I wish there was a script that would tell Vegas to autobill my clients, to make my coffee, and keep my office clean. But it ain't so.
I wish Avid could composite as easily as Vegas. I wish that Avid had HDV support. I wish that Avid would run as smoothly on my laptop as Vegas. I wish that Avid would allow other tools to read their codecs. I wish that AAF really, truly worked as Avid originally claimed it would. I wish Avid wasn't the bully company that they are.....
If wishes were fishes that beggars might eat.

Excalibur, and other scripting tools are no more a bandaid than plugins for other applications are bandaids. They are tools that aid users, and allow the workflow to be more efficient in ways that the host application doesn't. Avid without certain plugs is a waste, just as Premiere, FCP, and other tools are without their plugs.
why not just remap Vegas to be an Avid for you? others have done it, it's not that hard.

>" hard wear "

Just curious, was that intentional for some reason that evades me, or have you maybe not discovered the word hardware?

It sure gave me a laugh having had a heart stopping hardware failure half way through a tape!
The pinch roller on my Revox 1/4" deck turned to bubble gum in the middle of a tape. This is apparently a problem well known by the old hands. Thank god for eBay, I'm able to get a new roller from someone in Italy.
Funny how those who hanker for the old days never mention these minor dramas.
Bob.

Spot:

Excalibur is a bandaid. And you're correct... plugins are also bandaids.

Avid without plugins isnt a waste. Avid Express Pro without plugins is a waste :) Avid Express Pro is crippled compared to their expensive stuff.

Vegas definatly out features Avid Express Pro by a long shot. Make no mistake about my opinions on Avid Express Pro vs Vegas in terms of features. Vegas has them kicked in that area.

I'm more concerned with bringing in some of the finer points of cutting in Avid, over to Vegas. Overwrite mode, nicer trim interaction, perhaps a tabbed trimmer window that can allow multiple clips to be loaded in the trimmer. Scrolling the time slider in the trimmer window can be odd when you screw up your in and out points etc.

As for adjusting the keyboard mapping. I just tried. It's not possible. The workflow isnt there. Some featuers arent in the keyboard options.

I hope no one mistakes my avid vs vegas comments as an intentional blasting of vegas. Vegas is a great app, and i want it to become a little more avid like. AVID.. i would like it to become a hell of a lot more like Vegas. But my issues are with the basic editing workflow. Nesting performance, lack of overwrite mode or copying/cutting/pasting clips from specfic tracks within a loop region, also the performance of handling prerendered clips.

If vegas can nail those things... It's the killer app as far as i'm concerned. Sure there are always wants and wishes... But what good is it, if we dont voice them?

We all hope the software becomes more usable, better, more enjoyable to work with... vocalizing wishes, concerns etc should not be reguarded as such a negative thing.

Vegas does a hell of a lot more than Avid Express Pro will ever do... but there are some things that Avid Express Pro does extremely well... if Vegas were to get a handle on those few things.... Vegas would be better for it.

I like to see the before and after frames of a cut as i trim. I like to see before and after clips when i color correct. (btw i do tend to like avid's color correction ui better even though they lack secondary corrections. Auto correct features in avid are nice as well)

There i go wishing again. Its not a bad thing! :)

Good luck with your wishes, but I don't agree with your concept of band-aid.

Band aids are temporary things used whilst the body gets better.

Scripts including Excalibur are a permanent feature of Vegas, and an incredibly powerful feature. Vegas can achieve the same results manually, but it can take hours to do what a script can achieve in seconds.

my point is somethings shouldnt be a script or addon. Scripts that address basic editing functions lacking from the editor, are bandaids.

And for the record, i'm pointing out avid express pro's short commings in the avid forum as well. It goes both ways. Just looking to make the tools better.

JCF? Have you put in your product requests to Sony? Tell 'em!

Oh, I watched a demo of FCP - and yes, even I know it isn't Avid - and thought - "Well what's all THAT about? Bit clunky if you ask me!"

What "tool" would you like to see as part of the core program? What it would do for you? And how NOT having it as part of the core programme inhibits your creativity and/or workflow? I'm serious about hearing this.

Best reagrds,

Grazie

Sure Vegas has some need to sharpen its cutting tools, but not by much.

I picked Vegas over FCP, Avid, Premiere, and 2 others systems because the editing was the closest to my hardware systems editing tools.
The editing tools on my hardware are sharp fast and easy to use. The whole interface was developed by editors. The “twirley cap” guys where told where we wanted things and they made it work
.
I’ve had Avid editors that work on tricked out Avids over to look at my hardware system in the past. They were all editing in 5 min. and loved how fast and simple it was to edit.

As for scripts – well they have completed the TOOLS that I need to work even faster.
And yes LOL Spot - “that Scripts auto bills my clients, to make my coffee, and keep my office clean..” that would be great. Maybe a script that warns you of low Mt. Dew supply? When I get editing and go to take a Dew hit and it’s all gone…man that ruins the edit.

Of course there are a few things more I’d like to see Vegas modify. For example the details dock is one area.

"For example the details dock is one area" . .exactly what would that be? I'm listenning. I want to learn too!

Grazie

Forgive me if this makes no sense, for I am very tired with a newborn up round the clock.

This mod would have the most benefit to strict broadcast show format edits.
Ok going back to my hardware once more. It has the details integrated into the time line top upper left. Its has all the details that Vegas has. So all is good there. I’ve tried to dock the details up top left to no avail. Having the details in view at the top is a great help for me.
For example: I work on long formate programs all the time. As my mouse passes over any clip it displays its details. I know by the in point details on the time if it’s the right place. So let say a commercial break is at 14:15:12 and I want to put a “going to break” bumper there. I just click on my bumper click on the details and in point type 141512 and bam the bumpers in right where I need it.(yes Vegas does that) Also having the details show the duration of time between clips is useful as well. So times I need to see what the spacing is at a glance. Then I just spot check the show with the mouse checking the current positions of clips by quickly passing over the clips.
So very minor – have the details up in an easy to view area. And just add display details when you pass over any clip or gap.
Nothing I can’t live with out – But very nice when all the clips and gaps need to be checked quickly.

You can have the Edit Details North!

The roll-over sounds great idea.

Grazie

I've never tried FCP. I'm not a mac user, and dont feel like investing in a mac. I am curious to try it though.

As for Vegas. I like vegas a lot and it clearly is the winner feature wise out of most of the similarly priced editors. Avid + a mojo is insanely expensive and yet it does not feature nearly half of the tools found in Vegas. Avid is affraid to hurt their high end. Vegas has no place to go but up. I would just like to see Vegas steal some things from Avid and put the pressure on them even more. Mainly workflow things.

I cant find a key to jump to the mark in and mark out points in vegas. In avid there are go to mark in and mark out short cut keys. Also in avid another nice thing is if you hold control and scrub the time slider it jumps to edit points. Overwrite modes, lift, better cutting interaction so i can see before and after frames when triming an edit point. Thats to say (before meaning the frame your triming, and after being the first frame of the next clip)

Also when sliping a clip in Avid, it will show you the last frame of the clip before, and the first frame of the clip after the clip your slipping. Very nice.

I would like to use the keyboard just as i would in avid. Mark an in and out point, then simply select the track(s)... and then cut/copy/paste functions only effect the selected track(s)

I think it would be nice to have an option to disable the loop regions current workflow. Perhaps just have the user mark In and Mark out with the keyboard and not have the mouse move the markers so easily. Perhaps a lock marker toggle on the keyboard. I dont know. I would definatly like it be more avid flow with the keyboard.

I would like a better color correcting interface. Like a mode that specifically is geared to it. Like avid, showing before and after clips. It helps to see your color flow from shot to shot when correcting. I would like curves and corrector in a single color correction node (unless it hampers performance)

Avid just got mouse wheel support guys... :) I just want to take the best parts from avid and shove them into vegas... and that would be the editing workflow. It would fit fine with vegas's current workflow since vegas is really only missing one or two things. And again, better monitor interaction when triming. Show us the trim frame, and the start frame of the next clip. Show us before and after clips when slipping. Give us before and after clips when color correcting. And i would say improve the interface for the draw region/effect preview in the monitor window.

Do you guys like using the seperate crop window for transforming/cropping your video? How about making that interactive right in the monitor window? Have it show the keyframes udner the monitor window, and have the transform/crop options show on the side.

Any mod to Vegas that sharpens the basic editing tools I am for. Adding “cool” gadgets into Vegas is fine – as long as it does not adversity affect the basic editing performance and workflow.

To me Vegas seems to be a clean structure from the start. Its small in size and even the veg files are simple and lean. Vegas is very powerful. FCP is a program that has been built over the top of the old to the point that it is a very large extensive program – it comes on a few DVDs (not CD’s) – the FCP project files can be rather large. So my comparison is that Vegas has a better foundation form the start and FCP did not have as an effective beginning. FCP is a powerful edit system today, sure it is. Is FCP as stable as Vegas? Nope.

Strat? " Is FCP as stable as Vegas? Nope.". . ho I didn't know that . .. kewl!

Grazie

Yes Vegas holds onto the rails better.
I’ve worked for 1 ½ year in the same room with 2 FCP G5 DP systems. I was on my hardware NLE at time and the FCP would crash most every day IF under heavy use. They had to keep re placing there systems preferences file of some kind – some how it would get corrupt. That was the un written FCP maintenance they would have to do.
I crash vegas form time to time... but its rare.

Now one of the FCP editors is at a different company and use Vegas. He said he really likes FCP but loves to edit in Vegas. His boss wants him to switch and use FCP like the rest of their editing locations use.