It is more than a decade since a company called Sonic Foundry released a comprehensive multi-track audio editor that would soon morph into a powerful and totally original multi-track video editing suite called Video Factory. The key distinguishing features of Video Factory included format agnosticism, whereby almost any format of audio or video clip could be played back instantly on the timeline without pre-rendering; use of the familiar Windows user interface, vastly reducing the learning curve; scalable architecture, exploiting only the computer’s CPU for all processing; and the ability to open multiple instances of the program simultaneously. All of these features – and many others besides – distinguished Video Factory from other more traditional NLEs such as Media 100, Adobe Premiere and AVID. 

Over the past decade – and following a buyout by Sony Creative Software – Video Factory developed from its solid base to become Sony Vegas Pro and Sony has recently unveiled the latest incarnation in Version 10a. All of the original special features are retained and have been complemented by a vast array of new, clever innovations. The most notable new feature is stereoscopic 3D editing and Vegas Pro 10 incorporates a comprehensive arsenal of 3D tools, making it possible to edit and master 3D projects just as simply as 2D ones. The 3D options will not be discussed here but will the subject of a detailed future review.

 

What’s new in Vegas Pro 10?

 

• ·         Stereoscopic 3D editing
• ·         Ability to group tracks thereby reducing timeline clutter
• ·         Player controls added to Trimmer and Preview panes
• ·         Improved support for closed captioning
• ·         Image stabilisation for video clips
• ·         Ability to genlock AJA devices to an external reference signal
• ·         Extended support for 50p and 60p projects,  capture and print to tape
• ·         Audio input busses  with real-time rendering allowing direct recording from external devices
• ·         Ability to add audio effects at the project, track, and now event level
• ·         Recording audio in broadcast wave format(.bwf)
• ·         New vertical level meters in each audio track header
• ·         New VU meters in the mixing console in addition to peak meters
• ·         New multitrack editing features including the ability to expand a multicamera track to individual tracks
• ·         Addition of transport controls to the Trimmer and Preview panes
• ·         Support for GPU-accelerated AVC rendering on computers with an nVidia CUDA-enabled graphics card

Plus many more...

 

Obviously there are too many new features to cover in detail here, but I will describe some of my favourites and why they’re useful.

FIGURE 1

Overall, the user interface is essentially unchanged, although there are some subtle but important improvements. For example, there are now player controls for each of the timeline, trimmer and preview panes  and the trimmer pane has more features that will be familiar to users of more traditional NLEs such as CS5, Edius and Final Cut Pro.  Experienced Vegas users will probably continue to work in their own preferred paradigm and this is made simpler by being able to re-arrange the window layout to suit the task at hand. As before, up to ten layouts can be saved and called up using ALT+D followed by the number 0 to 9.  Still frames are automatically extracted from either the Trimmer or Preview pane and they are now extracted at full resolution by default.

 

Grouping of tracks

Unlimited video and audio tracks make for unlimited compositing and audio mixing possibilities but they can also rapidly get out of hand. I commonly end up with more than 30 video tracks and a dozen audio tracks and this can get unwieldy. I normally use two monitors and arrange the timeline on the left monitor and everything else on the right one. This helps me stay in charge of the timeline but now there’s a new feature that I just love. Want to reduce seven title tracks to just one? Simply select the tracks, right click and choose GROUP TRACKS and they all collapse to a single track that you can label as, say, “TITLES”. This is a really great new facility.

 

FIGURES 2 AND 3

 

New Audio Meters

 

Peak meters in each track header have always been available for recording, and they are still retained, but now there are vertical playback/record meters as well. These are handy in enabling you to remain focussed on the tracks while editing and are similar to those used in Pro Tools.

FIGURE 4

 

The Mixing console now includes VU meters as well as Peak meters, as have been available in Sound Forge for years. The advantage is that, while peak meters are useful for avoiding clipping, VU meters give a better indication of the ‘perceived power’ of your audio. Their addition in Vegas Pro 10 is welcome.

 

FIGURE 5

 

Real-time rendering and Input Busses

 

New to Vegas Pro 10 is the ability to incorporate audio from external devices such effects processors, synthesizers or sound modules. These are routed into the system using new audio input busses and there is now the ability to render these sources in real time, making mixing – and automated mixing if you wish – easily possible.

 

Overall the Mixing Console is now a seriously featured tool with Input Busses, Insert FX, Assignable FX and sends all well implemented. All of these parameters, at both the track and project level are fully automatable and controllable from external hardware controllers. Vegas has always been a superb multi-track audio suite and with this release it just got even better.

 

Event-level Audio FX

 

Until now, Vegas has allowed you to apply audio FX at either the track level or project level and this has catered well for most requirements. The latest version of Sound Forge Pro introduced clip level FX and now Vegas does the same. This addition will be especially welcome in complex multi-track projects.

 

Having applied an effect or an effect chain, you can copy the clip then use “Paste Event Attributes” to apply FX to other audio clips. In other words, the audio workflow now parallels the familiar video workflow more closely. Indeed, Vegas has always treated audio and video clips in a similar way, which is totally logical, given they are all just wave forms that lie at different parts of the audio-visual wave spectrum.

 

One caution when applying audio FX such as reverb at the clip level is that you must allow sufficient time after the waveform has finished for any lingering echo to decay. If you don’t, the echo will be chopped short at the end of the clip.

 

Image Stabilisation for video clips

 

This exciting new plug-in allows correction of a wide variety of camera movement artefacts producing very smooth video from even quite poor hand-held shots. You choose the kind/s of artefacts to be corrected from a list of profiles and, as always, you can chain several different profiles together and save them for later use. Once analysed, the result appears as a new subclip in the project media pane.  

New Features for Multi-camera Editing

 

I confess I have only recently started using the multi-camera editing system in Vegas Pro and, having got my head around it, I can’t believe I haven’t been using it for years! It is incredibly simple to edit from your synchronised multi-cam clips just as though you’re sitting at a studio director’s console. Synchronising tracks is easy provided you remember to use a clapper board while filming, or you might prefer the even simpler solution of PluralEyes from Singular Software which analyses then synchs you tracks automatically (I reviewed PluralEyes and its new sister, DualEyes recently).

 

The way multi-track editing works is that you synch your tracks, select them, then choose “Enable Multicamera Editing” from the Tools dropdown. All of the tracks are immediately reduced to a single Multicamera Track which contains all of your original tracks as takes. You then switch takes using the numeric keys and wind up with a single, edited track ready for rendering. You can choose to edit multitrack audio at the same time if you wish.

 

Now, in Vegas Pro 10, you have the option of expanding those edited tracks out to multiple tracks, which can make subsequent re-editing really simple. You can also preview your program full frame on an external monitor. As I say, multi-camera editing is so simple to do you’d be crazy not to work with it. Now why have I been so crazy for so long?

 

Integrated playback and rendering of Cineform lossless codec AVI and MOV files provided you have a Cineform product installed on your computer.

 

Whereas earlier versions of Vegas included support for the Cineform codec, versions 9 and 10 do not. Sony’s decision presumably reflects a licensing issue but it is disappointing. Using intra-frame lossless wavelet compression, the Cineform codec is excellent and allows editing without any of the issues relating to long GOP-compressed HDV or AVCHD files. It is especially useful in complex compositing projects. I use the NeoScene program for encoding and even repairing AVI files. It costs around US$130 and you must buy a copy for each computer so it’s not cheap. In Vegas 10.0a it is essential to use the latest version of NeoScene which is 5.2.2.

 

DVD Production

 

DVD and Blu-Ray disks can be burned directly from the Vegas timeline or authored in the included DVD Architect suite. This is now in Version 5.2 and includes support for Microsoft Image Mastering API (IMAPI) which can increase disk burning compatibility. DVDA 5.2 also includes more than 30 new project templates which can be a good way to get started on a new project, although you’ll almost certainly want to develop and save your own custom themes. Otherwise DVDA is essentially unchanged and offers comprehensive control of DVD or Blu-Ray design and production.

 

Conclusion

 

Vegas Pro 10 retains all of the special features that have endeared it to a generation of multimedia and broadcast producers. In Version 10 there are numerous powerful additions ranging from stereoscopic 3D editing, groupable tracks to simplify the timeline, to image stabilisation. The program offers a distinctly ‘fluid’ feel because playback without pre-rendering completely removes the ‘stop-go’ clumsiness seen in programs such Adobe CS4 and Final Cut Pro. Multi-camera editing is a great facility that has been further improved. Multi-track audio is handled far better than in any other NLE and this has been significantly improved with the addition of input busses from external audio hardware and real-time audio rendering. Despite some mutterings to the contrary in the Sony Creative Software forum, this release seems pretty much glitch free which is good news. 

 

Overall Vegas Pro 10 is a robust and distinctly original NLE which is, in my experience, the fastest way on the planet to get from idea to finished program. 

Auscam Online ratings

 

Ease of use:	9
Features:	9
Performance:	9
Documentation:	9
Value for money:	9

 

We liked:

Collapsible tracks, improved audio mixing console, event-level audio FX, image stabilisation. GI enhancements, GPU-assisted AVCHD rendering

 

We didn’t like:

Lack of inclusion of Cineform codec which must be bought separately

 

Vendor:

New Magic Australia Pty Ltd,
Unit 4, 16-18 Croydon Road,
Croydon, Vic, 3136

 www.newmagic.com.au

RRP AUD$739

Upgrades from AUD$179

 

Acknowledgement: Screenshots are taken from a promotional video I filmed at my favourite adventure camp, Camp Cooinda on the Gippsland Lakes. See the video at Auscam Online or check out the Cooinda website at www.CampCooinda.asn.au

 

Figure Legends

Fig 1 Vegas Pro 10 GUI in dual monitor layout

Fig 2 A complex timeline can be simplified...

Fig 3 ...by grouping tracks and collapsing them

Fig 4 Track headers now feature vertical peak meters 

Fig 5 The new and improved Mixing Console now allows input busses from external audio hardware

 

By David Smith

Dr David Smith is a physiologist-turned-film maker. David was Associate Producer of the IMAX feature Australia Land Beyond Time and was Senior Researcher on the ABC TV series Nature of Australia. He wrote and hosted David Smith's Earthwatch on ABCTV and was 'resident zoologist' on the Don Lane and Bert Newton Shows.

In 1987 David set up his company, imaginACTION pty ltd (www.imaginaction.net.au) and has sinced written, directed and/or filmed numerous documentaries and educational multimedia projects. He has also written six books, including two Penguin eco-thrillers. Over the past five years David has moved towards medical and health-related projects, including trauma surgery, schizophrenia and emergency medicine.

David is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a professional member of the AFI and has always been keen to share his knowledge, especially with young budding film makers. David can be contacted at david@imaginaction.net.au.

 

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