heres what I did with 20 hours of documentary footage recently:

I batch captured certain sections of the tapes I wanted to use, then captured them all.

Once all captured, I loaded each individual clip into Vegas's Trimmer.

I proceeded to watch the clips in the trimmer and marked each shot I wanted to use with an "A" marker to "A" marker, then "B" marker to "B" marker, etc..

I then logged on a notepad what each shot was for easy navigation later on.

All you have to do is look through your notes or remember a certain shot, then go to that clip name, double click inbtween the corresponding letters for that shot, then drag it onto the timeline like so... Thats my procedure.. not sure if that answers the question, but I thought I would share my ways =)

Actually that is the traditional method and still the best in my opinion. Watch the footage. Log the footage and create a pencil EDL. Becuase VV captures without time code, you can not capture and then do an open widow dub etc the way we used to tradirtionally. Therefore using the trimmer and placing markers is the best way.

Either way you still use the good ol'encil and a good eye to put it together.


Keith

>>>Becuase VV captures without time code, you can not capture and then do an open widow dub etc the way we used to tradirtionally.

VV captures timecode.

Options | Preferences | "Show source frame numbers on event thumbnails as" then choose "Timecode" from the drop-down menu. the original time-code shows up in the trimmer as well as the timeline.

>>>You want to do two things:
1. Edit out unwanted footage from the captured video
2. Assemble a single video in a different order with the edited clips around two hours long.

I drop the video in the trimmer and play through it. using the "I" "O" and "A" keys, I can select the choicest bits and get them up to the timeline pretty quickly.

once I have all the bits I want on the timeline, I use Save As... and create a new folder for my project and use the Trimming function in the Save As... dialog to have Vegas throw out all the material I didn't put onto the timeline so I'm not wasting disk space. after that is done, I can delete the original folder, and clear off the timeline. then I use the media pool to select clips and drop them on the timeline in any order I like.

another method I use is to drop the whole tape on the timeline, and then select/delete the parts I don't want. sometimes that is a lot harder for me and I end up with too much stuff at the end. it's psychological of course.

Old guys remember the log-before-capture process as a mandatory operation, but in these days of cheap drives it may not be as common. For a doc with a ton of DV tapes, this is still worth doing. Some tips:

1) Log the DV tapes in Video Capture, without capturing. Make sure the tape names are accurately entered; use the comment field in addition to the name field for later sorting. During the logging process you don't have to capture everything, but it is worth scooting through the entire tape and noting what is there. This info can be used in future projects. DV timecode IS recorded during the log and capture processes, in case any body is wondering about that.

Note: The logging data will be retained in a separate Vidcap project file (independent of the Vegas project), so be careful with this file- if you keep it around, you'll have a library of all your DV tapes.

2) After logging all tapes, do a sort, or a search, and capture what you want. If you do a search in All Clips, you can save the search as a separate bin.

3) After capturing, tab back to Vegas- all the shots you have captured will be loaded in the Vegas media pool. You can sort the colums by tape, timecode, comment, etc.

You can always tab back to Vidcap and capture more clips, or drag clips from earlier capture sessions into Vegas.

4)Load the files in the trimmer. Mark in, mark out then add the clip to the timeline using the add-from- or add-to-cursor buttons. Tab key selects a/v/or both. At this point I like to tweak the newly inserted timeline media- make the cut or transition "work" and then repeat step 4 for the next media file.

Note: If you are working with longer clips in the trimmer, you can add markers and regions and save those with the file. FYI, these are saved in the file itself, not with the project- this lets you pass the markers between SF apps (esp helpful if you use Sound Forge)

5) Make your final adjustments on the timeline

6) render to file, or print to DV tape from the timeline.

The method described above should be familiar to the traditionalists, but like many functions in Vegas there are numerous alternate methods.

>>>>>VV captures timecode.

Options | Preferences | "Show source frame numbers on event thumbnails as" then choose "Timecode" from the drop-down menu. the original time-code shows up in the trimmer as well as the timeline. <<<<<


Thanks, I had missed this!

K

Great explaination.

Thanks guys,

This has been a great help. I'll try those suggestions.

John

I'm no expert, but, I get from beginning to end in the projects I work on. What I do is capture all tapes associated with my projects. I place them on their timeline (I usually have two, three, or four camera angles of the same scenes), sync them up, then, add another blank set of tracks.

I then work through the project, evaluating each scene for the camera angle I like best, marking, splitting, and dragging only what I want in my final output to the blank timeline. Then I render.

Most of my work lately has been musical type stage productions, so in addition to the above, I'll use one cam to record the audio using external stereo mics. This audio I use as a master sound track, and sync all video to it.

Probably ain't pretty, but it works for me. I haven't really explored the possibilities available to me in using the trimmer. I'll tackle the use of that tool on my next project.

Caruso

Are you working with a single performance of the musical production? It seems that if you are editing the best combination of say three nights, it would be extremely difficult to it that way.
John

SonicEPM:

This technique appears to be an ideal solution to my dilemma of avoiding manually (on paper) logging and getting a handle on the last two years worth (30+) of D8 tapes, but some questions:

>>>>Note: The logging data will be retained in a separate Vidcap project file (independent of the Vegas project), so be careful with this file- if you keep it around, you'll have a library of all your DV tapes.<<<<

What is the name/location of this vidcap project file?

It seems that I also read on an earlier tread (which I cannot now locate), that this logging process also records a thumbnail of the logged (but not necessarily captured) scene. Is this accurate?

Also:
>>>>>2) After logging all tapes, do a sort, or a search, and capture what you want. If you do a search in All Clips, you can save the search as a separate bin.<<<<

Once I start capturing, will the VidCap program then "prompt" me to change tapes (assuming I wish to capture portions of several different tapes)?

What I would like to do (in a perfect world), is to view my tapes, while logging (but not necessarily capturing to HD) the information (and hopefully a representative thumbnail, so that I can later go back and batch capture selected scenes from several tapes to edit into a new project. Am I asking too much, or making this too difficult?

VV is a GREAT applications (I'm one of the many converts from MGI VW - what a piece of sh**), and this forum has been an excellent resource. I've been able to locate answers to almost all my questions by searching and reading the posts, but this one is eluding me. The posts on this particular thread have been especially enlightening and educational - thanks to all.

SonicEPM:
What is the name/location of this vidcap project file?

<name>.sfvidcap
default folder is my documents.


It seems that I also read on an earlier tread (which I cannot now locate), that this logging process also records a thumbnail of the logged (but not necessarily captured) scene. Is this accurate?

-No, thumbnails by themselves are not captured when logging. They are generated from the media file, if present. On the wish list-

Once I start capturing, will the VidCap program then "prompt" me to change tapes (assuming I wish to capture portions of several different tapes)?

-Yes. Once all selected clips are captured from one tape, you will be prompted to load the next tape.