Nor am i talking about having a wasteful $5000 Apple Mac and running Pro Tools just to be dissapointed time and time again.

Nah, I'd rather build my own computer for $2k max that has specs that far out-do the Apple Mac,  and buy top-of-the-notch Sony Vegas Pro still with plenty left over (Hypothetically, I'm Actually Very Poor ATM) to buy a Semi-Professional Sony HD-Camcorder!

Getting back to the title, for those who don't know (Many Don't) Sony Vegas is a professional video editing suite that supports pretty much any media that you can throw at it.

(I don't recommend throwning anything directly at it :P)

I've just got my hands on the Vegas Pro 8.0c Trail and I'm going to write up what I think about this new version and why all aspiring freelance movie people to get it.

I'll get inside your face...

Meh anyways, upon opening up Vegas 8, I noticed that apart from the splash screen, the interface looks exactly the same as Vegas 6.

Not that it's a particularly bad thing, or lazyness, because the interface was already unique and perfect as it was.

Besides, if the interface was different, I'd find myself having to re-learn all of my habits, no-one wants to be on a new interface when they are rushing to get a production complete.

It's basically made up of 3 sections in the default interface view as seen below.

All of the sections are adjustable, removable, and you can also ad

d other interface bits and pieces to it.

You've got y

our timeline down the bottom with it's relative buttons for playing/ pausing/ rewinding/ stopping etc.

Top left, you have the tabbed 'grabbing area' as i call it. This includes the explorer for browsing various media on your hard drives/ external storage, a trimmer, for trimming various clips/selecting parts, project media, which is basically a collection of all media being used in the project + bins for storing media that you may want to use later on.

Then you have 3 more tabs for Transitions, Video FX, and Media Generators respectively.

Top right holds your master volume controls and the small preview.

You have to option to preview  in full screen, or send it's signal to an external monitor, which i highly recommend if you edit alot, or big projects.

Screen space is a biggie when it comes to video editing, you 

can never have enough of it, having 2 or even 3 monitors and spreading your interface/ previews between them is something you will eventually wish to do.

A basic editin

g job is always fairly easy.

You might be making a tribute or video clip, picture montage whatever.

A good way to get used to the interface and keyboard shortcuts, is to make a production including a song you like and maybe a collection if images of the artist to montage together over the top of the music.

Doing this will give you a feeling for sound/ video synchronized cuts, digital zooming/ tracking, and a general comfort with the interface.

Make sure you experiment with all of the tools, because your first production is never going to be your best, there's no worry with stuffing it up.

The biggest thing for me to jump up to Vegas 8  is the added support for HD cameras.

When my Bux.to payment comes through, I'll be buying one of the new 1080 cameras with my main use being to film skatboarding and mash it up with music.

Filming skateboarding is a real challenge but alot of fun.

It infuses two of my biggest interests, skating and filming.

I hope to one day make a living off of my camera, so it's important I keep handling them and improving my skills.

Arguably, one of the most awesome things about Vegas is the fact that it doesn't require any wasted time pre-rendering to preview an effect.

Only thing you will find, is what you see in the preview (if you don't pre-render) is not 100% what the end rendered result will look like.

Because it hasn't been rendered, it is basically a draft version just for preview purposes.

It let's you figure out whether the effect is right for what you are looking for without having to wait for it to finish rendering.

One thing i always do, once I'm 100% happy with a particular section, is pre-render it, so that it saves a little bit of time at the end of the production.

Get in this habit, and you will be a very happy trooper when it comes time to render what would have normally been a 3 hour preparation, to much less. Generally, by the end of my productions, I only have to wait a couple of minutes, because I've pretty much already rendered the whole thing as I went along.

There is so much more to talk about, but I'm afraid I'll have to just spit out tips and tutorials bit by bit as I progress through the new Vegas and spot them :D

I urge all people remotely interested to get off thier ath and do some math, or more importantly, get back on the seat and download the trial of Vegas Pro (Look for the trial via this page)

Go nuts my little minions.

Cya.