Slow Exports

[Ben G unguren]

I’ve noticed this as well. My [mildly informed] guess is that FCP Studio is able to effectively copy the render and source files into a quicktime container and then flatten that into a single quicktime file. So it’s only a matter of copying files where a render has taken place. Recall that in FCP there is an option to “Recompress all frames.”

PPro, on the other hand (and most other apps for that matter) chooses to recompress everything. Or, if you will, “Recompress all frames” is always turned on.

Another issue is that preview renders sometimes aren’t at the same quality/format as the final output, but I’m still not sure how that part works….

Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
http://www.mostlydocumentary.com

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[Alex Smith]

That’s about what I’d figured too. I’d love if someone from Adobe would chime in. It’s very odd to me that there seems to be a much more efficient way to export the final, so I wonder what the trade-off is with their way of doing things.

This is agonizing when your back is against the wall just to finish the edit and then you hit export and have to wait what might be hours just to show the client something that plays back 100% fine on your machine. I usually don’t work against deadlines like that, but I imagine that export time could be a deal breaker for some folks. If I’m doing something wrong I’d like to know.

[Alex Smith]

So this is becoming a big deal on the project I’m working on. I’m using a plugin from DigiEffects and I believe one of the plugins is making it crash on export. The real sting is that the video is already rendered and if Premiere just wrapped up the render files and made a nice little video file I’d be fine. Instead, I’m having to do this in chunks to figure out which clip/filter is crashing the program (even though it’s already rendered and plays back fine). Not to mention that each time I export it takes closer to an hour than the five minutes I’m used to for rendered video. Any thoughts?

[Chris Tompkins]

I’m with ya on this. As I look @ APP coming from FCP camp. This is annoying. Very slow exporting. A real pain. I have taken to edit in a lower setting. Export to Encore (Queue) Then render out a Master Prores.

Then drop that into Episode to create the deliverable. APP needs better render and export.

When I render in AE CS5.5 my whole machine slows to a crawl. Ya, I’ve changed the ram settings, blah, blah, blah.

Adobe has had a windfall drop in their laps and they need to step up their game to hang onto it, I think.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC

[Alex Smith]

I think you’re totally right about the windfall. Whether it’s Adobe, Avid, or something completely different (I won’t even count FCP X out), Final Cut’s debatable suicide leaves the door wide open for someone to jump in and take over the NLE space, prosumers and pros alike. Though both great apps, Avid and Premiere just sort of subjectively feel to me like they were written before they had a clue they might have the opportunity to win back all the market share that FCP had. I expect they’ve kicked up their games a notch since June 21. Good for us.

Sorry to derail the thread. The export is still killing me. I ended up having to do it in chunks (I think Dynamic Link to AE is what was crashing me after all) and what’s weird is that after throwing the chunks back into a timeline (with a yellow bar?) they exported fairly quickly. It’s like Premiere makes itself re-render everything that’s already been rendered when you export. Why is this? Is there a benefit I’m not aware of?

[Todd Kopriva]

You didn’t say whether you had enabled the option to use the preview files for final output.

If you do, then the preview files will be used instead of re-rendering everything.

But be warned that that is very often a bad idea, since the preview files are usually not at the same quality or encoding/compression settings as what you want for final delivery.

Something that you said struck me as odd:

> Everything is rendered. Green bar throughout.

Why?

Why are you wasting your time rendering preview files for an entire sequence? You shouldn’t need to do that very often unless you have a very demanding sequence or a very underpowered computer.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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[Alex Smith]

Ah, that was very helpful. Thanks. I had not noticed that checkbox, and I bet it will speed things up in the future. I understand how it could be dangerous and will use it with care.

As far as the green bar throughout comment, I think it’s probably me coming from an FCP world where a red bar means it won’t even attempt to play. I’d put some simple color correction filters on everything and DigiEffects filters on a few clips, which understandably will not play. I just went ahead and rendered the whole timeline even though much of it would play back fine. Part of that thinking was that it would speed up the export when it came time, but now I see I missed the setting to do that.

I’m really trying to learn this program and just jumped in head first, so please let me know if you have any other tips or if anything I’m saying is in the wrong mode of thinking. I used Premiere in the late 90s but then jumped on the FCP bandwagon with v1.0. Now I think I’m back. Great program, but I’m still trying to get my bearings and also hoping that Adobe will polish this program up, especially for us Mac users/FCP converts. I just got the book, An Editor’s Guide To Premiere Pro, and it looks like it will be a great jump start.

[Todd Kopriva]

See this page for nitty-gritty details of the red, green, and yellow render bars and rendering preview files.

> I just got the book, An Editor’s Guide To Premiere Pro, and it looks like it will be a great jump start.

That is a terrific book. Read it through carefully and watch all of the videos on the DVD.

(Full disclosure: I’m biased. I’m the book’s technical editor.)

Here are some other good resources for getting started with Premiere Pro.

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

[Alex Smith]

Great article. Thanks!

I’m still having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around this. Are there settings that you can suggest that would allow me to render preview files at a quality that would be acceptable (say, ProRes 422) and then also be able to export using those already-rendered files to create an also acceptable final file? Does this make sense? I feel like this was how FCP worked in the background, but I also understand it’s a different game when you’re allowed to edit natively with so many formats.

I’m open to changes, but exports that take 10x what I’m used to are a massive change for the workflow I’ve used for a decade. Still trying to understand this.

[Todd Kopriva]

> Are there settings that you can suggest that would allow me to render preview files at a quality that would be acceptable (say, ProRes 422) and then also be able to export using those already-rendered files to create an also acceptable final file? Does this make sense?

I strongly recommend that you abandon the idea of using your preview files for final output.

If you only create (render) preview files for the segments of your sequence that actually need them, you’ll find that you are creating very, very few preview files. I almost never render a preview file; the only times that I ever need to are when I have a demanding After Effects composition dynamically linked in.

Preview files should be thought of as something that makes the editing process faster in those relatively rare cases where Premiere Pro can’t play something at real time. If you think of them this way, then you’ll be fine with preview files that are small and fast to create.

If performance is important to you, see this page for resources about making Adobe Premiere Pro (and After Effects) work faster.

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