In this video, I’ll demonstrate how you can make portrait or standard video (most commonly taken from cell phones), look more appealing in Sony Vegas. You will notice this effect commonly used in news and daytime talk shows. Not only will it work for cell phone video but it can also be used for any standard video that you need to incorporate into your widescreen project. Get rid of those big anaconda side bars!

As an alternative, you could also crop the video. But, it may not always be ideal. Especially, if the video is so small like the video clip used in this tutorial.

The post How to Make Portrait Video Look Appealing appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

Here are the steps you can take to de-interlace an image in Photoshop:

Open the image in Photoshop.

Make sure the image layer is selected and go to Filter > Video > De-Interlace.

The default option usually provide great results but these can be adjusted as needed. Click OK.

There you have it! Use Gaussian Blur if necessary to help clean up rough areas.

Watch the video below if you’re interested in learning more about interlaced frame rates from our friends at Indy Mogul.

Interlaced and Progressive Frame Rates Explained!

What’s your favorite Photoshop filter? Comment below!

The post How to Deinterlace in Photoshop appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at how to disable the Smart Resample feature in Sony Vegas to prevent ghosting.

Have you ever noticed after you import certain clips in your timeline, there’s a ghosting effect much like the image above? This happens when you import footage into your timeline that has a different frame rate than the project. The “Smart Resample” feature of Sony Vegas, creates a crossfade effect between the original frames to match the source frames.

In this case, the project was set at 59.940 FPS (Frames Per Second) while this particular video clip had a slightly different fps of 59.949 fps. So, Sony Vegas automatically adjusted the clip with “Smart Resampling” to try and match the framerate of the project. As it may be useful in certain circumstances, you’ll usually get a much sharper look when turning it off.

‘Smart Resample‘ is always on by default and there’s currently no way to change that. Though, it only applies itself when the event’s frame rate does not match the source frames. Useful if you experience any interlacing problems or any other jittery output problems.

To turn off Smart Resampling, select all the clips you want to disable it from. Right-Click the first clip and then go to Switches > Disable Resample. This will apply that option to all of your selected clips.

If you would like a quicker way to disable Smart Resample for all clips, check out this script: http://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/24/959394 You’ll be able to disable it for your entire project with a click of a button. Though, I found it to be just as fast doing it manually.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

The post Fix Frame Ghosting in Sony Vegas appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to simply split two videos side by side in Sony Vegas. We’ll use the Event Pan/Crop tool to create a one-time preset which can be used for all videos. Works for 1080p and 720p video sizes + more.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

The post Split Screen in Sony Vegas appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

In this tutorial, we will be taking a look at how you can animate things with the use of gradient wipes in Sony Vegas Pro 12. This can be used for animating lines, writing text, etc. without the need to keyframe anything at all. This does require a photo editor, which for this I used Photoshop.

Image from Shutterstock.com

The post Animate Lines in Sony Vegas appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

The post Frame Jitter Effect in Sony Vegas appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

Method 1:

Double-click the gap and press Delete then Ctrl + Shift + F to delete the gap and auto ripple the clips back in place.

Method 2:

With Auto Ripple turned on. Double-click the gaps and press Delete to get rid of them and auto ripple the clips back in place.

Method 3:

Use the following script to automate the process for multiple gaps. Keep in mind, scripts only work in Pro versions of Sony Vegas.

Script:

Download Script Here   … or

Copy and Paste the following code in Notepad and Save-As – preferredname.js

Remember to put “.js” at the end of the file name in order to initiate the jscript file.

/** 
* Program: 
* Description: This script will Delete Empty Space Between Events In Selected Tracks
* Author: Philip
* 
* Date: August 31, 2003 
**/ 

import Sony.Vegas; 
import System.Windows.Forms;
import Microsoft.Win32;

//time intervals for split events.

try
{

// step through all selected video events:
var FirstTrack : Track = Vegas.Project.Tracks.Item(0);

// step through all selected video events:
for (var track in Vegas.Project.Tracks) {
if( !track.Selected) continue;
var tracktime = new Timecode(0);
for (var evnt in track.Events) {
evnt.AdjustStartLength(tracktime,evnt.Length,true);
tracktime = tracktime + evnt.Length;
}
}
}

catch (errorMsg)
{
MessageBox.Show(errorMsg, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation);
}

The post Closing Multiple Gaps in Sony Vegas appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

SETUP

You may want to to begin by planning everything out. You can use the free storyboard template  found on RodyPolis.com to draw out what you want to happen. It’s helpful to plan everything ahead so you don’t forget anything.

Set your camera on a tripod and leave it there! Be sure everything’s set to manual as you don’t want any settings to change and mess up the shot. I recommend using a remote to trigger recording on the camera.

You also want to be sure the background is locked down. Everything should stay still for the best results. If outdoors, look out for any moving object in the background (ie. leaves, branches).

Be sure lighting stays the same throughout. I found it best to shoot at night and create my own light. That way I’m in control of how everything’s lit and it’ll stay that way until we’re done or dawn arrives.

PROCESS

Once everything’s locked in place, you’re ready to begin. I like to start off by recording the background. I knew the effect was going to be fairly short so I only shot about 15 seconds worth of footage. I then went ahead and told the ghostly actor what he had to do to do. You can have them walk through the scene, sit on a bench, or even just appear. It’s only limited to your imagination! All he had to do in this case was walk to a bench and sit. You can record some more background footage just to be sure.

VEGAS PRO

Import your footage into Sony Vegas. Add the clips to the timeline on separate tracks. Be sure the background footage is below the main footage on the timeline.

Trim your clips up and adjust the opacity of the main track on top. Set the opacity to what you think looks best. You can really dim it to make your friends look very closely then SMACK! The exorcist appears. Just an idea!

That’s it! Preview the video and a ghost should appear! Extra steps may be necessary depending on what you planned.

Leave a link to your Ghostly Halloween videos in the comments below!

Camera Photo: Wolfgang Lonien

The post Sony Vegas: Ghost Effect appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

To quickly adjust envelopes in Sony Vegas, you can draw envelope points freehand using the Envelope Brush. With the Normal Edit or Envelope tool active, hover over an envelope. Hold Shift to display the Envelope Brush cursor. As you drag the cursor along the track, a trail of envelope points are created. When you release the mouse button, the points will remain.

The number of envelope points will reduce if the Smooth and thin automation data after recording or drawing option is checked in the External Control & Automation tab of the Preferences. If you’d like every envelope point to display unthinned, un-check the Smooth and thin automation data after recording or drawing option.

The post Sony Vegas: Draw Envelope Points appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

FADE OFFSET ICON

FADE TYPES

CROSS-FADE TYPES

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