Quick Start Guide — Vegas

This guide is for Neat Video v4 plug-in for Vegas being used with Vegas Pro 13.

If you use another Neat Video plug-in or another editing application, please select the corresponding quick start guide.

1. Installing the plug-in

To install the Neat Video plug-in for Vegas:

Make sure you have started Vegas at least once before installing the plug-in. If you have not done that yet, start Vegas and exit it.
Download the installer of Neat Video for Vegas:

If you already purchased the product and have a current license for the Home or Pro plug-in, please download the corresponding Home or Pro plug-in from My Products page
If you want to try Neat Video before purchase, please download the Demo plug-in from Download page

Double-click the downloaded EXE file to start the installer.

Proceed through the steps of the installation process. Use the default settings offered by the installer. This should automatically make the plug-in available to Vegas.
Start Vegas and find Reduce Noise v4 in the Video FX list (in the main FX section listing all available video effects).

In case the plug-in has not become available in Video FX list, please contact Neat Video support for assistance.

2. Running Neat Video on a sample video clip

Please download the test-kit prepared to help you start using Neat Video. Having downloaded, please unzip it to a new folder on the hard disk.

The test-kit includes a sample video clip: SampleClip.mpg. This is a typical video clip captured by a digital video camera in high-gain mode. Some technical information about the sample clip is available in the SampleClipInfo.txt file.

Please start Vegas and go through the steps below to clean the clip using Neat Video.

2.1. Add the sample clip to the project

1. Configure a new project in Vegas

Navigate to the File > New... window to create the project:

Select the ”1920x1080; 25.000 fps” preset in the New Project window or manually adjust the frame size to 1920x1080 pixels and frame rate – to 25 frames per second:

2. Add the sample clip file to the project

Use the File > Import > Media... menu in Vegas to import the SampleClip.mpg file into the project:

3. Add the sample clip to the composition

Select the sample clip in the Project media window and drag-n-drop the clip into Timeline window. If Vegas asks “Do you want to set your project video settings to match this media?” select Yes

The Vegas preview window will display the sample clip and you will see that there is strong noise in it. The task of Neat Video is to reduce this noise.

2.2. Add Neat Video to the composition

Click the Event FX… icon in the clip shown in the Timeline window to open the list of available video effects:

Select Neat Video > Reduce Noise v4 in the FX list of all video effects and click the OK button:

Sony Vegas will add the Reduce Noise v4 effect to the Video Event FX panel, which will list the available controls of the effect (see the picture below):

2.3. Configure Neat Video

1. Open Neat Video plug-in window

Use the Timeline controls to select a frame with large flat featureless areas; the selected frame will be used for noise analysis in the next stages.
In the Video Event FX panel, click the Prepare Noise Profile... button (under Reduce Noise v4) to open the main window of the plug-in.
(If you run the Demo plug-in, click Ok in the popup splash screen of the plug-in to proceed further).

The Neat Video plug-in window will open and display the current frame from the clip:

2. Build a noise profile for the clip

To reduce noise in this frame and in the whole clip, Neat Video generally needs a noise profile describing the noise properties of the clip. You can prepare such a profile using the Auto Profile function:

In the Device Noise Profile tab click

Neat Video will then automatically analyze the noise to build a new noise profile:

Visually inspect the selected area — it should contain no visible details, only noise; otherwise the noise profile and subsequent noise reduction may be inaccurate.

If the selected area does contain any details, move the selection to a featureless area or simply draw a new selection in such an area (the selection must be at least 32x32 pixels large). Then click the Auto Profile button again.

After that Neat Video is ready to filter the clip.

3. Check Preview

Switch to the Noise Filter Settings tab

You will notice that Neat Video has already applied noise reduction based on the default filter settings and the preview shows a clearly visible difference: there is less noise than in the original frame.

You can try to adjust the filter settings and see how that affects the results. For example, try to adjust the Temporal Filter > Radius setting (in the Temporal tab in the Filter Settings box in the right part of the window) from 2 to 1 or to a higher value. This will apply weaker or stronger temporal noise reduction to the frame.

4. Apply the changes

Click in the bottom of the plug-in window.

Neat Video will save the current settings and close its main window.
(If you run the Demo plug-in, it will also describe the limitations of the Demo version at this point).

Once this step is completed and Neat Video window is closed, the filter is ready for work.

The preview in Vegas now shows the clip with noise reduction applied to it:

2.4. Render the video

To apply Neat Video noise reduction

Use the File > Render as... menu item in Vegas.

This will automatically apply Neat Video noise reduction to the sample clip and save the result to a new video file on the hard drive. You will then be able to open this new file, evaluate the filtration results and adjust the filter settings if necessary.

You can also use the Tools > Selectively Prerender Video... menu item in Vegas to prerender the preview only, without saving the results to the disk. You will see that the noise in the resulting clip is significantly reduced while the true details are preserved.

Please see the User Guide for more details about adjusting the filter settings and other aspects of using Neat Video. These Video Tutorials will also help you to get the most out of Neat Video noise reduction.