? Vegas as Performance Software

Diego22 wrote on 7/17/2004, 2:15 PM

I will be videoing a performance for a local rock band. I will also be projecting onto a large screen with LCD projector.

Question: Could Vegas be used to play an .avi file from the T/L and use the numeric keypad/ markers to synchronize various graphic elements, words to the songs, anims, etc?

{I heard about this technique on the Vegas Audio forum as a way to play sound effects from the hard drive. The importance of this method would be the ability to play it in real time in coordination with the performers.)

in other words, I want to have a poor man's way of emulating the stunning visual performance by the Blue Man Group.

One flaw I see is my laptop does not have a firewire -but I Do have S-video out.

thanks Diego

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 7/17/2004, 2:25 PM

You will need firewire output to do this effectively. You'll probably have to get a PC-Card firewire adapter. They're not terribly expensive. You'll also need some sort of firewire to video converter such as a DV camcorder or other external device. I think you'll probably want a mouse too.

I wouldn't count on getting any sort of smooth transitions on the fly since Vegas isn't always instantly responsive. This isn't entirely Vegas' fault. Sometimes it just takes a while to cue up the next file from the hard drive. If you merely have a bunch of premade clips you want to playback then you'll probably be OK, but fine sync depends on how well you slide things around and anticipate making clicks.

One simple thing you could do is to have a background video looping continuously on the timeline and have all the other clips in the media pool. If you have the preview auto-playback enabled then you can single-click to start any clip in the media pool playing. You won't have any way to jump around in it but you can stop it early if you wish. Whenever one of these clips isn't playing then the background clip on the timeline will be shown on the screen.

Practice. A lot.

Diego22 wrote on 7/17/2004, 2:39 PM

Thanks, Chien, I plan to use simple graphics such as the words in the chorus , or perhaps a word or symbol that sums up the meaning of each line in the song, etc -Diego

(thanks for the tip on the s-video- firewire converter)

Diego22 wrote on 7/21/2004, 5:40 PM

Chien, I have gotten a PC card- fire wire adapter, The laptop recognizes the new hardware but Vegas does not see the Canon miniDV camcorder. This camera works fine with my desktop Firewire- Vegas system. Does this sound more like a hardware or software problem? many thanks in advance- Diego

Trichome wrote on 7/21/2004, 7:20 PM

I did an awards ceremony for the city of Barstow using Vegas as the software running various slides and video elements of the show.
Similar to the performance you plan to do, there were timing issues and mixed media. It worked out great. Markers made the whole thing effortless.
Good Luck!

Cheers.

murk wrote on 7/22/2004, 3:32 AM

I recommend set loop regions for each different show section. Then you can jump to the different regions using the number keys. You can also change the playhead speed (forwards or backwawrds) using the J,K,L keys. I also recommend rendering everything into DV format files, that way playback will be smooth at 30 FPS.