Maybe coming from Pinnacle Studio 8, Basic Questions...

kentwolf wrote on 2/18/2003, 3:19 PM
I am a frustrated Pinnacle Studio user. I am willing to pay more for a program that works all the time than less for a program that does work reliably. I have turned out several excellent DVD's with Studio, but I do not like what I have to go through to get this result. I am very tired of "work arounds."

While I am pretty proficient with Studio, I have a couple questions with regard to Vegas 4.0 and DVD Architect:

(I am using all analog capture via Pinnacle hardware and Scenalyzer. I have capture down fine and that is that. I am considering upgrading to a Canopus product, but not for now. I have a (homebuilt) AMD XP2400, 1 GB or RAM, 6 hard drives (600 GB total), etc. I am "ready to go," but need good software to do it.)

1.) It appears that for scene selection/breakdown, that in my case I would have to do it manually. Is this correct?

2.) It looks like I need to split up the scenes to add transitions between events on the video. Then, and only then, can I add the desired transitions between these seperate video segments. Is this correct? This kind of goes back to question #1.

3.) Could you please tell me, how could I for example, take sections of one video and switch them around? In Studio this is very easy, but I'm just not gettin' it on Vegas. For example, how could I take minute 3 of a video and place it between minute 1 and 2 of the same video. Whenever I start selecting things at the top of the timeline, I get more items selected than I want. I know this is from my lack of experience with Vegas. Is there a simple explanation of reordering sections within the same video?

4.) What sort of integration, if any, is there with SmartSound? I really like Smartsound and want to continue using it. Is there any integration with Vegas 4.0? Or would I need to add the sound track as a seperate evolution with SmartSound software?

5.) (Last question) Is there the ability to do motion backgrounds/menus with DVD Architect? Again, Studio made this very easy, but I am not seeing it in DVD Architect. Can one buy/purchase more motion backgrounds?

Thank you very much for your help in answering these questions.

Comments

jetdv wrote on 2/18/2003, 3:35 PM
1.) It appears that for scene selection/breakdown, that in my case I would have to do it manually. Is this correct?

If you are using Scenalyzer, why not use it to optically break scenes? When capturing with Vegas, you can break scenes based on jumps in the date/time.


2.) It looks like I need to split up the scenes to add transitions between events on the video. Then, and only then, can I add the desired transitions between these seperate video segments. Is this correct? This kind of goes back to question #1.

Just overlap the segments. Then you can drag and drop any transition on the overlap.

3.) Could you please tell me, how could I for example, take sections of one video and switch them around? In Studio this is very easy, but I'm just not gettin' it on Vegas. For example, how could I take minute 3 of a video and place it between minute 1 and 2 of the same video. Whenever I start selecting things at the top of the timeline, I get more items selected than I want. I know this is from my lack of experience with Vegas. Is there a simple explanation of reordering sections within the same video?

Right-click and drag clip 3 over clip 2. Then, from the popup menu, choose "Shuffle" (this assumes Vegas 4).

4.) What sort of integration, if any, is there with SmartSound? I really like Smartsound and want to continue using it. Is there any integration with Vegas 4.0? Or would I need to add the sound track as a seperate evolution with SmartSound software?

Add the audio from smartsound separately.

5.) (Last question) Is there the ability to do motion backgrounds/menus with DVD Architect? Again, Studio made this very easy, but I am not seeing it in DVD Architect. Can one buy/purchase more motion backgrounds?

Yes, DVDA can do both motion backgrounds and motion buttons. You just need to click on the "animate" checkbox for the menu or button properties.
kentwolf wrote on 2/18/2003, 4:14 PM
Thank you very much for your response.

Question:

>>If you are using Scenalyzer, why not use it to optically break scenes? When >>capturing with Vegas, you can break scenes based on jumps in the date/time.

Are you saying to break the video into seperate files? If not, the root video is still in tact with the accompanying *.scn file to deliniate the break points. The file when then viewed in Studio regocnizes the breakpoints. What would tell Vegas to also recognize the breakpoints other than being in seperate files? The *.scn file means nothing to Vegas.

>>Just overlap the segments. Then you can drag and drop any transition on the >>overlap.

What exactly do you mean, "overlap?" Would this not assume the video segments were already in seperate sections? I do know that I can apply a transition between two seperate video clips.

If possible, I would really like to be able to keep the video in one file rather than hundreds of seperate serialized clips.

Thank you again very much for your help.
BillyBoy wrote on 2/18/2003, 4:21 PM
Why don't you download the free demo and try it out?
jetdv wrote on 2/18/2003, 4:25 PM
Are you saying to break the video into seperate files?

Yes, I was talking about breaking the clip into separate files. However, since that is NOT what you want to do, search the forum for posts about using the Trimmer and Media Pool but you will have to find the segments manually.


What exactly do you mean, "overlap?" Would this not assume the video segments were already in seperate sections? I do know that I can apply a transition between two seperate video clips.

Yes, I am assuming two separate video clips (although they can be segments of the SAME base file). Just pull in the segments you want, overlap them, and then they will dissolve it each other. I frequently capture one large file and then use small pieces of that file - overlapping them to create the dissolves.
kentwolf wrote on 2/18/2003, 6:20 PM
>>Why don't you download the free demo and try it out?

I have and am. It's a pretty steep learning curve though compared to Studio 8. One good thing I'll say about Studio is that you can make very nice projects and it's very easy to do. Waaaay to many "issues" though. Repeat: Waaaaay to many...

I am willing to take the time to learn Vegas though.

Thanks!
kentwolf wrote on 2/18/2003, 6:21 PM
Got it!

Thank you very much for your help.
jthor wrote on 2/18/2003, 10:44 PM
Interesting reading, but confusing. Just my two cents, if I follow some of this. I use vegas 3 and there is always only one file no matter what you do to your project. It is the .veg files that can accumulate, until you render and create another file. I presume V4 is the same, but that is why I am reading the comments about V4 on this forum.
jetdv wrote on 2/18/2003, 11:00 PM
No, there are one or more MEDIA files from which the project is created. When you capture from tape, it will make one or more files. When you capture from a second tape, it will also make one or more files. Maybe you scan in some pictures. The project can consist of ALL of these files (or at least portions of all of these files). The VEG file just stores how these files are combined t make the final product.