Faking takes for video events

JohanAlthoff wrote on 6/24/2003, 12:06 PM
Hi. I recently got into a discussion with a video editor who just got into Vegas. He told me of a project he was working on where he'd be filming a series of football matches with multiple cameras. Obviously, when editing the end result, he would like to be able to switch between the camera angles without too much hassle.

We first thought about importing all tracks in parallel and then split and mute all tracks except the desired one, but that's just too much editing. Same thing with velocity envelopes.

I showed him the "takes" concept in the audio engine, where you can simply split a audio event and press T to toggle between alternate takes. The crux is that this only works with files recorded by Vegas in multiple sweeps, hence not with video.

Would it be possible to "reverse-engineer" the takes concept to work with video?

Comments

jetdv wrote on 6/24/2003, 12:09 PM
First, "takes" DOES work with video.

Second, have him take a look at Excalibur which is designed with Multi-cam editing in mind. Just add a few markers, push a button, and you are done! Even helps with syncing the clips.
dvdude wrote on 6/24/2003, 12:17 PM
>Second, have him take a look at Excalibur which is designed with Multi-cam editing in >mind. Just add a few markers, push a button, and you are done! Even helps with >syncing the clips.

Excalibur - yes, definitely get Excalibur. Worth every penny just for the Multi-cam wizard alone!

Andy (very satisfied Excalibur user)
JohanAlthoff wrote on 6/24/2003, 12:32 PM
>> First, "takes" DOES work with video.

Ooh, could you elaborate on that?
jetdv wrote on 6/24/2003, 1:00 PM
Right-click a video clip, drag it on top of another video clip, choose "Add as take" from the menu that pops up.
johnmeyer wrote on 6/24/2003, 2:14 PM
"Right-click a video clip, drag it on top of another video clip, choose "Add as take" from the menu that pops up. "

Sounds like a neat idea, but it doesn't seem to work that way in my Vegas (4.0c). Is there an option that must be enabled? All I get on the pop-up when I drop is "Move," "Copy," and "Suffle." (Shuffle is the greatest invention since sliced breat, BTW).
jetdv wrote on 6/24/2003, 2:28 PM
I was adding from the explorer window instead of the timeline. Try this instead:

Right-click the clip and choose "Edit in Trimmer"

Double-click above the timeline in the trimmer to select all

Right-click the trimmer clip, drag it on top of the other clip and "Add as take" should now be available. If the clip contains Audio AND Video, you can choose that sub-menu item and only add the audio OR video as a take.
SatanJr wrote on 6/24/2003, 2:58 PM
the key is too right click and drag...


jetdv wrote on 6/24/2003, 3:05 PM
But it DOES matter where you are dragging FROM. Needs to be the explorer window, media pool, or trimmer. Won't work with dragging from another location on the timeline.
johnmeyer wrote on 6/24/2003, 4:14 PM
The key is to right click and drag AND to drag from the trimmer or explorer. You cannot right click and drag from the timeline -- it doesn't work then.
JohanAlthoff wrote on 6/24/2003, 6:51 PM
Well, you learn one every day... =)

Thanks for this info, guys. It speeds up the workflow incredibly, and I think you might just have helped me enroll another happy Premiere -> Vegas switcher =)
PeterWright wrote on 6/25/2003, 11:04 PM
Yeah, Takes is a mighty tool ... Notice that if the second clip being dropped is shorter that the original, Vegas automatically extends it (loops it) to be exactly the same length, and if it is longer, trims it to the same duration.

I was wondering - all these recent debates about DVXpress/FCP etc don't seem to highlight this as a difference - do any of those "others" feature Takes?

Looking back to your original post, Johan, Takes allow you to toggle through available cameras one at a time, but the multi cam technique, particularly with Excalibur, is better because you can see what all the cameras were shooting simultaneously whilst making edit decisions.
JohanAlthoff wrote on 6/26/2003, 5:47 AM
Yeah, obviously. The thing I (and my football friend) concern outselves with is that the Excalibur method generates too many edits; it cuts the master track as well as the individual camera tracks.

If we go with the "takes" approach we can work with only the master track. Of course, you can still have the cameras separated, locked and TrackMotioned, and just mute / demute them as feels comfortable. No need to bring in Excalibur there.

I really liked the sync wizard, though!
jetdv wrote on 6/26/2003, 8:40 AM
The thing I (and my football friend) concern outselves with is that the Excalibur method generates too many edits; it cuts the master track as well as the individual camera tracks.

I don't understand the concern. Yes, it cuts the individual camera tracks - it has to to move that segment to the master track. The master track is not "cut" but consists of the clips cut FROM the other tracks. Even still, I don't understand the problem because NO tracks are cut until your editing is DONE - then you just run the Multi-Cam Wizard, render, and you are done. Would you care to elaborate?