HDV:What You NEED to Know

Sony Vegas 6 offers file nesting, much like sequences or collapsed timelines in other applications, except that Vegas treats these file sequences as though they were common bits of media, or video clips. Speed changes, color correction, effect filtering, and more may be applied to a file as though it were a standard video file. Nested veg files are simple to use, but more importantly, nested veg files can be used to accomplish many tasks that are quite doable in Sony Vegas, but are done more efficiently with nested veg files. More importantly, nested veg files allow for individual scenes or packages to a larger program to be assembled without requiring rendering to insert these packages to a maser project.
Nested projects are wonderful for assembling chapters of a full length project, building a demo reel from previous projects, or bring large composites to a project without having lots of tracks apparent, providing for more efficient track management.

In this quick look at nesting, we'll refer to any timeline containing nested projects, as a "Master Timeline/Master.

To create a nested project, save any active veg file you may be working on, or that you'd like to include in the Master timeline that will contain the nests.
If you've not closed Vegas since saving the veg file, you'll need to refresh the Explorer view by pressing the Explorer Refresh button.

This will allow Vegas to see any recently saved files without having to close Vegas and reopen it.

Locate all veg files to be dragged to the Vegas timeline, and drag them down one by one, or as a group to the newly created Vegas project/timeline. Depending on the length and content of the veg file, Vegas may need to draw an "sfap0" file, which is the proxy file that Vegas uses as an editing file in the master project.

These proxy file renders take just a few seconds. In the case of this fairly complex veg file seen above, it took less than 3 seconds to render the entire 60 second project as a proxy file that Vegas could work with on a master timeline.

Once the proxy file is rendered, it becomes a standard clip/event on the Vegas timeline

The 15 tracks of media in this project are now collapsed into a single audio and video track as shown below, but no rendering has taken place. Vegas sees the 15 tracks as an editable video file with audio.

Veg files may be transitioned, color corrected, velocity filters applied, composited, etc.,once dropped on a timeline.

One valuable aspect of using veg files, is that compositing modes may be applied in a veg file, and then additional composite modes applied in the Master timeline. So, while multiple composite modes are possible in a single timeline in Vegas, using multiple composite modes in a master veg file may save some time in the compositing process, simply because it requires fewer tracks, or copies of veg media.

In the left side, we see the overexposed frame. On the right side, we see a pair of tracks composited in one instance of Vegas, and the saved veg file dropped into another copy of Vegas, and an additional compositing mode applied to the same project. In this instance, the first veg is created using two copies of the media, and a radial blur applied to the top track, with the top track being in the Hard Light compositing mode. The new veg has only a single track, and the screen compositing mode applied. While this could be done directly in a single instance of Vegas, it would require 4 tracks to achieve the same result. This is only one small example of how compositing modes may be used in nested veg files.

Another use of nested veg files might be to save any lower third/name boards as separate projects with no titles inserted. Save these in a library where you can locate them easily, and drop the resulting veg file over top of any other media/video/graphic/still on the Vegas timeline. Add text, and you've got an instantly finished lower third in seconds. This is part of how Ultimate S 2.0 for Sony Vegas functions. Download a free lower third here.

Once you've assembled a master timeline containing nested veg files, you might find an error in a veg file somewhere, or merely wish to make changes. This is easy to do in Vegas as well. Simply right-click the nested file and choose "Edit Source Project" from the menu. This will open a new instance of Sony Vegas, with the source file as the project. Modify the project, save it, and the master timeline veg will be automatically updated for you. If you increase or decrease the length of the file, and have ripple mode enabled in the master timeline, Vegas will even ripple/maintain time relationships for you.

Nested timelines may be rendered out just as though they were the individual veg files. Render time for nested veg files should be no different than rendering the original project in terms of render time.

Nested veg projects offer many advantages;

-Easy re-use of veg file assets from previous projects
-No rendering for segments to be included in a finished package
-Always-editable master projects
-Multiple compositing modes
-Avoidance of rendering until the last possible moment.
-Easy method of working with HD files in smaller proxy format in a nested project file.

Nested veg files work for audio, too! Even if you import/nest a 5.1 project, all buses and mixes associated with buses, along with any FX you may have added to the buses or projects, will show up properly in the new project. Just be sure that if you import a 5.1 file to a new veg file, that the new veg file/project is also 5.1, or you'll be collapsing the surround mix to a stereo mix.

Project Paths

Companion to nested veg files is Vegas' ability to store metadata regarding the components of the file in a rendered video stream. Render an avi (other formats also support this feature) with the "Save Project as Path" reference option checked in the rendering dialog. This will instruct Vegas to include information about the veg project, where the media can be found, etc.  This option allows a user to open the original files without knowing where the original file may have been stored. If the original media is no longer on the computer, Vegas will attempt to search for it, and let the user know that it's missing. This is a useful tool for large media houses with concerns for media management among multiple editing stations and systems.

Give Project as Path and nested veg files a whirl, it's likely you'll find them very useful. I use them for assembling chapters of a longer piece, or for inserting deeply composited title sequences to the head of a much smaller project. This not only saves time, but allows me to save the composited title as a template to be reused later for a different client, or modified for the original client. The end result is additional revenue without generating new resources, or far fewer generated resources, and/or providing the client with an easy-to-maintain consistency of appearance. You'll also likely find media management just got easier.

Happy nesting,

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