While I welcome a script like this, it does nothing for me. I tried to run the script, select 24p NTSC and then select my render directroy (C:\test) with no other options selected below, then execute the script and get render directory does not exist and then get an empty 24p field on my timeline. Didnt include any documentation so I dont know where the problem is.

Gonna be hard to drop $15 on something that doesnt seem to work or have any documentation. Any ideas?

Edit: Tried again using the source directory as my render directory and it keeps telling me the directory does not exist. Think I am gonna have to pass on this script as its apparently broken at least on my machine. Shame too as I thought I had found my answer to film look.

It only seems to render out to Ntsc. Is there a Tutorial for this could be a good way to learn how to use vegas plugins to get a film look.

I tried it and all I can get is Directory Does not exist.

I just highlighted the clip, ran the script, selected the first render option, picked a directory, and got the Directory Does Not Exist message.

...that's as far as I can get.

I don't want to be the devils advocate here but has anyone taken a good look at the results of this process on a decent sized studio monitor?
How does it compare to shooting 24p in the first place?

I only mention this because the results of de-interlacing even when starting with footage shot on broadcast cameras and processed through some rather expensive hardware are not optimal.

I'm certain it's got it's place but DV25 is well, kind of at the bottom of the scale when it comes to quality, abusing what little there is to start with doesn't sound good to me.

If you're doing it purely for your own enjoyment then fine, if you're going to put it in a festival or anything where it's going to be shown on a large screen with decent gear I'd really think about having a look at it on a decent monitor fed with component. You should be doing that anyway I know, but in this case a little more caution might be in order.

It looks quite good. We've got a 14' HD projector and I've got a 10' one at my home. Looks great on both.
To comment on the script, it does not apply the filters to the media during render, and you wouldn't want it to. It does:
Renders selected media to new track as 24p media
Switches the project to 24p
places the new media in order so all that needs to be done is start transitions, titles, etc.
Inserts desired plugs at track AND event level, assuring that plugs are assigned to everything. You'd want certain effects at event level, such as color correction, etc, and certain events at either track or project levels. So, it accomplishes all this for you. I guess I'm excited because it cuts several steps out of the loop for me. It may well be that some folks are looking for a 'set it and forget it' solution, and that's not gonna happen for anyone. Probably ever.
Just for giggles, you all ought to read the 24p thread in the DVInfo.net location. Vegas is winning the discussion hands down, and it's all relative to this particular workflow. It's being compared to other, more expensive products and winning. For me, and for others over there, this is working quite well. The script just makes it faster and more trouble-free.
No skin off my nose if you don't like it. I do. I'm not getting any remuneration or other 'goodies' from Ed for saying I like it. I just like it. Saves me time

Sounds good to me Spot. Speaking for myself though. Because I have Magic Bullet Now. Im Always going to use that ! But after seeing The Film LOOK you achieved In your recent Tutorial Its always worth having a look and trying to understand the color correction process. Although perhaps, and correct me If Im wrong. But vegas Uses 8 bit color and it would be better to have 16 bit.

This plus improved color corrction tools. Perhaps more for the vegas 5 wishlist.

Darn it Spot...you beat me to the punch about the discussion over on DVInfo...HAHA....

Mark,
It's going to be a cold day in hell before you see NLE's using a 16 bit RGB color space. 10 bit, yes. 12 bit...a few. 16 bit? Unless of course, they are YUV, but that's an entirely different subject.
A 10 bit image has 4 times the color information of an 8 bit image, and the hardware required to process this is pretty significant.
Magic Bullet has a couple cool tools, but for deinterlacing and smoothing, Vegas kicks it's butt. That's not just my opinion, there are several voicing the same result/comment. But Bullet's got some great features, no doubt. I just don't accept the price point and I've found I can get a very similar image without resorting to using AE and Bullet. But heck, if you've got the cash to burn, go for it!

>>>It may well be that some folks are looking for a 'set it and forget it' solution, and that's not gonna happen for anyone. Probably ever.<<<

For me it isn't so much 'set it and forget it' but I was expecting a script called "film look" to be...well...film look. :) Just doing the conversion to 24p, which is already extremely easy to do in Vegas, doesn't cut it for me in a script that you have to pay for. I was hoping it was only something I was onverlooking but I guess not. I think, for me, it was more of the "choose a look" element that I seeking out. That saves all of the wear and tear for us non colorist types who don't have hours to play with color curves and such. Besides I look at a lot of these as just starting points anyway, but with the whole 'film look' issue we don't really have many starting points yet, as far as the 'look' goes, on the overall.

Here is a question for Ed - Is it really hard to create a script that would do the 24p conversion *and* add a preset plug-in chain with certian looks? Start off with the core plug-ins/filters already included with Vegas. You create some basic looks - say "soft interview" or "Kodak" or whatever than the user runs the script and gets the same thing they get now but instead of listing every single available plug you list pre-set plug-in chains with the "look" described. Than it not only renders to 24p but also add the plug-ins *with* the pre-sets. I don't write scripts so I wouldn't be sure how to do it correct but I know you can export reg settings with the custom preset info in it along with the actual "dxp" file and the "sfv" files. You seem to be using instalshield to create the installer package so it would be fairly easy to drag over the folders, files and reg info so that the installer would also write the preset info to the reg and install the "dxp" and "sfv" files into the correct locations.

See, to me, that would be a real time saver because currently there is no easy way to exchange presets because you have to go into the reg and manually export the info than also save the folders and the presets in the folder and need to give everything to the other user. Than they need to copy everything over and import the info into the reg. Aisde form that just tinkering with the plug-ins to give you 'looks' is time consuming so if the real point of this script is to save time I feel the most time is really spent coming up with the actual 'look' - not creating a 24p project, adding plug-ins or rendering to 24p. That is just my opinion to be sure but from all the film look threads all the time most people can already render out to 24p and create a 24p project - they want a "look" ala FilmFX/Zenote, Magic bullet, DFT Digital FIlm lab, etc.

Spot.. Really.. Vegas Deinterlaces better than Magic Bullet ?

Cash to burn..me.. there must be another mark2929 out there I am just a Cleaner in real life. but this is my love. My obsession. I dont even have a car. I guess its what is important to me as an individual.

I quit smoking booze and holidays but hey I love this hobby. The only reason I bought Magic Bullet was because in my quest for a film look which went on for some considerable time and effort on my part till I eventually just decided to stop stressing about it and bite the bullet (pun intended) anyway I was also concerned that the MB could not be used in Vegas not even Boris red which If it could would have been my first choice.

From what I understand the pro upgrade in AE Allows you to use 16 bit color and render your MB Film anyway I cant afford to upgrade to AE Pro but just thought 16 bit color was reachable for Sonyvegas I did not know about the problems associated with it.

Anyway thanks for your help..

The script came about as a way to streamline the processes used in the tutorial written by Spot. It was simply designed to allow you to quickly get all of the renderings completed, add the proper effects (set to default) to the track and/or events as desired, and set the project to 24p. It does perform that task well. At that point it is then necessary to adjust the added effects to achieve the final look.


Is it really hard to create a script that would do the 24p conversion *and* add a preset plug-in chain with certian looks?

When adding effects, scripting is limited to using presets. However, to achieve the filmlook you are wanting probably will not use the standard presets shipped with Vegas. Unfortunately, those are the ONLY ones I can depend on being on any given system. Likewise, it is difficult to transfer presets from one computer to another - especially from an installation program.

One thing I could easily do is add the Vegas presets to the effects lists so that individual presets could be chosen instead of simply using the "default" setting. However, user-made presets will NOT appear in the list when asking Vegas to "tell me all the presets for this effect".

Spot is there any way to do a comparison on the Deinterlacing... Magic Bullet Vs Vegas... I would really like to know. I could stop wasting time waiting for MB To Deinterlace then.

Also I reckon that Vegas could then create some settings that would even

"Dare I say"

BETTER Magic Bullet. Or am I being to ambitous for my favourite NLE

Hmmm...ok, suggestion(s) for you Ed...ideas maybe a better word?

>>>However, to achieve the filmlook you are wanting probably will not use the standard presets shipped with Vegas.<<<

It depends I think, and as I mentioned it would be a starting point. For me I have tried the standard Saturation Adjust, Glow and Color Curves to get a good "look". And for those who wanted you could toss in the Grain as well. Again - a starting point.

>>>Likewise, it is difficult to transfer presets from one computer to another - especially from an installation program.<<<

That is why I brought up the 'time saving' element with doing that...and of course you, or someone, would have to work on the custom presets and extract the needed reg info - but at that point adding them to the installer should be fairly easy. I posted to someone about doing this back in June - moving settings from machine to machine - here is what I said:
=====
If you mean the Fx "packages" :

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DirectShow\Presets\FX Packages]

If you mean the individual effect settings than it is:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DXTransform\Presets]

You need to

1> Export those reg trees and save.
2> Copy all the named files. (i.e - all files under 'Vegas 4.0\Presets\' and 'Vegas 4.0\Presets\FX Packages')
3> Place the files/folders in step "2" into the same location on the other computer.
4> Place the "*.reg" files from step "1" somewhere on the other computer and click on them.
====

So, forgeting your actual script portion of the install - let me just do this really quick -
I am doing a brief test as I type....I am opening Installshield Express 5.0 right now....so Ed you know this but for those who don't - I create a new project and use the 'wizard'. Enter the title, set up a required OS and/or Required Software, allow user customization - now the 'fun' part - Application files. For what I am talking about above I click on "Program Files Folder" and select the path "D:\Vegas 4.0\Presets" and than select everything under/in that folder - so that includes all subfolders and files (ie: the custom presets). Now I skip past the next screens and come to the "Application Registry" settings. I click on the "yes" button for the question "Do you want to configure the Registry Data". Now I look to the right and click on "import Registry data" and I open the exported entrys I described above. Now you get a pop up asking how you want this to be handled - either overwrite existing reg entries of the same name, or do not overwrite. I would think that as this is being installed onto a maching that may already have presets you wouldn't want to overwrite - so I choose "Do Not overwrite the Registry Data." Now...here is the important thing - it imports the path of Vegas on *your* machine. So this has to be tweaked to reflect the users machine. As I am doing this quickly I am not sure where to set this wildcard...but esentially the 'presets instaler' is done. Right now I have an installer that will install my custom presets on anyones else machine.

So if you combine this with your "Film Look" Script why wouldn't it work? Ok - I mean scenerio is that the 'developer' starts off with no custom presets so these folders would be empty and for creating you only use the built in plugs that come with Vegas. Also the installers install path is the default Vegas install path...the variables could be the killer here - For me I installed Vegas on the D drive in it's own folder. Plus I have 'Sonic Foundry', not Sony. But these are variables that could be inserted into the install script I am sure, as can the registry entries - the "D:\Vegas 4.0\" path would have to be set up to read wild cards something like "*install drive*:/*install directory*/Vegas 4.0" But you get the idea. Now I mean I did this using the 'wizard' but you can do this all by hand and only drag over what folders/presets you want by using the "installation designer" screens as well. The preset moving all seems doable to me - how to combine this with the script you have done is what the question is.

>>>One thing I could easily do is add the Vegas presets to the effects lists so that individual presets could be chosen instead of simply using the "default" setting. However, user-made presets will NOT appear in the list when asking Vegas to "tell me all the presets for this effect".<<<

See above - if you can 'install' the custom presets there would still be no way to have the script read them? I guess that is the meat of what you are saying. Could there be a way to sub choose "cutsom presets" or somehting? Or say you create an FX chain that contain custom presets. All of the needed info is installed with the installer so it is there but what the script does is give the use the option for, say, "DV master", and if the user chooses that than your script loads that FX chain and internally loads the settings associtated with it.

FWIW - I like Vegas over MB for a few reasons. One is the render time, but the other is the 24p conversion looks better to me. But here is a pointless option as you already have gotten MB - Use the Revision stuff. Their Fields Kit is nice and allows you many options. I have used it and it does render extremly fast if you follow the tips here. If you combine it with Twixtor you can do nice things, however using SuperSample in Vegas is as good in some areas. And if you combine it with Digital FIlm Lab you may find yourself hating the fact you got MB. I know I tried Digital FIlm Lab and loved it and it renders a lot faster than MB...so I use it over MB. (However I still really love the way MB does blacks) I did a test one time - took the same footage and ran it through Vegas, MB and Fields Kits. As far as render time Fields Kits was best. As far as look it was really close between Vegas and Fields Kit. As far as overall 'Look' - it depends. I am happy with what I have done with Vegas however I can do more, faster with Digital FIlm Tools mainly because of the pre-sets.

Filmy you are so cool I look forward to seeing Eds program complete with film presets very soon.

filmy,

Can you send me an e-mail?

What do you guys think of "Digital Film Maker", the link is as follows:

http://www.dvfilm.com/maker/index.htm

Just wanted to hear your opinions and comparisons between it and those of BigFX, Cinelook, etc. Much apprecited!

Vegas does a better job. The only tool, IMO, that does better than Vegas in the price category, is Magic Bullet, and it's not that far ahead of Vegas when you couple it with a couple of external plugs. That's where Vegas is weaker. I'm beta testing a plug that will hopefully be available soon, that's got some great DV cleanup happening. I'm impressed, anyway.

Thanks! Spot. Your expertise means a lot and I often wondered how that software prog held up in comparison to Vegas.

Alright, I guess I have to ask the stupid question here!
Can someone walk me through EXACTLY how to move from 29.97 to 24 fps? And then, what happens if I try to output 24fps to miniDV (or any other NTSC format, for that matter?). I'd love to output 24, but can anyone watch it?

Geez-- I've been working in TV for the last few years, going to school for the past few years... but once in a while, I find these MASSIVE gaps in my understanding! It's disconcerting sometimes!

Thanks,
David.