#tutorials and tips

Lately, we’ve received several submissions that were done incorrectly and wanted to properly address this in one post to avoid future confusion. Please read this after you’ve read through our Rules page!

To get to our submission page, click here or you can go to our blog page and click on the “submit” link at the top.

Once you do this step, you will come to a page that looks like this:

On the “Text” box, you click on the down arrow next to it. I highlighted it with the red circle. This will bring down a menu. 

On the menu, you will see “Text,” “Link,” and “Video.” Click on the “Video” option if you’re wanting to submit an AMV link. This way, the video will be embedded into our inbox. If the link is submitted under the “Text” option, all we will see is the link itself rather than the AMV. 

Next, you will want to copy and paste your video link into the upper box where it says “Embed Code or Video URL.” This submission method works best with YouTube links, but vimeo is also a good alternative. 

If you would like to include a caption (especially if you’re the editor who created the video), you can add it onto the the lower box. 

After you’ve added the link and a caption, then you go to the bottom and click “I accept the Terms of Submission.” Once that box is checked, you can click submit! 

If you see a box like this, then you have successfully submitted your video to us! 

Once we receive a video, it will appear in our inbox. We will watch every video submitted to make sure they comply with our rules. If we approve of them, they will either go into our queue or be uploaded within the same day they were reviewed. Please be patient with our review process. Both of the moderators have busy lives and it may take us a few days to get to each video!

Usually, if you don’t hear from us, that means that we found no issue with your submitted video. If we contact you privately, this may mean that your video has violated one of our rules and may be subject to rejection. If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please send us an ask through our inbox or an IM! If you’re unsure if an AMV you submit will be accepted, feel free to ask us before you submit your video! 

If you’ve edited in Sony Vegas for a while, I’m sure you’ve heard other editors mention “disable resample.” What is it and why is it necessary? Allow me to educate!

What is resample?

In basic terms, resampling is changing the input of a video file into an output format. This can range from changing the video size and ratio to what I will focus on today: Frame rate.

In Vegas, there are three frame rates that you must know.

- Your input file

- Your project/preview file

- Your rendering/output settings

If your input file is 24 frames per second (fps), your project file and rendering/output settings need to also be at 24 fps. This helps tremendously with motion masking.

When your input file fps is different from your project settings, Sony Vegas ends up slowing down your clips. This can cause huge issues with motion masking when you are entirely dependent on masking from frame to frame. 

In addition to this, Sony Vegas has a feature called “Smart Resample” that is the default setting to put on all clips. There is a built in lag within the Sony Vegas program so in order to make up for this, Smart Resample installs motion blur to blend the frames together. However, this often results in added slowness to the clips and a sharp drop in quality when the project renders. The frames will become compressed on top of each other as they blend. This is what editors refer to as “ghosting” or “ghost frames.”

In the first example, you can see the outline of a frame over another frame. That transparent outline is the “ghost frame” and should not be there. That is what slows down your clips and will reduce the quality come rendering time.

The second image is what the clip should look like in a normal frame.

So, how do you prevent ghost frames?

Step 1) Right click on the video layer of your clip. Then, click on “Properties.”

Step 2) When the Properties window comes up, click the “Disable Resample” option.

Step 3) Click “OK” to confirm.

Please note, if you’re using this method to change clips to “Disable Resample,” you need to do this to every individual clip you place in the timeline.

In addition, make sure that your output and project fps matches with your input video’s fps.

To check your project fps, look at the video preview section of your Vegas window.

It will list both the “Project” and “Preview” fps along with the ratio of the project file. 24,000 p is the fps of this particular project file. If the fps of your project file does not match the fps under the “Properties” window of your video clip, it needs to be changed.

To change the project fps, there are three ways to open the “Project Properties” window.

Method 1) Click on “File” and go down to “Properties.”

Method 2) This is a shortcut method if your video preview area is already displayed. Click on the square icon with the arrow inside of it. It is located to the top far left of the video preview area.

Method 3) Just hold down the “Alt” and “Enter” keys on your keyboard at the same time. The window will pop up that way.

Once the “Project Properties” window opens, go to the “Frame rate” area and click on the drop down menu. Change the fps to the same number as your input clips. In this example, the video clip is 24 fps so I changed the frame rate to 24 fps in the project.

Next, hit “Apply.”

Then, hit “OK.”

Finally, when it comes time to render your project, bring up your “Render As” window.

When the window pops up, go to the “Template” area of the window after you make sure that your “Save as type” is the right type of output file you want. Click on “Custom.”

Once the “Custom Settings” window comes up, go to the frame rate area of the “Video” tab and select the same fps you used on the project file. Again, in this example, the fps of the input and project file is 24 so I select 24 fps here.

As a bonus, if you’re editing an AMV, you want to go to the “Project” tab and go to the “View Rendering Quality” area. Click on the drop down menu and select “Best.” This ensures that your project will come out looking the best it can when it renders.

Click “OK” once you’re done adjusting your settings and watch the magic happen!

Click to zoom!