How about a Vegas countdown?

farss wrote on 10/16/2005, 5:58 AM

I know countdowns are pretty well nigh both useless and a thing of the past but those ones from Avid etc firstly look pretty damn good and sure don't hurt the various products brand awareness.
Sure we could go make our own but then we could possibly hit a hitch as we'd be in breach of trade mark laws etc. Furthermore it'd be nice I think to have a standard for all of us to use.
Perhaps if the Madison team don't have the time or inclination then how about a competition to design a Vegas countdown, guess the prize would have to be something substantial as to make this thing work Sony would have to be granted the copyright by the winner.
Bob.

Comments

Jeff Waters wrote on 10/16/2005, 12:15 PM

Yep, I was quite surprised at how much trouble it is to make a countdown. Was using it for a fitness video where I needed a timer. There are some veg's out there (look on VAASST) that will get you started... but it's tough to do anything with special fonts and a little weird positioning it.

Alternately, you can record some video of a microwave LCD!

I would LOVE a nice media generator for this.

-Jeff

seanfl wrote on 10/16/2005, 1:06 PM

agreed here... There are many times I've wanted a countdown when making a dub for someone. It would be handy to have "Sony Vegas" somewhere...free brand awareness! You could also have the option to have it show sony vegas or not. Also, a nice easy way to title the countdown. Oh, make sure you get the little tones as the seconds tick off.

In the meantime, has anyone made a generic countdown leader that they want to share?

Sean

Spot|DSE wrote on 10/16/2005, 1:41 PM

Mike Chenoweth and Jeffrey Fisher have both made some cool countdowns/leaders that you can use.

DrLumen wrote on 10/16/2005, 7:34 PM

I've thought about doing a leader as well. I started doing some checking into what is required and ran across a whole bunch of ..., er,, stuff. Not only that there is a standard specification for leaders but different type of leaders for SMPTE, Univeral, Academy, EBU, magnetic tape leaders etc.

Since they are all part of some type of standard (ANSI, SMPTE, EBU), making them will not infringe any copyright or trademarks.

Here is some reading for those thay may be interested.

This is the EBU standards in a PDF file format.
EBU Standards PDF

There was a reference to an ANSI standard PH22.55 but I couldn't confirm it at the ANSI.ORG site without spending $15 for a "catalog" of standards.

here is a listing of the various SMPTE standards along with the cost to purchase the standards document. I have no clue what some of these standards are so I hesistate buying the doc without knowing if it is the correct one.

SMPTE Listings

SMPTE 55-2000 Motion-Picture Film – 35- and 16-mm Television
Release Prints - Leaders and Cue Marks $24.00

SMPTE 256M-1996 (Archived 2003) Television – Specifications
for Video Tape Leader $20.00

SMPTE 301-1999 Motion-Picture Film – Theater Projection
Leader, Trailer and Cue Marks $24.00

RP 25-1995 Audio and Picture Synchronization on Motion-Picture
Film Relative to the Universal Leader for Magnetic and
Photographic Records $15.00

RP 49-1995 (Archived 2004) Leaders for 8-mm Type R and S
Motion-Picture Release Prints Used in Continuous-Loop
Cartridges $15.00

RP 150-2000 Channel Assignments and Test Leader for Magnetic
Film Masters Intended for Transfer to Video Media Having Stereo
Audio $15.00

RP 193 Test Patterns and Test Images for DPX Leader $40.00

Just a thought...

farss wrote on 10/17/2005, 12:15 AM

Whilst they're great use of Vegas these are basically film leaders I think. The Avid ones not only look very flash they're also slates with client name, project, technical details, edit system type, editors name and countdown clocks of various flavours.
Clearly this needs either scripting or to be built into Vegas.
Bob.

Grazie wrote on 10/17/2005, 1:03 AM

. .another way would be to create a veg TEMPLATE that had those items on separate tracks with a TEXT box to enter the info:

T1 : client name

T2 : Project

T3 : Tech Dets

T4 : Edit Sys

T5 : Ed Name

Now, having these on separate tracks one could then "arrange" them in 2-d space to have them "appear" as on a SLATE.

Once done you could then apply a countdown using creativity to make a ga-zillion different ones.

Save the Slate-template VEG and you can re-use at will.

Grazie

farss wrote on 10/17/2005, 1:36 AM

I could do that or I've got access to a Maya animation that a relative did. That'd be a real hoot with the editor farting out the numbers and I'm not going to say what happens at the 3 pip, this is a family forum after all.

There's a zillion funny in-house countdowns out there however thing is we cannot use the names or logos of the Vegas product in them. Maybe the good folk in Madison wouldn't mind, not my place to say on their behalf but surely this should be something that they're doing or at least giving their stamp of approval to.

Also the project properties does have a summary page for most of the data that one would want in the slate, I do use that and Vegas does make some use of it, I think from memory some of it carries over into the rendered files as well. Logically the slate should be pulling the data from there. Even the later model Sony cameras manage to include lots of data in the T&B in the tape leaders.

Bob.

Grazie wrote on 10/17/2005, 1:39 AM

Product Suggestion page for you Bob!

G

farss wrote on 10/17/2005, 3:17 AM

Done.

DrLumen wrote on 10/17/2005, 5:51 PM

I don't know if I have ever seen an Avid leader. Is there one online somewhere?

Steve Mann wrote on 10/18/2005, 12:37 AM

Hey, Sony - how about a contest?

David Jimerson wrote on 10/19/2005, 8:09 AM

You could put a timecode effect on an empty clip, render it, and run it backwards.