Animation with Vegas? Can it be done

[Coldkilla9]

I am going to be making an animation movie for my film class using vegas 6. I was wondering if it would be possible to take the 5,000 pictures my camera can hold at one time, put them on my computer, drag them into vegas, and combine all the clips without having to set the length on each clip individually? Thanks

[crazy14muzic]

sure its possible and very easy to do

first go to your file menu selects import > media



make sure that you select Open still image sequence

in this next window you can tweak your settings. I play around with the framerate slowing or speeding up your animated pictures.



I have used this even with image sequences created by virtualdub. Just something fun to mess around with.

[crazy14muzic]

the only other thing that i thought you might have to do is name your image sequence in order for it to work. that much i havent messed around with.

good luck

[Coldkilla9]

omg i love you! aaahahhahahah sweet.

Now I haven't tried this yet.
1 more question. Is there a away to merge' all the images into 1 clip? so i can add transitions and such? Im sure this is a dumb question but HEY!


Thanks for the last post! Helped a lot. I'll be trying this tomarrow when I have a minute to sit on it.

Thx

[GreyDeath]

You probably just need to render the frames into a DV AVIs and edit them from there. I'm not sure if there's an Opacity Envelope in Vegas, that would be what your looking for. Check the Help Menu.

[crazy14muzic]

Is there a away to merge' all the images into 1 clip?

When you add it to the timeline, they will be added as one clip.

[Coldkilla9]

I'll be sure to test it by sunday. thx

[guns1inger]

In Vegas 6 you can nest projects. Add all you clips to the timeline as decribed above. Save this as a project. Open a new project, and drag the clip project to the timeline instead of a video. Viola, you can use this as if it were a rendered clip, but without having to create an intermediate video.

[Cunhambebe]

you can nest projects. Add all you clips to the timeline as decribed above. Save this as a project. Open a new project, and drag the clip project to the timeline instead of a video.

Vegas is great, isn't it?!

[GreyDeath]

Damn, I gotta upgrade... I'm still using Vegas 4.

Of course, coming from Sony, I'd wonder if there's any kind of malicious code embedded in the video that gives away your personal info, or who made the clip. ;P

I don't want any of my projects leading back to me. Mwahahahaaa.... j/k

[Coldkilla9]

I tried yur post: crazy14muzic

I hit: Import > Media > Highlighted my images > Open image sequence > hit ok, got into the properties framerate dialog box. Hit ok and it gave me an error. Something to do with opening the next file after the first one. After the error, only 1 of the 300 or so pictures came up in the timeline.

The clip was very short and that was the only thing perfect about it. Problem was, it only put 1 clip in there.

[BJ_M]

your files are named wrong ...


rename them with something like infraview to (example)

image.000001.jpg
image.000002.jpg
image.000003.jpg


you need the leading zeros and/or the same lenth of numbers by using padding..

different programs read such seq. different btw ...

also -- make sure you right click on the clip on your time line and tell it the fps of your animation (animations are ussually 30fps) and make your project properties the same....

[Coldkilla9]

k. I'll be able to try this tomarrow. Now if this for some reason don't work. Is there another 3rd party program that could simply bring the clips together into 1. Then I'd use vegas to edit?

1 more question: If the above is something that I have to do. Since the images are now a video clip. is it possible to take the video, copy it, and litterally freeze it at a certain point, then stretch it as if it were an image.

Now I know that I could just refer back to the possible 10,000 images in my animation and find that specific picture and THEN stretch it. but i'd like to take a portion of the video and freze it and make it back into a freeze frame. Something I could stretch like an image, to make it longer.

[BJ_M]

1. yes - virtualdubmod

2. yes - it is the same as working with an avi or mov file

[Coldkilla9]

I have virtualdubmod now.

I hate to ask all these basic questions but, how would i import multiple images into virtualdubmod and have that run my animation in order for me to finally save it and export it so i can edit it with vegas.

[BJ_M]

well as mentioned, you can import it directly into vegas ..

or open it in vdubmod and set frame rate (same as vegas) and frame serve it .... open frame served file in vfapi and frame serve that to vegas (instructions on this site in guides) ..


or

open in vdubmod and save it out as an avi


its much quicker in your case though to just open the seq in vegas and go from there ..

[Coldkilla9]

I hate to ask but. When I select my clips to drag into virtualdubmod, only 1-2 images get dragged in.

[Coldkilla9]

Alright I am confused. You now have more than one tool suggested to get about 500 pictures compressed and made into a video clip. I cannot use vegas since it's not listening to me by giving me errors. I just need to know the program I can drag the images into and save it as a video file.

If its not that simple, please just tell me the (im sure) 1-2 steps that are needed to get it to do what I want it to. Thanks. Sry for the in-specific question before.

[BJ_M]

use vegas


name you files correctly


make sure they are the same resolution and in the same directory

read the vegas manual

see the example above


i import 100's of thousands of images into vegas at a time and never had problem - other than it takes awhile to parse huge 100,000+ image directories

[Coldkilla9]

Nothing ever works for me.. I dont get it..

Here:



Tell me what im doing wrong.. I dont see it.

[GreyDeath]

Hmm... how about using Photoshop (if you have it) and saving as an Animated Gif? I think I made one a long time ago using it. However, I don't recall if you can dictate what speed the frames go at.

Now looking at your Properties in Step 3 (I think), did you try it as Progressive and not Interlaced? Maybe that has something to do with it since pics are not interlaced to begin with. :/

Also, why is the file name for the Properties 95-139? I thought you were getting frames 1-95? Maybe that has something to do with the "File not found?" Granted, this is all speculation on my part, I don't have Vegas 6

[BJ_M]

select only the first file in vegas - not all of them ...

a gif will kill all quality ...

[Coldkilla9]

I got it! Thanks so much! All it was was selecting the first file opposed to selecting them all. Thanks again

1-2 things yet and im done and i hope these are easier ones:
I have these clips all in 1 merged clip now. Is there a way to:

1. Freeze a section of view and have it as long as i need it
2. A way to slow parts of the video down to a playback rate less than .250?

[Coldkilla9]

Any ideas? or are the questions above suited for a new thread or? Im sure there is an answer out there, I just dont know what to write in a search field for those questions in particular, otherwise I'd be all over FAQ's, but if there is a simple solution and yall wouldnt mind giving me a more direct approach say you write it here, I'd appreciate it much. Thanks!

[BJ_M]

both are simple to do .... i suggest going through some tutorials

http://www.vasst.com/?v=Tempfolder/Tutorials/Tutorial%20linksnew.htm

[Coldkilla9]

I went there, looked up "freeze video" got nothing. Looked up "lock video" nothing agian. i dont know what else to do. I've also looked up
"slow playback" or "slow down" and a bunch of other phrases but still nothing...

[guns1inger]

To freeze you have a couple of choices. As you have the stills, you could simply insert a long still at that point. If you are working with a clip, look at velocity envelopes in the help file.