Post a single event from Vegas Pro to Mercalli SAL

Richard Jones wrote on 12/17/2014, 6:09 AM
Is there a way of importing just a single event from the Vegas Pro 12 timeline into Mercalli 4 SAL?

An event might be only 10 seconds or so long and taken from a clip (captured via Batch Capture) several minutes in length. The Properties Button (R click on event) shows this as being part of that clip and shows the identification name or path of the event as that for the clip as a whole. I can import the whole of the clip into Mercalli but then have to search for and isolate that event. before doing the stabilisation.and then have to export that corrected clip as a whole back into Vegas where I then have to search for the event again and then place this corrected event on the timeline.

This seems so cumbersome and tedious and I suspect (hope) there must be an easier way of transferring just the event alone. Does anyone have any ideas please? If not I'll probably end up using the Mercalliu 2 Plug In for most of my stabilisation which will mean that I have just wasted over £100 ;(

Conrad (Dexcon) offered some helpful words on the 1oth December in the thread "Mercalli 4 Soon " but this still involves transferring the whole of the Media File containing the event. I have also tried dragging and dropping the event from the timeline into the Mercalli screen but this doesn't seem to work.

Richard

Comments

Grazie wrote on 12/17/2014, 6:49 AM
If not I'll probably end up using the Mercalliu 2 Plug In for most of my stabilisation which will mean that I have just wasted over £100 ;(No, the SAL is the only way. I just played with Frameserver, but that's only AVI and Merc SAL won't import AVIs. As to buying something you aren't happy with, others here are also wanting the SAL features within a VP Plug, which is why some of them haven't bought it.

Here's another view: I like the SAL 'cos it is . . er . . SAL. I get an exo-Vegas option to pick and choose just the pieces I want and THEN import them into my VP project. This is a another way of looking at. Richard, do try this approach. I'm finding it quite a relief to get-away from the tightness of VP and just render out GOOD steady footage, somewhere elsewhere. My advice? Try that approach, just for a bit, and maybe you'll warm to it, I know I have. Put it another way, it's another plug that WONT be crashing VP!

HTHs

Grazie
PeterWright wrote on 12/17/2014, 7:36 AM
If it's say 10 sec from a much longer clip, you could first render that 10 sec into a new clip then apply Mercali to that.
Richard Jones wrote on 12/17/2014, 8:06 AM
Thanks Peter. Any suggestions as to what I should render this event?

Grazie, I like editing in Vegas. It's so easy and intuitive and although what you say sounds appealing, it still seems to be a really roundabout way of doing things.

Richard
PeterWright wrote on 12/17/2014, 5:44 PM
Richard to keep quality I'd render it to a format as close as possible to the original footage - maybe something like Sony MXF.
Richard Jones wrote on 12/18/2014, 4:51 AM
Thank you Peter. That's very helpful and much appreciated.

These format things tend to confuse me. Some of my work is SD imported to Vegas straight from the camera via a firewire connection so it comes out under the avi umbrella.(and the clip is identified in Properties as avi as well. Any ideas as to what would be nearest when rendering the event for transfer to Mercalli?

Richard
Richard Jones wrote on 12/18/2014, 6:10 AM
Peter,

I've just been looking through the render options in Vegas 12 Pro and see that there is one described as "Video for Windows: *.avi." On the face of it (to my ill-informed and ever slower mind) this might seem to be the obvious choice to render a single event for transfer to Mercalli 4 SAL but it would be nice to have your confirmation (or anyone's for that matter).

Thanks again.

Richard
PeterWright wrote on 12/18/2014, 6:19 AM
Depending on your source footage - may be worth a try - if you're using HD then the YUV options at the bottom of the list are where to go.

Try whichever one is closest to your source footage, and compare how they look.
Richard Jones wrote on 12/19/2014, 4:27 AM
I have found a solution :)

Select the event and render this out as a Main Concept MPEG2 (*.mpg) file – Programme Stream PAL Widescreen (match project setting). This then posts into Mercalli as it should and allows the work to be streamlined while also saving a huge amount of time. Hooray!

Incidentally, the option to render as Video for Windows *.avi was not recognized by Mertcalli even when one one of the several Mercalli ProDad options was selected and this despite the fact that I had already installed the full codec package when installing Mercalli.

To recap, the event in question is just under 10 seconds in length and is part of a longer clip of several minutes. The clip is identified as Clip 13.avi and I can import this whole clip into Mercalli but this means that I have then to find and isolate the section that needs attention, correct it and then post the whole clip back into Vegas where I have again to look for the relative section and transfer this to the Timeline. This is so cumbersome when you want to correct only a few seconds.

So, a result and I can now justify my £100+ expenditure which is another result:)

Thank you all for your help and Have a Very Merry Christmas.

Richard

PeterWright wrote on 12/19/2014, 5:37 AM
Richard, if you place markers (M key) at In and Out points of your 10 seconds, the post-Mercali clip will fit perfectly there.
Richard Jones wrote on 12/19/2014, 5:41 AM
Thank you Peter. That's a very useful tip.

Richjard