Transitions & Playback Rate

BobF wrote on 3/29/2010, 5:24 AM

I've got some segments of video that I'm trying to insert transitions between. The playback rate on the segments has been increased to give a timelapse sort of effect. The transition is affected by the playback rate. So much so that at the max playback rate of 4X the transition between clips is invisible.

Another Vegas user suggested I render out each sped up segment individually then drop the rendered segment (which would have a default playback rate of 1X) into the timeline and insert my transitions. Tried that. Didn't work. The transition is still invisible between the segments.

Is there another way to get the transitions to play properly?

As an aside, does anyone know of a good book for Vegas? Before suggesting the Spotted Eagle books, I've got one of those and it is without a doubt the worst instructional type of book I've ever read. Complete waste of money. So looking for something else.

Thanks.

Comments

Former user wrote on 3/29/2010, 5:39 AM

Are you using Vegas Pro?

What are your computer specs?

What do you mean the transitions are "invisible"?

When you render to another file, are the transitions there?

Dave T2

BobF wrote on 3/29/2010, 6:04 AM

I posted in the Vegas Pro forum for a reason. ;)

Dual core processor @ 2.0GHz. 4GB of DDR2 dual channel RAM. Win7 Pro 64 bit. NVidia GeForce 7100 GPU.

By invisible I mean just that. When the vid. moves from one clip segment to the next the transition is not able to be seen. It shows on the timeline but not in the video when it's played.

I remove the transitions before the intermediate rendering then add them back after dropping the rendered clips back onto the timeline.

Former user wrote on 3/29/2010, 6:30 AM

I asked about Vegas Pro because twe weeks ago you were posting in the VMS forum. Just wanted to be sure.

One more question, how long are the transition durations?

If you are rendering out and bringing back in, are you leaving pad on each end for your transition?

And if you try to render WITH the transitions, do you see them in the rendered file? (just trying to determine if this is a preview problem)

Dave T2

backlit wrote on 3/29/2010, 6:43 AM

I'm not clear on what you need to do with your transitions to make them meet the "properly" criteria when it comes to play back. I am assuming you want to slow them down without slowing down the playback rate. Have you tried extending the transition period and rate with a transition envelope? That would be the easiest way to control transition rate.

Right click a transition and choose "insert/remove envelope+transition progress" from the context menu. Hope it helps.

David

Jay Gladwell wrote on 3/29/2010, 7:10 AM

"I posted in the Vegas Pro forum for a reason. ;)"

That doen't answer the question.

Are you using Vegas Pro or Vegas Movie Studio? Dave asked those questions for a reason.

reberclark wrote on 3/29/2010, 7:29 AM

"Before suggesting the Spotted Eagle books, I've got one of those and it is without a doubt the worst instructional type of book I've ever read."

I am of the completely opposite opinion. Spotted Eagle's book (Vegas Pro 8 Editing Workshop) and his AVCHD instructional DVD were the best introductions (besides the Vegas manual - which is not bad) to Vegas and were EXACTLY what I needed. I still refer to his book when I'm stuck or exploring a new technique in Vegas.

BobF wrote on 3/29/2010, 8:42 AM

I'm working with a trial version of Pro to see if I want to upgrade.

The transitions aren't showing in either the preview or the rendered output.

I'm re-editing a project I compiled previously in VMS. There are some things I wanted to change so decided to do it in Pro. I've not imported the VMS project, I've started from scratch.

In VMS, I'd drop the transition onto the timeline at the end of a clip. Then I'd butt the next clip up against and the transition would show as it should both in preview and in the rendered output. In Pro, doing the same thing, the transition doesn't show. If I crossfade the clips then the transition effect (Hard Flash in this case) will show as it should but that messes up the timing of the project.

WRT the Spotted Eagle books I recognise that some may like them and that's fine. I don't. For me it was a waste of money so I'm looking for something else.

Former user wrote on 3/29/2010, 8:44 AM

I am not sure how VMS works, but in Pro, you must have overlap for a transition. IF you are doing a 1 second transition, you must have 1 second of the previous video and 1 second of the next video for the transition to happen. You are probably only getting a 1 frame or so transition which is why you are not seeing it.

If overlapping messes with your timing, you need to go to the original footage and extend the scenes.

Dave T2

Jay Gladwell wrote on 3/29/2010, 9:37 AM

The only transition you'll get butting two clips togther is a cut. As Dave said, you have to overlay the tail of the outgoing clip over the head of the incoming clip. You determine the length of the transition by the number of frames (seconds) overlaid with the two.Once they are overlaid, a blue "X" will appear over the transition area.

BobF wrote on 3/29/2010, 12:02 PM

Yeah, I know how to overlay/crossfade. If that's the only way to get a transition effect in Pro, then so be it. I'll adjust other segments accordingly to fill the gaps.

Chienworks wrote on 3/29/2010, 2:21 PM

That's the only way to get a transition in the Studio version too. As far as transitions are concerned Pro is pretty much identical to Studio, so whatever you did in the Studio version works in the Pro version. If you're getting different results, you're not doing the same thing you did before.