Streamlining PIP process... ideas?

ken c wrote on 9/1/2005, 11:04 AM

Anybody have any tips on how to make hundreds of PIP shots easier to manage in V4?

Here's a screencap w/text I took:

http://megaseminar.com/pipmanagement.gif

My challenge is, I'm combining 2 cam shots with hundreds of brief (10-20 second) pips of the speaker, against the slide/seminar background.

It's a hassle to have to cut and paste each diamond point for the original full screen shot, then the pip, then the second pip close and back-to-full screen diamond points on the timeline...

since I'll have hundreds of these pips, in 14+ hours of footage to edit.. any tips on making that process easier?

much appreciated if anyone cares to share any "Vegas pip editing tips" ....

thx,

Ken

Comments

Liam_Vegas wrote on 9/1/2005, 11:11 AM

I think I just experienced the same "issue"... and I did not manage to find a real easy way to do it.

What I wanted was some script that would create the track-motion keyframes - at the cursor position for a selected track. Unfortunately I believe that scripts cannot interact with Track Motion keyframes.

It may be possible however to do this using Pan/Crop. I prefer to do PIP with Track/Motion... I recall experiencing some issues when using Pan/Crop to do this....

ken c wrote on 9/1/2005, 11:23 AM

agree... scripts would be helpful, but since everything's custom, re pip length of time, and even where they occur, it can't be automated...

I probably need to just find some good vegas video editors to help w/this and future seminar dvd projects...

idea: sony should have a classified type "video editors for hire" board here, or at least on DMN, somewhere, with references, like scriptlance/elance ...

that's a great idea too, one of you should start a "videolance" type site for video editors/cameramen...

ken

Liam_Vegas wrote on 9/1/2005, 11:30 AM

agree... scripts would be helpful, but since everything's custom, re pip length of time, and even where they occur, it can't be automated...

Yes... although my suggestion was for a script that merely inserts the two keyframes you need at the cursor position... then move to the point where you need to insert the next keyframes and another script adds those. You would need a way to "save" the keyframes for the script. If track-motion WAS accessible via scripting I would have looked at doing this myself for my last project - just doing that would have saved me a lot of time.

I probably need to just find some good vegas video editors to help w/this and future seminar dvd projects...

I think you have my details Ken... :-)

ken c wrote on 9/1/2005, 12:02 PM

thanks, terrific idea... right re inserting k/f pairs would be a time-saver.. or a script that say does an (n second) PIP at (x/y coordinates) for (ns seconds total)...

hey pls send details again (sorry) I get about a bajillion emails/day..

ken

biggles wrote on 9/1/2005, 4:04 PM

Have you looked at the PIP options within Excalibur?

It doesn't offer the option of coordinates, but does allow you to nominate 'Centre, Lower Centre, Upper Right... etc' as well as percentage size and border style.

Wayne

JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/1/2005, 10:27 PM

> right re inserting k/f pairs would be a time-saver.. or a script that say does an (n second) PIP at (x/y coordinates) for (ns seconds total)...

How about a script that allows you to make a selection and the press a button and get a PIP in the size you want in the corner you want with all four keyframes set? I just created one for you and added it to the VASST Freeware page on the VASST Web Site. Look for the PIP Selection script. Enjoy,

~jr

biggles wrote on 9/1/2005, 10:53 PM

Woo Hoo - you are amazing John!

I downloaded that one straight away!

jetdv wrote on 9/2/2005, 7:05 AM

I worked with Ken yesterday and we developed a script personalized to his needs. It is based on the PIP tools from Excalibur but uses a selection area as the boundry to be "pip'd". The big catch in Ken's case when writing a script is that he's still on Vegas 4.

Udi wrote on 9/2/2005, 8:18 AM

If you have a few PIP locations, then an alternate way is to create a track for each PIP location.
Then use split and move the clip up/down to the correct track.
I found that it easier to fix and re-edit and you can easily find the PIP events.
Also, in my case, it was easier to change the PIP location and not fixing all the KFs.

Udi

Liam_Vegas wrote on 9/2/2005, 9:34 AM

If you have a few PIP locations, then an alternate way is to create a track for each PIP location. Then use split and move the clip up/down to the correct track.

I've certainly done that sort of PIP transition before... but I prefer the effect of making the PIP transition from/to full screen over time. For that you've got to keyframe.

ken c wrote on 9/2/2005, 10:09 AM

Thx so much everyone, Edward & John and others... it's the first time I've ever worked with PIPs, and since the goal is a 12-14 DVD set with 12+ hours of finalized footage, all w/intermittent PIPs, I'm trying to get a head start on doing it with less detail work.

I'll try out the scripts to see how they work and report back... I have a -fun- weekend ahead... :p Thx for the kind teamwork and generosity - super forum here.

ken