With Vegas, "Final Render" and "Rendering my Entire Timeline" are the same thing so that's what you'll have to do to be able to see it in full res.
____________________

- So, I DO need to Render my Project to view it Full Res?
- How then do I view it on my External Monitor?
(Do I need to ReImport it into Vegas)

Please let me know your workflow for PreViewing/ReViewing your projects.

ps
Thanks for this info. It is a HUGE Help.

You can Render to new track (under the Tools menu - follow the prompts) and then solo it for playback.
You could also render it out as a DV-AVI to the folder of your choice and then import it into the current project or a new instance of Vegas for playback.
I usually do the former.
Having a fast computer REALLY helps doing things like this, especially when you're heavy into FX.

edit: as an example, a 10 min. project from last summer took 3 hr. to render on a P4 3.4. My new quad core did it in 27 min :-)

Mike

Under Tools you'll find Preview in Player Ctrl+Shift+M. I have this command set to a single Wacom tablet button.

What it does is instantly start rendering the entire timeline (or whatever you choose to highlight) into a WMV player at full size (1280x720 Cineform 24fps) without having to enter any values and it starts playing back as soon as it finishes rendering -- you can save it later if you wish. The rendering goes faster than realtime and I can watch it on my Preview window. The quality is super (Best Full) and I do this many times a day -- hassle free onto a third, full size monitor.

Select a loop region if only interested in a small section, or the entire timeline if desired, then click Tools >> Selectively Prerender.

Vegas will create temporary render files for anything that needs it -- you will see a little blue bar at the top of the screen for areas of the timeline that have been pre-rendered.

I don't recall for certain, but I think if working with DV project and DV source, it might pre-render only sections where effects or crossfades, etc., modify the output compared to the source video. For stretches where nothing touches the video source, it might just play back from the source file directly.

"Selective" part of the pre-render -- if you make a little change to one crossfade, for example, and then do Tools >> Selectively Pre-render, then it will re-render only the area that you changed. Big timesaver -- it still has the pre-rendered files for everything else.

Tim L

I learn something new every day !!
Thanks very much to Tim & Paul for those suggestions.
I now have more tools to add to my Vegas arsenal :-)

Mike

NICE!
I knew it was possible!
______________

Tools >> Selectively Prerender <-- seems like what I'm looking for!
- Where are these files saved?
- Can I select the location? (I definitely don't want them on my System Drive)

Preview in Player Ctrl+Shift+M <-- could be used when not connected to an NTSC Monitor but doesn't seem as flexible as Tools >> Selectively Prerender.

Render to New Track <-- could be used when not connected to an NTSC Monitor but stil doesn't seem as flexible as Tools >> Selectively Prerender.
______________

These are the types of things I beat myself up with when others are comparing Vegas, FCP, PP, & Avid. They say Vegas is NOT Professional because it can't __________. Thank you guys for helping to eliminate another "because it can't" for me/us.

Tools >> Selectively Prerender <-- seems like what I'm looking for!

In your "temp" folder.

Go change all your folders under both File - Properties and Options - Preferences.

The location for selective prerenders is set in your prefs. These files don't get very informative names and aren't all that useful by themselves. These do something very similar to Premiere's prerendering but you don't really quite get as much feedback as Premiere gives you.

You can choose the render format to use for the prerenders. For at least some formats, if the prerender format is the same as the timeline media then Vegas can just skip the prerender in those regions. For instance, DV will only render where it needs it. Try it out in a test project and you'll see what I mean.

There is a caveate to this that has often been a complaint. Vegas prerenders the timeline, not the content of the timeline. For example, if you put one clip on the timeline, do color correction, prerender, and then move the clip to another location on the timeline, you lose the prerender. This is because the prerender was of a region of the timeline, not the clip on the timeline.

It sounds like a small thing but it means that prerenders are blown away with every ripple edit.

This could affect the way you edit. For instance, you might want to for-go color correction until you're done with the basic cut, especially if the client is watching, because you don't want to have to keep doing prerenders, and because what prerenders you do should be quick.

Rob Mack

jetdv - Thanks! I just changed my locations to my Media Drive. By default it is pointing to the System Drive.

rmack350 - I just witnessed the 'Disappearing PreRender' on Ripple. That Truly Does Suck!
_______________

Another thing I dislike about this feature is... I have to wait for the PreRendered Video File to Finish before it considers itself PreRendered. I am used to being able to Cancel a Timeline Render and still having the files that were complete up to the point of Cancel being there. With Vegas, if I Cancel; NONE of the PreRendered File exists. Looks like it does it in Chunks instead of by Frames.

But... this has gotten me soooo much further than I was so I'm not complaining.

- Funny thing is... I believe I was involved in a discussion a few versions back about this same feature. I had gotten so used to working in Draft Quality and Dropping Frames that I forgot how useful it is... that is until I had gotten used to doing it in FCP, Avid, & PP.

It's not quite the same... but it does what I need it to do.

You're right, it's all or nothing. However, you could select smaller regions to prerender.

I *think* PPro also does chunks, but am in the middle of stuff so it's not a good time for me to check.

It'd be nice if Vegas could hang onto prerenders but I suppose that gets a little sticky when you're not specific about what formats are on the timeline or what the final output is going to be. Vegas is a generalist.

Two things to write in as product suggestions: An option to save all the prerenders done so far when you cancel the prerender job, and prerenders should ripple along with the rest of the timeline.

Rob