How to Loop FX (Like LFO) without having to copy/paste every keyframe?

L0STSILVER wrote on 2/19/2019, 11:43 AM

As the title suggestions, I really need to know if there's a way to loop FX animations, I've searched on google for a while and the only results I get are totally unrelated (Like how to loop the video itself, and some search results weren't even related to looping at all, God, I hate Google sometimes).

Is there a way to loop the FX animations (I'm using Sony Vegas 16.0 Edit) like an LFO in music? Where you can assign an LFO to something (Like pitch, volume, frequency etc.) and have it loop for as long as the note is played, is there anything like that in video editing?

To explain my frustration, imagine you're trying to loop FX in the current sony vegas, you have to go through this process:

1. Select to animate an event in the FX

http://prntscr.com/mnagvr

2. Zoom in select a frame to animate the event to, the alter the slider.

http://prntscr.com/mnahye

3. Copy the first and second key frame and struggle to find a "Good enough" where both the up and down are the same length.

http://prntscr.com/mnaila

4. Repeat the same struggle of getting this animation loop as consistent as you can get it, and struggle even more once you reach the end of the clip and have to then copy a little bit from the end and try fill in the rest of the clip. (The longer and faster the animation/key frames, the harder this is and the less perfect and consistent it will be)

http://prntscr.com/mnak76 (As you can see this animation "loop" is far from perfect, it looks messy because it's almost impossible to make it frame perfect)

5. Done. You have an "Okay" or at least, "passable" FX loop, but this takes ages (Especially on large projects), takes even longer to render all those key frames and it's so unintuitive, please can anybody tell me a solution? This surely can't be the best way to loop FX in sony vegas, we need some sort of modulation/LFO like music Synths have.

Like, (This will probably only make sense to digital musicians) imagine if you are composing a song and you're using a synth that doesn't have LFO, so instead you have to take the Pan, Cutoff frequency or whatever and make an automation clip for said event, do the exact same thing we had to do here with an "almost perfect" LFO... As you can tell that would be very infuriating, ESPECIALLY for hyper fast LFOs and vibratos.

I can see endless amounts of possibilities with this... (If anybody would like me to demonstrate what sony vegas should have in regards then I'd be happy to oblige)

Well, I guess this turned into more of a suggestion than a question, but the question still stands, I've listed my situation and my frustrations, and I'm asking if there is already a way to do this and/or a reliable and consistent way to loop video FX in sony vegas?

Sorry for the rant/rambling, I sincerely hope someone can help me, and if not, then I'd ask to be redirected to a place where I can suggest this to be added and have my voice heard.

Thank you for reading,

Kind regards,

-L0ST

Comments

j-v wrote on 2/19/2019, 12:01 PM

RTFM!
Did you try rigtclicking on a keyframe????

BTW Sony Vegas exists anymore, but this is and was the option since ages.

L0STSILVER wrote on 2/19/2019, 12:16 PM

RTFM!
Did you try rigtclicking on a keyframe????

BTW Sony Vegas exists anymore, but this is and was the option since ages.

No need to be rude.

I understand that English must not be your first language, as you've totally misunderstood what I was saying and asking.

The "Hold" is simply an envelope option which instead of going smoothly or linearly, it instantly snaps between the key frames, this is not what I want, the "Hold" option has nothing to do with consistent looping.

Thank you for your reply, however is was less than helpful.

Regards,

-L0ST

j-v wrote on 2/19/2019, 1:21 PM

Sorry, but from your very long question I could not other than conclude you wanted to loop a keyframe but for looping events you have to use the switch in the meny "Edit" as it is stated in the help files

Succes further with your frustrations.😬

Marco. wrote on 2/19/2019, 1:28 PM

Lostsilver does not want to loop the Event, but the FX animation. And Lostsilver is right, the only way to do is the way described in the first post, imho. But I find this is a very special interest for rare cases.
So it might be cumbersome, but it's possible, anyhow. Scripting maybe could automate at least a part of this process, but since no one ever asked for such a thing, such a script does not (yet) exists.

L0STSILVER wrote on 2/19/2019, 1:40 PM

Sorry, but from your very long question I could not other than conclude you wanted to loop a keyframe but for looping events you have to use the switch in the meny "Edit"as it is stated in the help files

I'm aware of this feature, and had this been the solution to my issue I wouldn't be here today.

Okay, to put it simply.

I need to repeat ANIMATIONN Key frames (Please refer to the images I posted)

I need to be able to repeat/loop animation key frames instead of having to copy and paste them!

-L0ST

Marco. wrote on 2/19/2019, 1:50 PM

Like said above: In Vegas Pro it's not possible in the way you want it.

fr0sty wrote on 2/19/2019, 2:15 PM

This would be a helpful addition to Vegas, esp when making motion graphics. I will add it to the Vegas 17 wish list. I'd also like to be able to do not just looping keyframes, but rocking/palindrome keyframing, where it plays forward, then backwards if you want to easily animate something rocking back and forth, with either linear or smoothing being able to be applied. .

L0STSILVER wrote on 2/19/2019, 2:16 PM

Like said above: In Vegas Pro it's not possible in the way you want it.

I see. Thank you for your reply.

Where can I go to voice my thoughts and suggest this to be taken into account for potential future updates of the software?

This would be a helpful addition to Vegas, esp when making motion graphics. I will add it to the Vegas 17 wish list. I'd also like to be able to do not just looping keyframes, but rocking/palindrome keyframing, where it plays forward, then backwards if you want to easily animate something rocking back and forth, with either linear or smoothing being able to be applied. .

Exactly. The possibilities with this is incredible and I for one have had to rely on a feature like this on multiple occasions. I'm surprised something like this isn't in SV

Kind regards,

-L0ST

L0STSILVER wrote on 2/19/2019, 2:52 PM

I quickly put together this video to give an idea of what I'm talking about:

walter-i. wrote on 2/19/2019, 3:38 PM

BTW Sony Vegas exists anymore,

As j-v already said bevore - if you like new features - Magix is your contact-person for feature Suggestions.

L0STSILVER wrote on 2/19/2019, 4:39 PM

BTW Sony Vegas exists anymore,

As j-v already said bevore - if you like new features - Magix is your contact-person for feature Suggestions.

I don't think that's what they were saying, but thank you!

Could you please send me a link to the best place suggest? (Should I contact them via email, forum or what?)

j-v wrote on 2/20/2019, 3:52 AM

Could you please send me a link to the best place suggest? (Should I contact them via email, forum or what?)

Search this whole foeum, there are enough posts asking for it.

And next time you have an audio question, select the right category of this forum.

Marco. wrote on 2/20/2019, 4:45 AM

It's not an audio question. It is a general request about the handling of FX animation and in all his screenshot demos Lostsilver refered to video FX.

Marco. wrote on 2/20/2019, 5:05 AM

@L0STSILVER
Once there was an own link in the Vegas Pro help menu which was meant for suggestions for product improvements. The only way you can go now (besides what you already did: posting it in this community) is via the official support. You'll find a link to it on the top menu of this site. Also I linked to this discussion in another section to make the Magix staff aware of it.

Edit:
I see the support link is not on the US version of this website so you would need to go this route: vegascreativesoftware.com/us/support

Marco. wrote on 2/20/2019, 6:10 AM

Hopefully some of the scripting experts read this. Maybe there is a way get the desired feature in the way the user would only need to have/set two keyframes and rest of looping is done via a script.

Such a script would read the length of the event, the time-lag between the given keyframes, copy the keyframes and spread a pair of these two keyframes all over the length of the event.
Also it would recalculate the time-lag between the keyframes to evenly fit the event length exactly in the way the very first keyframe is also the very last one.
Also there would be an option to switch the mode of all keyframes.

At least in theory this could work, no?

L0STSILVER wrote on 2/20/2019, 8:16 AM

@L0STSILVER
Once there was an own link in the Vegas Pro help menu which was meant for suggestions for product improvements. The only way you can go now (besides what you already did: posting it in this community) is via the official support. You'll find a link to it on the top menu of this site. Also I linked to this discussion in another section to make the Magix staff aware of it.

Edit:
I see the support link is not on the US version of this website so you would need to go this route: vegascreativesoftware.com/us/support

Hopefully some of the scripting experts read this. Maybe there is a way get the desired feature in the way the user would only need to have/set two keyframes and rest of looping is done via a script.

Such a script would read the length of the event, the time-lag between the given keyframes, copy the keyframes and spread a pair of these two keyframes all over the length of the event.
Also it would recalculate the time-lag between the keyframes to evenly fit the event length exactly in the way the very first keyframe is also the very last one.
Also there would be an option to switch the mode of all keyframes.

At least in theory this could work, no?

Indeed.

Thank you very much for all your help regarding this subject, you've been awfully helpful.

I will file a suggestion to magix and the people who develop the software.

Kind regards,

-L0ST

Mindmatter wrote on 2/20/2019, 11:42 AM

What a brillliant idea!

Everything from pulsation to waves to wobbling could be controlled by oscillator like functions.

Excellent little tutorial you took the trouble to make for us, too!

Who's the pianist btw? great music.

and jeez, j-v....before you tell someone to RTFM without even understanding his plea, I'd suggest to RTFpost first next time. You made a fool of yourself twice by also thinking it's an audio issue.

L0STSILVER wrote on 2/24/2019, 10:50 AM

What a brillliant idea!

Everything from pulsation to waves to wobbling could be controlled by oscillator like functions.

Excellent little tutorial you took the trouble to make for us, too!

Who's the pianist btw? great music.

and jeez, j-v....before you tell someone to RTFM without even understanding his plea, I'd suggest to RTFpost first next time. You made a fool of yourself twice by also thinking it's an audio issue.

Thanks! Sorry for the late reply, the pianist was myself and my piano teacher who improvised this song.

And yes, this feature would definitely have a lot of creative possibilities, I've used rays in a such a way before to make sort of a bloom effect, and having this LFO type feature would make the process much simpler.