@browj2 it might be cumbersome to some, but it is no big deal for me. So you can get the frame accurate transition you want. It's just a different way of doing the same thing getting the same results. That's frame accurate.

Also, the additional ways you can fade transition is something that really comes in handy to get the desired transition.

@Reyfox, @Former user, @browj2

HI Tony, Gid, John

. . . . see how many "styles" of a basic fade is available. . . . .

There is a, often forgotten, crossfade in VPX and MMS that has the same Exponential and Sigma curves features as the VP crossfades.

The Flexible Crossfade, has the Settings dialog shown below, the fade is adjustable, 100 steps by moving the slider.

. . . . It doesn't insert a still frame, it Loops the clip . . . .

AFAICS it does neither, the behavoiur is the same as most video editors I have used, the clips are just overlapped, the adjustments in VP and VPX are very similar, only the means of adjusting is different.

John EB

@johnebaker Hi n no the clips are not overlapped, when two clips are butted together with no crossfade applied, when any transition is dragged & dropped onto that butt join Vegas loops the clip to extend it, that is 100% correct,

MMS moves the clip on top of the preceding one to create a crossfade, Vegas doesn't, there's no movement of the clips, it extends the clip over the preceding by looping the clips..

I wish I could find that Vegas post @browj2 misremembered where all this was discussed & this was mentioned more than once.

@Former user

Hi Gid.

But you do get the option to overlap as well don't you?

Ray.

@CubeAce If the two clips already have a crossfade between them then that overlap is used, but if the two clips are just butted together the clips are looped. Vegas has other options (Switches) Loop, Trim & Hold last frame, I'd have to experiment with those & see if they affect this drag n drop onto butted joins as I normally apply a crossfade first by dragging the clips over each other. I know the clips are def not moved one over the other, that was discussed in that Vegas post mentioned.

@johnebaker When I double click on the edge of a clip with a crossfade that opens up the Expand Track option that reveals the looped section.

@johnebaker @Reyfox I found that post where @browj2 was told about the Looping etc. he stopped commenting after that,

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/confusion-about-what-is-sold-as-transitions--143608/?page=2#ca899140

@Former user an interesting thread to read. The differences in how things should be implemented too, are a personal choice. I like the overlapping method myself, and don't find it "time consuming" as some say it is. It might be for them, but not for me. It's a part of my workflow. I get the exact results I am looking for every time.

Since I edit what I shoot, there is always more at the beginning and end of a clip that I can trim. I shoot with that in mind. But in the end, whatever works for someone is all that matters. There isn't a "right and wrong" way. Just different ways of getting to the same end.

@Reyfox Yep, that's the same for me, there's always a bit to trim off start & end, those trimmed bits don't disappear & Vegas uses them for the crossfade, I use a simple 12 frame crossfade so those trimmed bits however small are enough to create the transition. As far as dropping a transition onto butt jointed clips, that is something I pretty much never do but I know enough to know when Vegas is misrepresented with inaccurate statements they have to be corrected, esp when a particular Vegas post is mentioned that I remember quite clearly,

@Former user

Hi Gid

Thanks for the clarification, the cut method is not one I used in VP, I always went for the overlap, as you do, which to my mind is the normal way, looping is 'unnatural'.

. . . . There isn't a "right and wrong" way. Just different ways of getting to the same end. . . . .

Absolutely. 👍

John EB

@Former user

Hi,

You're quite right, I mis-remembered what was in that thread. I still can't figure out how I managed to get the still last frame of the left side extended, or as you indicated, it was looping. And yes, looping was on, something that I would never have considered. I stopped replying because others had continued on and I had my answer.

I went through both fades and transitions last night and I would have to re-read all of the replies to really understand what the flap was about. The manual states that you have to make an overlap to get a crossfade. Without knowing this, and coming from MMS/VPX, one would think that applying a template would make the cross-fade, but it doesn't. That's the way it works and I have no problem with that. Once you know how it works, you adapt and do what needs to be done to get what you want. I also found that there is a switch to show the duration the overlap which is great and would be a nice feature to have in MMS/VPX.

As well, I looked at the fades and again, I don't understand what the problem was. The fade amount is clearly shown when dragging the flap handle. So, all ado about nothing.

@Reyfox

In MMS/VPX, the Object and Edit Trimmers look complicated and most users probably don't use them, not knowing how. You can quickly go along a track and, if there is a fade, adjust it, if not create one, click, on to the next object. Same with transitions. The objects don't have to be contiguous. Nice tool, but underused.

John CB

@browj2 there are a lot of nice tools in editing software that some are not aware of, or can't find out "how". I personally have never looked at any manuals. I'd rather have "first hand" experience from a user, who can answer whatever my questions are. Sometimes, my choice of wording isn't accurate for that particular manual. Some have render, others, export, and still another, share, all doing the same thing. I think a "real" person will have a better idea of what I am asking about and can "hand hold" me through the process if necessary.

In the Vegas discussion on transitions, some prefer it one way, the others, a different way. It's good to have choices to do it the way someone likes. Me? Trim, overlay with the middle of the transition where I want it, and done. And while I have "zillions" of transitions (between Boris, NBFX, Pixelan, Vitascene and stock), I basically use cross-dissolve, fades and cuts. But there are those videos that require a little more "spice", and that's what the 3rd party plugins are for.

And to think, we've totally derailed the OP's original question about the cost of upgrading software.

Sorry @Roberto-Goncalves! Like you, I do not understand the pricing structure difference between VPX and VP Edit. But the upgrade of MMS 2024 Suite w/proDAD Vitascene is outstanding! And if you are in love with MMS, the Ultimate, with all that "stuff" isn't bad either. Then later on, one can upgrade to VPX at a better upgrade price and have all of that "stuff" in it too.

@Roberto-Goncalves @Reyfox @browj2 @Former user

Hi Roberto.

Maybe the pricing difference is just down to trying to persuade people to buy the program. Vegas came with a creditable history which I would term legendary simply because people who have never used the program may have a distorted view of it's reputation when owned by the originators of the program. Prior to the Magix current line-up of products my first encounter with their products was with boxed versions of simpler programs that were cheap and on sale at my local large retail computer center. I think that in the UK at least that could be true for most people old enough to have encountered that.

Discounting a product to increase sales is not a new phenomena and used across most industries but very popular items seldom get discounted until there is enough of a downturn in sales. I think Magix has always found it hard to increase its market share. Anyone remember the announcement of Magix entering the Chinese market? Very little on the subject has been mentioned since. As far as I can tell that would be zero further information.

When Vegas first came out it was one of very few choices and ahead of the game in many aspects but over time that position has been rapidly eroded. Major companies just don't do video editing the way the public does or on average use the same tools as the requirements and standards are different.

Although the market has grown, so has the competition and just retaining market share has got harder. Newer kids on the block with even easier interfaces have come about and are popular with businesses as anyone can just sit down and get results with user interfaces that 'does what it says on the tin'. (Sorry for the British only reference). Other UK residents, name that brand 😉.

I'm surprised no-one here has yet mentioned Camtasia which works on PC and Mac and I think even my grandmother if she was alive today could use it, and it is at a price Magix can only dream about charging. It seems to be quietly doing quite well.

It's a tough market and getting tougher by the day in a tech industry undervalued by millions of people.

I think the price cut at present may tempt people who are already users to update their versions but I'm sceptical about attracting new users. They need to get into the training establishments. Give away the products if necessary and give them unbridled support for free. But even that would be a hard sell even if it worked for Canon many years back and the company is not big enough in my opinion to sustain the costs.

@johnebaker

Ah! The Running Man. The first film with Arnie I could actually stand to watch all the way through. Once. Subsequently I did not catch that inference. Maybe worth a second viewing. A bit like Rollerball. 🤣

One thing I have noticed personally. My nine year old grandson likes to play with some of my programs. I let him loose on my stand alone copy of Particle Illusion. Within minutes he was doing things I could not see to keep up with, adjusting and moving particles around to produce what he envisioned. So maybe my brain personally is just getting too set in its ways to easily adapt to new working methods. Just a thought.

Ray.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

. . . . my brain personally is just getting too set in its ways to easily adapt to new working methods . . . .

As Morpheus said - 'Let it all go, free your mind' then play.

John EB

@johnebaker

Hi John.

As Morpheus said - 'Let it all go, free your mind'.

I thought that was Kuato from Total Recall or was that Rick and Morty? 🤣🤣🤣

Probably all three 👍

Ray.

I don't know if you had seen this interview that is already a year old about MMX/VPX!

@CubeAce

Kuato - 'Open your mind'

@Roberto-Goncalves

Hi

An interesting topic, and we are seeing the results of the push for stability and the new AV1 codec.

John EB

Masking in Vegas

@Reyfox Hi, I had to come back to this as it bugs me, Vegas Pro Smart mask. Notice how he never played the vid with the mask nor even moved from that one frame, that's because this fx is absolute crap & doesn't work very well. They advertise this on the website as a group of teenagers dancing but it's 'bollocks' , excuse the language, to mask those kids I bet that every frame had to have significant adjustment of the masks. Their advertising of this is verging very close to fraudulence, they shouldn't advertise this or add it to the program & charge as if this is a useful working feature, I've yet to see anyone post anything on the Vegas forum about this fx & I think that is because it's crap.

(I know this is the Magix forum but I just needed to clarify this post.)

@Former user I used it once as a test, and for me, it worked quite well. I was surprised it found the person (wife) in the middle of the castle ruins. I then decided to use one of the AI plugins and it worked. It animated and followed her quite well. I'll go back and see if I can reproduce what I did and record it. BTW, what screen recorder do you use? The one built in Vegas doesn't work for me. But yes, it's a work in progress. Everything is in Vegas now.

@Former user

Hi Gid

If you have not done so I would suggest you bring this up in the Vegas forum.

Did you spot the issues with the mask created:

• at 57 sec where is the label identifying the woman, at 59 secs a 'handbag' label appears.
• at 2:23 there was a region of red that it missed between the right elbow and the womans body.

John EB

@johnebaker Hi, It has been brought up & discussed since it was added, It's a bit pointless bringing it back up until there's a new Vegas update. well see what state it's in then,

Yep, for me all the time it cuts the top of the head off, the selection box is too small,

In a post about Smart mask this Monkey is a Bear to the OP but to me it was a Sheep or a Teddy Bear 🤷‍♂️😁

@Reyfox Hi, I would like it to work & it is good that it sort of finds the objects but the masks are rough & I'd love to see someone show me a track where every single frame/mask doesn't need a lot of correction, I really struggle to grab those little mask points which unless I'm missing something each point has to be moved individually & grabbing the tiny bezier points is impossibly difficult, for me anyway.

------------------------------

I use Nvidia Geforce screen capture, F1 to screengrab a pic, F9 to record the screen. https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/geforce-experience/

@Former user

HI Gid

I have read the post over in the VP forum, and now follow the context of your monkey, bear, sheep, teddy bear comment.😂

Proves AI (ay eye not @AAProds), is hyped up over its capabilities.

The Smart mask has the same issue in your images too.

John EB

@johnebaker Yep when this smart mask was first added to Vegas (20 I think) it looked like a Cubist artist had created it, you couldn't create more than one mask on more than one frame & you couldn't adjust it, it was useless. Yet they had that ad of the kids dancing as if the mask was flawless, to me that's gaining £s through false pretence, even in the video above Gary doesn't show the full thing working, "Believe me, it works" he's basically saying,

Here's another post if you haven't read it https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/tutorial-for-smart-mask--141749/.