Pantarheon

Where everything flows. In 3D.

Seven Vegas Presets

by Adam Stanislav

1 August 2011

One of the nice features of the Sony Vegas non-linear video editor is the ability to save the settings not just of individual filters but of entire filter chains as presets. It is also quite easy to export these presets to a file, and share this file with others, who then can install the presets to their own copies of Sony Vegas.

I have prepared seven color grading presets you can use to change the mood of your own films or videos. You can download the presets by clicking here.

To install the presets on your computer, you need the Sony Preset Manager. If you do not have it, you can download it for free by visiting www.sonycreativesoftware.com, then selecting downloads / utilities. Scroll down the download page until you see Preset Manager, then download the version correct for your operating system and install it.

Once you have downloaded the seven presets and installed Sony Preset Manager, simply open the SevenVegasPresets.zip file and double click the only file within, Adam’s Seven.sfpreset. The preset manager will open automatically, with the presets already highlighted. Select Copy to System from the Edit menu, and you’re done. Close the Preset Manager, and close the zip file. If you want, you may delete the zip file or you can keep it for the future.

The presets, in Unicode alphabetical order, are listed as Citrón, Dakota, Koliba, Stínadla, Unter den Linden, Zuzana, and 天安門廣場 (Tianamen Square). If your system does not have the right fonts to show all the names, you can simply click the name of a preset and type a different name.

Citrón, meaning lemon in Slovak, my language, gives the image a warm yellowish cast, which can make outdoor images appear as if shot in the morning, and just warm up all other images.

Dakota, named after the actor Dakota Sky, gives the image a warm reddish cast, possibly giving the impression of a sunrise or sunset.

Koliba produces the impression of an old faded film. The word koliba describes a hut in the mountains of Slovakia, where shepherds live.

Stínadla is a fictional place in the novels by the Czech writer Jaroslav Foglar. His heroes have had some unpleasant experiences in that dark and shadowy part of town.

Unter den Linden offers a cold greenish/cyanish look, very common in many movies, often setting a feeling of uneasiness and hardship.

Zuzana is blue. Named after the art student who painted my portrait decades ago. When it was finished, I asked her why my red hair was blue. She explained my blue shirt dominated the choice of colors, perhaps my first lesson in color grading.

Finally, 天安門廣場 (Tianamen Square) has a deep red cast reminiscent of the bloody massacre that happened in that square not so long ago.

You may download and use these presets free of charge. But a credit to me, Adam Stanislav, will always be appreciated.

Here is a video showing these presets:

15 August 2011

Seven More Vegas Presets

Here are seven more presets. You can download them by clicking here.

The names of these presets are Bača, Bratislava, Čapek, Petržalka, Špenátový opar, Temnica and Upír.

Bača has the feel of a very old film, almost, but not quite, colorless, mostly warm. It is similar to the Koliba preset from the first seven presets I presented above. Indeed, it is derived from it by lowering its saturation even further. Its name reflects the relationship, as in Slovak a bača is a senior shepard who lives in a koliba.

Bratislava, the name of my home city, gives an almost neutral feel, yet it is slightly on the warm side. I named it Bratislava because for some reason it reminds me of growing up in that city. Perhaps that is because this preset is subtle, so it looks quite realistic, without calling for attention, unlike some popular looks that just scream, “Hey, people, notice how fancy I am!” Maybe I’m just getting old, but I have always believed that special effects should support the story, not detract from it.

Čapek, named in honor of the Czech writer and playwright Karel Čapek (who introduced the word robot into almost every language), is a somewhat film noir version of black & white. As a child I saw many film adaptations of Čapek’s writings and they all had this look.

Petržalka offers a look complementary to that of Bratislava. Its hue adjustments are the exact opposite of those of Bratislava, while they both share the same adjustment to the brightness of the image. That makes them both opposite and same.

Špenátový opar, Slovak for Spinach Haze, is soft, hazy, green, expressing uncertainty, self-doubt, lack of confidence, indecision, perhaps even amnesia.

Temnica is the Slovak word for dungeon. I think its look is pretty self-explanatory.

Last but not least, Upír offers how I imagine the world might look like seen through the eyes of a vampire. Among other things, it tends to wipe out any expression from human faces, perhaps enraging the vampire and encouraging him to attack. All that accomplished by pure color grading with no other effects.

As before, you may download and use these presets free of charge, but a credit to me, Adam Stanislav, will always be appreciated.

You can see the presets in this video:

Bonus Preset

And here is an undvertized bonus preset. I made it purely by using the Sony Color Curves effect, just to ilustrate its power to completely change an effect. The name of the effect is Psychedelic and you can download it by clicking here. Enjoy!

You can see it here:

18 October 2011

Presets in Sony Vegas Pro 11

Sony Vegas Pro 11, released 17 October 2011, has a slightly different look from version 10. You still use the same Preset Manager as before, and to find your presets, click on Filter Packages from the Plug-In Chooser. All your presets will be listed there.