?? I import image sequences all the time. not sure what the issue could be.

Yes guys, I too have had success with this process.

Please read below.

1] I get maybe the first 2 images, but the remainder don't get sequenced.

2] I "lasso" a sequence of JPEG files; I don't get the option to "Open still image sequence" within the "Import Media" Menu but sometimes I do; when I get the option I get the first Image as part of the sequence and but not the remainder. I just tried again, with a 36xjpeg selection and I've only got range "1057 - 1058" being displayed. I just attempted to repeat the process with only 3xjpegs and now I have "Open still image range 1102 - 1110" - and that's like 8 images, but I only asked for 3?

3] Also I get Project settings firing-up - should that happen? If so what should I tell it to do? I've never had this happen before. It's got "Tape Name" flashing as if wanting to know the tape? - I ignore and select "OK". I then get a "Warning: . . . . item not found" and the detail says: " FileMETA:\Image Sequence\{META:\Image Sequence . . . .. " and some more detail too, but along the same lines.

Any ideas?

Grazie

"Any ideas?"

No mate. sounds like something is seriously messed up. All I've tried from memory is selecting the first image and then doing the Import Image Sequence thing. I've never tried selectively importing a sequence.

Me thinks this deserves a trouble ticket.

Bob.

All I've tried from memory is selecting the first image . . . Would this have been like 100 images just sitting in a Folder?

" . . and then doing the Import Image Sequence thing. I've never tried selectively importing a sequence." Did you then type IN 100, for the end image?

I'm asking 'cos if I do enter a ticket, and IF there is a difference I would be wanting to verify this with "another" user too.

But you have given me the thought that a selective approach, although available, might not have been carried through to the software?

Grazie

"Would this have been like 100 images just sitting in a Folder?"

Yes.

I now recall what and when I'd tried this. It was during the discussion out MXF compared to Cineform. I imported several hundred sequentially number slide scans all from the one folder. Know that I think about it I did notice it didn't seem to do what I thought it should. I opened the help or some such and just imported all of them. I was more interested in getting them in than any issue with the how of it at the time.

"But you have given me the thought that a selective approach, although available, might not have been carried through to the software?"

Quite likely.
You could check this yourself, just render out 100 frames to a folder and try importing all of them.


Bob.

I just tried it to doublecheck.

Here's the way it works:
You can't lasso or select a set of clips. What you have to do is select the first image of the sequence and then type in the number of the last image in the sequence. Tick the "Open still image sequence" check box and then click on the "Open" button.

Rob Mack

So, Rob, "You can't lasso or select a set of clips." Well I can. Can't you? Did you try it? Are you saying that it should NOT be used for this procedure? But the process IS available? I can Lasso other media and drag them in as an import? In fact the series of JPEGS is even displayed in the Import field. So to anybody seeing this, this means I/we can import using this method.

What you may be saying is that you have to purposefully enter a number. Well, OK, but that is NOT what is evidenced by the method I used. In which case this should EITHER be allowed or NOT. My thoughts are that this is a halfway, half-built house, and should be flagged as such.

And Rob, thanks for the feedback.

Grazie

I just checked: your file listing doesn't have all FULL columns. IE they're like this I'm betting:

file001 file005 file009
file002 file006 file010
file003 file007
file004 file008

when you lasso you're starting in the lower right because if you don't you'll drop/drag a file vs select them. You move the lasso to the left. so it says "range 4-10". You move it up to file003 then it says "range 3-10". You move it to file002 then it says "range 2-10". You move it to file001 then it STILL says "range 2-10" and all the file info DISAPPEARS & you can't change the start of the range.

Is that what you're seeing? If so, I'm thinking this is a windows GUI issue vs a vegas issue.

but for importing a sequence I always click on the first file in the sequence where I want to start (not necessarily the first file in the folder) & then go that way. it easier then selecting 5000 stills.

EDIT: doesn't seem to be an issue with even columns, just seems to be an issue with selecting more then 4 or 5 rows, from top or bottom. CTRL+A doesn't work either. SHIFT+Left Click doesn't work either unless you start with the first file you want.

Of course I tried it, but maybe we're coming at this from very different points?

First off, I'm using Vegas 9a on XP32. Here are my steps:

1. I have a set of NTSC PNG images in a folder, numbered 1-150

2. In Vegas I open File:Import:Media and then browse to the folder with the PNG files

2.1 The Import Media Dialog shows me a List View of the files

2.2 I drag from upper left to lower right. The first file selected in this way happens to be file number 21 and the last happens to be file number 32

2.2.1 The "Open Still Images" range at the bottom of the dialog shows a range of "21-150". Okay, Lassoing is possible but it doesn't actually do anything useful

2.3 I deselect all the files and then try to lasso from the bottom right to the top left, selecting the same files.

2.3.1 Same result. Not useful. Yes I can Lasso, No it doesn't help me.

2.4 Let's try Shift-clicking to select multiple files. I click on file 21 and then Shift-click on file 32.

2.4.1 Okay, now my range starts at the very last file I selected. file 32 to fie 150. Selecting multiple files in this way doesn't select the image sequence as desired.

2.5 The previous methods didn't work. This one will. I simply select the first image I want to use in my sequence. I then type in the number of the last file I want to use in my sequence. I tick the check box to import the sequence. I click OKAY.

2.5.1 Result: I now have an object named "Image_000021.png - Image_000032.png" in my Project Media window. It's 12 frames long.


As far as I know this is the ONLY way to import an image sequence in Vegas. Yes, you could drag those same twelve images from Vegas Explorer to Vegas Project Media but then you'd have twelve image files rather than one file made up of the twelve images.

The Import Media dialog window is made up of standard windows widgets. The file display portion of it has the capability of lassoing multiple files but this is not a usable method when you want to import an image sequence. You have to use the fields at the bottom of the window to explicitly tell Vegas what to do.

If all you want to do is import 500 images then the lasso method will work. It doesn't work if you want to import an image sequence (making the 500 images into one media object). I think the reason for this is that Vegas has to validate that the files are a sequence. If there's a gap in your file numbering then that would confuse Vegas.

Here's an example of Vegas validating the set of files as a sequence. I have 150 files and I just deleted file number 62. Now when I go to the import media dialog and select file 21 the image sequence part of the dialog offers files 21-61 as a sequence. 63-150 are ignored until I select a file in that higher range. Vegas wouldn't know what to do if I lassoed files 50-70. This is why you have to be explicite and can't just lasso a bunch of files for an image sequence.

Rob Mack

"This is why you have to be explicite and can't just lasso a bunch of files for an image sequence."

So what I stumbled on was an example of expectation over function. I expected to be able to do something, but Vegas can't pitch-up. I would like the ability to lasso, it is far more intuitive AND I would also like to pick-off out of sequence stills/graphics I wish.

But more than this, I would like to have a way to produce my 30fps project as a menu driven DVD.

Rob, thanks for taking the time.

Grazie

No problem.

You could always renumber your images so that they can become a sequence. It'd be time consuming but has a lot of art potential.

I agree that it'd be more intuitive if you could lasso a bunch of images, drag them into Vegas, and be asked if you want to do XY and Z. But Vegas never asks what we want, never brings flowers, no chocolates.... ;-)

Rob

I've always selected only the first image. Then the Image Sequence check box becomes selectable.

My beef is that it is only 999 images. I had 1600 that I had to break into two import events.

Another, bigger beef, is that it stops at breaks in sequence. If I expect 100 images, but image 037 is missing, then the last one I get is 036. Then I need a tool to rename all files in a folder sequentially. I could write one fairly easily, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I had a sequence of clouds from a cam every 10 seconds. A few of the images just didn't work, like a dog's nose in the middle, or a bush blowing in the wind over the lens. So I removed them from the folder, wanting just the good shots. The image import then stops in the middle when I don't want it to.

"But Vegas never asks what we want, never brings flowers, no chocolates.... ;-)"

That's Rob's answer.

Grazie

So it sounds like what you want is for Vegas to be more lenient. Maybe just take a set of images and make a sequence based on numerical order rather than being a strict sequence, or maybe file date, or maybe alphabetically.

Rob

Pretty much my thoughts as well. If I was importing a 10,000 frame image sequence of a movie I think I'd be very happy for Vegas to halt if it found a missing frame.
Still Grazie has a point, maybe we should have a different image sequence import function that is strictly for frame based image sequences. That way the duration of each image could be made to match one frame at the project frame rate automatically.

Bob.

if you don't want a sequence as a sequence you can either not import a sequence (not recommended) or import as a sequence then change it to 1fps. I do that with stuff I don't want to be smooth. Works pretty well. IE 3d logos I'll export, SFX, etc.

The only issue with importing anything that doesn't follow the standard, tried and true, way of importing is that then, what WOULD you import? IE file1, file2, ... file9, file10, file11, file...99.

etc. from file1 to 99? What if you had a sequence that was called file01..09, file010..099? What would it do with those? How would it know how to put them in? Dates? Can't trust that, there's been a many times where I've redone a few frames here & there & then some frames are different dates. Or if you edited an individual frame the date would change.

IMHO sequences are something that shouldn't be handled lightly. They're something that needs some forethought to them in what you plan to do with them, especially because some programs don't do them properly.

I import image sequences all the time, I have no movie camera so it's all I can do.
Vegas works great at this.
Just select the first image you want and Vegas shows you the last image in the sequence. If you want less you enter the lesser image number.
What could be simpler or more intuitive?

I'm currently doing a render farm batch of about 4 hours of sequences in Vue for import into Vegas. Vue is smart enough to redo images that have been dropped by (for example) one of the farm going down, however when I'm doing a sequence using a still camera and have an image missing a workaround is to copy the image before (or after) and rename it to the one that is missing.
Not good, not ideal, but it can save another whole days sunrise in the wild.

As far as a limit (999) on the number of images that can be imported into Vegas - I have found no limit. Yesterday I imported a jpg sequence of 1930 images. I'm sure I have done much more in the past.

My record so far is about 19,000 1920x1080 .jpg images. Not a single hitch.

I thought most programs would have an easier time with 001-100 than with 1-100.

Sometimes its not really a good thing for a program to offer a lot of options because it confuses things. Image sequences could fall into that category. They're usually used for a very specific purpose - to move video to and from programs that don't really deal with video directly. For this basic sort of bread and butter functionality there's an expectation that the sequences will be sequentially numbered without gaps. I think this is all that Vegas is really obliged to deal with.

There is one point where I think Vegas image sequence export falls on its face and that is that it applies the project's PAR to the images. I'd like to have the option to export 720x480 image sequences from an SD project, and I don't want to have to tweak my project settings to do that.

Rob Mack

I had a sequence of clouds from a cam every 10 seconds. A few of the images just didn't work, like a dog's nose in the middle, or a bush blowing in the wind over the lens. So I removed them from the folder, wanting just the good shots. The image import then stops in the middle when I don't want it to.

Deleting a file out of the middle of your sequence is a bad idea, as you found, because then it becomes two sequences. Rather than railing against Vegas you should figure out ways not to break your sequence.

The simplest thing to do (next to just deleting the image) might be to leave the images alone and import the whole thing. You could cut out the bad frame in Vegas. This creates a problem of finding the frame, and maybe creates a more noticeable jump.

The next choice, and probably the best, is to open the offending image in Photoshop and paste the two adjacent images over it. Make the later topmost layer 50% transparent and you'd have a single-frame crossfade. Save it over the offending file and your problem is (hopefully) solved.

Rob Mack