I have suggested a waveform and vectorscope plug in, in addition to others.

David

Who did you suggest the ideas to? Maybe it should be a third party developer. I've also suggested a few things like a motion stablizer. Then I saw a company called Dynapel.com that makes SteadyHand, a motion stablizer, and suggested that they write the software as a plugin for Vegas Video. They seemed quite happy at the suggestion, almost overjoyed. I guess the idea hadn't occured to them or something.

But, I think if other companies could start making their plugins for Vegas Video it would help Sonic Foundry with the workload and boost the professional image of Vegas.

I also wrote Boris with the same type suggestion, to convert their Premiere plugins over to Vegas Video, but I did't get a response. So, who knows on that one.

JBJones

JBJones,

I just read the info on Dynapel's SteadHand software. Sounds great and I will download the trial version tonight to test. My brother did the filming at my son's baptism because I couldn't and boy did he have the shakes. The sodtware that they are selling doesn't sound like you need a plugin to VV. Just run this over your raw footage first to get the shakes out, then edit in VV.

If you find out that Dynapel does come out with a VV plugin for cheaper than the $50 for their standalone software, Please post a message out here.

Just tried SteadyHand last night. It worked pretty well, but had some problems.

1) Does not respond well with date/time stamps or other titles created with an analog camera.

2) Does not respond well when flash photagraphy occurs in your shoot.

Those are the only two problems I saw. Another drawback is that it takes an extremely long time to render and you can not do just sections of the file unless you split it into seperate files. I suppose a plugin to VV would be beneficial here.

HeeHee;
Yeah, but you gotta render in AVI first to use it, no? What would be great if you test it is try to use it as a "Mastering Machine", I mean; put your final editing right thru it to see what happens. I would just hope, here, that it detects the cuts/crossfades/etc to bring a "logic" final product. If it works, it could be used quickly and efficiently (? yet to prove ...?) on our final renders...
Give us the results of your tests, we'll be waiting!!!

sounds more like a pre-edit tool than a mastering tool. you can use the trimming capabilities of Vegas to get your original source chopped up into individual files.

start with a fresh Vegas session, and use the trimmer to place just the shaky parts onto the time line. then save as... and create a new folder. save to the new folder and check the Trim media checkbox. choose to trim media in the next dialog with maybe a half second of extra time on each clip.

you'll end up with copies of just the parts that were on your timeline. then you can feed them through the steadyshot tool and compare the originals to the new ones.

Cheesehole,

I agree that in it's current form it is a pre-edit tool. If it were a plugin, though, you could maybe use it on split clips to fix when rendering. I don't know, maybe wishful thinking. It does have it's uses and at $50 bucks is very reasonable for how powerful it is. At this point, breaking your raw footage into separate files where the shaking is bad is the key.

futz,

True you have to use AVI, but it will also use DV AVI. I don't think it will handle transistion too well. I will try a short clip of one of my finished projects where I have a transition and let you know how it worked.

I did try the demo versions of Dynapel MotionPerfect and SteadyHand when I as using Premiere and was not satisfied enough to buy the full versions. I still got jerky movement, but that may have been a result of the Premiere. I haven't yet tried it with VV3, but I think it should only be used in the editing stage, and then only selectively. If you had a deliberate slow pan, it that may and up as a series of jerks. Ron.

<<If you had a deliberate slow pan, it that may and up as a series of jerks. Ron.>>

I did not have this problem. I did have a Pan and Zoom sequence in my raw footage that Steadyhand actually did make smoother (Is that a word or should it be "more smooth"?). Anyway, If anyone does use it they should break out the jerky or dropped frame sequences to a seperate AVI and only use it for those sections of your footage. It would also be nice if it had a feature to select regions of the display to ignore (in the case of the date/time stamp.)

Until Sonic wakes up and writes hooks for adobe plug-ins, just port your video to Premiere for doing FX. Premiere is cheap -- and "lite" versions are packaged with vidcards. Geez, maybe you'll get "hooked" on Premiere and leave the Sonic "family'. Lack of plug-ins is a great opportunity for Sonic's competitor(s). VV is great, but Sonic needs to get 3rd parties moving. Boris, for instance, is great. And owning some of the other plug-ins is worth far more than owning Premiere alone.

Hello Fiks,
How do you "port" it to Premiere? I assume you have to render it as an AVI file first and open it in Premiere. Is that what you mean by "port"?
I would also like to try "After Effects" to do things I was unable to do with the filters in VV3. How does one open a project in AE or do you have to render an AVI first for AE as well?
Thanks for the input.

John

Yup, you gotta render it. Doesn't have to be an AVI, could use any format importable to Premiere. We like QT's (.mov's). Sometimes works better to apply FX to clips instead of the whole project, depending on what you want to accomplish.

By the way, I was joking about people moving from VV to Premiere. Yuk.