Changing Vegas transtition legths

[stantheman1976]

I'm doing a 2 cam mix in vegas and I want to put a smooth crossfade between the cuts that take a few seconds, but I can't find a way to make the transitions in vegas longer. Is there a way to set the default tranition length? I did read the Vegas help setion on transitions and it gives an option in preferences that is supposed to be checked and it is.

[guns1inger]

If you hover the mouse over the end of the clip (near the top of that clip's timeline) where the transition is, it will change shape to indicate that you are now affecting the transition. You can then drag the cursor to make the transition as long or as short as required.

[stantheman1976]

That works for changing how long the transition takes over the scene it's changing to, but can I get it to stretch over both scenes for an equal time? In other words, I want the transition to start about 1 second before the angle change and last about 1 second into the next angle so it's slow and smooth. The method you gave only changes the time it lasts into the second angle.

[stantheman1976]

http://sldigitalvideos.com/events-index.htm

Check out the beauty pageant sample here. I'm trying to get a smooth transition like that, but I can't seem to accomplish this in Vegas.

[guns1inger]

They appear to be simple cross fades, so they should be simple to replicate. The length of a cross fade is determined by the amount of cross over you have between the clips. There are two ways to do this quickly in Vegas.

1. Single Timeline. Both clips are on the same timeline, and but up against each other end to end. Drag the second clip (by the clip, not by the end handle) back over the first clip. Vegas will automatically put a cross fade over the join - you will see the transition curves cross over where the clips overlap. Vary the length of the fade by making the overlap longer or shorter.

The timeline will look like this

1111111XXXXX22222

Where XXXXX is the area of overlap.

2. Two (or more) timelines. If you have each clip on it's own timeline, move the second clip so that is starts before the first clip ends. Move your cursor to the top right corner of the first clip until is changes shape to a curve, With the left button down, drag the curve back to the left until it lines up with the start of the second clip. You have now added a cross fade to the top clip - basically a gradual reduction of the opacity of the layer. Again, the further to the left, the longer the fade. Make sure that the start of the second (lower) clip matches the start of the cross fade. It should look something like this

11111111XXXXX
________222222222222

[stantheman1976]

Wouldn't the first method affect the a/v sync? I'm using 2 angles and keeping the audio from the second angle. So I have the clips on 1 timeline. If I move a clip out of place it would go out of sync wouldn't it?

[guns1inger]

The joys of editing.

As you have two angles, it should not be an issue. It means you have to cut to the second angle sooner to make the transition longer, or hide the sync through clever cutting.

It is a lot harder if you only have one camera. Two camera should make this reasonably easy.

Personally, I would have the clips on two timelines, one for each camera. Use split to break the clips where your transitions will be

1111111111sXXXXXXs00000000sXXXXXXXs111111111
222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222

Camera 1 is timeline 1. Where there are 1s, you have visible footage. s is a split point. XXXXX is the transition. Where there are 0s, opacity has been pulled right down (completely transparent)

Camera 2 is timeline 2. Same deal.

In this set up, you see footage from camera 1, a cross fade to 2, footage from 2, a crossfade back to 1, then footage from 1. You don't even have to change camera 2 because where camera 1 is opaque (opacity is right up, camera 2 cannot be seen. Both stay in perfect sync. If you are just crass fading between cameras, this is all you have to do.

Sync only becomes an issue if you need to start cutting in earlier parts from 2 later in the sequence.

[stantheman1976]

Sounds reasonable. Thanks once again. I'll work on it when I get home tonight.