First of all, THANK YOU for helping me. I finally figured out how to "S" split videos. I know, ridiculous, but I'm a true beginner. I think I have figured out how to do all that you outline. The only issue is this and I'm unsure what's going on (is my laptop unable to handle this project maybe...) I save and then when I come back in to the file the little "new" video I've created of the girl dancing in slo-mo doesn't show up. Everything else in my entire video shows... text, videos, photos, transitions, etc... It's the strangest thing and I'm unsure how to explain it. I believe it also gives me an "error" message saying "unable to find source" or something along those lines... I'll keep playing around w/ it to see if I can figure out what's going on. If I can add any additional detail that might help you help me solve the issue I certainly will add ASAP. Thanks again!

<<I save and then when I come back ...>>
Do you mean save in that you save an .sf or .veg file or do you mean render and save as in a .avi,.mpeg2,wmv etc file? You have not "made a new video" unless you have rendered.

<<Everything else in my entire video shows... >>
How are you viewing this 'video that everything else shows in"? Are you viewing it in Vegas or in a media player?

What is the entire name of the video file that you look at?

Hello - I am still creating this entire video and I've been doing a "Save As" every bit I think as a ".vf". I have not rendered it yet.
I was going to do that when I got done with the whole thing (is that a mistake) as it is a film of my family over a few years and prob. will be about 20 mins long max.

I am just viewing the project in the upper preview window within Vegas.

The name I see in Properties is: C:\Documents and Settings\myname\My Documents\Vegas Movie Studio PE 9.0 Projects\lastname Mar152009\Prerenders
THANKS AGAIN!

"Prerenders" doesn't sound right. What sort of file does it say in properties?

In Project Properties there are 5 tabs across the top (Video/Audio/Ruler/Summary/Folders) Under the Folders tabs there are two small sections. The top section: Recorded Files Folder and the bottem: Prerendered Files Folder. Under each it shows the "name" of the file and just below it "Free storage space...".

So I listed the file name earlier of the "Prerendered files folder". The top one, "Recorded Files Folder" had a similar name: "...Movie Studio PE 9.0 Projects/MyName Mar152009/Recordings\.."

Does that help at all? Sorry...

Lets try to get back to basics. I still don't understand what you are doing.

1. If you have a Vegas Studio project you are working on you have some media that you captured from some source (possibly camera). This captured footage is placed on your computer in the location that you determine when you capture it. If it was placed anywhere but on the :C drive you may not have it available again when you open the project again. unless you have the computer the same. Reading that gback to myself seemd confusing. If nyou captured it to an external drive you need to have that same external drive available when you reopen the project or you will get an error like "cannot locate media". or "media offline". and that spot would be blank.

If you are making a 20 minute video (+ or -) and you have a dance section that is 20 seconds long and you want to slow it down, just isolate the dance segment (S for split as you have found out) and Ctrl-drag the end of the segment. It will have a squiggly line in it showing that the speed has changed. Don't render! Leave this as part of your 20 minute project. When you are tired of working on the project or at regular intervals (better idea) "Save" the project. This will create a .vf file that represenbts all the work you have done. Give that file a name that you will remember and save it where you can find it. Like make a new folder on the desk top and title it "Vegas Project Files" and save it there.

When you are ready to work on it again open that folder and file by double clicking on it. It will open with Vegas Studio and your project will be there again for you to work on in cluding the slow motion section. AS LONG AS you still have availablr to the program the original captured footage that was impported into Project Media. If you only have one Drive (probably the :C drive) then that should not be a problem. If you have other drives be sure they are available.

You do not have to render anything until you are done with all the editing and you are ready to "make your movie".. That is when you render. What you render it as will be dependant on whet your final delivery media will be. For example if you want to take it to DVD you will need to render it as MPEG2 and AC3 (for DVD archetect). But that is another whole story.

Good luck.

VERY VERY VERY helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you! I'm so sorry I have not done a good job describing.

(I am doing a "home video" that includes the "dancing child". I did take the 20 second video, split it, and then slowed it down).

I think what you describe in this last post about making sure the original post is saved somewhere in the project I'm working so that it is available makes sense and I am going to try that/make sure I did that.

Thank you for all your help. You don't know how much I appreciate your time on my question!

As a general rule, whenever i start a new project the first thing i do is create a new folder for it. I'm then careful to store all media and project files in that folder. That greatly simplifies finding stuff later on.

That is a great idea. I REALLY should have done that!

You know, is it too late to do that now? I'm 75% done with the project.

If i were to put all the media in one folder on my hard drive would it "help" with this issue in your opinion? Thanks!

It wouldn't hurt to do it even now. Close Vegas, create the folder, move everything into that folder. When you start Vegas and load your project again it will complain that it can't find the files you moved. There's an option to specify a new location. Point it at the new folder. Vegas will be smart enough to find all the moved files in there. Save the .vf file into that folder too.

Thank you very much for your help. I will def. try this.

Hello

Wanted to provide better detail because I am still encountering the issue and the video is “due” in mere days and incomplete. Panic setting in...

I am using Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0. The project is primarily photos with small video clips here & there.

ALL media is on the C drive. Some of the media is saved on the Desktop. When I right click and view the properties it is saved to: C:\Documents and Settings\myname\Desktop. So to me (and I hope this is correct) that means the media currently saved on my Desktop is also on the C drive.

Note, I have consolidated MOST of the media into one folder in the Desktop path described above. The other media items are also on the C drive but in folders such as “MyVideos” or “MyPhotos”.

I have encountered a few issues along the way and have resolved all but one so far. Here is what I do when the issue occurs:

- Project/Import Media, locate the short video clip (e.g 30 seconds AVI of a child dancing) and Import.

-Drag the (30 sec child dance) video clip onto the timeline.
Occasionally I scroll down the timeline and place it there so I can work with it, without a lot of the other media in the immediate way.

-“Split” the video up into the segments I want by using the S command. Once I get these “sub”segments to the length I want I move them to their proper location on the timeline by either dragging or cut/paste. (The little videos I took have some unneeded parts so I need to break them up and recombine or just use the pieces needed).

The issue arises when I go to do a SAVE. I have been saving my project pretty frequently. The save menu prompts as follows:

File Name: 030809.vf
Save As Type: Vegas Movie Studio Project File (*.vf)
Below this is a little check box that I HAVE been marking: Copy Media with Project

Next Window pops up with two options -Copy Media Options:
-Copy Source Media
-Create Trimmed Copies of Source Media

I have tried selecting each of these (on different saves) and no matter, when it is done saving, everything is great EXCEPT the sub-segments that I placed on the timeline (the ones that were cut) are now BLACK on the timeline, not visible in the preview window and seem to be completely gone.

If anyone can help me I would be so appreciative! Thank you!

PS: I have started wondering if I should be saving each split video segment back into the Media area of the actual project or something....???

You do not have to "save media with project"
Try saving it without checking that box.
That is meant for archiving a project when you are going to clear (delete) your original footage to free up disc space to work on another project.
The .vf file is actually a very small file that just contains instructions for Vegas reminding the program what editing choices you have made. It points the program back to the original footage and tels it "this is what we have done so far".
My guess is that you are opening the wrong .vf file as it sounds like you have several of them pertaining to the same project.

Hello - I tried inserting a new little video clip, split, deleted the unwanted portion, then "save as" but DID NOT check the box.
It saved. I closed and reopened and AGAIN - black screen :(
No visible video on the timeline nor in the preview window.
There is a black box where the video WAS. Any other ideas by chance? Thank you (PS: I made sure I selected the correct .vf)

When you say close, are you closing the project or exiting out of VMS? After VMS opens again, click on the File menu, you should see a list of the last few projects you worked on. The top one should be the last "save as" project. It almost sounds like your opening a blank "default" project rather than the actual project you saved.

First off, it's not a good idea to save anything to the Desktop. One or two files temporarily, but never permant. If your profile gets corrupted, they're lost.

You should create a folder at the top level (C:) calling it something like Video. In that folder create another folder, something like Projects. In that folder create a project specific folder so you end up with C:\Video\Projects\Project1.

To add to that, I create more sub-folders called Photos and Tapes placing project related items into their respective sub-folder. (C:\Video\Projects\Project1\Tapes and C:\Video\Projects\Project1\Photos)

Doing a Save As is good, this way you end up with multiple versions of your project giving you something to fall back on should the current project become unusable. Your problem seems to be finding them.

You could do a Start > Search to find files modified today from your C: drive. That could help you locate your "missing" project files.

Hello,

When you say close, are you closing the project or exiting out of VMS? I EXIT OUT OF VMS. WHEN I REOPEN I SELECT THE LAST PROJECT I WORKED ON. EVERYTHING COMES BACK IN ITS ENTIRETY EXCEPT FOR THE .AVI VIDEOS THAT I PLACED ON THE TIMELINE (TRIMMED). SPEAKING OF... DO YOU THINK THIS MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE FILE FROM THE CAMCORDER? AN INEXPENSIVE, JAZZ ELITE HD CAMCORDER...SO IN OTHER WORDS IT'S NOT A "BLANK" THAT OPENS UP BUT THE ONE I LAST WORKED ON. JUST NOW THE VIDEOS I IMPORTED & TRIMMED ARE BLACK "PLACEHOLDERS":(

PS: SOMETIMES I GET "MEDIA OFFLINE" BUT THEN OTHER TIMES I OPEN THE PROJECT AND THE VIDEO IS BACK (UGH)

Should I still do the search for files? THANKS!!

OK, several questions after reading "Media offline"

1) Is the camera connected tot he computer via a USB cable or you removing the SD card and inserting it into a card reader slot?

2) How did you "import" the video? You did transfer them to your hard drive, correct?

It almost sounds like your using them directly off of the camera or SD card. Video should be on your hard drive when editing.

Of you click on the Project Media tab, it should list the media in your project, for the video, what does the path say? You can also right click on it and choose Open containing folder.

PS: Sorry about the caps. Also, I've now moved everything off the desktop into one folder on my C drive. I'm going to try again in a bit. Do you think I should just use a separate trimmer like http://www.solveigmm.com (trim/save) rename and import into Sony Vegas and try that? Thank you

It can be set in the preferences of Vegas that the program will automatically reopen the last project worked on when you open the program by double clicking the program icon or shortcut.. Have you tried closing the program and then reopening it not by clicking on the .vf file but by using this auto method? Does it make any difference> Try a couple of experiments. Take just your 30 second dancing clip and put it into a NEW project. Place it onj the time line and do your editing, slo mo whatever to it. Then save that .vf without checking the box to save media. Then close your project and reopen Vegas by opening the program, not the .vf. Then try it by opening the .vf. Does it work both ways? If it doesn't worjk either way, there might be a problem with the video codec. But that seems unlikely if you can capture it, import it into Vegas, place it on the time line and preview it. Is that dancing video the only clip in the project that from that camera? If there are other clips in the project from that camera that you do not have problems wiith, then the ats not the problem.

Iserv,
If you want to just get around this problem and move on, not necessarily finding out why it is happening you could:

Open New Vegas project..
Import and place dance segment in media pool and place on time line.
Alter, edit, slo mo, whatever you want to do with it.
If it plays back in preview as you like it then RENDER that project as a DV.avi.
Save it (the new .avi file, not the .vf file) in the folder that you have made and name it so you can reccognize it.
Then open your full project and use this new video in place of your captured footage. You should have no trouble with this.

I wouldn't worry about trimming, either in VMS or solvegimm, I've never used the trimmer in VMS.

Rather, I split the video event (clip) in the timeline by positioning the cursor/scrubber and typing "s" then delete the unwanted clip.

The way editing works in VMS (and most other editors) is that the original video clip stays intact on your computer's hard drive, when you split or delete your video on the timeline, you're creating "pointers" to the original video file telling VMS what frame to start using it or stop using it. In and out points.

In the below example, i=in, o=out, and v=video

i......o.............i...........o.................................i............o
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

On the timeline it will look like you have 3 seperate video clips (events) but it's still one video file. You can apply your FX to any of the clips individually to get the desired effect. When you do Make Movie, you create a new file that has the edits, FX incorporated in it while, again, leaving your original file as is.

Until you get the hang of VMS, I wouldn't use the trimmer. my 2p