Project templates selected by footage or target?

ingvarai wrote on 5/25/2008, 4:51 AM
Is there a general rule / advice for which project template to use?
This scenario:

I have a lot of footage, all from the same source.
I add footage to the timeline, using several tracks.
*) Some of the video I add stems from another project, because I sometimes compile (render) some scenes to a singe event, making it easier to add effects and transitions.

I want to publish this on a DVD, on YouTube and so on.
What do you do yourself? What project template is the best to use?

Now, to make it even more complicated, let us say my main project is based on recordings made by a new HDV camera. And that I want to mix in some recordings I have on old VHS tapes. Does this change the “rules”?
What I am trying to do, as a beginner in video editing, it to gain an understanding for how the project template influences the final result. And to understand what Vegas really does when it renders video, how footages are "treated" based on the project settings.

*) See the asterix above, the question also applies to intermediate renderings I make. Maybe this is a no-no, but this is the way I am used to mix audio, I sometimes mix several clips, add effects etc. in a sub project and then process it to a single file which I later use in the main project.

Ingvar

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 5/25/2008, 5:07 AM
Yes, the general rule is to use the template that matches your output. This allows Vegas to do all it's calculations based on the final output format and make sure everything is set up properly for that. This is particularly important as you use different format source media, since you obviously can't have one set of project settings that match all of the input formats. Vegas will do it's best job fitting them all into the final output format.

When rendering to multiple output formats choose the project template that is the highest frame size. When rendering the render settings override the project settings and Vegas will redo all the calculations and conversions as appropriate to the output while rendering.
ingvarai wrote on 5/25/2008, 5:56 AM
This:

This allows Vegas to do all it's calculations based on the final output format and make sure everything is set up properly for that

somehow contradicts:
When rendering the render settings override the project settings and Vegas will redo all the calculations

I am a little confused..

Ingvar
Chienworks wrote on 5/25/2008, 6:12 AM
It's all Vegas trying to help you by doing the best it can for you.

Let's take an extreme example ... say you are working on a regular 4:3 project for DVD so you choose PAL DV. Add a title screen with the text media generator and Vegas makes it 720x576 to match the output format. Render to PAL DV and all is well. Now render to 320x240 for a web upload and Vegas will adjust the frame size to fit. It no longer uses 720x576 when rendering, but the text slide is still 720x576 so Vegas will shrink it to fit. Good enough.

Now try rendering to PAL widescreen. The shape is radically different. Vegas will resize all output to fit into the 16:9 format while it's rendering. However, since your text screen is still nearly 4:3, Vegas' best is to fit it vertically in the center of the frame leaving empty space on the sides. It does this to make sure all of your text is visible in the frame.

This shows the importance of making the project settings match the output whenever possible so that while you are editing Vegas is making appropriate decisions. It also shows that when you render you can override the project settings and Vegas will do the best it can to preserve the original material.

It also means that if you really want separate 4:3 and 16:9 outputs then it's probably best to create two separate projects.