newbie - simple video cut questions...

spanky wrote on 3/17/2003, 11:45 AM

I guess I'm a little confused on how VV works regarding editing video...I suppose I'm a little more familiar with other programs (won't mention any names) and I don't believe I understand the main concept in video editing with VV.

My current project, for instance, are three AVIs from a wedding (from 3 different cameras) and a house-audio mix. I was able to sync up all of the tracks with ease...but this is what I don't understand. I'm not quite sure how to cut from one track of video to another. I understand that I can do transistions between video clips while they are on the same track, but I don't see how to do this between tracks...The only way thus far I've been able to cut from one camera to the other is basically in a subtractive editing fashion, ie., removing part of of the video on one track so it will display another track as the timeline continues....

This doesn't feel quite right. I'm obviously not understanding something correctly. Do the video clips I plan on using all need to be on the same track so I can insert fades and dissolves? Can you not do this between video clips on different tracks? Do you guys work with video on several tracks?

Sorry for such basic questions. I really want to love VV, and I see myself buying it in the near future...maybe I should read the manual? :)

Comments

Tyler.Durden wrote on 3/17/2003, 12:06 PM

Hi SPanky,

YOu can definately use video on many tracks but for most this type of work there are faster/easier ways..

There is some brief info here:

http://www.martyhedler.com/homepage/Multicam.html

(Click on "Multicam"...)

HTH, MPH

Tips:
http://www.martyhedler.com/homepage/Vegas_Tutorials.html

jetdv wrote on 3/17/2003, 12:58 PM

I always create a "Master" track where I place all of my selected clips. So, I end up with three tracks with holes and the master track contains what was in the holes. You can easily move clips to the master track by selecting it and pressing 8 on the numpad one or more times. I then usually go back to the previous split (CTRL-ALT-Left Arrow) and add a small dissolve by pressing "/" on the numpad.

I have also abbreviated this process with a script that will move the selected clip to the master track and dissolve it with the previous clip on the master track.

Edward

spanky wrote on 3/17/2003, 2:47 PM

Great, thanks guys. Those are good tips. So I guess I'd be correct in saying you can't really cut between two or more video tracks. You need to manually move one clip from a track to your master video track.

Chienworks wrote on 3/17/2003, 3:37 PM

Well, technically, you can cut from one track to the next. The topmost video track containing an event will be the one that is seen unless some sort of compositing is used. It's transitions from one track to another that are difficult. Crossfading is about the only transition you can use from one track to another, although you can apply affects to each track separately to alter the appearance of the crossfade.