Project Proporties (Sony Vegas)

[Compo]

I think there is a fundemental building block missing in my video editing education? Perhaps someone can help?

What is the relationship between the Video I import / the project proporties I set / and the settings I use to render the finished work?

If I import an MXF file HD1080 50i into Sony vegas 11 and want to render the finished project aa a Quick time .mov what should my project settings be and why?
What if I wanted to render as .wma? would this affect what project proporties I set?
What if I import a mixture of formats and some still images?

..or am being stupid and the project proporties are just so you can view the project as you would like to eventually render it whilst editing?
Therefore your the project proporties would be the same as your eventual render settings?

Confused?....I am....and dont laugh but I do this for a living!!!!

P.S. Forum grammer police need not comment!!! (I dont care if I can spel or nut! everyone knows what i mean!!!

[aedipuss]

hehe. not something to stress over. properties can be set however you like, changed while editing, and back. it mostly has to do with giving you the most efficient preview playback as you're editing. i match the highest quality source i am using. mostly the canon dslr mov files i shoot. i usually use a custom template - 1920x1080 30p with all other settings on their highest quality.

project properties doesn't have much to do with rendering, other than limiting certain options and showing matching templates. like a 2ch project can't render to ac-3 5.1ch.

[Compo]

Thank you sir!
My Tiny mind is at rest!

[budwzr]

What is the relationship between the Video I import / the project proporties I set / and the settings I use to render the finished work?

The project properties are used to resample the video for the preview window. The preview window shows what it would look like if rendered to the project settings. The codec options that match the project will have an "=" sign next to it.

There are many considerations that should be taken, depending on the complexity, but you have to learn them from the skool of hard knocks later to appreciate them.

[_Al_]

Project properties are also important while using DebugMode Frame server, because that's what frame server is serving out.

[Cornucopia]

Things usually work best (quality- and speed-wise) when you have Input properties = Project Properties = Export/Render Properties.

Most editors (the people) set their Project Properties to match what they intend to be their best quality output (HD, SD, etc) and usually in their case, they have input files from whatever camera(s) they use which will fairly closely match those settings (minor resizing or AR adjustments aside).

When they render other outputs besides their "Master" copy, they usually just use a separate export template, unless it were to adversely affect the quality of those outcomes (happens sometimes in these cases: interlaced<->progressive changes, images with text/vector overlay, images with possible posterization problems, drastic & non-standard resizing, etc). In those cases, it would probably be best to create an alternate copy of the project properties and adjust it for the expected export settings, then use the export template needed.
...Or do master quality output and process using special tools like AVISynth, frameserving to an encoder...

Scott

[budwzr]

So the short answer is "Yes", the long answer is "No", and something in the middle would be a Yes and No depending on the situation. That should clarify it.

[Cornucopia]

So the short answer is "Yes", the long answer is "No", and something in the middle would be a Yes and No depending on the situation. That should clarify it.

Depends on which question you're referring to...

Scott