Fading between 3 video tracks to final record?

Bush wrote on 6/24/2003, 9:31 AM
Hi all,
Here’s another newbie question:>)
I have three video tracks and one audio track and I want to fade in and out between the video tracks while keeping the audio underneath all of this. I know how to open the video tracks in Vegas and the audio but I need help in figuring out how to mix the video tracks (fading in and out between the video tracks) and than record all of this to a final track that I will then burn to DVD with another program.

Thanks so much!

Bush

Comments

jetdv wrote on 6/24/2003, 10:11 AM
There are multiple ways of doing this. Personally, I use Excalibur to create a master track with all needed fades or cuts in place.

Manually, you can also create a master track, move the clip segments to that master track (numpad 8 key) and add dissolves as desired (such as with the numpad "/" key).

Other methods include simply removing the upper tracks where you want lower tracks to show, you could also vary the opacity of the upper tracks allowing lower tracks to show.

As you can see, many options are available.
Jason_Abbott wrote on 6/24/2003, 10:47 AM
If going the manual route, a common trick is to set track motion on your three video tracks, just to scale them down, so that all three are visible on screen at once while you're deciding where to cut to which track. Whichever you move to the master track will, of course, be full screen again.

This can also help to sync the video if not already synced since you can nudge one (1 or 3 on the numpad) while watching its relation to the others.

- Jason
johnmeyer wrote on 6/24/2003, 2:26 PM
1. If you only need to fade between video tracks at the beginning and end of events, you can simply drag the fade handel (located in the upper right corner at the end of an event and the upper left corner of the beginning of the event. As the event on top fades to black, it reveals the event(s) below.

2. If you want more complex fades, in the middle of an event, simply Insert - Video Events - Track Composite Level. You will see a blue line at the top of the entire track. Right click on this line and "Add Point" wherever you want to start or end a fade. Drag the point up or down to change the fade. Right click on any segment of the fade to change its type (fast, linear, etc.). Make sure to right click on any points that you THINK are 100% and set them to 100%. It is very easy to "nudge" these points and end up with very long rendering times because Vegas has to set an entire event to 99% opacity. At 100%, no re-rendering is required if only one track is playing at that point, and you haven't done anything else to it.
Bush wrote on 6/24/2003, 5:43 PM
Great! Thanks everyone. The only thing i stillnedd help with is "How do I record record a master track from the mix I create?)
Also thanks Jetdy on the Excalibur tip. I had no idea that there were add-ons for Vegas if there are any more please pass the info this way.

Once again...Thanks everyone!
jetdv wrote on 6/24/2003, 6:50 PM
Add the clips to the timeline so you end up with 3 video tracks and your audio track. Now, add a 4th video track to the project. This is the "master" track. Now you cut out the sections you want to keep from the three tracks below and move them up to the master track. Excalibur automates the process for you. All you need to do is add markers to the timeline and indicate which track you want to switch to. It then creates the master track and moves all the specified clips to that master track - including dissolves as specified.

As for other tools, look here for a list of places: http://www.creativecow.net/articles/vegasvideo.html
Bush wrote on 6/24/2003, 8:42 PM
Fantastic Jetdv!!!
Thanks a ton