Thanks!
I do though want to be more specific, so that I don't have to scratch my head too much.

> render out to all the codec's you want
I do not know what codecs I want!
I want to be led by the hand, from the day my footages are recorded and till my video is ready to be watched on this or that media.

Juts an example - there are diverse opinions about how to use AVCHD, some use it as is, some convert it to AVI, some use a deinterlacer some do this and some do that. And all this even before the real work in Vegas has started.

When enough people have done this, my belief is that eventually some major workflows / workpaths have emerged. Yes, I know people disagree, but at least one would have 1-3 workflows to choose from, and I can myself find out what suits me best.

What I wish for is something like this:

1. Load your footages into application A
2. Render the footages to format X, using settings n1 and n2
3. Load the clips into application B
4. Set the project settings to xa and xb
5. Render subclips to use in the final render using codec zz
6. Build the final render using codec yy
7. Export to DVD architect using codec qq
8. Use application C to generate Flash files for streaming

I can as well compile such a workflow myself, based on advice in this forum, I just thought maybe it already has been done..

ingvarai

a lot of it depends on exactly what you have, plus what SPECIFICALLY what you want. I know there's a TON of threads on youtube (and other) rendering, do a quick search, many have explained it better then I can.

But basicly, I was pretty specifc, minus you filling in the blanks of what you're using.
*capture footage (regardless of what you use)

You need to know how to do that on your own, but if it's a drive based camera you (from what I've read) crop/drag the clips to where you want to store them. I only use tapes so I use vidCap or Vegas's HD capture utility.

*use trimmer to cut out what you want from the larger clips & place on timeline.

No need to re-render anything if you use the trimmer. Just put a clip in there, mark the in/out points & put on the timeline. Simple! :D Takes getting used to though.

*Make regions of the areas you want to render

AFTER you do all your editing (again, that's all up to you), make a selection of an area you want to render. Hit "R" & it will make a region. It will let you name it (you don't need to). Repeat until all the areas you want to render out are regioned. If you only want 1 area that's fine.

*use the "render regions" script to render out to all the codec's you want (I use quicktime/windows media for youtube). Render a DV AVI or uncompressed/huffy AVI for the flash.

This part too depends on what you're final destination is. People can give you specific things to use if they know specifically what you want the results to be.

EDIT: I charge people to be let by hand. :D

TheHappyFriar
This part too depends on what you're final destination is. People can give you specific things to use if they know specifically what you want the results to be.

Ok, I will try to explain again what I am after (again :-) and try to use better words. I hope for a blog spot, an interactive database front-end or whatever, that builds upon as many Vegas users' experience as possible, the combined results of efforts / experiments / practices people have had. It would be nice if all of this would crystallize out to some generic rules of "best practices". Yes - best practices is probably the right word.

Currently, I have one particular task:
Source: AVCHD fottages
Target: DVD for PAL TV

To some extent I use prerendered clips on my main timeline, if you understand. These clips are prerendered as separate projects, due to complexity and effects etc. So I also wonder what format to use for these "intermediate" clips.

I already hear different opinions on this. Some would use the AVCHD footages as they are, others would use a 3rd party codec and transform them to AVI, with a certain encoding to save space ("since Vegas is slow when using AVCHD as the raw source"). Some would use a deinterlacer "because..." and some would frown upon it.

Do you get me? What a "best practices" service could offer was the most common denominator, and hopefully compile 1,2 or 3 of the most preferred work paths.

If Sony Creative Software does not have this, it is tempting to make such a service :-)

ingvarai

now I get you! You're making something along the lines of a "how to do X and Y in vegas" site, and you want to start with A & wind up with B to use as examples/recommendations on methods.

For what you're asking, what I have done over the years is render to a project to DV AVI or Huffy DV AVI (if it's SD) & use that in a final project. I normally would do part of a project, save, render a specific part & while rendering open up a new instance of Vegas, load the project & keep working. When I'm all done with the smaller parts being rendered, I put it all in a final project for any "finishing touches". for my HD I use HDV renders (mpeg-2, 1440x1080 or whatever) for the final project.

For anything that will be handled in a 3rd party program (ie blender, cinegobs, etc) I render to either Huffy or Uncompressed AVI (Huffy because it's ~1/ the size of uncompressed but looses no quality, both can contain alpha channels), PNG if I'm going to be editing individual frames. I then render from there to Huffy or Uncompressed again (png's don't need to be rendered if I already saved them) & put in to Vegas.

I do this for the least amount of loss per generation. Vegas also seems to render to mpeg-2 a little faster from uncompressed/huffy vs other compressions, so it's a trade off between HD space (which I have a lot of) vs time. *IF* I'm going from HD to DV I deinterlace depending on what I'm doing with the footage: if I'm editing in a graphics program, mixing it with 3d noninterlaced is easiest.

TheHappyFriar:
now I get you! You're making something along the lines of a "how to do X and Y in vegas" site, and you want to start with A & wind up with B to use as examples/recommendations on methods.

Yes :-))
Huffy.. what I found was 5 years old.. I need something for my 64 bit Vista. I found "Lagarith", which has a 64 bit version and claims to be better than Huffy. But I doubt that I will use it, since I saw no speed improvement over using the original AVCHD footages directly on the time line, on the contrary, it was slower when used on the time line in Vegas compared to my m2ts original files.
As you now see, my "best practices" forum would have been invaluable :-)

Currently, I need to make a decision about this:
Should I use my AVCHD fottages as they are, or should I convert them to another format before I start compiling my "show"? And what about the "intermediate clips", maybe I can use AVI for those, although the file size is HUGE even for a few minutes recording.

ingvarai

huffy's old but it should still work. For intermediate's your not really worried about speed as you are quality. Two things will slow down a video file: uncompressing & throughput. Your AVCHD's are slow because they're highly compressed & must be uncompressed. Huffy's are slow because your disc/cpu/etc. can't keep up with the data throughput. Normally when you're rendering the uncompressing & recompressing will take longer then reading the data off the disc & compressing.

I'd keep your avchd's the way they are unless you NEED them to be something else.