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Create a project, import video clips and save the project
Overview
Name of explainer: Create a project, import video clips and save the project
Creative theme: Video editing
Software used: Vegas Pro
User level: BEGINNER
This is explainer 1 of 5 in this series
This series includes:
- Create a Vegas Pro project, import video clips and save the project
- Sequence video clips and render to an mp4 file
- Trim video clips, add fades and transitions
- Add text and music
- Putting it all together: Stonehenge project!
This explainer series is also available in a microlearning course! The course is completely FREE and you can download a PDF certificate of completion like the one below at the end! Head over to our sister site pixelsofcourse
The Software
This series of beginner explainers uses Vegas Pro. You can download a free 30 day demo version from the Vegas Website.
The Vegas website refers to ‘Vegas Pro’ and ‘Vegas Pro Suite’. As you can see below, the Vegas Pro application can be purchased on its own or as part of a suite of programs which also includes dedicated applications for audio and special effects:.
If you decide to purchase Vegas Pro, please review the subscription options first, and bear in mind the different pricing plans available.
This month we’ll also be running an explainer series for Premiere Pro (which requires a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud).
The final product
Here’s the simple ‘Spring is sprung’ video we’ll create as we progress through explainers one to four in this series. Notice the included text, fades, transitions and music track:
The pre-requisities
This is a BEGINNER workflow explainer, so you just need to install and open the software. We’ll take it from there.
If you’re new to IT / computing, you may need help downloading and installing the software. Start with a search for ‘how do i install vegas pro’ or speak with someone who’s familiar with downloading and installing.
Why would I do this?
It’s important to make simple decisions about your project while you’re setting it up. For example:
- What will you title it?
- Will you create an HD or 4k video?
- What will the frame-rate be?
Let’s do it!
Click the play icon to watch this video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can also watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.
Good to know
Vegas Pro includes project ‘templates’ to help you select a resolution and frame-rate. In the explainer we used the ‘1080-30p’ template highlighted below:
‘HD 1080’ is also refered to as ‘full HD’ and is the most common resolution for outputting general purpose ‘landscape’ videos, including those created for YouTube and Vimeo. Using lower resolutions can leave your video looking ‘fuzzy’ on modern devices while using higher resolutions (E.g. 4k) can be unnecessary for general use and can require a more powerful computer to edit.
Download the video clips used in this series
If you’d like to follow this series using the video clips shown, you can download them below. These files are only to be used for personal practice and must not be sold or used commercially.
Where to next?
You can override any of the Vegas templates above. For example, if you’d like to work with HD 1080 and 60 fps (which is common when using action camera footage), you can enter these settings directly into the fields as below:
Notice the ‘Template’ field updates to show ‘custom’ as we’re no longer using a built-in option.
Remember, this is part of a series of explainers for this software – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂
Notes and updates
There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in March 2023. This page was last updated in April 2025.
We at pixels.cool are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the team. Modern software gives users many ways in which to accomplish the same task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to reference multiple options. All computer users should run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise risk.
This is number 1 of 10 explainer videos for video editing month. Make sure you check out the others!
