Organizing Media??

rman wrote on 1/15/2006, 1:41 PM

This sort of relates to another topic I posted yesterday, but since this was more of a specific question, I thought I would creat a new thread.

I struggle quite a bit on how to find a method of organizing my media. I'm sure I'm probably not using the tools within Vegas correctly. But in my mind I think if I had an actual printed picture of each piece of media lying down on the floor in front of me, then I could easily spot which pictures to group with other pictures, etc.

Obviously this is an electronic medium so what I'm asking is how to organize the media and WHEN? Do you somehow look at all of your media somewhere similar to what I described in the previous paragraph and then name the pictures sequentially, AND THEN place them on the time-line so they are in the order you want? or do you do arrange them after it's on the time-line? This has always been an overwhelming part of this and I just don't think I'm doing it right. Must be a better way than just placing everything on the time-line, then using the arrow keys to scrub across the time-line over each picture (which takes forever in and of itself, I wish there was a hot key to skip to the next event, then it would be easier), all the while trying to remember the photos that I've scrubbed over and if the current photo would fit with them or not, etc.

Am I making sense?

Thanks for all of your help

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 1/15/2006, 2:06 PM

First, enable autopreview in your Explorer, this allows you to click on photos, video, audio, and they'll autoplay so you can see what they are immediately.
Next, view thumnails in your Project Media tab. You can see thumbs of whatever you import to Vegas.
Additionally, use the Media Manager. That will aid you in searching, cataloging, and storing clips, video, or any other asset.
Generally, media organization starts at the shoot with good tape labeling, then in capture with good logging and capture practice, storing captured media in easily understood file order such as "XXX Project>A-roll>Tape One" and so on. Everyone has their own methods, but this is how we do it. All audio goes into a folder, same with all other assets, so that each project is self-contained.
Use Edit Details to see what you've used, how many times you've used it, and when you used it.

rman wrote on 1/15/2006, 2:28 PM

Thanks Spot. The "View Thumbnails in my media tab" is a great and very simple tip and when I read it in your post I was like saying "DUH" to myself, as from the beginning of using Vegas 3, I've just been using the "Detailed" view, thinking that would help me with organizing, but it doesn't. The Edit details tells me what I need to know in that respect (file names, locations, how many takes, etc). It is now CLEAR to me that being able to see the thumbnails in the media tab is critical if I don't want to fumble around for hours wondering what everything is. Very good tip. Wish I hadn't changed the default from thumbnails in the first place years ago.

As far as the Media Manager is concerned, I should have mentioned in my initial post that I'm using Vegas 5. I haven't upgraded to V6 yet as I read a few posts when it was first released that there were a few annoying bugs and that there wasn't a lot of added features. I probably need to take another look at upgrading now I suppose.