How flexible is Vegas Pro Scripting?

T

TheMusician

Well-known member
I have never done much scripting. But I am now going to need to do extensive scripting. How flexible is scripting in Vegas? Of the popular NLE's (Vegas, FCP, Premiere), which has the most flexiblity with scripting and allows you to do the most?
 
Neither Premiere nor FCP are scriptable at all, so Vegas wins that one by default. There are tons of scripts available for Vegas. Both Ultimate-S and Excalibur are just very advanced Vegas scripts and both a quite powerful. Scripting makes Vegas a much more powerful NLE than a lot of people realize.

John
 
Hi John, I've been curious about the scripting in Vegas too. Can you give us some examples of things that can be done with scripting, or post a link that might contain some of this kind of information? Thanks -
 
Scripting is much like using a macro in other apps -- you can automate very complex things which would normally take you multiple steps.

There's a list of pre-loaded scripts under Tools>Scripting -- some examples include batch renders, where you can make multiple renders (both multiple places on the timeline, or to multiple formats, or both), frame export (essentially taking a frame grab for every frame in your projects, or in intervals you specify) -- these are some of the most basic things you can do. You can write very powerful scripts indeed.
 
Wow, I am really surprised to hear that FCP and Premiere have no scripting capabilities at all. Do they even have a macro type of function?

Either way, knowing that I already own the most scriptable NLE is music to my ears. I guess the next question would be, is there an online resource for the scripting procedures on Vegas?
 
You need to know how to program in .NET (c# or vb.net), and you can download the SDK here: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/step2.asp?DID=774

Here is a snippet from the SDK documentation:

1.2: Which scripting languages does Vegas use?
Vegas uses the .NET framework to provide its scripting interface. Vegas can execute C#, JScript, and Visual Basic script files directly. You do not need to compile them first. Vegas can also execute scripts written in other .NET languages but those scripts must be compiled first.

Although JScript, Visual Basic, and C# can be easy to learn, it certainly helps to have programming experience before you try to write a Vegas script.
Microsoft's developers' web site has more information about the .NET Framework and its various programming languages.

1.3: Do I need to be a programmer to write scripts?
For the most part, yes. Although the .NET Framework provides several high level languages and numerous class libraries, it will be very difficult to write effective scripts without computer programming experience. In fact, sometimes scripts can be more difficult to write than typical C or C++ applications because the development tools and debugging facilities may not be as advanced. However, sometimes existing scripts can be tweaked a little to meet your specific needs. Don't be afraid to play around with scripts to alter and enhance their behavior.

1.4: How do I create a script for Vegas?
Most scripts are just source code (ASCII text) files with a .cs, .js, or .vb extension so any text editor will do the trick. Notepad may be the best choice among standard Windows applications. Of course, you can use software development tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio or GNU Emacs to help create scripts.

Compiled scripts can originate from the the same source code files as other scripts but they are converted to .NET assemblies (.dll or .exe files) by a compiler. Typically you will use the .NET Framework SDK or Visual Studio to create compiled scripts.
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks David and Stacyodell. I am familiar with VASST and will look into their scripting resources, and have just gotten some advice from Edward Troxell too. I have located links to Sony's scripting documentation so with all these links, I think I have got enough information to get my feet wet.(Hopefully, I can keep my head above water :)
 
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