VMS10 Import File Types & Limitations??

RonboTECH wrote on 8/18/2010, 1:06 AM
I haven't had VMS10 very long, but am becoming frustrated. I have some rather large .tif files (about 65MB each) I have tried to load, but VMS10 chokes if I try to add more than 1 at a time via media import. Am I asking too much of the program or does somebody have a work-around to deal with large files? I have considered converting these to .jpg or something else like maybe .png, but can't seem to find any info on what all the acceptable still image input formats are and whether or not there are file size threshholds. Currently running a i7-920 CPU with 6GB 1600 corsair RAM and an HD 5870 ATI video card. Any suggestion would be much appreciated!

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 8/18/2010, 1:20 AM
JPEG and PNG will work. There is no reason to feed the application unnecessarily huge files and run out of RAM. Just re-save the TIFF files as JPEG or PNG, at the project size (e.g. 1920x1080).
RonboTECH wrote on 8/18/2010, 9:29 AM
Eugenia,

Good advise! Thank you I'm presently playing around with conversion and resizing and can see encouraging signs. Thanks for your advise.
Markk655 wrote on 8/18/2010, 9:51 AM
File compatibilities...
[url=http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope/techspec]
musicvid10 wrote on 8/18/2010, 10:03 AM
Of the alternatives offered, PNG seems to be the most memory-friendly solution in Vegas.

To allow yourself wiggle room for panning and cropping, the guys in the Pro forum import stills about double the project dimensions.
JohnnyO wrote on 8/18/2010, 5:54 PM
"There is no reason to feed the application unnecessarily huge files and run out of RAM. Just re-save the TIFF files as JPEG or PNG, at the project size (e.g. 1920x1080)."

Actually TIFF is a much better format to use than JPEG. JPEG is a highly compressed format that NLEs will need to un-compress in the editor. This takes more resources and can result in memory issues if there are too many large JPEG files. TIFFs on the other hand are less compressed and are therefore easier to handle than JPEGs.

I recommend re-sizing to the TIFF format.

Remember, it has nothing to do with the size of the file on your hard drive. It has everything to do with the photo size and the amount of compression.

The same goes for highly compressed video. MP4 files are very small but highly compressed. DV_AVI files are very large in file size but much less compressed. NLEs handle files with less compression much better.

Of course, a lot depends on your system.
musicvid10 wrote on 8/18/2010, 9:44 PM
JohnnyO,
In a theoretical disussion, you are correct. However in all versions of Vegas, there is a wrinkle (a big one) you have not introduced into your thinking.

You see, Vegas (regrettably) uses the Quicktime engine to open TIF (TIFF) files on the timeline. Any regular reader of these forums is aware that the QT libs in Windows applications are fraught with their own set of quirks, instabilities, and memory problems (leaks). Although you will occasionally find disagreement on the Pro forum, and the memory handling of large image files has improved greatly in Vegas Pro 9, the consensus still seems to be that PNG is our safest bet on the timeline, especially for versions other than Vegas Pro 9. And why not? It is the best near-lossless compressed format available, and handles alpha seamlessly (it's the best still image export format from Vegas, too).