I’ve been getting a lot questions on native camera workflows and we have created a set of guides based on camera manufacture. This is not a complete list of what we support but a great starting point for new users. Also keep in mind that Cameras like the awesome new GoPro Hero2 and other H264 devices (iOS/Android cameras) also work without issue- Just import and edit. You will notice a very cool new CS6 feature when adding a clip to a new Sequence – it will now check to see if the Sequence settings match the clip and if it does not match , it will offer to change the settings if it’s the first clip brought into the timeline. While not a new feature for other NLEs, it’s new for Premiere Pro CS6. We also have new support for ARRI RAW as well.

Camera workflow guides
RED:
http://bit.ly/K72Ih1
DSLR:
http://bit.ly/IIwNCh
XDCAM:
http://bit.ly/K72MNW
Canon:
http://bit.ly/KErmR7
P2:
http://bit.ly/KATgnl
AVCCAM:
http://bit.ly/L5r1JX
JVC:
http://bit.ly/IH2f01

Top 10 Reasons to Switch

http://bit.ly/J9RZQb

In this short video, I’ll give you a few tips on increasing your performance in Premiere Pro CS6 with the latest 2012 technology from Intel SSD’s , XEON ES Processors, and NVIDIA’s TESLA 2050 boards as well as the new HP Z820 dual 8 Core processors for 32 Threads of raw power.

For MacBook Pro users there are few tips with SSDs and Thunderbolt as well. The performance tests I’m seeing in my lab have been truly remarkable. I’ll be working on several more videos on increasing performance for Pro Video workflows in various Windows and Mac computers. – stay tuned.

** I should point out that in the video I mention the Telsa 2750 board when in fact it’s the 2075 board – sorry for the confusion….

The driver development for the 3rd party is also much easier as they no longer have to write special sequence playback modules . The biggest feature that Transmit bigs to the user is the ability for the 3rd party hardware to take full advantage of the Adobe Mercury Playback engine whether it’s a supported Cuda, OpenCL, or software only configuration.

Check it out:

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