Thnx Chienworks. You're the man. Looks like you're everywhere, helping out people like me. Appreciate it.

I think this is what my pal refered to as Mickey Mouse about project management with VV (with apologies to MM - Look! It's a lawyer! Just kiddin' . . . with apologies to SoFo too - that's the term he used and it stuck in my mind). I.e. he referenced an inability to work complex projects by the divide-and-conquer method, i.e. subdivide the job segment by segment and then in the end, join the various segments together to make a complete program.

If for example I were cutting something like '60 Minutes', I would edit Mike Wallace's segment, Morley Saffer's segment, Lesley Stahl's segment, Ed Bradley's segment, and Andy Rooney's segment - as separate parts of the whole, and then in the end, put them all together as the complete finished program to record out to tape . . . or am I missing something? This is really basic stuff for a video editor. Surely there is a simple way to do this without Chien's work-around, right?

In any case, perhaps this has already been asked for in VV4? Money's burning a hole in my pocket guys!

I replied at greater length in the keyframe thread on this topic, so I'll be brief...

Multiple instances of Vegas are very useful and not necessarily work-arounds. The copy/paste method provides significant advantages over merely opening two veg files in the same timeline. (MS Word has transitioned to this model, BTW.)

The current drawback is with generated media, as Chienworks has pointed out. This I expect will be further developed.

I won't mind if you drop Mickey Rooney's segment. ;^)

Regards, MPH

well cant you do each person's segment in its own project, then render each as an AVI and drop them in the list to print-to-tape? I did this for a project with many segments and it prints them seamlessly.

I guess the big issue i see is that i'll often create little "sub projects", usually titles and the like, and archive them as idea bases for later use. Part way through editing a larger project i'll decide that i could make good use of one of those little projects and would like to import it into the current project ... BUT ... i would like to be able to keep it in project format so that i can tweak it as necessary as part of the larger project. This is something that rendering to a .avi file doesn't work well for. Sometimes copying from one instance of Vegas to another handles this task, but often enough is left out that it's not worth the effort.

Ideally one should be able to drag a .veg file onto an already populated timeline like any other media file, and have Vegas expand it and add all the media files and edits into the current project. I can see this being a huge programming nightmare though since the imported file will undoubtedly have a different arrangement of tracks, envelopes, compositing settings, etc. Probably the only reliable way to do this would be to have the imported file appear as new tracks at the bottom of the timeline rather than being placed on current tracks.

Interesting concept.

If I'm not missing what you are saying...then:

My thought, since Vegas is so darn transparant...why not render out that segment at the same format as the project, then bring that file back in...it will be completely edited and should come in complete with graphics and fonts.

Yes it would be down a sliver of a generation...but Vegas doesn't loose a FULL generation as long as you stay in the same format....

That way you can assemble a long show in pieces, and in the end, put the pieces together for a final output.

I've been doing this with my stuff since I may be producing a Real Estate show for Broadcast in the near future and I'm developing a way for Vegas to work off of a Master Project. By using this method, I can create the open/close and segment bumpers in one movie, the 4 show segments each in their own movies and the final movie would be the assembled show with commercials, teasers, etc.

So far it seems to be working, and I've gone down 6 generations with no visible loss...

FWIW...

David

video arizona, what dv camcorder are you using that you don't notice that many generations?
i would think 6 generations would show visible degregation
sb

sonicboom: the SonicFoundry DV codec reportedly holds up to 50 generations of re-rendering with acceptable levels of degredation. Also keep in mind that if you place a DV clip on the timeline and render back to DV with no additional effect, transitions, titles, or anything other than cut/trim editing, then this clip will be copied bit-for-bit rather than re-rendered.

I recently completed a project in the exact manner that VideoArizona is describing. I had about 8 segments which I created 8 VEG projects for, rendered each one individually and then pieced them all together into one 'final' Veg file and rendered the final project. This worked great with the exception that Chienworks pointed out. After I pieced them all together in the final Veg file I wanted to change a few minor details on two of the segments. I had to go back and change the individual veg files, rerender, the put them back into the final. It works fine but being able to join different Veg files would be more efficient.

In our other NLE, FAST's Video Machine equipped with DPR, this issue was addressed in an artful manner whereby opening a new movie (.veg files in VV) there was a checkbox to permit merging the two with the second appended to the first. This is a handy feature and I use it quite a bit as not only do I merge movies for separate segments, but merge-in the latest commercial from a sponsor, ditto for bumpers,program closes, etc. since each is a sparate 'movie' or in the terminology of Vegas, event (I think).

John Beech

Please Sonic Foundry experts, is there a way to joint two or more *.veg files in one *.veg ? I think that render one *.veg file and then import it to the other veg file as many people said is not the best way to do it.

If not possible, what about include this feature in VV 4.0 ?

Thanks.

Robert

The "copy-paste from one instance to another" is powerful and permits much control and more uses.

As Chienworks has pointed out, an automatic feature would be pain to create and could only be inadequate.

The track architecture in any project can be quite complex, so I would prefer to direct elements to specific tracks rather than having the program do it in some compromised automatic function.



My .02, MPH

What else besides generated text is lost when copying and pasting?

G

Customized TRACK settings: Levels, Track FX, Track Motion, Parent/Child settings etc.......are not copied over to another instance of VV.

Good point salad,

While these can be carried over with separate copy/paste or presets, a more elegant solution might be handy.

Also, besides text, custom generated media like backgrounds need to be saved as presets.

Regards, MPH