@CubeAce,

Thanks. It seems to be working now for the moment. Also, I updated my previous post with more information. Yes, I can get Vegas window layout to what you want it to look like. Just remember to save the layout.

@ericlnz

Hi Eric,

Good question about the bin.

As John EB pointed out, MMS has an Import screen in the Media Pool that has different file views, ways to display files, search, and sort. However, it does not have a virtual bin feature in which you can drag in files and then import from there. That is in VPX as you'll see. MMS does have a view where you create virtual folder links.

Here is the main folder tree view. There are 3 ways to display the information as you can see in the popdown at the right:

You can search for files:

Switch to the Folder view - my default view where you can see the virtual folders that are added. These are just links to actual folders. The files in the folders show up in the right-hand window and they are live, not virtual. The virtual folders names are whatever you want - the actual name or a modified name. The links can be removed. So, when I start a project, depending on a few factors, I'll create a link to any folders where there are files that I'll use. When no longer needed, I remove the link:

For VPX, in addition to the above, it has what is called a Project Temp Folder which is a bin, per project. In the PTF, you can create folders and drag files from the Media Pool to the PTF root or a folder. Objects on the timeline can also be put into the PTF and include any effects. The PTF can be exported and imported into another project, something useful for templates. The image below is the default view and you can see that I have a load of Movies - the various tabs above the timeline. I also created a folder for each of the Movies and dragged photos and video clips into some of them (work in progress) to be added to the timeline later.

Here is the expanded PTF.

You can see the virtual folders that I created and the various Movies, and some of the material imported. The Names can be changed. For example, I use an arrow often to point to something. I imported it, changed the size, sent it to the PTF and gave the name "Arrow 25." I can insert it onto the timeline. You can add a description. There are 3 columns at the very right that can't be seen as you need to scroll to the right - Scene, Take, Rating, and information can be added here. You can sort by the various fields. There is additonal information in the various columns.

As I mentioned about nesting, a Movie (See under the Type column) can be dragged onto the timeline of another Movie and it becomes a nested object.

I use two screens and this is my preferred setup, at least for now:

After all that, I think you'll find that most users here just drag and drop from Windows Explorer. I do that occasionally, but for videos, I prefer to use the Media Pool Import tab, preview and trim before importing.

Even most VPX users here seem to not use the PTF.

There is another tool that most users probably don't have and that is Magix Photo Manager. It's now about 5 years old and a new version is needed. However, it handles audio and video files as well as photos and includes an automatic viewer. Files can be categorized and information added. Files can be dragged and dropped from Photo Manager into the video editor. One can also create albums which are actually video projects that can be opened in VPX/MMS/PhotoStory. It includes a database and the reporting features could use an facelift. There is more but that is enough.

John CB

Thanks @browj2 & @johnebaker for your explanations on Media Panes/Bins etc.

VPX's Project Temp Folder appears to be what matches VMS's Project Media Pane, which VMS has in addition to an Explorer Pane. As I suspected MMS unfortunately still doesn't have a PTF. I'm surprised at the comment that not many VPX users use it.

@ericlnz

Hi Eric.

I can't speak for anyone else but it is rare for me to have a project where all the files I need are not in the same project folder. I have no need to know where all the files are as they are always in the same folder as the MVP file.

While it may seem to be a wasteful way of working from a disk space point of view, disk space is relatively cheap and having multiple copies of files reduces the risk of losing source files due to data corruption if copies of the projects are backed up to other drives and saves looking for or needing to connect additional drives to a system to retrieve files if the project is opened at a much later date.

Ray.