Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

Questions

1. What are three ways to preview transitions?
2. What does the Track Selector button do in a transition?
3. What is the purpose of the anti-aliasing feature available in a number of transitions?
4. What does the Forward/Reverse button do in a transition?
5. What are two ways to get more information within the Transitions palette about the function of a specific transition?

Answers

1. Use Real-Time Preview (Windows) or Preview To Screen (Mac OS), render-scrub in the Timeline ruler while holding down the Alt key (Windows) or the Option key (Mac OS), or generate a preview of the work by pressing Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
2. The track selector tool sets the direction of the transition between the two clips.
3. Anti-aliasing smooths the edges of an effect, reducing the rough appearance of the edge. This can be useful for transitions that have angled or curved edges.
4. The Forward/Reverse button sets the direction of the effect used in the transition. For example, in the Zoom transition, F zooms in and R zooms out.
5. Select (check) Show Hidden in the Transitions palette menu, or select (check) Animate in the Transitions palette menu.

1. Click in the Timeline window to select it.
2. Choose File > Export Timeline > Movie.
3. In the Export Movie dialog box, click the Settings button. Make sure QuickTime is selected for the File Type and Entire Project is selected for the Range.
4. Also make sure that the Export Video option is selected and the Export Audio option is not selected. The default values for other settings, including those for compression, are fine for this project.

   Use the Save and Load buttons in the Export Movie Settings dialog box to save and later quickly load export settings that you use frequently. Loading saved settings is particularly useful when you create several types of video files (for example, NTSC and Web video) from the same project.

5. Click OK to close the Export Movie Settings dialog box.
6. In the Export Movie dialog box, type Dream.mov for the name of the video program.

   Click Save (Windows) or OK (Mac OS).

   Premiere starts making the movie, displaying a status bar that provides an estimate for the amount of time it will take.

7. When the video program is complete, it’s opened in a Clip window. Click the Play button to watch what you’ve just created. You may notice that some frames are dropped during playback. This depends on the system you are using and also the frame rate at which the movie was exported.

Now, you’ll make the second trim of Solar2.mov in preparation for the second Sliding Bands transition.

1. In the Source view, change the existing Out point (at 00:00:00:14) to be the new In point by clicking on the Mark In button () at the bottom of the Source view.
2. Still in the Source view, double-click the timecode, and type 20, and press Enter/Return.
3. Click the Mark Out button in the Source view to set a new clip that is 8 frames long, as indicated by the Clip Duration display bar menu at the bottom left of the Source view.
4. In the Timeline window, move the edit line to the end of the last clip at 00:00:08:08 and insert the new segment of the Solar2.mov clip (or drag it to the edit line).

Now, you’ll make the second trim to Eye.mov in preparation for the second transition.

5. From the Select Source Clip pop-up menu in the Source view, select Eye.mov.
6. Double-click the timecode, type 218, press Enter/Return.
7. Click the Mark In button to set the new In point.
8. Double-click the timecode once again, but this time type 224, then press Enter/Return.
9. Click the Mark Out button to set the new Out point.

The result is a new trimmed clip that is 8 frames long.

10. Drag/insert the new Eye.mov segment to the Timeline, at the edit line at the end of the program. Your time will be 8:15 or close to it by a frame or two.

1. Position the edit line at the end of the Eye.mov clip.
2. From Bin 1, drag the Solar2.mov clip to the Source view in the Monitor window.
3. Double-click the Source view timecode, type 14 and press Enter/Return.
4. Click the Mark Out button in the Source view to set the new Out point. The duration time of the clip now shows the new trimmed length of the clip is 0:16.
5. Do one of the following:
   • From the title bar at the top of the Premiere screen, choose Clip > Insert at Edit Line.
   • Click the Insert button () at the bottom of the Source view.
   • Drag the trimmed clip to the Timeline at the edit line.
6. In the Transitions palette, scroll to the Slide folder, open the folder, scroll to Sliding Bands, and select it.
7. Drag Sliding Bands to the Timeline where Eye.mov and Solar2.mov meet.
8. The Fix Transitions dialog box appears. Click OK.

You now have a 15-frame (1/2 second) Sliding Bands transition.

9. Save the project.
10. Preview this transition in Real-Time or preview the project using render-scrub or generate and play a new preview file.

The process for creating the three remaining Sliding Bands transitions for this project is similar to the first.

You replace a transition instance by simply dropping the new transition icon on top of the old one in the Timeline. When you replace a transition instance, the default effect settings (duration and alignment) that apply to all transitions are preserved. However, the transition-specific settings (direction, borders, edges, anti-aliasing, and so on) are replaced by the transition-specific default settings of the new transition.

1. With the Transitions palette active, click the triangle next to the 3D Motion folder to expand the folder, if it is not already open.
2. Select the Cube Spin transition in the 3D Motion folder, drag its icon to the Timeline window, and place it on top of the Cross Dissolve transition between the Solar1.mov and Earth.mov clips. Now, the Cross Dissolve transition has been replaced with a Cube Spin.
3. In the Timeline, double-click the Cube Spin transition you have just inserted to see its settings dialog box. Notice that the setting options for the Cube Spin transition contain additional parameters, such as, border and color. Click OK or Cancel.
4. Choose Edit > Undo transition to restore the transition to the Cross Dissolve, in order to reproduce the 04Final.mov.
5. In the Transitions palette, select the Cross Dissolve transition, and then select Set Selected as Default from the Transitions palette menu.
6. Be sure that the Effect Duration is now set to 15 frames and the Effect Alignment is set to Center at Cut for the rest of the project.

As you develop your own video style, you may want to modify the settings of some transition types so they have your customizations as their default settings in the Transitions palette. You’ll customize Swing In now.

1. Double-click the Swing In transition icon in the 3D Motion folder of the Transitions palette to see its settings dialog box.

   A. Start/End slider B. Border thickness C. Track selector D. Edge selector E. Anti-aliasing selector F. Forward/Reverse selector

2. Adjust any or all of the following settings:
   • To change the initial and final appearance of the transition, use the Start and End sliders. Hold down the Shift key to move the Start and End sliders together.
   • To adjust the width of the optional border on the transition, drag the Border slider.
   • To select a border color, click the color swatch, select a color from the color selection window, and then click OK.
   • To change the orientation of the transition, click an Edge selector on the transition’s thumbnail. The Edge selectors are small triangles bordering the transition icon.
   • To make the transition play forward or backward, click the Forward/Reverse selector in the upper right corner of the transition’s thumbnail.
   • To adjust the smoothness of the transition’s edges, click the Anti-aliasing selector in the lower right corner of the transition’s thumbnail. Clicking cycles through the values Low, High, and Off.

     NOTE: Not all of these settings parameters are available in all transitions.

3. Click OK to change the default settings of the Swing In transition type or click Cancel to retain the factory settings for this transition.

The Cross Zoom you just added to the Dream project allows you to set the point in each clip where the zoom begins. You’ll do that now.

1. Click the Cross Zoom transition icon in the Timeline to select it.
2. From the title bar at the top of the Premiere screen, choose Timeline > Transition

   Settings to see the Cross Zoom settings dialog box.

   Alternatively, you can double-click the transition icon in the Timeline to bring up the settings dialog box.

3. In the settings dialog box, Select the Show Actual Sources option.
4. Leave the Start and End slider settings as they are, and make sure the track selector is pointing up. When the arrow points up, the transition will start zooming into Earth.mov and then zoom out of Eye.mov.

   Notice that there is a small white square in each of the clip thumbnail viewers. Each square determines where the zoom begins and ends.

5. Drag the white square in the End clip thumbnail viewer (Eye.mov) to the reflection in the upper right area of the eye.
6. Drag the white square in the Start thumbnail viewer (Earth.mov) to the center of the sphere, so that its position is similar to the position in the eye.
7. Click OK. You now have two 1-second transitions in your project.
8. Save the Dream project.
9. Preview the Cross Zoom transition by doing one of the following:
   • Render-scrub in the Timeline ruler by dragging the edit line through the transition while holding down the Alt key (Windows) or the Option key (Mac OS).
   • Preview at the precise frame rate by using Real-Time playback; or by setting the yellow work area bar to cover the new transition and pressing Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to generate and play a new preview file.

To preview the entire project at the precise frame rate, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you click anywhere in the work area bar. This adjusts the work area bar to cover all the clips. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to play directly or to generate and play a new preview.

When you insert a transition into the Timeline, but there are not enough frames available for the transition in the head material or the tail material of the clips, the Fix Transition dialog box appears so you can make adjustments.

The dialog box identifies the two clips involved in the transition instance and indicates the status of the tail and head material. The default solution is to repeat frames and place the transition at the center of the cut.

1. Select or verify these options: Repeat Last and First Frames and transition placement at Center of Cut.
2. Click OK.

Now, the Cross Zoom transition appears in the Timeline. Notice that grey bars appear in the affected ends of the two clips. This indicates that Premiere has repeated the last and first frames of the clips to make the transition work properly with the available footage.

1. Position the edit line in the Timeline so that it is at the end of Earth.mov (6:06).
2. In the Transitions palette, double-click the Zoom folder or click the Expand/Collapse button () to see the transitions in the folder.
3. Click the Cross Zoom icon to select it.

To find a transition quickly, click the Transitions palette menu, select Find, type in the name of the transition, choose Expand folders, and click Find. Premiere will locate the transition and highlight it.

4. Drag the Cross Zoom transition icon to the Video 1 transition track at the edit line in the Timeline window, where Earth.mov ends and the trimmed Eye.mov begins.

The Fix Transition dialog box appears.

The Project panel in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 provides a means of accessing and organizing your assets—video clips, audio files, still images, graphics, and sequences. Each listed media asset is a link. The files themselves remain in their file folders, while the assets are stored in bins. Bins behave like folders as a way to organize and categorize assets visually within Adobe Premiere Pro.

Importing and logically arranging your assets in the Project panel is simple. You can create new bins and even bins inside bins.

1. Click the Icon View button in the lower-left corner of the Project panel. This action changes the Project panel display from a list to thumbnails and icons.
2. Expand the Project panel by dragging its right edge to the right so you can see all the items.
3. Click 30 second score.wav to select it, and then click the Play-Stop Toggle button on the thumbnail viewer.You can click any other asset and play it. The Play-Stop Toggle button will be unavailable (dimmed) for still images and graphics.
4. Click footfalls.avi and then drag the slider under the thumbnail viewer a few seconds into the clip.
5. Click the Poster Frame button next to the preview to create a new thumbnail image for that clip.

   NOTE: The new thumbnail appears immediately in the Project panel. The thumbnail image has an audio display in it, indicating that this is a video clip with audio.

6. Click the New Bin button to create a new file folder. The new bin appears in the Project panel with its default name (Bin 01).
7. Change the bin’s name from Bin 01 to audio and then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac).
8. Create another bin, naming it stills.
9. Drag the audio clip to the audio bin thumbnail.
10. Drag the two JPEG stills and the Illustrator file to the new stills bin.
11. Return to List view (click the List View button, to the left of the Icon View button).
12. Click somewhere in the Project panel to deselect any bin that might be selected.

    NOTE: You need to deselect at this point so that the bin you’re about to add won’t be a subfolder inside another folder. (Sometimes you might want to use subfolders to help organize the Project panel, but that’s not what we’re doing right now.)

13. Click the New Bin button to create a new bin. Name it sequences.
14. Open the PS Layered image bin, and drag the Layered Photoshop File sequence to the sequences bin.
15. Create one more bin named movies, and drag the movie file to that bin.
16. Click somewhere in the Project panel to deselect any bin that might be selected.
17. Drag Sequence 01 to the movies bin as well.

    NOTE: It’s useful to organize your project assets in this type of bin structure. You may come up with your own way of organizing, but organizing by asset type, as demonstrated here, is a good way to start.

18. Click Name twice at the top of the file link list in the Project panel to put all the asset links and bins in alphabetical order.