Avoid losing you render/preview files.

Summary of this discussion on Adobe groups.

So you render preview files in Premiere and the next time you launch the program you’re met with red bars in the sequence – indicating the need to re-render (even though those render files are still sitting on the hard drive right where Premiere last left them). While Adobe is purportedly aware of the issue, it’s still pretty annoying.
Premiere seems to lose track of rendered preview files on the sequence that was displayed at the time the project was saved before exiting. When Premiere is re-launched, by default, it opens to the last displayed/saved sequence.
1. Create an empty sequence. Leave it empty. Rename it if you like (“Select me before saving and exiting”) – or not.
2. Work in your other sequence(s). Render your previews as needed.
3. Before exiting Premiere (this is the important part) switch to the empty sequence and save the project. Then exit.
4. The next time you start Premiere: a) Select the project, b) Wait till all media is loaded (Premiere reports this at bottom). It will open to the empty sequence. When you switch to the work sequences, you should have green bars where the previews were previously rendered.

When you launch Premiere to a sequence that has rendered previews, Premiere immediately checks to see if the render files are available. If it doesn’t “see” them in those first milliseconds, they are ignored and you get a red bar. (In old versions of Premiere, if renders weren’t found when/where expected you were given an opportunity to locate them). The problem is, if you have a lot of media in a project, it can take several seconds for everything to load and the render files are last. By then it’s too late. Premiere didn’t “see” the files in question, so they were ignored for that sequence.
This is also the reason why the problem seems to be hit and miss. If you have a small project, all the media including the render files load quickly before Premiere has a chance to “ignore” what it thinks might be missing in the way of rendered previews.

From Premiere manual
Ensure that Adobe video applications use the same cached files
Adobe video applications can automatically insert a unique document ID into each imported file. These unique IDs ensure that each application accesses the same cached previews and conformed audio files, preventing additional rendering and conforming. In the Media section of the Preferences dialog box (or the Metadata section for Soundbooth), select Write XMP IDs To Files On Import.

This setting is global—a change in one Adobe video application affects all the others. This setting also results in new file modification dates when IDs are initially inserted.

To save rendering time when transferring a project to another computer, move both cached and original files.

The Adobe App Linking Workflow

Never Use this one.
ae-link-not
Only use Direct linking one way; out of Pr to Ae, Ps, or Au. The Adobe apps really fight each other on the same system, the “famous” workaround on the web is to only work in one App at the same time. Also with more than 4 dynamically linked clips, those clips will usually come up “media pending”. Renders of an unrendered Ae composition on a Pr timeline are laughably slow even on the best machine. “Render and replace” is also extremely slow.
Read Adobe’s official Cross-application workflows here.
My App Linking workflow is this:
1. Drag VFX clip up.
2. Drag out some handle if you think you need it for transitions.
2. Right-click > replace with Ae comp.
ae2-not
same with Ps for stills
ps-not
3. Save the AE project next to your Pr project. Consolidate & Collect files if you want to move the project to another drive.
4. Copy & Paste Timeline TC as comp name  in AE
Make>10;23;45;16 into 102345. You only need the first 6 digits and can’t have the semicolon as part of the name.
5. Back in PR undo 1x to remove link to AE and linked clip in project.
You can work in Ae or Ps standalone with Pr closed or the other way around.
You are still dynamically linked to the footage in Ae or Ps, but there is no link in Pr, which causes most of the problems.
Do your VFX in AE, but leave Color Correct, Titling, trimming etc in Pr.
6. Render out matching the codec, frame size etc.
linkwhirlThe fastest way to render in any of the Adobe apps is standalone but with a beefy machine you can drag Ae Comps to Adobe Media Encoder for rendering while working.

7. Import clip into Pr and replace the clip in the timeline.
8. If there is a change to the comp in Ae, render out replacing the file with the same name.
The Pr timeline will automatically update to the latest render because it doesn’t “know” the file was swapped.
If you expect a lot of revisions on VFX work, export all the clips from Pr with handle to a folder on your media drive, relink all clips in Pr to those clips and render and replace as usual. Time spend doing these extra steps is gained in the end by crashing less.

If you ever have to use Direct Link between Pr & Ae on the timeline, close Ae before switching back to Pr.

sg-notThe best Direct Link in the suite is the “either-or” exchange between Pr and Sg (Speed Grade). This is not a direct link like the others. You add Lumetri effects to clips in the 12-way color corrector in Speed grade, close the project in Sg, open it in Pr and continue editing. This truly saves a lot of time because you can color correct as you go.

For final file exports, export straight out of Pr, not using dynamic linking.
For intermediate exports AME is fine as long as you check the files for gitches before sending out.
Glitches are caused by dynamic linking having to pass too much metadata between apps. You have to understand that when you send a timeline with hundreds of edits with adjustment layers and filters. Dynamic linking has to pass all that information to the other App in the background applied to the footage in order to render all the frames correct. It’s a great idea, but understand that there is a limit.
pr-use-previewIf your preview codec matches your media files you can check “Use Previews” which will significantly speed up exports by not having to re-render. It can be a double edged sword though, because when the preview files are a lower quality like “I-frame Only MPEG” then you’ll render lower quality footage into the file.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the new normal: The FCP7 to Premiere shift.

FCP7 was based on Quicktime 32 bit, Premiere is based on the Mercury playback engine 64bit. In the last decade operating systems went to 64bit, ram went from 8 to 128 GB and GPU’s are now accelerating tasks like rendering and encoding. If you don’t watch out when you switch to Premiere, you’ll become a beta tester for big corporations like Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, AVID, HP, Dell, and all the camera manufacturers. In postproduction, there are so many moving parts, so many “improvements” around the corner almost every month, that it’s hard for these poor corporations and their hardware and software engineers to keep up.
So there you are, sitting in a room trying to edit with Quicktime movies that were working fine in the last decade, but instead of working on your edit, you’re Googling glitches, system crashes and audio drop outs. 

Adobe sells the creative cloud suite as if it is one interconnecting piece of software. But if you have Pr and Ae open at the same time you experience lots of conflicts, stalls and crashes because the apps fight over the same GPU, CPU, RAM, output card, media, metadata, media cache data base, preview files etc. Adobe keeps adding on “features”, keeps stacking code on code which creates tons of bugs. So how do you actually get work done?
Simple; don’t use direct linking the way it’s designed. Use it to move metadata between apps, then close the other app, render or export out a file and import that back into Pr. If you have to make a change, simply overwrite with same name on your media drive and it will update on the Pr timeline.
This is how editors worked in the past decade. The Adobe programmers agree:
-With Speedgrade & Premiere it is either-or (using direct link), you share the same project, media and metadata and can only have the Pr project open in one app at the same time.
-When you send a sequence to Audition CC2015, it creates a separate set of WAV files in a folder called “Adobe Audition Interchange”. The picture now links using “dynamic link”.
PS2015-GPU-warning-Photoshop CC2015 programmers where given this language by marketers. Why doesn’t the message say: “The computer is too busy, please close some apps”?
-In Speedgrade and Ae the available VRAM is sometimes reported lower than what you have installed because the software correctly shares the GPU cores with the other open apps.

Today as editors we wear more hats than ever: editing, sound mixing, graphic design, rotoscoping, stabilizing, color correcting, closed captioning, subtitling, encoding for the web, and collaborating with clients and team members inside and outside the edit room in real time.

I finally started to understand that it’s possible to weed through all the marketing bullshit and get back to work. Testing camera’s, camera settings, I/O hardware and software settings is the key to finding a stable workflow.
To get up to speed in Premiere read this book’s 600 pages.
This website functions as a collection of links to pages and PDFs that helped me learn Premiere.

Updating and backing up project files: best practices
How do I speed up rendering, exporting and encoding?

Manually copy keyboard shortcuts between computers

You can copy your customized keyboard shortcuts from one computer to another computer, or to another location on your computer, but not between WIN & MAC.

1. Save keyboard settings As.
2. Locate the keyboard shortcuts file (.kys) that you want to copy to another computer.

Signed into Creative Cloud Sync Settings
Win: Users\[user name]\Documents\Adobe\Premiere Pro\[version]\Profile-CreativeCloud-\Win\
Mac: Users/[user name]/Documents/Adobe/Premiere Pro/[version]/Profile-CreativeCloud-/Mac/

Signed out of Creative Cloud Sync Settings
Win: Users\[user name]\Documents\Adobe\Premiere Pro\[version]\Profile-username\Win\
Mac: Users/[user name]/Documents/Adobe/Premiere Pro/[version]/Profile-username/Mac/
[version] can be 7.0 , 8.0 or 9.0

At WNET signed in as regular user
\\thirteen.org\users\YourName\mydocuments\Adobe\Premiere Pro\9.0\Profile-yourname\Win\keyboard.kys
Or
Click on documents in side panel and search for “kys”

To copy the keyboard shortcuts file to a location on a different computer, copy the .kys file to a removable drive. Then, copy the .kys file from the removable drive to the same folder on the new computer.

SCREENFLOW TIPS

Use Screenflow to capture a web page in action, including video playing on the page.
Look for: ScreenFlow-Tutorial, Shortcuts and manual on the right.

-For capture set your resolution temporarily to 1344×840 (in OSX System Preferences)
This is to make the capture resolution closer to video resolution.
-Find a neutral desktop BG don’t have browser all the way on top. (or export will not be title save)
-Use “Browser zoom” to make pages as big as possible CMD + – (examine this)
-Time and rehearse the moves on the web page.
1. Start screenflow. (Set Audio to computer audio if you need it)
2. Record the web page.
3. Save screen flow project as (in a screen flow folder with your other GFX elements for the show)
4. Add video + Call action
5. Crop at 1344×800 (this is to counter distortion during export/import to FCP)
6. Export out as Custom DVCPRO-HD 1080i60 29.97 1280×1080, Audio PCM, 48k 16bit.

 

Good Computer Habits

Pay attention when you look at 20-year-olds or experienced computer users. They usually use “secret” keystrokes that do things in 1 second that would take you minutes, and they seem to click the mouse less. If you want to become an efficient user of editing software you have to try to copy some of their behavior.
Actually, copying habits of experienced users is key to making the deadline and getting into bed on time.
Here are some tips:

1. On a MAC a right-click is Control-Click. Connect a 2 button mouse with scroll wheel to your system. Contextual Menu’s (right-click) are very important in Premiere.
Try right-clicking in different windows and see what options you get.
2. Don’t close windows (X button)
You create extra work for yourself when you have to re-find or re-open things you had before.
If windows are in the way, CMD-Tab (MAC) or alt-Tab (WIN) to switch between open applications.
3. Switch between applications and open windows, using CMD-tab (MAC) or alt-tab (PC)
Apply this habit to all your computers, all the time, everywhere.
4. Use the mouse for pointing to what you want, shortcuts for an action.
Print out shortcuts and hang in your cubicle.
5. In the MAC finder press SPACE bar to preview files. (no double clicking!)
6. Hover over buttons and other areas, wait, and see a tooltip appear explaining what it does. It shows the shortcuts too!

7. Cross Platform File Names
When you edit you will exchange files with people over the internet, servers and Windows formatted hard drives. Biggest problem with MAC OSX is that it doesn’t force you to be Internet/Windows compatible.

These are the rules:
A. Always save with extensions. (the 3 lower case characters after the period)
B. No_spaces_in_file_names.
C. No period at the end of a file name
D. Don’t use illegal Windows characters: ? [ ] / = + < > : ; ” , * |
The most common offender is the forward slash, illegal in Windows file names but popular with Macintosh users who like to include a date in the file name. Write a date like this instead: 20090823_vo_johnny23.aif
If you always write your file names like this, they are easy to read and sort.
Please follow this naming convention for Premiere projects:
20090423_SA_NEWS_164_mikeP.prproj
YYYYMMDD_SHOW-NAME_episode#_editor.prproj

Color coding is a big waste of time!