Just a quick blog update from NAB 2011.

One of the coolest tech demos at this years NAB was Intel’s Thunderbolt technology. As you may have seen in my previous blog entry, Apple’s newest laptop has the Intel Thunderbolt port that shares the same connection as the Mini Displayport . Currently, this is the only computer shipping with a Thunderbolt port – remember that you can’t simply add a Thunderbolt port, it’s tied into the logic board/Bus and processor. This is a feature you will want to watch for on your next computer purchase if you use uncompressed files or need to move large project files around.

As walked the show floor during setup, I saw several booths with Thunderbolt on display and none of them gave people the opportunity to see a complete workflow from computer to SDI output. Most of them were out of reach and under a piece of clear plastic. I wanted to give people a chance to play with the timeline and experience Thunderbolt first hand. Thanks to Promise Technology(Raid), BlackMagic Design (IO) , and iKan (7” SDI monitor), we were able to pull together a great display with in a few hours.

The real credit on the Adobe side goes to our Pro Video engineers and the Intel engineers who closely worked together over the past few years to insure that our 64 bit Mercury software playback engine could take full advantage of the “Fat Pipes” that Thunderbolt provides. As many of your know, Uncompressed video is not that much of strain on the processors like h264 video, but you do need a clean 64 bit path to deliver that much data from the timeline to IO like the Blackmagic unit demonstrates. All of these pieces need a clean 64 bit path and need to work together.

Click on the video shot by ProVideoCoalition.com to get a quick idea of what this is technology is all about. I’ll be working on more tech demos as new Thunderbolt hardware is rolled out. Several vendors are planning to offer Thunderbolt connectivity in the near future have already contacted me. This includes, Cameras, IO devices, Displays, Raids, and PCs.

Stay tuned….

Click below to play the video.

Recently I’ve been getting a lot of performance questions from Mac users about using Premiere Pro editing systems with ATI/AMD graphics cards. No question this has been “sparked” by Apple’s recent series of MacBook Pro Laptops featuring Thunderbolt and a 1GB AMD Radeon 6750 graphics card. Below is a link (Click picture) to show the Mercury Playback Engine running on the new Apple MacBook Pro 17” Thunderbolt laptop in 64 bit CPU mode or what’s also known as Mercury Software mode. In software mode, Premiere Pro will use its 64 bit playback engine along with OpenGL to give you a great playback & rendering experience. Apple is now finally shipping a fast processor with 8GB of system RAM and 1GB of GPU RAM on a laptop.

As you’ll see in the 9 minute video, for many workflows with 2 or 3 layers of video , Mercury Software playback will fit their needs perfectly. With newer Intel processers and fast hard drives, Mercury software playback can render Titles, transitions, PSDs, and effects like Ultra Keying, and Color correction (Fast Color Corrector) in real-time. As you’ll see in the video, playback is very smooth.

Remember that the Red Line above the Sequence means that you are using the CPU to process data. It does not mean you can’t play in real-time. Frankly, we need more colors to show what’s actually happening during playback of the Sequence – I’ve already added it to the Premiere Pro wish list.

What about CUDA? I thought Premiere Pro CS5 required an approved nvidia card for Real-time.

Remember that Mercury Back has 2 modes:

1. 64 bit Software playback mode.  ie CPU + OpenGL mode

2. Hardware assist playback mode. ie CPU + GPU w/CUDA

When you have an approved nvidia CUDA card, you get powerful parallel processing (CPU + GPU) which allows you to edit and Export at the same time with incredible speed. The CUDA card can take on effects and free up the processor to handle other non CUDA tasks.No question, if you have the choice – this is the most powerful option.

With newer processors like Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor (8 Threads), the CPU can now take on a lot more tasks. We can now even use laptops to playback native Red files in ¼ mode instead of 1/8 mode. This was previously only possible on a desktop system. I was completely caught off guard – this was really impressive to see Intel giving us this type of performance in a laptop. Native DSLR (Canon 5D) and RED editors will totally dig this.

Bottom line, if you need to edit on a system that has a fast processor and an AMD/ATI, or other non-supported CUDA cards, give it try. Chances are you’ll be pleasantly surprised.We have a ton of surprises in in the works.

For those of you out there looking to get started with Stereoscopic (S3D) workflows for Premiere Pro CS5, I’ve put together a 60-minute video giving you great way to get started with S3D. This covers most of the basics from building your rig with 2 matching cameras to different 3D displays including using any commercial 3D TV from your local electronics store.

We’ve partnered with Cineform and their new 64 bit plug-in for CS5. As you’ll see, they offer 2 plug-ins : Neo3D for 2,995.00 US and NeoHD for 499.00 US. The main difference is the ability to key frame various controls as well as separate adjustments for Left and Right eye. I find that most people can make do with the 499.00 version.

This video also covers the various ways to view your S3D. The best setup for Editing S3D on your main computer display is by using the NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses matched with a decent NVIDIA card (works excellent with the Mercury certified cards) and a 120Herts display like the Alienware 2310. The video will show you lots of choices for viewing. Commercial 3D TV sets (I’ve tested the Panasonic Viera and the Samsung 3D LED TVs) also work great but only as a 2^nd display for output– not your primary editing display. Of course you can still use Anaglyph glasses as well (Red/Blue & more)

I’ve posted the videos on YouTube in HD in 7 parts (for iPad viewers)  as well as AdobeTV for Flash viewers.

YouTube HD links:

Part 1: The Gear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCPtPVLCTCE

Part 2: The Glasses & Installation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqi_qivG82c

Part 3: Importing Footage & Using the Cineform Plug-In

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-7GC2bPXIU

Part 4: Editing 3D footage in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR_vfGqTdGo

Part 5: Editing 3D footage in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHD5NBrWXxo

Part 6: Editing 3D footage in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IRjLAe2VVU

Part 7: Editing 3D footage on a Mac (Cineform beta)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrMqpyurfQA

AdobeTV Link:

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/davtechtable/3d-stereoscopic-editing-with-premierepro-cs5-winosx/

More coming……….

I’ll be working on several more S3D workflow video featuring output in Encore CS5 and other tips and tricks.

Encore Users:

For those wanting to get ahead start on Exporting to Encore. The key thing to remember is to set your Cineform output to Side By Side mode before you export to Media Encoder (File>Export>Media  Format H264  Preset H264 Bluray High Quality).

You can add chapter markers in Premiere or Encore. There is NO S3D menu support in CS5. You can use a menu but it will play in 2D not 3D. I normally put a title at the beginning of my timeline telling the viewer to press the 3D button on the remote.

Here’s link to the trial version of Cineform Neo to help you get started:

http://estore.cineform.com/downloads.aspx

Quick Setup tips for NVIDIA 3D Vision users

Follow these quick 7 steps to get your NVIDIA 3D Vision system up and running with CS5.

Remember that you are installing 3D Vision drivers for S3D editing, not 3D gaming. Currently, the 3D Vision setup instructions are really  geared towards the gaming market. Installing the full 3D vision driver set just adds problems in getting these drivers to load and work properly for S3D Editing. You only need the Graphics card driver (make sure to pick Quadro if you are a Quadro user) and the correct matching 3D Vision USB driver (again, if you are a Quardo user, pick the 3D Vision for Quadro driver)

I’ve put together a few screen shots to help your setup.

1. Download the correct Quadro or GeForce Driver. Remember to choose 64-bit

2. Download the matching 3D Vision driver for your card (Quadro or Geforce) and 64-bit

3. After you reboot, plug in your IR Emitter Box and both cables (DIN & USB). Depending on you graphics card, you should have a round DIN connector on your card (Quadro cards typically have these)

4.Change your 2 main settings in the NVIDIA control Panel (120 Hz) and Manage 3D settings.

Remember that you need a 3D monitor that offers 120 Hz refresh. Currently the Alienware 2310 is leading the pack in terms of quality (full 1920×1080). NVIDIA has a list of compatible monitors on their website. These monitors typically run between 350.00 to 475.00

5. Under 3D Settings (Top Task) , choose Manage 3D settings. DO NOT go to Stereoscopic 3D settings. Look closely at the screen grabs.

Change Stereo-Display mode to : On-Board Din Connector(With IR Emitter)

Change Stereo Enable to: On

Click Apply

FIRST LIGHT Settings

6. Launch First Light and import a 3D file ( you will have needed to convert your Left and Right file to Cineform format and have Muxed them. There are demo files on Cineforms website if you don’t have any 3D files yet)

Goto the View menu and select Open GL Player Player options. Note, you have different setups if you have more than one display.

Suggestion: if you are new to this: Try to keep things simple, just connect the 3D 120 Hz display to your system and get it working first, then add to your 2^nd monitor.

For Single monitor setups. Set your Internal Window to NVIDIA PageFlip 3D and then set your Primary Monitor Fullscreen to NVIDIA PageFlip (Press Alt+Enter when playing back video for full screen preview in First Light) Your Secondary monitor make no difference as it’s not connected.

For Dual monitor setups, with your 3D 120 Hz Display set as your 2^nd display. Set your Internal Window to “3D Playback Disabled” and Check the “Use OpenGL for 2D Playback”. Set your Primary Monitor Fullscreen to Enable Standard 2D playback.The Secondary Monitor Fullscreen should be set to “NVIDIA PageFlip 3D”

You should see your screens “blank out” for a few seconds and your IR Emitter should change from a Dim Green light to a very bright Green Light. Make sure to Press the Power Button on the Top Left side of your NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses to view content in 3D.

Premiere Pro

7. In Premiere Pro, select your Sequence and then goto to the Sequence Settings Menu and select Playback Settings….

For Dual Monitor settings, I usually put my 3D Display as my External Monitor (Full Screen) and set it to Full Screen 3D  – NVIDIA PageFlip and I set my Internal display to Standard 2D OpenGL.

Make sure to check the Fast 3D option to increase playback performance. You can also turn this off if you see odd artifacts during playback which can be caused by your graphics driver.

Tip: if your system is running solid – Do not change your graphics driver. Newer graphics drivers are not always better….

For Single Monitor settings . Again, your External setting makes no difference.

Click HERE to start the Video

The Adobe Mercury technology also allows users to get more power from their CPUs. By using GPU and CPU in parallel, you get unbelievable performance running in a clean 64 bit operating system (remember, all future versions of Premiere are 64 bit only OSX 10.6 or Win7 64).  By running in parallel, the CPU can take over tasks where the GPU isn’t used.

What can expect to see?

In the video you’ll see incredible AVCHD playback and scrubbing, working with DSLR cameras like the Canon 5D & 7D, 9 Layers of P2, Native Red 4K Multicam editing and RED keying and lastly, you see accelerated rendering for exports.

What does it take to make it work?

Currently, all you need is a Windows or OSX system that supports any of these cards: Geforce GTX285, nVidia Quadro CX,FX4800, or FX5800. We plan to add support for newer nVidia cards as they get released. You can now design a system based on your editing needs – more CPU Cores or a more powerful GPU card like the FX5800. Because we have ability to run these processes together the performance is truly remarkable.

A Game Changer for the future of NLEs ……

Premiere Pro has truly started in a new direction with the Adobe Mercury Engine. More professionals are starting to turn to our native workflows in Premiere Pro. Check our some of the new postings on Adobe.com. Here’s a quote from Jon Landau “ Avatar” will change the way we experience movies forever – Adobe Software is changing the way movies are made.”

Here’s a link to the James Cameron movie Avatar and peek at their workflow.

 Just click on the :  “See How it was made” link. http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/

The new Premiere Pro CS4 4.2 and Adobe Media Encoder CS4 4.2 offer new improvements and enhancements to CS4 video workflows. With the 4.2 update, Premiere Pro now offers users of Panasonic’s AVC-Intra line of P2 cameras the chance to edit in native AVC-Intra format. This has been a longtime coming for AVC-Intra users and they can now enjoy the advantages of Adobe CS4 tapeless workflows and native editing. Several other enhancements to Premiere Pro 4.2 were also updated, like the support for FinalCut 7 import. I have outlined several of the updates and fixes below. I have also listed the "known issues" in 4.2 as well.

Click Continue Reading to see more info on Notable fixes and Known issues.

New in this release

• Panasonic P2 AVC-Intra material is now supported; new sequence presets are also included for editing this format.

Notable fixes

• Final Cut Pro Project Converter is now compatible with Final Cut Pro version 7
• Final Cut Pro Project Converter now maintains timecodes from the originally captured sources from Final Cut Pro
• Playback no longer stops when connecting/disconnecting a USB keyboard or mouse
• Performance is no longer diminished in mixed format sequences during playback, scrubbing, and exporting
• Fixed a field output issue when rendering a 720p 60/50 source in an interlaced SD sequence
• Third-party support

Known issues

• Use of Project Manager is not recommended for AVC-I since clip spanning is lost during project collect and copy
• Clip duration in media browser does not match duration of clip once it is imported
• AVC-I clips are redbar in native sequences

Windows 7 is here …….. finally

For the most part Windows7 ( I suggest the 64 bit version) is working excellent with our CS4 apps. We will continue to monitor the various forums and see if any issues arise due to Win7.

At this point,  Encore CS4 has 3 known issues.

The key issue involves the Roxio pxhelp driver that Windows 7 replaces (this may get fixed in a future Win7 update). The other 2 issues involve building and burning projects and having the computer go to sleep in the process.

The fixes are easy. See below.

#1. Transcoding pauses when the system goes into Sleep mode in Encore CS4 (Windows 7)

Go to Control Panel
Click on System and Security
Click on Power option
Click on “Change plan settings” in the “Power saver” option
Set the “Turn off the display” value to “Never”
Set the “Put the computer to sleep” value to “Never”

#2 Encore CS4 crashes if the system goes into Sleep mode while you are building a project (Windows 7)

ISSUE

 When you attempt to build a project in Encore CS4 in Windows 7, and the system enters Sleep mode, the application crashes or becomes unresponsive.

SOLUTION

Disable Sleep mode if you need to Build a project while the system is unattended. (see steps to turn off sleep above)

#3 System crashes when Blu-ray is selected as the format in the Build panel in Encore CS4 (Windows 7)

http://docs.roxio.com/patches/pxengine4_18_16a.zip

Installing and using Windows 7 with Adobe apps

Link:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/508/cpsid_50853.html

WHAT’S COVERED

• Versions of Adobe products tested with Windows 7
• Upgrading from previous versions of Windows to Windows 7
• Windows 7 clean install/upgrade matrix
• Installing Adobe applications after installing Windows 7
• Trial Versions of Adobe applications

Technical issues with Adobe applications and Windows 7

Today we took a major leap forward in our future development of Premiere Pro and AfterEffects. We announced that we would no longer support 32 bit OSes in future releases of Premiere Pro and After Effects. As many of you know, we are not new to the 64 bit arena, Photoshop CS4 is already native 64 bit on Windows and we have been running the last 3 versions of Premiere Pro and After Effects on 64 bit OSes.

Both Premiere Pro CS4 and AfterEffects CS4 already give you one of the best parts of 64 bit and that’s better memory addressing. Both Premiere Pro and After Effects CS4 have been optimized and architected for 64 bit and perform much better today than running XP32 or Vista32 or even the new Win7 32. You can look forward to seeing at least 50% better performance when running a 64 bit OS.Some people are even quoting 200% better performance!

For PremierePro"Next", we are moving to new GPU + CPU model which allows us to scale and divide the workload more efficiently between multiple CPU Cores and GPU Cores. It uses the new nVidia CUDA technology and is designed to work with nVidia cards such as the Geforce 285 and FX4800/5800 series.

Why mention this now ?

We want to give our users plenty of time to upgrade their systems to 64 bit and to get ready for the changes that are quickly coming. Both Apple and Microsoft have released 2 excellent 64 bit OSes in 2009. Mac users already know how great the Mac OS is and Windows users can look forward to seeing Windows7 64 in action.They can also finally look forward to using all of that RAM they purchased.

Anyone looking to buy new hardware might want to know what the requirements will be to run CS"Next" and how make great use of their CS4 investment today. I am recommending Multiple Cores, 8GB RAM or more, one of the nVidia cards mentioned above, and either Win7 64 or OSX 10.6. Again, CS4 runs excellent on this config as well.

The big change will come with true 64 bit performance built for a 64 bit OS like Windows7 64 and OSX Snow Leopard 10.6. Once you drop the legacy support for 32 bit operations you open the gates for better performance and a better over all experience.

When ?

The 64 bit versions are still many many months away – but we need you thinking about your "next" step.This was a tough decision but a necessary one. We are hard at work in the labs on this new 64 bit project. Much of the major 64 bit work is already done for Premiere and After Effects and we are beginning to see the benefits of our work. The early performance tests are truly amazing.

Do yourself a favor and take that major leap forward and upgrade to 64 bit now.

Look for a new video featuring Premiere Pro the 4.2 update. I’ll be posting a new article and video link here in the next few weeks. Support for AVC-Intra import, FCP 7 Import, and more…

Here’s more information on 64 bit from our website:
Whitepaper: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/pdfs/cs4_production_premium_64bit_wp.pdf FAQ: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/faq/
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/mastercollection/faq/
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/faq/
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/faq/
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/faq/ System req pages: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/systemreqs/
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/mastercollection/systemreqs/
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/systemreqs/
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/systemreqs/ Product sites (look for the 64-bit feature item in the “news carousel”): http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects

What’s new in the Premiere Pro 4.1 Update

The 4.1 updater for Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder are fairly critical updates for the CS4 user. If you are using the CS4 Production Premium Suite, After Effects also has a new updater, 9.02. Below are some of the major changes in these updates. I’ve also listed some of the various bug fixes for Premiere Pro and After Effects. Take the time to scan the list. I’ve also created a “What’s new in Premiere 4.1” video to get you up to speed. For the RED camera users out there, both Premiere Pro 4.1 and After Effects have new workflows for RED R3D files. I do a quick run through of the new features on the new RED workflow in the 4.1 video but there is a completely new Adobe RED video, which walks you through the new workflow in detail. I should also note that Adobe Media Encoder has been updated to match the changes in Premiere Pro 4.1 and After Effects  9.02. One of the most noticeable changes in 4.1 update for Adobe Media Encoder (AME) is the rendering speed. In many cases, you’ll see quite a speed bump.

Click Here to Watch the new video

featuring what’s new in the CS4 Updates

After Effects has a ton of new fixes in the 9.02 update. Todd Kopriva has a fairly complete listing of the changes and fixes in AE CS4 . Click here to jump to his AE blog.

Premiere Pro 4.1 updates:

• Simple Frame Export is now back ! One of the new changes is that you can now choose whether you want TIFF or TARGA.

Here’s the new steps:

• Move Current Time Marker (CTM) to the frame you want to export
• File>Export>Media   (don’t get nervous AME won’t need to launch)
• From the Format Drop Down list , Choose either TIFF or TARGA
• You will prompted for a save location

This method does give you one extra step from previous versions of Premiere but you now can choose the format type. I get a ton of emails each week on this feature alone. For the record, I also want to see us enable a right mouse click option from the Current Time Marker on the Timeline to export frame.

New enhanced RED R3D Workflow.

With Premiere Pro 4.1 and After Effects 9.02 we now support the new RED plug-in You’ll also see new a few new presets for 1080p and 720P sequences. While many RED Users shoot in 4K and 2K there are many times when they need to simply export to a 1080 or 720 mode for Blu-ray or web player. These new presets allow them to work in 1080 or 720 from the start of the project or drop the 2K/4K Sequence into a 1080 sequence (nesting) for final output.

New support for RED R3D Media Browser. The Media Browser now shows RED in the “View as:” drop down menu and will Span clips accordingly

New Support for the RED R3D Source Settings window in Premiere Pro 4.1 and After Effects 9.02 which allows you to adjust  Decoding, White Balance and Color Settings. You can even save presets

.

We now support Fractional Resolutions in the Project and Source Panels. To switch working resolutions on the fly, just right mouse click in the Project Panel for Sequence playback or the Source Panel for trimming clips. No more restarting Premiere Pro! You can now preview your 2K and 4K timelines at the optimal resolution and switch and back and forth as needed. For 8 Core 64 bit desktop Desktop computers,  most users are seeing Full Resolution at 2K and Half Resolution for 4K . (For Windows users, take a look at the new HP Z600 or Z800 desktops, in my testing they’ve been a solid RED editing experience) For most laptop users , remember to use Eighth Resolution for 4K and Quarter Resolution for 2K. Many users are reporting great results in Vista64 and OSX using 16GB of RAM for 4K workflows.

• 
  

  Long/Large Projects  open faster !

• We now parse the Premiere project file in a much different way in order to get large projects to open much faster – This has been a longtime coming. Some of my larger projects would take several minutes to open, they now open in a fraction of the time.

• Native .VOB file support! This feature is just plain cool. For those of you that need to pull video/audio from an old DVD (not copy protected), you can now insert the DVD and watch it pop up in the Media Browser (turn off your auto-play option for Apple or WIN/Power DVD Player ) and just double click it. Once the DVD starts to spin, it will automatically show the VIDEO_TS folder. Double click it and watch your .VOB files start list. Double click on any .VOB file (except those that end in “0”) and they will load into the Source Panel. You can now make IN & OUT points or you can make Sub Clips if you need lots of clips from the same VOB file or chapter. You can then drag these clips down to the timeline (I suggest using DVCPro 50 NTSC or PAL as a SD preset) . Why is this cool? Premiere Pro now looks at your video DVD the same as it would any other tapeless media. If you need to use several DVDs , you’ll need to jot down the VOB file name that you are using and drag the VOB files  to your project folder from the DVD. If you need the whole DVD , then just copy the entire VIDEO_TS folder to your project folder. As always, watch your workflow and organize your media in to logical folders. If you are using several DVDs for source material, make several different folders to keep from over writing files. Lastly, if you see a scrambled preview from your DVD in the Source Window or Timeline, then the video is copy protected. If Premiere sees a copy protected DVD it will pass through the scrambled video. How does this work? When you insert a DVD , the DVD player driver will read the disc to see if it is copy protected. This happens at the driver level and not the Adobe Media Browser level. Lastly, if Premiere seems to hang while reading or editing a DVD – Make sure it’s clean and not scratched. If you want to edit the DVD direct from the source, then you need to make sure your disc is 100% readable. Again, if your not sure, copy the Video_TS folder to your Project folder.

• Faster/smoother AVCHD playback

• New AVCHD Support for Presets @ 1080p & 720P.

• As AVCHD editing gets more and more popular (the prices keep coming down, do a quick search on AMAZON.COM for CANON AVCHD HF , prices are as low as 599.00 for the basic model) we are doing our best to keep up with the changes. When Panasonic introduced the new AVCCAM AG-HMC-150P and most recently the New AG-HMC-40P, my inbox filled up with 1080P and 720P requests. I’m happy to report that these new modes work great. In fact, we used the Panasonic 150P to test the new workflow with the new presets. We also made a number of changes to the way we read Native AVCHD files and the result is better playback support.

• NEW Support for Avid Import and Export.

• You’ll now be able to Export your Avid Media Composer projects as Avid AAF and Import them directly into Premeire Pro CS4.1.You can make changes in Premiere Pro and Export those changes back to Avid AAF. Obviously you’ll need to manage your AVID media accordingly. Since Premiere Pro and AfterEffects can read many Native file formats directly, you may need to convert your media to a form Avid can read. If you are exporting from Premiere and back to Avid please note that not all transitions and effects are available.  Premiere Pro 4.1 also supports some Avid IMX and Avid MXF formats.

• What about After Effects CS4 and Avid? Here’s a quick way to get Avid projects into After Effects?

Step 1. Export your Avid Project as AAF

Step 2. Launch Premiere Pro CS4.1 and File>Import and open the Avid .aaf project

Step 3. Check your timeline and make any needed adjustments and then Save the Premiere Pro project.

Step 4. Launch After Effects CS4 (9.02) and File>Import>Premiere Pro Project.

Adobe Media Encoder 4.1  has had a few updates as well.

You’ll see faster Encode times for several formats.

New YouTube Wide Screen HD and SD presets (.mp4)

Better support for RED workflows.

What about those NEW MP4 Cameras ?

Lastly, with tons of new pocket MPEG4 (MP4) cameras coming out everyday. I keep getting emails about supporting them. In nearly all cases, you can edit the format in Premiere Pro CS4. The key is to import the .MP4 into Premiere Pro and right mouse click on the file and goto Properties and look at the info (see picture below). Check these 3 things : Type, Size, and Frame Rate and make a Preset to match it. You can always make a custom Preset using the Mobile and Devices list. Click on the General Tab to make changes. Some MP4 formats like the new Sony Webbie HD Series MHS-CM1 and MHS-PM1 actually make Premiere Pro CS4 think they are XDCAM EX files. If you have this camera, just choose XDCAM EX 1080i, XDCMEX 1080 60i (SP) and you can edit in real time and no Red Line. The picture below shows the properties of a Sony Webbie clip. Again if you have a MP4 camera changes are you can edit , just take the time to check your properties. Many of these cameras shoot in 1440×1080 not 1920×1080 so set your sequence settings accordingly.

Premiere Pro C4.1 &

After Effects CS4 9.02

workflow using the

NEW Native

RED R3D plug-in

     After several months of hard work, the REDCODE 1.7 Red Plug-in is finally available and you can find it here:  http://www.red.com/support . Make sure you update Premiere Pro and AfterEffects and Adobe Media Encoder. The workflow video will show you how to apply the updates.

As you’ll see in the New Tech workflow video and workflow guide, this plug-in now allows you to use Premiere Pro CS4.1 and After Effects CS4 9.02 to import Native RED R3D files as easily as any of our other native tapeless formats.

I’d like to take the time to say thanks to the beta testers that spent countless hours figuring out the various 2K and 4K workflows. After working with the beta testers and discussing these workflows we have updaed the workflow video that steps you through the basic workflow. Included with the plug-in is the RED Workflow Guide which has been put together as a reference guide.

Watch This:

Click the RED Button to watch the Complete Work Flow Video

Below is the RED & CS4 Workflow guide.

Overview

The RED Importer plug-in provides full native support of RED raw files including the ability to work with RED media at resolutions from 256 up to 4k. RED files can be imported directly into Premiere Pro and After Effects and worked with in a variety of frame rates, aspect ratios and resolutions. Dynamic Link can be used to serve frames directly from Premiere Pro to After Effects and sequences can then be exported using the Render Queue in After Effects.

Resolution can be assigned for RED footage as desired by accessing a global RED Source Settings dialog in Premiere Pro. For example, a low-resolution setting such as 512 or 1k can be assigned to RED media with higher native resolution. Lower resolutions provide increased playback performance during editing. Later, when editing is completed, a higher resolution sequence can be created and clips can be reset to higher native resolutions, such as 4k, for high quality export, grading and effects workflows.

Minimum Windows and Mac Desktop System Requirements

3.0 GHz Quad core system with 8GB RAM

Hard drive with 40MB/sec sustained throughput is required; RAID striped array recommended

Windows Vista 64 Service Pack 1 or Mac OS 10.5

Premiere Pro 4.0.1 update

After Effects 9.0.1 update

RED Importer plug-in available at www.red.com/support

High end notebook computers should support real time playback in Premiere Pro using 512 sequence settings and 4GB RAM and a fast 7200 rpm hard drive with a separate partition or video. Laptop users with a FW800 port can use drives like the G-Raid Mini (worked great for me)

** Vista64 users should "tune" Vista for Video Editing.The main advantage for WIndows users is access to more memory in Premiere Pro & After Effects.

Here are a few tips I use:

Things to turn off:

User Controls
Security Center>Auto Updates
Windows Updates (check them manually)
Windows Defender
Appearance and Personalization>Change Theme>Windows Classic

When your done "tuning", your Vista should look more like WIndows NT. You’ll see a much snappier interface. Also remember to close all open windows when not using them. This includes all open folders and drives on the desktop.Vista uses RAM to keep these windows open.If all of this makes you a bit nervous, you can goto http://tweakvista.com and download their free Utility or buy their enhanced version (more control). This is a great little utility for people that want a simple way to shut everything off.

Please review the Known Issues in the Read Me file bundled with the RED Importer plug-in

Premiere Pro CS4

Editing in Premiere Pro CS 4.01

For these workflows, you’ll need Premiere Pro 4.0.1, After Effects 9.0.1 and the RED Importer plug-in

To create a new RED Sequence, open Premiere Pro, specify a project name and select Sequence settings that match your desired working resolution. 1k, 2k, 3k and 4k presets at various frame rates and aspect ratios are provided for working with all common RED file types.

RED Presets are available inside Premiere Pro after the RED importer plug-in has been installed.

It is generally recommended to edit RED media in 1K sequences as this typically provides an optimal editing experience in Premiere Pro.

Native RED media can be imported directly into Premiere Pro without the need for additional logging or transcoding. To import RED media into Premiere Pro, choose File > Import or drag media directly into the Project Window.

Modifying global RED settings

To access global settings for RED media, select a RED clip in the Premiere Project panel, right-click to bring up the contextual menu and select: Source Settings. (The Source Settings menu item is also available in the Clipmenu)

The RED Source Settings dialog applies a global setting to RED media for playback. This allows users to switch to a "working resolution" for optimal performance during editing. At any time, the settings can be restored to the RED media’s native (higher) resolution for final export.

For example, to work with native 4K footage at 1/4 resolution, or 1K, select 4K in the Format popup menu at the top of the Red source settings dialog, and select 1/4 for the Resolution setting. (For 2K source footage, select 2K in the Format popup menu and set the Resolution to Half for 1K resoloution)

For RED sequences with resolutions greater than 1920 x 1080, all unrendered segments in the sequence will remain red and cannot be rendered to a preview file. However, scrubbing and playback is supported, and Dynamic Link will correctly export these frames to After Effects. Unrendered yellow sequence segments can be rendered using the Render Entire Work Area command in the Sequence menu.

Format

Select 4K for the Format setting.

Resolution

Next, select 1/4 for the Resolution setting and hit OK.

Full A full debayer to extract a 1:1 resolution (slowest).

Half HQ A high quality 1/2 resolution debayer (faster than a full debayer).

Half Quick A fast debayer for 1/2 resolution (faster than Half HQ but not as smooth).

Quarter 1/4 resolution output.

Eighth 1/8th resolution output.

Sixteenth 1/16th resolution output.

Next, save the project and quit Premiere. When Premiere is reopened, changes to RED source settings will be applied globally to all 4K clips in the project. Premiere Pro will now playback, import and export all RED 4K footage at 1/4, or 1K resolution.

Individual global settings can be specified for 2K, 3K and 4K media. It is not possible to apply different settings to individual clips.

The settings for each of the R3D Formats (4K, 3K, 2K) are stored separately and remembered. For example, once you set up parameters for 4K, switching to 2K allows you to set up different parameters for 2K.

Quality

Extracts varying levels of quality to improve playback speed.

Highest always use this setting for final output. Default is highest.

Medium lower quality, used for better playback performance.

Chroma Denoise

Denoise on red/blue channels. Default is Off.

Debayer Detail

Controls the debayer’s detail quality. Default is Highest.

OLPF Compensation

Controls the optical low-pass filter (OLPF) that refines edge detail. Used to eliminate color Moire fringes. Default is Off.

Timecode

Select the timecode track to use from the R3D file.

Camera Setup uses the the TC track that was selected as primary in the camera.

Edge Code selects the continuous media based timecode track.

External/TOD selects the external jam sync’d TC (or internal clock TC when not jammed).

Maximum Bit Depth

Selects the bit depth.

On 32-bit float

Off 8-bit

Optimizing performance

To optimize performance on your configuration, you may need to experiment with various combinations of settings for Maximum Bit Depth, Resolution and Quality in the Source Settings dialog, as well as adjusting Premiere’s playback quality settings.

Here are some adjustments you can make to optimize performance:

• Close all other applications when editing.

• Set Premiere’s Playback Quality setting to Draft if Automatic or Highest cannot play back in real time.

• Premiere’s default setting for the monitor’s zoom level is "Fit". Setting the zoom level to 100% may also improve playback.

• Turn off thumbnails in the timeline.

• Setting Premiere’s rendering preference to "Performance" will generally improve playback performance on a multi-core machine. (Preferences > General > Optimize rendering for Performance).

Note that this requires additional memory to take advantage of parallel processing. Conversely, if you are attempting to render out at 4K resolution, you may want to consider setting this back to "Memory" so that the application has the head room to deal with large frame sizes.

• When Maximum Bit Depth is on in the Source Setting dialog, processing is at 32-bit float, and when off, processing is 8-bit.

Turn this off to improve playback performance during editing in Premiere. When exporting to After Effects using Adobe Dynamic Link, this setting has no effect. After Effects always uses maximum bit depth.

• When exporting using After Effects, quit all other applications including Premiere Pro and wait for these processes to close before continuing:

ImporterProcessServer

ImporterRedServer

Processcoordinationserver

This may take a minute or more after you quit the application(s). You can view the open processes in the Task Manager (Win) or Activity Monitor (Mac).

High resolution output from Premiere Pro

At this time, we recommend that Premiere sequences be exported through After Effects using its Render Queue. This method requires the least amount of memory and provides the highest stability for render intensive exports. Additionally, After Effects is required for all high bit depth exports such as 4k, 2k, Cineon, DPX, Targa and Tiff. There are 2 methods for exporting from Premiere via After Effects: importing a Premiere sequence directly into After Effects or importing a Premiere sequence using Adobe Dynamic Link.

Other RED export options from Premiere Pro, such as Export to Adobe Media Encoder and Send to Encore, have not been thoroughly tested. Results will vary depending on the complexity of your Project.

Exporting Premiere sequences using Adobe Dynamic Link to After Effects

Adobe Dynamic Link is only available in Creative Suite Production Premium.

After editing is completed in Premiere Pro using a working resolution sequence, RED media must be reset to higher resolutions for high quality export. This is typically performed as one of the final steps prior to the export process and provides full access to the native resolution and deep color of the RED media. In order to export at full resolution a new sequence must be created that matches the desired output resolution of the project.

For example, if your working resolution sequence in Premiere was created at 1K and the native resolution of the RED media is 4K, a common workflow would be to create a new 4K sequence inside of Premiere to be used specifically for the final export. The next step is to copy and paste the 1K clips into the newly created Timeline.Note that at this point, the clips do not fill the entire program monitor (they appear as smaller 1K clips). This is expected behavior as all 4K RED media is still set to decode at 1/4 resolution. Next, you’ll change the global RED source settings to 4K and the clips will appear at full resolution to fit the 4K output sequence.

For high resolution export, the global decode settings for the RED media need to be set to a higher resolution. In this example, let’s assume we want to export at 4K. After changing the RED decode settings to 4K, press OK. Next, save your Project in Premiere and quit the application. When Premiere Pro is reopened, changes will be reflected in your timeline and all 4K media will appear at full resolution in the 4K sequence. The project is now ready for export.

Unrendered red segments in RED sequences with resolutions greater than 1920 x 1080, will remain red and cannot be rendered to a preview file. Unrendered yellow segments in 1920 x 1080 and lower resolutions can be rendered using the Render Entire Work Area command in the Sequence menu. Rendering of either red or yellow segments isn’t required for export via Dynamic Link, which will correctly export these frames to After Effects.

The next step is to import a Premiere Pro Sequence into After Effects using Dynamic Link. After the sequence is imported, it can then be exported using After Effect’s Render Queue. This workflow preserves all edits, transitions and effects from Premiere Pro.

Step by step instructions:

1. Inside Premiere Pro, create a new sequence that matches your final output resolution (example: 2K or 4K)

2. Copy/paste your edited sequence from the working resolution sequence into the final output resolution sequence

3. Reopen the RED Source Settings dialog and switch the settings to full decode resolution (example: 2K or 4K)

4. Quit and relaunch Premiere in order for the settings change to take effect

5. To export the sequence, quit Premiere Pro and wait for all Adobe processes to close before continuing.

6. Launch After Effects

7. Choose: File > Adobe Dynamic Link > Import Premiere Pro Sequence

8. Navigate to the Premiere Pro project and select the RED final output sequence you wish to export

9. After Effects will take a few moments to conform the imported sequence

10. Place imported sequence into a Composition and make sure it remains selected

11. Choose: Composition > Add Composition to Render Queue

12. Select your desired export settings in the Render Queue

13. Click on the Render button to complete your export

All transitions and effects applied in Premiere are sent via Dynamic Link. However, this method uses more memory than importing the sequence directly into After Effects. Depending on the complexity and size of your sequence, you may need to use the alternative method below, importing the sequence directly into After Effects.

Importing Premiere Pro sequences into After Effects for export

Use this option to import a Premiere Pro sequence directly into After Effects for export. Unlike Dynamic Link, all Premiere transitions and effects are not supported when importing directly into After Effects. For this reason, this method is most useful for cuts-only edits without transitions or effects applied in Premiere.

One advantage of this method is that creating a final output resolution sequence in Premiere is not required. You can import the working resolution sequence from Premiere and adjust the Composition settings in After Effects to achieve the desired final output resolution.

Direct import of Premiere Pro sequences or RED clips into After Effects requires setting up Interpret Footage’s Color Management for consistent color appearance between After Effects and Premiere Pro. See the Color Management instructions in the After Effects section below.

Step by step instructions:

1. When finished editing in Premiere, quit and wait for all Adobe processes to close before continuing (see note in the Optimizing Performance section).

2. Launch After Effects

3. Choose: File > Import File

4. Navigate to the Premiere Pro project and select the RED final output sequence you wish to export

5. After Effects will take a few moments to conform the imported sequence

6. Place imported sequence into a Composition and make sure it remains selected

7. Choose: Composition > Add Composition to Render Queue

8. Select your desired export settings in the Render Queue

9. Click on the Render button to complete your export

After Effects CS4

RED R3D files may be imported directly into After Effects. Using these files in After Effects is very similar to using other types of footage. By working in 32 bits (float) color depth, extended range color information is preserved for accurate compositing and color correction. There are also several workflows for using Premiere Pro and After Effects together for integrating editing with effects. The combination also provides expanded output options from Premiere Pro.

For access to the RED Settings dialog from within After Effects, installation of an optional AE plugin is required.This plugin must be manually copied into the correct application folder. See the pdf installation instructions in the RED plugin installer folder labeled “After Effects only”. This plugin is recommended for AE projects that use R3D clips, but is not required for exporting a Dynamic Linked Premiere Pro sequence from After Effects.

To access the global RED Source Settings dialog, choose Edit > RED Settings… The Resolution and Maximum Bit Depth controls are disabled when this dialog is opened in After Effects. This is because RED resolution is controlled using the resolution popup menu in the Composition Viewer, and the bit depth in After Effects is always 32-bit float.

To temporarily work at a lower resolution, use the resolution popup menu in the Composition Viewer.

Configuring After Effects for R3D files

For consistent color appearance of R3D files between After Effects and Premiere Pro, you must change the way After Effects interprets R3D files. If your previous workflows relied on Color Management in AE (i.e.: your Project Workingspace is set to something other than None), the required change is to assign the HDTV (Rec. 709) color profile in the Color Management tab of the Interpret Footage dialog.

You can only select Assign Profile if you have color management enabled by setting the Project Workingspace.

However, assigning color profiles on a clip-by-clip basis can be time consuming. After Effects can make this change automatically on a global basis with a small revision to AE’s “interpretation rules.txt” file. This file is located at: Vista64: C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files\interpretation rules.txt

Vista32/XP32: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files\interpretation rules.txt

Mac: Applications/Adobe After Effects CS4/interpretation rules.txt

Add the following 3 lines of text directly above the line:

“# this soft rule should be the last in the list of soft rules”:

# rule to make red raw files available as Rec709

# with Gamma encoded 32bit float data

*, *, *, "R3D ", * ~ *, *, *, *, "r7hf", 0

Once this change has been made, After Effects will automatically interpret the colors provided by the R3D plugin correctly.

Working with Premiere Pro via project import

Premiere Pro projects containing R3D files can be imported into After Effects. This creates a similar project in After Effects and preserves timelines edits and some effects. For example, color correction added to individual clips in Premiere Pro can be refined in After Effects.

Working with Premiere Pro via Dynamic Link

Dynamic Link allows content from one application to be shared with another without exporting intermediate files. Edits and other changes are automatically updated across applications.

You can use a Premiere Pro sequence as footage in After Effects. In After Effects, choose the File > Dynamic Link menu command. In After Effects, you’ll get a single linked clip that represents the duration of your Premiere sequence, but you won’t see all your individual cuts and clips (you still can access these in Premiere and continue

editing there, and they’ll be updated in After Effects). Premiere Pro sends a complete frame with all effects, transitions, etc…nothing is lost.

Another advantage to using a Dynamic Link from Premiere Pro to After Effects is that you can then use After Effect’s render queue to export to a wide variety of image sequences and formats: 4k, 2k, extended color range DPX, 16-bit Tiff, TGA, etc.. Initial tests have shown this option to be faster and more robust than using Adobe Media Encoder. This workflow is pretty straightforward—complete your edit in Premiere, then as a last step, import the sequence into After Effects, add to render queue

The new 4.01 updater for Premiere Pro now allows you import FCP projects (also supports OMF & enhanced AAF export).  This is perfect for Adobe video workflows needing to work with FCP projects. One example would be a 3D Studio Max, Maya, or Maxon Cinema 4D (my favorite) user needing to work with FCP users and their video timelines. Instead of exporting a single movie, you can now export an FCP XML file and import directly into Premiere Pro CS4 (4.01) From there you can goto Encore CS4 for Bluray output or import the Premiere Pro CS4 sequence directly into After Effects CS4.

Click here to see it in action:

Here’s a quick workflow step by step guide:

• Export your FCP project using FCP Export XML feature.  Note that PSDs & nested FCP sequences also import. Titles will import but you need to watch the font mapping and size. Make sure the same Apple codec is on the CS4 computer you are planning to use. Apple ProRes is now available for OSX & Windows. I highly recommend buying Quicktime Pro.

• From Premiere Pro CS4 (Windows or OSX) goto File >Import and import the FCP.xml file. Next, you’ll be prompted to locate the project assets.  If you get an error telling you that the video file is unsupported, then you have a codec issue. Again, make sure you have the same codec on CS4 machine. On macs, the codecs are located here: Macintosh HD>Library>Quicktime>….component. Some codecs are installed by FCP and the license requires you have to FCP installed.

• Once the import completes you’ll either see a folder in the Project panel or a message letting you know if there were any conversion issues. You can review this report and see what had issues converting. Some transitions or effects may not have mapped correctly and this will give you a complete list. If there are parts of the FCP timeline that would not covert (like Motion) , then they will be listed as off line but show up as place holders on the timeline to allow you to manually fix. Currently, there is no way to import Motion files.

•  If you need to jump to After Effects, you have 2 options.

Option 1: After you import your FCP project, you can save your new Premiere Pro project and quit. Next, launch AE and File>Import > Premiere Pro sequence. This will give you access to the same clips & effects that were available to Premiere Pro. (in this workflow, Premiere is working as the importer for AE workflows)

Option 2: From Premiere Pro, Select All clips on the timeline (CMD/Control A) and right click on any clip and use select “ Create After Effects Composition” This uses Adobe DynamicLink to allow you to jump back and forth between Premiere & AE.

Also remember that with CS4 at anytime you can File>DynamicLink.Send to Encore. This will allow you to get  your FCP timeline into Encore to create blu-rays , DVDs, and a ninteractive Flash webpage. By using this method, you can go back and forth between Premiere and Encore to make changes without need to render each time. With CS4, you only need to render during the Build process (last step).