Sony VEGAS 5 User Manual

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After the Vegas software is installed and you start it for the first time, the registration wizard appears. This wizard offers easy steps that allow you to register the software online with Sony Pictures Digital Media Software and Services. Alternatively, you may register online at http://www.sony.com/mediasoftware at any time.

Registering your product will provide you with exclusive access to a variety of technical support options, notification of product updates, and special promotions exclusive to Vegas registered users.

Registration Assistance

If you do not have access to the Internet, registration assistance is available during normal weekday business hours. Please contact our Customer Service Department by dialing one of the following numbers:

Telephone/Fax Country

1-800-577-6642 (toll-free) US, Canada, and Virgin Islands

+608-204-7703 for all other countries

1-608-250-1745 (Fax) All countries

Customer Service/Sales

For a detailed list of Customer Service options, we encourage you to visit

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/support/custserv.asp. Use the following numbers for telephone

support during normal weekday business hours:

Telephone/Fax/E-mail Country

1-800-577-6642 (toll-free) US, Canada, and Virgin Islands

+608-204-7703 for all other countries

1-608-250-1745 (Fax) All countries

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/custserv

Technical Support

For a detailed list of Technical Support options, we encourage you to visit

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/support/default.asp.

• To listen to your support options, please call 608-256-5555.

• Customers who have purchased the full version of Vegas software receive 60 days of complimentary phone support. The complimentary support begins the date of your first call. (Registration is required to receive this complimentary support.) Please call (608) 204-7704 if you need assistance with your full version product.

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Sony Pictures Digital Inc.

Media Software and Services

1617 Sherman Avenue Madison, WI 53704 USA

The information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a guarantee or commitment on behalf of Sony Pictures Digital Inc. in any way. All updates or additional information relating to the contents of this manual will be posted on the Sony Pictures Digital Media Software web site, located at http://www.sony.com/mediasoftware. The software is provided to you under the terms of the End User License Agreement and Software Privacy Policy, and must be used and/or copied in accordance therewith. Copying or distributing the software except as expressly described in the End User License Agreement is strictly prohibited. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express written consent of Sony Pictures Digital Inc.

Vegas, Vegas+DVD, DVD Architect, ACID, ACIDized, and Sound Forge are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Pictures Digital Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. ASIO is a trademark and VST is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies AG. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners in the United States and other countries.

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Table of Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Technical support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Installing Vegas software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Using online help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Main window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Time display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Ruler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Marker bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Command bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

CD layout bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Track list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Transport bar controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Scrub control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Window docking area and floating window docks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Saving and recalling window layouts - Ctrl+Alt+D or Ctrl+D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Keyboard command reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Cursor indications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Using a control surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Audio signal flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Video signal flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

About your rights in Vegas software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

About Your Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Proper Use of Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

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Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Creating projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Setting video properties based on a media file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Saving a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Renaming a project (using Save As) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Getting media files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Selecting media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Previewing a media file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Using the Media Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Adding media to the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Working with events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Understanding files and events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Moving events along the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Working with tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Using the track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Using the track list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Playing back and previewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Playing your project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Scrubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Previewing to media player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Prerendering video previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Rendering a project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Creating a movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Basic Editing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Getting around. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Moving the cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Changing focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Making selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Selecting multiple events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Selecting a time range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Looping playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Selecting events and a time range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Selecting tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Selecting groups of composited tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Editing events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Copying events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Cutting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Pasting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Duplicating events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

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Inserting empty events and time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Trimming events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Splitting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Slipping and sliding events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

Deleting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Applying post-edit ripples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Applying a post-edit ripple manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Applying a post-edit ripple automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Shuffling events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Crossfading events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Using automatic crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Manually setting a crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Changing crossfade curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Sliding a crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Using undo and redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Clearing the edit history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Adding project markers and regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Working with markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Working with regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Working with command markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Working with CD layout markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Working with the marker tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Using an external audio editing program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Setting up an audio editing program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Opening an audio editor from Vegas software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Advanced Editing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Snapping events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Turning snapping on and off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Quantizing to frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Using the event snap offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Snapping to the cursor or a selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Pitch shifting audio events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Editing from the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Editing in the Event Properties dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Time compressing/stretching events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Time compressing/stretching video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

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Working with takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Adding takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Selecting takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Previewing and selecting takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Deleting takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Working with take names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Using the Trimmer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Opening a file in the Trimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Moving frame-by-frame in the Trimmer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Making selections in the Trimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Adding selections to the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Adding and saving regions and markers to a media file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Opening a file in an external audio editor from the Trimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Creating a subclip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Selecting a subclip in its parent media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Using the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Viewing the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Customizing the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Working with Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Managing tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Inserting an empty track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Duplicating a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Deleting a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Naming or renaming a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Organizing tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Reordering tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Changing track color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Changing track height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Using the track list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Using the volume fader (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Using the multipurpose slider (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Assigning audio tracks to assignable effects chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Assigning audio tracks to busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Adjusting the composite level (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Selecting the compositing mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Bypassing motion blur envelopes (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Using track motion (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Phase inverting a track (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Muting a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Muting all audio or video tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Soloing a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

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Setting default track properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Track automation envelopes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Using audio bus tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Adding envelopes to an audio bus track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Adding effects to audio bus tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Muting or soloing an audio bus track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Resizing audio bus tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Using video bus tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Adding keyframes to the video bus track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Adding envelopes to the video bus track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Adding effects to video bus tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Muting the video output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Bypassing video effects and envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

Resizing video bus tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

Rendering to a new track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

Using Automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Showing or hiding automation controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

Track automation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

Mute automation (audio and video) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Volume or pan automation (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Assignable effects automation (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Bus automation (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Adding or removing track effect automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Composite level automation (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Adding a motion blur envelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Adding a video supersampling envelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Working with track envelopes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

Hiding track envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Removing track envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

Using the Envelope Edit tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Locking envelopes to events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Automating 5.1 surround projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Automation recording modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130

Recording automation settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Editing sections of your recorded settings in Touch mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Overwriting recorded settings in Latch mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Editing individual envelope points or keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Setting the automation recording mode for a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Working with Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

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Setting event switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Mute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Invert phase (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Normalize (audio only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Maintain aspect ratio (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Reduce interlace flicker (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Resample (video only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Accessing event properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Adjusting audio channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Copying and pasting event attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Using audio event envelopes (ASR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Setting an audio event’s volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Setting an event’s fade in and out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Using video event envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Using opacity envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Using velocity envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Grouping events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Creating a new group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Adding an event to an existing group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Removing events from a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Clearing a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Selecting all members of a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Suspending grouping temporarily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Cutting, copying, or deleting grouped events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

Using the Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Using the Mixer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Viewing the Mixer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Using the Mixer toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Using the Mixer Preview fader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Using busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Adding busses to a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Deleting busses from a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Routing a bus to another bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Routing busses to hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Working with busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Assigning audio tracks to busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

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Using assignable effects chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150

Assigning audio tracks to assignable effects chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Routing assignable effects chains to busses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Automating busses and assignable effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

Viewing bus tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

Adding track envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

Modifying track envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Adding Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Using audio effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153

Using plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154

Creating a plug-in chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Adding plug-ins to a plug-in chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Saving customized plug-in presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Arranging the order of plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Bypassing plug-ins on the chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

Removing plug-ins from a chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

Saving plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Editing saved plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159

Organizing your plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Automating effects parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160

Applying non-real-time event effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160

Bypassing all audio effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Recording Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Setting up your equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Basic setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Setup with mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

Setup with digital multitrack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Preparing to record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165

Arming the track for recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Selecting recording settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Using the metronome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167

Recording into an empty track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Recording into a time selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

Recording into an event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Recording into an event with a time selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169

Triggering from MIDI timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Working with multiple recorded takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

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Specifying where recordings are stored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Changing where recorded files are stored when arming a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Changing where recorded files are stored when starting to record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Changing where recorded files are stored in the Project Properties dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Monitoring audio levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Using record input monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Working with 5.1 Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

What is 5.1 surround?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Setting up surround hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Setting up surround projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Routing to hardware in the mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Assigning audio to the LFE channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Adjusting volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Adjusting track volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Adjusting assignable effects send or bus send levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Adjusting channel levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Panning audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Panning tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Panning mixer controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Using the Surround Panner window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Automating panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Turning on panning keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Adding panning keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Working with keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Rendering surround projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Creating a DVD with DVD Architect Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Using Advanced Video Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Cropping video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Bézier masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Rotating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Adding animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Working with still images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Creating still images for use in Vegas software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

Capturing a timeline snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Creating a slide show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

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Creating titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

Creating titles from images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

Fading titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Adding closed captioning to Windows Media Video (WMV) files . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Adding closed captioning line-by-line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Adding closed captioning from a script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Displaying closed captioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196

Resampling video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

Using Edit Decision Lists (EDL). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Creating an EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198

Opening an EDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Working in DV format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198

Selecting source media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199

Setting project properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Selecting templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199

Eliminating out-of-range colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Modifying video properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Modifying project video properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Modifying media file properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Modifying output properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203

Using Video FX, Compositing, and Masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Using video effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Adding a video effects plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206

Working with video effects plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Modifying a video effects plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Saving custom plug-in settings as a preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210

Using keyframe animation with plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Using generated media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

Adding a generated media event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

Duplicating a generated media event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212

Understanding the parent/child track relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Selecting compositing modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Using a 2-to-1 transform plug-in to customize compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

3D Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

Single-track 3D motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217

Composited group 3D motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Changing editing options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Examples of various 3D compositing scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

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Creating masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Creating image masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Creating video masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Bézier masks [Bezier] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Fine-tuning masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Using the Mask Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Chroma keying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Adding Video Transitions and Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Understanding basic transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Cuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Using transition effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Adding a transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Adding a transition to the end of an event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Adding a transition to all selected events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Adding a transition progress envelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Understanding track layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Converting a cut to a transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Converting a crossfade or transition to a cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Previewing a transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Modifying a transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Saving custom settings as a preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Using keyframe animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Understanding the keyframe controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Adding keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Deleting keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Navigating in the keyframe controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Modifying keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Working with keyframes in track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Sample uses for keyframe animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Animating event panning and cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Animating video effects plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Animating generated text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Adding track motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Controlling track motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Using the track motion shortcut menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246

Changing editing options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Using keyframes in track motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Creating a picture-in-picture effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Animating the overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

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Previewing and Analyzing Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Understanding the Video Preview window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253

Using the Video Preview window shortcut menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254

Optimizing the Video Preview window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255

Reducing preview quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255

Prerendering video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255

Building dynamic RAM previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Using split-screen previewing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257

Previewing affected and unprocessed video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257

Showing the video at the cursor position and the contents of the clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Changing the selection for displaying split-screen views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Identifying safe areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258

Viewing the grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259

Isolating color channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259

Monitoring video with scopes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259

Displaying chrominance using the vectorscope monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260

Displaying luminance using the waveform monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261

Displaying color levels and contrast using the histogram monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Displaying RGB components with RGB parade monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263

Adjusting video scope settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Previewing in a player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265

Using an external monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266

Setting up an external monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266

Configuring an external monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267

Verifying the external monitor configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .267

Saving, Rendering, and Printing Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Saving a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269

Creating a copy of a project (using Save As...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Saving a project with media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Autosaving a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Rendering a project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271

Selecting a file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .272

More about the MPEG format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

More about the Wave64 and Perfect Clarity Audio formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

More about video formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Customizing the rendering process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275

Customizing the Render As settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Saving custom settings as a template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .276

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Creating custom rendering settings for AVI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Project tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Video tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Audio tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Rendering with networked computers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Setting up your computers for network rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Troubleshooting initiation problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Using nondistributed network rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Using distributed network rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Monitoring rendering progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Setting file mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Setting render service options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Printing with Video Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Printing to DV tape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Establishing a connection to the recording device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Printing to DV tape from the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Customizing Vegas software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Displaying frame numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Changing the ruler format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Editing the ruler offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Changing grid spacing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Using the Time Display window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Changing the time display settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Changing the time display colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Setting the time display to monitor MIDI timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Working with project properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Video tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Audio tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Ruler tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Summary tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Audio CD tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Using the toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Hiding and displaying the toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Reordering toolbar buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Adding buttons to the toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Removing buttons from the toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

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Setting preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294

General tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294

Video tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .296

Video device tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Audio tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Audio Device tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

MIDI Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Editing tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299

Display tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300

CD Settings tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Sync tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Keyboard tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

External Control & Automation tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .303

Burning CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Understanding track-at-once and disc-at-once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .305

Track-at-once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Disc-at-once (Single Session or Red Book) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Understanding tracks and indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .305

Setting up to burn audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .306

Viewing the ruler and time display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Setting project properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Setting preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .306

Importing CD Architect files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Creating audio CD layout projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307

Adding media as CD tracks to a new project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307

Marking tracks in an existing project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Working with tracks and indices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309

Navigating to and selecting tracks and indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309

Moving track and index markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Renaming track and index markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309

Deleting track and index markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309

Editing markers using the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310

Copying a track list from the Edit Details window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310

Burning audio CDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310

Burning single tracks (track-at-once) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Burning a disc (disc-at-once) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311

Burning video CDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .312

Creating a multimedia CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .314

Using Scripting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

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Running a script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Adding scripts to the Scripting menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Creating a script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Editing an existing script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Troubleshooting resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Common questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Why are some of my DirectX plug-ins not working correctly? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Why do I hear gaps in my audio playback? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .317

Why do mono events increase 6 dB when panning a track hard? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Why do buffer underruns occur during a test or real write to a CD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Why can’t I work with footage captured using an MJPEG card? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Trouble-free video: software solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Trouble-free video: hardware solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Video subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

CPU and RAM (memory) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Audio proxy files (.sfap0). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Interlacing and field order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

SMPTE timecode types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Timecode in Vegas software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Troubleshooting DV hardware issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page 17

CHAPTER

Introduction

Welcome

Vegas® software from Sony Pictures Digital is an innovative and advanced multitrack media-editing system. Vegas software was designed to create an efficient audio/video production environment without sacrificing the quality and processing power that you expect from Sony Pictures Digital. Whether it’s the standard and familiar Microsoft® Windows® navigation commands or the clean and uncluttered interface, you’ll find Vegas software to be a tool that will be mastered in minutes. Beneath the unique and customizable interface, you’ll find a product that is both powerful and flexible.

System requirements

In order to use Vegas software, your computer must satisfy the following minimum specifications:

• 500 MHz processor

• Microsoft Windows-compatible sound card

• Supported CD-R/RW drive (for CD burning)

• 7200 RPM hard-disk drive

• IEEE-1394 capture card (for DV capture and print-to-tape tools only)

• 24-bit color display recommended

• 128 MB RAM

• 40 MB hard-disk space for program installation

• Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP

• Microsoft DirectX®

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later (included on CD-ROM)

• Microsoft .NET Framework

8 or later (included on CD-ROM)

Technical support

The Web site at http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/support/default.asp has technical support, reference information, program updates, tips and tricks, user forums, and a knowledge base.

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

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Installing Vegas software

Insert the CD-ROM. The setup screen appears (if CD-ROM AutoPlay is enabled).

If CD-ROM AutoPlay is not enabled, click the button and choose appears, type the CD-ROM drive’s letter and add

Click Install Vegas 5.0. The installation process begins.

Follow the screen prompts and enter the necessary information when required.

At the last screen prompt, click to conclude the installation.

Note:

Windows Installer is used for all versions of

:\setup.exe. Click OK to start the installation.

Run. In the Run window that

Windows. Windows Installer is installed and then you are asked to restart your system.

Registration

The registration dialog that appears when you start the software allows you to quickly and easily register:

• Choose

Internet connection, but you have another computer that does.

• Choose

Follow the instructions in the registration dialog to complete your registration.

Register online to instantly register the product over the Internet. Register from another computer if the computer you’ve installed the software on does not have an

Register over the phone to call Sony Pictures Digital to register manually. Register later to continue using the software for a limited time without registering.

Using online help

You can access two varieties of help:

• Online help

• What’sThis? help (also referred to as context-sensitive help)

Online help

To access online help, choose Contents and Index from the Help menu or press .

Note:

To view online help, Internet Explorer 4.0 or later must be installed on your system. Internet Explorer 5.0 is included on the Vegas software CD-ROM for your convenience.

The online help window has four tabs that you can use to find the information that you need.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

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Toolbar

Tabs

Information pane

The Contents tab provides a list of available help topics. Double-click a closed book ( ) to open the pages and then click a topic page ( ).

The

Index tab provides a complete listing of the help topics available. Scroll through the list of available

topics or type a word in the

Type in the keyword to find box to quickly locate topics related to that word. Select

the topic and click .

The

Search tab allows you to enter a keyword and display all of the topics in the online help that contain the

keyword you have entered. Type a keyword in the

Type in the word(s) to search for box and click . Select

the topic from the list and click .

The Favorites tab allows you to keep topics that you revisit often in a separate folder. To add a topic to your favorites, click on the

What’sThis? help

Favorites tab.

What’sThis? help allows you to view pop-up descriptions of menus, buttons, and dialog boxes.

Click the What’s This Help button ( ) in the toolbar or the question mark ( ) in the upper-right corner of a dialog box. Alternately, you can choose

What's This? from the Help menu or press . The cursor

Shift +F1

changes to a question mark icon ( ).

Click an item in the program’s interface. A pop-up description of the item appears.

Help on the Web

Additional help and information is available on the Sony Pictures Digital Media Software and Services Web site. From the

Help menu, choose Sony on the Web to view a listing of Web pages pertaining to Vegas

software and Sony Pictures Digital.

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Overview

Vegas software is designed to be an easy-to-use program with many tools that provide power and flexibility when creating and working with multimedia files. Many operations, menu items, and shortcut keys are consistent with other popular Microsoft Windows software applications.

The following sections provide a graphical tour of the Vegas workspace.

Main window

This is the window that appears when the software is opened. The work area is subdivided into three primary areas: the track list, the track view (or timeline), and the window docking area.You can resize the track list, track view, and window docking area by dragging the dividers between them.

Menu bar

Toolbar

Time display

Marker bar

Ruler

Track list

Scrub control

Window docking area

Transport bar

Track view (timeline)

Status bar

Toolbar

The toolbar allows you to quickly access the most commonly used functions and features. From the Options menu, choose

Create new project Enable automatic crossfades

Open existing project Enable automatic ripple editing

Save project Lock envelopes to events

Customize Toolbar to specify which buttons are displayed.

Open project properties Ignore event grouping

Cut selected events or time range Normal edit tool

Copy selected events or time range Envelope edit tool

Paste items from clipboard into project

Undo Zoom edit tool

Redo What’s This? help

Enable snapping to grid lines

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

Selection edit tool

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Time display

The Time Display window reflects the cursor’s position on the timeline and the end point of a time selection. You can customize time display settings, including what time the window displays and colors are used in the display. For more information, see Using the Time Display window on page 289.

You can move the Time Display window from its docked position above the track list to float on the workspace or dock in the window docking area.

Docked position Floating window Docked in window docking area

Ruler

The ruler is the timeline for your project. You may specify how the ruler measures time: seconds, measures and beats, frames, etc. For more information, see Changing the ruler format on page 287.

Marker bar

The marker bar is the area where you can place, name, and position markers and regions along the project’s timeline. These informational tags can serve as cues or reminders highlighting important events in your project. For more information, see Adding project markers and regions on page 78.

Command bar

The command bar displays when you add a command to your project. Commands add metadata to media files to create effects such as closed captioning. For more information, see Adding project markers and regions on page 78.

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CD layout bar

The CD layout bar displays tracks and indices in an audio CD layout project for disc-at-once (DAO) CD burning. For more information, see Burning CDs on page 305.

Track list

This area identifies the track order in your project and contains controls used to determine track compositing and mixing. For more information, see Using the track list on page 52.

Track minimize and maximize

Selected track

Parent/child compositing control

Track number

Video tracks

Audio track

Timeline

All arranging and editing is done in the timeline or track view. This area contains all of a project’s events.

For more information, see Using the track view on page 50.

Transport bar controls

The transport bar contains the playback and cursor positioning buttons frequently used while working on and previewing your project.

Record into track Pause project playback

Loop playback Stop playback

Play from beginning of project Move cursor to start of project

Play project from cursor position Move cursor to end of project

Status bar

The status bar is located at the bottom of the main program window and displays information about roughly how much space is left on your computer to record audio (Record Time). During the rendering processes, the left side of the status bar also contains information about the progress of the render.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

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The Video Preview window also has its own status bar that displays project specific information. For more information, see Understanding the Video Preview window on page 253.

Scrub control

The scrub control is used to play your project forward or backward for editing purposes. You may adjust playback speed

Drag either forward or backward for playback

by setting the speed control marker located beneath the scrub control. For more information, see Scrubbing on page 55.

Set playback speed

Window docking area and floating window docks

This area allows you to keep frequently used windows available but out of the way while you are working with a project. Windows can be docked next to each other, subdividing the docking area, or they can be docked in a stack in the window docking area or in a separate floating docking window. When stacked, each window has a tab at the bottom with its name on it. Click the window’s tab to bring it to the top.

Close window

Expand window

Drag the handle away from the docking area to float the window.

• To dock a window, drag it to the docking area.

• Drag the handle on the left side of a docked window to remove a window from the docking area and float

it.

• To prevent a window from docking when you drag it, hold the key.

• To expand a docked window so it fills the docking area, click the

Ctrl

Maximize button ( ). Click again to

restore the window to its previous size.

• To remove a window from the docking area or a floating dock, click the

Close button ( ).

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Explorer window - Alt+1

The Explorer window is similar to the Microsoft Windows Explorer. Use the Explorer window to select media files to drag to the project timeline or add to the Media Pool. You can also use the Explorer to perform common file management tasks such as creating folders, renaming files and folders, deleting files and folders.

Use the

Trimmer window - Alt+2

Start Preview () and Auto Preview ( ) buttons to preview files before adding them to the project.

Preview selected media files before placing them in the project.

Select media to place

Select drive or folder

in the project by dragging or double-clicking.

Add media to the Media Pool by right-clicking a file and choosing Add to Media Pool from the shortcut menu.

The Trimmer window is a good place to edit any media file. When a media file is placed in the Trimmer window, you can place portions of the file on separate tracks by dragging and dropping. For more information,

see Using the Trimmer window on page 96.

Mixer window - Alt+3

The Mixer window gives you access to your project’s audio properties, bus assignments, output levels, and plug-in chains. For more information, see Using the Mixer window on page 143.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

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Video Preview window - Alt+4

This window displays a project’s video during project editing and playback. For more information, see

Previewing and Analyzing Video on page 253.

Video appears during project playback or as the cursor is moved during editing.

Right-click to change Video Preview settings

Media Pool - Alt +5

The Media Pool helps you organize the media files you’re using in a project. The information about these files is displayed in a highly flexible database that can be instantly sorted. You can also use the Media Pool to apply effects and plug-ins to media files and set the specific properties of these files. For more information, see

Using the Media Pool on page 41.

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Edit Details window - Alt+6

This window serves as a highly detailed and customizable database of all of the events in a project. The database can be organized and sorted according to a large number of attributes. For more information, see

Using the Edit Details window on page 101.

Transitions window - Alt+7

The Transitions window contains all of the transitions available. The thumbnails display animated examples of each transition. You can drag transitions from this window to replace the crossfade between two video events or to replace the fade-in or fade-out region of a video event. For more information, see Understanding

basic transitions on page 231.

Video FX window - Alt+8

The Video FX window contains the video effects available. The thumbnails display animated examples of each plug-in preset. You can drag plug-ins from this window to an event, track, or to the Video Preview window (video output effects). For more information, see Using video effects on page 205.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

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Media Generators window - Alt+9

The Media Generators window contains the different media generators provided. Media generators make it easy to create events containing text, credit rolls, test patterns, color gradients, and solid color backgrounds. You can drag a media generator to the timeline to create a new generated media event. For more information,

see Using generated media on page 211.

Plug-In Manager- Ctrl+Alt+1

This window organizes all of the plug-ins available, including video and audio effects, media generators, and transitions. The plug-ins, which are organized in a folder structure, can be dragged into the project. For more

information, see Using audio effects on page 153 or Using video effects on page 205.

Saving and recalling window layouts - Ctrl+Alt+D or Ctrl+D

A window layout stores the sizes and positions of all windows and floating window docks in the Vegas workspace. You can store up to ten window layouts so you can quickly recall customized layouts for specific editing tasks.

Saving a window layout

Arrange the windows and docked windows as desired.

Press Ctrl+Alt+D, and then release the keys.

Press a number on your keyboard (not the numeric keypad) to save the layout in that space.

Recalling a saved layout

Press Alt+D, and then release the keys.

Press a number on your keyboard (not the numeric keypad) to recall the layout saved in that in that space.

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Keyboard command reference

Project file commands

Description Keys

Create new project Ctrl+N Create new project and bypass Project

Properties dialog Open existing project or media file Ctrl+O Save project Ctrl+S Open project’s properties Alt+Enter Close current project Ctrl+F4 Exit Vegas software Alt+F4

Window view commands

Description Keys Description Keys

Focus to track view Alt+0 Media Generators (show/

Explorer (show/hide window if not docked)

Trimmer (show/hide window if not docked)

Mixer (show/hide window if not docked)

Video Preview (show/hide window if not docked)

Media Pool (show/hide window if not docked)

Edit Details (show/hide window if not docked)

Transitions (show/hide window if not docked)

Video FX (show/hide window if not docked)

Alt+1 Plug-ins (show/hide window

Alt+2 Video Scopes (show/hide

Alt+3 Surround Panner (show/hide

Alt+4 Next window F6 or Ctrl+Tab

Alt+5 Previous window Shift+F6 or Ctrl+Shift+Tab

Alt+6 Toggle focus between track

Alt+7 Show/hide audio bus tracks

Alt+8 Show/hide video bus track

Ctrl+Shift+N

hide window if not docked)

if not docked)

window if not docked; available only in the full version of Vegas software)

window if not docked)

list and timeline (and bus track list and timeline if bus tracks are visible)

(available only in the full version of Vegas software)

Alt+9

Ctrl+Alt+1

Ctrl+Alt+2

Ctrl+Alt+3

Tab

Ctrl+Shift+B

Playback, recording, and preview commands

Description Keys Description Keys

Start/stop playback Spacebar Scrub playback J/K/L (pg. 56) Play from start Shift+Spacebar or

Shift+F12 Stop playback Esc Preview in player Ctrl+Shift+M Looped playback mode Q or

Play/pause Enter or

Record Ctrl+R Generate MIDI clock Shift+F7 Arm track for record Ctrl+Alt+R Trigger from MIDI timecode Ctrl+F7 Arm for record and set recording path

Play back from any window Ctrl+Spacebar or F12

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

Ctrl+Shift+L

Ctrl+F12

Ctrl+Alt+ Shift+R Preview cursor position

Build dynamic RAM preview Shift+B (pg. 256)

Prerender video Shift+M

Generate MIDI timecode F7

Numeric keypad 0

Specify the length of time that will play using the Cursor preview duration field on the Editing tab of the Preferences dialog.

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Edit commands

Description Keys Description Keys

Undo Ctrl+Z or

Alt+Backspace

Redo Ctrl+Shift+Z or

Ctrl+Y

Cut selection Ctrl+X or

Shift+Delete

Copy selection Ctrl+C or

Ctrl+Insert

Paste Ctrl+V or

Shift+Insert

Paste repeat Ctrl+B Switch to previous editing tool Shift+D Paste insert Ctrl+Shift+V Open in audio editor Ctrl+E

Delete selection Delete

Split event(s) S

Trim/crop selected events Ctrl+T

Normal Edit Tool Ctrl+D

Switch to next editing tool D

Cursor placement commands

Description Keys Description Keys

Go to beginning of selection or view (if no selection)

Go to end of selection or view (if no selection)

Go to beginning of project Ctrl+Home or W Move left to event edit

Go to end of project Ctrl+End or E Move right to event edit

Move left by grid marks Page Up Nudge cursor one pixel on

Move right by grid marks Page Down Jump to next audio CD track

Go to Ctrl+G Jump to previous audio CD

Jump to Marker # 0-9 keys (not

Move one frame Alt+Left or Right

Center in View \ Jog left/right (when not in

edge-trimming mode or during playback)

Home Move left to marker(s) Ctrl+Left Arrow

End Move right to marker(s) Ctrl+Right Arrow

Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow

Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow

Left or Right Arrow

Period

Comma

Ctrl+Period

Ctrl+Comma

numeric keypad)

Arrow

F3/F9

points including fade edges

timeline (when Quantize to Frames is turned off)

region or index

track region or index Jump to next audio CD track region Jump to previous audio CD track region

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

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Time selection commands

Note:

Many of the preceding cursor placement commands, when combined with the Shift key, are also selection commands.

Description Keys

Snap select to event edge Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Left or Right Arrow Select loop region Shift+Q Recover previous 5 selection areas Backspace

Select left by grid marks Shift+Page Up

Select right by grid marks Shift+Page Down Mark in/out locations I (in) and O (out) Create time selection while dragging on an event Ctrl+Shift+drag with mouse Expand selection one frame Shift+Alt+Left or Right Arrow Select to next audio CD track marker Shift+. (period) Select to previous audio CD track marker Shift+, (comma) Enter location for end of selection Ctrl+Shift+G

View commands

Description Keys Description Keys

Increase track height Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow Zoom out on audio waveforms Shift+Down Arrow Decrease track height Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow Zoom in Ctrl+Up Arrow

Minimize all tracks ` Zoom out Ctrl+Down Arrow

Set track height smaller Shift+` Show/hide window docking area F11 or Alt+` Set track heights to default size Ctrl+` Show/hide track list Shift+F11 or Shift+Alt+` Zoom in time (incremental) Up Arrow Show/hide window docking area

and track list Zoom in time until each video thumbnail represents one frame Zoom out time (incremental) Down Arrow Save window layout Ctrl+Alt+D, then press 0-9 Zoom in on audio waveforms Shift+Up Arrow Show/hide envelopes Ctrl+Shift+E

Alt+Up Arrow Recall window layout Alt+D, then press 0-9

Ctrl+F11

Event commands

Description Keys Description Keys

Move or trim selected event(s) left/right one pixel

Move or trim selected events one frame left/right

Move selected event(s) left/right on grid Ctrl+numeric keypad

Move selected event(s) left/right by the project frame period Move selected event(s) left/right by the first selected event’s length Move selected event(s) up/down one track

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

Numeric keypad 4/6 Enter edge-trimming mode and select

event start; move to previous event edge

In this mode, 1, 3, 4, and 6 on the numeric keypad trim the selected event edge

Numeric keypad 1/3 Enter edge-trimming mode and select

event end; move to next event edge

In this mode, 1, 3, 4, and 6 on the numeric keypad trim the selected event edge

Trim left/right (when in edge-trimming 4/6 Alt+Right Arrow numeric keypad 4/6 Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow numeric keypad 4/6 Numeric keypad 8/2 Select previous take Shift+T

mode

Exit edge-trimming mode Numeric keypad 5

Select next take T

Numeric keypad 7 or [

Numeric keypad 9 or ]

F3/F9

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Event editing commands

Description Keys Description Keys

Slip: move media within event without moving the event

Slip Trim: move the media with the edge as it is trimmed Slide: trim both ends of event simultaneously Slide Crossfade: move crossfade

Trim Adjacent: trim selected event and adjacent event simultaneously

Stretch (compress) the media in the event while trimming

Open in audio editor Ctrl+E Reset pitch Ctrl+Shift+= or

Alt+drag inside the event

Alt+drag edge of event Raise pitch one cent Ctrl+=

Ctrl+Alt+drag middle of event Ctrl+Alt+drag over a crossfade Ctrl+Alt+drag edge of event

Ctrl+drag edge of event

Raise pitch one semitone = (not numeric

keypad)

Raise pitch one octave Shift+=

Lower pitch one semitone - (not numeric keypad)

Lower pitch one cent Ctrl+-

Lower pitch one octave Shift+-

Ctrl+Shift+-

Event selection commands

Description Keys

Range selection Shift+click range of objects Multiple selection Ctrl+click individual objects

Select all Ctrl+A

Unselect all Ctrl+Shift+A

Select all events in group Shift+G

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

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Track commands

Description Keys Description Keys

New audio track Ctrl+Q Post-edit ripple affected tracks, bus tracks,

New video track Ctrl+Shift+Q Post-edit ripple all tracks, markers, and

Enable/disable snapping F8 Group selected events G Quantize to frames Alt+F8 Remove event(s) from group U Snap to markers Shift+F8 Clear group (without deleting events) Ctrl+U Snap to grid Ctrl+F8 Insert/show/hide track volume envelope V Ripple edit mode Ctrl+L Remove track volume envelope Shift+V Auto crossfade mode Ctrl+Shift+X Insert/show/hide track panning envelope P

Normal edit tool Ctrl+D Remove track panning envelope Shift+P Next tool D Make fine envelope point or segment

Previous tool Shift+D Make normal envelope point or segment

Mix to new track Ctrl+M Adjust envelope point’s timeline position

Change the track that has focus Alt+Shift+Up/Down

Mute selected tracks Z Insert marker M Mute selected tracks and remove other

tracks from mute group Solo selected tracks X Insert audio CD track region N

Solo selected track and remove other tracks from solo group Change audio track volume or video track compositing level (when focus is on track

list) Change audio track panning or video track

fade-to-color setting (when focus is on

track list) Override snapping Shift+drag Insert cut transition Ctrl+*, - (numeric

Bypass snapping Shift+drag Convert crossfade or transition to cut Ctrl+/ (numeric

Post-edit ripple affected tracks F Cycle through effect automation

Arrow

Shift+Z Insert command marker C

Shift+X Insert audio CD track index Shift+N

Right/Left Arrow Insert transition /, *, - (numeric

Shift+Left/Right Arrow

markers, and regions

regions

adjustments without changing envelope points’ timeline positions

without changing its value Insert region R

envelopes

Ctrl+F

Ctrl+Shift+F

Ctrl+drag envelope point or segment

Ctrl+Alt+drag envelope point or segment

Alt+drag

keypad)

keypad) E or Shift+E

Trimmer commands

Tip:

Many of the shortcuts that apply to the timeline (e.g., cursor placement, selection commands, etc.) also work in the Trimmer.

Description Keys Description Keys

Add Media From Cursor A Toggle audio/video stream height Ctrl+Shift+Up/

Down Arrow Add Media to Cursor Shift+A Sort Trimmer history H Transfer time selection from timeline to Trimmer after cursor Transfer time selection from timeline to Trimmer before cursor Toggle selected stream: audio/video/ both

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

T Clear Trimmer history Ctrl+Shift+H

Shift+T Save markers/regions S

Tab Open in audio editor Ctrl+E

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Track Motion window shortcuts

Description Keys

Change 3D layout 1-6 (not numeric keypad) Lock aspect ratio A Scale about center C Edit in object space O

Prevent movement X, Y, and Z Prevent scaling Shift+X, Shift+Y, and Shift+Z Enable snapping F8 Enable rotation Shift+F8

Surround panner commands

For finer, more precise movements on the shortcuts in this section, add the key.

Ctrl

Description Keys

Constrain motion to a line through the center of the surround panner Constrain motion to a constant radius from the center

Constrain motion to the maximum circle that will fit in the Surround Panner

Move the pan point forward/back (when the pan point is selected)

Move the pan point left/right (when the pan point is selected) Left/Right Arrow or Shift+Page Up/Page Down or Shift + mouse wheel forward/

Move the pan point to a corner, edge, or center of the Surround Panner (when the pan point is selected)

Move the pan point to a corner on the largest circle that will fit in the Surround Panner (when the pan point is selected)

Shift+drag the pan point (only when Move Freely

Alt+drag the pan point (only when Move Freely is selected) or Alt+mouse wheel

Alt+Shift+drag the pan point (only when Move Freely Alt+Shift+mouse wheel Up/down arrow or Page Up/Page Down or mouse wheel

back Numeric Keypad

Ctrl+Numeric Keypad 1,3,7,9

is selected)

is selected) or

Miscellaneous commands

Description Keys Description Keys

Online help F1 Shortcut menu Shift+F10 What’s This? help Shift+F1 Rebuild audio peaks F5 Change relative keyframe spacing Make fine fader/slider adjustments

Alt+drag keyframes

Ctrl+drag fader/slider

Move both region markers or audio CD track region markers

Alt+drag region

marker

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

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Multimedia keyboard shortcuts

Description Keys

Play/Pause Play/Pause Play from start Shift+Play/Pause Stop Stop Mute track Mute

Mute track and remove other tracks from mute group Shift+Mute Solo track Ctrl+Mute Solo track and remove other tracks from solo group Ctrl+Shift+Mute Change audio track volume or video track compositing level (when focus is on track

list) Change audio track panning or video track fade-to-color setting (when focus is on

track list) Change track focus Next/Prev Track

Volume Up/Down

Shift+Volume Up/Down

Mouse wheel shortcuts

Description Keys

Zoom in/out on timeline Default mouse wheel behavior Zoom in/out in Event Pan/Crop or Track Motion windows Vertical scroll Ctrl+wheel Horizontal scroll Shift+wheel

Move the cursor in small increments Ctrl+Shift+wheel Move cursor one frame at a time Ctrl+Shift+Alt+wheel Auto-scroll Press mouse wheel and move mouse left or right Move fader/slider Hover over fader and use wheel Move fader/slider with fine control Ctrl+hover over fader and use wheel

Default mouse wheel behavior

Cursor indications

The cursor changes depending on which functions are available.

Cursor Indicates Modifier Description

Standard none This is the standard arrow cursor that means events can be

dragged.

Trim none Position the cursor over the edge of an event and drag to trim

the event shorter or longer.

Slip Trim Alt Position the cursor over the edge of an event, press Alt, and drag to

trim. The media within the event moves with the edge. This is useful to preserve the beginning or end of an event while trimming.

Stretch Ctrl Position the cursor over the edge of an event, press Ctrl, and

Slip Alt Press Alt and drag on the middle of a clip to move the media

Trim Adjacent

Slide Ctrl+Alt Position the cursor over the middle of an event, press Ctrl+Alt, and

Slide Crossfade

Ctrl+Alt Position the cursor over the boundary between two adjacent

Ctrl+Alt Position cursor over a crossfade, press Ctrl+Alt, and drag on a

drag the edge to stretch or compress it. This makes the media in the event play slower or faster.

within the event without moving the event itself.

events, press Ctrl+Alt, and drag. Both events are edge trimmed simultaneously.

drag to simultaneously trim both ends.

crossfade to move it.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

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Using a control surface

A control surface is a hardware device that uses knobs, faders, and buttons to control user interface elements that are normally controlled with a mouse. Using a control surface lends a tactile feel to your editing sessions.

Unlike keyboard shortcuts—which determine the shortcut's behavior based on the portion of the Vegas window that has focus—a control surface's mapped functions work no matter what part of the application has focus.

You can use one Mackie® Control Universal or up to five generic control surfaces with Vegas software. For more information about setting up a control surface, please see External Control & Automation tab on page

303.

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

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Audio signal flow

Multiple audio busses and assignable effects are only available in the full version of Vegas software.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

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Video signal flow

Track signal flow

Composited track signal flow

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

Page 38

About your rights in Vegas software

Vegas software is licensed to you under the terms of the End User License Agreement. The End User License Agreement is first presented to you when you install the software. Please review the End User License Agreement carefully as its terms affect your rights with respect to the software. For your reference, a copy of the End User License Agreement for Vegas software is located at http://www.sony.com/mediasoftware.

About Your Privacy

Sony Pictures Digital respects your privacy and are committed to protecting personal information. Your use of the software is governed by the Software Privacy Policy. A copy of this policy is incorporated into the registration process and you are asked to agree to its terms prior to accepting the terms of the End User License Agreement. Please review its contents carefully as its terms and conditions affect your rights with respect to the information that is collected by the software. For your reference, a copy of the Software Privacy Policy is located at http://www.sony.com/mediasoftware.

Proper Use of Software

The Vegas software is not intended, and should not be used for, illegal or infringing purposes, such as the illegal copying or sharing of copyrighted materials. Using Vegas software for such purposes is, among other things, against United States and international copyright laws and contrary to the terms and conditions of the End User License Agreement. Such activity may be punishable by law and may also subject you to the breach remedies set forth in the End User License Agreement.

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

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CHAPTER

Getting Started

Vegas® software is a new way of creating multimedia productions. Whether you are an experienced multimedia author or a budding novice, the powerful features and capabilities of Vegas software are organized to increase your creativity and productivity. The following chapter summarizes the software’s basic functions and operations.

Creating projects

The process of creating a multimedia production can be a complicated undertaking, involving hundreds of shots, takes, voiceovers, music beds, audio tracks, and special effects. Organization is a critical issue in this process. In the software, organization is handled by a small project file (VEG) that saves information about source file locations, edits, cuts, insertion points, transitions, and special effects. This project file is not a multimedia file, but is instead used to create (render) the final file when editing is finished.

Because Vegas software edits a project file and not the original source files, you can edit without worrying about corrupting your source files. This not only gives you a strong sense of security, but it also gives you the freedom to experiment.

From the File menu, choose New. The New Project dialog appears.

Note:

automatically be started for you.

Enter your project settings on the various tabs. For more information, see Working with project properties on page 291.

• The

The first time you run the software, a new project will

Video tab allows you to select the video format and

Setting video properties based on a media file

You can automatically set your project video properties to match an existing video file.

From the File menu, choose Properties.

On the Video tab of the Project Properties dialog, click the Match Media Settings button ( ).

Browse for a media file that has the settings you wish you use for the project.

Click Open.

The frame size, frame rate, pixel aspect ratio, and field order of this file are automatically detected and the project properties are set to match.

Tip:

To save this information for future use, enter a name in

Te mp l a te box and click the Save Template button ( ). If

the your projects typically use these settings, select the

new projects with these settings check box.

Click OK to save the new project properties.

Start all

Saving a project

When you save your work, it is saved in a project file. Project files are not rendered media files.

From the File menu, choose Save.

The first time you save a project, the Save As dialog appears. In subsequent saves, the dialog is bypassed, your existing file name is retained, and your project is updated to include any implemented changes.

Select the drive and folder where you want to store the project.

Type the project name in the File Name box.

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Click Save.

Tip:

Select the Copy and trim media with project check box to save the project file and copies of the media files to a common location. For more information, see Saving a project with

media on page 270.

Renaming a project (using Save As)

After you have been working with your project, you can use the Save As command in the File menu to save a copy of a project with a new name. This is useful for backing up different versions of a project. For more

information, see Creating a copy of a project (using Save As...) on page 270.

Getting media files

You can add media from a variety of sources to your project. You can add audio and video files, record audio into a track, capture video from a video camera, or extract music from your own CD. You can also create media such as text overlays, backgrounds, and credit rolls from within the software. For more information, see

Using generated media on page 211.

Note:

To have pulldown fields automatically removed when

opening 24 fps progressive-scan DV video files, select the

Allow pulldown removal when opening 24p DV check box on

General tab of the Preferences dialog. To open your 24p

the DV video files as 29.97 fps interlaced video (60i), clear this check box.

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Selecting media

Vegas software supports a wide range of media file types. You may select any of the media file types listed below to add to your project.

Format Extension Definition

GIF .gif 256 index color, lossless image and animation format widely used on

JPEG .jpg True color, lossy Internet image format. Macintosh® Audio Interchange File Format File MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 .mpg MPEGs, files compressed using a lossy audio/video compression

MPEG Layer 3 .mp3 Highly compressed audio file. Ogg Vorbis .ogg A patent-free audio encoding and streaming technology.

Photoshop .psd Portable Network Graphic .png True color or indexed color, lossy or lossless Internet image format. QuickTime™ .mov, .qt QuickTime standard audio/video format. Perfect Clarity Audio® .pca A proprietary lossless audio compression format from Sony Pictures

Wave 64™ .w64 Sony Pictures Digital proprietary Wave64 audio file that does not

TARGA .tga True color, lossless image format that supports alpha channel

TIFF .tif Tagged Image File Format, a common bitmap format. You must have

Video for Windows® .avi Standard audio/video format used on Microsoft® Windows®-based

Wave (Microsoft®) .wav Standard audio format used on Microsoft Windows-based computers. Wave (Scott Studios) .wav Standard audio format used with Scott Studios systems. Windows Bitmap .bmp Standard graphic format used on Microsoft Windows-based

Windows Media® Audio .wma The Microsoft audio-only format used to create files for streaming or

Windows Media Format .wmv The Microsoft standard used for streaming audio and video media via

.aif Standard audio format developed by Apple® and used on Macintosh®

the Internet.

computers.

method, can be used with Vegas software.

Adobe® Photoshop® proprietary image format (flattened).

Digital.

have a limited file size (unlike Windows WAV files that are limited to ~2GB).

transparency.

QuickTime installed to use TIFF files in Vegas software.

computers.

downloading via the Web.

the Web.

Previewing a media file

You may preview files before placing them in your project. The Explorer window has a mini-transport bar

with

Play, Stop, and Auto Preview buttons ( ). When you preview a file, its stream is sent to the Mixer

window’s preview bus (for audio files) or to the Video Preview window (for video files).

Tip:

You can use the same mini-transport bar buttons in the

Media Pool window to preview files in the Media Pool.

Select a file in the Explorer window.

Click the Play button ( ) to listen to the file.

Click the Stop button ( ) or select a different file to stop previewing the file.

Tip:

To automatically preview selected files, click the Auto

Preview

bar.

GETTING STARTED CHP. 2

button ( ) on the Explorer window’s transport

Page 43

Using the Media Pool

Media files, both video and audio, tend to be the largest files on your hard drive. It is therefore not always easy to move them around and impractical to store multiple copies of these files. You can add media files to the Media Pool to organize them before any editing begins. Once you begin working on a project, all files you add to the timeline are automatically included in the Media Pool. From the open this window if it is not already visible.

Using Media Pool views

You can control the information that is displayed in the Media Pool by clicking the Views button ( ) and selecting a view.

The

Detailed view displays all the properties for each file. The information is presented in a table format. You

can customize the information displayed:

• Reorder columns (fields) by dragging the column label to a new position.

• Hide a column by dragging the column label off of the Media Pool window. To display a hidden column,

right-click the Media Pool, choose submenu.

• Sort the files in the Media Pool according to a category by clicking the column label for that category.

• Use the

field to enter text. This information is saved with the project and is not saved with the media file itself.

View menu, choose Media Pool to

View from the shortcut menu, and choose the column name from the

Comments field to add your own annotations to a file’s entry in the Media Pool. Double-click the

Adding media to the Media Pool

Click the Import Media button ( ) in the Media Pool. The Import Media dialog appears.

Navigate to and select a media file to add to the Media Pool. You can use or to select multiple

Ctrl Shift

files.

Click Open.

The media file is added to the Media Pool.

Adding media to the Media Pool from the Explorer window

Navigate to and select a file to add to the Media Pool. You can use or to select multiple media

Ctrl Shift

files.

Right-click the file and choose Add to Media Pool from the shortcut menu.

The selected file is added to the Media Pool.

Replacing media in the Media Pool

You may replace a file in the Media Pool with a different file. When changing the media file that an event contains, every occurrence of the event on the timeline is updated with the new media file contents.

Right-click a file in the Media Pool.

Choose Replace from the shortcut menu.

In the Replace Media File dialog, browse for and select the file that you want to replace the current file.

Click Open. The selected file replaces the old file in the Media Pool, and any events in the timeline containing the old file are updated to contain the new media file.

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Capturing video

You can use the Sony Pictures Digital Video Capture application (installed with Vegas software) to capture video clips from your video camera and add them to the Media Pool window.

Note:

You must have an IEEE-1394/OHCI-compliant

video capture card installed to use Video Capture.

If you have not already done so, connect your video camera to your video capture card using the cable provided with the card.

In the Media Pool window, click the Open Video Capture button ( ). The Sony Pictures Digital Video Capture application starts.

Note:

If your video camera is properly connected, the Video Preview window in the center of the application area should display “Device connected.”

Capture your video. For information on capturing video with Sony Pictures Digital Video Capture, choose

Contents and Index from the Help menu within Video Capture to display Video Capture online help.

Once you have captured your video, Video Capture adds the file(s) to the Media Pool window. If any captured clips go offline, you can recapture the clips using Video Capture. Right-click an offline file in the Media Pool and choose

Getting images

Recapture from the shortcut menu.

You can bring images directly into the software from your scanner, digital camera, or other TWAIN device. The images are added to the Media Pool as JPEG image files.

Make sure your device (scanner or digital camera) is on and connected to your computer.

In the Media Pool window, click the Get Photo button ( ). The software is started for the device.

Use the device software to get an image and send it to Vegas software. Once the image has been sent, the Scanned Files dialog appears.

• Click

Rename to give the new image a more meaningful

name.

• Click

Click Done. The new JPEG file is added to the Media Pool.

Delete to cancel the process of adding the image.

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Extracting audio from a CD

You can extract tracks from a CD and add them to the Media Pool window as WAV files.

Vegas software is not intended for, and should not be used for, illegal or infringing purposes, such as the illegal copying or sharing of copyrighted materials. Using Vegas software for such purposes is, among other things, against United States and international copyright laws and contrary to the terms and conditions of the End User License Agreement. Such activity may be punishable by law and may also subject you to the breach remedies set forth in the End User License Agreement.

CD audio extraction is only available in the full version of Vegas software.

Insert the audio CD.

In the Media Pool window, click the Extract Audio from

button ( ). The Extract Audio from CD dialog

appears.

From the Action drop-down list, choose the method you want to use for extracting the CD audio:

• Read by track - Use this option to choose the tracks you want to extract from the CD.

• Read entire disc - Use this option to automatically extract all tracks on the disc. The entire CD is extracted into one new file in the Media Pool.

• Read by range - Use this option to extract audio from a specified range of time.

If you chose either the Read by track or Read by range option, specify the track(s) or range to extract:

• For

Read by track, click the track(s) you want to extract in the Tracks to read list. Use the or

Ctrl Shift

keys to select more than one track. Each track is extracted into a separate file in the Media Pool.

• For

Read by range, enter a time in the Range start field and either the Range end or Range length fields.

The range of audio is extracted into one new file in the Media Pool.

Note:

choose your tracks, and then choose

If you want to extract multiple tracks to a single file,

Read by track from the Action drop-down list to select

Read by range from the Action

drop-down list. The appropriate time range for the tracks you selected will automatically be inserted and the time range will be extracted to a single file.

From the Drive drop-down list, choose the drive containing the audio CD from which you want to extract.

From the Speed drop-down list, choose the speed at which you want to extract the audio. If you experience any problems extracting audio, you can try decreasing the selected speed, or you can click

Configure to adjust the Audio extract optimization setting.

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Note:

To eject the CD at any time prior to beginning the

extraction process, click the Eject button.

Click OK. The Save As dialog appears.

Select a name and location for the new WAV file.

Click Save to begin extracting the audio.

The track is extracted and a progress meter is displayed to indicate the percent complete. Once extraction is complete, the new WAV file appears in the Media Pool.

The option of automatically naming extracted tracks is provided for you. To enable this option, choose

Preferences from the Options menu, and on the CD Settings tab, select the Autoname extracted tracks check

box. For more information, see CD Settings tab on page 300.

Adding a still-image sequence

If you’ve exported a video clip as a still-image sequence using another application (a 3D-rendering application, for example), the sequence can be added to the Media Pool and treated as a single media file. Each image in the sequence will be displayed for one frame in the event.

Click the Import Media button ( ) in the Media Pool window. The Import Media dialog appears.

Choose the folder where the sequence you want to open is stored.

Select the first image in the sequence (or the image you want to start the event).

Select the Open still-image sequence check box.

In the Range field, enter the number of the last image you want to open. For example, if you'd selected AnimationOne_00001.tga in step 3, you could enter 120 in this box to create a new image sequence using AnimationOne_00001.tga to AnimationOne_00120.tga.

Click Open. The still-image sequence is added to the Media Pool.

Sorting media with bins

The detailed view of the Media Pool window helps you sort your media files using their attributes, but for more control, you can create bins. Bins are folders within projects that you can use to organize your media files.

Media bins are virtual folders that are saved with your project. They do not affect the way media is saved on your computer.

Creating bins

Right-click the parent bin where you want to create a new bin and choose

Create New Bin from the shortcut

menu.

Adding media to a bin

Browse your existing bins to find the media file you want to move. The All Media Folder contains all media files in your project.

Drag a file from the right-hand pane to a bin.

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Searching media bins

Right-click in the Media Pool window and choose Search Media Bins from the shortcut menu. The Search Media Bins dialog is displayed.

Use the drop-down lists in the Search Media Bins dialog to set your search conditions and click the Search button. The selected bin and all sub-bins will be searched.

Click the Search Results icon to view the matching files.

Hint:

Right-click the Search Results icon and choose Save as

Bin

from the shortcut menu to save the results of your search

as a new media bin.

Automatically adding recorded files to a media bin

Select a media bin if you want to automatically add your recorded audio to a media bin.

Deleting media from a bin

Select a media file.

Configuring 24p pulldown removal

Delete

Press on your keyboard.

If the All Media Folder is selected, the file will be removed from your project.

If a media bin is selected, the file is removed from the bin, but remains part of your project. The file is still available in the

All Media Folder.

Right-click a DV AVI file in the Media Pool and choose File Format Properties from the shortcut menu to edit file settings from the file format plug-in associated with the media file type.

For 24p NTSC DV AVI files with 2-3 pulldown , you can use this dialog to configure removal of pulldown fields.

In most cases, you will not need to edit pulldown removal settings. However, if the settings were not properly set in the DV header when your video was captured, you can fine-tune pulldown removal without recapturing your video.

Right-click an AVI file in the Media Pool and choose File Format Properties from the shortcut menu. The AVI/DV Media Properties dialog is displayed.

This command is not available for non-24p NTSC video or for 24p NTSC video using 2-3-3-2 pulldown.

Select the Enable 2-3 pulldown removal check box.

You can clear this check box if you want to override pulldown removal for individual files when the

when opening 24p DV

check box is selected on the General

Enable pulldown removal

tab of the Preferences dialog.

Choose a setting from the Starting frame timecode offset drop-down list to indicate what timecode numbers represent which frame in the video sequence.

For example, if you have an NTSC DV file with 2-3 pulldown created on a Sony JH3 HDCAM deck, the default settings for timecode offset use 0 for the

Starting frame timecode offset.

If you have changed the timecode offsets on the deck (or if you have material with pulldown from another source) you will have to experiment with the settings to determine the correct offset.

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Check for interlacing:

In the Project Properties dialog, choose a NTSC DV 24p template from the Te m pl at e drop-down list.

Choose the Best (Full) setting in the Video Preview window to show full frames.

Step though the clip and look for interlace lines in moving objects or backgrounds.

If you see interlace lines, repeat from step 3 and choose a different offset value.

When no interlace lines appear, the offset is set correctly.

Adding media to the timeline

Media files may be added to your project from the Explorer or Media Pool by double-clicking them or by dragging them. Either method places the media file in an event in its entirety in the timeline.

Dragging a media file to the timeline

You can create a new track by dragging a media file to a blank area on the timeline and dropping it in place. Tracks can contain multiple events, so you can place different events next to each other on a track.

Note:

Video and audio events cannot be placed on the same

track.

Locate a media file in the Explorer or Media Pool.

Drag the media file to the timeline.

An event for the media file appears where you released the mouse.

Dragging multiple media files to the timeline

Select multiple media files in the Explorer or Media Pool. Select a range of adjacent media files by

pressing and clicking the first and last files in the range or select files that are not adjacent by pressing and clicking individual files.

Right-click and drag the files to the track view (timeline).

When you release the mouse, a shortcut menu appears. Select a placement option from the menu.

• Add Across Time

• Add Across Tracks

Shift

Ctrl

• Add As Takes

You will see one event on the track. The other events are listed at takes “beneath” the

the topmost event.

For more information, see Working with takes on page 94.

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• Video Only and Audio Only allow you to isolate either the video or audio, and add that stream from a multimedia file either across tracks, across time, or as takes.

Tip:

A left-click drag-and-drop automatically inserts files across time. However, you can cycle through placement modes by right-clicking (without releasing the left mouse button) while performing the drag-and-drop operation.

Double-clicking a media file

This method places the event at the cursor’s position in the selected track. If the selected track is a video track, and you double-click an audio event (or vice versa), a new track is created for the event. Once an event is placed, you can move it from one track to another or change its position on the timeline.

Inserting a video file with associated audio

Media files with video frequently include associated audio. When you insert a media file into the timeline, the associated audio is automatically inserted into a separate audio track below the video track. The two associated events are grouped together and behave as a single unit when moved or otherwise edited. You can ungroup the events to move them independently. For more information, see Clearing a group on page 142.

Two events that contain the video (top) and audio (bottom) streams from a single multimedia video file; each event is inserted on a separate track.

Automatically crossfading inserted events

When inserting multiple events across time, the events (both video and audio) may be set to automatically crossfade. Two options must be enabled in order to create crossfades automatically when adding multiple events. First, verify that a check mark appears next to from the

selected media when added

Options menu, choose Preferences, and on the Editing tab, select Automatically overlap multiple

. For more information, see Using automatic crossfades on page 75.

Automatic Crossfades in the Options menu. Second,

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Working with events

Events are the most basic objects in a project. An event is something that happens in time, has a specific duration, and can be video or audio.

Understanding files and events

The objects you work with are referred to as media files and events.

• Files are objects that are stored on your hard disk. In Vegas software, you will work with media files, such as music and video files. These files are neither operated on nor changed. You can access files from the Vegas Explorer window.

• Events are periods of time on the timeline that act as windows into media files, either whole or in part. When you drag a media file onto the timeline, you automatically create an event that contains that file’s contents. An event can contain video, audio, still images, or generated media. The event window may contain only a small portion of a much larger media file. A single media file can be used repeatedly to create any number of different events, since each event can be trimmed independently.

The original media file.

An event trimmed from the original media file.

The event as it appears in the Vegas timeline.

Audio events are created from audio files on your computer (e.g., WAV, MP3) or can be a part of a video file (e.g., AVI). You can change many characteristics of an audio event, such as speed, volume, and equalization. Audio events can be mixed with other audio events.

Video events are created from video files captured to your computer (typically AVI, MOV, QT) or images (BMP, JPEG, PNG, or TGA). You can change many characteristics of a video event, such as speed, color, and size. Video events can overlay other video events and are visual elements that appear on top of a background video, image, or color.

Moving events along the timeline

You can move events along the timeline individually or as a group. Events may overlap each other or be placed on top of each other. You can crossfade overlapping events automatically or with envelopes.

Moving an event

You can move an event along the timeline within a track or move it to a different track.

Drag the event along the timeline.

If you move the event along the original track’s timeline, the event’s appearance (color) remains the same.

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However, you may move the event to a different track. When you do, the event appears as a simple outline and you will see its original track and position on the timeline. Once you release the mouse, the event assumes the new timeline position and track color.

Original track position

New track and position

Release the mouse to place the event.

Moving multiple events

You can move multiple events along the timeline within a track or move them to a different track. Selected events do not need to be within the same track. Use the key, the key, or the

Ctrl Shift

Selection Edit Tool

( ) to select multiple events and drag them. To select all events on the track after a given event, rightclick the event and choose

Moving events by small increments

Select Events to End. For more information, see Selecting multiple events on page 60.

To move an event more precisely, click the event and press 4 or 6 on the numeric keypad to nudge it by small increments. The amount of movement caused by each nudge is determined by how far the timeline is zoomed in or out. You can also click the event and press 1 or 3 on the numeric keypad to nudge the event by frames.

Moving grouped events

Groups allow you to move multiple events within their tracks as a single unit. While you can create your own groups as needed, groups are automatically created for you when video files with associated audio (e.g., AVI) are added to a project. When you add these video files, the audio portion of the video file is inserted into the timeline as a separate audio event. The video and audio events are grouped and can be moved as a single unit within their respective tracks.

To move grouped events, drag any event in the group to a new position. For more information, see Grouping

events on page 141.

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Working with tracks

A project consists of multiple audio and video tracks. The track view is the timeline in which all events appear. The track list provides information about the track and contains controls that affect all events in the track.

Using the track view

Numerous options are provided for viewing and navigating in track view.

Scrolling and zooming

There are several ways to scroll and zoom in the track view.

• Click the scroll bar arrows or drag the scroll bars to move up and down the tracks or to move forward and back along the timeline.

• Click the

• Drag the edge of the scroll box, found on the scroll bar, to zoom.

• Press and to zoom in and out along the timeline.

• Click the

Editing Tool and then choose Zoom. In this mode, drag on the

timeline to draw a rectangle that defines the zoom region.

Tip:

right corner of the track view ( ).

Zoom buttons ( ) to reveal more or less of the timeline.

Zoom Edit Tool ( ) button or, from the Edit menu, choose

Scroll box

You can also access the Zoom Edit Tool from the lower-

Zoom tools

Mouse wheel control is also supported. The default behavior of the wheel is to zoom horizontally.

Shift

• +wheel scrolls horizontally (through time).

Ctrl

• +wheel scrolls vertically.

Ctrl Shift

• + +wheel moves the cursor in small increments.

Ctrl Shift

• + + +wheel moves the cursor in one-frame increments.

Alt

• Clicking the mouse wheel turns auto-panning on and off.

Zooming directly controls the accuracy of your editing. Each video event has thumbnail representations of the frames within the event. Depending on how far you have zoomed in on a video event, a thumbnail can represent the entire event or a single frame in the event.

Tip:

You can choose to display frame numbers, time, or timecode on video event thumbnails. For more information, see Displaying frame numbers on page 287.

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Changing track height

You can change the height of individual tracks by dragging their borders in the track list. In the example below, the main video track is fairly large to show the details of the scene while the two tracks above it, which are overlays, have been resized to a shorter height. For more information, see Changing track height on page 108.

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Using the track list

This section describes the different controls in the track header of each track. Some controls are specific to either video or audio tracks.

Video track header

Button or Control

Name Description

Make compositing child

Track number and color

Minimize track height

Maximize track height

Expand track keyframes

Bypass motion blur

Track motion Track motion is used to move a video track across a background. Picture-in-picture

Track FX Adds track effects plug-ins. For more information, see Using video effects on page 205.

Mute Temporarily suspends playback of the track so that you can focus on other tracks. For

Solo Isolates a track for playback by muting the other tracks. For more information, see

Track name (scribble strip)

Composite level slider

Compositing mode

Creates a parent/child compositing relationship with the track above. Used when creating masks. For more information, see Understanding the parent/child track relationship on page 212.

Track numbers and colors help organize a multitrack project. For more information, see

Managing tracks on page 105.

Minimizes track height. For more information, see Changing track height on page 108.

Maximizes track height. For more information, see Changing track height on page 108.

Displays track keyframes on the timeline. For more information, see Working with

keyframes in track view on page 240.

Bypasses motion blur envelope for a track. For more information, see Using video bus

tracks on page 115.

effects and scrolling title sequences are two simple cases where this tool is important. For more information, see Adding track motion on page 245.

more information, see Muting a track on page 113.

Soloing a track on page 114.

Allows you name a track. To name a track, double-click the scribble strip and type the track’s name. For more information, see Naming or renaming a track on page 106.

Determines the opacity/transparency of the video track. Drag the slider to control the transparency or blending of the track. Left is 100% transparent and right is 100% opaque. You can also double-click the label to enter a specific numeric percentage.

Determines how the transparency in a video track is generated. For more information, see Selecting compositing modes on page 213.

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Audio track header

Button or Control Name Description

Track number and color

Minimize track height

Maximize track height

Track name (scribble strip)

Arm for record Prepares a track for recording. You may record directly into audio tracks. A track is

Bus assignment Assigns an audio track to a specific output bus. This option is available for projects

Invert Track Phase

Track FX Adds track effects plug-ins. For more information, see Using audio effects on page

Mute Temporarily mutes playback of the track so that you can focus on other tracks. For

Solo Isolates a track for playback by muting the other tracks. For more information, see

Volume fader Controls the audio track volume relative to the other tracks. Drag the fader left or

Multipurpose slider

Track numbers and colors help organize a multitrack project. For more information, see Managing tracks on page 105.

Minimizes track height. For more information, see Changing track height on page

108.

Maximizes track height. For more information, see Changing track height on page

108.

Allows you name a track. To name a track, double-click the scribble strip and type the track’s name. For more information, see Naming or renaming a track on page 106.

ready when you see the recording meter appear on it. For more information, see

Arming the track for recording on page 165.

being mixed for multiple stereo busses. For more information, see Assigning audio

tracks to busses on page 149.

Inverts the audio track at its baseline, in effect reversing its polarity. For more information, see Phase inverting a track (audio only) on page 113.

153.

more information, see Muting a track on page 113.

Soloing a track on page 114.

right to adjust the volume. For more information, see Using the volume fader (audio

only) on page 109.

Controls several features, including track panning, bus send levels, and assignable effects send levels. Select what the slider controls by clicking the label. Each item’s slider position is independent from the others. For more information, see Using the

multipurpose slider (audio only) on page 110.

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Playing back and previewing

You can play back your project in two ways: directly from the timeline from within the software or by mixing the entire project to a preview file.

Playing your project

The transport bar allows you to play back your entire project or portions of your project based on a time selection or the current cursor position.

If your project includes video, make sure the Video Preview window is displayed for playback: from the menu, choose

Playing an entire project

Click the Play From Start button ( ) to begin playback at the beginning of the project.

Click the Stop button ( ) to stop playback.

Video Preview or press .

Alt +6

View

Most of the time, you will only want to preview a small portion of the project to perfect a section. You can do this by creating a time selection.

Playing a time selection

Place the mouse pointer above the ruler on the marker bar. The mouse pointer

Loop bar

changes to include a left/right arrow cursor ( ).

Drag to select the time region. To increase or decrease the time selection, drag its start and end points. The time selection is highlighted and the loop bar appears above the ruler on the timeline.

Click the Play button ( ) to begin playback. Only the non-muted tracks and events within the time selection play back.

Click the Loop Playback button ( ) to continually play back the events within the time selection. Click the button again to toggle this feature off.

Click the Stop button ( ) to stop playback.

By looping the playback, you can repeatedly watch the same section of the project over and over as you make changes to filters and effects in real time. You can define selection areas automatically, depending on what you would like to preview. For more information, see Selecting a time range on page 61 and Time selection

commands on page 28.

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Playback reference

The following table describes all the transport bar buttons and their keyboard equivalents. You may use these playback functions at any time while working in your project.

Note:

The use of many multimedia keyboards is also

supported for controlling playback.

Button Keyboard Function

Ctrl +R

Shift +Space

Space

Enter

Space Esc

Ctrl +Home

Ctrl +End

Tip:

You can use the spacebar to stop or pause playback,

Begin recording into record-enabled tracks

Turn on/off loop playback during time selection playback

Begin playback from the start of the project

Begin playback from cursor position

Pause playback, cursor stops and holds at pause position

Stop playback, cursor stops and returns to prior cursor position

Place cursor at the beginning of project

Place cursor at the end of the project

depending on your preference. From the choose

Preferences, and on the General tab, select Make

spacebar and F12 Play/Pause instead of Play/Stop

the setting.

Scrubbing

Options menu,

to change

Scrubbing is a type of timeline playback that gives you precise control over the speed and direction of playback. Both linear and logarithmic scale scrubbing are allowed. For more information, see General tab on page 294.

The use of multimedia controllers is supported for scrubbing. For more information on using the software with multimedia controllers, please see the online help. To access help, choose

Help menu.

Tip:

Choose a setting from the JKL / shuttle speed drop-down

list on the

Editing tab of the Preferences dialog to control the

Contents and Index from the

scrub speed and range when using the keyboard or multimedia controllers.

Three methods of scrubbing are provided.

Scrubbing with the scrub control slider

The scrub control slider can be dragged back and forth. The farther from the center that the slider is dragged, the faster the playback, both forward and in reverse. Below the slider is a small yellow marker that can be used to set the normal rate playback speed. This is the speed at which the project plays when you click the

Play button on the transport bar.

Scrub control slider

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Scrubbing on the timeline

The second way that a project can be scrubbed is by positioning the mouse pointer over the timeline cursor at a location that is not over any events and pressing . The cursor changes to a speaker icon. Now, when you left-click,

Ctrl

the cursor icon changes again to a pan/scrub icon. Drag the mouse left or right to scrub the timeline.

Tip:

You can also choose to enable timeline scrubbing when the mouse is positioned over events. From the menu, choose

style scrub over events on the General tab.

Scrubbing with the keyboard

Preferences, and select Allow Ctrl+drag cursor

Options

Three letters (JKL) are used as a keyboard scrub control.

Press Ctrl over timeline cursor

Keyboard scrub letters

Left-click and drag to scrub

Note:

down list on the the scrub speed and range.

Press for reverse and for forward playback. Press to pause

Choose a setting from the JKL / shuttle speed drop-

Editing tab of the Preferences dialog to control

J L K

Reverse

Pause

Forward

playback.

There are several ways to adjust playback speed:

• Adjust the

• Hold while pressing or to emulate a shuttle knob mode. Press to turn the knob to the left

K +L K

or to turn the knob to the left. Press again or

JKL / shuttle speed selection on the Editing tab of the Preferences dialog.

K J L K +J

Space

to return to normal mode.

Previewing to media player

A project can be previewed in a media player by mixing and rendering the project according to the project’s properties and playing back using the media player associated with the file type you select.

From the Tools menu, choose Preview in Player. The Preview dialog appears.

Select the file type from the drop-down list.

Click OK to begin the mixing and rendering process. A progress dialog appears indicating the percent complete of the new file.

Note:

button on the status bar.

You may cancel the preview by clicking the Cancel

When mixing is completed, the associated media player opens and begins playback.

Prerendering video previews

Playing a project using the transport controls can instantly show how a project is progressing, but it does not actually render your project in its final form. The preview you see in the Video Preview window may be different from your final project in a number of ways: frame size, frame rate, and quality. In most cases, the Video Preview is all you need for checking the timing of events in your project. Eventually, however, you may need to output a full-quality preview of a section of your project. To do this, from the choose

GETTING STARTED CHP. 2

Selectively Prerender Video. For more information, see Prerendering video on page 255.

Tools menu,

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Rendering a project

Rendering refers to the process of creating a new media file from a Vegas project. The project file is not affected (overwritten, deleted, or altered) during the rendering process. You may return to the original project to make edits or adjustments and render it again. The following table describes the formats available for rendering your project:

Format Name Extension Definition

Audio Interchange File Format .aif The standard audio file format developed by Apple® and used on

Macintosh® computers.

MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 .mpg MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 file creation are supported through the use of

MainConcept® MPEG technology.

MPEG Layer 3 .mp3 Compressed audio format. You may render up to 20 .mp3 files without

registering the optional plug-in. OggVorbis .ogg A patent-free audio encoding and streaming technology. QuickTime .mov Apple QuickTime multimedia format. RealMedia® .rm The RealNetworks® standard for streaming media via the Web. This option

renders both audio and video into one file. Scott Studios Wave .wav Standard audio format used with Scott Studios systems. AC-3 .ac3 Encoded Dolby Digital surround sound format. This option creates six mono

files (WAV or AIFF) that your authoring application can use to create DVD-

Video or 5.1-channel music projects. Perfect Clarity Audio .pca A proprietary format from Sony Pictures Digital that is compressed and

completely lossless. Wave64 .w64 A Sony Pictures Digital proprietary format that allows wave files that are

(practically) unrestricted by file size. Video for Windows .avi The standard video file format used on Microsoft® Windows®-based

computers. This option renders both audio and video into one file. Wave (Microsoft) .wav The standard audio file format used on Microsoft Windows-based computers. Windows Media Audio .wma The Microsoft audio-only format used to create files for streaming or

downloading via the Web. Windows Media Format .wmv The Microsoft standard used for streaming audio and video media via the

Web.

More detailed instructions for rendering to a specific format appear later in this manual. For more information, see Saving, Rendering, and Printing Projects on page 269.

Creating a movie

To create a movie, you render the project into an appropriate media file output. The final output format depends on the destination of the new media file. Some examples are AVI, MOV, and WMV.

From the File menu, choose Render As.

In the Render As dialog box, choose the appropriate option from the Save as type drop-down list.

Click Custom to select custom compression settings. The default compression options are set automatically according to your project’s properties. For more information, see Customizing the rendering

process on page 275.

Enter a name and browse for a destination for your file.

Click OK.

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GETTING STARTED CHP. 2

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CHAPTER

Basic Editing Te ch n i qu e s

Vegas® projects are multitrack compilations of events that occur over time. The events in your project are references (pointers) to source media files. Vegas software is a nondestructive editor, so editing events in your project does not alter the source media files in any way.

Getting around

When editing and playing back the project, the cursor identifies where you are along the project’s timeline.

Moving the cursor

Use the following keyboard commands to move the cursor in the timeline.

Description Keys Description Keys

Go to beginning of project

Go to end of project

Go to beginning of selection or view (if no selection)

Go to end of selection or view (if no selection) Move right by grid marks

Move left by grid marks Page Up Move left/right one frame Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Mouse

Go to Ctrl+G Center in view

Event edit point cursor jumps

Ctrl+Home or W Ctrl+End or E Home

End

Page Down

Move left/right to marker(s)

Move to marker #

Move left/right to event edit points including fade edges (see figure below) Nudge cursor on timeline

Move left/right one frame Alt+Left/Right Arrow

Ctrl+Left/Right Arrow

0-9 keys (not numeric keypad) Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right Arrow Left or Right Arrow

wheel

Changing focus

Focus is used to describe which objects have the attention of a program. For example, when you click a file in the Media Pool, the Media Pool window has focus. To instantly switch the program’s focus to the track view (timeline), press or, from the

In Vegas software, it matters which track has focus when you perform a task. For example, when you doubleclick a media file in the Explorer, it is inserted into the track that has focus. You can click a track on its track number to make it the focus track. A blinking white line under the track number and shading in the track list indicates a track has focus.

Alt +0

View menu, choose Focus to Track View.

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Making selections

You have the flexibility to select one or more events, a time range, or events and a time range. All selection options can apply to a single track or to multiple tracks.

To select an event, click it.

Selecting multiple events

You can select multiple events in your project using several methods.

Tip:

Once you have selected multiple events, you can group them together. For more information, see Grouping events on page 141.

Note:

You can select multiple video events, multiple audio events, or a combination of both video and audio events. However, you can only use commands and operations that apply to both types of events for selections composed of both audio and video events.

Selecting nonadjacent events

Hold the key.

Select the events by clicking them.

Ctrl

To deselect an event, simply click it again to toggle the event selection on or off.

Selecting a range of events

Hold the key.

Click the first event that you want to select.

Click the last event that you want to select.

Shift

All events between the first and last selected events are highlighted and selected.

Selecting a block of events

Click the Selection Edit Tool button ( ).

Selected events

Position the cursor in a corner of the area that you want to select.

Click and hold the left mouse button.

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Drag the cursor to the opposite corner of the area you want to select. A rectangle is drawn on the workspace. All events within this rectangle are selected.

Hold the left mouse button and right-click to toggle through the three types of selection boxes: free, vertical, or horizontal.

Tip:

You may include or exclude events from a selection area

by pressing and clicking an event. To deselect all events,

Ctrl

click anywhere in the workspace outside of the selected events.

Selecting all events to the end of the track

Right-click an event. A shortcut menu appears.

From the shortcut menu, choose Select Events to End. All events on the track after the selected event are selected.

Tip:

To move large blocks of events, you can use Select

Events to End

Ctrl

and click to select events on different tracks, and then

with events selected on different tracks. Press

right-click to access the shortcut menu.

Selecting all events that refer to a specific media file

Right-click a file in the Media Pool and choose Select Timeline Events from the shortcut menu. All events that use the selected media file in the active take are selected.

Ctrl Shift

Hold or while choosing

Select Timeline Events from the shortcut menu to add the events to the

current selection.

Selecting a time range

Time selections are indicated by a shaded box and a bar that appears on the top of the timeline. You can use the time selection bar for playing back a smaller portion of your project or to apply cross-track edits.

Note:

Unless an event is locked, a selected time range affects all events, or portions of events, that occur within the range.

Dragging to select a time range

Position the mouse pointer above the ruler (on the marker bar). The mouse pointer changes to a left/right

arrow cursor ( ).

Drag to select a region. All events, or portions of events within the region are highlighted.

Time selection

Only the events within the time selection are affected by edits or played back.

Drag the yellow handles on either end of the time selection to increase or decrease your time range selection.

Tip:

You can move the entire selection range by dragging the

time selection bar.

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Selecting a time range during playback

Click the Play () or the Play From Start ( ) button to begin playback.

Press where you want the time selection to begin.

Press where you want the time selection to end.

Click the Stop button ( ) to stop playback.

Using shortcuts for time selections

These shortcuts can speed up the process of making precise time selections.

Description Shortcut

Set time selection duration equal to an event’s duration

Extend selection to the end of the currently selected event edge

Extend selection to the beginning of the currently selected event edge

Drag a time selection on an event without selecting/deselecting the event

Tip:

Backspace

Press to recall the last five time selection

Double-click the event

Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Right Arrow

Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Left Arrow

Ctrl+Shift+drag on the event

areas.

Looping playback

If you want to play back the time range, click Play ( ) to play only the events within the time range. Click

Loop Playback button ( ) or press to toggle loop playback on and off. Vegas software continually plays

the

back the portion of the timeline within the time selection when loop playback is toggled on.

Selecting events and a time range

Selecting a time range does not automatically select events. Excluding locked events, all items within the time range play back and are affected by

Edit menu commands. However, you may select

specific events to edit, and then select a time range.

Select the events you wish to edit. For more information, see Selecting multiple events on page

60.

Place the mouse pointer above the ruler (on the marker bar). The mouse pointer changes to a left/right arrow cursor ( ).

Drag to select the region. Notice that events that were not initially selected in step 1 remain unselected (not highlighted).

Selected

event

Unselected

event

Selected

event

Time selection

Unselected event

Selected event

Unselected event

Selecting tracks

Click a track header to select it. Hold or to select multiple tracks.

BASIC EDITING TECHNIQUES CHP. 3

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Selecting groups of composited tracks

Click the vertical bar below a parent track to select a group of composited tracks. For example, clicking the area marked A in the following track list to select tracks 2 through 6. Clicking the area marked B selects tracks 5 and 6.

Editing events

Copying events

You can copy events, or portions of events, to the clipboard and paste them into your project. You may copy a single event or multiple events. Copying preserves the original event information, edits, and other modifications.

Select the events to be copied. For more information, see Selecting multiple events on page 60.

Select a time range, if applicable.

Click the Copy button ( ).

Copying selected events

When copied, selected events are reproduced and placed on the clipboard. Time information is also placed on the clipboard.

Events before copy Clipboard contents Events after copy

The original events are not affected and do not change.

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Copying a time selection

Events within the time selection and across all tracks are reproduced and placed on the clipboard. Time information is also placed on the clipboard.

Events before copy Clipboard contents Events after copy

The original events are not affected and do not change.

Copying a time selection and events

Events and portions of selected events within the time selection are reproduced and placed on the clipboard. Time information is also placed on the clipboard.

Events before copy Clipboard contents Events after copy

The original events are not affected and do not change.

Cutting events

Cutting events removes them from their respective tracks, but places the cut information (events and time) on the clipboard. Once on the clipboard, you may paste the information into your project.

Tip:

You can apply a ripple edit after cutting. For more

information, see Applying post-edit ripples on page 73.

Select events or a time range. For more information, see Making selections on page 60.

Click the Cut button ( ).

Cutting selected events

When cut, selected events are removed from the timeline and placed on the clipboard. Time information is also placed on the clipboard.

Events before cut Clipboard contents Events after cut Events after cut in

post-edit ripple mode

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Cutting a time selection

Events within the time selection are reproduced and placed on the clipboard. Time information is also placed on the clipboard. When cutting a time selection, ripple edit mode affects the position of material on all tracks or affected tracks after the cut.

Events before cut Clipboard contents Events after cut Events after cut in

post-edit ripple mode

Cutting a time selection and events

Events and portions of selected events within the time selection are reproduced and placed on the clipboard. Time information is also placed on the clipboard. When cutting a combination of time selection and event selection, post-edit ripple mode affects the position of material on all tracks or the tracks of selected events after the cut.

Events before cut Clipboard contents Events after cut Events after cut in

post-edit ripple mode

Pasting events

Once information is copied to the clipboard, you may choose a variety of ways to paste the clipboard items. Items are always pasted from the cursor’s position along the timeline.

When post-edit ripple mode is enabled, material is pushed down the track to make room for pasted material. The exact behavior of the ripple depends on what is being pasted, and the type of ripple edit you chose to perform. If one or more events are pasted, only those tracks where pasted material appears are ripple edited.

Tip:

You can apply a ripple edit after pasting. For more

information, see Applying post-edit ripples on page 73.

Move the cursor to the desired location on the timeline.

Click either the track number or within the track where you want to paste the event. This track is the focus track; there can be only one focus track at a time.

Note:

tracks, new tracks are automatically created as needed.

Click the Paste button ( ).

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If you are pasting multiple events from different

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Clipboard events are pasted at the cursor position on the track. Existing track events can be overlapped with newly pasted information.

Using paste repeat

Use paste repeat to specify how many times clipboard events are pasted at the cursor position on the selected track and to specify the space between pasted events.

Copy a selection to the clipboard.

From the Edit menu, choose Paste Repeat. The Paste Repeat dialog appears.

Specify the number of times to paste the clipboard contents and the space between successive copies.

Click OK.

Using paste insert

When using paste insert, clipboard events are placed at the cursor position on the selected track and existing events on all tracks are moved further down the timeline by the total length of pasted information. This action differs from post-edit ripple mode because pasting in post-edit ripple mode affects only the tracks in which material is pasted, while paste insert affects all tracks in the project.

Copy a selection to the clipboard.

From the Edit menu, choose Paste Insert

Clipboard contents Events before paste insert Events after paste insert

Events on all tracks (not just tracks with pasted material) are pushed down the timeline.

Punching-in and crossfading events

You can insert events into the middle of (on top of) existing events without altering the timing of the project. When the inserted event ends, the original event continues playing as if it had never stopped.

You can choose the duration of crossfades for punched-in audio events.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

Click the Editing tab.

Select Quick fade length of audio events. Specify a duration for each transition.

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Events that have previously been inserted or punched-in are not affected by this change. The concept of punching in and out only applies when you are inserting an event that is shorter than the event that it is being inserted into. In the following illustration, every frame is numbered so that you can see how the original event continues after the inserted event ends, as if it continued to play underneath the original.

Punched-in event

Duplicating events

Duplicating is a combination of copying and pasting in one action. The process is like moving the event to a new position while leaving a copy behind.

Ctrl

Press .

Drag the event you want to duplicate to the place where you want the new event to be positioned.

Inserting empty events and time

You can insert events into the timeline that do not have any contents and are not references to any media files. Empty events are useful as placeholders in the timeline that can be filled with media or recorded into at a later time. In either case, the new media is added to the empty event as a take. For more information, see

Working with takes on page 94. To add an empty event to a track, from the

Insert menu, choose Empty Event.

You can also make space in a project by inserting a length of time across all tracks. To insert a period of time into the timeline, from the

Insert menu, choose Time.

Trimming events

This section describes simple ways to trim events. For more information, see Using the Trimmer window on page

96.

Tip:

You can apply a ripple edit after trimming an event. For

more information, see Applying post-edit ripples on page 73.

Trimming an event

During the trimming process for a video event, both the last thumbnail image on the event and the Video Preview window show the last frame in the event, allowing you to edit events very accurately.

Move the cursor over the edge of the event. The cursor changes

when properly positioned ( ).

Drag the edge of the event to trim it.

Trimming grouped events at the same time

Since a multimedia file often has both a video and an audio component, both events are trimmed (or extended) as a group unless you ungroup them or temporarily suspend grouping by clicking the

Ignore Event Grouping button ( ). For more information,

see Grouping events on page 141.

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Trimming an event beyond its end

You can trim an event beyond its end, extending it as a result. Once extended, the event loops as a default. A notch indicates where the looped event repeats.

Alternately, you can turn looping off and make the last frame of an event’s media repeat for the duration of the event (a freeze frame). A notch appears at the point in the event where the video ends and the freeze frame begins. For more information, see Loop on page 133.

Trimming adjacent events

You can trim adjacent events simultaneously. Press while dragging the common edge between two

Ctrl +Alt

adjacent events. The trim adjacent cursor appears ( ).

Press Ctrl+Alt over the boundary between two events...

...and drag left... ...or right to trim both events at once.

Trimming a time selection

Trimming events removes all media outside the time selection. The removed information is not placed on the clipboard. Trimming is different from cutting in that the events within the time selection are preserved.

Select a time range. For more information, see Selecting a time range on page 61.

Ctrl +T

Press or, from the Edit menu, choose Tri m.

The material outside the time selection (across all tracks) is removed from the project. However, the time information (space) between events is not removed.

Events before trim Clipboard contents Events after trim

Trimmed information is not placed on the clipboard.

Trimming a time and event selection

Select the events to be trimmed.

Select a time range. For more information, see Selecting events and a time range on page 62.

Ctrl +T

Press or, from the Edit menu, choose Tri m.

Only the portion of selected events outside the time selection is trimmed. Unselected events remain. The time information (space) between events is not removed.

Events before trim Clipboard contents Events after trim

Trimmed information is not placed on the clipboard.

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Edge trimming events using the keyboard

With this method, you can quickly jump through your project and adjust cuts until they're perfectly synchronized. If you have an external multimedia controller, it's even easier.

If you want downstream events to ripple as you trim, click the Auto Ripple button ( ) to turn on Auto Ripple mode.

Select the event you want to trim.

Press 7 or 9 on the numeric keypad to move the cursor to the event edge you want to trim. 7 selects the beginning of an event or moves to the previous event edge. 9 selects the end of the event or moves to the next event edge. A red bracket is displayed to indicate which event edge will be trimmed.

Note:

You can also perform this step using the [ or ] keys.

Use the 1, 3 and 4, 6 keys on the numeric keypad to trim the current event edge:

• Press 1 to trim one video frame left, or press 3 to trim one video frame right (or hold + +

Ctrl Shift

while rolling the mouse wheel).

• Press 4 to trim one pixel left, or press 6 to trim one pixel right (or hold + while rolling the

Ctrl Shift

mouse wheel). Depending on the current zoom level, the trim duration will vary.

Note:

Pressing 5 on the numeric keypad exits edge-trimming mode. If you are not in edge-trimming mode, 1, 3, 4, and 6 on the numeric keypad to nudge events on the timeline by frame (1 and 3) or by pixel (4 and 6).

Repeat steps 3 and 4 as necessary.

Splitting events

You are allowed to create multiple, independently functioning events from a single event by splitting it. Splitting creates a new ending point for the original event and creates a starting point for the newly created event.

Splitting an event does not alter the original media. The original media file’s information is there, but is omitted for playback based on where the event’s starting or ending point occurs on the timeline.

When split, the two new events are flush against one another. The two events can be moved independently.

One event

Split position

Two events after spli

Alt

Splitting an event

Select the event(s) to be split. For more information, see

Making selections on page 60.

Place the cursor at the timeline position where the split will

The two new events can be moved independently.

occur.

From the Edit menu, choose Split, or press .

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Splitting all events at the cursor

All events are split at the cursor’s position (unless an event is locked). The split occurs across all tracks (if no events are selected).

Events before splitting Events after splitting

Splitting selected events

Only the selected events are split at the cursor’s position.

Events before splitting Events after splitting

Splitting a time selection

Unless locked, all events within the time selection are split at the starting and ending points of the time range, meaning that two splits are made. The split occurs across all tracks.

Events before splitting Events after splitting

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Splitting a time selection across selected events

Only selected events within the time selection are split at the starting and ending points of the time range.

Events before splitting Events after splitting

Slipping and sliding events

To help you picture what happens when you slip and slide events, think of an event as a window to a media file. The window can display the entire media file or a small section. When the window displays only a portion of the media file, you can move either the window or the underlying media to adjust the media that is played by an event:

• When you slip an event, your event maintains its place on the timeline, but the media file moves in the direction you drag.

• When you slide an event, the media file maintains its place on the timeline, but the event moves in the direction you drag.

Tip:

You can also slip or slide grouped events (at the same time) or slide a crossfade between two events. For more information, see Grouping events on page 141 or Sliding a

crossfade on page 76.

Shifting the contents of (slipping) an event

Alt

Press while dragging an event. The slip cursor appears ( ).

As you drag the event, the contents of the event shift, but the event does not move. You can use this technique when you want to maintain an event’s length and position, but have the event play a different section of the source media file.

Slip-trimming an event

Alt

Press while dragging the right or left edge of an event. The slip-trim cursor appears ( ).

As you drag the event edge, the media moves with the event edge.

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Sliding an event

Ctrl +Alt

Press while dragging an event. The slide cursor appears ( ).

As you drag, the relative position of the media remains fixed on the track, and the event position changes. You can use this technique when you want to maintain an event’s length, but have the event play a different section of the source media file at a different point in your project.

Tip:

You can apply a ripple edit after slip-trimming or sliding an event. For more information, see Applying post-edit

ripples on page 73.

The original media file.

The event on the timeline with original frames.

Slipping the event two frames to the right.

Slip-trimming the event two frames to the right.

Sliding the event two frames to the right.

Deleting events

Deleting an event removes it from its track. Multiple events can be deleted and time selections can be used to modify the process. Ripple editing also applies to delete actions. Deleting operates exactly like a cutting operation, but the removed information is not placed on the clipboard. For more information, see Cutting

events on page 64.

Select the events to be deleted.

Delete

Press .

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Applying post-edit ripples

You can apply a post-edit ripple that affects either the edited track(s), the track(s) and certain project elements, or everything in the timeline. The power lies in the fact that you can apply this post-edit ripple to a wide variety of editing tasks, such as trimming, crossfading, cutting, pasting, and deleting events. You can also choose to apply your ripple edits manually or automatically.

You can ripple the contents of the timeline following an edit after performing these tasks:

• trimming (pg. 67), slip-trimming (pg. 71), and sliding (pg. 72) events

• time compressing/stretching events (pg. 93)

• cutting events (pg. 64)

• pasting events (pg. 65)

• deleting events (pg. 72)

Ripple editing also affects how material is added from the Trimmer window. For more information, see Using

the Trimmer window on page 96.

The original four events

Trimming the second event

After applying a post-edit ripple, the third and fourth events close the gap

A quick and easy method is also provided for shuffling a sequence of events on a track. Decide that the third event in a series should really be the second instead? You can drag the event to a new position and instruct the software to shuffle the events into their new order.

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Applying a post-edit ripple manually

Perform one of edits discussed above. Above the timeline, an arrow indicates where the post-edit ripple will occur and the direction the affected events will move.

From the Edit menu, choose Post-Edit Ripple, and choose a command from the submenu:

•

Affected Tracks ripples only the track(s) where you performed the edit. Affected Tracks, Bus Tracks, Markers, and Regions ripples the track(s) where you performed the edit and

•

ripples any keyframes or envelopes on those tracks. This command also ripples any markers, regions, CD layout markers, and command markers in the project.

•

All Tracks, Markers, and Regions ripples all tracks and all keyframes and envelopes on those tracks. This

command also ripples any markers, regions, CD layout markers, and command markers in the project.

The timeline is rippled after the edit according to the option you choose.

Tip:

You can press after an edit to ripple the affected

tracks, or you can press to ripple markers,

Ctrl +F

keyframes, and envelopes too. To ripple everything after an

Ctrl

edit, press .

+Shift +F

Applying a post-edit ripple automatically

Click the arrow button next to the Auto Ripple button ( ) and choose a ripple type:

•

Affected Tracks ripples only the track(s) where you performed the edit. Affected Tracks, Bus Tracks, Markers, and Regions ripples the track(s) where you performed the edit and

•

ripples any keyframes or envelopes on those tracks. This command also ripples any markers, regions, CD layout markers, and command markers in the project.

•

All Tracks, Markers, and Regions ripples all tracks and all keyframes and envelopes on those tracks. This

command also ripples any markers, regions, CD layout markers, and command markers in the project.

Perform one of edits discussed above. Above the timeline, an arrow indicates where the post-edit ripple will occur and the direction the affected events will move.

The timeline is rippled after the edit according to the ripple type you choose.

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Shuffling events

A quick way to change the order of a sequence of events in a track is provided. Right-click and drag an event to a new location in the track and choose shuffled into the new order.

The original four events

Right-click and drag event three between events one and two

The four events after the shuffle

Shuffle Events from the shortcut menu that appears. The events are

Crossfading events

You are allowed to crossfade between two events on the same track. For audio events, crossfading fades out one audio event’s volume while another event’s volume fades in. For video events, crossfading creates a transition between two events, one fading out while the other fades in. Lines appear indicating how and when the event’s volume or transparency is being affected.

Using automatic crossfades

The automatic crossfade feature turns the overlapping portions of two events into a smooth crossfade. This feature is turned on as a default. Click the

Automatic Crossfades button ( ) or press + + to turn

automatic crossfades on and off.

Events before crossfade Events after crossfade

Drag one event to overlap the other

An option is provided for creating automatic crossfades when you add multiple media files to a track. For more information, see Automatically crossfading inserted events on page 47.

Ctrl Shift

Fade in volume line

Fade out volume line

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Manually setting a crossfade

An automatic crossfade is not inserted if a shorter event is placed on top of and within the same time frame of a longer event. In this case, the longer event begins playing, then the shorter event plays, and then the longer event resumes playing at the timeline position. You can manually create a crossfade to fade in and out of the shorter event.

Place the mouse pointer on one of the shorter event’s handles. The envelope cursor appears ( ).

Drag the handle to the desired position.

Events without crossfade

Events with manual crossfade

This is a fast and effective method of inserting a voiceover on top of a background music track (although the music fades out completely) or to replace a bad section of audio. For more information, see Punching-in and

crossfading events on page 66.

Changing crossfade curves

You can change the crossfade curves that are used to fade in and out between two events.

Right-click a crossfade to choose a different crossfade curve.

Right-click anywhere in the crossfade region to display a shortcut menu.

From the shortcut menu, choose Fade Type, and choose the desired fade type from the submenu.

Tip:

If you use the same crossfade curve frequently, you can set it as a default for all new audio or video crossfades. For more information, see Editing tab on page 299.

Sliding a crossfade

You can slide a crossfade between two events without affecting the total length of the two overlapping events. This process is similar to sliding and slipping events. For more information, see Slipping and sliding

events on page 71.

Ctrl

Press while dragging the overlapping area between two events. The slide crossfade cursor appears ().

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As you drag, the relative position of the media remains fixed on the track, and the crossfade position changes, effectively trimming the edge of the event in the direction you drag. You can use this technique when you want to maintain the length of two combined events but want the transition to occur earlier or later.

Two events with a crossfade.

Sliding the crossfade to the left...

...and to the right.

Using undo and redo

You are given unlimited undo and redo functionality while working on your project, even to the extent of being able to undo changes made before the last time a project was saved (but not closed). While you are working with a project, an undo history of the changes that you have performed is created. Each time you undo something, that change is placed in the redo history.

When you close the project or exit the software, both the undo and redo histories are cleared.

Using undo

Ctrl

Pressing or clicking the Undo button ( ) reverses the last edit performed. Repeatedly using the keyboard command or toolbar button continues undoing edits in reverse order, from most recent to oldest. In addition, you may undo the last edit by choosing it from the

Undoing a series of edits

You can undo a series of edits by using the drop-down list on the Undo button.

Click the arrow to the right of the Undo button ( ).

From the drop-down list, choose the edit that you want to undo. Items above it (subsequent edits) are selected automatically. Your project is restored to the state prior to those edits.

When you undo an edit or a series of edits, they are added to the redo history. This feature allows you to restore your project to a previous state.

Use the mouse to select

a series of edits.

Edit menu.

Tip:

From the Edit menu, choose Undo All to undo all edits in the history. All edits are undone and added to the redo history.

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Using redo

Pressing or clicking the Redo button ( ) redoes the last undo performed. Repeatedly using

Ctrl +Shift +Z

the keyboard command or toolbar button continues redoing undos in reverse order, from most recent to oldest. In addition, you may redo the last edit by choosing it from the

Redoing a series of edits

Edit menu.

You can view the redo history by clicking the arrow on the right side of the Redo button ( ). The top item in the list that appears is the most recent undo edit. If you redo a specific edit that appears farther down the list, all subsequent edits above it are redone as well.

When you redo an edit or a series of edits, they are added to the undo history again. The redo history is cleared when a new edit is performed.

Clearing the edit history

You can clear both undo and redo histories without closing your project or exiting the software. Once the histories have been cleared, a new edit history is created as you continue working on the project. While clearing the edit history is not usually necessary, it can free up disk space. To clear the edit history, choose

Clear Edit History from the Edit menu.

Adding project markers and regions

Several types of project markers are provided that identify parts of your project, serve as cues, and provide additional functionality:

• Markers are points that you mark along the project’s timeline. They are typically used to mark locations in the project for later reference or to mark timing cues.

• Regions are ranges of time that you mark along the timeline. Regions identify ranges of time for your reference and can function as permanent time selections.

• Command markers are markers that enable metadata in streaming media files. These markers can be used to display headlines or closed captions, link to Web sites, or perform any other function you define. For more information, see Adding closed captioning to Windows Media Video (WMV) files on page 193. In addition, these markers can be used to embed Scott Studios data information, which is used extensively in broadcasting. The Sony Pictures Digital Media Software and Services Web site (http://www.sony.com/

mediasoftware) has a number of metadata examples complete with source code.

• CD layout markers are markers that indicate tracks and indices for an audio CD layout. These marks are used to create tracks and index points when burning an audio CD. For more information, see Understanding

tracks and indices on page 305.

Tip:

You can use ripple editing to automatically move markers and regions as you edit in the timeline. For more information, see Applying post-edit ripples on page 73.

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Working with markers

Markers are useful for identifying and navigating to specific locations in longer projects. As you place markers in your project, they are automatically numbered (up to 99) in the order that they are placed. Markers appear as orange tags above the ruler. You may name them and reposition them along the project’s timeline.

Markers

Marker bar

Inserting a marker at the cursor

Position the cursor where you want to place the marker.

From the Insert menu, choose Marker, or press .

Type a name for the marker and press . If you do not want to name the marker, simply press .

Inserting a marker during playback

During playback, press . The marker appears on the marker bar. You may name the marker after it has

Right-click the marker bar

Enter Enter

been set.

Naming (or renaming) a marker

Place the mouse pointer on the marker you want to name or rename. The pointer changes to a hand icon

().

Right-click to display a shortcut menu.

From the shortcut menu, choose Rename. A text box opens next to the marker.

Type the marker name.

Enter

Press to set the marker’s name.

You can also double-click an existing name or double-click the space just to the right of a marker to rename it.

Moving markers

You can reposition a marker by dragging it on the marker bar.

Navigating to markers

You can jump the cursor to any marker on the timeline by clicking the marker. You can also jump to a marker by pressing the number keys along the top of the keyboard (not the numeric keypad).

Tip:

Jump the cursor to the next or previous marker by

pressing or .

Ctrl + Ctrl +

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Right-click th

Deleting markers

Place the mouse pointer on the marker that you want to delete. The pointer changes to a hand ( ).

Right-click to display a shortcut menu.

From the shortcut menu, choose Delete. The marker is removed from your project.

The tags are not renumbered as you remove them. For example, if you have five markers in your project and delete markers 3 and 4, the remaining markers will be listed as 1, 2 and 5. However, as you add markers again, Vegas software begins numbering the missing sequence first, in this case 3 and 4, then 6, 7, 8, etc.

Deleting all markers and regions

Right-click the marker bar.

From the shortcut menu, choose Markers/Regions, and choose Delete All from the submenu.

Working with regions

Regions identify ranges of time and provide a way to subdivide your project. A region is defined as the area between two region markers that share the same number. Regions can function as semi-permanent time selections. You can view region information in the Explorer by clicking the arrow next to the

( ) and selecting

Inserting regions

Make a time selection. For more information, see Selecting a time range on page 61.

Region View.

View button

From the Insert menu, choose Region, or press .

Type a name for the region and press . If you do not want to name the region, simply press .

Enter Enter

Region markers display at the beginning and end points of a time selection.

Region start

Region end

Marker bar

Moving regions

Drag a region marker to reposition it. To move both region markers (start and end markers) at once, hold

e marker bar

Alt

while dragging a region marker.

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Naming regions

Place the mouse pointer on the left region marker you want to name or rename. The pointer changes to a

hand icon ( ).

Right-click to display a shortcut menu.

From the shortcut menu, choose Rename. A text box appears next to the region marker.

Type the region’s name.

Selecting regions

Enter

Press or click anywhere in the track view to set the name.

You may select the events, across all tracks, within the region for editing or playing back.

Right-click one of the region markers to display a shortcut menu.

Selected region

From the shortcut menu, choose Select Region.

Tip:

You can also select a region by pressing a number on your keyboard (not the numeric keypad) or by doubleclicking a region marker.

Navigating to regions

You can move the cursor to the start or end of a region by clicking either region marker. You may press

Ctrl

+ Ctrl +

or to move the cursor to the next or previous region markers.

Right-click a region marker to display a shortcut menu that allows you to navigate to the beginning (

Start)

or the end (Go to End) of a region.

Deleting regions

Place the mouse pointer on the region marker’s starting or ending point. The pointer changes to a hand

Go to

icon ( ).

Right-click to display a shortcut menu.

From the shortcut menu, choose Delete. The region is removed from your project.

The tags are not renumbered as you remove them. For example, if you have five regions in your project and delete region 3 and 4, the remaining regions are listed at 1, 2 and 5. However, as you add regions again, Vegas software begins numbering the missing sequence first, in this case 3 and 4, and then 6, 7, 8, etc.

Deleting all regions and markers

Right-click the marker bar.

From the shortcut menu, choose Markers/Regions, and choose Delete All from the submenu.

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Working with command markers

Command markers add interactivity to a multimedia presentation streamed over the Internet by inserting metadata into streaming media files. As your video plays, any number of other actions can be programmed to occur. These commands are a part of the Microsoft® Windows Media® and RealMedia® streaming formats. Most frequently, these actions add text or open a related Web site where the viewer can find more information about the topic at hand. The specific commands available vary depending on the final format of your project.

Note:

commands unless the check box is selected on the

Windows Media Player 9 will ignore metadata

Run script commands when present

Security tab of the player's

Preferences dialog. Be sure to instruct your audience to select this check box before playing your file.

You can use command markers to add closed captions to your project. For more information, see Adding closed

captioning to Windows Media Video (WMV) files on page 193.

Command markers can also indicate when an instruction (function) will occur in a WAV file being used in a radio broadcast environment (Scott Studios data). The following two sections define the markers for both streaming media and Scott Studios files.

Note:

While streaming media files can be played on any hard drive or CD-ROM, they require a special streaming media server (provided by your Internet service provider) to stream properly across the Internet.

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Defining streaming media commands

In a streaming media file, command markers can be used to display headlines, show captions, link to Web sites, or any other function you define. Several command types are included that you may add to a streaming media file. Some command types are exclusive to either the Windows Media or the RealMedia player.

Command Player type Description

URL Windows Media

and RealMedia

Tex t Windows Media Displays text in the captioning area of the Windows Media Player located below the

WMClosedCaption Windows Media Displays the entered text in the captioning window that is defined by an HTML layout

WM TextBo dyTex t Window Media Displays the entered text in the text window that is defined by an HTML layout file. WMTextHeadline Windows Media Displays the entered text in the headline window that is defined by an HTML layout file. Title RealMedia Displays the entered text on the RealPlayer’s title bar.

Author RealMedia Displays the entered text (Author’s name) when a user selects About This

HotSpotPlay RealMedia Displays the RealMedia file specified in the Parameter box when users click the

HotSpotBrowse RealMedia Displays the Web page specified in the Parameter box when users click the RealPlayer

HotSpotSeek RealMedia Jumps to the time specified in the Parameter box when users click the RealPlayer

Indicates when an instruction is sent to the user’s internet browser to change the content being displayed. With this command, you enter the URL that displays at a specific time during the rendered project’s playback.

video display area. You enter the text that will display during playback.

Note: To view captions during playback in Windows Media Player 9, choose Captions and Subtitles from the Windows Media Player Play menu, and then choose On if Available from the submenu.

file.

Note: When rendering Windows Media files, title information is based on the settings on the Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog or the Index/Summary tab of the Custom Template dialog. The summary information from the Project Properties dialog will be used if information has been specified in both places.

To view this information during playback, choose Now Playing Options from the Windows Media Player View menu and select the items you want to display.

Presentation from the RealPlayer’s shortcut menu.

Note: When rendering Windows Media files, author information is based on the

settings on the Summary tab of the Project Properties dialog or the Index/Summary tab of the Custom Template dialog. The summary information from the Project Properties dialog will be used if information has been specified in both places.

To view this information during playback, choose Now Playing Options from the Windows Media Player View menu and select the items you want to display.

Presentation from the RealPlayer’s shortcut menu.

Note: When rendering Windows Media files, copyright information is based on the

To view this information during playback, choose Now Playing Options from the Windows Media Player View menu and select the items you want to display.

RealPlayer video display.

video display.

Defining Scott Studios data commands

For WAV files using Scott Studios data, command markers can be used to define information about the WAV file.

Command Description

SCOTT EOM Calculates when the next queued clip starts playing in a Scott Studios system. For more information,

SCOTT Cue In Set the beginning of a file in a Scott Studios System without performing destructive editing. For more

CHP. 3 BASIC EDITING TECHNIQUES

please refer to your Scott Studios documentation.

information, please refer to your Scott Studios documentation.

Page 86

Inserting command markers

Command markers appear as blue tags on the command bar, which is above the marker bar.

Right-click to place a command marker on the command bar

Command bar

Marker bar

Position the cursor where you want to place the command marker.

From the Insert menu, choose Command, or press .

Complete the Command Properties dialog:

• If desired, choose a custom template from the

Te mp la t e drop-down list. For more information, see

Saving command properties as a custom template on page

84.

• Choose the type of command from the

Command

drop-down list.

• In the

Parameter box, enter parameters to define the

behavior of the command.

• Enter your own notes or comments in the

• Specify the timing of the command in the

Comments box.

Position box. Otherwise, command markers are automatically

set to the current cursor position.

Click OK. The new command marker appears on the command bar.

Editing command properties

Double-click any command marker to open the Command Properties dialog and edit its contents. You can also right-click a command marker and choose

Saving command properties as a custom template

Edit from the shortcut menu.

If you plan to use a command more than once, you can save command properties as a template. You can then reuse the command properties by choosing the template from the

Te mp l a te drop-down list.

Create a command and complete the Command Properties dialog.

Enter a name for the template in the Tem pl a te box.

Click the Save Template button ( ).

Note:

Your metadata command templates are saved in the cmdtemp.xml file in the program folder. You can edit this file directly to modify your templates.

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Deleting command markers

Place the mouse pointer on the command marker. The pointer changes to a hand icon ( ).

Right-click to display a shortcut menu.

From the shortcut menu, choose Delete. The command marker is removed from your project.

Working with CD layout markers

Markers on the CD layout bar indicate the locations of tracks and indices in an audio CD layout project. These markers are discussed in a later chapter. For more information, see Understanding tracks and indices on page 305.

Working with the marker tool

You can use the marker tool to navigate the marker bars and edit multiple selected markers.

Click the Marker Tool button in the top-right corner of the timeline.

Select the markers you want to edit:

• Press the Left Arrow/Right Arrow keys to move to the previous/next marker in the active bar (marker/ region bar, CD layout bar, or command bar).

• Press Shift+Left Arrow/Right Arrow keys to extend the selection to the previous/next marker.

• Press Shift while clicking two marker tags to select all markers between the two tags.

• Press Ctrl while clicking marker tags to select or deselect individual markers.

Edit your markers:

• Dragging any selected marker will move all selected markers in the active bar as a group.

• Pressing Delete will remove all selected markers in the active bar.

The marker tool is inactive when you change focus to another portion of the Vegas window.

Using an external audio editing program

Vegas software is a nondestructive editing environment, which means that the original source files remain unchanged by any editing done in the software. Destructive (constructive) edits that modify the actual source media file may be done in a separate application such as Sound Forge® software from Sony Pictures Digital. By setting up a separate audio editor, you can quickly access the program from Vegas software via the

Tools menu or by pressing .

Setting up an audio editing program

If you already have Sound Forge software loaded on your computer when you installed Vegas software, the installation should have detected it and made it your default audio editing program. However, if you do not have Sound Forge software or want to specify a different audio editor, you may do so in the Preferences dialog.

Ctrl +E

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From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

In the Preferences dialog, click the Audio tab.

Click the Browse button to the right of the Preferred

audio editor

box. The Preferred Audio Editor dialog

appears.

From this dialog, navigate to the application to use for editing audio files.

Select the application’s executable icon (.exe) and click

Open to set the application as your default audio

editor.

The application’s path displays in the

editor

box.

Preferred audio

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Opening an audio editor from Vegas software

All events in your project are references to media files on a storage device. When you edit an audio event in an audio editor, you can choose to open the original media file or a copy of the file.

Opening a file in an audio editor

You can directly edit the media file to which an audio event is referenced. Any changes you make and save in the audio editor are permanent and are reflected in the event in your project.

Select the event to be edited.

From the Tool s menu, choose Audio, and choose Open in Audio Editor from the submenu.

Your selected audio editing application opens the event’s referenced media file. Make the necessary changes and save the file in the audio editor. If you keep the media file’s name and location the same, its event is updated immediately in your project. However, if you change the media file’s name or location (by using Save As), you must import the edited (new) file into Vegas software.

Opening a copy of a file in an audio editor

You can also create a copy of an audio file and open it in an audio editor. Opening a copy of a file has the advantage of preserving the original file unchanged. The modified copy is inserted into the event as a take and is automatically added to the Media Pool.

Select the event to be edited.

From the Tool s menu, choose Audio, and choose Open Copy in Audio Editor from the submenu.

When you are finished editing, save the file. “Ta ke X” is added to the end of the filename to distinguish it from the original and adds it to the project as a take. If you save it to a new file (by using Save As), you must manually add it as a take into the project. For more information, see Working with takes on page 94.

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CHAPTER

Advanced Editing Te ch n i qu e s

This chapter builds on the techniques that were introduced in the last chapter. Ripple editing, pitch shifting, and takes are just three of the more advanced editing topics that are covered in this chapter.

Snapping events

Vegas® software is preset to snap events into place as you drag them. Events can snap to another event’s edges, to the cursor position, or to a time selection. Events are allowed to snap to grid lines and markers. As you move an event along the timeline, its edge automatically aligns to designated snap points. At the highest level, all features can quantize to individual frames.

Snap points

Turning snapping on and off

You can quickly turn snapping on and off by clicking the Enable Snapping button ( ). You can also selectively turn snapping options on and off in the

•

Enable Snapping controls all snapping behavior except

quantizing to frames.

•

Snap To Grid controls snapping to grid markers. A variety of

grid measurements are provided. For more information, see

Changing grid spacing on page 289.

•

Snap To Markers controls snapping to markers. This command

applies to markers, regions, command markers, and CD layout markers. For more information, see Adding project markers and

regions on page 78.

Quantizing to frames

The Quantize To Frames command in the Options menu takes snapping one step further. With this feature enabled, everything snaps to the starting edge of individual project frames. Quantizing affects how you can move events, place markers, make selections, and position the cursor.

Quantizing to frames means that the position of markers, regions, events, and the cursor are limited to the start of an individual video frame.

Options menu:

All enabled

Track zoomed in so that one thumbnail = one frame

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Using the event snap offset

Each event in your project has a snap offset flag that can be moved along the length of the event. The flag is the white triangle that is located in the lower-left corner of each event. This flag allows you to designate where snapping occurs. This is useful if you need to align the snap with a beat in the event instead of the edge.

Snap offset flag

Place the mouse pointer on the snap offset triangle. The pointer changes to a hand icon ( ).

Drag the snap offset flag to the new position in the event. As the flag moves, a time display appears. This time display indicates where the snap offset flag occurs in time in the event.

Release the mouse to set the snap offset flag.

Snapping to the cursor or a selection

You can snap two clips in the same track end-to-end, but how can you snap two events on separate tracks? You can easily snap to specific event boundaries in any track by making a time selection for the event.

Double-click the event you want to snap to. The time selection area on the ruler sets to the length of the event.

Drag another clip in a different track near the end of the first clip. It snaps into position.

In this example, the second event snaps to the edge of the time selection. Because events also snap to the cursor, you could accomplish the same task by pressing or to position the cursor on the edge of

Ctrl +Alt+ Ctrl +Alt+

the first event. Once the cursor is on the event edge, you can snap the second event to the cursor.

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Pitch shifting audio events

Pitch shifting while preserving length is only available in the full version of Vegas software.

A pitch shift is a way to raise or lower the pitch of an audio event. The semitone range is -24 to 24. Twelve semitones equal one octave, so you may increase or decrease the pitch of an event within a two-octave range. Within each semitone is a finer pitch adjustment called cents. There are one hundred cents in one semitone.

Change length and pitch

Original event

Event with pitch shift of 12 or one octave speeds up

Event with pitch shift of -12 or one octave slows down

Editing from the timeline

Select an event.

Use the = and - keys on your keyboard (not the numeric keypad) to adjust pitch:

Key Result = Raise pitch one semitone. Ctrl+= Raise pitch one cent. Shift+= Raise pitch one octave. Ctr+Shift+=

Ctrl+ -

Shift+ - Lower pitch one octave. Ctr+Shift+ - Reset pitch.

If the

Reset pitch. Lower pitch one semitone. Lower pitch one cent.

Show active take information in events check box is selected on the General tab of the Preferences dialog,

the event's pitch shift is displayed in the bottom-left corner of the event. If the media has a known root note, the new root is displayed in parentheses:

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Editing in the Event Properties dialog

Right-click the event and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

On the Audio Event tab, choose a setting from the Method drop-down list to specify how you want to pitch- shift the event, or choose

If you selected Classic from the Method drop-down list, indicate the new event length and amount of pitch shifting you want to apply:

Type the desired event length in the New length box.

None if you want to preserve the event pitch.

Type the desired pitch shift (in semitones) in the Pitch change box.

If you want to change the event length without changing pitch, type 0 in the box.

If you want the pitch to be determined by the amount of time stretching, select the

Lock to stretch box.

For example, doubling an event's length will raise its pitch by one octave.

Choose a setting from the Stretch Attributes drop-down list to specify how you want to divide and crossfade the file to prevent artifacts. Depending on your source material, you may need to experiment with different crossfade types.

If you selected ACID from the Method drop-down list, indicate the new event tempo and the amount of pitch shifting you want to apply:

Type the desired event length in the New tempo box.

Type the desired pitch shift (in semitones) in the Pitch change box.

If you want to change the event length without changing pitch, type 0 in the box.

If you want the pitch to be determined by the new event tempo, select the

Lock to stretch box. For

example, doubling an event's tempo will raise its pitch by one octave.

Click OK.

ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES CHP. 4

Page 95

Time compressing/stretching events

Time compressing/stretching audio while maintaining pitch is only available in the full version of Vegas software.

Time stretching and compressing events is the process of using the same amount of source media to fill a shorter or longer event. While this can be done to both video and audio events, the two cases are fundamentally different.

Ctrl

Press and drag the edge of the event toward the center of the event to compress (shorten) it or drag the edge out away from the center to stretch (lengthen) it.

You can see the results of the time compression or stretching by viewing the properties of the event. Rightclick the event and choose affects the

Playback rate setting.

Tip:

Time stretch/pitch shift settings, while Time compressing/stretching a video event affects the

You can time compress/stretch several events at once by grouping them first. You can also apply a ripple edit after time compressing or stretching events. For more information, see

Grouping events on page 141 or Applying post-edit ripples on

page 73.

Time compressing/stretching video

Properties from the shortcut menu. Time compressing/stretching an audio event

Time stretching video allows you to fill a given duration with a set amount of actual video, sometimes called fit-to-fill. For example, if you have a five-second video event and you want this event to fill an eight-second slot, press and drag the edge of the event to eight seconds. The resulting video is in slow motion, but the

Ctrl

contents (footage) remain the same. If you had used a velocity envelope to slow the video to the same rate, the event would also be in slow motion, but its duration would remain unchanged at five seconds. Stretched video has a zigzag line between thumbnails. Video can also be compressed (sped up and shortened in length) by using this method.

When stretching video events or slowing video down, a set number of frames are extended across a period of time. For example, if you take source footage at 30 frames in a second and slow it so that only 15 source frames run during that same second, an additional 15 frames must be created to maintain the project’s 30 fps frame rate. Simply duplicating frames is the easiest way to do this. A more sophisticated method is to resample the frames of an event, allowing Vegas software to interpolate and redraw these intervening frames.

For more information, see Resample (video only) on page 135 and Resampling video on page 197.

CHP. 4 ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES

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Working with takes

A take is a version of a scene or audio recording, as in “Scene 10, Take 7”, which means the seventh time that scene number ten has been shot. A number of takes can be included in the same location (event) of the project. You can then rapidly switch between these separate takes to see which one fits into the project the best. Although this is what takes are designed for, you can actually use any media files you want as a take, even completely different sounds or scenes. Since an event is just a container of a specific length and at a specific location, the actual content (media file) is easily changed.

Adding takes

You can add multiple media files to the timeline at the same time to a single event as takes. You can also add regions within media files as takes. For more information, see Adding regions as takes on page 99.

Adding media files to the timeline as takes

Locate the media files that you want to insert as takes in the Explorer and select them. Select a range by

pressing and clicking the first and last file in the range, or select nonadjacent files by pressing and clicking the various clips individually.

Right-click and drag one of the selected clips in the group to the timeline.

From the shortcut menu, choose Add as Takes.

Tip:

files as takes, choose

Only: Add Audio as Takes from the shortcut menu.

Shift Ctrl

To add either just the audio or just the video portions of

Video Only: Add Video as Takes or Audio

Adding takes to existing events

You can add media files to existing events as takes.

Right-click a media file in the Explorer and drag it to an existing event.

From the shortcut menu, choose Add as Takes.

Selecting takes

When you add an event with multiple takes, a single event is inserted into a track. The length of the event is set according to the last clip that was selected. This last clip is set as the active take.

Right-click an event with multiple takes.

From the shortcut menu, choose Ta ke , and choose Next Take or Previous Take from the submenu. Alternately, choose the name of the take from the list at the bottom of the submenu.

Tip:

Click an event and press to select the next take or

Shift +T

to select the previous take.

ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES CHP. 4

Page 97

Previewing and selecting takes

You can preview the takes for a given event.

Select an event containing multiple takes.

Right-click to display a shortcut menu or, from the Edit menu, choose Tak e to display a submenu.

Choose Choose Active... from the submenu. The Take Chooser dialog appears.

Select the take that you want to preview and use the Play () and

Stop ( ) buttons within the dialog.

To use a take, select it and click OK. The selected take is now the active take.

Deleting takes

You can delete individual takes from an event at any time.

Right-click an event with multiple takes.

From the shortcut menu, choose Ta k e , and choose Delete Active from the submenu to immediately remove the active take. Alternately, choose event.

Delete to open a dialog with a list of all of the takes contained in this

Working with take names

Displaying take names on events

Take names may be displayed on the events in the timeline.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

On the General tab, select the Show active take information in events check box.

Click OK.

Changing take names

Changing the name of a take does not affect the source media file in any way. Typically, you may want to change an event’s name after recording multiple takes into a track or event. For more information, see

Working with multiple recorded takes on page 170.

Select the take to be renamed. For more information, see Selecting takes on page 94.

Right-click the event to display a shortcut menu.

From the shortcut menu, choose Properties. The Properties dialog opens.

Type the new name in the Active take name box.

Click OK to set the new take name.

Without take name With take name

CHP. 4 ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES

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Using the Trimmer window

The Trimmer allows you to work with and edit one media file at a time. The entire file is opened into the Trimmer, in contrast to events on the timeline that may only contain a portion of the actual source file.

The main function of the Trimmer window is to allow you to trim a media file and place portions of it on a track. You can also add regions and markers to a file, preview the media file, or open it in an external audio editing program.

Remove Current Media From Trimmer History

Save Markers/Regions

Open in

Audio Editor

Select Parent Media

Create subclip

Marker

Trimmer

history

Clear Trimmer

History

Sort Trimmer

History

Media file

Loop

Playback

Cursor

navigationcontrols

Add media

from cursor

Add media

up to cursor

Loop region or Selection area

Zoom controls

You can open any number of files in the Trimmer at the same time, selecting the one you currently want to work on from the

From the

View menu, choose Trim mer or press to display the Trimmer window, if it is not already

Trimmer history drop-down list.

Alt

visible. You can dock the Trimmer window in the window docking area or float it over the work area. For more information, see Window docking area and floating window docks on page 21.

Opening a file in the Trimmer

Right-click an event. A shortcut menu appears.

Choose Open in Trimmer.

You can also drag files to the Trimmer from the Explorer or the Media Pool.

Double-clicking a file to open it in the Trimmer

You can set the software to open a file in the Trimmer when you double-click the file in the Media Pool or Explorer windows.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences.

Click the General tab.

Choose Double click on media file loads into Trimmer instead of tracks.

ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES CHP. 4

Page 99

Moving frame-by-frame in the Trimmer window

As you navigate through a video file in the Trimmer, the exact frame that the cursor is over in time is displayed as in a thumbnail image under the cursor. When using the left and right arrow keys, this allows you to edit with frame accuracy. Make sure

Animate video frames in Trimmer is selected in the Preferences dialog to

use this feature.

Making selections in the Trimmer

After you have opened a media file in the Trimmer, you may select a segment of it and place it in your project. Make a time selection to select a segment in the Trimmer in the same way you do in the project timeline. For more information, see Selecting a time range on page 61.

[

You can make a selection during playback by using the keyboard. Press or to mark the start of the

]

selection, and press or to mark the end.

If you know the exact timecode of the point where you want to begin and end a time selection, you can enter it into the boxes at the lower right corner of the Trimmer window.

Double-click to enter a value.

Tip:

Backspace

Press to recall the last five time selection

Selection Selection Selection

LengthEndStart

areas in the Trimmer.

Adding selections to the timeline

You can use the Trimmer window to do traditional three-point and two-point editing. These editing techniques allow you to add smaller sections of files to the timeline.

Post-edit ripple mode affects how a selection is added to the timeline from the Trimmer. When the

Ripple button ( ) is selected, adding a selection from the Trimmer selection affects the position of later

events on the track. When not in post-edit ripple mode, adding a selection from the Trimmer has no effect on the position of other events. For more information, see Editing events on page 63.

Auto

CHP. 4 ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES

Page 100

Adding selections at the cursor

Open a media file in the Trimmer.

Make a time selection in the Trimmer.

Select the track in the timeline where the selection will be added.

Position the cursor in the timeline at either the start or end point where you want to add the selection.

Add the selection to the timeline in one of the following ways:

• Click the

Add Media from Cursor button ( ) or press to insert the event after the cursor. Add Media up to Cursor button ( ) or press to insert the event before the cursor.

Alternately, you can drag the selection from the Trimmer to the timeline

Note:

Post-edit rippling (if enabled) applies to clips inserted

Shift +A

Drag from the Trimmer...

...to a project track

from the Trimmer. For more information, see Editing events on page 63.

Filling a time selection on the timeline

You can select a range of time on the project timeline and then fill it with the same length selection from the Tr im m er .

Create a time selection in the timeline where you want to add the event. This sets the duration and position of the event that you will create.

Open the media file you want to use to fill the time selection in the Trimmer window.

Right-click the file in the Trimmer window and choose Sync Track View Selection Time from Cursor or

Sync Track View Selection Time up to Cursor from the shortcut menu. A time selection is created in the file

in the Trimmer window to match the time selection in the timeline.

Adjust the location of the time selection in the Trimmer as needed by dragging the time selection (the area between the yellow triangles) on the Trimmer marker bar.

Drag the event from the Trimmer to the timeline and allow it to snap into place within the time selection.

Adding selections from a media file with audio and video

You can open a file in the Trimmer that has both audio and video streams (e.g., AVI). When you add a selection from this type of file to the timeline, both streams are added:

• If you select a video track before adding the selection, the video is added to the selected track and the associated audio is added to the track below it.

• If you select an audio track before adding the selection, the audio is added to the selected track and the associated video is added to the track above it.

New tracks are created for the added media if necessary.

ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES CHP. 4

Sony VEGAS 5 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Introduction

Welcome

System requirements

Technical support

Installing Vegas software

Registration

Using online help

Overview

Main window

Toolbar

Time display

Ruler

Marker bar

Command bar

CD layout bar

Track list

Timeline

Transport bar controls

Status bar

Scrub control

Window docking area and floating window docks

Saving and recalling window layouts - Ctrl+Alt+D or Ctrl+D

Keyboard command reference

Cursor indications

Using a control surface

Audio signal flow

Video signal flow

About your rights in Vegas software

About Your Privacy

Proper Use of Software

Getting Started

Creating projects

Setting video properties based on a media file

Saving a project

Renaming a project (using Save As)

Getting media files

Selecting media

Previewing a media file

Using the Media Pool

Adding media to the timeline

Working with events

Understanding files and events

Moving events along the timeline

Working with tracks

Using the track view

Using the track list

Playing back and previewing

Playing your project

Scrubbing

Previewing to media player

Prerendering video previews

Rendering a project

Creating a movie

Basic Editing Te ch n i qu e s

Getting around

Moving the cursor

Changing focus

Making selections

Selecting multiple events

Selecting a time range

Looping playback

Selecting events and a time range

Selecting tracks

Selecting groups of composited tracks

Editing events

Copying events

Cutting events

Pasting events

Duplicating events

Inserting empty events and time

Trimming events

Splitting events

Slipping and sliding events

Deleting events

Applying post-edit ripples

Applying a post-edit ripple manually