General Comment/Observation

Kaad_g wrote on 11/30/2002, 11:46 PM

When I decided I wanted to do more than simple cut and paste to my family videos, I researched and concluded VV3 was the best choice. I have been playing with VV3 for several frustrating weeks now and have realized a vitally important part of VV3 is missing; a really good “Begin here…….finish….here” kind of tutorial. I don’t mean a “Here is a good tip…” or “This is neat trick you can do……” kind of Tutorial; but one that starts with the basics and ends with advance features. Without this type of instruction, beginners like me don’t stand a chance.

I have searched online bookstores and my local library, but there just isn't anything out there. A friend of my suggests I simply learn Premiere instead, because there are so many Tuts out there for Adobe products, I should have no problem learning all of it’s features, not to mention basic editing techniques.

Are there others out there who have run into this same problem?

Kaad_g

Comments

decrink wrote on 12/1/2002, 1:26 AM

Did you try the tutorial and sample projects in the manual? They seem to do exactly what you want. Also, "Digital Video and Audio Production" by Sonic Foundry Press is quite helpful for a beginner.

When I first learned Vegas a few years back I went through the tutorials in the manual. It was a great start. You used to be able to download the sample projects from their ftp site. They may still be available.

If not, go suffer with Premiere.

Tanjy wrote on 12/1/2002, 2:21 AM

I think you should try doing the VV3 tutorial attentively and put some effort into it. It's excellent and not very long. I was able to do some pretty fancy things only after a couple of lessons. If you want some quick how-to's just hit the F1 key.

JonnyMac wrote on 12/1/2002, 5:10 AM

Premiere has been around longer than VV3 -- but that doesn't make it a better program, or any easier to learn. I dumped Premiere from my system the day that I tried the LE version of Vegas; then I immediately upgraded to the full version.

I got the LE version with SoFo's "Digital Video and Audio Production" book which has good tutorials that get into the specifics of Vegas. As a former Premiere user, I can tell you for a fact that Vegas is not only easier to use, but it's a better program. In the end, there may not be as much tutorial information available [yet] for VV3 as there is for Premiere, but the information that is there is good; as well as the support you can get here and at places like www.creativecow.net.

Kaad_g wrote on 12/1/2002, 7:38 AM

I appreciate the feedback folks.

Having no NLE background is the real problem here, not Vegas Video. That’s where lots of how-to books and vides would help immensely.

I’m doing the demo, and was able to download the tutorial, but the sample projects (which would help a lot, I think) were not available. The tutorial did help get me going, but it has been slow going from there because of my lack of “basic” knowledge.

Anyone know where I might find the sample projects, and more tutorials?

I guess I also just needed someone to tell me that I’m going in the right direction by sticking with VV3. :)

Thanks again,

Kaad_g

JJKizak wrote on 12/1/2002, 8:45 AM

Another often overlooked item is the full sized $34.00 optional VV-3
manual which has extensive operations described over and above the small
manual provided at purchase of VV-3.

James J. Kizak

FuTz wrote on 12/1/2002, 9:46 AM

Kaad_q got a good point here: I bought the boxed version of VV3 and, thanks God, the tutorial was included on the cd-rom. I tried to go on the web site twice, afterwhile, to discover it was really a pain-you-know-where to find this same tutorial on line. I'm talking about this tutorial that is a quick tour of all the main features, you know, the one with a talking head, a synched voice you edit along with the 'head, the music bed, transitions, etc...
I was really glad to learn with this tutorial but the point is, it's hard to reach on the site.
So I would say to Kaad_q: check the files on your cd-rom or in the package you downloaded if you bought VV3 via the net. Try to find this tutorial. It's not very long to go through it and you'll be able to run the program in a short time.

JB008 wrote on 12/1/2002, 10:30 AM

Does VV3 has automate to timeline with transitions just like premiere?

Kaad_g wrote on 12/1/2002, 11:33 AM

Thanks for the advice all. I'll keep jugging along with VV3.

Kaad_g

SonyDennis wrote on 12/1/2002, 11:45 AM

Kaad_g:

VideoFactory 2 has a "show me" feature that walks you through most of the features of the program, using your own project and a "guide" that shows you what to do next.

///d@

SonyDennis wrote on 12/1/2002, 11:46 AM

Does VV3 has automate to timeline with transitions just like premiere?

Yes, as long as the transition is a crossfade. You can easily replace the crossfades with other transitions with a drag-and-drop.

///d@

dcrandall wrote on 12/1/2002, 11:47 AM

I think I know where KAAD_Q is coming from. Vegas Video 3 is not a beginners NLE and instead seems to be aimed at the prosumer marketplace. There really is no step by step instructions on the basics of video editing included with the package. The included tutorials are written to instruct on how Vegas accomplishes various tasks but, I can see why they would be overwhelming for someone that doesn't already have general knowledge of video editing basics. I'd venture to say that very few of us started out editing with Vegas Video 3 but instead, moved over after using a consumer orientated NLE such as Pinnacle Studio, etc. I assume Video Factory might be a better choice for a novice as it is marketed toward the consumer.

stepfour wrote on 12/1/2002, 12:01 PM

I think it's easy to get the wrong idea about NLE, thinking it's going to make it magically-easy to make a movie. We can blame some of the recent comupter advertising for that. Anyway, my suggestion is to take it in chunks. First, learn to capture your video and dump it to the timeline. Then start playing around with the video clips in a fun way. Do the tutorials while still playing with your own clips each time you start Vegas. When some ideas about how you want to tell the STORY of your family events, and how you want it to look, start to gel in your brain, you'll begin learning Vegas with more fervor than you expected. Don't get frustrated and the learning will be fun.

Kaad_g wrote on 12/1/2002, 12:21 PM

dcrandall,

You nailed it right on the head; I jumped straight into the fire. I began using Studio 8 for family videos, which was actually fine; it did 90% of what I wanted to do. It was that other 10% I wanted that Studio 8 (and others in that level of NLE) couldn’t do that lead me to VV3.

So before I actually got a handle on the basics I started on VV3. The other problem is that even after learning VV3, I won’t do any video editing for six months and forget what I learned and start the process all over again. With Studio 8 (and the new Microsoft Movie Maker, beta version) I can walk away for six months and relearn it all in one day.

We’ll see, perhaps I’ll get hooked (I think I already am) and keep going beyond family videos.

FuTz wrote on 12/1/2002, 12:40 PM

Really, just try to get your hands on the "sample projects/tutorial" that's on the VV3 cd-rom. This is exactly what you need to get started the right way and according to your needs. This must be somewhere on the site if you purchased via internet...

JonnyMac wrote on 12/1/2002, 12:46 PM

Excellent advice -- especially in our "We want it right now" times.

milt96 wrote on 12/1/2002, 12:52 PM

Would love to see the same feature of "show me" from VF2 on VV4. I would help make ever users experience better. Maybe even lighten the load on the forum server (Just trying to help SF out)! :)

Milt

JonnyMac wrote on 12/1/2002, 12:55 PM

Perhaps Spot's VV4 book will be the start of more 3rd party titles for Vegas...