VASST GearShift User s Guide Version 1.8

Table of Contents Table of Contents... 1 Introduction... 2 GearShift Workflow Overview... 2 Supported Formats... 3 Setup up Vegas for using GearShift... 4 Place the GearShift icon on the toolbar... 4 GearShift First Use... 5 Installing the License Key using the About Box... 6 GearShift Main GUI... 8 Step 1: Specify your source files... 8 Source Files... 8 Source Media Bin... 9 Timeline... 9 Entire Timeline... 10 Extract Regions... 10 Step 2: Specify the target rendering format... 10 Proxy Media... 10 Match Aspect Ratio... 11 Shift Gears... 11 Adjust Color Space... 11 HD Media... 11 Render Directory... 11 Same as source folder... 12 Place in this folder... 12 Add/Replace in Media Pool... 12 Step 3: Render... 12 Step 4: Shift Gears... 12 Creating your own Proxy templates... 13 Little Duce Coup... 13

Introduction GearShift is a tool to help you work with HD projects in Sony Vegas. Whether you have the latest and greatest PC hardware or you have an older PC that works fine for DV editing but doesn t have the resources required for HD editing, GearShift can help. GearShift was developed for several reasons: 1. HD requires a lot more resources to edit than DV. The native M2T files, MXF files, and Red Raw R3D files are very demanding on your CPU as are M2TS AVCHD files found in many consumer HD cameras. These files can t be played back in real-time except on the very latest multi-core CPU s because of the processing power required to navigate the MPEG data stream. When rendered to a Sony YUV AVI file the CPU utilization is less but the hard drive space is huge and thus hard drive throughput becomes the limiting factor. How does GearShift help you deal with this? By providing a Proxy that is easy on the CPU and hard drive and thus allowing you to edit HD on your existing PC that you are editing DV on today. 2. The MPEG2 Transport Stream files that HDV cameras capture to use long GOP (Group of Pictures). This means that each frame is not a full image as is the case with DV. For example, the MPEG2 GOP for the Sony Z1 and FX1 is made up of a group of 15 frame sequences. Only one frame in the 15 (I-Frame) contains an entire image. The other 14 frames (B-Frames and P-Frames) contain delta and predictive data only. This means that color correcting on these 14 delta frames is not recommended since the frames don t actually exist (they are composed of the I-Frame and B & P-Frames combined). It is much better to edit in an AVI format known as an intermediary file and GearShift can make these files for you. 3. You might not want to use all the footage you captured so it doesn t make sense to convert all of your footage to YUV, intermediary, or DV Proxy. GearShift will allow you to convert only the footage you need for you final project saving you valuable time. GearShift Workflow Overview The following overview of the workflow will give you an understanding of how you will generally work with GearShift. It is to be used as a basis for understanding the remainder of this user s guide. GearShift works in two modes: 1) DV proxy / HDV mode 2) HD YUV or CineForm intermediary mode It allows you to work on a DV proxy of the high definition video and then exchange the proxy for the HD version for rendering and then re-exchange the HD for the proxy if you need to continue to edit. This way you can edit on a slower PC than HD requires, or you can work with HD on a laptop with limited space. You can also convert your m2t and mts files to the Sony YUV codec for going out to HDCAM or render m2t files for printing back to your HDV or camcorder or deck. GearShift works for either 1080i media or 720p media. Here is the typical workflow: 1. Capture your HDV m2t files via Vegas capture utility or your AVCHD m2ts via your cameras capture software or use any other HDV capture tool that works for you. 2. Run GearShift on the M2T, M2TS, or MXF files to create a DV proxy and (optional) YUV/CineForm conversion - 2 -

3. If you are using Vegas 5, check Adjust Colorspace to apply the 601/709 colorspace preset in the Color Matrix Filter. (This is not needed for Vegas 6 and above) 4. Edit using the DV Proxy files 5. When you re ready to render, press the Shift Gears button to exchange the DV proxy for the YUV/CineForm files (or for the m2t files if you didn t create intermediary files) 6. Render your project 7. If you need to continue editing, press Shift Gears again to exchange the DV proxy for the HD media GearShift will allow you to create an NTSC, PAL, or 24p DV proxy. You can convert your m2t and mts files to Sony YUV or CineForm intermediary using any of the available templates that are provided. All of the rendering is done within Vegas rendering engine. Supported Formats GearShift supports the following source formats: M2T (*.m2t) MTS (*.mts) M2TS (*.m2ts) MXF (*.mxf) MOV (*.mov) R3D (*.r3d) HDV files AVCHD files HDV/AVCHD files XDCAM files Quicktime files Red Raw files - 3 -

Setup up Vegas for using GearShift GearShift is not a standalone application. It is a script that runs within Sony Vegas. The standard way to run the GearShift script in Vegas is to use the Script Menu: Go to Tools > Scripting > VASST GearShift > GearShift in the Vegas menu bar and this will bring up the GearShift Graphical User Interface (GUI). But that s a lot of menu clicking if you use GearShift a lot (and you will). Luckily there is a much easier way as we explain next. Place the GearShift icon on the toolbar It is recommended that you place the GearShift script on your Vegas toolbar for fastest and most efficient operation of the tool. Double-click the Toolbar in Vegas (or select Options > Customize Toolbar... from the Vegas menu), and the Customize Toolbar dialog opens. - 4 -

Scroll down the Available Toolbar Buttons on the left and find the GearShift logo icon. Double-click the GearShift icon to move it to the right side of the dialog (you can also highlight it and press the ADD-> button). The icon will now appear on your Sony Vegas toolbar. GearShift First Use The first time you open GearShift, you ll see the Evaluation License screen, unless you ve licensed the application already. Every so often, it will continue to remind you of the time remaining in your trial until the trial expires or you enter a valid permanent license key. Once the trial expires, GearShift will no longer function. - 5 -

To get a license for the application, visit the VASST website or press the Purchase License button. This will transport you to the VASST web site where you can navigate to GearShift purchase a license key for GearShift and the unlock code will be mailed to you. If you already have the unlock code, press the Unlock button and you will see the Install GearShift License screen. At the Install GearShift License screen, paste the license that was mailed to you into the License Key field and press the Unlock button. This will install your license key and unlock GearShift. Installing the License Key using the About Box - 6 -

You can also install the license key from the About Box. Once you have the code, click on the VASST Logo at the bottom of the GearShift GUI and the About GearShift dialog will open. Press the Unlock button and the Install GearShift License window will appear. Copy and Paste the unlock code from the email sent to you from VASST into the License Key field and press the Unlock button. This will install your permanent license key. Your Unlock Code/License key is registered to you, and you only. Keep it safe in the event that you need to do a full reinstall GearShift for any reason. You can also look up this code on the VASST web site by browsing your old purchases. Your Unlock code may be used on two computers such as a notebook and a desktop. The only restriction, as explained in the EULA, is that both computers are not operable by more than one individual at one time. You can always see your personal license key by clicking on the VASST logo in the GearShift interface. - 7 -

GearShift Main GUI The GearShift GUI contains a number of ways to specify your source HD media and a number of formats to convert it into. These options should significantly improve your productivity when doing HD editing. Step 1: Specify your source files The first step is to specify your source HD media to GearShift. You have three options: 1. Source Files: Load source HDV M2T or AVCHD M2TS files from a folder on your hard drive. This gives you the flexibility of only rendering a DV proxy and swapping between the Proxy and original HD files. You can also build YUV or CineForm intermediary files with this option as well. It will convert the entire source file, one-for-one with the proxy and/or intermediary. 2. Source Media Bin: Load source M2T or MTS files from a Vegas media bin. This is handy if you already have your source in a media bin. 3. Timeline: Use the files that are on the timeline. This has the added advantage that you can trim your source media first so that not all of it is used as proxies and intermediaries. Let s look at each method: Source Files The Source Files option allows you to load M2T files from a folder on your hard drive. - 8 -

Before Add After Add Press the Add button to browse the directory structure of your hard drive and highlight all the M2T files you want to convert. Use the Remove button to remove files from the list. Source Media Bin The Source Media Bin option allows you to load M2T files from a media bin in your project. No Media Bins Project with Media Bins GearShift will render proxies or intermediaries for each m2t file in the selected media bin and place the resulting file in the same media bin. TIP: This media bin selection servers a dual purpose. Even if you use the Source Files or Timeline option, if you select a media bin first, the rendered media will be placed in that bin. Timeline The Timeline option will take the source media from the timeline. This allows you to trim the media and only render what you think you will actually use. - 9 -

There are two options for Timeline as a source: Entire Timeline and Extract Regions. Entire Timeline This option will render the entire timeline and make proxies and/or intermediary files. This gives you the opportunity to trim the source down to just the media you think you will use which will save you time on rendering. To use this effectively, you should just make rough edits (cuts only) and leave only the footage you want to use on your timeline for GearShift to render. Extract Regions This option allows you to make the good footage that you want to keep as regions. It will then render only the footage that is within a region. You have the option of placing these extracted regions on a new track and also the option to close the gaps between the regions leaving them all together end-to-end on the timeline with any holes from the unused media removed. Both of these options require you to render both a DV proxy and an intermediary format to keep the files one-for-one. (i.e., DV proxy and M2T Only is not available for this option) Step 2: Specify the target rendering format Once you have specified the source media, you are ready to select the target rendering formats. Your choices are proxy media and HD/intermediary media. In both cases you must also specify a render folder. Proxy Media Proxy media is great for speeding up the editing process. Even if you have the latest in PC equipment you might want to edit via proxy. But where proxies really shine is when you have a PC that is not equipped to handle HD. This option allows you to edit HD on any PC that can edit DV. Select the template from the dropdown box. If you are delivering in HD, select the NTSC DV Widescreen proxy as that has the closest dimensions to HD. - 10 -

Match Aspect Ratio You also have the option to match the proxy aspect ratio to the ratio of your project. Shift Gears (see Step 4) Adjust Color Space This option is only available if you are using Vegas 5. Vegas 6 doesn t need this as it correctly handles the 601/709 color space conversion so it will be grayed out in Vegas 6. For Vegas 5 you have the option applying this correction Pre or Post render. Pre will apply it before the render so it is permanently in the proxy file (recommended). Post will add it as an effect after the render so you can remove it later if you so choose (you might choose this option if you plan to use the DV proxy as a delivery format for DVD). HD Media The HD Media option gives you the opportunity to render either one of the Sony YUV formats for going back to HDCAM or render to a CineForm intermediary file. Both Sony YUV and CineForm files can be used as a final output format. You can also select (None) if you want to use your original M2T files as the final output format. The choice is up to you. Render Directory Regardless of the render option you choose you must also select a target render directory. - 11 -

If you select (None) as the HD Media format, then the Place in this folder option will be grayed out. That s because GearShift will only be making DV proxies and those proxies MUST be in the same directory as the original M2T source files. If, however, you also render HD Media files, the DV proxies must be placed in that directory. In either case the DV proxies and the files they will be swapped with must reside in the same directory in order for the swap to work. Same as source folder This option will place the rendered files in the same directory as the source Place in this folder This option will place the newly rendered files in the specified directory. Add/Replace in Media Pool This is a convenience option that will automatically replace the source media with the rendered media in the media pool ready to be dragged and dropped onto the timeline. Step 3: Render Now you are ready to render your proxies and/or YUV/CineForm intermediate files. When you push the OK button the rendering will begin. This may take a long time so it is best to do other editing work while you are waiting. Step 4: Shift Gears When you have completed your editing or anytime you want to check the quality of your work, you and use the Shift Gears button to swap out the proxies for the HD media. Pressing it again with swap back to the DV proxies. When you press the Shift gears button you will see the following dialog: - 12 -

If you are current working with the proxies and want to swap them out for the HD media, use the first option. If you project contains your HD media and you want to swap that out for the Proxies, use the second option. In either case press the OK button to make the swap. The checkbox labeled Ignore errors and swap all files should only be checked if you have encountered a problem with swapping files. This option will tell GearShift to ignore any files that may be invalid and try and swap them anyway. You will still get an error if Vegas refuses to swap the media. In this case the media is probably corrupt or missing. If the swap was successful you will see a dialog like the one below: Creating your own Proxy templates You can create your own proxy templates and GearShift will show them in the dropdown selection box. To do this save your proxy template so that the first four characters are GSP (that s G, S, P, <space> ) Any Video for Windows AVI rendering template that begins with GSP will automatically be shown the DV Proxy dropdown. You can also make new intermediary templates by prefixing your template name with HDV. This allows you to customize the quality of any of your templates. Remember, templates that begin with GSP will show up under Proxy Media and templates that begin with HDV will show up under HD Media. Little Duce Coup You can shift gears as often as you like. Shift into high gear with DV proxies and make your editing go as fast as DV media does. Or shift into low gear for slower yet higher definition work and enjoy the scenery. If you have any questions or concerns, VASST software support can be reached at: email: ultimatesupport@vasst.com We are also moderators on the DMN Sony Vegas Scripting forum where you can post questions on any of our software products. Posts to that forum go directly to our email support. http://www.dmnforums.com/cgi-bin/displaywwugindex.fcgi?forum=vegas_scripting Thank You from the entire VASST Team. - 13 -