Adjust project settings and presets
All project settings apply to the whole project, and most can’t be changed after a project is created.
Project settings presets are groups of project settings. Adobe Premiere Pro comes with several categories of project settings presets installed: DV‑24P, DV‑NTSC (North American standard), DV‑PAL (European standard), Panasonic P2 DVCPRO50, Panasonic P2 DVCPROHD, HDV, and Mobile & Devices. These contain the correct project settings for the most typical project types. The Panasonic P2 DVCPRO50 and Panasonic P2 DVCPROHD categories of project settings presets are for editing DVCPRO material recorded to MXF files using a Panasonic P2 video camera. For DV25 material recorded in Panasonic P2 format, use a preset for DV-NTSC or DV-PAL, depending on the television standard of the footage.
When creating a new project, you can either select from among the standard project settings presets or customize a group of project settings and save the customized group as a custom project settings preset. If you want full control over almost all the project’s parameters, you must start a new project and customize its project settings presets.
After you begin working in a project, you can review project settings, but you can change only a few of them. Choose Project > Project Settings to view the settings you can change.
Project settings are organized into the following categories:
- General
- Controls the fundamental characteristics of the project, including the file format Adobe Premiere Pro uses for its preview files and playback (Editing Mode), count time (Display Format), and play back video (Timebase).
- Capture
- Controls how Adobe Premiere Pro transfers video and audio
directly from a deck or camera. (None of the other project settings
options affect capturing.) The contents of this panel depend on
the editing mode. If you’re capturing DV footage, you don’t need
to change capture settings. When DV/IEEE 1394 Capture is the selected
capture format, no options are available because the options are
automatically set to the IEEE 1394 standard. Additional capture formats
and options may appear if you install other software, such as software included
with a capture card certified to be compatible with Adobe Premiere
Pro. Note: For P2 DVCPRO 50 and P2 DVCPRO HD projects, the Capture Format setting is not relevant, because the assets are captured and recorded directly to the P2 card as digital files by the camera.
- Video Rendering
- Sets the file format, compressor, color depth, and bit depth Adobe Premiere Pro uses for its preview files and playback.
- Default Sequence
- Controls the number of video tracks and the number and type
of audio tracks for new sequences you create. Note: If you must change project settings that are unavailable, you can create a new project with the settings you want and import the current project into it. However, if you import the current project into a project with a different frame rate or audio sampling rate, check video and audio edits carefully. Although edit positions made under the old settings are preserved, they may not synchronize precisely with the new settings. Edits or changes you make after importing are synchronized with the new settings.
Create a custom preset
To customize most project settings, you must start a new project, select an existing preset, and change its settings.
General settings
Choose General settings that conform to the specifications of the main type of output intended for your project (for example, if your target output is DV NTSC, use the DV NTSC editing mode). Changing these settings arbitrarily may result in a loss of quality.
- Editing Mode
- Specifies which video format is used for preview files and playback, which timebases are made available, which compression methods appear in the Video Settings panel, and which display formats are available. Choose an Editing Mode option that best matches the specifications of your target format, preview display, or capture card. The Desktop editing mode allows you to customize all of the other project settings. The editing mode does not determine the format of your final movie. You specify output settings when you export.
- Timebase
- Specifies the time divisions Adobe Premiere Pro uses to calculate the time position of each edit. In general, choose 24 for editing motion‑picture film, 25 for editing PAL (European standard) and SECAM video, and 29.97 for editing NTSC (North American standard) video. Do not confuse timebase with the frame rate of the video you play back or export from sequences, although timebase and frame rate are often set to the same value. The options listed for Timebase vary according to the editing mode you selected.
- Playback Settings
- Displays playback options for most of the editing modes. Select this option to display a dialog box of Realtime Playback, Export, 24P Conversion Method, and Desktop Display Mode options. You can also choose whether to disable video output when Adobe Premiere Pro is in the background, and whether to enable aspect ratio correction on external devices.
- Frame Size
- Specifies the dimensions, in pixels, for frames when you play back sequences. In most cases, the frame size for your project should match the frame size of your source files. Don’t change the frame size to compensate for slow playback—instead, adjust playback resolution by choosing a different quality setting from the Project panel menu, or adjust the frame size of final output by changing export settings.
- Pixel Aspect Ratio
- Sets the aspect ratio for individual pixels. Choose Square Pixels for analog video, scanned images, and computer‑generated graphics, or choose the format used by your source. If you use a pixel aspect ratio that is different from that of your video, the video may play back and render with distortion.
- Fields
- Specifies the field order, or which field of each frame’s interlaced fields is drawn first. If you work with progressive‑scan video, select No Fields (Progressive Scan). Note that many capture cards capture fields regardless of whether you shot progressive scan footage. (See Interlaced video, noninterlaced video, and progressive scanning)
- Display Format (Video)
- Adobe
Premiere Pro can display any of several formats of timecode. You
may want to see the project’s timecode in a film format, for example,
if you are editing footage captured from film; or in simple frame numbers
if your assets were imported from an animation program. Changing
the Display Format option does not alter the frame rate of clips
or sequences—it changes only how their timecodes are displayed.
The time display options correspond to standards for editing video
and motion‑picture film. For Frames and Feet + Frames timecodes,
you can change the starting frame number to match the time‑counting
method of another editing system you may be using.
The options made visible in the Display Format field depend on the Editing Mode selected. You can choose from the following Display Format options, depending on which editing mode is selected:
- 30 fps Drop-Frame Timecode
- Reports time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, separating
units with semicolons. Drop‑frame timecode assumes a rate of 30
frames per second (fps), but skips some numbers by design: To accommodate
the NTSC actual frame rate of 29.97 fps drop‑frame timecode skips,
or drops, two frame numbers (not the actual frames
of video) each minute except every tenth minute. Use for output
to NTSC videotape.
30 fps drop‑frame timecode as indicated by semicolons - 30 fps Non Drop-Frame Timecode
- Reports time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, separating
units with colons. It assumes a rate of 30 fps and does not drop frame
numbers. Use for output to computer displays via the web or CD‑ROM.
30 fps non drop‑frame timecode as indicated by colons - 24 fps Timecode
- Reports time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames; separating
units with colons. Use for 24p footage and to output to 24‑fps formats for
film and DVD distribution.
24 fps timecode showing “23” as highest possible number of frames before next second - 25 fps Timecode
- Reports time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, separating
units with colons. Use for output to PAL videotape.
25 fps timecode showing “24” as highest possible number of frames before next second - Feet + Frames 16mm
- Reports time in feet and frames, assuming the frame rate of
16mm film: 40 frames per foot. Use for output to 16mm film.
Feet + frames 16mm timecode showing “39” as highest possible number of frames before next foot - Feet + Frames 35mm
- Reports time in feet and frames, assuming the frame rate of
35mm film: 16 frames per foot. Use for output to 35mm film.
Feet + frames 35mm timecode showing “15” as highest possible number of frames before next foot - Frames
- Reports time solely in a running count of frames. Does not
assign measurements of either time or spatial length. Use to output
sequential stills such as those generated for an animation or DPX
film editor.
Frames timecode simply numbers each frame in sequential order.
Note: When working with NTSC video assets, you should usually use 30 fps drop‑frame timecode. This format conforms with the timecode base inherent in NTSC video footage and displays its duration most accurately. - Title Safe Area
- Specifies how much of the frame edge to mark as a safe zone for titles, so that titles aren’t cut off by television set overscan. A rectangle with cross hairs marks the title‑safe zone when you click the Safe Margins button in the Source Monitor or Program Monitor. Titles are usually assumed to require a wider safe zone than action.
- Action Safe Area
- Specifies how much of the frame edge to mark as a safe zone for action so that action isn’t cut off by television set overscan. A rectangle marks the action‑safe zone when you click the Safe Margins button in the Source Monitor or Program Monitor.
- Sample Rate
- In general, higher rates provide better audio quality when you play back audio in sequences, but they require more disk space and processing. Resampling, or setting a different rate from the original audio, also requires additional processing time and affects the quality. Try to record audio at a high‑quality sample rate, and capture audio at the rate at which it was recorded.
- Display Format
- Specifies
whether audio time display is measured using audio samples or milliseconds.
Display Format applies when Show Audio Time Units is selected in
the Source Monitor or Program Monitor menu. (By default, time is displayed
in frames, but it can be displayed in audio units for sample‑level precision
when you are editing audio.)Note: DV video and audio use standardized settings that are specified automatically when you select DV Playback editing mode. When you use DV Playback editing mode, avoid changing the Timebase, Frame Size, Pixel Aspect Ratio, Fields, and Sample Rate settings.
Video Rendering settings
Video Rendering settings determine the file format, compressor, and color depth Adobe Premiere Pro uses for preview files and playback of clips and sequences.
- Maximum Bit Depth
- Maximizes the color bit depth, up to 32 bpc, to include in video played back in sequences. This setting may not be available if the selected compressor provides only one option for bit depth. You can also specify an 8‑bit (256‑color) palette when preparing a video program for 8 bpc color playback, such as when using the Desktop editing mode for the web or for some presentation software. If your project will contain high-bit-depth assets generated by programs such as Adobe Photoshop, or high-definition camcorders, select Maximum Bit Depth to make Adobe Premiere Pro make use of all the color information in those assets when processing effects or generating preview files.
- Previews
- These options
determine the file format, compressor, and color depth Adobe Premiere
Pro uses for preview files and playback. Select a combination that
gives the best quality previews while keeping rendering time and
file size within tolerances acceptable for your system. For certain
editing modes, these settings cannot be changed. The Uncompressed
10-bit (4:2:2 YUV) and Uncompressed 8-bit (4:2:2 YUV) file formats
match the specifications for SD-SDI and HD_SDI video respectively.
Select one of them if you intend to monitor or output to one of
these formats. Note: If you use a clip in your video program without applying effects or changing frame or time characteristics, Adobe Premiere Pro uses the clip’s original codec for playback. If you make changes that require recalculation of each frame, Adobe Premiere Pro applies the codec that you choose here.
- Optimize Stills
- Uses still images efficiently in sequences. For example, if a still image has a duration of 2 seconds in a project set to 30 fps, Adobe Premiere Pro creates one 2‑second frame instead of 60 frames at 1/30 of a second each. Deselect this option if sequences exhibit playback problems when displaying still images.
Save and name your project settings even if you
plan to use them in only one project. Saving settings creates a
backup copy of the settings in case someone accidentally alters
the current project settings.Change the Auto Save settings
By default Adobe Premiere Pro automatically saves your project every 20 minutes and retains the last five versions of the project file on the hard disk. You can revert to a previously saved version at any time. Archiving many iterations of a project consumes relatively little disk space because project files are much smaller than source video files. It’s usually best to save project files to the same drive as your application. Archived files are saved in the Adobe Premiere Pro Auto‑Save folder.
- Choose Edit > Preferences > Auto Save (Windows) or Premiere Pro > Preferences > Auto Save (Mac OS).
- Do any of the following, and then click OK:
Select Automatically Save Projects, and type the number of minutes between saves.
For Maximum Project Versions, enter the number of versions of a project file you want to save. For example, if you type 10, Adobe Premiere Pro saves the ten most recent versions.
Create a project with uncompressed video playback (Windows only)
For the highest quality previews of sequences on an SDI card or device connected to an external monitor, you should use one of the uncompressed formats for preview files. Uncompressed 8-bit (4:2:2 YUV) is particularly suitable for projects meant for SD output, while Uncompressed 10-bit (4:2:2 YUV) is best for projects meant for HD. Additionally, with Uncompressed 10-bit (4:2:2 YUV) and high bit-depth color rendering Adobe Premiere Pro will make use of the color information in 10-bit assets and will upsample other assets in a sequence to generate 10-bit preview files. Adobe Premiere Pro delivers the best preview performance when using these preview file formats on a system with a supported SD-SDI or HD-SDI card installed.
Both these uncompressed formats do subsample video files at 4:2:2 YUV, but unlike the other file formats available for preview files, they do not then run the video data through a compressor. They are called uncompressed because they do not add this second layer of compression, and thereby retain much higher color depth in the previews than the compressed formats. As a consequence, uncompressed preview files can be quite a bit larger than compressed preview files.
- Select File > New > Project.
- In the New Project dialog box, click the Custom Settings tab.
- Select General.
- From the Editing Mode drop-down menu, choose Desktop.
- Select Video Rendering.
- From the File Format drop-down menu, select Uncompressed 10-Bit (4:2:2 YUV), or Uncompressed 8-Bit (4:2:2 YUV).
- Enter a name for the project and click OK.
smuratore
said on
May 14, 2007
at
12:36 PM :
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