...format text...

Earl_J wrote on 11/28/2008, 10:04 AM
Hello everyone,
I would like to copy the text formatting (font, size, and outline) from one text clip and apply it to other text clips within the timeline ... I've looked at the "paste attributes" function included in Vegas 7.0, but nothing to do with text formatting.
I've perused the first few hundred forum headings and done a "format text" search of all the forum topics without success.

Alternately, is there a way to create a new default font with the attributes I desire?

Thanks for any assistance in this matter.

Until that time. . . aloha y'all . . . Earl J.

Comments

Grazie wrote on 11/28/2008, 11:23 PM
Well Earl, and until the Scripting Gurus wake up, you could do a lot worse than just creating your OWN Preset/s.

1] Open "Text" from Media Generators

2] Select a Font you would like, say, I dunno .. er .. "Tahoma"

3] Go to the Preset section of the Media Generator Menu and rename the "Untitled" Preset to something memorable like "Earl Tahoma"

4] Close

5] Now look within the Media Generators and you will now see "Earl Tohama" present!

. . and now when you want the same, just select the "Earl Tahoma" from the MG tab menu and it is ready to use.

I have just given you the simplest of Preset changes/saves. Now, look at ALL the other Presets at your disposal. You can see how many of these are ready for your usage - as is YOUR new preset!

PLUS the other neat thing is that you can select from one of the existing SONY or Earl Preset but you STILL have the option to revert to another FROM the timeline if you so wish. Just click on the Preset Down Arrow.

Saving Presets is a much underused feature of our great software. I'll tell you what, I STILL have a preset I made back in the VideoFactory days! It still pops its head up.

So this approach is more the use of Presets, not the Paste Attributes option. Until we have this for Text, then this, I think, is a neat solution. Don't forget that once you have created your own Presets, they will be available to ALL Vegas Projects globally too. So the benefits are quite valuable and in many ways are more preferable than Paste Event Atribs. However, the real solution would be to have BOTH options!

Just to convince myself I did the following:

Beagle (font), 48 (size), Outline Blue (Outline)

These are ALL the variables you were wanting in your post. I used what is on my machine.

I then saved the Preset as Beagle 48 Out Blue

I then placed the standard TEXT - "Sample Text" on the Timleine; clicked on the Preset down arrow; selected: Beagle 48 Out Blue and immeadiately had my new format. All the Formatting tabs are avaiable to us when we make NEW presets, so have fun!

Grazie
jetdv wrote on 11/29/2008, 7:03 AM
No need for scripting gurus to wake up. This can't be done via scripting at this time. All scripts can do is pick presets.
Earl_J wrote on 11/29/2008, 7:52 PM
Well, you two,
what a enlightening interaction...
In the long run, I help with some safety videos as a commercial endeavor. Our client wants the same text with all the same attributes of each set of slides we create within the video - he just recently opted to let us make the text and graphic slides in Vegas (heretofore Photoshop images and text - which never translates well into video - without a little video tweaking in Photoshop before saving) ... anyhow, I think the preset option is most excellent. We can now design fonts and presents for titles, sub-headings, and body text. . . then just choose what we want when we need it...
Still a pain to correct from past creations, but hereafter, much easier to create for new changes we're making. . .

Thanks a bunch - you guys are the top bananas!

Until that time. . . Earl J.
Grazie wrote on 11/29/2008, 11:16 PM
Still a pain to correct from past creations, but hereafter, much easier to create for new changes we're making. .

Actually, Earl, if you DO have TEXT in the way you want it, then why not use them? Use them to generate that new Preset? Open them up and SAVE as a preset? You've DONE the hard work, so save it as a Preset?

Open the veg which has your hard work in it, go to the TEXT Event and do a Save Preset session on it - DONE! You DON'T have to reinvent the wheel - yeah?

Or have I missed something?

Grazie
cmega wrote on 2/10/2009, 7:04 AM
Is there any way to rename the "Untitled" setting, so my custom settings
are always the default when I add new text? Pulling the menu down is stupid when I use the same settings all the time.

Likewise, is there a way to set the default fadein/fadeout for a text effect?

I use the same settings all the time, and it's tedious to insert text, change the preset, place the text, widen the screen, and manually adjust the fades...

Thanks
jetdv wrote on 2/10/2009, 8:05 AM
When you save a new preset using the settings YOU want, they show up on the Generated Media tab. You can then drag the preset directly to the timeline.

Since this post is in the scripting forum... a script could be written to add a generated media with that preset to the timeline as well.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/23/2009, 4:10 AM
Hi cmega,

Here is a script that will do what you want. Just change these two lines to be the preset and fade length that you want.

string textPreset = "

Here is the full script which should be saved to AddTextEvent.cs (or any name you'd like):
/*************************************************************************

 *     Program: AddTextEvent.cs

 * Description: This script will add a text event to the selected track.

 *      Author: John Rofrano

 * 

 * Revision Date: February 23, 2009

 *************************************************************************/



using System;

using System.Windows.Forms;

using Sony.Vegas;



class EntryPoint

{

    public void FromVegas(Vegas vegas)

    {

        try

        {

            //

            // Change the following two lines to the text preset and duration of the fade

            //

            string textPreset = "Soft Shadow";

            Timecode fadeLength = Timecode.FromString("00:00:01;00");



            // Get the selected video track

            VideoTrack videoTrack = GetSelectedVideoTrack(vegas);

            if (videoTrack == null)

            {

                MessageBox.Show("You must select a video track.", "AddTextEvent", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);

                return;

            }



            // Get the Text Media Generator and assign a preset

            PlugInNode plugIn = vegas.Generators.GetChildByName("Sony Text");

            Media media = new Media(plugIn);

            media.Generator.Preset = textPreset;



            // Add the media to an event at the cursor

            VideoEvent videoEvent = new VideoEvent(vegas.Cursor);

            videoTrack.Events.Add(videoEvent);

            Take take = new Take(media.GetVideoStreamByIndex(0));

            videoEvent.Takes.Add(take);



            // Set the fade in and out

            videoEvent.FadeIn.Length = fadeLength;

            videoEvent.FadeOut.Length = fadeLength;

        }

        catch (Exception e)

        {

            MessageBox.Show(e.Message, "Fatal Error - Cannot Continue", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);

        }

    }



    VideoTrack GetSelectedVideoTrack(Vegas vegas)

    {

        foreach (Track track in vegas.Project.Tracks)

        {

            if (track.IsVideo() && track.Selected)

            {

                return (VideoTrack)track;

            }

        }

        return null;

    }



}


Enjoy,

~jr
Videoimpressions0622 wrote on 2/24/2009, 11:21 AM
Will this also work to change the length of a generated media clip? Most generated media default to 10 sec, but what if I want to save a 2 sec. generated media clip? I changed the length of the clip in the requestor box and renamed untitled to a different name, but when I drag the renamed clip down to the timeline the clip reverted back to 10 sec. Also, can you create such presets with the new ProType titler?
jetdv wrote on 2/24/2009, 12:26 PM
Change this line:

VideoEvent videoEvent = new VideoEvent(vegas.Cursor);


to this:

VideoEvent videoEvent = new VideoEvent(vegas.Cursor, new Timecode("00:00:02:00"));