Premiere Pro CS5 project files bloating

[Bob Kiger]

I’m assuming that the projects your working on are not yet finished. Have you rendered your timeline for some reason?

With the new CS5 performance specs, it seems like the older ideas of rendering regularly to get a reasonable screening of the project is no longer a good work flow choice. If CS5 can play unrendered timelines as they openly stated in video and at NAB, than it might be wise to hold back on rendering until your ready for some kind of release. This is especially true if your storage space for projects is limited.

This is just my first impression at diagnosing the problem you describe.

Bob Kiger seminal author of “videography” [OCT1972-AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER]
http://www.videographyblog.com

[Nat Wilson]

Hi Bob, thanks for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately, although I’m using CS5, I’m not using a video card that can make use of the realtime rendering afforded by the Premiere Pro CS5. Because it’s HD footage I’m needing to render to view a reasonable copy of the edit, which as you guessed is not completed.

I have plenty of space of the RAIDed edit drive (1TB free). The problem seems to be specific to the project file. I may have to export and EDL and bring that into a brand new CS5 project in order to rule out it being something to do with the project having been converted from CS3, which someone else has suggested could cause a problem. If I do that though I’ll loose a load of grading and reframing that I’ve done 🙁

[Jon Barrie]

Instead of EDL try AAF export. Might keep most of the scaling and effects? Have to test first.

Jon Barrie
aJBprods
http://www.jonbarrie.net
http://www.suiteskills.com

[Nat Wilson]

Jon – thanks for the suggestion. I didn’t know that AAFs would do that and will try it. A work around has come in from an Adobe employee whereby you create a new project in CS5 and import the timeline, but not the project, which I’ve tested and which works, however there are other people with this problem now and this includes people who originated their edits in CS5, which probably rules out this being a CS3 – CS5 migration issue and hence means the problem won’t necessarily be fixed by this work around.

I’d encourage people with this problem to also have a look at the Adobe forum where some other people with the problem have posted, and which has the eye of an Adobe employee at the moment:

https://forums.adobe.com/message/2845669#2845669

thanks for your help everyone and if I get a solution, I’ll post it here.

—
Nat Wilson, Editor / Animatior
Adobe CS5 Production Premium running on Win 7 Pro x64 8GB RAM

[Andrew Crawford]

Hi Nat,

for what it’s worth I have noticed a similar phenomenon in CS4, and now also in CS5. I’m working on an HD project, which for some reason suddenly jumps in file size from 40Mb to 160Mb, with absolutely nothing having been added and in fact afeter several sequences are removed. Earlier iterations have been the same size until bang, it triples in size. Nothing like the magnitude you are seeing, but I dont like mysteries like this!

[Nat Wilson]

Hi Andrew,

It sounds like you’re experiencing something very similar to that which I and others have seen. Adobe have looked at my project files and have confirmed that there is a bug in CS5 Premiere. I understand that they are working on a fix at the moment and that an update will be sent out for Premiere shortly, but I don’t have a date. There has been no mention of this problem in CS4 though, but now that they know what the problem is, they should know if it affects CS4 and update that also if needed. The word from Adobe is that the problem relates to renders that are done within the editing environment being saved with the project file. You can find out more info by reading the threat which I’ve linked to previously, over at the Adobe Support Forums. I hope this helps, and good luck solving the problem.

cheers,

Nat

—
Nat Wilson, Editor / Animatior
Adobe CS5 Production Premium running on Win 7 Pro x64 8GB RAM

[Nathan Daher]

Hey Nat, and all who are experiencing this problem,

I too found that my Premiere CS5 project file sizes skyrocketed for no reason, so I did a little googling and found this topic. After reading your response that Adobe provided saying it had to do with the rendered files accidentally being saved within the project, an idea struck me.

I went to Sequence/Delete Render files, then saved my project as a copy. Lo and behold, it went back down to 6mb! Yes, you’ll lose all your preview files, but they can be easily generated back by some overnight rendering, and in your situation it’s at least a temporary workaround so you can save your project. Hope it works for you as well!

Nathan

[Nat Wilson]

Hi Nathan,

thanks for explaining in further detail the work around – thats the best solution right now, until Adobe find a fix.

I’m told that’ll happen soon, fingers crossed, as otherwise Premiere CS5 is a great release.

cheers,

N

—
Nat Wilson, Editor / Animatior
Adobe CS5 Production Premium running on Win 7 Pro x64 8GB RAM

[Kuan hua Wang]

Hi, Nathan.
I was having the same problem this morning. My premiere pro file bloat from 7mb to 60mb, and while I was trying to solve the problem was erasing all the unnecessary files and saved. Boomed, it became 120mb. So I browsed many pages until I found your answer. And the problem was solved. I really appreciate it.
Exy

[Nat Wilson]

Hi Exy,

I’m glad that the answer helped you resolve the problem, thanks for letting me know, and good luck with avoiding the bugs 🙂

Nat

—
Nat Wilson, Editor / Animatior
Adobe CS5 Production Premium running on Win 7 Pro x64 8GB RAM