Media locations

Trev Wilkins wrote on 6/9/2009, 2:28 AM

I've done a search but can't seem to find any information about defining locations for media. What I'd like to do is specify where imported media is stored or where media bins are located so that I can import media from a network drive to my local drive but without having to copy them all first.

As an example I might only want to use half of the files from a shoot so if they are imported to my (specified) local drive when I import them to Vegas I can use them but if I delete or choose not to use them they would simply remain on the network drive.

The reason I need to do this is that currently itseems as though the files are accessed from the network drive which will not stream fast enough for playback.

Many thanks!

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/9/2009, 4:21 AM

How about ... wherever you want to put them? Then import them into your project from that location.

Vegas is very non-picky about this. It's happy with just about anything you tell it. You don't really define locations in Vegas; you simply use whatever directory you want.

Trev Wilkins wrote on 6/9/2009, 6:34 AM

I understand that I can put the files anywhere but what I want to do is define where the files go from within Vegas (copying them to a local drive). The media bins don't seem to be able to do this as they don't have an address that I can see.

We store all of our footage on remote network drives and what I was hoping for was that when I import media from there (within Vegas) I could specify where it is copied to on my local drives. It seems that Vegas just references files from its current location. I'm more familiar with audio production which allows me to do this (import/copy to another location or reference from current location).

It seems that I should copy all of the files to my local drives before importing them into the virtual media bins, is this correct?

Thanks.

jetdv wrote on 6/9/2009, 6:46 AM

My first question would be... why do you want multiple copies of the same files???

However, you could try this: Import everything you want included in the project, create the folder you want to use, do a File - Save As to that new folder and check the option to "copy and trim files" to that new folder (assuming this isn't an option only in the pro version).

Trev Wilkins wrote on 6/9/2009, 7:02 AM

Thanks,

That sounds like a useful option.

We need to keep the files on our network drives as they may be accessed by several servers and the network drives are also mirrored archive drives in case any files get lost or corrupted.

I don't usually work with video much but we often have a lot of projects on the go and while my audio server isn't being used I decided that I'll do some of the simpler video editing on it to ease the workload. I've used Sound Forge for years and liked the look of Vegas so that's why I'm trying it out. Our dedicated video systems use Adobe CS4 but I don't like it and we're currently cataloguing all of its crashes and failures (many times a day) as it's costing us many hours of downtime. I reckon we're due a refund for months of lost production.

If Vegas works out we just might move over to it.

Thanks again.

Chienworks wrote on 6/9/2009, 7:46 AM

Ahhhh, i think i see ... you're expecting Vegas to manage the files for you. Unlike a lot of other NLEs Vegas simply allows the OS to manage the files. Personally i think this is a much better choice. That way you don't have to learn a new file management system for each different piece of software.

Don't worry about using Vegas to import the files from the network storage. Copy them over yourself first. Then start your project using the files in the local location.