Working with Photo Montages

kirkilj wrote on 1/4/2006, 2:04 PM
I've searched the help files and this forum and haven't found answers to a few questions.

I'm doing a photo montage and several of the pics need minor fixes in Photoshop. Is there a simple way to launch the default Windows application for the file type (JPG) straight from the timeline? What I'm doing now is using the context menu on the event, choosing "Select in Media Project List", using the list entry's context menu, choosing "Open Containing Folder", locating and then opening the JPG file from Windows Explorer which launches Photoshop. This gets old after 20 or 30 pics and it's a common function in other applications to launch the default or a specified image editor. The functionality is there for launching an audio editor, so am I missing something obvious?

Speaking of montages... I've authored a version for DVD using the levels based on my external preview monitor (cheap TV). It works great when viewed as a DVD on other televisions as well, but when I play it as an mpg2 file in a Windows media player, the levels are much darker. I'll probably wind-up posting it, or at least excerpts, on a web-site as a Flash-video. Should I just re-render using the "Video Out FX" in the preview window and use the Levels effect or gamma adjustments until it looks OK on my computer monitor? What workflow would you suggest? The slideshow is 12 minutes long and takes 4 hours to render with the pan/crops and fx chains I'm using.

And finally, is there a simple way to replace the media source for an event. Right now I copy the current event, delete it, use the explorer panel to locate the replacement image, drag it onto the timeline into the same location as the old event and then paste attributes. The event's properties shows the pathname for the source media, but there's no browse button or other way to change the source. DVDA has an explicit replace media option.

If these capabilities are not built-in to Vegas6, are they scriptable? I've done object-oriented programming, but I haven't explored the Vegas object model. Is there a UML diagram by any chance in addition to the text descriptions?

Thanks,

John

Comments

kentwolf wrote on 1/4/2006, 2:17 PM
>>Is there a simple way to launch the default Windows application
>> for the file type (JPG) straight from the timeline?

No. I asked for that exact same feature a long time ago. That would be a real time saver.

>>in a Windows media player, the levels are much darker.

They just plain look darker on a computer monitor than on a TV. That's just the way it is. That illustratres the value of an external monitor. That is also why often an underexposed photo works just fine for video.

>>Should I just re-render...until it looks OK on my computer monitor?

If the delivery method is on a PC, then yes, you should do it until it looks good on a PC. That same video on a TV would be much too bright.

>>is there a simple way to replace the media source for an event.

In the media pool, right click on the clip/asset/item, then select "Replace."
jrazz wrote on 1/4/2006, 2:59 PM
Why not edit the photos before bringing them in to Vegas? That is what I do with my photos. I select before hand the pictures I want to use, edit them to look I want and then bring them up in Vegas. That would seem to save a lot more time to do it on the front end all at once.

j razz
busterkeaton wrote on 1/4/2006, 3:47 PM
Another workflow, would be to create a folder where you move all these photos. Then you can have that folder, Vegas and Photoshop all open.