Sony Vegas

Vegas Pro (stylized as VEGAS Pro, formerly known as Sony Vegas) is a professional video editing software package for non-linear editing (NLE), designed to run on the Microsoft Windows operating system.

The first release of Vegas Beta was on 11 June 1999. Vegas was originally developed as a non-linear audio editing application. Version 2.0 would split the program into audio and video editing variants, with the former being dropped by version 4.0, making the video offering the only variant available to consumers. Vegas Pro features real-time multi-track video and audio editing on unlimited tracks, resolution-independent video sequencing, complex effects, compositing tools, 24-bit/192 kHz audio support, VST and DirectX plug-in effect support, and Dolby Digital surround sound mixing.

The software was originally published by Sonic Foundry until May 2003, when Sony purchased Sonic Foundry and formed Sony Creative Software. On 24 May 2016, Sony announced that Vegas was sold to MAGIX, which formed VEGAS Creative Software, to continue support and development of the software. Each release of Vegas is sold standalone; however, upgrade discounts are sometimes provided.

Features

Vegas does not require any specialized hardware to run properly, allowing it to operate on any Windows computer that meets the system requirements.

In the areas of compositing and motion graphics, Vegas provides a 3D track motion with control over z-depth and spatial arrangement of visual planes, including plane intersection.

Many of the visual effects processing in Vegas follow an audio-like paradigm. Effects can be applied at any stage of the visual signal flow or event level. Moreover, track levels and output level effects, such as reverb, delay, and flange, are applied in a digital audio system, like Pro Tools, Cubase, or Sonar. Master output effects can also be controlled and manipulated over time by the use of Master Bus track automation envelopes.

Although Vegas started as a non-linear multimedia audio editor, it has no MIDI capability at all (except control-desk and synchronization). For this reason, the use of Vegas is restricted only for post-production audio or for the non-linear video editing market.

Vegas features integration with 24p DV. It is also one of the few non-linear video editors that can convert other formats to 24p (or any other format) without any kind of a plug-in or third-party application support. It is the only non-linear video editor that allows multiple instances of the application to be opened simultaneously. Clips and sequences can be copied and pasted between instances of Vegas. One example of this can be rendering a sequence in the background, while the user continues to edit in a different instance of Vegas in the foreground. Vegas provides compositing, including green screen, masking, and key-frame animation.

Nesting allows a prior project to be included in another project, modulating the editing process so that an array of tracks and edits become one track for further editing. Any changes to the previous project become reflected in the later project. Nesting is helpful in large, complex, or special effects projects, as the final rendering suffers no generation loss.

History

Vegas 1.0 was released after a brief public beta by Sonic Foundry on 23 July 1999 at the NAMM Show in Nashville, Tennessee as an audio-only tool with a particular focus on re-scaling and resampling audio. It supported formats like DivX and Real Networks RealSystem G2 file formats. Martin Walker from Sound on Sound described working in Vegas 1.0 as a "very pleasurable experience, especially since so many functions are highly intuitive" though also criticizing some features as hard to figure out due to the lack of a central help file.

Later, on 12 June 2000, Vegas Video and Audio 2.0 (also referred to as just Vegas 2.0) was released, with its beta releasing earlier that year on 10 April. This was the first version of Vegas to include video-editing tools and was also the first to have a low-cost "LE" version alongside the regular release. The LE releases would continue through version 3.0 of Vegas but would be discontinued by the release of Vegas 4.0. Vegas 3.0 was released the next year on 3 December, and added new video effects, features for ease-of-use with DV, and support for editing Windows Media files. Vegas 4.0 was released on 6 February 2003 and added application scripting, advanced color correction, 5.1 surround sound mixing, and Steinberg ASIO support. This was the last release under the Sonic Foundry name after it sold much of its software suite, including Sound Forge and Acid Pro, to Sony Pictures Digital for $18 million later in 2003.

Under Sony's ownership, Vegas 5.0 was released on 19 April 2004, bringing 3D track motion, compositing, reversing, envelope automation, etc. 7.0 also added an improved video preview, enhanced layout management, improved snapping, and more customization. With the release of 8.0, Sony opted to go back to the original "Vegas Pro" branding that the first version released with. It added the ability to burn Blu-ray and DVD optical media, support for 32-bit floating point audio, support for tempo-based audio effects, and more. It also moved the timeline to the bottom of the window by default with the option of moving it back to the top if the user wished to. Sony was also experimenting with 64-bit at this time and ported Vegas Pro 8.0 to 64-bit systems under the name "Vegas Pro 8.1". Vegas Pro 9.0 added support for 4K resolution and pro camcorder formats like Red and XDCAM EX. In 2009, Sony Creative Software purchased the Velvetmatter Radiance suite of video FX plug-ins which were included in Sony Vegas Pro 9.0. As a result, they were no longer available as a separate product from Velvetmatter.

Vegas Pro 10 was released in 2010 with stereoscopic 3D editing, image stabilization, OpenFX plugin support, real-time audio event effects, and a few UI changes. This was the last release to include support for Windows XP. Vegas Pro 11 was released the next year on 17 October, with GPGPU video acceleration, enhanced text tools, enhanced stereoscopic/3D features, RAW photo support, and new event synchronization mechanisms. In addition, Vegas Pro 11 comes pre-loaded with " NewBlue" Titler Pro, a 2D and 3D titling plug-in. Vegas Pro 12 would add two new configurations: Vegas Pro 12 Edit, for "Professional Video and Audio Production"; and Vegas Pro 12 Suite, for "Professional Editing, Disc Authoring, and Visual Effects Design". Vegas Pro 13 would be the last version released with Sony branding after the acquisition of much of Sony Creative Software's library by Magix.

After they acquired Vegas, Magix released version 14 on 20 September 2016. It featured advanced 4K upscaling as well as many bug fixes, a higher video velocity limit, RED camera support, and a variety of other features. This was also the last version to have the light theme enabled by default.

Released on 28 August 2017, Vegas Pro 15 features major UI changes that claim to bring usability improvements and customization. It was the first version of VEGAS Pro to have a dark theme; it also allows more efficient editing speeds, including adding new shortcuts to speed the video editing process. Vegas Pro 15 includes support for Intel Quick Sync Video (QSV) and other technologies, as well as various other features. It introduced a new VEGAS Pro icon as a V. Vegas Pro 16 has some new features including file backup, motion tracking, improved video stabilization, 360° editing and HDR support. Magix has continued to improve Vegas through version 21 with support for reading Matroska files, a more detailed render dialogue, live streaming, VST3 support, a VST 32-bit bridge, and a selective Paste Event Attributes menu.

Magix would later release a subscription model for using Vegas named "Vegas Pro 365" on 17 January 2018, although the perpetual license is still an option for customers. This version includes cloud-based speech synthesis among other features not included in the mainline Vegas release.

Reception

Major broadcasters have utilized the software, such as ''Nightline'' with Ted Koppel. Several films have used Vegas to cut their features.

References

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{{Audio editors

Video editing software
Magix software
Video editing software for Windows
Windows-only proprietary software