• Let the clip continue to play and experiment with the level slider on the video track header and the volume and pan controls on the audio track header. What happens when controls are varied?

1. Double click the scribble strip in the video track header and name the track "rider."
2. Undock the Video Preview window and resize it by grabbing and dragging the corner of the window with the mouse. Then, redock the Video Preview window.
3. Zoom in and out on the track horizontally by clicking on the timeline then using the up and down arrow keys.
4. Zoom in and out on the track vertically by pressing Shift-Ctrl, then using the up and down arrow keys.
5. NOTE: Zooming is not editing; it only changes the way the Vegas interface appears.
6. Move the cursor with the right and left arrow keys.
7. To make a selection along the timeline, drag the mouse along the strip just above the timeline ruler. The selection bar will appear. Practice making different selections in this way.

Event Properties

1. Grab the right edge of the event with the mouse and drag the clip out to about 35 seconds. Little notches appear along the top of the clip. The clip is only about 9 seconds long and the notches represent the natural end of the video contained in the event. Play the clip and watch it loop back to the beginning at the notches.
2. The looping behavior can be changed. Right click the event and choose Properties. Uncheck the loop box. Play the loop and see that the video event will still occupy 35 seconds on the timeline, but instead of looping back to the beginning at the notches, a freeze frame of the last frame of the 9 second video will stay on the screen for the duration of the dragged out clip.
3. Note: The Properties window allows an event to be locked so it cannot be edited in anyway.

editing basics

Edge Edits and Crossfades

1. Continue with the "horse8.avi" file.
2. Edge edit the file by hovering the cursor over the edge of the clip until it changes into the trim icon shown in the chart below. Grab both edges of the clip and drag them toward the center a short way. Play the clip again to see the effect of the edit.
3. Remember that Vegas edits non-destructively, so the original clip has not been changed. In fact, the edges can be grabbed and dragged back to their original positions to see that the parts of the clip that has been "edited out" are still there. Try it.

The cursor changes shape to indicate a change in functionality of the cursor.

This chart shows some of the different editing functions possible by using the cursor. Watch the shape of the cursor change the mouse hovers it over different parts (the edges, corners, buttons, middle, etc.) of the event. The change in shape of the cursor is a signal to the editor that different functions are performed by dragging in those particular places.

1. Try some of the edits indicated in the chart. The cursor assumes some shapes, in addition to those shown in the chart, when it is placed over different parts of the event. Try a slip trim and a slide!
2. Add two more clips to the track with the horse clip: sun.mov and eaglefly2.avi. The file formats are being mixed on the same track.
3. Drag the clips so they overlap slightly. The Xs that appear on the overlap areas indicate the area of the crossfade. Play through all three clips to see the crossfade effect.
4. Vegas has a great undo feature. Click the Undo or Redo drop down boxes in the toolbar to choose the list of prior steps.
   
5. Try splitting an event and moving part of it. Split the sun.mov clip into three pieces by clicking the cursor about a third of the way through the clip, then hit s on the keyboard to split it once. Go another third of the way into the clip and hit s once more. The clip is in three pieces.
6. Move the cursor over the first piece until it turns into the pointer tool and then move the clip to the beginning of the movie. Leave the middle piece where it is and move the last piece to the end, after the eagle clip. Crossfade all the pieces. Zoom in horizontally and vertically to help increase the detail being shown.
7. Multiple clips can be moved in a group by selecting more than one (shift click) and hitting g on the keyboard or choosing Edit | Group | Create New. Try creating a group and moving the clips together.
8. Replace the crossfades with other transitions as follows: Start the movie in looped playback so changes can be seen as they are being made. Choose the Transitions tab at the bottom of the screen. Click on the transition thumbnails to preview them, then choose one and drag and drop on the X that indicates the crossfade area between two clips. It immediately changes to the new transition. Replace all the crossfades with new transitions and watch the effects. Experiment with changing the transition parameters and see what happens.

creating pan/crop effects and keyframe animations

1. Start a new project by clicking the New button at the top left of the screen or choose File | New.
2. Drag the file "kayak2.avi" to the timeline. Delete the audio track; This audio track is not needed in this exercise and the audio event connected with this video clip is empty anyway. Delete the track by clicking on the track header then press Delete on the keyboard. Start the movie in looped playback so changes can be seen as they are being made.
3. Crop out the black capture artifacts around the edges of the clip. Click the small window button on the video event to bring up the Pan/Crop window. Resize the window if necessary to make sure the timeline, the Video Preview window and the Pan/Crop window can be seen.
   
4. Move the mouse over the resizing box. The shape of the cursor changes as it moves over different parts of the box. As with the timeline, the change in shape of the cursor is a signal to the editor that different functions are performed by dragging in those particular places. Basically, images can be moved, resized, flipped and rotated with these controls. Grab any corner of the box and move it inward just a little until the black edges in the Video Preview window can no longer be seen. That's how easy it is to crop video clips.

The following commands are available via right-clicking anywhere in the Pan / Crop window. Try them and watch what happens in the Video Preview window.

Use the pan/crop function to create the illusion of the camera zooming in on the man's head. This exercise uses keyframing.

Understanding Keyframing

Keyframe animation is a technique that computer artists use to quickly make complex animated sequences. Keyframes are used to create animated sequences by specifying the start and end positions for the animation. Vegas uses the keyframes to interpolate the intermediate frames. Additional keyframes can be added to pause, change direction of the motion, and create more complex animation.

While keyframing motion may be the most obvious use for keyframe animations, just about any parameter of an effect can be animated with keyframes. Vegas uses keyframe animation techniques in many areas, including transition effects and filters. Color, brightness, transparency, motion, size, perspective, and many other parameters can all be easily controlled this way.

The Keyframe controller is used to control the FX parameters (color, brightness, transparency, motion, size, perspective, etc.) and is located at the bottom of the Pan/Crop, FX, Track Motion, and Transition windows:

To create the zooming effect, follow these steps:

1. Start the clip playing in looped playback.
2. Click the cursor at the beginning of the clip in the timeline.
3. Click the Sync Cursor button to turn it on. This puts the timeline and keyframing cursors in sync.
4. Click about ¾ of the way into clip in the timeline. The keyframing cursor jumps to the new position.
5. Resize the box in the Pan/Crop window to make it small and reposition it over the man's head. The zooming effect will be immediately apparent.
6. Be careful not to move the blue dot in the middle of the box. That is the axis of rotation and will not accomplish moving the box.

Start a new project and try the same exercise with two still photographs from the "Stills" folder.

1. Right click in the Pan/Crop window and choose "Match Output Aspect" to make the still fill the video frame.
2. Zoom, pan and use rotation and even flip the photo horizontally or vertically.
3. Crossfade the photos or use a transition.
4. Choose a "music bed" from the Music Bed folder to add some atmosphere to the movie.

This is a great effect for which there are many uses.

creating track motion effects

This section deals with composition. Create a picture in picture effect with track motion. Click the track motion button to bring up the track motion window.

The track motion window looks a lot like the Pan/Crop window, but it has a different function. The Track Motion dialog is used to move a video track across a background. This background can be a solid color, but it is more common to use another video event or an image. Picture-in-picture effects and scrolling title sequences are two simple cases where this tool is important. The Track Motion dialog is easy to use. The striped gray area in the center (covered by the blue/gray rectangle) represents the actual screen or area that is visible in the movie. The area outside of the main screen, which is filled with dotted lines, is the general workspace. The video being moved can be positioned off of the visible screen, and then animated onto and across the screen. The dots are markers to help position the video window. If snap is turned on, these serve as 'snap to' points. The main window allows for the control of placement, size, and orientation of the overlay video through time. The blue and gray rectangle in the middle of the screen represents the area of the full screen. The large "F" is used to represent the orientation of the track and is especially useful in indicating a track that has been reversed.

1. Right click in the track header and choose Insert/Remove Envelope|Composite Level to remove the composite level envelope and return the opacity of the skier track to 100%.
2. Grab a corner of the box and move it inward to create a picture in picture effect. Watch the Video Preview window. Just like in the Pan/Crop window, the track can be resized, moved, rotated, and flipped, depending on the shape of the cursor as you move it around the box.
3. Once the box has been resized, move it to the upper left hand corner of the frame.
4. Use keyframing to move the track around the frame over time. Make two or three moves. In the Pan/Crop window, the keyframing timeline represented the duration of the individual clip being edited. In the Track Motion window, the keyframing timeline represents the duration of the entire track.

adding text

The Text generator is a Generator Plug-In. It creates a virtual media file that is placed in the project with a default frame rate and dimensions that match the project's frame rate and dimensions. When inserted into the timeline, it is contained in a video event with a default duration that can be changed in the Media Generator dialog or by trimming it. The event acts just like any other video event: a virtual media file remains unaffected by changes made to the event. Like other video events, it can be trimmed, copied, stretched, and looped. Envelopes and Video Filters can all be used on these events. The text can be changed at any time. The Video Preview window updates changes when the event is previewed. By default, the background is transparent, but any color can be selected with the color picker.

1. Add the skierPowder.avi file to the timeline. Add it as video only, or delete the audio track once it is on the timeline.
2. Right click in the track header and choose Add Video Track. A text event will be placed on the new track.
3. Choose the Plug-Ins tab at the bottom of the Vegas window. If it is not visible, choose View | Plug-ins. Navigate as follows: Plug-Ins | Video | Media Generators.
4. Drag and drop the Sonic Foundry Text generator on the new track. The text will display in the Video Preview window immediately. The Track generator dialog appears:
   
5. Type the words "My Video Project" in the text box.
6. Change the font, font size and type, and font color. Experiment with the other controls in the text editing window.
7. Make the text move from right to left across the screen using Track Motion.
8. Add a music bed and enjoy watching the entire 10 second movie!

Try a cool text effect. Make the text transparent and let the fire video show through to create the illusion of flaming text.

1. The text event has a button that regular video events do not have. Click this button to allow the text properties to be edited:
   
2. Change the text to first name. Make it big and bold.
3. There are alpha transparency controls for both the Text and Background colors. Make the text color transparent by moving the slider to the bottom, and make the background color opaque by moving the slider to the top. A black background and the fire video should be showing through the transparent text.
4. Add a drop shadow and glow to the text and experiment with the presets for special effects.

adding captions

This lesson will cover how to add captions to videos, as shown in the example of the Windows Media Player below:

The first step is to create a script of the video.

Organize the script into short passages of two or three sentences. It might be helpful to make a table like this:

Use Command Markers to place the text into the encoded file. Place the cursor at the point in the time in the Vegas Video project where the text should appear. Hit C on the keyboard to place a Command marker. The dialog looks like this:

Choose the Text command. Type or copy and paste the text to appear at this point in time into the Parameter window. Place a comment in the Comment window that will appear near the marker in the Vegas interface, but will not appear in the encoded file. The position field gives the the cursor position where the marker will be activated.

Once the blue Command Marker is placed, compare it to the audio waveform of the dialog that matches the text in the marker. Grab and drag the marker to a new location to make them match up perfectly.

Continue until the entire piece has Command markers for the script. This captioning method only works for the Windows Media Player, so be sure to use that method when the file is rendered. To view captions encoded in the Windows Media Player, choose View | Now Playing Tools | Show Equalizer and Settings | Captions.

delivering video

Render the final movie

When a final movie is created, there are literally dozens of formats from which to choose, each of which has dozens of options. The destination of the final movie is the most important factor when selecting a format. Movies created for broadcast television must be of the highest quality, but for many other destinations, such as a CD-ROM or the Internet, some quality will need to be sacrificed when the file is rendered. Heavy compression may create visible artifacts in the video, such as when the file is streamed on the Internet. Every case is different, and it is necessary to experiment to obtain the best results.

For the class video, when you have finished it, proceed as follows:

1. Choose File | Render as.
2. Name the file.
3. File type: Windows Media VideoV9.
4. Template: If you have at least 5 minutes to let this render, then choose the 3 Mbps template, If pressed for time, choose 1 Mbps.
5. Be careful to note whether the Render Loop Region Only box is checked or not. If the box is checked, then only the selected area will be rendered.
6. Choose the desktop for the location to save the file, and click OK.
7. After the movie is finished, find the file in your Windows Explorer and doubleclick the file to see it play in the Windows Media Player.

This manual prepared by:

Mary Waitrovich
Digital Media Coordinator
Division of Information Technology
UW-Madison
Computer Science & Statistics Bldg.
1210 West Dayton St. Rm 3134a
Madison, WI 53706
Version AVS 1.4 January 2007