Vegas Video is particularly powerful in that you can mix and match different sizes and types of media. For instance, you can open up AVI files, JPEG images, and MPEG video and create output files using all of them. The tricky part is that the pixel aspect ratios of your inputs may differ. Pixel aspect ratios are dealt with in some depth in the book - suffice it to say if you display a 720x480 MPEG movie on a computer screen, it looks stretched in the horizontal dimension.

Vegas Video automatically does the right thing - if you set the project settings correctly. Here's how to do it (see figure below):

1. Open the project settings window (File >> Properties or Alt+Enter).
2. Choose the Multimedia Template from the first drop-down menu.
3. If you're working at a size other than 320x240, set your frame size accordingly.
4. Leave the Field Order at "None" and the Pixel Aspect Ratio at "1.0." This is crucial - this is what lets Vegas Video know that media that originated in non-square pixel spaces (i.e. your DV camera) must be rendered to fit into a square pixel space.
5. You should probably bump up the Frame Rate to 29.970 (25 if you're using PAL).
6. It's also a good idea to check the "Start all new projects with these settings" checkbox so you always get consistent resluts.
7. Save the settings by clicking on the disk icon next to the template drop-down menu. This way you'll be able to reuse it, or have different templates for different projects.

The Vegas Video Project Settings Window

That's step one. Now, Vegas Video will automatically re-size your inputs to fit into the project window. However, if the aspect ratio (not the pixel aspect ratio - this is slightly different) is different, you may end up with black bars either on the sides or top of your media. You can solve this by cropping the media to match the project setting -- which is the subject of another tip.