Regions, adjacent clips and Auto Overlap reversed

GreenMachine wrote on 4/23/2008, 10:06 PM

Hi all. Slight headache here.

My workflow makes heavy use of batch render. I typically drop a few dozen clips into the time-line, apply regions to each one, set a global filter on the time line and run my batch. Sounds easy. right?

The problem is that when regions are applied to adjacent clips, the end of one region and the beginning of the next literally share the same frame. Thus the second clip will always have a short segment of the first clip at the beginning.

There are manual solutions to this problem: adjust the second region start for each clip or move the clips apart from each other by hand. I'd really like to be able to just drag and drop however, especially if I need to re-insert the same clips into into saved regions but as different file types. I don't want to have to hand-place each one again.

I thought of being sneaky and adjusting the Automatic Overlap to a negative number, but alas it only accepts positive numbers. Any other way to auto-separate dropped clips?

Thanks.

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 4/23/2008, 10:22 PM

I think there is something wrong with your preferences. When you drop clips on the timeline, they should exactly touch each other, with no overlap, and no gaps. If you then double-click on an event, and press "R," you should get a region surrounding that event/clip. If you do the same thing to the next event, that region should have absolutely no overlap or gap with the previous region, and there should definitely not be any frame in common between the two.

Here are some things to check:

1. Make sure before you drop any files on the timeline that the project properties match exactly the properties of the files you are adding. If those files are 30 fps, and your project properties are 29.97, then you may have problems.

2. Make sure your edit preferences are set for zero overlap.

3. If all else fails, you can run the Quantize to Frames script after dropping the files on the timeline, but before you add the regions. Here's a link to that script:

Butting Clips Removes Fades

You might want to read through the other posts in that thread because I think the nature of that problem is quite similar to what you are experiencing.

GreenMachine wrote on 4/23/2008, 11:38 PM

Thanks for the response John. That thread was interesting regarding framerates. I download the script and tried it. After doing a dozen tests, though it seems like that is not the problem.

The problem is Quicktime. Every other format I render in is fine. I'm doing tests right now. Strangely, I can get the default QT 3Mbs version working fine, but the 100kbs test renders and my Hi-Res 1080i PhotoJPEG preset are both showing the error.

I'll do somemore tests and try to narrow down the culprit. It doesn't seem to be the frame rate. Perhaps the compression.

GreenMachine wrote on 4/24/2008, 12:22 AM

Yep, it was the framerate. I changed my preset's framerate to 29.97002997 (or 29.970030 since it rounds up) and it worked like a charm. I'll try setting the Properties in my files as well.

Thanks alot for the help. I'll try to pass it forward.

johnmeyer wrote on 4/24/2008, 9:31 AM

The correct number can be obtained by entering, to the maximum number of decimals possible, the results of this calculation:

30 * (1000/1001)

The trouble is, some codecs, editors, and people round off this result or simply enter 29.97, with nothing but zeros after the .97.

You have to hand it to the Vegas engineers for giving us a program that deals with different codecs, framerates, aspect ratios, etc. and does the right thing under so many circumstances. However, as you have found, in this free-for-all video world, there are certain combinations that will cause slight problems. Fortunately, once the underlying problem is understood, Vegas usually lets you fix things pretty simply.

GreenMachine wrote on 4/29/2008, 11:29 AM

Well, I spoke too soon. The problem is not fixed.

By changing the frame rate to 29.970030, I only shifted the extra frame to the end of the clip instead of the beginning.

29.970029 = Shows the last frame of the region preceding the clip
29.970030 = Shows the first frame of the region following the clip

Since Vegas rounds up, there is no middle ground here. The project properties do not allow for custom frame rates.

Any ideas?

GreenMachine wrote on 4/29/2008, 11:57 AM

Ahh, nevermind.

This is an interlacing issue. I reset the project properties to a non-progressive setting and it seems to have solved the problem, for now.