Ah-HA! Many thanks for that.
It seems that all my 'Events' are fractions of frames even though I have snapping on. I guess that legacy of being an audio editing software doesn't really help with video editing.
I'm kind of disappointed that I can't just click on the duration and change it numerically though.

Oh well. I'll start again and remember to turn the quantize button on this time.

MANY thanks for your help.
Dave

Hmmmm. That's odd. In the Pro version you can double-click on any of those three timecode display fields and type new values in. Have you tried double-clicking?

That doesn't work for me. It changes the duration of the edit/preview area but not the events duration. Maybe because I'm using stills?

I am upgrading from 3.0 to 8.0 (or 9.0) and so am evaluating 8.0d. I tried what you described and you can double-click on the 3 values and then type in new ones. However, the new ones momentarily change the values, until you move the time line cursor, then the event reverts back to it's pre-change value.

How can you use the times displayed to actually change the length of the event? Using VMS 8.0, can type over the length but as soon as I go to another slide, it reverts to it's old value.

Is there a missing trick to actually changing the event length? I know I can drag but that is too inexact; I need to control the exact display time for each of the slides.

If you double click the event in the timeline it will select the event. The last of the three time boxes in the lower right will display the total 'selection' time. When you numerically change that time the shaded selection in the time line changes to that time. You then have to manually shorten the event to that selection. Helps if you have enable snapping enabled.

That's the problem; changes I make there don't stick. Everything looks fine until I select a different event -- at which time the event length resets to what it was. The only way I've found to change the length of an event is by dragging the edge of the time slice and that is not at all practical for my purposes.

Yes, it is one extra step but with snapping on you get a frame accurate length, especially if you are zooomed in somewhat.

Just to reiterate what Terry said: when you double-click an event, you get a blue-shaded selection area or "loop" region. The three values in the lower right corner always show the begin, end, and length of the blue selection area. At this point, those values match the begin, end, and length of the event you just double-clicked on, but the values actually are tied to the selection area, not the event.

When you type in a new value for the length, you should notice that the blue selection area changes size correspondingly -- the event does not change size. However, if you want the event to take on the size you just typed in, you can grab the end of the event and drag it until it matches the end of the blue selection area. It should snap when you get close.

I know its not exactly what you are asking for, and I agree that it would be nice to be able to type in the length of an event directly. I also think the "Quantize to Frames" button should be right on the tool bar, with a very obvious indication when it is turned off.

Tim L

Okay, I see what you mean now. I can drag the edge of the event but it is really tedious to have to spend so much time to get exact times. When you are trying to fit a series of slides into a music passage, it can take some trial and error to get it right. I'm used to just typing the time into to the clip properties.

Does VMS9 have any enhancements in this area?

If you simply want a group of pictures to all have the same duration and fit the length of the music then there is a vastly easier method.

Set a new still image time that is anywhere in the ballpark of what you need, with a margin of error of 0.25 to 4.0x. For example, if your song is 4 minutes long and you have 80 pictures then you want 4.8 seconds per picture. The default length of 5 seconds is close enough. Dump all the images on the timeline at this length.

Place the music on an audio track. Line up the first picture to start when the music starts.

Select all the pictures. You can do this by dragging the selection box around them or right-mouse-button clicking on the first one and choosing 'select events to end'.

Press G to group all the pictures together.

Hold the Ctrl key down and drag the end of the last picture to match the end of the music. All the pictures will shrink or stretch together.

Done.

That's not at all what I want. I have about 50 slides. 6 of them must be anchored to specific points in the music (When I figure out how to do that), then the others will "in-fill". The slides are not of the same duration -- about a third are longer than average with with pan and zoom applied. I've also discovered that I have to manually add time to the event when I want to use a transition.

I am actually reworking a project I did a couple of years ago with another package. I lost the project file so I couldn't just revise it with my old software and I figured it would be a good exercise to rebuild in VMS.

Changing the length of the event seems to be a hit or miss proposition. Sometimes the method described by Terry and Tim works but oftentimes it does not; I have to select another event then come back to the one I want to resize to get it right. I can't believe its suppose to be this hard to set the length of an event.

I've been tempted to go back to my old software because it's familiar and I know what to do. It's very buggy though and I need to learn how to use VMS.

In order to anchor the stills preview the music on the timeline and add markers where you want the stills to change.
After that place the stills according to the markers.

If you did it automatically you would miss the possibility to play with the transitions lengths - I mean you can express something in your video by not just throwing the stills in like dum-dum-dum - but rather dum-duuumm-dum etc :-) (sorry for the bad explanation).

To that many pop songs do not only change the tempo during the song but also put in some 2/4 into a 4/4 melody.

I nearly do not dare to write it - but making such things I use approximately 3 working hours for each minute in the finished video before I am satisfied with the result - and Vegas is perfect for making it on that level - but probably not the most easy program for some fast and simple slide-making.

First, I just wanted to say 'Congratulations' ritsmer for your certification. Good job! As for the thread, I have said it before, and I will say it again, VMS isn't the best program for doing slide shows. Especially if you don't want to put in the time. There are many programs that do a much better and quicker job of that, as that is what they are designed for, and VMS isn't. If I am doing a project with more than a certain number of stills in a row, I'll use something like ProShow, render in a friendly format, and then import it. It seems to work better for me that way. Congrats again. Cin

"I nearly do not dare to write it - but making such things I use approximately 3 working hours for each minute in the finished video before I am satisfied with the result - and Vegas is perfect for making it on that level - but probably not the most easy program for some fast and simple slide-making."

Well, having stayed up all night to finish my show, I have to agree. I have no problem with using this as a learning experience but I'm reworking my slide show to present as an exhibit at a class and I don't think I'll be mentioning how I did it. A dedicated slide show product would be much more useful for that user segment.

In any case, I'm surprised at how quickly I was able to generate the show in VMS. With the exception of the duration problems, everything was very intuitive and easy to figure out. Once I make up some title slides, I'll be good to go ... and the finished product will be better than the original :)

This is OT - but

Hi Oh My,

Thank you for noticing :-)

Well - having been using Vegas since long before it was even named so I heard about the certification - and got 2 thoughts:
1) having done many, many videos the SCVU might not be so difficult - and
2) if it were difficult for me, I would surely learn about some corners in Vegas that I did not know about.

And quite so: when you have bought the Exam you have 3 attempts to pass it, and so I decided to use the first attempt to test my skills as they were from the daily work.
I did not pass the first attempt - Reason was a mix of the corners in Vegas that I was not aware of and also the shortcuts that the exam expects one to know - and which I do not use/need so much being right handed but using the mouse with the left :-))

Well - so I ordered the Sony Hands on Guide and studied it for 2 weeks together with the Full Vegas manual - and was surprised how many things I learned that way.

Then I dared to do the second attempt, which I passed.

I must add, that doing this exercise was worth the effort - as you also know having done the same study. If you are alone and not among other busy Vegas users every day this study is a very good way to move on.

Thank you again, Oh My, and looking forward to see you pass the exam also some day if you want to. If I can help, just drop a word. My Email is in the profile.
Einar Ritsmer

What exactly is SVCU certification? I assume that it is certification in Sony Vegas products, but what is involved and where can I get information on it.

Thanks,

lcdrdan

The certification is in Vegas Pro 8.0 (also called Full Vegas).

There are 2 levels: User and Editor - I think, however, that have seen a SCVT tittle - but found no description.

Here is a link:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/training/certification.asp