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"Use Preview Files" works in CS5.5 but is "Useless" in CS6

Community Beginner ,
Jul 23, 2012 Jul 23, 2012

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I'm a heavy user of the "Use Previews Files" option when exporting files. This has worked great with Premiere CS5.5 but using the same method in CS6 no longer works and reverts back to rerendering the original files in the timeline and rerendering all the effects on them which is very time consuming since the original files are HD and are being downscaled in a DV widescreen timeline.

Anyone figure out how to get Premiere CS6 to correctly find the preview files when exporting using the "Use Preview Files" option?

In the meantime, I had to load all the preview files I had rendered back into a new timeline and reassemble them in the correct order. Once I did that, I exported this 1 hour 38 minute timeline to an MPEG-2 file which only took 19 minutes instead of the 7 hours it would have taken even with the "Use Preview Files" on and with a fully rendered timeline.

Again, it works great in CS5.5 so something changed in CS6 to make the "Use Preview Files" useless now.

Randy

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LEGEND ,
Jul 24, 2012 Jul 24, 2012

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Seems to be working fine for me.  An effects heavy test took 2:32 to export without using Previews, and only :15 using them.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 24, 2012 Jul 24, 2012

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You really need to test on a longer sequence, something that would take hours to render to make the preview files. Then export that sequence to a format like MPEG-2, basically something different from the Preview File format which is my case is DV AVI and see how long that takes. Even with the most complex effects, a 1-hour timeline should only take 10-15 minutes to convert to MPEG-2.

Randy

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LEGEND ,
Jul 24, 2012 Jul 24, 2012

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There is sufficient difference between the export times to show that they are being used when the box is checked, even on such a short test.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 24, 2012 Jul 24, 2012

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I'm editing long-format projects and have thoroughly tested that it doesn't recognize the preview files in CS6. It could be that Premiere can't find the preview files with long-format projects for various reasons. It could be the number of preview files that messes it up, who knows. But a project that only takes a couple minutes to render and may only have one or two preview files may be something that CS6 can handle. My projects can have hundreds of preview files.

So, how many preview files does your project have?

I went back to CS5.5 and finished the project where the preview files worked.

If anyone else has a long-format project or a project with lots of preview files they want to test this on, I'd appreciate it.

Randy

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Enthusiast ,
Jul 24, 2012 Jul 24, 2012

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Sorry to sidetrack this one a little, but what codec are you guys using for your previews, and do you have max quality etc set on the previews also?    We tend not to use them, but I'm getting tired of 7-8 hour exports for things that used to take only 45 mins on FCP7 (because we'd rendered as we went along).

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 24, 2012 Jul 24, 2012

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I render as I edit also which is why the preview files are so important to me at the end when I want to export and not have to rerender everything.

I never use Max Quality since I have a (GTX 580) Cuda video card. Max Quality is for CPU rendering not GPU rendering and creates a lot of needless additional render time if you have a Cuda card.

I'm using the default DV codec which makes DV AVI files in the Preview folder. Too bad CS6 can't find them when I export. I'm lucky I kept CS5.5 installed.

Randy

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 24, 2012 Jul 24, 2012

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Loaded another one of my projects that is 1 hour 45 minutes long. Tried previews on and off, match settings on and off. All export times were the same. Conclusion: CS6 not finding the preview files.

The way to tell whether it is finding the preview files in CS5.5 is that the hard drive light stays on constantly and the estimated remaining time comes up in about 15 seconds or in a much shorter time than if you weren't using the preview files. The longer the project and the more preview files you have, the longer it will take to make this estimation.

When that hard drive light is not constantly on and lights sporadically Premiere is ignoring the preview files and rerendering all the effects in the timeline, What I discovered is that if I stop the export and reboot my computer, load the project again and do an export, Premiere will find the Preview files. This method doesn't work in CS6 only CS5.5.

Randy

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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OK, decided to do a simple project and test the preview files. One HD AVCHD video clip, 24 minutes long. Dropped into a DV widescreen project and the video clip downscaled to match the project. Added a color correction filter, Shadow/Highlight filter and Sharpen filter. Cut the clip into 4 pieces and adjusted the color correction on each. This will generate 4 preview files. This is basically what my larger project involve but with many more video clips.

Did not render timeline or make any preview files then exported an MPEG-2 file. Took 35 minutes.

Rendered timeline which produced 4 preview files in the DV AVI format. Took 1 hour.

Exported an MPEG-2 file again but this time selected "Use Preview Files". Took 35 minutes.

Exported a DV AVI file (same format as the Preview files) but this time selected "Use Preview Files". Took 35 minutes.

Imported the 4 DV AVI preview files and put into a new sequence. Exported an MPEG-2 file using no preview files. Took 3 minutes.

Imported the 4 DV AVI preview files and put into a new sequence. Exported a DV AVI file using no preview files. Took 1 minute 30 seconds.

Randy

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LEGEND ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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Just checking but ...Preview Files are exactly what the name states they are.

That is ..they are a lossy departure from the native files. (They are files rendered out  with FX etc...that make playback easy on the system)

So ..is it your intention to use the quality loss ( hit) from  the Preview files to create your export media?

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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Yes, this is for 8mm & 16mm film transfers and there is no difference visually when using or not using Preview files. When I edit film transfers, I'm rendering one reel at a time and checking it in the timeline at full playback speed. Once I get through editing all the film reels and since everything has been rendered, I then export to an MPEG-2 to load into Encore to make the final DVD.

I've used this method on 100's of 1000's of feet of film using Premiere CS5.5 and having the Preview files available to use when exporting has saved me 100's of hours of rendering.

Randy

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Contributor ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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shootemz, I don't think that preview files NEED to be lossy files ONLY used for previews.  In fact you can set them to something like uncompressed 10 bit, which would make them not lossy at all, and in fact totally suitable for speeding up a final export.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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And in my case, they do.

Are you using QuickTime at all here?  My understanding is that because of QuickTime's 32 bit nature and the "band-aid" Adobe uses to handle them in a 64 bit environment, you can't do a direct file copy form QT to QT, you have to go through the encoder.

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Contributor ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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The lack of copy is not related to 64 bit vs 32 bit (as far as I know), but in fact limited to lack of something calls "smart render". Only a few very specific codecs let you smart render, i.e. pass your initial source, let's say prores directly into the final prores export without reencoding.  Of course, prores, IS NOT one of those supported formats.

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Enthusiast ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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reToolednet wrote:

The lack of copy is not related to 64 bit vs 32 bit (as far as I know), but in fact limited to lack of something calls "smart render". Only a few very specific codecs let you smart render, i.e. pass your initial source, let's say prores directly into the final prores export without reencoding.  Of course, prores, IS NOT one of those supported formats.

Do you know which ones are?   Or perhaps have a link to such information?

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Contributor ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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Some of them are mentioned here:

http://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2012/05/premiere-pro-cs6-6-0-1-update-bug-fixes-and-impro...

But not sure where to get a full list.

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Contributor ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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Also, to contribute to the original poster's question, Use Previews DOES work for ME in CS6, despite NOT working in CS 5.5.  However, I have heard from others that it doesn't work on their systems either.  Definitely an area that needs improvement to improve export times.  Perhaps a true background rendering system would really speed up final exports when combined with this as well. 

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LEGEND ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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The lack of copy is not related to 64 bit vs 32 bit

I do believe it is directly related to using the QuickTime container, which is a 32 bit process running in a 64 bit environment.  Using AVI (such as DV, Uncompressed, Lagarith or UT) doesn't have this issue.

Smart rendering is something else entirely.  This is where only changed frames are 'rendered', and any unchanged frames are simply copied.  PP has just received it's very first "smart rendering" capabilities, as that feature is widely defined.  "Smart rendering" is unrelated to "using preview files".

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Contributor ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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Right this is unrelated but plays into the greater discussion of export times. Regardless quick times and use previews do work for me. But on a Mac.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 26, 2012 Jul 26, 2012

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Like I've already stated in earlier posts, preview files work in CS5.5,  no problems except for the occasional hang up when I have to reboot when it won't find the preview files and I know how to detect this. I'm using a PC, no QuickTime is involved, and using DV AVI files only for preview files. Preview files sometimes don't work in CS5.5 if you don't know how to trigger the preview files to work. Problem is there is no way I have found to trigger the preview files to work in CS6. I could care less about smart rendering since it has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

I think it comes down to a lot of people commenting on this topic just don't understand how it works or they think it works on their system when it really doesn't.  The bulk of my editing work revolves around using preview files and most people don't use this method for various reasons.

Randy

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LEGEND ,
Jul 27, 2012 Jul 27, 2012

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Preview files sometimes don't work in CS5.5 if you don't know how to trigger the preview files to work.

Right there I'd say this is a local issue.  There is no "trigger" required other than the Use Preview Files checkbox.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 27, 2012 Jul 27, 2012

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Sounds like the typical Adobe employee response on the local issue. I say "trigger" since that was my own discovery on how to make it work in CS5.5. Most people just assumed there was no way to get preview files to work in CS5.5 and gave up on it.

Now CS6 has improved the playback when using render-intensive filters almost to the point where I can bypass "rendering as I go" and simply would export the MPEG-2 file a the end of the edit but with the CS6 Encore chapter marker inaccuracy problem compared to Encore CS5.1 that's a no go. Of course, my Encore problem I'm sure is a local issue also, right?

Back to CS5.5 and will be waiting for CS6.1 to retest everything.

Randy

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LEGEND ,
Jul 27, 2012 Jul 27, 2012

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Again, excepting the QuickTime issue, there is nothing you have ever needed to do to "make it work" other than check the box.  If it ever hasn't worked for you, then something is probably wrong with your installation.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 27, 2012 Jul 27, 2012

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So you're say that there are no bugs in Adobe CS6 and if anything doesn't work correctly it is due to something wrong with the installation?

One thing you can check off as not being the problem is my PC setup since I also have Premiere CS5.5 installed and the preview files work there.

Randy

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 27, 2012 Jul 27, 2012

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Solved it.

This had nothing to do with my installation or my PC setup and should affect most (I'll explain that later) people that use Premiere CS6 since you have to change a setting in Premiere beyond just clicking on the "Use Preview Files" box and should be added to the instruction manual. People that are saying it worked just happened to have this setting already on or off depending on how you look at it. Want a hint?

I'll have to try this with CS5.5 also since I know how to make it work or not work in 5.5 but I'll try this also since it wouldn't require a reboot.

This is why I hate when people post that you need to reinstall your software which in itself can cause new problems that were never there with the first installation.

Randy

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