse once the files are in Vegas.

But let's start with doing the crop right in the first place. A 720x480 NTSC frame is not actually 4:3. You're right that a 704x480 frame does represent a 4:3 frame, but that's not what you're working with. An NTSC signal actually contains more information before and after the 4:3 viewable window so if you want your stills to fit full raster then you need to make them bigger than 640x480.

To crop images for an NTSC project for Vegas you'd make the image some multiple of 654.5 x 480. You can round it to the nearest digit or you can use a multiple. 720x528 is a good near multiple and works very well for images imported to an NTSC project.

Of course this may bring up the question of why Vegas uses it's frame size while some other NLE uses another. The only thing I can say is that the Vegas engineers did their math like audio engineers (i.e.: properly) while many other NLE teams just assumed that the frame was 4:3 because that's what everyone told them. However, even though Vegas is "right", that can be small consolation if you prep thousands of images for Vegas and then have to provide the assets to some other NLE system.

Okay, enough of that. You've got prepped images and they're not the right size. There are two ways you could deal with it. The easiest would be to set up a batch operation in Photoshop the change all the images from 640x480 to 654x480. Just make copies in a new folder with the same names. After that go to the original folder and change it's name. When you next open Vegas it'll ask where the images are and you point it to the new folder. Done (I think) and maybe your originals will be usable in whatever application told you to make them 640x480.

There is a Vegas trick that could set up Vegas to apply a specific PAR to a specific image type, like making all PSD files have a PAR of 0.9091. However, since your stills aren't really the right size in the first place I wouldn't advise setting up a semi-permanent fix. And this fix won't affect files already in the project. Just new files.

The trick? Import just one still. Right click on it and open it's properties. Change the PAR to suit and then click the floppy disk icon up next to combo box labeled "Stream". Not much of a trick, really, but it's hard to notice for people like me.

Rob Mack
johnthor wrote on 11/3/2007, 12:32 PM
jbeale, I thank you beyond words. I am an old dude with basic pc and vegas skills. I have used Vegas since V1.b and just got V8. I love it as my tool to bring all our vacation video and stills to a fun product (deleting all that is poor and much of it is). I have image by image adjust aspect ratio on thousands of pictures over the years. I have searched the forum maybe twice a year for some hints.

Today, there it was. I feel very dumb, but I do not experiment with Vegas much, meaning, the power of Vegas is awesome to me. But your copy and PASTE THE EVENT ATTRIBUTES made my year. I have asked the forum on occasion, but no help. Probably the question was too easy.

Thakyou so much. This little tidbit for Vegas Dummies like me should be re-posted under other of the topics. Now on to my last 50 images in the next 20 seconds.
jetdv wrote on 11/3/2007, 6:54 PM
Look at the "Properties" tab in Excalibur. You can change the PAR for all selected events there.