Zoom and move Vegas Pro preview window (display only)

craig-l wrote on 5/23/2017, 2:10 PM

Is there a place to suggest enhancements? I'd like a way to zoom into the preview window and move it around to help see smaller details. I'm not talking about a timeline zoom or a crop/adjust pan/zoom, but just the display window.

I see this feature in training clips of other video editors and compositors (Avid Media Composer for instance) and I think it would be very handy.

In Vegas Pro 14 Help, if you enter "Zoom," there is something that says, "From the View menu, choose Zoom and choose a setting from the submenu to set the size of the Preview window. Half-sized previews are easier for your computer to display." However in my instance of Vegas Pro 14, there is no 'Zoom' selection in the View menu, and based on the description, I'm not sure if this would do the same thing if it were there.

Currently my work-around is to open the clip in Video Preview monitor and if more zoom is needed, use the Windows 10 Magnifier tool (cumbersome). Any chance of a future enhancement?

Comments

NickHope wrote on 5/23/2017, 11:07 PM

There is currently no place to suggest enhancements other than here.

This has been asked for several times over the years. I'd love to see it as a feature too. Here's a post about it from 9 years ago.

craig-l wrote on 5/24/2017, 1:35 PM

Thanks for the comment and the link. Believe me, I searched for a previous post on this, but didn't use the right keywords to see that post. Good to see it's come up before. Bad to see there's been no action taken on it.

About all I can do practically, and still have easy access to the timeline, is undock the preview window temporarily and expand it for a larger view. Might be even better if I have dual monitors, but I don't.

Former user wrote on 5/24/2017, 1:54 PM

Hold the Windows key and hit +. Does this do what you want? It activates the magnifier

dxdy wrote on 5/24/2017, 2:28 PM

@david-tu: Wow! I didn't know that was there. Cool.

craig-l wrote on 5/24/2017, 3:24 PM

The Magnifier helps, but it's kluge. Adobe Premier/After Effects have a magnification drop down in the preview panels and scroll in zoom using mouse wheel. Similar features in Avid Media Composer and other NLEs.

I wrote this mostly hoping Vegas development team will happen to read it and consider it, or at least know that it's still wanted. (If you go into Vegas Pro 14 and Help > Zoom, it looks like there was an attempt to add zooming for the preview window, but maybe it got dropped from the final release.)

NickHope wrote on 5/24/2017, 10:04 PM

..(If you go into Vegas Pro 14 and Help > Zoom, it looks like there was an attempt to add zooming for the preview window, but maybe it got dropped from the final release.)

I don't see that. The "Zooming and magnification" section is about zooming the timeline, not the Preview window.

craig-l wrote on 5/25/2017, 4:26 AM

See attached...

Vegas Pro 14 (build 211, 64bit)

john_dennis wrote on 5/25/2017, 10:03 AM

The reference in the Help section describes setting the pixel dimensions of the Preview window. The content of the window is always the full size of the timeline, scaled to the pixel dimensions of the Preview window. You could have 3840x2160 timeline scaled to 1280x720 in the Preview. I don't interpret it as a reference to causing the Preview to be cropped into the content on the timeline.

I might use the feature that you describe to pixel-peep if it was implemented.

On a lighter note: There always seems to be a hardware / workflow solution to these types of problems. The quickest solution would be to purchase a 50" UHD monitor and lean in and out to see more or less detail.

NickHope wrote on 5/25/2017, 11:54 AM

See attached...

Vegas Pro 14 (build 211, 64bit)

Ah OK. That "Zoom" entry is not present in the help for previous versions of Vegas. It's in the Movie Studio Platinum 14 help file too. But "Zoom" is not in the "View" menu in either application. Seems like an error.

Mousewheel zoom on the Preview window, centering on the cursor location, would be perfect.

craig-l wrote on 5/25/2017, 6:14 PM

I completely agree with you about the value of the functionality.

In my build v14, Zoom is also not in the View menu. I only see it in the Help documentation. I'm inclined to think it's something that was in the development lifecycle and made it to the documentation, but not production (yet at least -- hopefully it will).

craig-l wrote on 5/26/2017, 4:29 PM

Hi John - I think you're correct about what that help content is really about. Sorry, I didn't see your post before my last reply. I admit that the wording in the Help document didn't really sound like what I want -- just wishful thinking.

What I am seeing posted often are work-arounds. A 50" UHD monitor would certainly help, but it's not feasible for me personally both in size and especially price. I'm a hobbyist.

My preference is functionality improvements. What I'm getting is 'good luck'. Based on the scripting code, they appear to be using a .NET interface, so zooming in and moving the zoomed screen around should be feasible.