5 Replies Latest reply: Jun 7, 2010 6:28 PM by Bill Hunt RSS

    PPro shortcuts and tricks...

    Eric Addison MeganK

      Hey Everyone,

       

      For those of you who don't know (which is probably most), I run the San Diego chapter of the PPro user group. For this months meeting, I was thinking of doing a meeting where all the members could share some handy shortcut or trick to get something done - something most people may not know about or something really handy that you do that saves you a lot of time when editing, exporting, etc.

       

      I'm putting a list together in addition to what ever the group members show up with, and I figured there's no better people to ask then those on this forum.

       

      So, if you've got something please post it...and do as many as you want - I'm looking for as many as I can get. And don't worry about thinking "Oh, I'm sure everyone knows this one"...you'd be surprised how many people don't.

       

      Thanks for the help, and I look forward to hearing your responses.

       

      (shamless plug alert) And if you're in the San Diego area, we'd love to see you at the meeting. Someone last meeting went home with a free copy of CS5 - that could have been you!

        • 1. Re: PPro shortcuts and tricks...
          Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

          Eric,

           

          I knew - I knew!

           

          My tips are more around a unified workflow, with planning the Project, organizing my Bins, and then keeping everything clean and neat there.

           

          Going to the bigger picture, almost all of my Projects (SD) go to DVD for delivery. To accommodate this easily, I always edit with my Sequences being equal to "chapters," or "scenes," and each becomes a separate Timeline in Encore for authoring. This is not so much to avoid Chapter Markers, but because it's how my mind works best, and I also NEVER have Assets ganged on one Timeline.

           

          Along those lines, ALL Audio in DVD-Video (and BD), must be 100% exactly (to the Audio Unit) the same Duration of the Video Asset - not one Audio Unit longer, but can be shorter. For this, and another reason (later), I always end my Sequence with ~ 02 sec. of Black Video, and my Audio ends somewhere within that 02 sec. Black Video. I always use a Dip-to-Black to get us there. Now, I start each Sequence in the same way, and for two reasons: I do DD 5.1 SS Audio via SurCode plug-in encoder with AC3, and many players, especially higher-end players, need time to "lock onto" the DD signal, so I do the same on the Head of the Sequence, as I do with the Tail. Also, with DVD-Video, there can be a little "pause," as the laser moves and refocuses, so if the Timeline has gone to black, and comes up from black, no one EVER notices.

           

          While we're still talking Encore (or at least I am), I use a lot of Menu Audio, and as we all know, DVD-specs. do not allow for Audio to span Menus, or to span a Menu to a Button Transition, or a Menu to a Timeline. The "trick" is to choose music that "seems" to span those gaps, but it obviously cannot. I use pieces with a fade-up and fade-out, and has lots of repetition, so one never realizes that the piece has actually ended, and then restarted with the next Asset. I use a lot of SmartSound pieces, and whenever I get new music from them, will bookmark such useful pieces, so that now I have many 1 2 dozen similar pieces to choose from. This DOES preclude vocals, beyond chants, or similar. You ain't gonna' have Freddy Mercury doing We Will Rock You, and span, unless you are very, very good, and can get the user to select a Button in a pause...

           

          I also use a lot of intricate Menuing, so I draw out a full flowchart for each En Project. I use AI to do this, and will often use the printed output from AI to get the client's sign-off. Here is an ARTICLE on this.

           

          While we're there, the DVD-specs. do not allow for more than 2-bit color (ON, or OFF), and Transparency, but nothing else. These will also appear above any Menu graphics. This TUTORIAL shows a little "trick."

           

          Here's an idea on how to handle vertical, or not standard sized images in a PrPro SlideShow. I've used this several times, and cover it HERE.

           

          I'll put my thinking cap on, and see if there's something else to share.

           

          Good luck, and have a good meeting.

           

          Hunt

           

          PS - I'd still love to make one of your meetings, but other than a fund-raiser in Del Mar, do not see any trips over for a bit - of course we might have issues getting in, with our AZ licenses... In all seriousness, I was planning on driving over, but might take a donor up on flying in with them in their jet, instead. Never thought that I would feel that way, but one worries.

          • 2. Re: PPro shortcuts and tricks...
            Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

            Eric,

             

            I feel certain that your users are way above this, but it still helps a ton of new users, especially with sports videos. Here is the TUTORIAL for Highlighting a Moving Object in PrPro.

             

            Hunt

            • 3. Re: PPro shortcuts and tricks...
              Eric Addison MeganK
              function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}

              the_wine_snob wrote:

               

              Eric,

               

              I feel certain that your users are way above this, but it still helps a ton of new users, especially with sports videos. Here is the TUTORIAL for Highlighting a Moving Object in PrPro.

               

              Hunt

               

              Don't be to sure of that - we've got a guys that have been using it for a long time and we've got guys still learning and using CS3. We had one member still on Premiere 6.5 until his computer died, then he went to PPro 1.5...he was our lucky CS5 winner at the last meeting - I think he deserved it most.

               

              Thanks for all the tips, Bill - they're great!

              • 4. Re: PPro shortcuts and tricks...
                Eric Addison MeganK

                On a completely unrelated note - why do I always see "function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}" when I do a quote?

                • 5. Re: PPro shortcuts and tricks...
                  Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                  Eric,

                   

                  That is part of the HTML in Jive, the software of the Adobe fora. This has been discussed on the Forum Comments forum, in a couple of comments.

                   

                  Basically, that is the way that it is... [Didn't Robert Redford and Barbra Steisand star in that film? No wait, Bruce Hornsby and the Range recorded that!]

                   

                  Hunt