Rendering to new track questions

[Uncle Ben]

Which files are you trying to remove, Ben? Are you just trying to clear from your Project Media panel all of the media files you didn't use? As I said above, the program does have a tool for doing that automatically for you.

No, Steve. I understand how to clear redundant files from [All Media.]

I made the mistake of starting a mega project covering a 7-year period, instead of doing seven small projects, one for each year. So I have this huge project, of which the first two years have been rendered; and I'm now chewing away at Year 3. The question I raised pertains to the now redundant media files for years 1 and 2, which are spread into dozens of bins/sub-bins. Deleting a bin does nothing, except just deleting a bin. To delete the media files for the first two years (which are now redundant since the video has already been rendered), I have to go to each bin/sub-bin, select the files and delete them. When you do that, you're offered three choices: delete the files from the bin, from the project, or from the project and the hard drive. But you have to go to each sub-bin, select them and then remove them; as opposed to just deleting the bin per se. Capish?

Happy New Year Steve!

[Steve Grisetti]

You shouldn't have to look through all of the bins to delete your files, Ben.

I haven't tried it, but I assume if you clear the file from the All Media view, it will also be removed from any bins.

[Uncle Ben]

You shouldn't have to look through all of the bins to delete your files, Ben.

I haven't tried it, but I assume if you clear the file from the All Media view, it will also be removed from any bins.

But Steve, I know that deleting the files from [All Media] will clear the bins. But to go in [All Media] to hand pick the files to be deleted defeats the purpose of having bins, does it not. That's my point Steve.

[Steve Grisetti]

I don't know. I guess so, based on your workflow. It's just not a typical workflow. You didn't, for instance, put clips into media bins just so you could find them and delete them, did you?

Is there a better way to locate the media files you're planning to delete? In All Media view, you can display your files listed by name, by date saved to your hard drive, etc. One of those categories would help me locate all of the files for a certain segment of my project.

Though if you've got it all categorized neatly in media bins, why do you even need to delete the stuff you no longer need? Even if you had hundreds of files in your Project Media folder, it wouldn't add to your project file's size -- and it shouldn't be any burden to your computer.

[RJ Johnston]

In the Pro version, if you want to delete the files that are in a bin, open the bin, press CTRL-A to select all the media in the bin, right-click and select from the pop-up menu to remove the files from the project and physically delete them from the drive. The media will be removed from other bins as well. Hopefully, the Studio version works like that. The bins are just a way of sorting your media. Since a media file can be in more than one bin, deleting a bin should not automatically remove the media from other bins...and so on and so forth.

Happy New Year, almost. Steve, your book should be arriving anytime now. I looked out on the porch, but it wasn't there yet.

[Steve Grisetti]

Sorry, Robert. I got hung up in traffic. I should be there with your book soon.

[Uncle Ben]

I don't know. I guess so, based on your workflow. It's just not a typical workflow. You didn't, for instance, put clips into media bins just so you could find them and delete them, did you?

Is there a better way to locate the media files you're planning to delete? In All Media view, you can display your files listed by name, by date saved to your hard drive, etc. One of those categories would help me locate all of the files for a certain segment of my project.

Though if you've got it all categorized neatly in media bins, why do you even need to delete the stuff you no longer need? Even if you had hundreds of files in your Project Media folder, it wouldn't add to your project file's size -- and it shouldn't be any burden to your computer.

I don't think there's anything wrong with my workflow other than the fact that I took on too much and would have been better off to tackle one year at a time, as you suggested in an earlier post; and bring the seven years together as the final project. An no Steve, I did not

for instance, put clips into media bins just so you could find them and delete them, did you?

That is funny, really!

RJ answered my question. You cannot delete media files directly by deleting a bin, and that's how it's meant to be. And if you're using the slideshow wizard, the bins, that you've laboriously populated with the specific photos that want to include in your projects, become useless, as the slideshow wizard forces you to handpick them all over again from your hard drive.

And one last point, regarding performance and file size. I understand that the project doesn't grow in size until you place assets on the timeline. But I can tell you that the more clips and photos you have in your bins, the longer it will take for your project to load. When I started this project, I selected all the clips and photos I wanted to use and properly cataloged them in bins and sub-bins. I then saved the project as is, without adding anything to the timeline just yet, that was for another day. When I came back to it later, it seemingly took forever to load! After rendering the first two years and deleting the pertinent files, the project file loads noticeably faster. As Paul pointed out in an earlier post, "The project may take longer to load as it has to "associate" all the links and media but once you have the timeline up it will have no impact on the responsiveness, speed or performance;" and I agree with that.

I certainly don't want to unduly berate the issue. Thank you all for your help.

[mcgregni]

You are concerned that by deleting your many tracks of video & effects etc after rendering that section, you will lose all the work already done should you want to make some minor change and re-render. Just a thought on the workflow side of things - after rendering a section to a new track, you could keep all the tracks that went into making that section of video, but just mute them all and minimise their heights. Perhaps then giving them all the same colour will keep things looking tidy as well.

This way (I think) Vegas will not actually carry out any processing on them (they're muted) so it won't slow things down to retain them, but you've got the assurance of opening them up again and making any corrections if needed.