Friday, March 25, 2005
SOFTWARE :: Sony's Vegas 5
If you've ever gotten knee-deep in a home video editing project, you may have stumbled across the one thing about many NLEs (non-linear editors) that cause many folks to simply turn off the computer when the program crashes. Again.
Unless you're running some insane hardcore hardware, it's likely that your expensive copy of Adobe Premier will be giving you headaches as it continually dies for no reason whatsoever, despite running hardware that falls within Adobe's recommended specs, under ANY version of Windows whatsoever. Premier isn't the only program that falls prey to this problem. Many other high end programs suffer from this affliction as well, but nobody seems able to explain why. I know I certainly can't, and I've just about tried them all.
One that works very well is called Movies on CD and DVD by Magix. It works fairly well as an introductory editor, but for something truly powerful and flexible, you'll want something better.
Sonic Foundry began with their entry into the NLE arena with Vegas. At first, it was a pretty good program, although it's capabilities were still limited. It made a great entry-level editor, but had a hard time competing with the plethora of tricks that Premier had up its sleeve.
That is, until Sony bought a large chunk of Sonic Foundry's properties, including Vegas and Soundforge, which is now linked (but not integrated) into Vegas.
Sony added so much to this program. At version 5, the user has the ability to add as many audio and video tracks as he wants to his project; a feat that was not possible in any previous versions. The best part about Vegas? IT DOESN'T CRASH. Not even on marginally recommended hardware. Sure, you'll wait a little longer than the big dogs for your render to finish, but you don't have to worry about saving again and again and again in an attempt to keep from losing your precious hours of work.
Vegas also has the capability to produce some basic graphics of its own beyond the expected title effects. For example, with a little bit of trickery, you can use Vegas to create a radar screen effect from scratch. Not the cheesy radial transition wipe effect, mind you, but a full-blown green radar screen with sweeping scan line and everything!
Yes, okay that's a little cheesy for an example, but think about it: how many other programs will let you do more than just cut together video clips haphazardly? The stock transition effects that come with the program are numerous and high-quality. There are also a number of third party expansion packs that will give you more transitions and sound/video clips to use as enhancements for your project.
Vegas also lets you take complete control of the view aspect of a clip or image. You can zoom a segment of a clip, or "event" as they call it, or crop it to fit the view you're aiming for. Not only that, but there is also a timeline control for this feature. For example, on the timeline, I start at the first keyframe with the view aspect at full, then click over to the last keyframe in the timeline, and re-size the view aspect so that the view is now zoomed in on the clip. The result will be that when I review that clip, it will now slowly (or quickly, depending on the length of time and the "distance" of the zoom effect), zoom in on the image. This same concept can be applied to let you do sliding imagery, slide-zooms among other things.
Another great feature is that Vegas treats each event line the same way that Adobe Photoshop does its layers. Video layers higher up on the workspace are higher up in the "stack" of video layers. This means that I can import a clip or image with transparent areas into the top layer, and then a second clip underneath that, and create some really cool effects. You can also make a solid upperlayer see-through by adjusting the alpha of either the whole channel, or by simply dragging the alpha control on the clip itself downward.
Look, I know that sounds a little weird when you read it. It's partly because I'm only a casual video hobbyist. I don't have all the proper terminology solid in my head, but I think that you other enthusiasts out there will have an understanding of what I was talking about.
Anyhow, if you've got some extra wads of cash to blow, you can pick up a copy of Vegas for around $700.00. Couple it with Sound Forge and Photoshop, and you can create simply incredible video and audio effects in your own projects with little fuss or muss.
More importantly, it competes directly with Adobe Premier, except that Premier rewards your expensive purchasing power by constantly giving the user a frustrating experience, where Sony Vegas will make you feel like an overnight professional. There's nothing like the feeling of creating something from scratch that makes everyone you show it to say "Wow. I never knew someone could do this without working at a studio."
Pure bliss.
Deadweasel is currently working on a concept movie project at PlanetsideMovies.com.
Unless you're running some insane hardcore hardware, it's likely that your expensive copy of Adobe Premier will be giving you headaches as it continually dies for no reason whatsoever, despite running hardware that falls within Adobe's recommended specs, under ANY version of Windows whatsoever. Premier isn't the only program that falls prey to this problem. Many other high end programs suffer from this affliction as well, but nobody seems able to explain why. I know I certainly can't, and I've just about tried them all.
One that works very well is called Movies on CD and DVD by Magix. It works fairly well as an introductory editor, but for something truly powerful and flexible, you'll want something better.
Sonic Foundry began with their entry into the NLE arena with Vegas. At first, it was a pretty good program, although it's capabilities were still limited. It made a great entry-level editor, but had a hard time competing with the plethora of tricks that Premier had up its sleeve.
That is, until Sony bought a large chunk of Sonic Foundry's properties, including Vegas and Soundforge, which is now linked (but not integrated) into Vegas.
Sony added so much to this program. At version 5, the user has the ability to add as many audio and video tracks as he wants to his project; a feat that was not possible in any previous versions. The best part about Vegas? IT DOESN'T CRASH. Not even on marginally recommended hardware. Sure, you'll wait a little longer than the big dogs for your render to finish, but you don't have to worry about saving again and again and again in an attempt to keep from losing your precious hours of work.
Vegas also has the capability to produce some basic graphics of its own beyond the expected title effects. For example, with a little bit of trickery, you can use Vegas to create a radar screen effect from scratch. Not the cheesy radial transition wipe effect, mind you, but a full-blown green radar screen with sweeping scan line and everything!
Yes, okay that's a little cheesy for an example, but think about it: how many other programs will let you do more than just cut together video clips haphazardly? The stock transition effects that come with the program are numerous and high-quality. There are also a number of third party expansion packs that will give you more transitions and sound/video clips to use as enhancements for your project.
Vegas also lets you take complete control of the view aspect of a clip or image. You can zoom a segment of a clip, or "event" as they call it, or crop it to fit the view you're aiming for. Not only that, but there is also a timeline control for this feature. For example, on the timeline, I start at the first keyframe with the view aspect at full, then click over to the last keyframe in the timeline, and re-size the view aspect so that the view is now zoomed in on the clip. The result will be that when I review that clip, it will now slowly (or quickly, depending on the length of time and the "distance" of the zoom effect), zoom in on the image. This same concept can be applied to let you do sliding imagery, slide-zooms among other things.
Another great feature is that Vegas treats each event line the same way that Adobe Photoshop does its layers. Video layers higher up on the workspace are higher up in the "stack" of video layers. This means that I can import a clip or image with transparent areas into the top layer, and then a second clip underneath that, and create some really cool effects. You can also make a solid upperlayer see-through by adjusting the alpha of either the whole channel, or by simply dragging the alpha control on the clip itself downward.
Look, I know that sounds a little weird when you read it. It's partly because I'm only a casual video hobbyist. I don't have all the proper terminology solid in my head, but I think that you other enthusiasts out there will have an understanding of what I was talking about.
Anyhow, if you've got some extra wads of cash to blow, you can pick up a copy of Vegas for around $700.00. Couple it with Sound Forge and Photoshop, and you can create simply incredible video and audio effects in your own projects with little fuss or muss.
More importantly, it competes directly with Adobe Premier, except that Premier rewards your expensive purchasing power by constantly giving the user a frustrating experience, where Sony Vegas will make you feel like an overnight professional. There's nothing like the feeling of creating something from scratch that makes everyone you show it to say "Wow. I never knew someone could do this without working at a studio."
Pure bliss.
Deadweasel is currently working on a concept movie project at PlanetsideMovies.com.
Comments:
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holy shitsnot!
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/
Wow. Thats nuts! I wonder when that happened!
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/
Wow. Thats nuts! I wonder when that happened!
# posted by 
: 1:21 PM
: 1:21 PM
Yes. Sony owns. Heh.
Actually, they own almost all of Sonic Foundry's stuff now, including ACID.
Also, do you think it's a little odd that Adobe went from interesting art images in their splashscreens to that feather? Do you remember what Sony's master trademark use to be? A rainbow feather perhaps?
Photoshop CS, although not outright owned by Sony, apparently uses a ton of shit that Sony developed for some of the plugins and stuff. Don't have any handy sources at the moment, but Slashdot hosted a link about CS when it first came out.
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Actually, they own almost all of Sonic Foundry's stuff now, including ACID.
Also, do you think it's a little odd that Adobe went from interesting art images in their splashscreens to that feather? Do you remember what Sony's master trademark use to be? A rainbow feather perhaps?
Photoshop CS, although not outright owned by Sony, apparently uses a ton of shit that Sony developed for some of the plugins and stuff. Don't have any handy sources at the moment, but Slashdot hosted a link about CS when it first came out.
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