How to create, save and open projects in Sony Vegas Pro.

Article on how to save video without quality loss in Sony video editor Vegas Pro 13

Hello friends! In this article I will show you the basics of working with the program Sony Vegas Pro 13. We will learn how to set up a project and save video without significant quality loss. The settings that we will look at below are ideal for uploading videos to YouTube hosting and other video hosting sites.

So, first of all, let's cover the Sony Vegas Pro editor itself.

It is best to save the project in a separate folder with videos and other materials so as not to lose the path to these files in the future.

Now let's go back to " File"and click LMB on the item" Properties..." to set up our project.

In the window that appears, click on special badge "Coincident media settings for videos", which is located on the right side of this window and select the video for our project.

Thus, the video properties (width, height, frame rate, etc.) will be transferred to our project.

In the same window, in the drop-down list called " Full Resolution Rendering"choose option" The best", in " motion blur type"choose" Gaussian", in " De-Interlacing Method"choose an item" Missing". We look at the result in the screenshot:

Now that our project is set up, we import the video into the editor, for this, on the toolbar, click on the icon " Import Media... and download the video.

Now it remains to edit our video as you wish. The only thing to note at this point is that you need to turn off resampling in the switches. This is necessary so that the video does not remain "twitchy".

Everything is ready. Go to " File" - "Visualize as...". In section " output format" find tab " Sony AVC/MVC (*.mp4; *.m2ts; *.avc)"and select any option and then click on the button" Customize Template...".

A window with parameters will appear, it must be configured according to the screenshot:

• Video Format: AVC
• Frame Size: High Definition
• Details: High
• Entropic coding: CABAC
• Frame rate: same as our video (60)
• Field Order: None
• Aspect Ratio: 1,000
• Bitrate: Set the highest so that the video has fewer pixels
• Number of layers: 8

In the same window in the lower tab " Project" in " Number of video renders"choose an item" use project settings". Next, press " OK", select a folder to save the video and click on the button" Render". That's all, the video will be saved for some time, the duration will depend on the power of your computer.

Many users cannot immediately figure out how to use Sony Vegas Pro 13. Therefore, in this article we decided to make a large selection of lessons on this popular video editor. We will look at questions that are more common on the Internet.

There is nothing difficult in installing Sony Vegas. Go to the official website of the program and download it. Then the standard installation process will begin, where you will need to accept license agreement and choose the location of the editor. That's the whole setup!

How to save video?

Oddly enough, the process of saving videos in Sony Vegas causes the most questions. Many users do not know the difference between the "Save project ..." item and "Export ..." item. If you want to save the video so that as a result it can be viewed in the player, then you need the "Export ..." button.

In the window that opens, you can select the format and resolution of the video. If you are more confident user, then you can go to the settings and experiment with the bitrate, size and frame rate, and much more.

Read more in this article:

How to trim or split a video?

First, move the carriage to the place where you want to make the cut. You can split a video in Sony Vegas using only one "S" key, as well as "Delete" if one of the received fragments needs to be deleted (that is, cut the video).

How to add effects?

What is editing without special effects? That's right - none. Therefore, let's look at how to add effects to Sony Vegas. First, select the fragment on which you want to apply a special effect and click on the "Event special effects" button. In the window that opens, you will find great amount various effects. Choose any!

Learn more about adding effects to Sony Vegas:

How to make a smooth transition?

A smooth transition between videos is essential for the end result to have a coherent and connected video. Making transitions is quite easy: in the timeline, simply overlap the edge of one fragment with the edge of another. You can do the same with images.

You can also add effects to transitions. To do this, simply go to the "Transitions" tab and drag the effect you like to the intersection of the videos.

How to rotate or flip a video?

If you need to rotate or flip the video, then on the fragment you want to edit, find the button "Panning and cropping events ...". In the window that opens, you can adjust the position of the recording in the frame. Move the mouse to the very edge of the area marked with a dotted line, and when it turns into a round arrow, hold down the left mouse button. Now, by moving the mouse, you can rotate the video as you like.

How to speed up or slow down the recording?

Speeding up and slowing down video recording is not difficult at all. Just pinch Ctrl key and move the mouse over the edge of the video clip on the timeline. As soon as the cursor changes to a zigzag, hold down the left mouse button and stretch or shrink the video. This way you will slow down or speed up the video accordingly.

How to make captions or insert text?

Any text must be on a separate video track, so don't forget to create it before you start. Now in the "Insert" tab, select "Text Media". Here you can create a beautiful animated inscription, define its size and position in the frame. Experiment!

How to freeze frame?

Freeze - interesting effect when the video appears to be paused. It is often used to draw attention to a particular moment in a video.

To make such an effect is not difficult. Move the caret to the frame you want to pause on the screen and save the frame using the special button located in the preview window. Now make a cut where the freeze frame should be and paste the saved image there.

How to zoom in on a video or its fragment?

You can zoom in on a section of the video recording in the "Panning and cropping events ..." window. There, simply reduce the frame size (the area bounded by the dotted line) and move it to the area that you need to zoom in on.

How to stretch video?

If you want to remove the black bars around the edges of the video, you need to use the same tool - "Panning and cropping events ...". There, in the "Sources" item, cancel the preservation of aspect ratios to stretch the video in breadth. If you need to remove the stripes from above, then opposite the item "Stretch to the entire frame" select the answer "Yes".

How to reduce video size?

In fact, you can significantly reduce the size of the video only at the expense of quality or using extraneous programs. With Sony Vegas, you can only change the encoding mode so that the video card will not be involved in rendering. Select "Render using CPU only". This way you can slightly reduce the size of the video.

How to speed up rendering?

You can speed up rendering in Sony Vegas only due to the quality of the recording or by upgrading your computer. One way to speed up rendering is to reduce the bitrate and change the frame rate. You can also process video using a video card, transferring part of the load to it.

How to remove the green background?

Put away green background(in other words, chroma key) from video recording is quite easy. To do this, Sony Vegas has a special effect, which is called “Chroma Key”. You only need to apply the effect to the video and specify which color to remove (in our case, green).

How to remove noise from audio?

No matter how hard you try to muffle all third-party sounds when recording a video, noise will still be found on the audio recording. In order to remove them, Sony Vegas has a special audio effect called "Noise Reduction". Overlay it on the audio you want to edit and move the sliders until you're happy with the sound.

How to delete an audio track?

If you want to remove the sound from the video, then you can either completely remove the audio track, or simply mute it. To remove audio, right-click in the timeline next to the audio track and select Delete Track.

If you want to mute the sound, then right-click on the audio fragment itself and select "Switches" -\u003e "Mute".

How to change voice on video?

The voice in a video can be changed using the "Change Tone" effect superimposed on the audio track. To do this, on a fragment of an audio recording, click on the button "Special effects of the event ..." and find "Change in tone" in the list of all effects. Experiment with the settings to get a more interesting option.

How to stabilize video?

Most likely if you haven't used special equipment, then the video contains side jerks, jerks and tremors. In order to fix this, the video editor has a special effect - "Stabilization". Overlay it on a video and adjust the effect using ready-made presets or manually.

How to add multiple videos in one frame?

To add several videos to one frame, you need to use the already familiar tool "Panning and cropping events ...". By clicking on the icon this instrument, a window will open in which you need to increase the frame size (dotted line) relative to the video itself. Then position the frame as you like and add a few more videos to the frame.

How to fade video or sound?

The attenuation of sound or video is necessary in order to focus the viewer's attention on certain points. In Sony Vegas, fading is pretty easy. To do this, simply find the small triangle icon in the upper right corner of the fragment and, holding it with the left mouse button, drag it. You will see a curve that shows where the decay starts.

How to do color correction?

Even well-produced footage may need color grading. To do this, Sony Vegas has a number of tools. For example, you can use the Color Curves effect to lighten, darken a video, or overlay other colors. You can also use effects such as White Balance, Color Corrector, Color Tone.

Plugins

If the basic Sony Vegas tools are not enough for you, you can install additional plugins. It is quite simple to do this: if the downloaded plugin is in the *.exe format, then simply specify the installation path, if the archive is, unzip it into the FileIO Plug-Ins video editor folder.

You can find all installed plugins in the "Video Effects" tab.

More on where to put plugins:

One of the most popular plugins for Sony Vegas and other video editors is Magic Bullet Looks. Even though this add-on is paid, it's worth it. With it, you can greatly expand your video processing capabilities.

Unmanaged Exception

It is often quite difficult to determine the cause of the Unmanaged Exception error, so there are also many ways to fix it. The problem is most likely due to incompatibility or missing graphics card drivers. Try updating the drivers manually or using a special program.

It may also be that some file needed to run the program has been damaged. To find out all the ways to solve this problem, go to the link below

Does not open *.avi

Sony Vegas is a rather cranky video editor, so don't be surprised if it refuses to open certain video formats. Most in a simple way solutions similar problems is to convert a video to a format that will definitely open in Sony Vegas.

But if you want to figure it out and fix the error, then most likely you will have to install additional software (codec pack) and work with libraries. How to do this, read below:

Error opening codec

Many users encounter an error opening plug-ins in Sony Vegas. Most likely, the problem is that you do not have a codec pack installed, or an outdated version is installed. In this case, you need to install or update codecs.

If for some reason the installation of codecs did not help, just convert the video to another format that will definitely open in Sony Vegas.

How to create an intro?

Intro - an introductory video that is, as it were, your signature. First of all, viewers will see the intro and only then the video itself. You can read about how to create an intro in this article:

In this article, we have combined several tutorials that you could read about above, namely: adding text, adding images, removing background, saving video. You will also learn how to create a video from scratch.

We hope that these tutorials will help you in learning how to edit and edit Sony Vegas video. All the lessons here are made in the 13th version of Vegas, but don't worry: it is not much different from the same Sony Vegas Pro 11.

Today we will talk about what is a project in Sony Vegas Pro, how to create a project in Sony Vegas Pro, how to save a project in Sony Vegas Pro. So, let's begin.

What is a project in Sony Vegas Pro?

When you work in the Sony Vegas Pro program, you must organize your work in a certain way. That is, to be able to open multimedia files, modify them, output them to finished file. But beyond that, you must organize your work in such a way that you can stop working at any time, and continue working at any other time, without losing your previous work.

That's what this project is for. In a simplified form, a project is a file with given name and having the .veg extension. This extension is used specifically for projects created in Sony Vegas Pro.

So what exactly is stored in this file? And everything is stored in this file, except for the source files. That is, it stores information about all the files included in your work. These are video files, music files, picture files, etc. Information about all transitions, merging, cuts, changes in size, changes in speed is also stored. All project settings are stored. How many video tracks, how many audio tracks.

In general, everything you do in Sony Vegas Pro is stored in a project file.

What is not stored in a Sony Vegas Pro project file?

And although a huge number of things are stored in the project file, there are things that are not stored in it. These are the source files themselves. Therefore, even if you saved the project, but accidentally deleted a file, then it is useless to look for them in the project file.

How to create a project in Sony Vegas Pro?

In fact, when you open the program, you already have a project. True, at this moment it is not yet saved and all its settings are by default. In this case, its default name will be "Untitled". However, if you are not satisfied with the default settings, then you can create Sony project Vegas Pro.

Go to the File menu, select the New menu item. Or just press Ctrl+N. The New Project dialog box will appear.

There are a lot of settings here, but of them I will consider only a few of the most important ones.

The Template graph. Here you can choose any resolution of your project. You can see more about this in this

The Sony Vegas Pro program itself, by default, sets the HD 1080-60i format (1920 × 1080; 29,970 fps).

What does HD mean, with a frame size of 1920x1080 and a frame rate of 29.970. This is a format that is quite suitable for most projects. However, if you are working with a different format, then you can choose another format right away. For example Internet 360-25p 16:9 (640×360; 25,000 fps). This is a stripped-down format for the Internet. Or vice versa, you can select 4K 16:9 24p (4096×2304; 23.976 fps) to create 4K videos.

Please note that when choosing settings, you do not choose the file format. You only choose the size and frame rate. The file format itself is selected when the file is saved.

Next, you can check the box next to the inscription - Start all news projects with these settings. This means that if you have chosen a different file template, then when you create a new project, your project will be created with the default settings you selected.

Well, that's all. That is, yes, as I said, there are many settings when creating a new project, but at least At first, you don't need to change them all.

How to save a Sony Vegas Pro project?

Well, now everything is easier. If you are saving the project for the first time, then go to the File menu, select the menu item Save as ... (save as). The Save As dialog box will open. Next, select a folder to save. Next, in the File Name column, select a name to save and click the OK button.

If you have already saved the project, then just go to the File menu and select the Save menu item. Or just press Ctrl+S.

How to open a project in Sony Vegas Pro.

1. If you have already created and saved the project, then you can open the project in two ways. Go to the Fail menu. Then select the Open menu item. Or press Ctrl+O. The Open Project dialog box will open. Next, select the folder where you previously saved the project file. And now select the desired project file.

2.In Windows itself, go to the folder where you saved the project file. Select the project file itself and double-click on it with the left mouse button. Or just press the Enter key. This will launch Sony Vegas Pro. And your project will already be open in the program. However, please note that if you already have a program window open, another window will open.

Well, that's all for today. Today we learned how to create, save and open a project in Sony Vegas Pro.

See you soon!

Video editing lesson in Sony Vegas 12 Pro. In this article, I would like to talk about the possibilities of video editing in Sony Vegas Pro 12. About what's new in Sony Vegas Pro 12, unlike previous versions. Video editing lessons can be found on the Internet, but we decided to make our review video tutorial for beginners on video editing. It is in the nature of familiarization and gives primary skills in working in the program. You can download sony vegas pro 12 for free from the official website. The lesson on video editing in Sony Vegas will contain answers to the following questions:

• how to create a project, save a project, change project settings
• how to import, load a video into a project
• how to do editing, perform video gluing
• how to load sound, how to import a song to the timeline in the program
• how to edit video and sound, adjust settings
• how to make effects, how to add captions
• how to calculate video, how to render, what is render

So, for starters, let's run the program and see its interface.

To get started, go to the File menu and select New in order to start working with a new project

a window with the settings of the new project will appear

If you check the box as in the picture, then all the following project settings will be automatically created with these settings.

If you don’t know what video settings you will have to work with, then you can click the button in the upper right corner and point to the video file, the program will automatically determine the video settings with which our video will be and adjust the project to it.

and in the picture below you can see how the settings changed automatically

In this particular case, the video was filmed on a DSLR camera with the following settings: resolution 1920x1080, progressive scan, frame rate 29.97 NTSC signal, pixel format -1.0 (sometimes called square pixel).

There are many ways to create a project and save it, including automatic creation. But it is also necessary to save the project. All the same, the disadvantage of Sony Vegas Pro 12 is that it only works under windows platform, and not under Mac Os X. Autosave of the project can be configured, but it does not always save. Be careful and try to save the project yourself. It is very important to remember that the Russian version of the Sony Vegas Pro program also does not work correctly in some places, glitches appear. Take your time to download Sony Vegas for free in Russian, it's better to start with the normal version. It is enough to create a project at the beginning of work, save it, and during work, periodically using the CTRL + S key combination, the project will be saved.

Come up with a name for the project, a path for storing it and go ahead, work!

There are many ways to transfer and import video and audio content into a project, all of them can be found in the Sony Vegas Pro 12 Manual (sony vegas pro 12 manual). We will show one of the usable ways. Just select from the folder necessary files and transfer them to the timeline (the working window of the program for editing video and sound) as in the picture below.

In the video preview window, you will observe the position of the cursor movement.

By moving the mouse cursor from one place to another you will see how the picture changes in the preview window. By scrolling the mouse wheel, the time scale will change from a shorter period of time on the timeline to a longer one. This is necessary for precise work with video when the time scale is increased, or with rough gluing when it is enough to see big picture the entire project.

In our case, when transferring video fragments to the timeline, several pieces of video were transferred in the sequence that we transferred. During editing, pieces (plans) can be changed among themselves, building a sequence of frames in such a way as to subordinate the video sequence to the director's idea, idea.

how to cut video in sony vegas pro 12

in order to shorten the video fragment, it is enough to drag the edges of the video to the left or right and shorten it to right size. You can put the cursor on the cut and use the S key to cut the fragment. You can also use a trimmer, but in this case this is not very convenient.

It is enough just to take a fragment of the video and drag it, or dock it to another. By dragging the triangles in the upper right corner of the fragment, you can do smooth transition, disolf

If you simply overlay two fragments on top of each other, a transition is automatically created. Fade out (attenuation) as in the figure above

If you right-click on the transition, you can get the properties of the transition and select the desired

Use CTRL+L as a magnetic anchor
Also, a group of objects (grouping) can be selected and dragged using simple selection objects while holding down the shift key, while the selected objects are highlighted in yellow.

How to make a transition to Sony Vegas

In the section Transitions (transitions) you can select the required transition and drag it to the already created transition simple drag and drop mouse transition, the transition settings window will appear, in which you can edit the properties of the transition

in the transition settings window, you can save your changes made when setting up the transition in order to later use it as a preset (ready-made standard installation).

how to add effect in sonia vegas

To perform color correction, you need to select the filter of interest in the Video Fx section (video effects), and just drag it onto the video. Also in the video settings window, you can play with the settings and make a ready-made preset

you can apply different effects to the same video many times, building a sequence of effects.

how to add captions in sony vegas pro 12

To add titles to the project, you need to create another track above the video, since the titles will be superimposed on the video and not vice versa. Right-click as shown in the picture on the area with the video track settings and select "Insert video track"

We go to the Media Generators section, as shown in the figure and drag the preset with titles onto a new track, which can then be changed as you like.

By zooming in by scrolling the wheel, you can zoom in and see the settings of the video segment, whether it is a video or picture or titles. By clicking on the icon, as shown in the figure below, you can go to the fragment settings and play around with its properties.

by clicking this picture, you can always get into the video settings, in this case

by entering this window, you can change the position, scale and rotation of the video file

By entering this window, you can add video effects to video and audio effects to sound.

In order to add a background music, just drag the audio file with the song to the timeline

Now, in order to change the volume level of the sound, select the audio track and use the hot keys SHIFT + V to call the volume level line. On this line, by double-clicking the mouse, you can put a marker and adjust the volume level with it, making the sound quieter or louder.

How to merge videos in sony vegas pro 12

How to enable and disable Sony vegas pro 12 magnetic snap

In order to perform gluing, you need to dock video clips to each other, cut and delete unnecessary fragments. In order for the magnetic snap to work, use the CTRL + L keys to turn it on and off when necessary and move, move the video as necessary. In order to display the video, to save all the videos in the final single video file, you need to select the desired area with the mouse

select RENDER AS from the FILE menu

We will choose the XDCAM EX format in our case.

Make sure that the Render loop region only checkbox is checked - rendering only the selected area, so as not to render too much.

Going into the advanced rendering settings Custom Template ... you can customize the codec for your tasks

Click ok, and then Render and the video clip is rendered

after the rendering is completed, you can run the finished file in the player, for example, the VLC player.

Here is such a small tutorial on how to make a video in Sony Vegas. How to make video editing in sony vegas, editing clips in sony vegas pro12. The next video lessons will be in other articles on video editing in Sony Vegas.

The rest of the questions that arose while studying the Sony Vegas Pro 12 video editing program can be found in the Sony Vegas 12 manual, translated into Russian. The Sony Vegas manual or instructions in another way contains answers to the following questions:

1. What's New for Video Editing in Sony Vegas Pro 12.0
2. Workspace window in Sony Vegas, what it is and what it is for
3. Frequently used windows, workspaces in Sony Vegas
4. Working with projects in Sony Vegas, saving and changing project properties
5. Adding sound, video and photo to the project. Working with media files in Sony Vegas
6. Video Editing in Sony Vegas Timeline, Video Stitching and Transitions
7. Working with multicam in Sony Vegas, what is multicamera, convenience with multicam shooting in multicam
8. Stereoscopic image, work with 3D in Sony Vegas. setting up a project to work with a stereo image.
9. Using markers and commands in Sony Vegas, what markers are for
10. Editing the timeline in Sony Vegas, changing the properties of the workspace
11. Using automation, speed up editing in Sony Vegas,
12. Animation of video and tracks in Sony Vegas. Working with tracks
13. Apply effects in Sony Vegas, set up presets for special effects
14. Working with sound in Sony Vegas, sound plugins, noise reduction, generators, etc.
15. Mixing console, work with sound on the mixer
16. Video Compositing
17. Video capture and work with HDV
18. Working with XDCAM video
19. Working with RED CODE
20. Working with AVCHD video
21.
22. Creating and working with 5.1 sound
23. Entering subtitles into videos
24. Preview of your project, preview window and work with it.
25. Video monitoring by instrument graphs, vectorscope and waveforms, spectrum analyzer.
26. Synchronization by Timecode, synchronization by timecode in Sony Vegas
27. Burning discs, preparing and DVD recording and Bluray discs
28. Printing video, preparation for recording on DV or HDV tape
29. Project rendering (settings for video rendering, saving to a video file, choice of formats)
30. Application of hardware controllers, MIDI, GPU, Open Gl
31. Application of scripts (scripts)
32. Configuring the interface of the Sony Vegas Pro 12 video editing program
33. Hotkeys, setting, programming hotkey commands
34. Glossary
35. Indices
36. Table of Contents

1. Introduction

Sony Vegas Video Editor was originally developed by Sonic Foundry as a multi-track professional audio editor for high-quality mixing and processing of an unlimited number of audio tracks. From the very first version user interface The program was very well thought out and functional with its simplicity and clarity, and, thanks to this, it has not changed much until now.

Subsequently, the ability to combine not only sound, but an unlimited number of tracks with video material was added to the program, and then the development group was acquired by Sony. Starting from the fifth version, the program is already being released under this brand, as well as the rest software products Sonic Foundry (it is worth noting, also very well-known and high-quality: the professional sound editor Sound Forge and the program for creating music Acid).

Lyrical digression. It's no secret that a certain group of consumers "organically does not tolerate" the nameSony, being dissatisfied with the marketing policy of this corporation. Without going into details of the reasons for such an attitude (often subjective), we note that software productsSony has no grounds for such an attitude. As mentioned above, these products were originally developed by another company that laid the foundations for high quality, and, fortunately,Sony continues to develop them without sacrificing quality, sustainability and functionality, constantly mastering new technologies and video editing capabilities.

Let's note the main advantages of the Vegas editor:

• even in the "younger" version of Vegas Movie Studio, you can use up to 4 video and 4 audio tracks, in the Vegas Pro version, the number of tracks is unlimited;
• visual, easy to learn, intuitive, but at the same time highly functional and well thought out user interface;
• the ability to capture video and output the result to a DV / HDV tape, as well as DVD creation(using the additionally installed DVD Architect software);
• when working with video in DV, HDV, MPEG2 formats, unprocessed parts of the video are saved to the resulting file (provided that its format is the same as the original one) without recompression and loss of quality (for HDV, this feature has appeared since the 8th version of the program);
• the ability to use material in different formats in one project: AVI, MOV (QuickTime), Windows Media(WMV), MPEG2; images in JPEG formats, BMP, PNG, GIF and others; sound files in WAV, mp3, Windows Media (WMA) and other formats (the list of supported formats was previously given in the program reviews: , and the actual list of formats is on the manufacturer);
• high stability of work: it is extremely rare that the program crashes during editing, importing data or saving the result (even when using video in one project simultaneously in AVI, MPEG2, Windows Media and other formats, it does not cause any problems);
• undemanding to computer resources - 512 MB is enough to work with SD-video (resolution 720x576 for PAL and 720x480 for NTSC) random access memory and a 1 GHz processor. Although for high-definition video (HDV / AVCHD) it is desirable to increase the amount of memory to at least 2 GB, and use a modern multi-core processor(however, to work with such a video, similar requirements apply to any other video editors);
• real-time video processing: by default, no preliminary calculation of transitions and processed sections of video material is required - you can simply start playback and immediately see the result of processing in the preview window (this does not create any temporary files), although the smoothness of playback depends on the complexity of the video processing and the performance of the computer;
• a sufficiently large number of transitions, effects and image generators (including those for overlaying titles and text) are included, and it is possible to connect additional sets effects (for example, Boris Red, ProDAD Heroglyph);
• powerful recording, multi-track mixing and sound processing capabilities, a large set of sound effects for processing (equalizers, compressors, echo, etc.), it is also possible to “stretch” the sound in duration while maintaining the pitch;
• the ability to create "surround" sound in 5.1 format, as well as input (starting with Vegas Pro 8th version) and output it in AC3 format (Dolby Digital);
• for both video and sound effects and transitions, processing parameters can be made dynamically changing in time: set a profile of their change on tracks, which gives almost unlimited processing possibilities;
• the ability to speed up / slow down the video (overlaying the playback speed profile on video clips);

Of course, it is worth noting some disadvantages of the program:

• the program does not have a Russian-language interface (however, unfortunately, the vast majority of other programs for working with video do not have it either), although you can find unofficial crackers for different versions on the network;
• at the time of writing this article, the program cannot save video in AVCHD format without recompression (we hope that this feature will appear in future versions);
• a set of effects, and especially the ability to overlay text on video, may not be enough for an "advanced" user, in which case additional sets of effects and image generators will need to be installed (for example, well-known packages Boris Red, ProDAD Heroglyph);
• some note that the quality of acceleration / deceleration of interlaced (interlaced) video is not very high compared to some other video editors and specialized programs(however, in most cases this does not matter much, and for the vast majority of people this is not significant), more about this is described in the video slowdown;
• at the time of this writing, known issues when used in the same project a large number high-definition video (HDV) files: high consumption of physical memory computer (however, the same is known about other editors, in particular Adobe Premiere Pro). We hope that in the future these problems will be fixed by the developers;
• unlike Adobe Premiere, there is no tight integration with products Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Adobe after effects etc.), which may be essential for professionals (however, they are unlikely to change their instrument to another one).

The listed shortcomings for the majority of fans of home video editing, most likely, are insignificant, and are more than covered by advantages, in particular, convenience, stability in work, stability and quality of the result. For those who need to have a high-quality and convenient tool for video editing, we suggest you start reading the description of how to work with the program.

2. Getting Started

For definiteness, this article describes working with DV SD video (video shot with MiniDV and Digital8 camcorders), but in general, the style of work does not depend on the video format in any way, and all the information given is valid for other formats (in particular, HDV , MPEG2, or video captured by TV tuners or other capture devices). In addition, since the interface of the program remains almost unchanged, starting from the 4th or even the 3rd version, most of the recommendations are valid for any version of the program.

In our country, most video cameras comply with the PAL TV standard, so after launching the Sony Vegas program, we will create a project of this format. To do this, call the menu File/New, and in the appeared window for creating a new project Newproject choose from the list Template(pattern) format PALDV:

In this case, the size and frequency of frames, as well as the order of half-frames (fields) will be automatically selected. Lowerfieldfirst. It is recommended to immediately enable some options:

• Full-resolutionrenderingquality: rendering quality of the final video - select Best (best);
• Motionblurtype: motion blur type (only in motion-processed video sections) - select Gaussian;
• Deinterlace: video deinterlacing method - it is better to choose None and do not deinterlacing unless it is absolutely necessary (for more details, the reasons for this are described in);
• Prerenderedfilesfolder: folder for files of intermediate rendering - it is better to choose some temporary folder on a non-system disk (however, as it was said in the introduction, this folder is usually not used anyway, if you do not pre-render transitions and video effects);

If you want to create a project of a different format (for example,HDV), you need to select the appropriate template in the listTemplate .

It is advisable to immediately enable the option startallnewprojectswiththesesettings, and all subsequent projects will be immediately created with the specified settings. It is also recommended to specify the following audio parameters in the Audio tab:

For the convenience of displaying timestamps, it is better to choose the format time &frames bookmark Ruler:

After that, you can click the button OK and start working on the created project. It is recommended to save the created project immediately with the File/Save As… menu command.

3. Description of the main window

Those who have already worked or at least tried to work with old versions of Vegas, when you first start the 8th version of the program, may find that the main window looks unusual: the pasteboard (or timeline, timeline) is located at the bottom of the main window, and not at the top. To change this, you need to open the settings window (menu Options/Preferences), select bookmark display and disable the option Display timeline at bottom of main window. After that, the pasteboard will be located at the top of the program window.

The main window of the program consists of several main parts (from top to bottom):

• menu and toolbar with icons (toolbar);
• the current time window Time Display, to the right of which is the time ruler;
• actual editing table (timeline) with video and audio tracks(in Pro versions their number is unlimited);
• the Rate slider, which allows you to preview the project both at normal speed (single, 1) and with a multiplicity of -20 to +20 (negative speed means reverse scrolling);
• project scrollbar, which also allows you to change the scale of the project view (move the mouse cursor to the left / right edge of the “slider” and drag it left and right with the left mouse button pressed);
• below the scrollbar are playback control buttons: loop playback, start/stop, pause, go to the beginning/end of the project, as well as a sound recording button (if you move the mouse cursor over the button, a hint will appear above it indicating which button on the keyboard you need click to perform the same action);
• to the right of the scroll bar there are buttons for changing the scale of the project view both horizontally and vertically (there is also a Zoom Tool button that allows you to “circle” the desired part of the pasteboard with the mouse for a detailed view of it in its entirety);
• a window with several sections (switched by tabs at the bottom): explorer (Explorer, similar Windows Explorer), Trimmer (window "trimming" clips), Project Media (list of project source files - in earlier versions of the program this section was called Media Pool), Media Manager (source file manager), Transitions (editing transitions), Video FX (video effects), Media Generators ("generators" of the image, including for overlaying text on video);
• indicator and level control of sound reproduction (Mixer);
• Video Preview window.

This is the contents of the program window by default. The main convenience of the program interface lies in the fact that almost any section can be dragged by the mouse by the title and placed in another place in the window, resizing it as it is convenient for the user. If you have two monitors, any section can also be "drag and drop" to the second monitor, which further improves the usability. If some section is not needed, it can be closed by clicking the cross in its upper right corner, and, if necessary, shown again using the View menu commands.

If the video you want to edit is already on your hard drive, you can skip the next section. If the video is not yet on the hard disk, it can be entered from a video capture device or from a digital video camera.

4. Capture video

The capture module is called by the menu command File/Capture Video. It allows you to capture video from almost any device, including tuners, video capture cards, digital video cameras. When you call the command for the first time, the program will prompt you to select the capture format (DV or HDV - select the required one depending on which camera is used), as well as specify the folders in which the entered video files will be placed. It is best to specify the folder before each capture, in which the editing project itself is located (a file with the .veg extension).

By default, capturing is carried out with automatic splitting of video into scenes. The beginning of the next scene is determined by the moment the camera starts shooting, and the end is determined by the moment the shooting stops. In this case, each scene will be placed in a separate video file (for the DV format, this is a file with the AVI container format, for HDV - with the MPEG2 Transport Stream format, a file with the m2t extension).

For DV/HDV-cameras, video capture is carried out automatically - the program will automatically start the camera when the input starts and stop it at the end of recording on the cassette (of course, input can be stopped manually if necessary). It should be noted that digital video cameras do not actually capture, but simply copy video and audio data “as is” into digital form, without any processing, recompression and loss of quality.

At the end of the capture, the program will offer to add all the received files to the window with the source files of the project (Project Media), from where they can easily be added to the pasteboard by simply dragging and dropping the mouse.

It should be noted that modern HDD, DVD and Flash camcorders do not require video capture per se. Data from the camcorder media can be transferred to a computer simple copying either from a DVD or from the camera as removable disk media by connecting it via USB interface. Sometimes this is done using software supplied with the camera. Details on how to do this for a particular camera are usually written in the user manual and / or in the description of the software that comes with the kit.

ForDVD camerasSony copy video to computer and editing projectVegas can be done with the menu commandFile/Import/DVD Camcorder Disc.

The capture module also allows you to output the video file back to the camera tape (provided that the file format exactly matches the camera format and the digital input is not blocked in it). To do this, in the View menu, switch to the Print to Tape mode, and then use the Transport / Print to Tape menu commands.

If you need to output the result of editing the project to tape, then in the main Sony Vegas program you need to use the menu commands Tools / Print Video to Tape (for a DV camera) or Tools / Print Video to HDV Tape (for an HDV camera).

Naturally, to input video from DV / HDV cameras, you can also use third party programs for capturing - eg ScanalyerLive for DV.

However, it is recommended to use the built-in tools for HDV input. Various sources reported that HDV files entered using the HDVSplit program can cause editing problems and even cause Sony Vegas to crash, because. HDVSplit generates not quite correct m2t files. We hope that this will be fixed in future versions of the programs.

5. Built-in tutorial

The 8th version of Vegas has a wonderful built-in tutorial on working with the program. This is not just a user manual in the form of static text, as in most other programs. This is a set of interactive lessons that allow you to study the design of the interface elements of the program in action, as well as the basic techniques used in editing (moreover, these techniques may come in handy when working with other programs). If the reader knows English, then this textbook can greatly facilitate the development of the program.

The tutorial is called by the menu command Help/Interactive Tutorials. In the window that appears, you need to select a lesson by name (for example, An Overview of Vegas - general review elements of the program), and then it will be presented as a sequence of pages with instructions, with the transition between them using the button Next. The clarity of these instructions is enhanced by the fact that if any element of the program window is mentioned in the text, then it is surrounded by a red frame. Moreover, if the element was turned off (hidden), then it will be proposed to perform an action (for example, call a menu item) that allows this element to be activated (showed).

In addition, in some steps the user is asked to carry out various activities: press any button, click on the window title, call a menu command, perform an action on a clip on the video track, etc. And the lesson will not continue until the user performs the required action. Since explanations are immediately given of what it is for and what will be the result, the process of mastering the program becomes simple and visual, and the actions are easy to remember. We can say that the textbook is not just a set of instructions, but a virtual teacher, showing the desired sequence of actions using an example.

For many, the main drawback of the textbook (and the program itself) is that, unfortunately, it is presented only on English language. We hope that the following sections of this article will help to some extent compensate for this shortcoming, and will allow you to understand the basics of using Vegas for fast and efficient video editing.

6. Beginning of installation

When the program is launched, the first step is to find the folder with the source video files (for example, entered from a video camera) in the Explorer section. When you select a file with a mouse click, the program tries to get information about the file format, and if it succeeds (i.e. the format is supported by the program), then the format of the video and / or sound, as well as their duration, is shown below:

If the file format is not supported, then the inscription with information about the format does not appear, and if there are problems in determining the format, then the inscription appears in the format field: "Stream attributes could not be determined". This usually means that the corresponding codec is not set for the video or audio format in the file (Vegas, like other editing programs, supports Video standard codecs). for Windows for video and Audio Compression Manager for audio, but does not support DirectShow decoders). For MPEG2 files, the MainConcept MPEG plugin must be installed and registered. IN latest versions Vegas to support MPEG files, you must first install DVD program architect.

Sometimes it happens that codecs are installed, but the AVI file format without any obvious reasons not recognized by the program. This happens if the headers in the file are not quite correct (do not fully comply with the Video for Windows standard). This can be corrected by opening the AVI file in the program and saving to a new one in direct stream copy mode (choose Direct Stream Copy from the Video and Audio menus). After such an operation, the file usually opens successfully (of course, if the necessary codecs for video and sound are available in the system).

If the file attributes are defined, then it can be dragged with the mouse to the pasteboard. Appropriate tracks for video and/or sound will be automatically created on it (depending on what data is in the file). If the file contains both video and sound (for example, an AVI file from a DV camera or a movie), then the video and sound are automatically included in a group of two clips moved together. To process them separately, the group must first be divided (more on that below). A wave image will be built for the sound, which will take some time (depending on the duration of the sound in the file). At the same time, next to source file a file with the .sfk extension will be created, in which the wave picture is stored, and subsequently the same file will be opened (for example, in another editing project) almost instantly, because it is no longer necessary to rebuild the wave picture of sound.

If you select many files at once in the Explorer section, and drag them to the timeline with the mouse, they will be automatically added to the tracks as a sequence of clips. Thus, it is possible to carry out the simplest "butt" mounting with overlapping of clips - at the place of joining, the clips will overlap with each other "overlapping". The amount of overlap can be set in the Options/Preferences window, Editing tab, using the parameter Amount groups cut-to-overlapconversion- it determines how many frames the video clips will overlap (if you specify 0, then there will be no overlap). You also need to enable automatic overlap - enable the option Automatically overlap multiple selected media when added. In this case, you can specify what type of transition will be used between video clips by selecting it in the list videodefault groups Envelopefadetypes. By default, the transition type Smooth ("flow", otherwise called Dissolve), which is most often used during editing, is selected.

Video tracks can also include images from graphic files(supports all common graphic formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG and others). When adding an image, a video clip with a still image is automatically generated, the duration of which is set by default by the parameter Newstillimagelength in the same settings window. If a non-zero clip overlap value is set (see above), then clips obtained from images will also automatically overlap each other by the specified amount. Thus, by setting the desired duration, overlap and transition type, you can get a slideshow of pictures with one mouse movement by dragging them from the explorer section to the video track. If you do not need automatic overlap, disable the corresponding option.

After the necessary files are placed on the tracks, you can proceed to the actual editing of video and sound.

7. Installation basics

Basically, editing is carried out in the same way as in other similar programs: the vertical cursor, moved by the mouse cursor or the left / right keys, determines the current position on the editing table from the beginning of the project (that is, from the beginning of the video material that will result from editing ). The frame corresponding to this position is shown in the Video Preview window, and when you press the space bar or the Play button, playback starts from this position. You can change the scale of the project view by pressing the up/down keys or using the mouse wheel. When the "Shift" key is pressed, the mouse wheel scrolls the project window left and right while maintaining the current position of time in the project, and when the "Shift" and "Ctrl" keys are pressed, it moves the current position similarly to the "left/right" keys.

The selection of the desired clip (in the program clips are conditionally called "events" or Events) is carried out by clicking on them. If you need to select several clips at the same time, then you need to click on them sequentially while holding down the "Shift" key. To exclude a clip from the selection, you need to click on it again together with "Ctrl".

Consider the simplest operations carried out during video editing.

• You can cut the clip(s) on the timeline at the current position by pressing the "S" key on the keyboard, and delete an unnecessary piece (clip) by clicking on it with the mouse and pressing the "Delete" key.
• If you need to "trim" the beginning or end of the clip, then you need to move the mouse cursor to the left or right border of the clip rectangle, the cursor will change shape to a rectangle with an arrow. After that, you can press the left mouse button and “drag” the edge of the clip in the desired direction. You can pre-select the place to which you want to move the edge of the clip by setting the current position there with a mouse click and / or left-right arrows, then when “dragging” the edge of the clip will “stick” exactly to right place. You can also “cut off” an unwanted part of a clip by first cutting the clip in the right place, and then selecting the unwanted part with a mouse click and deleting it using the “Delete” key.
• If you need to move a clip or a group of clips on a track left/right, you need to select it with a mouse click and “drag” it in the desired direction while holding the left mouse button. If you need to move several clips that are not grouped (see below), you must first select them by clicking with the mouse while holding down the "Shift" key.
• If you need to combine a set of clips into a group, you need to select them sequentially by clicking the left mouse button on each, holding down the "Shift" key, and pressing the "G" key on your keyboard. After that, the entire group of clips will move as a single unit. As mentioned earlier, when a file with video and sound is added to the project, two clips appear (one with video, the other with sound), immediately combined into a group. If, for example, you “trim” (see above) the beginning of one of these clips (for example, with video), then the second clip (with sound) will automatically be “trimmed”. If you need to separate video and sound, and work with them separately, then the group must first be ungrouped.
• If you want to remove a clip from a previously created group, you need to select it with a mouse click and press "U". If you need to ungroup all the clips in the group, you need to click on one of the clips with the right mouse button and press "Ctrl + U". Also, commands for working with a group are available in the "Group" menu by pressing the right mouse button over the clip.
• The simplest effect used in editing is the so-called. FadeIn, or smooth "manifestation" of video from "darkness" and sound from silence. This effect is often applied at the beginning of a story (for example, an entire movie). The opposite effect, called FadeOut, is applied towards the end of the story. To apply FadeIn to the beginning of a clip, move the mouse cursor to the top left of the clip rectangle on the track until the cursor changes to an arc with left-right arrows. Now hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to the right - an arc will appear at the beginning of the clip, indicating the presence of FadeIn.

The duration of the effect is determined by how much you "drag" the mouse to the right from the beginning of the clip - then release the left button. Now there is a vertical line at the place where the effect ends - you can drag it left and right with the mouse, changing the duration of the effect (the value is shown in the "Fade Offset" tooltip). Try playing the clip from the beginning to see what the effect looks like, and adjust its duration to suit your needs.

The FadeOut effect is applied in the same way, only it is applied on the upper right edge of the clip rectangle, and the mouse must be moved to the left. The FadeIn/FadeOut effects can be independently applied to audio as well, allowing the volume to fade from silence to normal volume, and vice versa.

If you press the right mouse button over the arc, then in the submenu Fadetype you can select the shape of the effect profile. The shape affects the smoothness and speed of volume change for sound or transparency for video. Experiment and choose the profile that works best for your particular case (usually the default profile shape will work in most cases).

• Perhaps the most commonly used effect in editing is the transition from one clip to another, or Transition. The simplest, but also the most commonly used type of transition is a smooth "flow", or "Cross Dissolve". If there is a gap between two clips ( empty space on the track), first move the clips "butt" to each other by dragging the second clip so that its beginning "sticks" to the end of the first clip:

Then move (with a mouse click on the desired location, or with the left/right keys) the current position (vertical cursor) to the left of the end of the first clip to the moment where the "bleed" should begin - for example, a second before the end of the first clip:

Click in the middle of the second clip and, holding down the left mouse button, drag the clip to the left so that its beginning "overlaps" the end of the first clip. Move the clip until its beginning "sticks" to the current position, exactly in the right place:

Over the transition, its duration in seconds will be shown. Note that it is the entire second clip that needs to be moved, not its left edge. This will also give the effect of a transition from one clip to another, but the result will be different, because. the duration of the second clip will change.

By default, the "Cross Dissolve" smooth transition effect is applied between clips, which is usually enough in most cases (besides being simple, it looks the least intrusive). You can choose the shape of the fade profiles (how the transparency for the video and the volume for the sound will change during the transition) by right-clicking on the transition and selecting the desired combination of profiles in the Fade Type submenu (25 options in total).

If you want to apply another transition effect, then there is a fairly rich selection of them (“leaf overturn”, “curtains”, etc.) available in the “Transitions” tab at the bottom of the main window:

On the left is a list of transition types, on the right are some standard sets effects (Presets, presets) for the selected transition. If you move the mouse cursor over any icon, its animation will clearly demonstrate how the selected effect looks like. Letters A and B conditionally show the first and second clips, respectively, between which the transition is made.

To apply any effect, first "overlay" the two clips on top of each other (see above), then select desired effect in the Transitions window, and drag the effect icon onto the transition between clips. You can do this as many times as you like, applying different transition effects to choose the one that suits you best. Some typical transitions can be quickly applied by setting the current position to a transition between clips, and pressing the "/", "*", "-" keys on the small (numeric) keyboard, or by right-clicking on the transition, select the desired transition in the submenu transition.

If you move the mouse cursor over the cross-shaped icon on the right side of the transition between clips on the track (the inscription “Transition Properties” will appear), then clicking on it allows you to open the transition settings window:

Each type of transition has its own parameters, and it is impossible to describe them all within the scope of this article. We only note that changing the transition parameters allows you to get an unlimited variety of effects. The adjusted set of parameters can be saved in Preset, and the corresponding icon will be added to the effect selection window, allowing you to quickly apply the saved effect.

The listed set of operations (moving, cutting, deleting, trimming clips, applying FadeIn/FadeOut, as well as transitions between clips) form the basis of almost any, even the simplest, non-linear editing.

In the second part of the article, we will consider more complex operations carried out during installation. Usually they are required less often, but often confuse beginners who have to apply such operations for the first time.