V5 and Automation for video, is this the killer feature?

farss wrote on 4/21/2004, 5:46 PM
The audio guys are thrilled they got this but no one over here seems to have even noticed it. Maybe I'm jumping the gun but with the right control surface RT CC should be possible. If that is somehow doable, even if it costs $5K-$10K for the control surface that is one hell of a feature. As far as I know there is NO NLE that can do this.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Are only envelopes automatable?

Comments

taliesin wrote on 4/21/2004, 5:57 PM
Any filter or fx - either video or audio - seems to be automatable if it only can be applied as a track fx. And - yes - this might be a killer feature which can be found nowhere else than in Vegas now!
It doesn't make too much sense for most of the video effects but even audio equalizing now can be done on the fly - automated. Video color correction too.

This feature is amazing, indeed.

Marco
busterkeaton wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:02 PM
I have been wondering about this feature as well.

Can you elaborate further on how you would use it for video and what the workflow would be?

Thanks.
rmack350 wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:05 PM
I played with a volume envelope last night and was pretty thrilled. I'll have to play with the video side of it tonight. It'll be a little lackluster on my home machine. Seems like horsepower is going to be an issue for some of this.

There ARE some very interesting things in V5. They're taking a lot of heat here for neglecting so many basics though.

Given a little time, I think more people will like V5. Especially if there were a few good "Almost Ready" bits that get added to the bugfixes.

Rob Mack
rmack350 wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:06 PM
I know M100 has done this for audio for a while now. I don't think there was any sort of control surface support though.

Rob
taliesin wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:09 PM
For example if you shooted a scenery and did a pan there. During the pan the lightening of the scene changed from light to dark. Now in postpro you need to color correct this pan in a way to give it more light right in the progress the original scene darkens.

Choose a suitable color correct filter, apply it as a track fx. Turn "Show Automation Control" on and ensure "Automation Write" is chosen as well.

Now while the filter window is opened playback the scene and while the scene darkens during the pan use the filter to equalize the light. This way many keyframes are created right the way you moved the filter slider. Having done that (depend on preferences) a curve is created not to need to use too much of the keyframes.

Not the best example for sure, but simply try it out. You'll probably like it.

Marco
farss wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:14 PM
OK,
glad to see I've raised some interest on this. Take color correction. Doing this with keyframes is a pain, in the real world you have a surface with three joysticks which control the three wheels of the CC Fx. Playback video and system records CC settings. Known as color timing in the film world.
This mightn't seem that impressive until you've got to grade a 60 minutes program.
Also trying to track masks or even position things using pan/crop should be much easier using automation.
I'd also mention that Sony make some VERY nice control surfaces for the XPRI system, they plug into USB ports. If these things will work with Vegas that would be very sweet indeed.
Nat wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:21 PM
Nice
I hope someday each parameter will be individually keyframable.
ibliss wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:25 PM
I made a short vid clip that shows the video track level automation recording in use - watch it by left-clicking this link, or you can right-click the link and 'save as' to your hard drive:

simple automation example 1 - it's only about 600k in size, so even dial-uppers can join in :)
Nat wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:25 PM
This doesn't seem to work with pan/crop, track motion, is this normal ?
taliesin wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:30 PM
Right, Pan/Crop and TrackMotion doesn't work this way.

Marco
taliesin wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:34 PM
It already works with some audio equipment for level adjustments.

You are right, if we could do kind of realtime color correction (or positioning) with external control this would be amazing cool. Sony maybe opened a new door.

Marco
Nat wrote on 4/21/2004, 6:36 PM
I know you can control the color correction wheels with a gaming joystick, I assume the movements are also recorded...
pwppch wrote on 4/21/2004, 7:46 PM
An external control surface does not have to be in the $5k-$10K range. JLCooper's CS-10 is a great surface. The Mackie Universal Control has motorized faders and it is specifically integrated with Vegas.

Basically, if an envelope exists on the time line, it can be controlled externally. One video specific exception is the new transition envelope. This cannot be controlled through and external surface.

The current set of Video FX do not expose their parameters to be controllable. Only audio FX that support the DirectShow spec can have their individual parameters controlled.

Peter




Nat wrote on 4/21/2004, 8:10 PM
Peter, is it possible to control specific parameters of an audio plugin using the generic remote ? I can't seem to find out how.
busterkeaton wrote on 4/21/2004, 10:49 PM
Jbliss,

That's awesome, thanks for the video.