Depends on what you want to preview -- a transition, an event, a track, or project.

i just want to hit play and watch the whole thing.. :shouldershrug:

i just want to hit play and watch the whole thing.. :shouldershrug:

Tools->Render to New Track [shrug /]

HDV 720p is fast.

i'm trying Tools>Selectively Prerender Video with nothing selected, so it does everything. waiting.

render to new track sounds like it'll make one new solid track. i still want to be able to get in there and adjust individual clips though, so i don't know if that'd work.

we'll see what happens, i've got all day.

 i still want to be able to get in there and adjust individual clips though, so i don't know if that'd work.

It doesn't do anything to your existing tracks, events, media or project!

You are speculating now, so Good luck.

haha, ok, thanks musicvid... :salute:

Tools>Selectively Prerender Video with nothing selected, so it does everything

success. i'm very smiley. a million thank you's to everyone.

i'll still experiment with everything but this is a great start. finally... back to editing. the fun part. :)!

cheers

Feel free to mark a comment as the Solution, if you wish.

@right-w I would prerender just the section I wanted to play a transition, cookie cutter or other FX so I don't have to wait for the whole thing, but if you do the whole thing 'Render to new track', I would 'Solo' that track for previewing. When I came to a place I wanted to make changes, 'un-Solo' the top rendered track, drill down into the project, make the corrections. Then again 'Solo' the top track and continue previewing until you need to make additional changes, and repeat the process. Then 'Mute' the top track, 'Render to new track' and you have the results of those changes to preview as before.

If I was working on an HD project I would 'Render to new track' in 720, if the project was UHD or 4K I would 'Render to new track' using 1080. Either should provide sharp resolution for viewing. When I was ready to make the finished render, either 'Mute' all the top tracks ('Render to new track'), or simply delete them.

Thank You, Eagle Six.

Finally, a voice of reason and experience.

nevermind, this has been one of the most ridiculous things i've ever experienced. sony vegas.

prerendering everything the way i did earlier worked because it 'flattened' everything, like in photoshop. so of course it'll play smoothly, but the moment i change *anything* the prerender is useless.

so, ok... i'll prerender just this part, and just that part, ahhh this whole thing makes sense now.... but no, of course it doesn't work like that. why would it. none of this shit works. the most counter intuitive software i think i've ever touched.

the 'render to new track' is completely useless. again, the moment you edit anything it's old news. why not, if you're going to spend the time, just render a full blown mp4 and load it into the track. it's the same exact thing. don't get it. another wasted hour.

i've spent the *entire day* & most of last night trying to dial this in. it's like they made vegas to intentionally be irritating. all anyone would want is a smooth preview. they've made it as difficult as possible to obtain it. endless settings, endless nonsense, countless hours wasted on trial & error.. and as soon as one thing is fixed, another brand new problem shows up. over & over & over again. i keep shutting it off and walking away... this is absolutely enraging. i dunno, maybe premiere.. i'm sure that'd drive me nuts too..... wtF, i don't mind a learning curve but this entire thing is upsidedown to me. this is version 16??????? wow

in the not so distant future they'll laugh at the nonsense we had to do with these primitive computers. prerendering & proxy files. whatever. just hit play.

and vegas will still be annoying no matter what year it is

so in other words, i can prerender as long as that chunk is 100% done and i never want to touch it again.

so why not.. just render myself a high quality final copy and stick that in there then. they play just fine once 'flattened' too.

i'm starting to wonder if there's any point to prerendering now

and i forgot all about proxies a long time ago.. no way i'm using that garbage

@right-w I would prerender just the section I wanted to play a transition, cookie cutter or other FX so I don't have to wait for the whole thing, but if you do the whole thing 'Render to new track', I would 'Solo' that track for previewing. When I came to a place I wanted to make changes, 'un-Solo' the top rendered track, drill down into the project, make the corrections. Then again 'Solo' the top track and continue previewing until you need to make additional changes, and repeat the process. Then 'Mute' the top track, 'Render to new track' and you have the results of those changes to preview as before.

i hear you, but. after drilling, it's watching the new edit that i want. i want to go over it as many times as it takes until it's right. i can't do that unless i can see it. that's my whole problem here. without a preview of that edit it's a guessing game until i render.

@right-w Have you already figured out if your project is set to 8bit or 32bit-full or even ACES?

“what would the ultimate pc be for what i'm trying to do”

@right-w You seem to be attempting to get your existing PC to do the job, which is commendable, but its not what your opening topic queried. From your many failed attempts to get a preview thats good enough, maybe consider a new PC, or upgrade existing.

I assume you have already selected “adjust size and quality for optimal playback “ by right clicking on the preview window? Use in conjunction with proxies.

Another option, which may or may not suit your perticular project is to break it up into smaller multiple projects then nest them all eventually into a master project.

Using intermediates as previously suggested is worth a try also.

Its very simple, if you’ve tried all of the suggestions already in this thread and the results for previewing are still unacceptable to you, then maybe look at what you initially suggested, a new or upgraded rig.

I use a similar spec, i7 6700HQ on my laptop and for 4K clips I have to use proxies and the “adjust size ..... “ option mentioned above. Preview isn’t always pretty but nothings perfect, unless you do work for Hollywood😀

@right-w

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/important-information-required-to-help-you--110457/

Tech support by guess and supposition is not fun. Post your details, including project, media, and in your case a screen shot of your complicated timeline.

I suggest you try the trial version of Premiere. It may be better suited to your idealized workflow because it constantly renders in the background 😴 Love it or hate it, but I can tell you are feeling victimized here. Buying more expensive equipment probably isn't going to help that.

Here are our best practices for preview optimization in Vegas. I was bad for not posting them sooner.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-can-i-make-my-video-preview-play-smoothly-in-vegas-pro--104624/

yeah i think i'm going to try and finish this project, if vegas will allow it, and then move on to premiere.

square one. great.

i've come to the conclusion that it's literally impossible to do what i want with vegas. apparently no amount of cpu power will do this, and vegas just feels like it's working against me.

*i get the premise of prerendering* but.. i can't decide that the first 5 minutes are 100% done 6 minutes into the project. i want all these clips available at all times, and i just want to be able to watch them and edit them. fx or not. i guess i want this pc/software to do what it's "supposed to do", and that was a mistake. literally. it's like i bought a lamp and expected it to light the room. but it isn't.

by the way, again, it's just FX that do this. i could have 10 regular video tracks loaded on top of each other and it'd preview fine (maybe). add 1 simple lens flare or whatever and we're back in the stoneage. 1.4fps.

how to tell if the lens flare should come in maybe 1 second earlier...? render it, watch it, adjust it, render again, repeat if necessary. by dinner time you might get that one done. no thank you.

tell me to go buy a titan gpu, i'll consider it. another 1080? more ddr4? an i9? i already bought an evo 970.... *what does it take*

HA HA VIDEO EDITING IS FUN

@right-w Have you already figured out if your project is set to 8bit or 32bit-full or even ACES?

pixel format: 32 bit floating point full range

@right-w Have you already figured out if your project is set to 8bit or 32bit-full or even ACES?

pixel format: 32 bit floating point full range

Do you need that? Is your source footage 422 10bit? Do you deliver in 10bit? If all that is a no for you, switch to 8bit. Also, disable resampling unless you are changing frame rates.

Sounds like a good catch, OldSmoke.

ok, 8bit & disabled resampling helps. i'm at about 10/11fps now. it's better. thank you.

it's entirely possible that some of these other settings could be tweaked too. everything's pretty much at default, i think. i feel like i've been through it 100 times though so who knows.

by the way, should the gpu acceleration *always* be set to my 1080?