Does Vegas not allow the import of Photoshop and Illustrator files, or anything with an alpha channel or something? I'd just stay in vegas and import the results from the other programs into that... unless Vegas can't handle those files.

Using AE and Encore is fine. But why do you want to switch to
Premiere as well? I see no advantage in that (unless you have
a hardware board that only works with Premiere). AE should be
able to load Vegas' DV AVI files and vice versa.

Thanks for the reply.

I think it's more of a workflow issue than anything. Vegas will import just about anything, but in a limited way. For example, it will not preserve the layers of a photoshop doc. That's a big limiting factor for me.

The main issue for me is workflow between AE and Vegas.

For example, a wedding film....

1. I want to use cinelook (sp?) to add an old B&W film effect to a few clips. As I understand it... I have to load these clips into AE, apply the filter, then render a new copy of these clips. I then open Vegas and load these clips as media and add them to my timeline. If I want to fade in and out of my effect, I need to keep going back to AE and re-rendering it, "trial and error" style until I get the look I'm after.

2. If I want to wait until my entire project is done (say a 60 minute video) to go back and add my text and compositing... I render it as an AVI, then I'll open AE, and load the ENTIRE 60 minute piece just to go back and add a few titles at the begining, then re-render the whole thing again. The reason this approach is required is that in my editing style, I often fade-in text slowley in one scene, and allow it to fade-out into another scene.


I know there are simpler and more efficient ways to do this, but with AE/Premiere preserving the tracks for eachother, it seems like it would be much more time efficient to use 2 tools that were specifically designed to work together.

My real concern is that I've heard premiere is buggy. Does it have this reputation or is it stable and usable for most people?

Thanks again!

You can easily use Vegas and the other programs. When moving between Vegas and AE, use UNCOMPRESSED AVI files. If you are wanting images, Photoshop files are fine. Likewise, you can use PNG. Both of these will allow Alpha channels. To move to Envoy, just render MPEG and AC-3 from Vegas. It should (hopefully) use them just fine. No need to lose the time invested learning Vegas.

Have you tried doing B&W/Filmlook from within Vegas? Have you looked at the tools from Zenote? Or Pixelan? Or Boris?

I would NOT pass a 60 minute video to AE. Just pass the small section(s) you need to actually modify. So if you are adding titles over the first 2 minutes, only pass the first 2 minutes instead of the full 60.

Also, you can always frameserve from Vegas to AE.

Kevin --

1) Bugginess: I save often in Premiere. Then again, I save often with every application, from Word to Photoshop. To me, the threat of crashing has been a component of simply being a Windows user, not of being a Premiere user. I've actually heard that Premiere Pro is *more* stable than previous versions, although I'm not ready to upgrade from 6.5 just yet...

2) A/B editing: Actually, Premiere Pro has done away with A/B editing, if what I've read is true. This is one reason why I'm avoiding upgrading from 6.5 -- I actually like A/B editing. Dunno, must be something in the water... (edit: by the way, in Premiere 6.5, you can choose to either use A/B editing or single-track editing. That's a nice feature and I don't know why they don't offer than choice with P Pro)

If you like Vegas and are proficient with it, then why not stick with it? After Effects can handle Photoshop layers really well as it is -- in fact, Photoshop and After Effects together make for some great uses of still photography in video.

And as Edward said, don't put 60 minutes of video into AE just to do 2 minutes of titling. In fact, I often do my titling in After Effects against a transperancy, then export it as an uncompressed AVI with an alpha channel; I import that file in Premiere on top of my main video tracks and set the transperancy to Alpha Key. That way I can move the title sequence or edit the underlying video without having to go back into AE to redo the whole thing.

1) when I first upgraded from premiere 6.5 to Pro, I got LOTS of bugs. Premiere was crashing like crazy. It was so bad that I had to move back to 6.5, temporarly. Now Adobe released fixes for those bugs. After installing them, my system works like a rock. Never crashed since then. (I use Matrox RTX100 Xtreme with Premiere)

2) In Premiere 6.5, you had the choice between A/B Editing and Single Track Editing. So if you found A/B editing annoying, you could always switch to the "advanced" editing, the single track.
Now in Pro, they completely removed A/B editing. you could only use the single track.

3) I don't think you need 100 hours to learn Adobe. I bought a book for Encore DVD, and took me 2 days only to completely learn the software. Super easy to use, and works really really nice with Premiere Pro and After Effects. If you have those 3 softwares, you could make awesome interactive/motion menus on DVDs, in a matter of hours. Of course, you could do it with other softwares. It's just that Adobe made it easier.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. That's a big help. I purchased a Premiere Pro book today and have learned a lot.

I think I will make the swtich, mainly when I got to looking at the "Video Collection" bundle. Woah - major software at a major savings. I'm chipping away with the demo version of AE right now, just playing with it - about to make the purchase though.

I'm still using Photoshop 5 (or is it 6?) anyway... an older version. Been wanting to upgrade to CS. Was debating over getting the basic or the pro version of AE, plus planning to purchase Encore for its normal price.

For $1500 I get AE Pro plus Encore (those 2 packages alone total over $1500 if purchased on their own), plus they include Photoshop CS, AND Audition (been needing a good pro-level audio app - wouldn't have shelled out for it by itself, but heck, it's included) PLUS they include Premiere Pro. That's a heck of a value, especially when all the products work together. (Okay, not as well as they advertise, but better than no compatabillity at all).

Anyway, thanks again.
-K

I don't think "Audition" is what you would call a "pro-level"
audio application. It is basically a new version of Cool Edit Pro
with a new name (as far as I heard). Not to say that it can't
do the job or work wonders for you. I just don't think it is
pro-level, that's all.

<<<-- Originally posted by Nawaf Alali : 1)Premiere was crashing like crazy. It was so bad that I had to move back to 6.5, temporarly. Now Adobe released fixes for those bugs.. -->>>

Where can I find a download for those fixes? Adobe doesn't seem to have them anywhere in the open on their site. Been digging and digging.

I got the "try out" version and it crashes (locks up my box, hardcore) after about 4 seconds of editing, always while a clip is playing. I'm lost.

Hey Kevin,
I am an avid Premiere Pro user. I have never used Vegas, though.

Premiere Pro is the most stable version of Premiere that I have ever used. But, there is one bug that EVERY Premiere user should know:

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/3260e.htm

This deals with saving certain projects and how sometimes you can crash Premiere. I've dealt with it a few times when I had a long timeline, but Adobe has zeroed in on the bug and currently has a work-around for it. Now, I have ZERO problems.

I monitor the official Adobe forums and that is the only bug that you'll find.

Good luck!

Firewire cable
 

I don't know if this will help anyone but I was having a similar problem with Premiere Pro and my JVC deck. I changed two things that seemed to have resolved the issue with me. First off never use the Firewire port on a Creative card, i have had more problems with my computer locking up than anything else from that card. Second make sure you use a high quality cable, something with the large magnetic shields on both ends. Premiere seems to be a lot more sesitive to this than other programs, the upside is that it is a lot more accurate and faster doing exact time code searches.

Thanks

Jared

well, in pro you can use any transition on any video track. most of them make it real hard to look good, but you can use them all. if this doesnt answer the question, IM me.

Hello Tim,

Problems with playback and capture as you describe often involves poor drivers for the Sound card ( 75% ) or the GFX card.

First Playback:
If you have an onboard soundcard that you don't use - make sure it is disabled in BIOS. If you're using an onboard soundcard, update both Motherboard/Chipset drivers and soundcard drivers.

Too be on the safe side, make sure you're using the latest gfx card driver as well.

And the classic stuff: Disable background stuff like Anti Virus and software firewalls etc etc

One more thing: Make sure that you HDD:s are using DMA mode 4 or 5 ( or better ) and _not_ PIO mode ( you can check this in device manager ).

Secondly missing timecode:

I have the same problem with my XM2/GL2 - just turn on OPTICAL scene recognition and you should be fine.

Best regards,

Lazze Z

flickering or pulsating video :help
 

premiere 6.5 and pro (I tried both). On exporting a DVCAM project to mpeg2 for DVD... I see a aliasing or flickering that looks like edges get pixelated and it pulses about every 1/2 second. When i switched to Pro it still does it but not as bad. I've read multiple forums regarding this problem, and the common advise seems to be to change the output to constant instead of VBR or variable bit rate. I see it in the pre-burned video and on the DVD. Tried different projects too... still does it. Changing to constant bit rate fixed the problem in the titles, but I still see it a little in video, although it's only visable in a static shot... if the camera moves it's too hard to see. Anybody ever see this and fix it? Thanks.

I'm using AMD 2ghz and winXP

Just curious, how did you shoot the footage and what lighting did you use?

Hardware Overlay
 

Funny when I tried the demo, my impression was it was the sharpest looking overlay I've ever seen. I don't know if it's hardware based anymore. Is that your problem? If you are doing anything that needs color correcting or motion graphics, you gotta be checking it on NTSC. It would probably even be a much better workflow anyways to edit it up without filters and such, then once done, add the filters as the last step, while running it through your cam, hopefully for a short time.

24p Capturing Problems In Ppro
 

when i try to capture footage, i drop a whole lot of frames. just wondering if there are settings that i should be using.

Natural light, DVCAM.

This only happens when you capture 24p footage? Not with
normal 30 fps footage?

I'm not sure whether PPro actually supports 24p capture. IF
it supports it, it will only do this with a 24p camera. Not with a
"normal" camera. Again, I'm not sure PPro supports 24p editing.

As far as I am aware of the release version of PP does not support 24p. As 24p is becoming increasingly popular I would expect Adobe to support it in a 'patch' for PP. From reading Adobes forum thats the 'message' i'm getting.

Andrew incidently what settings are you using at the moment?

I don't use 24p, so am slightly unsure.

Theres a whole thread about it here:

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/w...fd.0@.2ccef537

Thanks,

Ed

Is it possible you have the field order reversed? Given that you're seeing it in other projects it sounds like it could be a settings issue and field order would be something to check when you see edge flicker.

David Hurdon

Adobe Premier Pro on Win2k
 

ok got a system that I would like to update to Pro. its currently got 6.0 on it. anyone sucessfully get Premier pro to run under Premier Pro??

also how well does it run on lower spec systems

P3 933
256mb ram (most likely will add another 512mb
Matrox G450 Graphics Card

Heheh....dude, Premiere Pro is Windows XP only and it absolutely will down right suck with lower spec systems. I think 2ghz is the minimum requirement on the box isn't it?

You can try the demo for it, as well as Vegas (runs very well on weak systems), Edius, Edition, Avid Free DV, etc.

Ron,
Thanks for your post!!!
I was getting very frutrated trying to work out why I wasn't capturing the second channel. Yes it recorded at 48k both channels, but I couldn't capture both.
Tried 32k and hey presto, both now are captured.
The only problem is I want to record with 48k - one of the reasons I bought the PDX10, for its ability to record audio well.
Tried scenalyzer (spelt with a Z, had probs finding it at first) and the footage recorded at 48k was captured perfectly with this program. 48k does give ssooo much better audio.
This is a significant problem that the PDX10 has.
Now I have to buy extra software to solve Sony's fault.
But thanks again Ron - at least you provided a satisfactory solution.

PPro is XP only. Sorry.

problem with photo montage on premiere pro
 

When I started the new project, I accdientally picked square pixels 1.0 as the pixel aspect ratio in the general setting, then when i am done and exported the video, i noticed that the pics are all compressed (distorted) a little bit, but there is no way I could change the pixel aspect ratio in the general setting....so is there any way to fix it? coz i really dont want to start it all over again.... thnx

Hi Jon,

Your hardware specs meets the minium requirements you will need to upgrade to win XP. I recommend you upgrade to something that is a bit more powerful.

Heres the spec from adobes website:


Intel® Pentium® III 800MHz processor (Pentium 4 3.06 GHz recommended)

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 1

256MB of RAM installed (1GB or more recommended)

800MB of available hard-disk space for installation

Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card (multichannel ASIO-compatible sound card for surround sound support recommended)

CD-ROM drive

Compatible DVD recorder (DVD-R/RW+R/RW) is required for Export to DVD

1,224x768 32-bit color video display adapter (1280x1024 or dual monitors recommended)

For DV: OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 interface, and dedicated large capacity 7200RPM UDMA 66 IDE or SCSI hard disk or disk array

For third-party capture cards: Adobe Premiere Pro certified capture card

Optional: ASIO audio hardware device; surround speaker system for 5.1 audio playback

Forget it. You will be waisting your time trying to run Premiere Pro in your PC. Premiere 6.5 will run ok. I have both of them and tried them in low and high spec machines.

I have Premiere 6.5 + Win XP Pro in a Pentium3/700Mhz notebook with only 128M of RAM and it works very well.

Best regards,
Arnaldo

No. I experimented with reversing the order and tying no fields. I have been working too much overtime at my regular job and haven't had time to do more testing. I found this problem on two other forums just this week so there must be somebody who had it and knows what it is. I'm a video engineer and never saw it in my television broadcast experience, so I'm leaning towards the compression thing. I upgraded to pro and I'm restarting the project and will export a new version in a few days. Maybe by then somebody else who had experience with the issue will chime in.

thanks

That is correct. As far as I know you can't get that done anymore in Premiere Pro.

However, if you're working on a dual monitor setup, why not just extend your desktop and drag the preview on the second monitor? Then you save your workspace so you don't have to do it every time.

It's a bit of extra work, but I'm happy with it. And hopefully they will add the overlay again in the next version.

Hi Johnny,

You might be able to save your project but you are going to have to change the resolution of your pictures.

For DV NTSC create and save it at a 720x540 frame size to prevent increases in the resolution or 640x480 to prevent field distortion on a field rendered file.

There is a help page about this in PPs help file. go search and type in square pixels.

Hope this helps,

Ed

I am pretty well known on the Adobe forums, and I help moderate the forums at http://www.wrigleyvideo.com. If you haven't dropped by my site at http://www.stevengotz.com/premiere you really ought to.

I just haven't posted here in a long time.

I can think of one more real bug that has yet to be addressed. But will be in the next revision. Adding many JPEGs or TGA or PSD files to a timeline can cause a problem. But only at certain sizes. Best to use TIF or one of many workarounds. I sent in over one hundred stills for Adobe to play with and they told me they found the problem.

I believe that the $99 for only 4 hours is a waste of money in comparison to the great job Jacob Rosenberg did on the Total Training videos. For only $80 more, the Total Training is a slam dunk.

However, a new competitor, priced between the two, and presented by an Emmy award winning editor, is now available.

Take a look at http://www.classondemand.net/ClassOnDemand/Public/product.aspx?Product.formState=2&Product.ProductSelected=124

For only $149.95 you get Tim Kolb taking you through two real world projects.

Tim and Jacob are both great presenters. But if money is an issue, you could try Tim's with confidence.

However, if you also need After Effects training, the combo price at Total Training is unbeatable.

While I can't find fault in the suggestion to visit the official Adobe forums, I will say this. Many of our members feel most at home right here and may not feel like bothering with other online communities. After all, DV Info Net is the only video forum anywhere with a real-names-only policy, and maintains the most consistently fair moderation relative to its competitors. Frankly, we're the best at what we do. Not the biggest, not the loudest, but definitely the best in terms of a friendly community spirit, solid technical and creative information, and a "you're among good friends" atmosphere.

Are we the official Adobe Premiere forum? Nope, and we never will be. However, if it's a Premiere answer you're looking for -- or Vegas, or whatever -- we'll find it for you. In short, if you decide to look around elsewhere, you'll quickly find that nobody does an online community like we do, with a prevailing sense of mutual civility and fellowship in addition to all of the great information within. I'm very proud of that, and I know our dedicated members are as well. Thanks,

Chris,

I don't know if you were responding to me, but I never suggested visiting the Adobe forums, I merely stated that I am well known there. It says "New Boot" by my name and I wanted to let people know who I am.

I understand your policies, and would normally avoid sending people off-site. But my site has a serious collection of links, and I imagine it could be useful to your members. And the tutorials on the wrigleyvideo site are worth a look.

I do appreciate the sense of community, and would never intentionally do anything to disrupt it in any way.

putting text over video - title function?
 

I'm trying to put text over the video (having peoples names at the bottom of the screen over video of them). I know I have to use "new title" for this - but I don't see how to tell it to use the video as a background and not a color

thanks
Bret

Hi Bret,

This is how you do it:

Go file> new> title

Create your title and place your text where you want it to appear. Do not choose any other options.

Click on close (x) and save the title. It will now appear in your project bin.

Drag the title from the bin to video track 2 above your clip.

If you then play your timeline, the title should appear over your video in your preview monitor.

Does that help,

Ed

LOL probably the one thing I didn't try

thanks - very easy

I'm going to piggyback on what Ed said and just add that Premiere's top menu bar functions ("File," "Edit," "View," etc) will apply to the title window when it is open -- meaning you can Save a title while working on it (not just when closing it by clicking on the X) and access other functions via the menu bar.

And why do I add this comment? Because I worked with titling in Premiere 6.5 for months and months before I realized any of this. I don't think you're stupid, but you might just be as stupid as me :)