Nested Timelines - How does it work?

Cliff Etzel wrote on 10/5/2020, 4:38 PM

I'm in the middle of a project where I have shot 8 separate 2 camera interviews and have created their respective Vegas Projects as each interview will be edited down to the best sections. I want to create a master timeline for incorporating all the interviews into a master video to be delivered to the client. I've never used nested timelines before and I'm confused as to how they work.

I figured based on what I understand of them, you can bring individual Veg files into a new project and add them to a timeline accordingly - and if you make changes to those individual Vegas projects outside of that master project, those changes will be reflected within the nested timeline of the master project when you return to it?

Just trying to save myself a great deal of frustration by asking in advance before actually trying to create the master timeline populated with the separate interview projects.

I just watched this Vegas Tutorial on YouTube and now I'm so confused I have no idea what's being explained in how to do a nested timeline project.

Gary doesn't seem to explain it clearly enough for my understanding. I already have my separate projects created and roughly edited down - how do I add those to a master project timeline? 😳😵

Comments

set wrote on 10/5/2020, 4:57 PM

Yes, just simply drag the VEG project to timeline, and that's it, you have created a nested timeline to it.

Here in tutorial, Gary explain the way to do nesting from Main Timeline, by selecting the clips, and then 'Create a Nested Timeline'. The selected clips will be 'migrated' to new 'child' timeline where you can do the edit like usual. Going back to 'master' / 'parent' timeline, there you have it - automatically updated.

Cliff Etzel wrote on 10/5/2020, 5:20 PM

As a follow up - From what I can surmise, I need to take each project I have created, and create a new nested timeline project file, then drag that nested timeline file into the master timeline project? This seems VERY confusing but trying to understand...

Steve_Rhoden wrote on 10/5/2020, 9:14 PM

Not confusing Cliff, its an amazing lifesaver when you get the full hang of it during heavy editing tasks. So keep on researching!

bvideo wrote on 10/5/2020, 10:04 PM

As a follow up - From what I can surmise, I need to take each project I have created, and create a new nested timeline project file, then drag that nested timeline file into the master timeline project? This seems VERY confusing but trying to understand...

Cliff, it sounds like you said you surmise to create 8 new projects that each hold one of the original 8 projects as a nested project file, then drag those 8 new ones as nested projects into a new primary project. But if I understand your workflow, and you already have the 8 original projects, just add each of your 8 to a new primary project, so your 8 originals appear as 8 nested timelines.

I think the gary tutorial mentioned talks about creating nested timelines from scratch inside a primary project, a different workflow from yours. After you have constructed your primary project as in the previous paragraph you can dive into any of the 8 nested projects from the primary for editing. [Note: 1,$s/master/primary/g]

set wrote on 10/5/2020, 10:18 PM

Try in smaller scale experiment first before doing it in your real project.

Turd wrote on 10/6/2020, 9:00 AM

+1 @set

Cliff, think of it like this: You first create and edit several program segments individually and save each project as its own .veg file with its own name. For argument's sake, let's say three segments labeled "a.veg" "b.veg" and "c.veg".

Now you create an empty "master" project. All you need to do is drop your saved a.veg, b.veg, and c.veg files onto your master timeline and your project is complete!

Or is it???

Let's say you're watching your master project timeline play through and realize you made a mistake that needs to be corrected on your b.veg segment. All you do is re-open your b.veg project, edit it to your liking, re-save it, and it's automagically updated in your master project. In fact, if you still have your master project open you can see the changes you made to your b.veg project the moment you save that project!

alifftudm95 wrote on 10/6/2020, 1:41 PM

VEGAS nest the media as another VEG file so that you can work with 2nd, other editors simultaneously.

When u nest the media, VEGAS will prompt you to save the nest as VEG, I highly suggest create a dedicated folder for Nest media so you wont mixed up the nest VEG with your main VEG project.

You can toggle between Master TL & Nested TL via timeline toolbars.

walter-i. wrote on 10/6/2020, 2:42 PM

Let's say you're watching your master project timeline play through and realize you made a mistake that needs to be corrected on your b.veg segment. All you do is re-open your b.veg project, edit it to your liking, re-save it, and it's automagically updated in your master project. In fact, if you still have your master project open you can see the changes you made to your b.veg project the moment you save that project!

But please note:
If the length of your edited "b.veg" has changed, you have to adjust this manually in your "master" project.

Cliff Etzel wrote on 10/6/2020, 4:15 PM

VEGAS nest the media as another VEG file so that you can work with 2nd, other editors simultaneously.

When u nest the media, VEGAS will prompt you to save the nest as VEG, I highly suggest create a dedicated folder for Nest media so you wont mixed up the nest VEG with your main VEG project.

You can toggle between Master TL & Nested TL via timeline toolbars.

What I've done is saved each interview project file and saved a copy with the word "Nested Timeline" at the end so as to not get confused from the original project files. Might seem redundant but for now, it seems to keep me organized as I get these interviews into a rough edit. I can then go back to each nested timeline and refine them accordingly once I determine the sequence of the interviews on the master timeline - I also have to create teaser videos for social media leading up to their big virtual celebration event and this will allow me to create additional project files for those teaser videos.

So far so good on stability and speed of Vegas Pro 18 - I'm pretty stunned at how well it's working given my experiences with previous versions. I was pretty much never going to use Vegas again but version 18 has totally changed that decision. Glad I decided to give it one more chance.