Programmed Pause?

miketruly wrote on 8/29/2004, 6:17 PM

I am wondering if Vegas has the ability somehow to have programmed pauses in a timeline?

In other words, I would like to play the timeline then when the cursor reaches a programmed marker I want the playback to pause and wait for interaction from the user (such as the user hitting the spacebar or other key). When the user hits the appropriate key, the playback continues until it reaches the next programmed marker where it pauses again, etc.

Is there some means in Vegas to make this happen? I am currently using Vegas 4.0e.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Mike Truly

Comments

JasonMurray wrote on 8/29/2004, 8:17 PM

It sounds like you're trying to output an interactive video ... which is something Vegas isn't intended to do (unless its possible via a plugin or something, which I doubt, as its likely not a part of a video file's specification)

What you'll need to do is take the output file(s) and put 'em into some kind of application framework that knows what file to play and when.

Spot|DSE wrote on 8/29/2004, 8:18 PM

By creating a region, and playing/beginning playback inside that region, Vegas will stop at that region point. If yo umake it a looping region, it will play to the end, and then
A region is indicated by the grey bar you create when you click/drag across an empty space in the Timeline or in the marker bar. A looping region is the same thing, except indicated by a blue color.
This won't affect playback after it's rendered, if you're looking for a pause following playback on a tape or DVD...won't happen. That's done in your DVD tool

stormstereo wrote on 8/30/2004, 4:14 AM

Sounds like you want to do an interactive multimedia CD here, or a PowerPoint presentation. If so, render the file normally and author the interaction in the appropriate software. Autoplay Media Studio is a good start or Director or perhaps Powerpoint. Tell us more about the purpose.

Best/Tommy

miketruly wrote on 8/30/2004, 5:52 AM

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

I'm well aware of how to accomplish this with an authored DVD for example but I was hoping that there might be a function within Vegas for doing this directly on the timeline. Authoring a DVD will add many hours of complex setup that I was hoping to avoid but it looks like it will be unavoidable.

This application is for a live awards show. I create animations with the employee faces and after the animations show the faces they must pause and wait while the award is received. Then, at the push of a button, the next animation must play then pause at the appropriate point and wait for the next button press, etc.

I've been doing this for years and in recent years have been authoring DVDs to accomplish this. Prior to that I was using a DPS Perception board to play the animations. It had a scripter program where I could program what clips to play and when to pause and what button to advance, etc.

I was hoping Vegas mght have some pausing or scriptiing functionality that would do this. As you can see, if this simple functionality was added to a timeline marker, I'd be all set. Guess it's one for the wishlist!

Thanks!

Mike Truly

stormstereo wrote on 8/31/2004, 2:07 AM

An experiment: Extend the last frame of every event a few seconds by dragging the end of it. Make sure it does not loop by right clicking and uncheck loop under Switches. Place the events after one another on the timeline. Then place a marker on the first frame of every event. When you reach the freeze frames in any event you can hit Return/Enter (not spacebar) in order to pause. When it's time for the next animation, hold down Ctrl and hit the right arrow key. The marker will jump to the start of the next event. Then you immediately hit return again to make it play.
Repeat.

Not beautiful I know but it's something...

A way to make it smoother is to let the events fade to black before you pause them and place the markers one frame before the next event. You can use the Fade To Color Envelope on the Video Bus Track (ctrl+shift+B) to do this. A bit nicer.

If Vegas stutters a bit on playback (it shouldn't) by using the Video Bus Track as suggested, just render out every event with a fade to black at the end. Then use these fresh clips unaltered in a new project and place markers one frame before each even starts to help you navigate.

Best/Tommy