Michele Gaggia - Vegas Video Editing - Lesson 2

Vegas Lesson 1 | Vegas Lesson 2 | Vegas Lesson 3

• Moving Media Clips
  - moving clips along the timeline
  - moving clips across tracks
  - group/ungroup tracks
• Changing the Media Clip Properties
  - start and end point
  - fade in/out
  - snap point offset
  - video clip opacity
  - audio clip volume
• Advanced Clip Properties
  - video clip properties
  - audio clip properties
• Editing (Split, Insert, Crossfade)
  - split function
  - insert with ripple-edit function
  - auto-crossfade function
• Advanced Video Transitions
  - Dissolve
  - Cross Effect
  - Linear Wipe
  - etc.
• Generating Titles
  - fading titles
  - scrolling titles
• Rendering the Movie

Moving Media Clips

To move an media clip along the timeline, just drag it with the mouse at the desired position. Please note:

• if two clips are positioned just next to each other, they will snap together
• if a clip start boundary is positioned next to a timeline grid line, it will snap to the grid

You can also move clips across tracks, however you should take care of the following:

• you can only position video clips in video tracks, and audio clips in audio tracks
• in video tracks you can also position images and titles
• if you drag to the timeline a video clip to which audio is also attached, audio and video will be treated as one clip (they are "grouped")

To ungroup video/audio clips that are already attached:

1. right-click on them (open context menu)
2. select "Group > Clear" [shortcut: "Ctrl+U"]

To group morevideo/audio clips together:

1. shift-click them to select the desired clips
2. right-click on them (open context menu)
3. select "Group > Create New" [shortcut: "G"]

Changing the Media Clip Properties

Depending on where you position the mouse pointer, several different properties of the clip can be changed just by dragging with the mouse the available "handles". These are the available functions:

To change the start or end point of a media clip, drag the handle in the MIDDLE of the media clip, near to the start/end boundary (a double arrow will appear). Please note:

• For combined video+audio clip, the start and end point will remain locked together
• For combined video+audio clip, it is same to drag the audio or video clip start/end handles.
• If you extend the boundary beyond the original lenght, the media will be repeated (as long as the "loop" function is activated)

To apply a fade in or fade out, drag the handle on TOP LEFT (fade in) or TOP RIGHT (fade out) of the video or audio clip. Please note:

• there are separate handles for the audio and video part of combined clip.
• fades on video clip will change the "opacity" form 0 to 100%
• fades on audio clips will change the "volume" form 0 to 100%.

To change the snap offeset of a clip, drag the handle on TOP LEFT (fade in) or TOP RIGHT (fade out) of the video or audio clip. Please note:

• there are separate snap offsets for the video and for the audio clip, also in video+audio combined clips
• normally the snap point is positioned at the start of a clip
• clips can snap together (if you position next to each other) or to the "timeline grid"
• if you change the posiotion of the snap point, the clips will snap to the new point and not to the start boundary anymore

To change the clip video opacity, drag the line on the TOP MIDDLE of the video clip.

To change the clip audio volume, drage the line on the TOP MIDDLE of the audio clip.

Advanced Clip Properties

To access the clip properties dialog box:

1. right-clip on a media clip (open context menu)
2. select "Properties"

Please note:

• there are slightly different properties available for video and for audio clips
• some of the functions (such as time-stretching) are not available in Vegas LE (full version required)

Video Clip Properties dialog box

Function of the switches:

• Mute will just deactivate the video playback for this clip.
• Lock will lock the position of the media clip on the timeline.
• Loop activates the automatic loop function, so that if you extend the lenght of a clip beyond its original lenght, it is automatically "repeated".
• Maintain aspect ratio forces the frame to maintain the correct aspect ratio (= proportion between height and width) when it is resized, letterboxing if necessary.
• Resample interpolates a video clip when the frame rate is different than the one set in the project, or when the clip is not playing back at the original speed.
• Playback rate changes the speed of the video playback: you can create slow motion or speeded up sequences modifying this setting.
• Undersample rate simply "skips" some of the frame, so that you have a "slow motion like" effect even playing back at original speed.

Audio Clip Properties dialog box

Function of the switches:

• Mute will just deactivate the audio playback for this clip.
• Lock will lock the position of the media clip on the timeline.
• Loop activates the automatic loop function, so that if you extend the lenght of a clip beyond its original lenght, it is automatically "repeated".
• Invert Phase inverts the waveform phase of the audio clip
• Normalize sets the maximum audio level of the clip to 0 dB or any selected value
• Time Stretch / Picth Shift: in Vegas LE you can only use the option "change lenght AND pitch", no timestretch function is available (full version required)

Editing (Split, Insert, Crossfade)

To Split a video or audio clip at a desired point:

1. position the playback cursor at the desired point
2. slect "Edit > Slice" [shortcut: "S"]

To Insert a selection of a media clip into an existing media clip in the timeline:

1. make sur the "ripple-edit" switch is selected

2. open a clip in the "Trimmer" and select the part you want to insert
3. copy the selection [Ctrl+C]
4. position the cursor at the desired position and track in the timeline
5. paste the selection [Ctrl+V]

Please note:

• the original clip on the timeline will be automatically Split at the insert point
• it will also be moved along the timeline for the same lenght of the inserted clip
• in grouped tracks, both audio and video tracks are split/moved together

To apply an automatic crossfade to two clips:

1. check if "Auto-Crossfade" is selected [shortcut: "X"]

2. just move one of the clips over the other one, or ...
3. drag the start/end point of one clip over the other clip.

To change the audio or video crossfade curves:

1. right-click in the crossfade area (open context menu)
2. select from "fade type" the desired curves
3. standard is equal power for audio, and "S" curvers for video

Please note:

• in grouped video/audio clips, separate crossfades will appear for video and audio clips
• the crossfade lenght of grouped clips are locked togehter
• the curve settings are separate for video and audio

Advanced Video Transitions

To apply an advanced video transition effect:

1. select the Transition Tab from the Vegas window bottom
2. select the preset group from the left
   - try at the start with the groups "Dissolve", "Cross Effect" and "Linear Wipe"
   - avoid kitchy transitions that remind of some cheap advertisement spot ...
3. if you mouseover on the desired transition, you will see a preview of the effect
4. drag with the mouse the desired transition into the timeline, in the video crossfade area
5. the transition dialog box opens: change settings as desired, then close again

To change back to standard crossfade:

1. right-click in the crossfade area (open context menu)
2. select "Transition > Change to Crossfade"

Generating Titles

To generate Titles or Backgrounds:

1. From the Docking Area, select "Titles / Background"
2. Choose from the list on the left the type of media you want to generate
   • Solid Color generates uniform color backgrounds
   • Color Gradient generates different type of fountain fill backgrounds
   • Text generates standard text for Titles, with transparent or colored background.
     To fade the text in and out, use the same procedure as for standard clips
   • Credit Roll generates different types of scrolling text, with transparent or colored background
3. After chosing the type of media, drag it to the 1st video track on top in the timeline
4. The properties dialog box opens:
   - type in the desired text
   - adjust the settings (font type, size, color, background etc.), then close the box
5. Adjust the start and end points
6. Adjust the fade in/out
7. If desired, blend the titles together using crossfades

Rendering the Movie

To render the movie (= exporting a selection of the timeline to a file):

1. Select the region of the timeline you want to render
2. Choose "File > Render as"
3. Choose a file name
4. Select the file format (AVI, QuickTime, MPEG1, MPEG2, etc.)
5. Select the video format template (for example PAL DV)
6. If you want to modify the template settings, click on "Custom"
7. Click on "Save" and wait until the movie is rendered

Please note:

• To create a DVD-Video, you should first render to a MPEG 2 video file, and then import this file in the DVD Authoring program (for example, in Sonic Foundry DVD-Architect)
• Vegas 3.0 LE does not include an MPEG a or 2 encoder (only the full version).
• You can however export to AVI and use another program to convert to MPEG 1 or 2 format.
  Some free programs should be available in Internet.
• You can also export to QuickTime. You should install QuickTime first.

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