Multiple monitors isn't a feature of Vegas, or of any software for that matter. It's a feature built into Windows versions 98SE and above. You'll have to go to advanced settings for your video display and enable multiple monitors, then check the box that says "extend my desktop ...". After that, your Windows desktop will span both (or all) monitors. When you run Vegas, drag whatever parts of the UI you wish over to the other monitor.

Thanks for the reply guy's. I contacted Sonic foundry, and he explained how to undock the preview window and drag it over to the other monitor. Man, 2 monitors makes all the difference in the world now. So much easier to work in a bunch of different apps. Thanks again
Bob

hi bdonald, may i know how u undock the preview window of vegas video and drag it over to another monitor? i was thinking of doing the same as u. thanks in advance.

Look for the narrow vertical line on the left side of the preview window. Click on that line and drag; the preview pane will "detach" and you can move it wherever you want as a floating window.

I know his is slightly off toppic, but I'm fixing up a laptop for my church (ok an OLD laptop..Pentium class, Toshiba 420csd), I can get dual screens running Win98se..but it's the same screes..clones. I'm thinking this is an issue with the machine itself ?? I'd love to be able to have say.. all the works on one screen and preview on seonc monitor. This is espeically necesary for running PowerPoint.

Again my thought is it's a limitation ofthe machine..one vidio card..older chip ?
Confirmed ?

thks alot chienworks!

Fosko: are you sure the computer is dual-screen capable? Most laptops of that ilk only had a "clone" output rather than a second screen output. Go to Start / Settings / Control Panel / Display / Settings. Do you see two monitors illustrated there or just one? If only one, go to Advanced / Monitor and see if there's an option to enable the second display. If not, you're laptop doesn't support it.

There are some second display adapter cards that can be purchased in PCMCIA format. I've seen those used quite often and they work well.

Folks:

Before you figured out how to drag windows out of the dock, did you never realize it could be done, or did you think it could be done, but you didn't know how to do it? The reason I ask is that we'd like to figure out how to make our docking system easier for people to learn about and use to it's full capabilities. I see about a post a week asking how to undock a window that's been accidentally docked. Clearly, these folks must know there is a way, and probably tried a few, and then asked. I wish I knew what they tried, because maybe some of those things might make sense as ways to do it, and could be added.

Would having the drag handle change color or highlight when the mouse was over it help identify it as a control (and not just a decoration)?

Any other ideas, comments, suggestions?

///d@

Since there are recognizable window controls like the x and the arrow, how about something like:

Another small square under the arrow... featuring a square outside a square with broken lines for undock.

When docked, user clicks the square and the window pops to the center of the display. They can drag using the title-bar to position or to re-dock.


At least the window tools are grouped and similar size.

HTH, MPH

Something needs to be done, as you admitted. I like the color idea. Simple to implement, and obvious when you pass over it. No change in the size of elements, or layout. Good idea.

Chein,
I'm pretty sure that's the case.. the laptop is not capable. It's old and was donated. I just wanted to check to confrim what I feared..
Thanks.
the idea of a PCMCIA card may work if I cna find one. The best thing is...get a better laptop, but for these folks $$ is an issue.

Thanks again

Fosko: yes, we had the same problem with the laptop that our trustees "procured" for us. We finally replaced it with a PC using a Matrox G-400 dual head display.

Before you get too carried away looking though, here's something to consider. PowerPoint really doesn't play well in dual screen mode. When you click on something in the preview screen, the display screen stops running. You have to click on the display screen again to get it to change. We also had lots of troubles getting it to go to the next screen we picked. Often it would just advance to the next screen, or the one after the one we picked. Maybe they've got this fixed in PowerPoint XP, but as of versions 97 and 2000 it was still a problem. Microsoft's dual-screen PowerPoint solution requires two computers linked through the serial ports to operate properly.

We've switched to using SongShow Plus (i'll have to look up the publisher and URL for you later; all that info is at the church). It's built from the ground up with dual screens in mind and handles them automatically. The preview screen shows you an expandable/collapsible outline of the show. You can click on any item to either cue/preview it or immediately display it (great for when your worship leader says, lets do verse 2 again ...). You can add songs and edit on the fly. The built in searchable database has several thousand songs and about a dozen Bible translations included (though you do have to pay a tiny fee to unlock the NIV translation). You can rearrange and edit on the fly while the show is still running uninterrupted on the second screen. It imports many other media types, including AVI, WMV, WAV, WMA, MP3, JPG, BMP, TIF, PowerPoint (requires the PowerPoint or the free PowerPoint viewer to be installed). All things considered, it's pretty much designed to display anything you want as easily as possible. I believe the USA price for it is less than $400.

Yes, having the drag handle highlight or emboss in some way when the mouse arrow touches it would help a lot. Right now it just looks like a decorative divider. When computer-savvy people search for that drag handle for a couple of hours before figuring out where it is and how it works, you know something needs to be changed. Thanks for asking.

Dennis, for me finding the unlock tool wasn't really a big issue. I knew it could be done and i saw the vertical bar there that didn't seem to have any other use, so i tried it. Total learning curve of about 1.2 seconds ;)

However, now that you have me thinking about it, it occurs to me that most people move windows around by dragging the blue title bar at the top of the window. The panes in Vegas don't have these title bars. Perhaps if they did it would be a little more readily apparent. Maybe if that vertical line were in a blue rectangle it would help, even though it does go down the side of the pane rather than across the top. Of course, if someone changes their Windows colors so that their title bars are different, then this rectangle should show that different color too.

Another feature that seems hard to find.....wouldn't have "remembered" how to use it if it weren't for the posts in this forum....is the "Import still image sequence". It seems kinda "hidden or buried" if you know what I mean.

It might be cool to be able to move specific buttons onto that blank section of BAR between the time read-out windows and VCR controls(the bar between dockable window section and track view). I'm assuming this might get used for something later on?

Like the idea of a color change when hovering mouse cursor over things.

I agree with Kelley that the drag and dock window scheme is pretty simple to figure out (imo). I just started using it and didn't even think about it really.

I don't really like the idea of adding a title bar to the windows, though, because it would use up some real estate and the screen space is already so precious.

What I do wish, and perhaps there is already a way to do this, is that there was a way to zoom out (by dragging the thumb areas) and have the screen stay at the current cursor spot rather than having it dragged off the window as the frames expand. It's a drag (pun intended) to have to search for the cursor spot again after resizing the window. It would also be nice to have an instant zoom in and zoom out setting so that you could resize quicker.

I find it difficult to do cuts when the timeline is contracted. Even though I move it up against the previous clip and it snaps to it, I still notice that it is cross fading when I exand the time line. It would be nice to be able to snap to a previous clip regardless of the timeline frame resolution setting. I have to really expand the time line significantly to get any good resolution on cuts and cross fades. A separate monitor helps me see more tracks, but doesn't really help in this regard since I can't deal with looking at two monitors for horizontal space so I don't widen the main window.

Tom

Yeah, it might come in handy, also advertising the feature might help also. I got the idea from Cakewalk Sonar, which I dont use now that I've upgraded to acid 4.0, but it piqued my curiosity enough to search the help file, which I couldnt find anything in <but that could have just been me, I was so excited at getting the dual monitor that I wasnt thinking straight :) But if I saw it on the box the way I have it set up or something similar, preview and busses over on the second monitor, I would have flipped and bought a second monitor alot sooner.

Bob

If you're looking for suggestions, I'd REALLY like to have the ability to save screen layouts. I have my 2nd monitor mapped out really well with all my different views, keeping #1 completely empty except for the timeline. But if I accidentally launch Vegas with the 2nd monitor disabled, my layout is horribly spilled onto monitor #1 and I have to manually drag everything back into place. Also editing audio begs a different layout than editing video. Please do allow us to save screen layouts in version 4!

Thanks,

-Doug

There is a really good idea. I'll vote for that!

How about having a user manager so different users could save their screen setups and bins.

>Duh,huh , damn if we can't figure out how to dock or undock, what are we doing >trying to edit on Vegas,, maybe thats what video factory is for.

I'm sorry, but since I posted the original question to this,I take personal offense at this remark. For one thing, I thought that these forums were for posting questions and getting INFORMATIVE answers, not for the likes of you to try to get a zinger off or show how witty you are <or arent, for that matter>. Secondly, I didnt know that you had to be Bill Gates to edit video. The hobby/profession has been around long before computers with GUI's. And thanks to all who posted answers that were helpful, it is much appreciated. I guess we cant let one bad apple spoil the bushel
Bob