I wrote a script that has saved me a TON of time. This script assumes that you have some video on a track, and the associated audio on the track immediately below. What you do is click on the video event at a distance from the end of the event that equals the length of fade you want. You then execute the script (put it on a toolbar icon or assign it to a keyboard shortcut if you use it a lot). The script then adds a fade from the point of the cursor to the end of the event, and then puts the identical length fade at the beginning of the next event. It does the same thing for the associated audio.

I am a big believer in using the cursor position as the basis for editing, and try to eliminate having to worry about what is selected, or what tool is being used, etc., etc.

Here's the script:

/**

 * Fade this event and next event to black.

 * Fade length is set using distance from cursor position to end of event 

 * that is under the cursor on the first selected track.

 * If there is an audio track under the selected track, it is also faded.

 *

 * Copyright 2006, John H. Meyer

 * Written February 10, 2006

 **/



import System;

import System.Collections;

import System.Text;

import System.IO;

import System.Drawing;

import System.Windows.Forms;

import Sony.Vegas;





try {





    var dStart : Double;

    var dLength : Double;

    var dCursor : Double;

    var trackEnum : Enumerator; 

    var evnt : TrackEvent;

    var track : Track;

    var Fadelength : Timecode;



    dCursor = Vegas.Cursor.ToMilliseconds();

    track = FindSelectedTrack();                   // Find first selected track



    //Add fades to both event under cursor -- and next event -- on selected track

    var eventEnum = new Enumerator(track.Events);

    while (!eventEnum.atEnd()) {

      evnt = TrackEvent(eventEnum.item());

      AddFades();

      eventEnum.moveNext();

    } // End while eventEnum



    trackEnum.moveNext();                         // Go to next track and do fades, if track is audio

    if (!trackEnum.atEnd()) {

      track = Track(trackEnum.item());

      if (track.IsAudio()) {                      // Proceed only if selected track is audio track.

        eventEnum = new Enumerator(track.Events);

        while (!eventEnum.atEnd()) {

          evnt = TrackEvent(eventEnum.item());

          AddFades();

          eventEnum.moveNext();

        } // End while TrackEvent

      }

      }



    Vegas.UpdateUI();



} catch (e) {

    MessageBox.Show(e);

}







function FindSelectedTrack() : Track {

  trackEnum = new Enumerator(Vegas.Project.Tracks);

  while (!trackEnum.atEnd()) {

    var track : Track = Track(trackEnum.item());

    if (track.Selected) {

      return track;

    }

    trackEnum.moveNext();

  }

  return null;

}





function AddFades() {

      evnt.Selected = false;                 // De-select the event

      dStart = evnt.Start.ToMilliseconds();  // Get the event's start and length timecode, in milliseconds.

      dLength = evnt.Length.ToMilliseconds();



      // Test if event is under the cursor.

      if ( (dCursor >= dStart) && ( dCursor < (dLength + dStart) ) ) {

        evnt.Selected = true;                // If under the cursor, select this event.

        Fadelength = evnt.Length - (Vegas.Cursor - evnt.Start);

        evnt.FadeOut.Length = Fadelength;

        evnt.FadeOut.Curve = CurveType.Smooth;

        evnt.FadeOut.ReciprocalCurve = CurveType.Smooth;



        eventEnum.moveNext();

        if (!eventEnum.atEnd()) {

          evnt = TrackEvent(eventEnum.item());

          evnt.FadeIn.Length = Fadelength;

          evnt.FadeIn.Curve = CurveType.Smooth;

          evnt.FadeIn.ReciprocalCurve = CurveType.Smooth;

        }

      }



}



//For information purposes:

//CurveType.Sharp   cubic sharp fade 

//CurveType.Slow    logarithmic slow fade 

//CurveType.None    no fade (hold) 

//CurveType.Linear  linear fade 

//CurveType.Fast    logarithmic fast fade 

//CurveType.Smooth  cubic smooth fade