Mark,

It may sound and look hard, but It's easy when you know how. Setup the FX and then adjust the timing. I will start from the beginning so others may see the procedure.

Setup track one first and call it V1a. You can use a simple solid color form the media generator tab. Later you will replace the solid color with your video as a Video Only Take.

Place the timeline cursor at the start, use Track Motion for sizing and positioning the track for your quad layout. Simple math makes it easy by typing in the correct numbers and settings in the left column of Track Motion. For DV NTSC, under Position set W= 360 x H= 240 for size and X= -180 and Y= 120 for position. Later, you should be able to figure out the other three tracks from this example. Under Keyframe, set Smoothness to zero and Type as Hold. Turn on Sync Cursor at the bottom by the timeline.

Click once on the first Keyframe to select it and then hold down Control and drag that KF to the right to create a copy. Do this two more times so you have four KFs and keep some space in between so we can add one more KF later. These will be KF1, KF2, KF3 and KF5 when we finish. You will adjust their timings later.

Now click on KF3 and then right click in the Track Motion preview window area. A menu pops up and you select Restore Box. This makes KF3 return to a full size frame. Control drag KF3 to create KF4.

There are now five KFs that are all set as Hold. Right click on KF2 and make it a Smooth type (or whatever you like for motion) and do the same for KF4.

KF1 holds the quad position until it reaches KF2 in time. KF3 makes it zoom out and Hold until KF4 in time. KF5 returns it back to the quad position. Close the Track Motion window.

Right click on the track 1 header and select Duplicate three times to create tracks 2, 3 and 4. You can right click and drag/drop new solid colors as Takes on each event to help see the quad better. Rename the new tracks V2a, V3a and V4a.

You now have to adjust KF1, KF2 and KF5 on V2a, V3a and V4a to have the proper position of X and Y to make your quad layout correct. On track 2, adjust Track Motion for KF1 for its new X and Y position in the quad layout. Right click KF1 again when you have it set correctly and use Copy. Now paste that Copy into KF2 and KF5 for that event. Now change KF2 to Smooth again by right clicking on it becuase the copy made it a HOLD from KF1. Repeat for tracks 3 and 4 and you quad setup is basically done.

Now on to your question about priority. Select tracks V2a, V3a and V4a by Ctrl clicking each header area. Right click on one area when they all become highlighted and then select Duplicate. You will now have 7 tracks. Move tracks 2, 3 and 4 by dragging the headers so they are now above track V1a. We will trim these events to have priority as needed over time by dragging the event edges "with Ripple turned off". Rename these ne top tracks accordinnly as V2b, V3b and V4b.

You should now have all the tracks named and in order as (top to bottom) V2b, V3b, V4b, V1a, V2a, V3a, V4a.

Now just drag the event edges (left and right with Ripple Off) so V1a shows through first for its zoom out and back, V2b shows second, V3b shows third and V4b shows last.

Save the project as a new veg file for future use. Such as Quad layout.veg

Now, one at a time from the Media pool or Vegas Explorer, right click on your video clips you want in the quad and drop them on each event as a Video Only Take. You have to obviously do the same clips twice for the 2, 3 and 4 tracks. Or you could have done it once earlier before duplicating those tracks and moving them. But I think it's better to save the veg file with generated media in it.

On the main timeline in Vegas, you will see the keyframes below each track event. Over by the Track header number there is an icon that will expand the track keyframe area. You can now easily drag your KFs down the timeline to adjust timing for each event in each track as needed. Use the timline zoom as needed. Keep KF1 on every track at the start of each event. Tweak the timing as needed and the motion path if desired.. Maybe add more keyframes so they swoop out in an arc instead of straight out. Try Slow and Fast styles for keyframes to get ease out and ease in.

Have fun,
Gee

Here's a revised version of the earlier veg I posted that shows one way of setting PIP priority for zooming each window to full screen.
4-in-1.zoom.veg
It's set up kind of like Gee has described above. HTH

JL

That's the ticket. :-)

Gee

thanks again guys...WOW this list is fantastic... ive been on the speed razor list since its early days and it helped me heaps in the five years that I ve been using it...I have just switched to VEGAS 5D and cut my first job on it...
A half hour doco on education in Malawi lots of intv , translations and overlay 14 X 40 min DVCam tapes ,music, narration, effects blah blah.... ..Im blown away by the program, apart from a few gripes, TITLES, and the help ive received on this list...I will reciprecate when i catch my breath i have to launch into another 30 min doco..

thanks again
loving vegas and its community,
mark
dual opteron 242, 2gRam, 800mhz FSb, SATA av 120g , dsr45, V5d