Missing the track motion button in Vegas Pro? By default, only the Mute and Solo buttons are enabled for each track. Here’s how to restore the visible button set on the track headers.

Step 1

Click the hamburger icon to the left of the track header area and click, “Edit Visible Button Set…“⠀

Step 2

Select the buttons you want to appear in all video track headers. I chose “Show All“. Press OK.

Step 3

Repeat the same process for Audio Tracks. Select the buttons you want to appear in all audio track headers. I chose “Show All“. Press OK.

That’s all there is to it! The visible buttons have been restored as they appeared in previous version of VEGAS Pro. Of course, you could just stick to navigating the hamburger menu for these buttons but I find it easier just pressing a button that’s already there.

Restore Vegas Pro 14 Window Layout

If you’re really missing the old layout, specifically from VEGAS Pro 14, you can change the window layout to “Vegas 14 Default” by navigating to View > Window Layouts > Vegas 14 Default or press the shortcut key Alt+D, V . This will also restore the Visible Button Set on Track Headers.

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We’ve all seen it at least once. You watch a music video and one of the effects you see is a strobe like frame by frame flash that goes to the beat. As requested, we’ll be taking a look at how to do just that in Vegas Pro 12. We’ll be using general features not bound to just Vegas Pro so feel free to apply these techniques to your favorite editing platform.

Inspiration

Eminem – No Love ft. Lil Wayne @ 1:25 http://j.mp/11lVScL

Harlem Shake Times Square NYC feat. NYPD @ 0:20 http://j.mp/11lVZ8f

If you used this effect in any of your videos, share them in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

Resources:
Royalty Free Music by http://audiomicro.com/royalty-free-music
Flickr Car Image by Axion23
Optical Flares: RodyPolis (http://j.mp/LXkT60)

The post Music Video Flicker Effect appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

How to Use Color Match

Apply the “Sony Color Match” effect to the clip you’d like to process. This can be applied to a media, event, track, or video output effect.

They’ve added a few presets to use but since we’re trying to match the color between clips, these won’t be necessary.

First, select an image source with one of the following methods;

• Use Trimmer Image (Uses the current snapshop in the Trimmer window.)
• Paste from Clipboard (Pastes a Copied Snapshot in from the clipboard.)
• Browse for Image (Browse for an image file.)
• Clip from Screen (Capture a source image from anywhere on your screen.)

Next, adjust the strength of the effect. This will adjust the amount of color or lightness applied to your video.

Selecting the Process Lightness check box will attempt to match the brightness and contrast of the source image. In the case the effect comes out too strong, you can manually adjust that with the other Vegas plug-ins as needed.

The post Vegas Pro 12: Color Match appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

Opening the Expanded Edit Mode

As with many things in Sony Vegas, there’s all kinds of ways for you to access the Expanded Edit Mode. Here’s how;

• Go to Edit > Select > Expanded Edit Mode
• Press 5 on the numeric keypad
• Double-click the event edge

Layout

You’ll notice events are now laid out differently in A/B roll tracks.

Events before the edit point are displayed on the A roll track while all the following events are placed on the B roll track.

The greyed out areas just show the rest of the events so you can get an idea of how much footage you have to work with.

Red brackets [ ] indicate which event edge will be trimmed if you’re editing with the numeric keypad. We’ll get into editing with the numeric keys in a future tutorial.

In and out points are displayed as a split screen in the Video Preview window. Once you preview your edits, this will go back into single view.

Making Edits

Making edits is roughly the same as in the regular editing window. You can adjust the edits separately by dragging each one over or all together simultaneously by dragging between the two events.

Here you can also use the Adjacent Trim (Ctrl + Alt) tool to achieve the same simultaneous movement.

You can also adjust and add transitions as needed.

Exiting the Expanded Edit Mode

Exiting Expanded Edit Mode is the same as what you did to enter it;

• Edit > Select > Exit Expanded Edit Mode
• Press 5 on the numeric keypad
• Double-click the event edge
• Press Exc.

Overall, this new Expanded Edit Mode can be very useful when getting cuts just right. Although, I don’t see myself using it often. The Adjacent Trim tool seems to do the trick most times. Though, It would definitely help if you do a lot of multicamera work. Do you think this is something you’d find yourself using a lot? Let us know in the comments!

The post Vegas Pro 12: Expanded Edit Mode 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.

Project Interchange Formats

AAF — Avid Pro Tools, Avid Media Composer.

PPROJ — Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects*

XML — Final Cut Pro 7 or DaVinci Resolve.

FCPXML — Final Cut Pro X

EDL — Text Files

*Only accepts After Effects files in the PPROJ format. The After Effects .AEP format is not compatible.

You can import After Effects projects but the only format it accepts them in is .PPROJ, and After Effects produces .AEP files. I don’t really see it importing After Effects projects unless they’re in the Premiere Pro .PPROJ format. A little confusing, not sure why they even put After Effects in there. Unless you edited all the video in After Effects and exported it as a Premiere Pro file. Plus you gotta think, After Effects works a lot differently than Vegas and if they did allow .AEP files they’d probably only work on a single track without all the layers.

Import/Exporting

Import — To import projects into Sony Vegas, go to File > Import > and choose your desired format. Find the project file and click Open. A report log will display if some items aren’t compatible. Keep in mind that once the file is imported into Vegas, the file will need to be saved as a Vegas(.veg) file. You can’t directly edit and save as a Premiere Pro project for example. You’ll have to re-export the project to your desire format once finished editing.

Export — To export projects in Sony Vegas, go to File > Export > and choose your desired format. Name the project and click Save. You can choose whether or not to export all Media Files. Choosing “Yes” will save all media files in the same folder you exported the project to. Handy if you want to keep all the video files together when transferring to a different application.  A report log will display if some items were changed depending on the particular format chosen. Keep in mind that Vegas only seems to export to Adobe CS6 products not CS5.5 or below.

The new Project Interchange tools in Sony Vegas can be very useful if you ever need to switch to a different editing program or export a project for a client. Just a few more tools to make the editing process easier. Although, keep in mind some programs may not support all the same effects produced in Sony Vegas. Therefore, you may get mixed results depending on the program whether text, effects or transitions are added.

Be sure to stay tuned as we’ll be covering Vegas Pro 12′s new features in future posts.Check out what’s new here.

What new features would you like to make sure we cover? Let us know in the comments below!

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What’s New 

Navigation Arrows — Forward and back button allows you to navigate the folder history.

Address Bar — Displays the path of the current folder.

View Button — Changes the current view of the window.

Thumbnails — Video thumbnails are now displayed in folders which contain video media.

Tip: Use Ctrl + Scroll Wheel to enlarge video thumbnails in the Explorer Window.

Navigation

Libraries — Easy access to your Windows Libraries.

Favorites — Folder to place all your favorite or most commonly used media folders. Simply right-click a folder you want to add and choose, “Add Folder to Favorites”. A shortcut to the folder is then added to the Favorites folder. To delete a folder simply right-click and choose delete. Deleting a folder form Favorites only deletes the shortcut to that folder not the original.

To be honest, I never really used the Explorer Window that often in the past. Normally I’d just drag them in from an open folder. But, things could change and in some cases it may be easier or quicker to access media from the Explorer Window.

Be sure to stay tuned as we’ll be covering Vegas Pro 12′s new features in future posts. Check out what’s new here.

What new features would you like to make sure we cover? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Vegas Pro 12: Explorer Window appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

New Features

Tagging/Quick Tagging: This allows you to to quickly tag your media files for better organization. Helpful when working with large projects with multiple scenes.

Selecting Clips with Tags: Partial tag icons indicate the tag is applied only to some of the selected media files.

Remove Tags: Click the “x” in the tag icon to remove the tag. You can also use the backspace key to remove tags from the media files.

Sort Clips

Type — You can see media events by Type such as Audio, Video, or Stills.

Tags — A tags folder shows individual folders for each tag in the project. Smart bin shows searches as individual folders.

Context Menu

Match Project Video Settings — Used to match your Vegas project settings to the selected clips setting. (See Tip of the Day)

Create Video Proxy — Creates lower-resolution video clips that will help if you have limited processing power.

Properties — Not new but if multiple clips are selected, you can now adjust the properties for all selected clips at once.

Be sure to stay tuned as we’ll be covering Vegas Pro 12’s new features in future posts. Check out what’s new here.

What new features are you a fan of? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Vegas Pro 12: Project Media Window appeared first on Robert's Productions | Post Production Tips.

When matching a Vegas Project (.veg) file, Vegas will match the settings of the project file not the media within the project.

You can toggle the timeline prompt on or off by going to Options > Preferences, in the General Tab under “Prompt to adjust project settings to match first media added to timeline“.

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Vegas Pro 12 Giveaway / Review (TeraBrite)

Leave a comment on their YouTube video on why you deserve Vegas Pro 12. A winner will be chosen randomly.

Vegas Pro 12 is available in two configurations. The traditional Vegas Pro 12 collection will include Vegas Pro 12, DVD Architect Pro 5.2 and Dolby Digital Professional Encoder for all your video, audio, and disc authoring needs. The more affordable Vegas Pro 12 Edit however comes with everything above except DVD Architect Pro. This is great if you need the editing power but don’t have any use for the DVD authoring software.

Key Features;

• Project Interchange
  • This allows you to import and export a wide range of project files to and from Vegas Pro 12. You can convert between the native .veg file and AAF for Avid® ProTools® 10, XML for Apple® Final Cut Pro® 7, Final Cut Pro X (export only), DaVinci Resolve 8, and .prproj for Adobe® Premiere® Pro CS6 and After Effects® CS6.
• Smart Proxy Workflow
  • I’ve seen many people struggle with lag or choppiness during playback. With Smart Proxy Workflow, you can create high-performance, edit- friendly Smart Proxy clips in the Project Media view, to achieve faster playback. The media will automatically and dynamically switch from original to proxy based on the Preview playback settings. Original media files will be used for the final render.
• FX Masking
  • Now you can mask and effect rather than the image itself. Perfect for quickly blurring or pixelating certain areas of video clips such as logos, license plates or a person’s face.

• Shape Masking tools
  • Previous versions of Vegas Pro included the simple Bezier Masking Tool (Pen Tool) which is powerful and accurate but can sometimes be too much for simple masking. The new rectangle/square and oval/circle Masking Tools make it much easier to mask portions of the media by drawing the desired shape over the appropriate areas.
• Layer Dimensionality Video FX and Compositor
  • Adding white text over video clips can sometimes be hard to read. With Layer Dimensionality, you can add the appearance of depth to graphics and video clips. Useful for elements with alpha transparency layers, you can add realistic shadows, glow, and embossing effects. Layer Dimensionality is also available as a Compositor plugin, making it useful in conjunction with Track Motion and picture-in-picture effects.
• Vegas Pro Explorer Redesign
  • The updated Vegas Pro Explorer now features a Thumbnail View, and supports Windows libraries including My Songs, my Videos, and My Pictures. Auto-text fill and “Breadcrumb Control” similar to Window s Explorer lets you quickly navigate to previous directories in your system. Using Ctrl+ the mouse wheel scaled the thumbnail images for added image detail while browsing.

• Expanded Edit Mode
  • Double click at the edit point to see the timeline in a detailed “A-B Roll” view. The adjacent frames of the events at the edit point can be clearly viewed above the tracks for reference, and unused media in the events can be seen in the track area. The edit point/event edge is then highlighted in red and can be trimmed with the mouse or numeric keypad. Setting a Loop Region around the edit point enables you to dynamically add or remove frames from either side of the edit point while the media is playing, creating a highly precise editing experience.

Other great new features;

• 64-bit Audio Plug-ins – Sound Forge 32-bit plug-ins are now compatible with the 64-bit version of Vegas Pro 12.
• CompregensiveS-log Workflow – Supports S-log via ACES color space standard.
• Project Media Tagging – Quickly categorize your media with customizable tags.
• Project Media Updates – Thumbnails in the timeline will display with letter boxes depending on the events aspect ratio.
• Color Match – Match colors between clips using L*a*b* color space.
• Panasonic P2 Support – Edit the DVCPRO 25/50/100 and AVC-Intra 50/100 MXF files natively.
• HDCAM SR (SStP) Mastering – Encode to all flavors of the HDCAM SR mastering format.
• LAB Adjust and L*a*b* Color Space Histogram – Manipulate colors using the powerful L*a*b* color space.
• Edit Properties for Multiple Video Files – Edit file properties for a variety of media at once.

Vegas Pro 12 Trial: http://j.mp/SOGYJR

Product Comparison: http://j.mp/RAmTnW

If you’re serious about video editing on a professional level, consider giving Vegas Pro 12 a try. However, if you’re just looking to edit family video, or let’s say vacation footage you may not want to invest in something you won’t use very often, therefore you might want to go with the much more affordable, Movie Studio series. So, be sure to check out the product comparison as well!

What new features are you excited about? Let us know in the comments below!

Reference:

https://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro12cs

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