Sequence Tabs/Nesting Confusion…

[Vince Becquiot]

As long as you are exporting uncompressed at maximum depth, you will not lose quality. You can also drag another sequence into the current one from the project panel, into the timeline, which is nesting.

In CS4, you can also select several clips, and right click nest. That will create a new sequence and place it in your current timline replacing the clips selected, very handy for applying an effect many clips at once.

The down side is that you will lose your rendered preview and that will require a bit more processing.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Jerry Cast]

Ok, thanks.

I was missing the fact that you have to drag the sequence from the Project Panel.

Oh no, I exported as a Microsoft DV AVI, so I guess I lost quality huh?

Others had told me NOT to Export uncompressed at maxium depth(do you mean Maxium setting under “Keyframe and Rendering/Rendering Options/Maximum”?

I have it set by defualt to “Use Project Settings” (which I have to search now to see where that’s set and why).

I was told the uncompressed file sizes were too big and not needed.

So, what is the typical scenario that someone would only want the uncompressed file? Is it in my case?

Of course I wouldn’t have even needed to ask these export questions if I had just nested the sequence to begin with.

Now I’m wondering it I should go back and redo some stuff.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks.
Jerry

[Vince Becquiot]

If your original format is DV avi, and all you have is straight cuts, then in theory Premiere will not recompress your render.

But any resizing, color correction or effects that alter your original footage will force recompression, which is fairely heavy with DV. I would probably notice the difference, but it’s not a deal breaker.

I generally use maximum depth with color correction and I assume most people color correct before export. Color correction can bring the color depth of the footage over 8 bits, and you would want to keep that amount of color until your very final render.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Jerry Cast]

Ok, so even though Recompress is turned OFF, Prem Pro still has to recompress any effects/changes to your footage.

So if I leave my exported sequences as .avi’s ont he new timeline in the final sequence, and they will have to be exported once more for the final product, I should be ok it sounds like.

You are saying to a trained eye like yours, you’d notice degradation, but the average person won’t.

I guess I make the decision to go back and see if I really do want to remove those rendered .avi’s and instead just nest the original sequences into the final sequence to save one generation. Still better than the old days of tape generation loss, right?

Thanks.
Jerry

[Vince Becquiot]

Premiere will recompress as long as there is a change in your footage, other than straight cuts, even with recompress off.

DV is very harsh on tiles/motion graphics, so if you have those compressed to DV, I would really consider re-exporting.

For the rest, most people won’t notice one generation loss, and I probably wouldn’t either unless I saw the original back to back with the compressed export…

It also depends on how much noise there was in the original, that’s a compressor’s worst enemy.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Jerry Cast]

Thanks Vince,

I’m 95% done with this 10 minute demo DVD after about 130+ hours (I’m slow because I don’t know CS3 that well and file organziation and backup scheme setup ate up a lot of time), so I hate to go back and re-edit.

Many of the edits that I’ve done to the clips on the timeline would have to be re-done if I were to import the sequence in (as I told you before I’ve already exported each sequence in as a movie).

I think I’ll live with the one generation loss. I’m printing about 500 copies with Discmakers and I guess when I go to re-order next year, I’ll probably re-edit then as I’ll have new footage and new ideas.

One last question though.

I have a very fast Quad core video/audio/no internet machine. Not much other software and the drives are fast and all defragmented daily.

My 10 minute project has about 6 tabs with thier own sequences, along with big main sequence. There are also many big (13 gig) files imported into the Project panel.

I notice the project takes a bit more and more time to load after starting Premier. I do save multiple versions (I’m up to version 360) to ensure I can always go back if I have to.

Does having a big, multiple, 13 gig files in the Project Panel make it dangerous that the project is referencing files that slow things down? Some of those big files are only using a few seconds of video. Should I have first cut down what I needed, exported to a new file, them imported the smaller file into the project? Or does it not matter?

I’m not sure how much Premier can handle and in the future I want lean, mean project files that can load pretty quick and aren’t in peril of corruption. But, maybe Premier is made just for this convenince? I mean, importing (without actually importing, but just referencing) huge files for quick access?

Thanks again.
Jerry

[Vince Becquiot]

Yes, the fact that Premiere doesn’t “digitize” like FCP does make it a bit slower on long projects, but imports are a breeze.

A RAID system may improve things, since more files means Premiere has to access more data at once. I would recommend a RAID 10, or a RAID 0 if you don’t mind backing up several times a day.

You can split your sequnces in seperate projects if that’s not too inconvenient for a particular project.

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Jerry Cast]

Ok, thanks.

My backup and imaging strategy took a long time to setup and I like the way it works with my removable Icy Dock bays loaded with 4 separate 1 ter HD’s to backup my to internal drives for audio and video. So, I’m probably gonna pass on the Raid for now.

I don’t mind waiting few seconds for my project to load, my main concern was this “OK” to do.

In other words, is Premier under a strain and am I in jeopardy of having any problems with a huge project, or, is it just the inconvenience of waiting for the load time (20 seconds or so).

Thanks againg.
Jerry

[Vince Becquiot]

I don’t think you will see corrupted files, but you might see a crash here and there, that’s about it…

Vince Becquiot

Kaptis Studios
San Francisco – Bay Area

[Jerry Cast]

Ah yes! The crashes, that where they are coming from!

I save every few minutes to a new project file and yes, every 4 hours or so (after totalling the times in my head) I “am” experiencing a crash where everything freezes, the entire computer, and Ctrl Alt Delete can’t even save me. I hear a high pitched “alarm sounding” noise, and have to use my reset button on the computer to restart.

So, there IS a reason to not tab too many sequences, and have too many large imported files reside in the Project Panel. g

Good tip, thanks.

Now I’m worried that since I want to add a PIP effect here and there that even with no Recompress, there will be yet another generation loss during rendering.

I did need to edit a title on one of the avi’s on the master sequence timeline, so I did as you instructed and went to the original tabbed sequence and export Uncompressed before bringing it back in. Guess that helped, although I can’t really tell with a side by side AB.

All this info is helping me for the next project (although I feel guilty about not biting the bullet and not bringing the tabbed sequences into the master sequence now, ha, ha).

Jerry