Can someone please give me the right preset to use for comp settings?

[Ashley Davis]

I’m using quite a lot of effects and images, a lot of which will be set out like a slide-show with slow zooms and focus in’s etc. So would you say to just do the effects in AE and edit the rest in Premiere or something similar?

[Todd Kopriva]

If your final output will be playing on a standard-definition PAL DVD, then you use the composition settings preset for standard-definition PAL DVD (PAL D1/DV).

Here’s a page that gives suggestions and principles for planning and setting up:
“Planning your work”
It suggests that if you only have one output type, then you should work in a composition that matches that output type.

———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
———————————————————————————————————

[Angie Taylor]

Hi there,

Todd’s right, here in Europe you want to work in a PAL D1/DV composition for SD work.May I suggest a good workflow for you to create your project? as David says, After Effects isn’t really designed as a video editing app so it will be tiresome editing footage there and waiting for previews. However, I understand your requirements to do FX work. This is a perfect situation to use the Dynamic Link features in CS5 as you’ll get the best of both worlds with Prem Pro and AE.

Premiere Pro IS excellent at editing and you can even set up keyframes and effects in real time, creating a rough cut of your finished piece. The idea is then to open this in AE to tweak and fine tune FX and keyframes.

So, here’s how! Create a project in Prem Pro using the PAL D1 SD preset. Capture or import all your source files. You can use the thumbnail view in the Project panel to create a rough storyboard for the piece before you bring footage down into the timeline, making sure that shot order and duration is roughly correct. This will save time later. Once you’ve done that, place your audio in the Timeline and then add the footage in the order it is sorted by using “Automate to Sequence’ button. So that’s the rough cut done.

Still in Prem Pro, make any edit adjustments required. Keyframe any basic transformations, add effects if necessary. Oce you are happy with the rough edit, and ready to jump to AE, either select the Sequence in the Project panel, or make a selection of clips that you want to finesse in the Timeline, Right-click and choose ‘Dynamic Link’ to open the selected clips in a translated AE timeline. Here you can do whatever you need to do in AE.

The beauty of this technique is that the link between the apps remains live so any changes made in AE automatically update in PremPro and visa versa, no need for rendering either way till the project is finally finished.

I used this technique on the last project I worked on and reckon it saved me about 40% of the time it would have taken me only using AE.

If you’re in the UK please pop along to Broadcast Video Expo later this month where I’ll be demo’ing this exact technique on the Adobe booth. Please say hello if you do. 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angie-Taylor/118378194869002?v=app_2344061033&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=185562124799608&index=1

cheers,

Angie

Angie Taylor animation & illustration for television, film, web and devices

https://www.angietaylor.co.uk
Twitter: theangietaylor
Linkedin: theangietaylor
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angie-Taylor/118378194869002