Sony Vegas Cropping Issue

[JohnnyO]

Here is what I am trying to do. I have a 16:9 project, however my photos are 4:3. Usinf Sony Vegas Movie Studio 10 HD
I want to show the 4:3 photo sized down on top of the 16:9 video. This is a simple PIP.

However, when re-sizing the photo down using the croping effect, or even when using the NewBlueFX PIP effect, it seems that the position where I put the photo is bound by the aspect ratio of the photo and not the project aspect ratioo.

What I mean is that if I try to position the photo off to the side of the video, the photo gets cut off and does not allow me to move the photo off to the ends od the 16:9 video.

If I set the aspect ratio of the photo to 16:9 it all works fine. However I do not want to do this as it cuts off parts of the photo I want to show.

Is there a way to have a 4:3 photo, which is quite common, as a PIP on a 16:9 video in a 16:9 project and position it wherever I want on the screen without it getting cut off or converting the photo to 16:9?

[Steve Grisetti]

I'm not sure you can do this, Johnny, without actually trimming your original photos down to a 16:9 shape.

[JohnnyO]

I'm not sure you can do this, Johnny, without actually trimming your original photos down to a 16:9 shape.

Magic never gave me a problem. I don't even think I had this problem in Adobe PRE. Oh well.

[Paul LS]

"Remember... use the right click Luke!"

In Vegas Pro you would right click in the Pan-Crop window and select Match Output Aspect Ratio.

[Ken Jarstad]

Way to go, Paul! I have used the Pan-Crop facility in VMS but I'm too much of a novice to have thought of it as the obvious solution here. Pan-Crop is a fabulous tool. My current wedding project turned out to to have lots of people looking like they shouldn't be standing upright and I was afraid viewers might get seasick. So, I spent about two hours keyframing the rotation-aspect of the frames. A bit time consuming but it worked very well.

[JohnnyO]

"Remember... use the right click Luke!"

In Vegas Pro you would right click in the Pan-Crop window and select Match Output Aspect Ratio.

i did this and it turns the 4:3 photos into 16:9 - which crops them. This is what I was trying to avoid. All I wanted was to have a 4:3 photo travel acroos the screen fromend to end in a 16:9 project, but it will not allow this. The photo needs tobe 16:9 for this to work as far as I can see.

[Paul LS]

Are you cropping the photo at all or doing a PIP? If I place a 4:3 photo in a 16:9 video and then use the Crop tool to form a PIP and move it across the screen with Pan it will cut off the edges of the photo as it approaches the screen edge unless I use the Match Output Aspect Ratio when right clicking on the photo crop window (are you selecting Match Output Aspect Ratio in the crop window). In Vegas Pro it doesn't turn the photo into 16:9. Or is this not what you are trying to achieve?

[JohnnyO]

Are you cropping the photo at all or doing a PIP? If I place a 4:3 photo in a 16:9 video and then use the Crop tool to form a PIP and move it across the screen with Pan it will cut off the edges of the photo as it approaches the screen edge unless I use the Match Output Aspect Ratio when right clicking on the photo crop window (are you selecting Match Output Aspect Ratio in the crop window). In Vegas Pro it doesn't turn the photo into 16:9. Or is this not what you are trying to achieve?

Ok on second look that is working. I was initially thrown by this because this Match Output Ratio is basically re-sizing the photo with the ends not visible on the screen. I though it was croping it to 16:9 but it isn't. Then I am able to re-size and move it anywhere inthe screen.

Thanks for your help. It will take some getting used to using a new editor.

[JohnnyO]

Played around some more . Looks like the track motion effect also works and oyu don't need to go into crop match output aspect to place the photo anywhere on the screen. Although this has a linitation I believe that it will track the motion of the cideo overlay to a clip on the video track, and you cannot go beyond. Whereas the match output aspect method giveds independence of th the video track.

[Paul LS]

One thing to note, if you are re-sizing clips/photos ideally you want to use Pan/Crop not Track Motion. Pan/Crop will maintain the quality but Track Motion will reduce the resolution and make the photo a little blurry.

[JohnnyO]

One thing to note, if you are re-sizing clips/photos ideally you want to use Pan/Crop not Track Motion. Pan/Crop will maintain the quality but Track Motion will reduce the resolution and make the photo a little blurry

Good to know. Thanks.

[JohnnyO]

One thing to note, if you are re-sizing clips/photos ideally you want to use Pan/Crop not Track Motion. Pan/Crop will maintain the quality but Track Motion will reduce the resolution and make the photo a little blurry

Paul. Suppose I use the crop too to re-size the photo, then use Track Motion to move the photo around. Would Track Motion reduce the resolution just by the nature of using it? Or would the resolution be OK since I cropped the photo using the Crop tool?

[Paul LS]

That would be fine Johnny. Track motion only impacts the resolution quality on resizing.

[JohnnyO]

Thanks Paul. Boy that was a quick response

[Paul LS]

One further thing, you can use Track motion for resizing. It just depends on how much resizing is required. Quite often I will use it if I am just using a PIP with movement around the screen. Generally if I am in doubt I will up the resolution of the preview monitor to Best and look at it. You can clearly see if quality starts to be impacted.