Transitions between seperate video tracks

TimmyRaa wrote on 11/10/2003, 4:17 AM

Hi, new here! And sorry for the newbie-level of this query, but I hope it's not below any of you guys!!

I've got two 5 minute clips of a wedding, from two different cameras, both filmed at the same time but from different angles. Rather than just use one angle, I want to be able to chop and change between the two angles at will.

How is the best way to achieve this? Currently the closest I've got is putting them in two seperate video tracks, syncing them up and running one on top of the other, and then trying to up the opacity of the top one to display the bottom track, and back again. However, I've not yet managed to adjust the opacity up or down at will halfway through a clip - only to the entire clip. Also, I don't think this would give me a very nice transition, and it certainly wouldn't match the crossfades I've used elsewhere.

Can anyone, more experienced, suggest a better way?

Comments

Grazie wrote on 11/10/2003, 4:31 AM

I use Excalibur for exactly this reason. Creating the dance sequences is now a doddle and its fun too!. It's a GUI that is actuated by the Scripting Tools. Here's the link. Works like a dream and in the way you want it too!

. . . oh yes before I forget Tsunami is another fab tool . . .

For both of these you'll need Vegas 4.0d PLUS MS .NET framework to allow them to work - as too the other scripting tools from S-V

Grazie

farss wrote on 11/10/2003, 4:34 AM

The way you're going about it is one way. To get it to work though you need to have points at the beginning and end of the fade, just put the cursor over the envelope and double click. This means to fade one clip own and up you'll need four points. Does that make sense?

The other way is to cut sections out of the top tack letting the bottom track show through. If you leave some overlap you can then slide the bottom track upto the top one, by default VV will crete crossfades but you can change that to whatever type of transition you like.

Best way is start off is with a few small sections of video and have a play around. Remember that VV is non destructive. You can always start again or better still get into the habit of making lots of saves as you go with ascending suffixes such as Wedding-01.veg, Wedding-02.veg. The veg files are pretty small so don't worry about disk space.

Hope you enjoy using VV as much as I do.

PeterWright wrote on 11/10/2003, 4:46 AM

It sounds like you're reducing opacity by pulling down the line at the top of each EVENT. As you've found, you can't graduate things this way - the whole event gets reduced uniformly.
To use this method more effectively, you can control opacity at the TRACK level.
In the Track Header, right click and select Insert Envelope > Composite level. This will produce a line running through the whole track, and like Volume envelopes, you can double click anywhere to insert nodes then drag down to reduce opacity at any rate you wish.

jetdv wrote on 11/10/2003, 8:36 AM

Take a look at issue #9 of the Vegas Tips, Tricks, and Scripts Newsletter for 4 different methods of editing multi-cam events.

TimmyRaa wrote on 11/12/2003, 6:00 AM

Thanks guys - I've stuck with composite envelopes, as they work well, are adjusting the opacity is easy and looks fine.

I knew you'd be able to help!