Presto Sample Project, Post-Production Workflow

The Presto user guide uses a sample project of a presentation that was recorded in the Vancouver Contention Centre. This page explains the post-production work we did after the presentation and inside of Presto. Using the first two minutes of a presentation, the sample project has everything you need to try out Presto: presenter video, projection screen video, microphone audio, and slide images.

To download the sample Mac project in a ZIP file, click here.
To download the sample Vegas Pro project in a ZIP file, click here.

 

 

Media preparation

The presenter video from the XH A1 camera was copied from tape to disk via Firewire (an operation which unfortunately takes as long as it took to record). 

The task was easier for the screen camera and Zoom recorder, which both use SD cards for recording, and so for these it was simply a matter of popping the SD card into an SD slot on a computer, and copying the relevant video and audio files.

The audio files from the Zoom were run through the Levelator, which is always recommended for microphone audio because of the wide range of audio levels typical with this type of recording.

The Keynote presentation file was converted to slide images using Keynote on a Mac.

We had a total of 13 presentations to work on for this event, so keeping all the media well organized was important. The files for each media source were placed in separate folders (e.g. "video - presenter", "video - screen", "audio - zoom", and "slides").  So think ahead about how to organize your media, especially when several people are involved in the production process.

 

 

Prepping in Presto

The following discussion applies to Presto for Sony Vegas Pro.

After all the hard work of recording the presentation and organizing the media, we are now ready for the fun part: Presto in Vegas Pro! We like to have our project properties default set to a convenient 640 x 360 (16:9) square aspect, progressive scan format matching the YouTube output option.  This does not limit the final output format, but is a good size to work with for the two-up layout of presenter and slides.

Opening Vegas Pro, we start up the Presto wizard. 

In the first two steps, we pull in all the video, audio, and slide media for a single presentation, select the presenter to be on the left of the slides, and save the project.  In the first step, after importing the Zoom audio using the "New Track" option from the audio drop down, we then select the "Mix" option from the same drop down because we want to mix several of the audio tracks.  More on this in a moment.

In step three, we run PluralEyes from the "Process" tab to get the takes from the two cameras and Zoom audio all nicely lined up.

 

 

Editing in Presto

With the tracks synchronized, now is the time to trim off any unwanted video and audio from each end of the presentation (a step that has been done for you in the sample project media), before running Presto's automatic processing.

Now we hit the "Process" button, and let Presto crunch away on the presentation.  Presto automatically tracks the presenter (so he stays inside the inset for two-up layouts showing both the presenter and slides), synchronizes the slide images with the screen video (to give us those nice crisp and bright slides in our video), and creates a default layout sequence for us. When this processing completes, it is a good time for us to save the project again.

The default layout has the title slide showing briefly, and then a transition to the two-up slanted layout with the presenter on the left, as illustrated below.  Try mixing it up some more by using the Layout Sequence controls to add  transitions or cuts to the presenter-only layout when you feel the focus is really on the presenter telling his story, or to the slides-only layout when you feel the attention is on the slide and you want to see as much of the detail in that slide image as possible.  You can make these layout changes on the fly as you play back the video in Vegas Pro. It is also easy to zoom up on a part of the slide using Vegas Pro's pan-crop editor, by clicking on the pan-crop icon at the right hand end of a slide on the Slides track.

 

Example two-up layout

 

This presenter liked to wave his left arm around a lot, so in the Presenter Options sub-tab, we can drag the icon of the presenter over to the left a bit to give a bit more room for his left arm to point at the slides. Note that when you make an adjustment to the presenters position it is applied throughout the presentation.

The default slide transition is a simple cross fade, but you can easily spice it up with one of the transitions available on the Slide Options tab.

You can make this changes on the fly during playback within Vegas Pro, which is especially handy for making layout transitions as you review your presentation.

 

 

Adding the finishing touches

The microphone audio alone can sound a bit flat. You get a nicer room sound, and pick up audience reaction better, by mixing this microphone audio with the audio from the presenter camera. The audio from the screen camera is the lowest quality and so you should simply mute it.

Finally, we like to advertise our tools! So we create a new video track, and put the Presto and PluralEyes logo stings onto that new track, aligned with the end of the presentation video. Putting it on the same video track as the presenter or the slides can be a problem for Presto, so best to keep your own additions on a separate track.

 

 

Rendering the project

To render out the finished project, we simply go the final Presto wizard tab: "Make Video", make sure we have the desired output format selected, and hit the "Render Video..." button.

When preparing more than one presentation, it is helpful to come up with a naming scheme that makes it easy to keep the presentations organized.  For example, for this event we named each presentation using the template "PKNV11_<presentation #>_<presenter surname>.mp4", so this sample presentation was "PKNV11_10_Gordon.mp4".  The presentation number ensures that the videos sort in the order they were presented, while the name gives an easier way to recall which presentation it was.