To get an early look at some of the changes in Vegas Pro 9, head over to Ed Troxel’s website and download his Volume 7 Issue 1 newsletter where he mentions some new features, changes in default behavior, and the once-rumored now (apparently confirmed) purchase of effects developer VelvetMatter (the likely creators of Vegas’ ProType Titler).
Some observations based on Ed’s newletter:
Welcome addition: Match Event Length button for Generated Media.
Destined to be a Frequently Asked Question: “How come my events only have three thumbnails?”
Destined to be a Frequently Made Complaint: “I hate the new color scheme (even though I can change it but didn’t bother to ask how)!”
Great addition but most won’t notice or remember: Temporary enable snapping using the Shift key.
At any rate, it looks like there are some interesting changes and editing tricks here that Sony didn’t mention on their official list. Whenever I get Vegas Pro 9, I may need to look through the manual / online help just to be sure I’m using all the time savers available since there seem to be several new ones.
Today, Sony announced the upcoming release of Vegas Pro 9, although the product itself is not yet available. Sony is taking pre-orders for the program and plans to start shipping on May 11th with download availability the same day. This announcement, which first took place at this year’s NAB convention, breaks the tradition in which Sony Creative Software has always been available the same day Sony publicly confirmed a product was even being worked on (let alone completed).
Support for capturing directly to XDCAM-compatible MXF files from supported SDK sources
Automatic source media adjustment for working with mismatched media
Enhanced 32-bit floating point video levels mode designed to work like 8-bit mode but with the precision needed for 10-bit and higher sources and render formats
Gradient wipe transition
Glint, Rays, Defocus, Starburst, Soft Contrast, and Fill Light video effects
Place and edit audio without quantizing to frame boundaries, while still quantizing video edits
Multichannel audio adds from Trimmer Window
Includes native 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vegas Pro software
Enhanced user interface with layout presets
Impressive lighting effects including Glint, Rays, and Fill Light
Darker color palette UI for optimized viewing
Audio Mixing and Color Correction default layouts
Browse XDCAM EX and AVCHD contents in Device Explorer
Native XDCAM EX reading and import
Support for gigapixel size pictures
Read and save DPX, OpenEXR, and Microsoft HD Photo formats
Open and edit RED ONE™ files on the timeline
Device Explorer for AVCHD and XDCAM EX devices
For a limited (and unspecified until June 30th) time, Sony is offering an additional bonus. First-time buyers of Sony Vegas Pro 9 will also get the Sony Seminar Series training DVDs. If you are upgrading from a previous version of Vegas Pro or upgrading from Vegas Movie Studio, you will have a choice between Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio, the Sony Sound Effects Series sampler, or the Sampler Pack from third-party effects maker NewBlue.
I’ve seen mention of the pre-order coming with $50 off the standard price, but I’m not ready to buy yet, so I can’t confirm this. I don’t see any mention of it on the order page. Also, Sony generally offers about $100 off during the first month of any Vegas release, though that early bird discount is usually not mentioned on Sony’s website (other than in the knowledge base). Rather, in the past, it has been advertised to registered users via an e-mail anywhere from a day to a few weeks after release. If Sony will offer that discount this time around and how it fits into the pre-order arrangement, I don’t know.
One more “first,” it appears that there will not be a new version of DVD Architect with this new version of Vegas. I suppose we got that early when the free DVD Architect 5.0 upgrade was released in order to incorporate Blu-ray disc authoring.
Digital Juice has just released a quick tutorial called Adding Depth with Reflection. Hosted by senior editor D. Eric Franks, the video describes how to use track motion, a gradient mask, and compositing to give your media the appearance of being reflected (on water, glass, some alien surface). And best of all, the tutorial is for Sony Vegas (including Vegas Movie Studio) users.
While reading my Custom Transition Using Generated Media tutorial, a reader noticed some similarities between the resulting video and an effect she’d seen and has been trying to duplicate. The general idea of the effect is to start out with a video in black and white; have a tinted area “move” across the screen; and for that tinted area to act as a “swipe” that turns the footage to color as it passes over. The visitor does not know what program was used to create the video she saw, but asked if I knew how to achieve a similar effect in Vegas. It took a bit of experimenting, but I believe I’ve got it pretty figured out.
I’ll start out by showing the end result so you know what you’re aiming for.
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