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Image in Sony Vegas. Sony Vegas about how to use and basic operations for beginners

Today you will learn how to overlay an image in Sony Vegas. What is it for? Your goals may vary, but in today's lesson, you'll learn how to put your logo on a video. Although it is clear that you can overlay a picture on a video for other purposes.

In this tutorial, you will need not only Sony Vegas, but also Photoshop, in which we will prepare a picture for insertion.

In previous lessons, we made slideshows. Here is a list of these lessons.

Now, on the resulting video, you need to insert your logo.

Creating a logo in Photoshop.

First, in Photoshop itself, you need to create your logo. I won't go into detail on this here. I'll just say that you need to get a drawing that maintains the transparency of the layer. In our example, this will be a .png file. This format contains information about transparency, thus, only what we need will be displayed in our video. That is, only the icon itself and the text with the name of the site, which we will insert into our video.

Now we need to insert the resulting image into our video.

How to add a picture to a video in Sony Vegas.

Open a project in Sony Vegas, or create a new one. Next, you need to add another video track and add a picture there.

Now, taking hold of the edge of the picture, let’s stretch it along the entire length of the project (the logo should be throughout the entire video).

Then, using the “Pan” tool, we will adjust the size of the logo and place it in the right place.

That's all. Now you have learned how to overlay an image in Sony Vegas and you can place your logo on your video.

Well, what happened in my example, watch the video.

All actions with video material were carried out on one video track. Now we will touch on actions that use the multi-track editor. First, let's look at some principles of multi-track video editing (in their basics, they are also applicable in other video editors).

Each video track represents a certain “layer” with an image. If there are several tracks, then the image in them is superimposed on each other in layers: the one above it is superimposed on the lowest track, and so on, from bottom to top. This happens exactly in the order in which the tracks are located vertically on the editing table - the first track from the top is superimposed on the second, the result of the superposition is superimposed on the third, etc. In this case, the tracks are mixed with each other through the so-called alpha channel, or transparency mask (by default, each track is completely opaque). Thus, working with many tracks is carried out similarly to working with layers in the Adobe Photoshop graphics editor.

Each video clip on a track has its own level of “opacity,” or Opacity. If you move the mouse cursor over the top edge of a video clip until the cursor changes to the shape of a hand with a finger pointing up, you can see the current opacity level in a tooltip (by default, all clips are opaque, with an Opacity level of 100%):

If you hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor down, you can make the video clip semi-transparent, up to full transparency (Opacity value 0%). If there is only one video track in the project, then in the Video Preview window and on the frames of the clip itself you will see that the image darkens to black. This happens because there is always a black background underneath the bottom track, and when blended with it, the translucent clip becomes darker.

To the left of the video track is the so-called Track Header window, on which its number is written, and there are also track controls (see the figure above). If you move the mouse cursor over a button or icon in the title window, a tooltip appears with the name of the element. Let's look at the purpose of some elements:

  • MinimizeTrackHeight- this button allows you to minimize/restore the height of the track;
  • MaximizeTrackHeight- this button allows you to maximize/restore the track height;
  • TrackNumber- track number, as well as an icon indicating the type of track (video/audio);
  • TrackName- track name (blank by default), which can be edited by double-clicking on it;
  • BypassMotionBlur- this button allows you to turn off (if pressed) or turn on (if pressed) the so-called Motion Blur, or “smoothing” of the image on the track if video effects with movement are applied to it (see below);
  • TrackMotion- this button opens a window that allows you to set the movement of the image on the track, or simply “crop” or scale the image (see below);
  • TrackFX- this button opens a window that allows you to set a chain of video effects for processing the track (see below);
  • Mute- this button “disables” the track - it stops participating in the formation of the image, and, as it were, “disappears” from the project;
  • Solo- this button “prohibits” all tracks except this one;
  • Level- this engine allows you to set the level of opacity (Opacity) of the image of a given track (default 100%) - if you reduce it, the image on the track will become translucent (up to completely transparent, if set to 0%);
  • Compositingmode- this button allows you to select the mode of mixing this track with the underlying ones. For “regular” video editing, without the need for complex video processing, you do not need to touch this button, leaving the default Source Alpha mode.

We'll need a description of the track header later, but for now let's look at an example that uses overlaying one track on another - overlaying titles on video. Let's say the video material is on the first video track. You need to add a video track above so that the image on it overlaps the existing video. Right-click above the video track title, select the menu item Insert Video Track. An empty video track will appear, and the existing one will appear below it, moving to the second position. We will add captions to it.

To do this, in the lower section of the program window, find the tab MediaGenerators(image generators) and select Text, Soft Shadow icon - text with a “soft shadow”. Drag the effect icon onto the first video track. A video clip will be created that generates text with a shadow, and by overlaying the first video track with the second, the text will be superimposed on the video. To edit the text, click the Generated Media... button on the right side of the clip (if the button is not visible, increase the track height by dragging the horizontal line between the first and second video track titles). In the window that appears, there are several tabs that allow you to edit the text (as well as select the font style and size - Edit) and change its position in the frame (Placement), set the color of the text and background (Properties), the color of the border (it can be turned on/off and changed thickness), shadow thickness and intensity (Effects). You can also deform text in several ways (to do this, you need to enable the Enable Deformation option).

Move the borders of the text clip to the desired location, press the Play button and see the result. You can also set FadeIn/FadeOut to make the titles fade in and out. The picture shows an example where the credits start appearing a second after the start of the video, fade in for two seconds, and fade out at the end. The result is immediately visible in the Preview window.

In addition to static text with a given color and shadow, there is a Credit Roll generator that allows you to show scrolling text, like at the end of a movie (credits can also appear one after another with various effects). Starting with version 8, the program has a new text generator - ProType Titler, which allows you to create more complex titles with additional effects and various options for text placement, rotation, and others. However, this is where the possibilities for adding titles in the program are exhausted. Those who need more complex titles will have to install additional plugins (for example, ProDAD Heroglyph).

Let's look at another example - picture in picture. To do this, you also need to create two video tracks, on the second (lower) place a full-screen video (background), and on the first (upper) - a video that should be shown on top of the full-screen in a reduced window:

Let's remember the description of the Track Header window (see above) and click on the button on the header of the first video track Track Motion. In the window that opens, you can position the window in which the video should be displayed in the desired part of the video frame, and also set the dimensions of this window:

The frame in the center of the window takes up the entire video frame by default (note the values ​​in the Position group on the left). If you change its size and position, the video track window will move in the same way. Disable the Scale About Center button at the top of the window, leaving the Lock Aspect Ratio button pressed. Drag the lower right corner of the frame (when you move the mouse cursor to it, it is circled) to the left up so that it shrinks and ends up in the upper left corner (note the changed values ​​in the Position group). To make it more impressive, also turn on the 2D Shadow option in the lower left corner.

In the Video Preview window, the desired result will be immediately visible - the picture of the first video track will be visible in a reduced form against the background of the picture of the second video track, with a shadow around the frame.

2. Animation of processing parameters

After reading the previous paragraphs, the reader may have a reasonable question: “Motion” is movement, but what does it have to do with it? You can not only set the position of the video window, but also make it move around the frame as the video plays.

To do this, at the desired starting position in the project (for example, at the beginning of a video track), call the Track Motion window and click the button SyncCursor at the bottom of the window, and now the current position of the video track window will be linked to the current cursor position in the project. In the picture above, we have placed the track window in the upper left part of the video frame. Now move the current position in the project by clicking on the slider at the bottom of the Track Motion window, to the right. Move the frame position to the bottom right of the window, and click the Create Keyframe button:

At the current position in the project, a key point will be added with the new position of the video track window. Close the Track Motion window, move the current position on the timeline to the beginning of the project (press Ctrl+Home) and press the Play button to see the result in the Video Preview window. Your computer's performance may not be sufficient for smooth playback - in this case, you can reduce the preview rendering quality by selecting Preview or Draft quality in the Preview Quality drop-down list above the image in the window. In any case, this is just a preview; you don’t have to worry about the quality of the video in the resulting file - the movement of the picture within the picture will look absolutely smooth.

Here we looked at an important property of Sony Vegas - key points that set a smooth change, or animation, of video processing parameters. They can also be set for any parameters of video effects assigned to processing video tracks.

Let's look at a related example - the smooth "transformation" of color video into black and white.

Place the video clip on the track, move to the beginning of the project (Ctrl+Home), click the Event FX button on the right side of the clip (if the button is not visible, increase the height of the video track), or the Track FX button on the video track header on the left (Track Header, see above) . In the window that appears with a list of effects, select Sony HSL Adjust and click OK. The effect window will appear; at the bottom of it, click the Sync Cursor button. At the current position (beginning of the clip), leave the Saturation value unchanged (1.0). Move the current position slider at the bottom of the window all the way to the right and click the Create Keyframe button below (you can also press the Insert key on your keyboard). A cue point will be added at the end of the clip. At this point, set the Saturation parameter to zero:

Now you can close the effect window, press the Play button and see in the Preview window what the result is - the clip, initially in color, becomes black and white as it plays. The nature (speed) of parameter changes can be changed - to do this, right-click over the key point on the time ruler at the bottom of the effect window and select the desired type of parameter change profile (you can also select Hold - leave the parameter value unchanged until the next key point).

Similarly, you can set the animation of the parameters of almost any transitions (Transitions) - for example, in the “sheet folding” effect, as it is folded, you can smoothly change the thickness and angle of the curl, the color and intensity of lighting, etc. Everything is limited only by your plans and imagination. Experiment with different effects and transitions, and see for yourself how much room for creativity animating their parameters provides.

3. Working with sound

As stated at the beginning of the article, Vegas was originally developed as a powerful multi-track audio editor. The possibilities for audio processing are very wide - the program allows you to:

  • create projects with both stereo sound and surround sound in 5.1 format. Starting from version 8 Pro, the program supports sound in Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 format and at the input;
  • record sound from the input of a sound card (recording simultaneously from several sound cards, including multi-channel ones is supported);
  • place an unlimited number of audio clips on audio tracks, with different compression and formats (number of channels and sampling frequency) simultaneously in one project, without the need for preliminary audio decompression (it is carried out “on the fly”, during playback or output of the editing result to the final file) ;
  • in the same way as for video clips, set FadeIn/FadeOut for audio clips, with the ability to select one of five forms of the fade profile (when clips are superimposed on each other, you get 25 options for the transition of one clip to another by changing the volume of both);
  • turn on and off (Mute, mute) audio tracks.
  • set the volume and stereo panorama (for projects with 5.1 sound - the position of the sound in space) for each track;
  • assign profiles (or envelopes, Envelopes) to audio tracks for changes in volume/panorama over time with nodal points (for projects with 5.1 sound - a profile of the sound position in space);
  • assign effect chains to audio tracks for real-time audio processing. The kit includes several dozen effects: various filters, equalizers, dynamic range compressors, echo, etc. Any third-party DirectX and VST plug-ins for audio processing are also supported;
  • for some effects, it allows you to assign profiles (envelopes) of changes in their parameters over time to audio tracks;
  • combine audio tracks into groups (the so-called Bus, or buses) in order to simultaneously control their volume, or assign the same set of effects to them;
  • output sound to a variety of formats (including mp3, AC3, and in the case of WAV and AVI formats - to any format for which the ACM audio codec is installed in the system).

In this article it is impossible to consider in detail all the sound capabilities of the program, so we will focus only on some that are often used when editing home videos.

For example, you need to perform a simple action - replace part of the audio in a video. To do this, click on the desired video clip with audio and ungroup it (press U) so that the audio and video are edited separately. Let's say you need to replace the beginning of a sound with another one - from a sound file. First, drag the left edge of the original audio clip to the right to make room for the audio you're adding. Then, in the Explorer section, find the desired audio file (for example, in mp3 format) and drag it onto the timeline, onto a separate audio track. Adjust the end of the added audio clip so that it has the desired duration. Then drag it onto the same audio track as the original footage audio. You can make it partially overlap the sound of the video sequence - in this case, the sound will smoothly transition from one clip to another:

If you press the right mouse button above the place where sounds overlap (the so-called Crossfade), then in the submenu Fade Type You can choose the shape of the volume envelopes of each of the two audio clips - a total of 25 options are available (the same as those available for Crossfade video clips). So that in the future the video clip and both sounds move together, or are not accidentally ungrouped, they can be combined into a group - select them by clicking them with the mouse while holding down the Ctrl key and pressing G.

I often want add music to video sequence. Even a rather boring and monotonous video can look different if you add music to it. This is done very simply: find the desired audio file (for example, in mp3 format) in the Explorer section and drag it with the mouse onto the timeline just below the audio track of the video sequence. An audio track will be automatically created and the audio clip will be placed on it. If necessary, move the audio clip to the desired place, “cut” its beginning/end, add FadeIn/FadeOut - all this is done in the same way as it is done with video clips (see the section “Editing Basics”). Naturally, you can add any number of sound clips to your project this way.

But simply throwing music into a project is only half the battle. It is important to choose the right volume so that it does not sound intrusive and does not interfere with the viewing of your video.

Be sure to try to see the result of the editing yourself by listening to the sound, both in headphones and in speakers, at different volumes. If you want the music to only be an additional background and not replace the original sound, then it is important to select the volume of the music so that even at low speaker volumes the original sound sounds clearly (in particular, the words in the voices of people in the frame should be clearly and legibly perceived ). Most likely, the volume of each musical composition will have to be selected separately. To do this, move the mouse cursor to the top edge of the audio clip (the cursor will change to a hand with a finger and up and down arrows) and drag it down with the left mouse button pressed. In this case, the volume (Gain, gain) will decrease. Reducing the volume by 6 dB (decibels) means reducing the amplitude of the sound by half. Listen to at least a few seconds of the original audio along with the music and make sure that the music is not too loud, and if it is not, turn down the volume. Do this with each music video, listening to different parts of the edit.

It may turn out that in some areas you only need to temporarily “mute” the volume of the music so that at that moment only the sounds in the frame (for example, people’s voices) are heard, or, conversely, to add drama or dynamism to the plot, the music needs to be made louder by few seconds. To do this you need to add volume profile to a soundtrack with music.

To do this, select the desired audio track (click on its title on the left) and call the menu command Insert/Audio Envelopes/Volume. A horizontal line will appear on the track - this is the profile, or the envelope of the volume change. In the place where you need to reduce the sound volume, right-click above the profile and call the Add Point menu command, and add another one a little to the right. Then move to the place where the volume should return to its original value and add two profile points there too. As a result, a horizontal section is formed between the two middle points, which can be “pulled” up and down with the mouse to increase/decrease the sound volume in this section. The figure shows how to attenuate the sound by 12 dB (four times the amplitude) over a 10-second segment:

If you need to completely muffle the sound, the corresponding section of the profile should be pulled down “all the way” so that the volume takes on the value -Inf (minus infinity, which in decibels corresponds to the amplitude multiplied by zero).
If you need the volume to smoothly change from one value to another, add volume profile points in the right places and set the desired gain values ​​in them - either by dragging the points up/down with the mouse, or by calling the Set To... command in the menu with the right mouse button above the point. To set the initial sound volume at any point (disable volume changes), select the Set to 0.0 dB command.

Between points, the default volume profile is linear. In the menu above the profile section, you can select the shape of the profile change curve -Linear,Fast,Slow,smooth,Sharp. TypeHold means that until the next point the profile value will be constant.

The volume of each audio track can be changed entirely - for this, use the Vol slider on the track header (if the slider is not visible, stretch the header across the width):

It happens that music added to a project sounds too quiet when the volume is reduced, and too intrusive when increased, with loud bass and intrusive high frequencies, and it is difficult to find the “golden mean”. You can correct the situation using a sound equalizer. On the title of the audio track with music, click the Track FX... button, a window for assigning sound effects (processing) to the track will appear. Among them, Track EQ is immediately present by default - click on the effect name at the top to activate its window.

An equalizer allows you to change the sound volume as desired in certain frequency ranges, or bands. By default, the equalizer does not change anything (all gain parameters are set to 0 dB). Let's start with the lower frequencies (bass). Click on tab 1 (Low Shelf filter type). Drag the Gain slider to the left to tone down the low frequencies. Drag the Frequency slider to the right to increase the filter's cutoff frequency. The higher the frequency, the more low frequencies will be suppressed. You can start playback in the main window and listen to what you get, while simultaneously selecting the frequency and degree of suppression on the fly.

Now you need to muffle the high frequencies (the upper sounds of percussion instruments, various noise effects, ringing, etc. are usually heard there). Click on tab 4 (High Shelf filter type). Similarly, select the degree of suppression (Gain) and cutoff frequency (Frequency). The lower the frequency, the more high frequencies will be suppressed.

As a result, we have the following picture: the low and high frequencies of the music are muffled, and the music now sounds less intrusive, without interfering with the perception of the main sound in the video.

Low frequency reduction can also be used to reduce the audibility of wind noise (more on this in).

It happens that voices in the frame sound unintelligible. This can also be corrected using an equalizer - just increase the volume in the mid-frequency region (about 2-3 kHz for a male voice and 4-5 kHz for a female voice). To do this, open the equalizer window on the audio track with audio from the video sequence. Select tab 3 (Band filter type) and increase the gain (Gain), and also change the center frequency of the band (Frequency).

Play the project and try to adjust the gain and center frequency of the band on the fly so that your voice sounds more clearly. You can also increase the bandwidth (Bandwidth, in octaves). It is not recommended to increase the volume of mid frequencies too much (more than 6 dB), otherwise the voice may sound like it’s coming from a telephone. You can read more about this in.

If the equalizer in a project does not need to process the entire sound, but only its parts (for example, where there are people talking in the frame), then all the areas that need to be processed should be left on the audio track to which the equalizer is assigned, and the remaining audio clips should be transferred to a separate track on which no audio processing effects are assigned.

In addition to the equalizer, a Track Compressor effect is automatically assigned to audio tracks, designed to reduce the dynamic range of the audio track. It can be used to reduce the difference between loud and quiet sounds - for example, in scenes where, along with quietly speaking people, there are sometimes loud bangs, door slams, etc. in the frame. You can read more about how this can be done in.

You can also assign processing to an entire project using the Master FX... button in the Mixer window. When you call the add effects command, a window appears with a list of effects divided into categories. Select the desired effect, click the Add and OK buttons.

By analogy with the animation of video effect parameters (see the corresponding section above), you can set animation of sound effects parameters. For example, you can define a profile for how the frequency of an equalizer filter changes over time. On the header of the audio track to which we have assigned an equalizer to increase the clarity of the voice, click the down arrow button on the right side of the Track FX button... In the drop-down menu, select the FX Automation command, in the window that appears, select the Track EQ effect. The list shows the names of processing parameters that can be made time-varying during playback. Check the Band 3 Frequency checkbox and click OK. A new profile will appear on the audio track, which can be controlled in the same way as the volume profile: add points, move them, set frequency values ​​​​at each point by entering a value, etc.

By controlling the processing parameters during playback, you can get a wide variety of sound effects - for example, using the Delay effect you can get an echo with a variable “reflection” time of the sound.

4. Output the result to a file

Saving the editing result to the output video file (not to be confused with saving the editing project) is done using the menu command File/Render As... In the “File type” list, select the desired container format (for example, Video for Windows for an avi file), in the Template list ( template) select the compression format. Click the Custom button to view and/or set video and audio compression parameters (in the Project tab, do not forget to select Best in the Video rendering quality list). If necessary, enable/disable the Include Video/Include Audio flags to include/exclude video and audio in the output file. In the Video format drop-down list (Video tab), select the format (codec) for video compression; in the Audio format list (Audio tab), select the format (codec) for audio compression.

In order for a custom audio codec (format) to be available, you must select a video format other thanD.V.

If the project uses interlaced video (and in most cases this is the case for video from a camcorder), then it is important that the correct field order is set in all source files (in the file properties in the Project Media window), and it is better to have the same order fields are set in the project properties and in the output video settings to minimize image transformations. If you want to save raw sections of video without recompression, this requirement becomes mandatory (in this case, the frame size/frequency must also match, and for MPEG2, the compression parameters, in particular, the bitrate).

For MPEG files (in MPEG2, HDV, AVCHD formats), the order of the fields is specified directly in the source files, so the program determines the order of the fields automatically (of course, if the specified order coincides with the actual one - exceptions are rare, but they happen when the file is incorrectly recoded; if the video is taken from a camera or capture board, then the order of the fields in the file is correct).

In the case of AVI files, it is generally impossible to automatically determine the field order, but, for example, for interlaced video from DV video cameras, the correct field order is Lower Field First. For video captured by most TV tuners, the field order is usually reversed - Upper Field First. If the actual order of the fields is unknown or there is no certainty, then it can be determined using the method described in.

If you want to save video in MPEG2 format for DVD, then MainConcept MPEG plug-in for Vegas must be installed and registered. In the latest versions of Vegas, you need to install the Sony DVD Architect program to do this. In this case, you need to select MainConcept MPEG2 in the list of file types, and the desired template (for example, DVD PAL) in the list of templates. If necessary, you need to adjust the video and/or audio bitrate, depending on how much video you need to put on the DVD. For one-hour material, single-pass encoding at 8 Mbps for video is usually sufficient (more on this in).

If Sony DVD Architect is used as a DVD authoring program, then the marks placed in the project (inserted by pressing Ctrl+M at the current position) can be used to indicate the beginning of chapters in the created DVD. When saving a file in MPEG2 format, enable the “Save project markers in media file” option in the file save dialog, and DVD Architect will automatically use the project markers as the beginning marks of the DVD chapters (more precisely, the disc section that will be obtained from this MPEG2 file) .

Be prepared for the fact that saving the resulting file can take quite a long time (up to several tens of hours depending on the duration of the project, video resolution, compression format and computer power). If a significant part of the project is saved without recompression, then it is better to keep the source files on one hard drive, and save the result on another, physically separate hard drive, in order to significantly speed up the data copying operation.

5. Encoding using a frameserver

Sometimes there are situations when you need to compress the editing result using an external encoder program. This can be done by first saving the result into an AVI file without compression, or using a codec that allows you to save data without loss. In both cases, a lot of disk space will be required: for example, in the case of an hour-long project, saving it in an uncompressed format will require tens of gigabytes, and saving will take a very long time. If the result is needed only to transfer it to another program for encoding, then it is possible to avoid saving such a large intermediate file. To do this, there is a small free frameserver program DebugMode FrameServer, which can be downloaded from its official website.

After installing the frameserver, launch Vegas, open the desired project and call the File/Render As menu. From the list of file types, select DebugMode FrameServer.

If this type is not in the list of formats, try using .

When you click Save, specify a folder on the disk to save the intermediate file. After this, the frameserver settings window will appear:

The parameters can be left as default, as shown in the figure. At the press of a button Next an intermediate AVI file (this will take some time) of small size will be created in the specified folder. It can be opened in any encoder program (Canopus ProCoder, TMPGEnc, etc.), and as soon as encoding is started, the encoding data will be transferred to the encoder directly from Vegas in uncompressed form, that is, without loss. This method of data transfer is called frameserving, when frames are transferred upon request directly from the editing program to the encoder through memory, bypassing recording into a large intermediate file. Among other conveniences, this method allows for multi-pass encoding using encoders that support it.

Attention: do not try to open the same intermediate AVI file in several copies of encoding programs at once - the encoding result will be unpredictable. The described frameserver does not have correct support for this mode, and is designed for sequential coding of a project (although multi-pass coding is also allowed) with only one external process.

Once encoding is complete, close the external encoder program and click StopServing in the Debugmode FrameServer window.

6. Useful links

It is impossible to describe all the features of the program in one article. There are resources online that can help both beginners and advanced users study the program in more depth.

  1. reviews of previous versions of the program on:, the website of the program manufacturer, in order to be aware of the release of new versions and capabilities of the program. There you can also find detailed proprietary documentation for the program in English.

    And, of course, welcome to discuss or ask questions about Vegas.

The article contains the most basic operations and commands that will help a person who is encountering this program for the first time (after downloading and setting it up) to quickly understand “where everything is” and how to use it. The text is accompanied by screenshots and videos. I want to start with the important team, the most in demand, the one that saves the day very often.

Download and install + settings Sony Vegas Pro 15

1. Computer requirements

2. Sequence of actions

The first thing is to first download and install codecs.

The second is to download and install the program.

Third, set up the program and project (you need to set it up when inserting the first video or picture or audio).

This is more correct. If during further work some problems suddenly occur in video recognition, then the codecs can be reinstalled again without deleting the previous version. Essentially, make updates.

You can configure the project in different ways. In this guide, I recommend setting it up so that you can get a high-quality output video and post it on YouTube.

3. Where to download and how to install codecs.

4. Where to download and how to install the program.

5. Program settings.

6. Project setup

Before you start editing, set up your project for publishing on YouTube. It is advisable that you use HD or FullHD video. Project settings are located at the top left of the preview window.

Frequently asked questions about the interface while working:

Interface settings

: The article on the site fully describes how to customize the interface for yourself. For example, make work areas light instead of black, remove unnecessary windows, restore the “default” view, etc.

How to return the default view.

Restore the default interface view - when the button is pressed ALT Press English on your keyboard twice . D(Russian V)

Sony Vegas Pro track divided into a and b

  • What to do if the track on the timeline becomes wide and splits into several more (see screenshot below)

In this case, right-click on the “title” of the track and uncheck the command ExpandTrackLayers. The view of the track will be restored.

2. Basic actions and commands

1. Undo command

In order not to be afraid of “ruining” something, remember that there is always the possibility of undoing the last actions.

The cancel button is located in the top menu.


2. Loading and moving files onto the timeline

How to upload video, audio, images to Sony Vegas.
To download and further work, simply drag the desired file onto the timeline with the mouse - the desired track will be added automatically and the file itself will appear on it.

3. How to separate video and audio tracks in Sony Vegas to work with them separately

How to separate audio from video in Sony Vegas Pro? Place the cursor anywhere in the video and press on the keyboard U. Now you can move (edit, delete, copy, etc.) each track separately.

4. Cut video (audio) and delete fragment

Place the cursor in the place where you want to cut the file and press on the keyboard S.

The file will be cut at this point. All individual mouse fragments can be moved on the track, swapped, or transferred to other tracks. cut in the right places and press DEL from the keyboard or right-click to open the context menu and select the “Delet” command.

5. How to trim a video in Sony Vegas Pro: shorten the video (audio or duration of the picture in the frame)

Option 1. Drag the edge of the file with the mouse, moving the border in the desired direction to the required length. The file will automatically “collapse” what you move. If you move the border further than necessary, simply pull it back.

Option 2. Place the cursor where you want the new file boundary to be. Press S and remove the cut piece (see point above).

6. Insert a picture or video (audio) between separate pieces of video (audio).

If you need to insert a picture or video into a whole (not cut) fragment, then you first need to cut (see above how) it in the place where you intend to insert it.

Then move apart the resulting pieces of media and drag the video (audio) or picture to the resulting space on the track.

All individual fragments can be moved along the track, swapped, etc. by normal mouse dragging.

7. Sony Vegas transitions: How to make simple transitions from one video fragment (audio) to another

On one track, arrange the video (audio) files in the desired sequence.

To transition, move adjacent fragments so that one is partially on top of the other. Crossed transition lines (blue and white) will appear.
The duration of the transition is regulated by shifting the fragments. The more they overlap each other, the longer (longer in the frame) the transition from one video (audio) to another will be. The number of frames is indicated, you can’t go wrong.

8. Sony Vegas transitions: using Transitions (with different effects)

Select in tab Transitions the desired transition and drag it with the mouse to the area for changing fragments, which is discussed in paragraph 6.

If you don't like the result, select another transition and drag it onto the track. It is not necessary to delete the previous one; the last superimposed transition will take priority.

9. Sony Vegas transitions: Smooth and/or with effects the appearance of video (pictures) in the frame

In order for the video (picture) to smoothly appear in the frame or smoothly leave it, you need to find a small blue marker in the upper left (when entering) or in the upper right (when exiting).

Hover your cursor over it so that the transition icon appears—a triangle. Pull it to the side and a transition line will appear.

The pictures show the execution at the input. The same is done at the end of the file for exit.

Tab Transitions used for beautiful command or departure (flying in and out). Drag the selected transition with the mouse exactly as shown in step 7. The video will appear with the selected Transitions effects.

If you want to change the transition to another, you don’t have to delete the previous one, the new one will have priority.

10. Sony Vegas Pro increase volume, gain and attenuation of audio.

Performed exactly the same as in step 8, only without transition overlay. Simply shift the triangle at the beginning or end of the selected fragment.

Decrease or increase volume it can be done in different ways.

First– drag the mouse over the upper border (there is a blue marker strip) of the audio track on the timeline down/up. This is how the volume of a specific file changes. Others remain unchanged.

Second option– on the track control panel (in the picture in blue), move the volume level slider. This changes the volume of the entire track, that is, of all files located on a given audio track.


The maximum possible volume can be set in the mixer in the Master Bus window

Sony Vegas Pro how to save a video project and render the project

The concepts of “Save” and “Render” are different.

Render project - this is the output of the editing results in video format, you get a video that can be uploaded to social networks, etc.

11. Sony Vegas Pro How to save a project

The save button is located in the top menu (floppy disk icon) and in the drop-down menu when you click on “File”. If you want to save an existing project with a different name, then use “Save As”.

12. Render of the project

Before rendering, check your project settings. Check your resolution. The project render command is located in the “file” tab: “Render as”

Sony Vegas Pro, which format is best to save videos in? Or rather, render.

The rendering topic is too large to fit into the basic rules, so choose the most common render format, Sony AVC/MVC and the INERNET option 1280 by 720 and 30 frame rate.

If you have a fragment of the project selected for rendering (when you want to get not everything that you have “done”, but only a part of the project that is highlighted with yellow markers), then check whether the checkbox is checked in the render settings tab, as shown below.

In other special cases, a different format may be required. For example, when saving an Alpha channel - files with the ability to make the background transparent.

13. How to select a fragment for rendering

If you need to render only part of the project, then you need to highlight this part with markers.

Click on any fragment of the video and drag the yellow markers that appear to the points where you want to limit the rendering.

The selection can be changed.

4. The most commonly used operations and commands for designing a video or image (applicable to titles)

Effects are often also called presets or plugins. Before selecting a preset, you need to click on the fragment to which the effects will be applied.

1. Brightness, contrast

2. How to make a transparent background in Sony Vegas Pro

A common question is how to make a video transparent in Sony Vegas.

On a fragment (video, picture), drag the horizontal line down/up with the mouse, thereby changing the transparency. The transparency percentage is indicated in a small window as the line moves.

3. Blur

4. Vignette or darkening the edges of the screen

5. Titles and text

1. Inserting template titles

Tab Media Generations, Further Titles& Text (Headings and text) and a choice from those offered. A settings window will appear where you can change the text, select the style, color, size, position of the text in the frame, etc.

2. Appearance and disappearance effects

All the possibilities apply to text as to other media - transitions, appearance and disappearance from the frame, brightness, contrast, transparency, etc.

6. Moving Media Elements in a Frame Using Pan/Crop

1. Format for YouTube videos

Click Pan/Crop. In the window that opens, select the aspect ratio 16 to 9.

2. Changing the viewing scale in the Pan/Crop window

To change the viewing scale, click on the picture and roll the mouse wheel.

3. Setting image synchronization in PanCrop and in the Preview window.

Synchronization allows you to see in the preview window all the changes you make in PanCrop. The exact place where the slider cursor is located on the timeline is shown.

To synchronize, the Sinc Cursor button must be blue. Click the button if it is disabled.

4. Zooming in and out of the picture

Pull the corner handles and the image or video will shrink or enlarge. To maintain the aspect ratio, change the size while holding down the CTRL button.

If the synchronous display button is active, then you will see all changes in the preview window.

Working with a project - important rules

  • Store all media files (footage, pictures, audio, video, etc.) for each specific project in a separate folder. Save your project and render there.

Why is that?

The project does not contain the files themselves, but only indicates the path to the files that you use.

  • You can already use the resulting video for your purposes. Post on YouTube, social networks, website.

You will not be able to edit the finished video; it is a separate file without tracks. If you want to change anything, then return to the project, that is, to the Sony Vegas program. And you change everything you need in it.

This completes a brief introduction to the basic commands and operations. This “Crib Sheet” will help you if you suddenly forget how this or that operation is performed, where to look for buttons, tabs, etc.

Remember that this is only a hundredth, if not less, part of the possibilities of Vegas. It is better to get acquainted with the rest as you work, since different operations are used for different tasks.

The document has been prepared for beginners who want to master Sony Vegas.

All screenshots and descriptions are based on Vegas Pro 15 and may differ in other versions. But the essence remains the same, so it will be easy for you to figure out other options.

You can download all the material with screenshots in PDF format by paying a symbolic amount for the development of the project. Button below.

Questions can be asked at