TIP - Still caps from Vegas timeline

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 8/1/2006, 2:54 PM

I wish they would/could make it so that it would just simply make a still that is the same size as the project regardless of the display size(if you have a 2048x2048 project and make a frame grab but your display window is showing only 1024x1024 - then you will only get a 1024x1024 image).

Dave

johnmeyer wrote on 8/1/2006, 4:43 PM

I wish they would/could make it so that it would just simply make a still that is the same size as the project regardless of the display size

Yes, quick give me one reason why I would EVER want to capture at LESS than the project resolution. Oh yeah, who needs the all those pixels? Oh my gosh 720x480 takes up soooo much space.

I've made the suggestion many times (directly to Sony, via the suggestion box) that this be changed. Let's see what we get in Vegas 7 ...

Coursedesign wrote on 8/1/2006, 10:58 PM

Still caps in a 720x480 project result in 655x480 stills.

An 720x480 NTSC frame is equivalent to a 655x480 "Photoshop frame" (square pixels as used for stills).

Still, amen to getting full res on the stills. It seems they are taking a shortcut to the stills by just pulling the pixels from the display buffer. Shouldn't be hard to do correctly.

skinned_knee wrote on 8/15/2006, 10:05 PM

I have video of a thunderstorm that caught a lightning strike. I wanted to grab that single frame that has the strike, but the only way I have found to do this is in the preview window - and then the image is the size of the preview window (not the size of the video) Changing the size of the preview window to "full-best" or whatever it's called, results in an image that looks like every other line is missing... Bummer...

This appears to be one place that "my old editing software" is going to have Vegas beat. It was a very simple matter of grabbing a frame from the video and saving it as .jpg or .bmp. It was cool to be able to grab the last frame from a clip, add that image back to the project, and give the effect of a moment frozen in time.

skinned_knee wrote on 8/15/2006, 10:07 PM

I just realized this is in the Vegas forum, not the Movie Studio forum - do they handle this task differently?

rmack350 wrote on 8/15/2006, 10:44 PM

Vegas just gives you what's in the frame buffer. If it's an interlaced frame then that's what you get. There are scripts that will automate changing your project template to progressive, grab the snap, then change it back. Seems cludgy to me. There ought to be a way to configure the still capture behavior so that it automatically switches to full rez and deinterlaced if that's what you want.

Rob Mack

skinned_knee wrote on 8/16/2006, 8:22 PM

After reading a little more in the manual (duh!) I see where it is possible to freeze the last frame in a clip to stretch it out like I described, but that doesn't help a situation where you want a .jpg of that frame.

rmack350 wrote on 8/17/2006, 6:32 PM

The normal Vegas method is to grab a still and use it as your freeze. It's not the best way to do it because the still normally gets converted from 720x480, but it's easy.

Don't know about Studio, but in Vegas you have the option of either saving a file or saving the buffer on the clipboard. The snag is that the preview window needs to be set to "Good/Full" (or "Best/full" if you are resizing media at that point).

You can save a file as jpeg or png, with the later being the best choice. Vegas will downsize the frame to 654x480 to make it have a square pixel aspect ratio, or if you are already working in a square format it'll leave the pixels alone (or so I hear).

What you are seeing is interlacing. You can either temporarily change the Vegas template to progressive while you save your stills, which should apply deinterlacing, or you can deinterlace in photoshop. There is a Vegas script available that handles switching the template for you. It's pretty handy.

Personally, I think that the still capture feature should be user configurable, should automatically switch vegas to best/full, and there should be some method for Vegas to set/detect the PAR of a still. What is Photoshop doing? I think they just set a meta tag in the file to set the par.

Rob Mack

gordyboy wrote on 8/18/2006, 1:48 AM

quote <The normal Vegas method is to grab a still and use it as your freeze. It's not the best way to do it because the still normally gets converted from 720x480, but it's easy.>

Sounds too much like hard work to me. I would right-click to convert the required clip to a sub-clip, then de-select 'loop' in the switches menu and then drag out the clip for as long as you want your freeze frame.

Avoids all the messing about with capture, preview settings and frame sizes.

Still, as we all know, there are many ways to achieve what you want in Vegas so whatever works for you.

Cheers

gb

xog1 wrote on 8/18/2006, 8:01 AM

Why not use a velocity envelope?

xog

rs170a wrote on 8/18/2006, 8:15 AM

quote <The normal Vegas method is to grab a still and use it as your freeze. It's not the best way to do it because the still normally gets converted from 720x480, but it's easy.>

Look for a script called snapshot to file. It does everything for you automatically (switches to best/full, progressive & deinterlace) and reverts back to normal settings when done. I just finished using it several times on a current project and am very happy with it.

Mike

MichaelS wrote on 8/18/2006, 8:29 AM

Mike,

Where can I find an "updated version" of this script? All my searches return older V4 versions.

Thanks!

rs170a wrote on 8/18/2006, 8:41 AM

There's a collection of updated scripts on this site, including the one I referred to.

If you don't want to do that, all you need to do is change one line in the script.
Open it (using Notepad) and change the line that says import SonicFoundry.Vegas to import Sony.Vegas
Then resave it (select All Files in the Save as type box to keep the .js extension) and you're done.

Mike

rmack350 wrote on 8/18/2006, 10:17 AM

That's a great idea and wasn't possible before the advent of subclips. The idea then would be to make a subclip of a single frame?

So, trying it out:
--find the point you want and split there
--Convert the clip to a sublip
--turn off it's loop switch (which causes it to hold on the last frame when you drag out that end)
--Drag it out.

Yeah, definitely faster. And it's actually the first situation I've seen where I would want a subclip to have a hard ending, rather than being able to drag it out and see the additional original media.

The media100 use for subclips (and what I was advocating when we were all asking for the feature) is to create a new pool event with specific events attached to it, like color correction, reverse motion, speed change, Freeze frame, etc. Most of the time m100 doesn't lock off the end of the subclip.

Vegas turned out to implement it differently, which was kind of annoying for those who already had a way of using subclips.

Rob Mack

rmack350 wrote on 8/18/2006, 10:19 AM

Yes, I was vaguely referring to that in the post. Thanks for the link!

Rob

Earl_J wrote on 8/20/2006, 11:00 AM

Please excuse me for jumping in...
I'd like to provide a perspective that may not have been considered just yet.
I work in a history office at Fort Bragg, NC. I have recently begun to offer our collections of images, documents, and digital artifacts in digital form to those who contribute their collections for publication in our books and magazines.
#1 - When I import an digital image, I want it to come in at full resolution to permit me to focus (pan/crop) to the point in that full resolution image to provide as clear an image at the correct resolution as possible. This provides me the ability to pan/zoom across a panoramic image at my discretion - I certainly do not want the program to guess at the resolution or crop point when I post it on the timeline.
#2 - Similarly, when I pull an image from a video provided to me in digital form, I also want that still image to come to me in as full a resolution as that video can provide. If any trimming, cropping, or resolution corrections need to be made, I'd like to make them myself.
Now, if the program is designed to provide me the opportunity to adjust those items before I post something on the timeline *or* when I create a still image from a video event, that would be fine. At this time, importing full resolution images and creating full resolution images from video events isn't a problem for me. As I said, I work in a history office and we desire full resolution for the best clarity and alternatives for use in our publications.
#3 - In the military, Powerpoint is the standard. On occasion, we have the opportunity to design powerpoint presentations to veteran associations and groups. I recently pondered the question posed by our senior historian - how do we give these viewers something special for their previous service and sacrifice. Enter Vegas. If you often do powerpoint shows for any reason, perhaps these techniques might come in handy for you.
a. Create your slide show in Vegas... make each slide of sufficient length to be easily selected from a medium view of the timeline... they may be on separate tracks if you desire... import maps, charts, schematics, blueprints, block diagrams, and the like in full resolution <larger than the viewing area.
b. Use a two monitor view from Windows... place the video preview on the larger screen that all the viewers will see... the menus and tools stay hidden on the primary monitor.
c. Place any generated media you want on certain sections of the images - to be selected by you when the time is right. With Vegas, you click on the image you want and it instantly shows without having to scroll through previous slides - or hunting for it on the left side of the ppt menu... the images are there for you to see right on the time line...
d. Here is the point where Vegas leaves ppt in the dust... if you zoom out on those larger than life block diagrams and such before you begin, when you get to those slides - the viewers will strain their eyes to read what's there - here's where you select pan/zoom from the video clip and zoom in on the specific spot you want to discuss... the viewers see the image zoom and pan in real time! For example, I present a shot of the entire Korean peninsula... as the historian speaks of Chang To on the eastern coast in North Korea, I zoom in and pan to the city and it comes into clear focus as he speaks... then he speaks of Pusan near the southern tip of South Korea, once again I pan slowly across the entire region and rest on the city of Pusan... PowerPoint can't do that... and that gives us the bang that most people don't see in a slide show... Ken Burns continues to live in the Vegas slide show!

Prior to the begining of the presentation and talk ... I can select a region of interest to all and run it as a loop - with or without its own music...

Give it a try - you'll bury your copy of PowerPoint... well, at least take it off the quick launch bar... <grin>

Until that time...

Aloha y'all... Earl J.