I'm not totally opposed to spending money, but this is a one-time need and it seems like something that would be trivial to do with a script. Or is that not the case? If a script can do this, where would I look for info? Thanks.

--Ethan

To just quickly get it done, Excalibur has a 15 day free trial. So you could just install it and get it done quickly. Just use the "strobe light" tool on the VideoFX tab to keep the one frame and delete the 58 frames. Then use the "gap/overlap" tool on the timeline tab to remove the 58 frame gaps.

Thanks, I may download the demo. And maybe I'll find enough other goodies to justify the purchase. :->) Just to confirm, Excalibur works with Vegas 6 as well as later versions, yes? I'm still on Vegas version 6, but plan to upgrade eventually after a few more of the fatal bugs are fixed.

Also, I found a script that claims:

* Delete n frames from start of event, and then
move all events to the left by n frames.

It's second in the list here:

http://library.creativecow.net/articles/vegas_scripts.html

I looked at changing it to delete starting at the cursor instead of from the start of the clip. Then I could put the cursor between the first and second frame of my long clip, and repeatedly invoke the script. But I just don't know Javascript well enough to figure out how to do that. This seems like such an obvious need, I'm surprised there aren't a dozen such scripts already!

--Ethan

You actually need to use the "split" command to cut off the first "x" frames. It's possible to delete from the front and back without using the "split" command.

The current version of Excalibur needs Vegas Pro 8 or 9. However, you can still get versions for Vegas Pro 5, 6, and 7 here:
http://www.jetdv.com/excalibur55/multicam.php

Can't you just hold the control key then grab the tail end of the clip and move it towards the beginning and not even bother with a script?

Ethan, The full version of Ultimate S Pro 4 works with Vegas 6, 7, Pro 8 & 9. It also has a 15-day free trial. The function you are looking for is on the Editing Tools tab under Image Sequence. It will allow you to capture an image sequence at markers, for a fixed count, or at intervals which is what you want to do. Just set the interval to capture every 2 minutes and it will capture only those frames to make 30 minutes into 30 seconds. Then import them into Vegas with the import image sequence option and you have a time-lapse video.

~jr

> Can't you just hold the control key then grab the tail end of the clip and move it
> towards the beginning and not even bother with a script?

Yes, but that gives a maximum of only 4x speedup, and I wanted at least 30x and higher. (I ended up using 60x for one clip.) You can also use a Velocity Envelope to get another 3x = 12x total, but that's still not enough to squeeze a half-hour sunrise or sunset down to only 20-30 seconds.

JR, I'm not opposed to buying a product, and I also tried Excalibur. In the end I found a great technique in another video forum, and wrote it up as a detailed tutorial to help newbies and others. I mentioned this last week in the main Vegas forum, and here's the link again:



--Ethan

I just did this with Ultimate-S Pro: exporting as an image sequence every sixth of a second then importing the image sequence:

http://vimeo.com/13644148

^^^ Nice job. But how'd they get the rows to be so straight? :->)

--Ethan

They have a system down for laying out straight rows. They use strings for the first rows, then measuring sticks made with PVC pipe to get the exact spacing.

I asked them to do it two more times so that I could get more angles, but they just laughed at me. ;-)

I love your multi-track cello piece by the way. Anything new?