Introduction:
I haven’t used Vegas since Sony Vegas Platinum 9. When I moved into the realm of professional software I chose Adobe. I’ve been using the entire Creative Cloud Suite now for several years and have become accustomed to it. However a few things have prompted me to look for an alternative, so my first instinct is to go back to where I started.
About Me:
I currently run a video production company that caters mostly to the corporate/commercial video side. I do a few weddings every year but my bread and butter at the moment is corporate/commercial video. A majority of my videos rely heavily on; motion graphics, chroma key, multi-cam editing, and live video.
Why I *Want* to Switch:
A few things I hate about Adobe is the monthly model. I don’t always need the newest updates (as many of them are unrelated to work I do) and I don’t really care if I have the newest RED camera support, for instance. So I’m looking for software that I can buy once and own forever. That said, I have absolutely no problem spending $600+ on software a year, but if I can save some money by switching to something that doesn’t require that commitment, why not? Lastly, my hardware. I hate that Adobe only caters to the Intel market. I use AMD and have been for a long time. The only reason I have a Nvidia graphics card was to cater to the Adobe suite but I honestly would love to go back to AMD (since Nvidia only offers native GPU acceleration with Nvidia).
Why I’m Hesitant to Switch:
I have relied heavily on the integration between AE and Premiere. It genuinely saves a ton of time for me, so this is really the hardest part to give up. That said I am also hesitant to move to Vegas because that also means losing integration with other software from Adobe like Photoshop and Adobe Media Encoder (though AME hasn’t been working for me anyway.) This has been huge in saving me time when editing. This is the argument I’ve always presented on why not to switch, and I think I’m getting over it.
Some Questions:
So I have had some issues with my trial version of Vegas that annoyed me and I was hoping someone would have some insight on these. Keep in mind, I’ll use the phrase in Premiere a lot because that’s all I know. I’m not trying to sound like an Adobe fanboy.
- When importing do I really need to wait for all peak files to be generated before editing? This step seems to significantly bog down the program (though it never did in Premiere). These are files from a Canon C100.
- When editing, where is my timeline located? In Premiere, I can edit the name or properties of a timeline by right clicking on the timeline in my media bin. Not sure how to do this in Vegas.
- Is there anyway to hide the presets in the Transitions, Video FX, and Media Generators panels? I don’t really want to see the presets in action. I find this to be clunky and an unnecessary use of space.
- When I want histograms/vectorscopes/RGB parade is there a way to dock it into the work space instead of having a floating window?
- Is there a way to copy Video FX on different clips? I don’t necessarily want to have to create a preset every time I want two clips to have an identical effect applied to it.
- Is there a way to scrub through the footage, without hearing the audio, and without creating in/out points?
- What is the integration like for HitFilm Pro? I know ignite exists, but I really like the Hitfilm Pro software and working in a 3d work space. Is there any chance I don’t have to render between the two programs?
Conclusion:
I really do love the idea of switching to Vegas, but I’m really not all that knowledgeable of the way it operates as opposed to Premiere. I like the audio abilities far better than Premiere (which is a huge selling point for me on Vegas). I’m looking for any advice/guidance when considering this switch.
Sincerely,
Matthias Claflin
My Hardware:
- Asus Prime x470-Pro
- Ryzen 7 1700 (o.c. to 3.9GHz)
- Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB (4x8GB o.c. to 3000MHz)
- Nvidia GTX 960 4GB
- Corsair H110i Liquid Cooler
- Samsung EVO 960 500GB (boot/work drive)
- Kingston SSDNow 120GB (game storage)
- Seagate 1TB 7200RPM HDD (general storage)
- QNAP 2 Bay NAS
- 2x Seagate 4TB IronWolf Pro Drives