Is there a way to add effects to a project without actually re-encoding and rendering a new file?

[Jeff Pulera]

Do you still have the original project/sequence intact? Just make the changes there and export again. No quality loss since you are starting with the original clips.

If the project is GONE and you are going to be reworking the finished file, then yes it will be recompressed again, no way around that.

Whether to “Use Previews” or not depends – Mac or PC? I believe on Mac that you may be able to set the preview render codec to ProRes, in which case it is high-quality.

On the PC, the preview codec is usually not very good and when exporting, I’d recommend NOT checking the “Use Previews” box because then you are transcoding everything a second time, better to work from the original source material and render direct to the export format.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Rob Manning]

Hi Jeff,

I’m confused about previews. In PC world, this simply gathers (looks ahead) the data from a buffer (so to speak) and does not re-render that frame set but links to the original.

Your posit indicates this is incorrect, and causes some concern for me in projects already in the can.

Please clarify and thanks.

Rob Manning

[Jeff Pulera]

In Premiere, if there is no color above the timeline, or yellow or red, it’s going to generate a preview “on the fly” meaning it will read the video clip data from the hard drive and apply any effects as it goes and will attempt to display a preview on screen. If it can’t keep up (complex effects, many layers, etc.) then it may play at a reduced frame rate/stutter. Nothing is being written to the hard drive, just trying to play things on the fly, generating effects as it goes.

If you have the yellow or red bar above the timeline, and hit the RETURN key, this will RENDER those areas. This actually creates a NEW video clip on the hard drive, a composite clip that includes the layers and effects as applied in that segment of the timeline. The bar will then turn green. Now, when you “preview” that segment of the timeline by playing with the space bar, behind the scenes it is playing that NEW clip that was rendered in the background, so that its not trying to generate effects on the fly from the original media. If you change anything in that area (effect adjustment, etc.) then the color would go back to red or yellow, back to a real-time preview again disregarding the rendered file since the content has changed and would need to be rendered again to reflect the changes on the hard drive preview clip.

So that is where the “Preview” codec comes into play – when you render a piece of the timeline (to green bar), that codec is what is used to render the new file. When you do the final export via Media Encoder, if the box for “Use Previews” is checked, any areas of the timeline with the green bar will encode to the final format from those proxy files, rather than from original media. The issue is that you’ve now added another generation, original > proxy > final clip.

If you leave the “Use Previews” box UNchecked, when you do the final export to DVD, web, etc., the rendered preview files will be disregarded and all media will be transcoded directly from original media (camera clips) into your export format. No middle-man involved.

As long as my segments in Premiere play real-time, or close enough to it to make sure the results are what I want, I don’t waste time rendering previews to green, since I don’t want to use those preview clips in the final export anyway. I leave the timeline yellow or red and when I export using AME, it all renders then direct to final output.

The main benefit of using Previews in the final export would be if you had rendered something that took a long time, such as a DeNoiser that maybe took overnight, and you would not want to have to wait for that again. But again, depends on if the Preview codec is high quality, that you’re not sacrificing quality at that stage.

Hope this makes sense

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Rob Manning]

Jeff Thanks.

I do not use the green line render, always leave the file red or yellow for export.

In that instance then, is checking the use preview box serving any usable function outside of the denoiser or other time constrained renders that may be present?

I had a multilayer concert render last year which took over 24 hours (yes, send me that free you are the lucky winner Xeon PC when you have time 😉

So it seems that setting, merely complicates the process then?

I garnered checking that box from one of the luminary books by (names omitted) and may simply have misread the context.

Now that I have your attention, a quick OT question if you will bear with me.

How do I build a crop from the center point of a motion clip outward to form a narrow frame on top of content which is sized under an adjustment layer to play within safe margins? It’s a picture frame ‘look’ of OOF colors bouncing off of a swatch of tinsel, sparkle movement, playing behind and assortment of stills, video and graphics for a Christmas CD Point of Sale piece.

In PS turn the clip length into a smart object? Or is there a tool I am missing in effects for PP or AE?

My strength is not in PS as I shoot Nikons and came up with NIK and CNX2 but I am reading PS The Missing Manual, one page at a time.

Any thoughts would be appreciated and sorry for the OT.

Many thanks for the edified response.

Rob Manning