3024 x 4032
72 dpi
Bit depth 24
each image is between 7 and 8mb

Thanks for any help

I already noticed that. Still images are processed very slowly, slower than videos.

It's important that the source files are located on a fast local disk. It seems like the data is being read in for each frame, passing the cache.

That is exactly where they are! They are on a SSD on my laptop.

Thanks for the reply though.

If you are editing in HD (1080p or i or 720p) you do not need that high of a resolution on your stills. If you want to be able to zoom into the pics, I found that 2x the project resolution is usually sufficient. I would use a photo program and reduce the resolution on the photos and see if that helps. It usually does.

Batch process the photos to 1080 or so and save as PNG, IrfanView will do it in a jiffy.

+1 on irfanview. Great free photo program.

Vegas seems to have memory/performance issues with jpgs on the timeline as far back as I can remember. I now convert to PNG or TIFF files and now have no issues when editing audio slideshows.... I output my final selects to around 2880px on the long side per recommendations from the producers at MediaStorm here and here. Although they use Adobe products, the info is still a good resource to modify and use with Vegas.

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll follow the advice and report back later today.

I downloaded Irfanview which was a great tip in itself!
I changed the longside to 2880px as advised and saved as pngs.
I put these files on the timeline with the jpegs and when I click on the timeline in the middle of the png file there is no lag in the preview, when I click on the jpeg it takes a second to catch up. Editing with the jpegs is nigh on impossible. There is no issue at all with the pngs.
I'm amazed, especially as the filesizes are 30% larger now.
Thanks so much for all the help

I spoke too soon!
I'm only 8 images in and the preview window is already lagging making it really painstaking to work. I want the images to change to the music and, unless i just preview 2 images at a time, it lags badly meaning I can't tell if my edits are in time.
It is not as bad as it was, but it is still unfeasible to work like this.
It is so frustrating. I love Vegas and have been a user since Sonic Foundry days.
I have Pro 13 and upgrading to 15 is not an option so long as these issues continue.

Something in this thread *might* help you get smoother playback, although many of the points aren't relevant to stills.

I resized all the PNGs again in irfanview to 25% of their original size and then got Vegas to use these files on the timeline. Still the same issue even though the files are now all less than 1MB!
I guess there is something else going on here but I have no idea what!

I have Pro 13 and upgrading to 15 is not an option so long as these issues continue.

Could it be possible the programs don't have this problem , but you or/and your hardware have this problem.

Here working with VPro 13,14 and 15 I don't see it.
I make enormous slideshows with more than 4K resuolution, fit all to more than 2 hours of music in VMS 12,13 or 14 with the slideshowmaker and open that .vf file in a Pro version to fine-tune and render with special renderoptions.
Never seen your kind of problems.

 

Of course, anything is possible.
My laptop is 3 years old but I got the best spec I could afford at the time.

Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) 
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB 
Memory (RAM) 32GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (4 x 8GB) 
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 880M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11 
Memory - Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW) 
2nd Hard Disk 500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW) 

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW) 
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo) 
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND  
Sound Card Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack 
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7260 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH 
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD 
Firewire 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT 
Battery Vortex 17.3" Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH

Something in this thread *might* help you get smoother playback, although many of the points aren't relevant to stills.

This looks really helpful. I will work my way through it, thanks.

I have Pro 13 and upgrading to 15 is not an option so long as these issues continue.

Could it be possible the programs don't have this problem , but you or/and your hardware have this problem.

Here working with VPro 13,14 and 15 I don't see it.
I make enormous slideshows with more than 4K resuolution, fit all to more than 2 hours of music in VMS 12,13 or 14 with the slideshowmaker and open that .vf file in a Pro version to fine-tune and render with special renderoptions.
Never seen your kind of problems.

 

 

Of course, anything is possible.
My laptop is 3 years old but I got the best spec I could afford at the time.

Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) 
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB 
Memory (RAM) 32GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (4 x 8GB) 
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 880M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11 
Memory - Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW) 
2nd Hard Disk 500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW) 

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW) 
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo) 
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND  
Sound Card Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack 
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7260 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH 
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD 
Firewire 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT 
Battery Vortex 17.3" Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH

I have what could be called an ancient Dell M4500 Precision laptop with an Intel 820QM 1.73 ghz quad core processor (4 physical and 4 virtual cores), Quadro FX 880M 1GB GPU and 16GB RAM on WIndows 10 Pro - running both Vegas Pro 13 and Premiere Pro CS6 - I dont' have any lag problems so it's more than likely a driver and/or bottle neck someplace in your post workflow - I did replace my spinning boot HD with an SSD for boot and apps and that made a night and day difference. I'm eventually going to find an older, but more current laptop eventually.

Given your hardware specs, I'm left scratching my head as to why you're having issues...

I have been running a Core2Duo with spinning drives and 4gigs memory for years and have no problems at all doing slideshows with zooms and pans that are over 30 minutes long. Definitely need to check the computer setup.

Never seen your kind of problem

And to prove this statement, see a part of a slideshow I made for a backgrond visual on a big screen at my 70th birthday with VMS 14 slideshowmaker and VPro 15, where I celebrated that and my almost total recovery from the Richters Syndrome with a stem cell transplantatation that year.

 

Ok, first things first, many congrats on your recovery and I wish you continued improvement. It sort of puts my frustration about not being able to work properly in Vegas into perspective, so thanks for that!

Thank you all for the input.
It would seem that something is definitely amiss with my set-up as so many of you have no issues with similar specs.
I did make a mistake in my post though. When I reduced the PNG filesizes to less than 1MB, I pointed Vegas to the wrong folder (of course I kept all my originals!) so it wasn't playing the smaller files. I have corrected that and it now works so that I can edit, but it is still nowhere near how it should be.
It still lags.
In the video you can see that when I play it normally, the preview is slightly behind the beat. When I click in the timeline and play just that section, the image changes exactly on the beat, as I want it to.

My settings:

I would set dynamic RAM on 200 MB (default) or more and see if that helps.

To cut on the beat, I listen to the music and press the m-key like a drummer with every beat. This creates a marker on which the cut can be placed.

I would set dynamic RAM on 200 MB (default) or more and see if that helps.

To cut on the beat, I listen to the music and press the m-key like a drummer with every beat. This creates a marker on which the cut can be placed.

Thanks, but as you can see in the video I already set the markers on the beats, that is not the issue. Also, how would setting a max on the dynamic RAM help?

Also, how would setting a max on the dynamic RAM help?

Because it is 200 MB more than your setting.
You have to try yourself what suitesd you the best for type of workflow on your hardware.
Try o, 200 (the default Vegas use) or more and test these different settings.
What gives the best edit and preview you have to choose.
The amount of Dynamic RAM Preview is used from your total RAM memory and is for each user and type of hardware different for the best results..

 

Thanks, but isn't the dynamic RAM Preview setting a MAXIMUM setting? It seems logical that leaving it on "0" would mean I am not setting any limitations on the preview. Maybe I have misunderstood and of course it won't hurt to try it.
I have just updated to the latest NVIDIA driver and it wouldn't play my .veg file at all. I re-imported the images into a clean Vegas and it works fine now, but still only with the low quality PNGs. At least I can work now but something still isn't right.

As I understand leaving it at Zero means it is not using any RAM preview. I could be wrong. I run mine at 200