Using Media FX

sdorshan wrote on 4/21/2004, 4:04 PM
I'm using Vegas 4, and I'm not finding that the media FX are very useful.

I've done a 3 camera edit with three media files, each over 40 minutes long. Now I want to touch up the brightness and color at a few places in one of the media clips. Since the clip is cut up all over the timeline, I want to apply it at the media level.

The first thing I've found is that the media FX do not show on the preview screen when using the trimmer or when previewing the media file. They only show when viewing a piece of the media from the timeline.

The other problem is that there is no sync-to-cursor. I understand that the media file is independent of the timeline, but in the media-fx mode, the fx timeline could represent the place in the file, not on the timeline.

I even tried putting the clip on the timeline, adding some fx keyframes at the event level, and copying the keyframes to the media level, but this didn't work.

So it appears that to keyframe the media-fx, I would have to put the whole clip on the timeline, find each place where I want to put a keyframe, and then manually go to that timecode at the media-fx level.

Do I have this right, or am I missing an easier approach? Is there a script that would copy the fx keyframes from an event and apply them at the media level?

Comments

Nat wrote on 4/21/2004, 4:27 PM
If I were you I would use event fx for such a job.

I usally use media fx only to apply fx on the media globally.
rmack350 wrote on 4/21/2004, 4:44 PM
That's what sdorshan wants to do, apply the effect globally.

I just posted the same essential post an hour or so ago. Subclips seeem to me to make media FX more useful but looking closely it seems like mediafx isn't as welll implemented as it should be.

The thing is that you can save a subclip that you plan to use several times and you should be able to apply a color tweak , velocity envelope, whatever, and then reuse it easily.

Ah well

Rob
sdorshan wrote on 4/21/2004, 5:27 PM
I don't think it matters whether it is a whole clip, or a subclip. The problem is that in a 40 minute clip, I want to brighten up a few areas that are a few minutes long each. (It's a play, and the lighting wasn't consistent throughout.)

Even within each 5 minute area, the clip is cut up into several events. I don't want to apply the same fx to each event, but to a keyframed range of the media clip, so that each event picks it up.

I'll just have to find the points where I want to make the adjustment, and then slide the keyframe around until the preview window changes.

rmack350 wrote on 4/21/2004, 5:43 PM
Maybe you need to rethink your approach. Since everything is on the timeline already you can select the area you want to effect, hit S to split out the range, and then apply an event effect to it. Much easier, No?

Rob Mack
sdorshan wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:05 PM
The three camera tracks are already edited. In a single 5 minute segment, there may be a dozen cuts. I want to bump the brightness/contrast for the whole 5 minutes, but I don't want to do it for a dozen events separately. I just want to throw a couple of keyframes around the dark area.

I think I've got my answer, and that is that I wasn't missing any obvious technique. Any way you cut it (*pun*), it's difficult.