What am I missing

JiMedia wrote on 1/6/2005, 2:55 AM

Hi
I have been an Acid user for years.
I also use Pro Tools, Logic on a daily basis.
I am a self proclaimed computer Geek.
I am new to video though.
I had a demo version of an Arcsoft product and it was easy and intuative to use but it was my understanding it is nowhere near as powerfull as Vegas.

I purchased Vegas 5 and DVD Architecht.

The DvD Architecht was easy to figure out.

The Vegas is not. I have read the manual and some tutorials but it just does not work smoothly.
Some problems
Very jerky transitions ( how much should the events overlap)
jerky credit rolls ( I have made the real long to slow them down but still very jerky)

I am a recording engineer by day and while a newcomer to video I usually learn stuff real fast and easy.

My PC is a P3 1 igig processor with I gig of ram.

You guys have helped many as I have lurked on the forum for a while.

Any Thoughts.

Thanks for any help you may bring.

Comments

AlanC wrote on 1/6/2005, 3:28 AM

Do you see the jerks on finished DVD or just in the preview window?

If the problems are just when reviewing it sounds like you have the preview window set to 'Best'.

Try setting it to Preview (Auto) or Preview (Full) and your transitions will become smoother.

Alan

Jay Gladwell wrote on 1/6/2005, 4:01 AM

Video editing is not unlike sound engineering. If it were as easy as everyone thinks it should be, everyone would be a video editor.

When I was taking biology in college I had to buy a dissecting kit for the lab portion of the class. Having that scalpel hardly made me a medical examiner.

Jay

RalphM wrote on 1/6/2005, 5:15 AM

JiMedia,

While "intuitive" depends a lot on your personal perception and approach to tasks, I found Vegas pretty easy to pick up. You may benefit, as I have, from one of the excellent training DVD sets that are out there.

Check out Gary Kleiner's offerings at http://www.vegastoolsandtraining.com/videos.html

and Douglas Spotted Eagle's at http://www.vasst.com

Personally, I learn much faster from the videos, then use a training book for specific questions.

Jameson_Prod wrote on 1/6/2005, 5:24 AM

Vegas is very easy I believe. I too began (and still am) an audio person first. I thought things worked very similarly. Just hang in there...and ask questions here. Most are more than willing to answer your questions.

I think AlanC hit the nail on the head with the jerky video. Complex transitions do not preview well. It is just to much info for the computer to handle in real time. Simple cross fades...no problem. Pan/Crop, fancy transitions, keyed events....take longer to process therefore they don't look smooth. If you do have your preview window set to auto, try pre-rendering a section. Highlight the section, right click on the selection line, choose Selectively Prerender Video. That should make that section preview fine. If that doesn't fix things.....there probably is a computer problem of some kind.

Credit rolls and advanced text have always been subject in Vegas. If you do a search you will find lots of suggestions for these...mostly recommending other programs like Blufftittler, Cool 3D, and others that do the job easier and better.

Good luck.

dtudela wrote on 1/6/2005, 5:27 AM

I have been working with Vegas 5 for a relatively short period of time. I recently purchased Gary Kliener's 5 DVD set tutorial and Spots "Vegas 5 Editing Workshop, 2e" and recommend them highly. I know it has saved me hours of frustration and has shortened the learning curve tremendously.

Darrell

Laurence wrote on 1/6/2005, 5:37 AM

A P3 at 1 gigahertz is pretty darned slow to be working with Vegas.

JJKizak wrote on 1/6/2005, 5:46 AM

Also a P3 with 1 gig will render out a typical 30 minute video in about 6 hours max. Most of your renders will hit the 12 hour mark. The P4 2.8 with Hyperthreading will knock the render down to about 2.5 hours for a 1 hour video. (roughly)

JJK

Blues_Jam wrote on 1/6/2005, 10:15 PM

Assuming you are talking about your video during the editing process and not after rendering then try the Dynamic Ram Preview feature.

Select a portion of your timeline from just before a transition or text event to just after it and create a Dynamic Ram Preview (Tools/Build Dynamic Ram Preview). That selection should now play back in real time.

The amount of RAM allocated for this purpose can be adjusted in Options/Preferences. If enough RAM is allocated then your entire selection will be rendered to RAM. Otherwise, only that portion of your selection that will fit into memory will be rendered.

Be aware that what you have rendered into memory will be lost from memory (not your project) once the content of that timeline selection has changed or a new Dynamic Ram Preview is built.

Blues

Grazie wrote on 1/6/2005, 11:24 PM

Yeah! - Dynamic Ram Preview - just don't try it with Synch Cursors on in P/C - you'll only get 2 or 3 frames. However if you COPY that same section and paste it further down the T/L it will build a RAM Preview ! I'm not being a wise ass here, but would really like Sony to fix it.

The synch cursor thing is maddenning as it is "knowing" within the P/C keyframer where the T/L cursor IS that one can then make an adjustment - If you can't SEE this in P/C Keyframer T/L you are blind to the changes.

. .BTW . .this has nothing to do with my RAM: 2 GIG here! Anyway even on tiny stuff I only - AND others - get 2 or 3 frames . . . Sad :(

Grazie

Stonefield wrote on 1/7/2005, 12:52 AM

My stuff was actually done on my PIII 800 with 512 megs of SDRAM.
It worked fine and I have no complaints.
Of course, within a month I'm going to a P4 3.2 with 2 gigs of DDR RAM. I'm sure I'll pass out when I see how much faster it is. Can't wait.

Grazie wrote on 1/7/2005, 1:39 AM

Stan! You will quietly sit back .. rub your chin .. or whatever . . and think "Ah, so .. is THAT how vegas works?" - When I got my ASUS P4 3.2 2gig, it was the same . .. You'll love it !