Preset timeline zoom?

baysidebas wrote on 4/6/2008, 12:12 PM
It would be very useful to have the ability to have preset timeline zoom settings under keyboard control. When I'm doing multicam editing, with a contour shuttle control, having the timeline zoom level at too wide a setting will result in coarse cursor control. What I found works best for me is to display about 30-45 seconds worth of timeline on my widescreen display. Often I need to zoom out or zoom in, and then go back to the optimum zoom level. Is there a command, or preset, that will allow me to assign a keyboard combination to do this? Or, if not, a way of "bookmarking" the current zoom level with a keypress to save it and another to return to it?

Comments

jetdv wrote on 4/6/2008, 12:23 PM
In Vegas Pro 8 this can be adjusted via a script. So you could have a script that sets it to your preferred zoom level and just run it when you want to return to that zoom.
rmack350 wrote on 4/6/2008, 12:31 PM
This is another of those things that Media100 did. You could set two zoom levels to toggle between.

This would be a nice little scripted tool. Two zoom levels showing a user defined interval of the timeline. Make it a slider with two buttons. Press the out button and it shows you, say, a minute of timeline which you can then adjust this the slider, then press the in button which shows you 30 frames, again adjustable with the slider. The widget also needs to display how much time is being displayed, of course.

Rob Mack
baysidebas wrote on 4/6/2008, 3:33 PM
Thank you Ed, I haven't yet jumped into the Vegas script pool, but I've written scripts in other apps. Guess it's time to dip my toes in. At least knowing that it's possible to do this via script gives me hope.
jetdv wrote on 4/6/2008, 7:38 PM
Here's a tip for you. First set the selection area:

myVegas.Transport.SelectionStart = new Timecode("00:00:00:00");
myVegas.Transport.SelectionLength = new Timecode("00:01:30:00");


And then set the zoom level to that selection:

myVegas.Transport.ZoomSelection();


Put everything together and you'll get something like:



/**
* This script will set the zoom level.
*
* Written By: Edward Troxel
* Modified: 11-28-2007
**/

using System;
using Sony.Vegas;

public class EntryPoint
{
Vegas myVegas;

public void FromVegas(Vegas vegas)
{
Timecode zoomSize = new Timecode("00:01:30:00");
myVegas = vegas;

myVegas.Transport.SelectionLength = zoomSize;
myVegas.Transport.ZoomSelection();
myVegas.Transport.SelectionLength = new Timecode(0);
}
}
baysidebas wrote on 4/7/2008, 7:14 AM
Bless you Ed, you make it so easy [I guess it is easy when you know what you're doing]. This will speed up my workflow considerably.