VEGAS Creative Software has announced the latest version of its VEGAS Pro video editing, color grading and effects software. One of the headline new features is that VEGAS Pro 21 now includes a custom version of the motion tracking tool Mocha.
Mocha VEGAS
Mocha is a planar tracking tool from Boris FX. It’s an industry-standard tool and has even won an Emmy for technical achievement. You can use planar tracking for special effects work such as replacing a mobile phone display with another video. Mocha VEGAS has also been developed by Boris FX specifically for use in VEGAS Pro. Once you have created tracking data in Mocha VEGAS, you can easily transfer it to the VEGAS Pro Motion Tracking tool to use in your project. In addition, you can apply the tracking data to the Stabilization tool for better stabilization results.
Z-Depth tool
The VEGAS Z-Depth OFX plug-in and compositor is another new tool in VEGAS Pro 21. You can use it to set layers in your video as foreground and background layers. Once you have done that, you can then treat the layers differently. For example, you can add text so that it is in front of one layer but behind another. You can also add effects such as blur or color correction to the background without affecting the foreground.
Other new tools
VEGAS Pro 21 now includes a feature called Adjustment Events. With these, you can add effects that apply to all layers directly below the Adjustment Event. You can also use this feature in conjunction with the new Offset and Wrap OFX plug-in. If you slide video off the edge of the frame, this plug-in will wrap it to the other edge of the frame. In addition, in VEGAS Pro 21, two new presets have been added to the GL Transitions transition type. The first is the Static Wipe preset which adds a generated-static edge to the transition line between two clips. The second is called Directional Scale and it scales and moves off one clip while simultaneously scaling and moving on another.
AI and cloud features
The Smart Masking plug-in in VEGAS Pro 21 uses artificial intelligence to identify objects in the frame that can be used to generate a mask. It then adds a Bézier Masking plug-in to the FX chain with a mask already in place. You can also adjust the masks to correct any issues and Smart Masking even tracks motion to create smart masks for videos. With the latest version, the Text-to-Speech function is now a cloud-based feature through VEGAS Cloud Services. This update includes scores of additional languages and voices. In addition, as the function is now cloud-based, you get new voices and features as soon as they are ready. You don’t have to wait for a new build of VEGAS Pro.
What we think
VEGAS Pro 21 adds some impressive new features. Mocha is a powerful tool for planar tracking and it’s great that you can use it for enhanced stabilization too. The new Adjustment Events and Offset plug-in features also give you the tools to create sophisticated effects and transitions. In addition, it’s good to see that VEGAS Pro 21 is still available to buy outright if you don’t want to commit to a subscription-based pricing structure. If you haven’t tried VEGAS Pro before, there’s a free trial option so you can see if it suits your workflow.
Pricing and availability
VEGAS Pro 21 is available in three options:
- VEGAS Pro Edit includes VEGAS Pro 21 and costs $199 for a perpetual license. However, you can also choose a subscription-based payment of $19.99 per month or $143.88 per year. The subscription option adds 20GB of cloud storage and Cloud-based Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text capabilities. You also get 20 royalty-free HD video or audio clip downloads per month from VEGAS Content.
- VEGAS Pro Suite costs $299 for a perpetual license and includes VEGAS Pro 21, Mocha VEGAS, SOUND FORGE Pro, ACID Pro and Boris +Primatte chroma keying software. The alternative subscription version is $34.99 per month or $191.88 per year. It adds 50GB of cloud storage and unlimited HD access to VEGAS Content, along with the Text-to-Speech features.
- VEGAS Post Pro is the top of the range package and costs $399 for a perpetual license. This package adds VEGAS Effects for high-end compositing and VEGAS Image for RAW image compositing to the features of VEGAS Pro Suite. If you would rather pay a subscription, that costs $44.99 per month or $299.88 per year. That gets you 100GB of cloud storage and unlimited access to HD and 4K videos from VEGAS Content. You also get the Text-to-Speech features.
There are also discounts available if you already own a perpetual license.
