Premiere Pro work area

This is a good time to install updates for CS6, CS5.5, and CS5 video applications, since several significant updates have recently been released.

The best way to check for updates is by closing all Adobe applications other than Adobe Bridge, and choosing Help > Updates in Adobe Bridge; this ensures that all processes related to Adobe video applications have been quit and can be updated safely.

Here are links to details of the most recent updates for each version of the Adobe professional video applications:

• After Effects CS6 (11.0.1) update
• Premiere Pro CS6 (6.0.1) update
• Adobe Media Encoder CS6 (6.0.1) update
• Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 (5.5.2) update
• After Effects CS5.5 (10.5.1) update
• Adobe Media Encoder CS5.5 (5.5.1) update
• Premiere Pro CS5 (5.0.4) update (Mac OS) or Premiere Pro CS5 (5.0.3) update (Windows)
• After Effects CS5 (10.0.2) update
• Adobe Media Encoder CS5 (5.0.1) update (Mac OS and Windows)
• After Effects CS4 (9.0.3) update

We have also been working with several providers of plug-ins, codecs, and hardware devices to assist them in updating their software to fix some errors and crashes. Please take this opportunity to download and install updated codecs, plug-ins, and drivers from these providers, as relevant to your work.

Updates are cumulative. If you install an update, you get all of the fixes and features in previous updates for the same version of the application.

If you don’t yet have CS6 Production Premium, you can order it here… or try it free for 30 days.

We have seen many reports that a conflict between the drivers for some Nvidia cards and the Mac OSX v10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and v10.7 (Lion) updates caused problems with various software, including Adobe Premiere Pro.

Here are instructions from our colleagues at Nvidia for updating the drivers to fix these problems:

The CUDA 4.0.21 driver is now posted that officially supports Mac OSX v10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and v10.7 (Lion). These are the steps needed to ensure that the CUDA driver is installed properly. We are in the process of updating the CUDA automatic driver update so users will get this notification automatically.

Here are the installation steps for Quadro 4000 for Mac on Mac OSX v10.6.8 and v10.7:

1. Install the Mac OSX update (if you haven’t already done so).
2. Install the Quadro 4000 driver for Mac 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard).
   http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-macosx-256.02.25f01-driver.html
   (Note: This driver was last updated on 6/24/2011 and is still the correct driver.)
   After installation, it will ask to reboot.
3. Install the CUDA for Mac driver (4.0.21) from this direct link.
   http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/4_0/drivers/devdriver_4.0.21_macos.dmg

If you have problems with the update, let Nvidia know. They’re monitoring this issue on their forums here:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=203839.

We’re monitoring the Premiere Pro aspect of this issue on the Adobe user-to-user forum here:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3761931

For details of CUDA and the Mercury Playback Engine, including answers to frequently asked questions, see this page:
“CUDA, Mercury Playback Engine, and Adobe Premiere Pro”

Today, the Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 (5.0.4) update was released.

If Adobe Application Manager hasn’t already told you about this, go ahead and check for new updates for Premiere Pro CS5 by choosing Help > Updates.

Later—but not yet—you’ll be able to directly download the update packages from the download page for Mac OS, using the “Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 5.0.4 update” link. This page will be updated when the direct download is available.

This Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 (5.0.4) update itself includes one bug fix, which addresses a problem with crashes and other problems on Mac computers with ATI cards. Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 does not have this problem.

Since updates are cumulative, installing the CS5 (5.0.4) update will also give you the many, many fixes and improvements in the CS5 (5.0.3) and CS5 (5.0.2) updates. Of course, you can also get these improvements and many more by upgrading to Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5.

If you have difficulty with this update, please bring questions and issues to the Adobe Premiere Pro forum. Don’t ask questions in the comments on this blog post, which fewer people will see.

We have also been working with several providers of plug-ins, codecs, and hardware devices to assist them in updating their software to fix some errors and crashes. Please take this opportunity to download and install updated codecs, plug-ins, and drivers from these providers, as relevant to your work.

We made a lot of improvements in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 in the import and export of Final Cut Pro XML project files. Some of these improvements are new features, whereas some are bug fixes—and some can be either depending on how you look at them.

Here are the notable improvements, though not a complete list of bug fixes.

• When Premiere Pro finds a reference to a ProRes proxy for RED (R3D) footage in an FCP file, it uses the full-resolution RED footage in instead of the ProRes proxy. If the resolution of a RED proxy clip doesn’t match the original RED media (e.g., a 2K proxy for a 4K original), Premiere Pro scales the clip in the Motion effect to maintain the same dimensions in Premiere Pro that were used in FCP.
• Swapped the title for imported RED media to use the .R3D file name instead of the name of the .mov proxy used by FCP.
• Fixed handling of audio in RED files.
• Final Cut XML files generated by iMovie are now imported by Premiere Pro.
• Fixed various bugs regarding importing and exporting of stereo and 5.1 audio.
• Audio levels are now translated correctly. On export, Premiere Pro converts Volume to FCP Audio Levels, and converts Gain to FCP Gain—instead of the other way around, as was done in Premiere Pro CS5. (Audition export continues to use the old behavior.)
• XDCAM HD clips with two channels of audio are now imported correctly instead of being incorrectly flagged as having four channels of audio (which caused crashes on playback).
• Duplicate master clips are no longer created incorrectly in various cases.
• Fixed instances of “generic error” failures caused by a mix of clips with and without masterclipid attributes.
• XDCAM 1440 material is now imported with the correct pixel aspect ratio.
• Premiere Pro now generates multiclip names the same way that FCP does (e.g., “My Clip[1]-Multiclip 2″) instead of the original, simpler implementation (“Multiclip 2″).
• Set default sequence presets for sequences that use the Apple IMX codec or Apple DVCPROHD 1080p30 as their renderer in FCP.
• Fixed bugs that led to incorrect interpretation of pixel aspect ratios.
• Premiere Pro now sets the correct media In and Out points for clips that have speed changes applied in FCP.
• Translation between Three-Way Color Corrector effects is improved, including adding the translation between these effects on export.
• Fixed bugs in export of In and Out points for clips in Project panel.
• Alpha channel values are now exported, instead of all assets being labeled as having no alpha channel.
• A codec block is now added to each exported sequence, setting it to use ProRes 422 as the sequence render codec. This allows most formats to play without rendering in FCP. Previously, Premiere Pro didn’t specify a codec, so FCP defaulted to NTSC DV for all timelines.
• Premiere Pro now adds FCP distort and scale parameters when the pixel aspect ratio (PAR) of a clip doesn’t match the PAR of the sequence its in. Premiere Pro handles this scaling implicitly, but FCP does it explicitly via these filters.

For a complete list of new and changed features in Premiere Pro CS5.5, see this page.

For resources to assist with the transition from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere Pro, see this page:
“Premiere Pro overview documents for Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer users”

[Update: This issue is fixed in Adobe Encore CS6.]

If you have a Matrox MXO2 product with Matrox MAX technology or a Matrox CompressHD card, be aware that using a Matrox .264 file with Adobe Encore 5.1 (the version that is included with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5) on Windows can cause Encore to become unresponsive. This issue affects mostly large Matrox .264 files (~3GB or larger), and it also occurs when you transcode directly to Matrox MAX H.264 format in Encore CS5.1.

For Adobe Encore CS5.1, Matrox suggests that you do one of the following:

• If you presently have Adobe CS5 software and want to upgrade to Adobe CS5.5 software, uninstall your Matrox Mtx.utils software and upgrade to Adobe CS5.5 software, and keep your CS5 version of Adobe Encore. (I.e., you can keep Encore CS5.0 and also install Encore CS5.1 on your computer.) When you install Matrox Mtx.utils 5.5, the Matrox Player and presets will be installed for Encore CS5.1 only, but you’ll be able to use Encore CS5.0 with your Matrox .264 files.
• If you have only Encore CS5.1, don’t use any Matrox .264 files larger than 3GB or transcode assets longer than about 10 minutes to Matrox MAX H.264 format. For example, if you have a long Premiere Pro sequence that you want to export to a Matrox .264 file, break your export into multiple files no greater than 3GB and place these on the timeline in Encore CS5.1.

Here is a link to the file that contains the Final Cut Pro 7 keyboard shortcut set for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 for Windows.

This file was mistakenly left out of the Premiere Pro CS5 installer for Windows, so people who tried to switch to this keyboard shortcut set were unable to do so.

Unzip the file and then install the .kys file by copying it here:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro CS5\Keyboard Shortcuts\en_US

(where C may be replaced by the a different drive name if you installed somewhere other than the C drive, and en_US may be replaced by another locale ID)

This file was included in the Premiere Pro CS5.5 installer, so manually installing this file is only necessary for Premiere Pro CS5 for Windows.

For information about keyboard shortcuts, including how to customize them, see this page:
“Keyboard shortcuts”