SONY Vegas Movie Studio quick Reference

Quick Start Manual

Revised June 11, 2008

After Vegas® Movie Studio™ 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 Creative Software Inc.

Registering your product will provide you with access to a variety of technical support options, notification of product updates, and special promotions exclusive to registered Vegas Movie Studio 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://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/custserv.asp. Use the following

numbers for telephone support during normal weekday business hours:

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

Technical support

For a detailed list of technical support options, we encourage you to visit

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/default.asp. To listen to your support

options by telephone, please call 608-256-5555.

About your rights in Vegas Movie Studio software

Vegas Movie Studio 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 Movie Studio software is located at

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/.

About your privacy

Sony Creative Software Inc. respects your privacy and is 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.sonycreativesoftware.com/corporate/privacy.asp.

Proper use of software

Vegas Movie Studio 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 Movie Studio 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.

Legal notices

ACID, ACIDized, ACIDplanet.com, ACIDplanet, the ACIDplanet logo, ACID XMC, Artist Integrated, the Artist Integrated logo, Beatmapper, Cinescore, CD Architect, DVD Architect, Jam Trax, Perfect Clarity Audio, Photo Go, Sound Forge, Super Duper Music Looper, Vegas, Vision Series, and Visual Creation Studio are the trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Creative Software Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners in the United States and other countries.

PlayStation and PSP are registered trademarks of Sony Corporation Entertainment Inc.

Apple Macintosh Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) file format

Apple® Macintosh® Audio Interchange™ File Format (AIFF) is a trademark of Apple, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Apple QuickTime

Apple® QuickTime® application is a trademark of Apple, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

AT RA C

“ATR AC,” “ATRAC3,” “ATRAC3 plus,” “ATRAC Adva nced Lossless,” and the ATRAC logo are trademarks of Sony Corporation.

http://www.sony.net/Products/ATRAC3/

AVC HD

AVCHD and AVCHD logo are trademarks of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd and Sony Corporation.

Dolby, Dolby Digital AC-3, and AAC encoding

This product contains one or more programs protected under international and U.S. copyright laws as unpublished works. They are confidential and proprietary to Dolby Laboratories. Their reproduction or disclosure, in whole or in part, or the production of derivative works therefrom without the express permission of Dolby Laboratories is prohibited. Copyright 1992 – 2008 Dolby Laboratories. All rights reserved.

Dolby®, the double-D symbol, AC-3®, and Dolby Digital® are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. AAC™ is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories.

FLAC/Ogg File Formats

Neither the name of the Xiph.org Foundation nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

This software is provided by the copyright holders and contributors “as is” and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the foundation or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

Gracenote

CD and music-related data from Gracenote, Inc., copyright © 2000-2008 Gracenote. Gracenote Software, copyright 2000-2008 Gracenote. This product and service may practice one or more of the following U.S. Patents: #5,987,525; #6,061,680; #6,154,773, #6,161,132, #6,230,192, #6,230,207, #6,240,459, #6,330,593, and other patents issued or pending. Services supplied and/or device manufactured under license for following Open Globe, Inc. United States Patent 6,304,523.

Gracenote and CDDB are registered trademarks of Gracenote. The Gracenote logo and logotype, MusicID, and the “Powered by Gracenote” logo are trademarks of Gracenote.

i.LINK

i.LINK® is a registered trademark of Sony Electronics, used only to designate that a product contains an IEEE 1394 connector. All products with an IEEE 1394 connector may not communicate with each other.

JPEG

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

LPEC

“LPEC” is a trademark of Sony Corporation.

Macromedia Flash

Macromedia and Flash are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Main Concept encoder

Microsoft DirectX programming interface

Microsoft Windows Media Technologies

MPEGLA and MPEG 2

USE OF THIS PRODUCT IN ANY MANNER THAT COMPLIES WITH THE MPEG-2 STANDARD IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT A LICENSE UNDER APPLICABLE PATENTS IN THE MPEG-2 PATENT PORTFOLIO, WHICH LICENSE IS AVAILABLE FROM MPEG-LA, LLC, 250 STEELE STREET, SUITE 300, DENVER, COLORADO

80206. Manufactured under license from MPEG-LA.

PNG file format

Copyright © 2008. World Wide Web Consortium (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics, Keio University). All rights reserved. This work is distributed under the W3C Software License in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTIBILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright-software-20021231.

Real, RealMedia, RealAudio, and RealVideo applications

2008 RealNetworks, Inc. Patents Pending. All rights reserved. Real®, Real Media®, RealAudio®, RealVideo®, and the Real logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Sony AVC/AAC

THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR THE PERSONAL AND NONCOMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (i)ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC STANDARD (“AVC VIDEO”) AND/OR (ii)DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://MPEGLA.COM

Steinberg Media Technologies

VST® is a registered trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. ASIO™ is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)

Targa file format

The Targa™ file format is a trademark of Pinnacle Systems, Inc.

Thomson Fraunhofer MP3

MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson. Supply of this product does not convey a license nor imply any right to distribute content created with this

product in revenue generating broadcast systems (terrestrial, satellite, cable and/or other distribution channels), streaming applications (via internet, intranets and/or other networks), other content distribution systems (pay-audio or audio on demand applications and the like) or on physical media (compact discs, digital versatile discs, semiconductor chips, hard drives, memory cards and the like).

An independent license for such use is required. For details, please visit: http://mp3licensing.com.

Thomson Fraunhofer MPEG-4 HE-AAC

MPEG-4 HE-AAC audio coding technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS. For details, please visit: http://

www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm/.

Sony Creative Software Inc.

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 Creative Software Inc. in any way. All updates or additional information relating to the contents of this manual will be posted on the Sony Creative Software Inc. web site, located at http://

www.sonycreativesoftware.com/. 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 Creative Software Inc.

Table of

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Technical support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Installing Vegas Movie Studio software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Using this manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Getting help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Show Me How tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Help on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Main window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Time display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Ruler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Marker bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Command bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

CD layout bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Track list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Transport bar controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Scrub control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Window docking area and floating window docks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Creating projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Saving a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Renaming a project (using Save As) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Getting media files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Previewing a media file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Using the Project Media window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Sorting media with bins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Adding media to the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Working with events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Understanding files and events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Moving events along the timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Working with tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Using the track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Using the track list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

TABLE OF CONTENTS | 1

Playing back and previewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Playing your project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Scrubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Previewing to media player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Basic Editing Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Getting around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Moving the cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Changing focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Making selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Selecting multiple events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Selecting a time range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Looping playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Selecting events and a time range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Selecting tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Editing events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Copying events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Cutting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Pasting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Duplicating events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Trimming events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Splitting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Deleting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Crossfading events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Using automatic crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Manually setting a crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Changing crossfade curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Using undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Using redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Adding project markers and regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Working with markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Working with regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Using an external audio editing program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Setting up an audio editing program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Saving and Rendering Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Make Movie Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Save it to your hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Burn it to DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Burn it to Blu-ray Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Burn it to Video CD (VCD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

2 | TABLE OF CONTENTS

Burn it to CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Upload it to ACIDplanet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Upload it to YouTube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Save it to Sony PSP media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Save it to your DV camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Save it to your HDV camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

E-mail it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Rendering projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Rendering a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

5.1 Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

New Project Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

5.1 surround panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Assign tracks to surround channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Panning a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Panning a track in Surround Pan mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Automating panning with envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Changing the pan mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

TABLE OF CONTENTS | 3

4 | TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Introduction

Welcome

Vegas® Movie Studio™ software from Sony Creative Software Inc. is an innovative and advanced multitrack media-editing system. This software was designed to create an efficient audio/video production environment without sacrificing the quality and processing power that you expect from Sony Creative Software Inc. Whether it’s the standard and familiar Microsoft® Windows® navigation commands or the clean and uncluttered interface, you’ll find Vegas Movie Studio software a pleasure to use.

System requirements

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

• Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 or Windows Vista™

• 800 MHz processor (2.8 GHz recommended for HDV or AVCHD in Vegas Movie Studio Platinum)

• 200 MB hard-disk space for program installation

• 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended for HDV or AVCHD in Vegas Movie Studio Platinum)

• OHCI-compatible i.LINK® connector*/IEEE-1394DV card (for DV capture and print-to-tape)

• Windows-compatible sound card

• DVD-ROM drive (for installation from a DVD only)

• Supported CD-recordable drive (for CD burning only)

• Supported DVD- R/-RW/+R /+RW drive (for DVD burning only)

• Supported BD-R/-RE drive (for Blu-ray Disc™ burning only)

• Microsoft DirectX®

• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (included on application disc)

9.0c or later

Note:

Software Inc. to activate the software.

*i.LINK is a registered trademark of Sony Electronics, used only to designate that a product contains an IEEE 1394 connector. All products with an IEEE 1394 connector may not communicate with each other.

You must provide your registration information to Sony Creative

INTRODUCTION | 5

Technical suppor t

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

Installing Vegas Movie Studio software

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

If DVD-ROM AutoPlay is not enabled, click the Start button and choose Run. In the Run dialog that appears, type the DVD-ROM drive’s letter and add :\setup.exe. Click

OK to start the installation.

Click Install. The installation process begins.

Follow the on-screen prompts to install the appropriate version of the software for your computer.

Using this manual

This manual is provided to assist users of Vegas Movie Studio and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum software applications. For this reason, product features are identified throughout the manual using the following icon:

Features exclusive to Vegas Movie Studio Platinum

Getting help

This Quick Start Manual is intended to help you learn the basic skills you need to create a Vegas Movie Studio project. If you need more assistance, we provide two varieties of help in the application.

Online help

Choose Contents and Index from the Help menu or press F1. The online help window has four tabs that you can use to find the information you need.

6 | INTRODUCTION

Toolbar Tabs

Information pane

Show Me How tutorials

You can learn more about many of the features in Vegas Movie Studio and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum by using the interactive Show Me How tutorials installed with the software.

By default, Show Me How tutorials appear upon startup of the application. However, you can access them at any time from the Help menu by choosing Show Me How.

Help on the Web

Additional help and information is available on the Sony Creative Software Web site. From the Help menu, choose Sony on the Web to view a listing of Web pages pertaining to Vegas Movie Studio software and Sony Creative Software Inc.

Overview

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

INTRODUCTION | 7

Main window

The main window appears when you open the software. The work area is divided 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 Customize Toolbar to specify which buttons are displayed.

Create new project

Enable automatic crossfades

Open existing project

Save project

Open project properties

Publish project to the Web

Cut selected events or time range

Copy selected events or time range

Paste items from clipboard into project

Undo

8 | INTRODUCTION

Enable automatic ripple editing

Lock envelopes to events

Ignore event grouping

Normal edit tool

Envelope edit tool

Selection edit tool

Zoom edit tool

Make Movie Wizard

Create new project Enable automatic crossfades

Redo Show Me How tutorials

Enable snapping to grid lines What’s This Help

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 which colors are used in the display.

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.

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.

Command bar

The command bar is displayed 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 46.

INTRODUCTION | 9

CD layout bar

The CD layout bar is displayed for tracks and indexes in an audio CD layout project for disc-at-once (DAO) CD burning.

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 27.

Track minimize and

Track number

Selected

Video tracks

Parent/ child

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 26.

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

10 | INTRODUCTION

Record into track Pause project playback

Play project from cursor Move cursor to end of position 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.

The Video Preview window also has its own status bar that displays project specific information. For more information, see Playing your project on page 29.

Scrub control

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

Set playback speed

Drag either forward or backward for playback

located beneath the scrub control. For

more information, see Scrubbing on page 30.

Window docking area and floating window docks

This area allows you to keep frequently used windows available but out of the way. Windows can be docked next to each other, 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.

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

Close window Expand window

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

• To remove a window from the docking area and float it, drag the handle on the left side of a docked window.

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

INTRODUCTION | 11

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

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 Project Media list. 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 Start

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

Select drive or folder

Preview selected media files before placing them in the project.

Select media to place in the project by dragging and dropping or double-clicking.

Trimmer window - Alt+2

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.

12 | INTRODUCTION

Mixer window - Alt+3

The Mixer window gives you access to your project’s audio properties and output levels.

Video Preview window - Alt+4

The Video Preview window displays a project’s video during project editing and playback. For more information, see Playing your project on page 29.

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

Right-click to change Video Preview settings.

Project Media window - Alt+5

The Project Media window 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 Project Media window to apply effects and plugins to media files and set the specific properties of these files. For more information, see

Using the Project Media window on page 17.

INTRODUCTION | 13

Transitions window - Alt+7

The Transitions window contains all of the effects you can use to transition between video clips. 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.

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).

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.

14 | INTRODUCTION

Chapter 2

Getting Started

Vegas® Movie Studio™ 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 Movie Studio 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 (.vf ) 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 Movie Studio 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 Project menu, choose New. The New Project Wizard appears.

Set your project name and the location where you want to save it:

Type a name to identify your project.

Browse to the folder where you want to store new media files.

Click Next. The Video Standard page appears.

Select the region where you video will be shown: Americas and Japan or Europe and Asia.

Click Next. The Delivery Format page appears.

• Choose a video output setting from the Output type drop-down list and click Next. The audio format page appears.

The first page of the New Project Wizard.

GETTING STARTED | 15

• If you are unsure of the final destination of your project, select the I’m not sure yet; I will choose later radio button and click Next. The Audio Format page appears.

Specify the audio format for your project, stereo or 5.1 surround, and click Next. The Done page appears.

5.1-surround audio is available only in Vegas Movie Studio Platinum.

Click Finish to start working with your project.

Saving a project

When you save your work, it is saved in a project file. Project files are not rendered media files. To save a project, choose Save from the Project menu, or press Ctrl+S.

Renaming a project (using Save As)

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

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.

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.

Note:

When you add an ACID loop to the timeline, it is automatically stretched to match the project tempo as specified on the Ruler tab of the Project Properties dialog. If you want to ignore tempo information, clear the Import at project tempo check box on the Audio tab of the Preferences dialog.

16 | GETTING STARTED

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 Project Media window to

preview files in the Project Media list.

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 button ( ) on

the Explorer window’s transport bar.

Using the Project Media window

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 Project Media list 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 Project Media list. From the View menu, choose Project Media to open this window if it is not already visible.

Using Project Media views

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

For more on views, see the online help (from the Vegas Movie Studio Help menu and choose Contents and Index).

Adding media to the Project Media list

You can add media to the Project Media list without adding it to the timeline by importing the file. For more on importing files, see the online help (from the Vegas Movie Studio Help menu and choose Contents and Index).

GETTING STARTED | 17

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