Adobe Premiere & After Effects Work Mix
 

Hi,

I just wanted to share a little frustration. I am not sure whether it is born out of me using the tools incorrectly, or the tools not providing everything I need. Let me explain....

I started out using Premiere Pro, and it was great. Simple and easy. I then got hold of After Effects. It was a great addition. I done my editing in Premiere and fx in AE. It worked well, and my understanding of both programs has grown....

However the way that I now use the programs has changed dramatically. All I use Premiere for now is capturing the DV material, and I do all editing, effects, color correcting, etc., in AE. Somehow my intuition tells me that is not right but it's the most flexible and productive environment? It's not like the material I produce is full of effects, but the flexibility of the software is great.

The only thing that AE is missing is decent audio editing like Premiere.

Has anyone else travelled the same path or am I all alone??

Secondly, are there any other NLE's out there that have great Audio capabilities like Premiere (ie. VST plugin support etc.) + excellent effects with great support for a wide range of plugin's?

Thanks

Robert

Cheers

Robert

Media encoder presets
 

Does anyone know why in the 720 24p 10mbps vbr the frame size is 1280 x 720? It looks great for being stretched to that size. Should I be rendering my mpegs at that size? I mean it is a preset so it must some use. Up until now I have just been using a custom one I changed.

disc cleanup
 

when using cakewalk sequencing applications, there is a feature called 'disc cleanup' that searches your hard drive for all source files that are no longer used by any of your projects. it provides you with a list of obsolete files that you can then preview and choose to delete if they are surplus to requirements.

is there a similar application for premiere? i can't find it on any of the pull-down menus.

Sure! It is called "Adobe After Effects".

Seriously, there may be third party plugins, but I have not seen any for the effect you require.

premiere pro 1.5 has a specific tool for that purpose: project manager.
It allows you to trim the project and delete all the exceding files or copy the new trimmed version to a new location. It also automatically trims your sources to the used lenght in the project.
I think this feature has been there since the pro 1.0 but not shure since lately I've been using Edius 3 with better results (and it also as a consolidate project feature similar to the project manager in premiere)

Premiere 6.5 works in PPro?
 

Hi everyone.

I have a system running premiere 6.5 and am about to upgrade to Premiere pro 1.5.
My question is, can my old projects ive saved on my video drive in 6.5 be recognized in premiere pro?

If so - can i continue to edit them in pro 1.5?

Thanx :)

Yes, you can open your old projects in Premiere Pro. It will convert them to the new project format, and you will then be able to continue editing them.

The project manager was present in Premiere 6 and 6.5. I don't know if it was in earlier versions. When Premiere Pro was rewritten from the ground up it wasn't included in version 1, but came back with more features than the earlier project manager in Premiere Pro 1.5. It's a very handy feature, I must say.

Robert, I answered your post in the "Non-linear DV Editing on the PC" section. Please post in only one section. It makes it easier for everyone to keep track of the replies. Thanks!

Also, some of the effects have now changed in PPro, but there's backwards compatibility.

However, when changing from 6 to PPro, I realized that some video effects wouldn't work properly. But I would say 95% do.

advanced color correction in PPro
 

Does anyone know how to adjust the color by tonal range?

That is, choose yellows (or whatever) and adjust their hue/saturation?

I know there is control for shadows/midtones/highlights but I haven't found a way to adjust by tone - pretty much like Photoshop does.

I don't work with Premiere Pro, but I don't think PPro has secondary color correction.
You can use plugins like Color Finesse.

I don't believe Adobe Premiere has these capabilities yet.

If I remember correctly only Quicktime Pro allows you to do this. Since Final Cut is based on Quicktime - you might also be able to do it through Final Cut as well - but don't hold me to that.

Premiere Pro can do it if you choose QuickTime as the format, at which point you can pick MPEG-4 as the codec. I don't know if this is possible in Premiere 6.5. My suggestion is to check your export options.

Just a word of warning. The QuickTime MPEG-4 codec is not very good. I ended up using Nero Recode (part of the Nero 6 suite), which did a much better job. It's close to the quality of the Sorenson MPEG-4 codec. The drawback is that the file Nero Recode creates can't be streamed.

you are trying to do this in order to upload a vid clip to the new google video search engine... afaik, it ain't gonna happen, because that combo of formats is not legal anywhere, so the software programs won't allow it.

imho, those silly requirements are a major boondoggle for google... i spent several hours hacking thru procoder, sorenson squeeze 4, quicktime, womble, etc., and none of 'em would output what google wants.

if you know of another program that will combine those formats without re-encoding anything, please post it.

I have Adobe After Effects, but it has a steep learning curve and I haven't had the time to learn it yet. Also, Adobe After Effects is not a third party plugin.

Effects
 

Borris FX and Graphiti have some cool plug in text effects and AE has some good text effects built in now. One thing we have found very usefull and I dont know if many people realize you can do this but in Premeire pro you can apply most all transitions and effects to titles. So yes it is possible to make titles like that in Premeire useing key frames and transitions like stretch in and others, I have even used matrox old movie effect on titles for easy motion effects. Just gotta get creative and it takes a little time, but it sure beats having to go to AE.

Hope that helps.

Check out mp4UI (http://mp4ui.sourceforge.net) and GPAC (http://gpac.sourceforge.net/index.php). One or the other might be able to do that.

Dan,

Yes it's for google
it looks like you did all hard work

I'm going to contact google directly.

Christopher,

I downloaded mp4UI (http://mp4ui.sourceforge.net) but I can't open avi file just mpeg4 format.

Thanks for all clues
Mike

I was kidding - note the "Seriously" beginning the next section. After Effects is better than any simple plugin.

In After Effects 6.5 they included text presets for animations. You type in the text directly into the comp window, and assign a preset. The presets are all on the help file, in full motion.

Adobe's web site says, "NOW AVAILABLE" for the Creative Suite CS2 verisons, and there's a Photoshop CS2 try-out (329.1MB) posted...which I haven't tried out quite yet. No video software updates or announcements, as far as I saw (not that I was expecting any at this point).
Cheers.

PC Specs for Vegas or Premiere 1.5
 

hi all,

just in the process of buying a new PC to turn into an edit suite. basically once the system is installed & XP updates have been done i'll rarely connect it to the web unless I have to so its just an editing machine. very few other programs will be installed also, want to keep it fast & error/virus free.

its going a be a:

P4-550 Prescott 3.4Ghz with Intel 915 Board

2GB Kingston RAM

2 SATA HDD, probably main drive 80GB & video storage drive 200GB

Dual Laye DVD Burner

XP Pro

my question is what graphics card to use? I dont think i'll need a dual monitor system although i will use an ext monitor for colour correcting, etc through my camera & firewire. i will never play games or anything like that, just need a graphics card which will keep up with the video on the monitor without any stuttering etc.

Sony Vegas does not take advantage of the graphics card in any way. Premeire pro does tap into the graphics card a bit for previewing.

Get an inexpensive ATI or nVidia dual head PCIe card with 64 megs of RAM. While you don't want dual monitors now, you may in the future. Once you start using dual monitors you'll wonder how you ever got by with only one!!

Gary
Videoguys.com

thanks for that Gary..

is 64MB enough since there are now 256MB cards? or is this only useful for gaming? what dollars roughly for a 64MB dual monitor card?

also with dual monitors & ppro, how can you configure the monitors? ie: full size preview on one & timeline, effects etc on the other? is it changable?

Matrox
 

I would look at a Matrox graphics board. Probably more expensive but worth it for the dual head and compatability with video editing hardware and software.
The P650 PCIe for PCIexpress or the P750 for AGP 8X. Both about CA$300 retail.

Noobie to Por. Couple quick easy questions.
 

1. how do i add text? i have main video in video 1.
2. how do i download to my mini dv camcorder? or make a mpeg for the net?
3. audio. how do i adjust the levels of the music to gradualy have the music come on or go off.


i know i have more. but they should hold me over. :)

thanks in advance!

Click on "File," "New," and then "New Title."

File<Export<Export to Tape, I believe.

You don't want to make a raw MPEG-1/2 for the net. Go to File<Export<Adobe Media Encoder, and use something like RealMedia or Windows Media.

Okay, click on your audio track. Then click on "Effects Controls" in the clip window. You'll see control called Volume, along with a keyframe button.

Keyframes are your friend. Click a keyframe on the spot where you want the music to begin descending, and then click a keyframe on the spot where you want the music to become inaudible; for the latter keyframe, move the volume slider all the way to the left.

With Premiere Pro, I would get a Nvidia-based/GeForce dual monitor video card. NOT ATI/radeon- it does not have the spanning dual monitor mode (where your OS sees both monitors as one big monitor). Without it, you will need the Ultramon program to put Premiere Pro on both monitors.

Example card:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16814170067
Albatron Geforce PCX5300 128MB, PCI-Express, DVI+VGA or 2XVGA out (via included DVI-VGA adapter)
$72USD shipped, there may be tax depending where you live in the US.
(EDIT: You live in Australia, so ignore that...)

Check that the video card is AGP or pciE and that it works with your motherboard.

Look at your monitor(s) and figure out what outputs you need. Whatever combination of VGA and DVI you may need.

newegg.com is a good retailer to buy computer stuff from (check their resellerratings.com rating) and have a decent search feature to find the exact video card you want.

If you want better openGL acceleration (gaming cards are typically not very good), look at the workstation-type cards like Nvidia Quadro and ATI Fire. I don't use Premiere Pro that much so I don't know how much openGL acceleration is good. Only some of the effects use the video card.

Amount of video card memory does not make a big deal as far as I know.

2- Matrox is ok, but lacking in 3d performance and price. Some of them support three monitors.

Mike,

No, mp4UI can't make an MPEG-4 file. It is for combining/modifying MPEG-4 video tracks with audio and hint tracks. I thought it might be able to combine the MPEG-4 video with the MP3 audio to create the file needed to upload to Google. It won't help you if you don't already have the MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio.

I'm not sure I'm following the question. 1280 x 720 is one of the standard
HD resolutions (in 16:9 widescreen). So it is of use to people who are doing
HD(V).

This is of no use if you have SD footage or are going out to some standard
like DVD. It's only useful if you want a high quality compressed file you can
play on computer systems with software like DVD players.

What you indeed need is something called "secondary color corrector", try
to find that. If you can't find it you will need some plugins as Johan said.

From AE to Premiere?
 

Hey guys, its easy to go from premiere to After effects, but what is the best way to go from after effects back to premiere?

Do i just use quicktime and sorenson3?

Anyone know anything about Bryce 5.5?
 

Is it good software? How realistic are the locations you can make?

Any results on the tests?

I have used Bryce for years, and am currently still at version 5. Poor Bryce has been handed down to a couple of different companies since MetaCreations vanished a few years ago. Recently it was bought by DAZ Productions and they are just now releasing v 5.5 (in fact I think the "official" release isn't until next week).

It's getting a lot of discussion on the forums at their website. Some people are unhappy with the bugs and find it actually renders slower. Others love it.. I'm sure they will address all these issues with future updates, and evidently these are already in the pipeline.

I've brought up the subject of Bryce and other 3d software around here from time to time but have concluded that our membership doesn't do a lot of 3d work. You might want to visit the Brycetalk forums at the publisher's website: http://forum.daz3d.com/index.php?

Getting back to your questions, you can do some very realistic things with Bryce, although its strength is probably more along the lines of fantasy landscapes. But it is a capable 3d modeling program which could actually be used for almost anything. Expect to spend a lot of time learning the software though, some of the advanced concepts (creating textures) are not easily mastered.

Here are a few things I've done with Bryce:

http://www.greenmist.com/pearl/02/
http://www.greenmist.com/trovatore/visions/09/
http://www.greenmist.com/trovatore/project/02/
http://www.greenmist.com/trovatore/visions/04/

I will probably be using Bryce less in the future since I just got Vue 5 Infinite which does almost everything Bryce can but goes way beyond its capabilities. There are a bunch of versions of Vue at different prices (5 infinite is the top of the line pro version). If you want to do realistic landscapes you should check it out as well, you can download a free trial version: https://secure.e-onsoftware.com/Products/VueIndex.php

Large image imports crashing Premiere
 

Is there any particular reason why Premiere 6.5 crashes when I try to import images that are 1024x768? I want to resize them within Premiere but it crashes every time I try to import them. Is this normal? If so, what is the maximum image resolution that can be imported without it crashing?

The best way to go between the two programs is uncompressed AVI (ie,
select "none" for the codec). However, this creates large files. If that (really)
is a problem I would simply go with DV AVI files (later versions of After Effects
should support that I think).

Hi
If You want to import large pictures into 6.5 & scroll around & zoom in with no loss of quality, a program called "Moving Picture 5" is the one to use.
Recently started using it Myself, tho not a lot yet.
Installs as a plug in.
6.5 is supposed to resize "on the fly" I think, but I`ve always, before had to rezize to 720x576(I`m in PAL land) before importing to 6.5.
Or it would crash more often than not.


Hope this helps.


Regards.


Peter.

To go from Premiere Pro to After Effects, I assume you are exporting as Cineform AVI? Or are you using MainConcept's HD plugin?

If Cineform, do you have Aspect HD? Or just PPro 1.5.1?

It makes a big difference in the answer.

If you have Aspect HD then I suggest exporting it back in a Cineform AVI so you don't have to render in Premiere Pro. If you don't, the the Quicktime Animation codec will do the job just fine. And you can even have an alpha channel if needed.

Trouble with bad previews
 

When I preview my work in Premiere 6.02 by clicking the play button on the monitor window, the playback is all stuttery.

Also when I want to render a preview, it takes forever (about 5 minutes for 10 seconds of footage).

Are there any project settings that I should be using to make previewing and rendering previews faster?

I'm running a P4 2.8GHz with 512 MB of RAM.