Unable to edit sequence settings in CS6

[Graham Hutchins]

No worries, thought I would ask.

Like I said earlier, I’ll definitely be hitting up the feature request page.

Thanks.

-Graham

OSX 10.7.4, Windows 7
Adobe CS6
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 32 GB RAM

[Graham Hutchins]

Hey Kris,

Thanks for the inquiry.

I have a FCP XML that I brought in that resolved to the incorrect size on import and I need to resize the sequence. I realize that I can copy and paste the timeline into a new sequence, but why is that the best solution?

I can think of more than a few reasons why someone might need to change the editing mode, timebase, frame size, pixel aspect ratio, fields or audio sample rate in the middle of an edit, least of which, there was a mistake made when the sequence was first created.

Bringing in one type of footage at the beginning of a project and realizing that you’re delivering in a different format, or your camera format changes, or the majority of your footage was at one frame rate and then through the course of production, it becomes another frame rate, offlining HD proxies and reconnecting to 4K masters, or someone is using nontraditional resolutions and has several different deliverables. You might as well ask why someone using Photoshop or After Effects would ever need to change anything about what they’re working with. Like I said in a previous post, this is a feature I’ve seen in every timeline based application I’ve ever used.

I’m not saying this will get used as much as “jkl”, but it seems like something that should just be there and not need a workaround with 5-6 extra steps.

Thank you for your time.

-Graham

OSX 10.7.4, Windows 7
Adobe CS6
FC Studio 3
Octo 2.26GB MacPro, 32 GB RAM

[Michael Murphy]

Graham,

Just a question that I don’t know the answer to, but .. you might experiment a bit.

CS6 can support multiple different types of clips without transcoding. You can mix 24, 30, 1080i, 720p, etc without transcoding on import.

You can commonize those to your export format on export.

Is it possible that there is no need to edit the Sequence settings if all of the video clips are already playing back correctly?

Where it might be necessary to make the changes in a system that requires transcoding like FCP, perhaps it is not necessary in CS6 PP?

You might be able to test that with your current Sequence and export.

I am not familiar with FCP, so I don’t knwo why editing the sequence there is required if it misidentifies the footage.

Just a thought. I honestly don’t know the answer. I do recall one FCP poster trying to understand that he never had to transcode in CS6, and that he didn’t have to “make up” that time later in the process.

Cheers!
Michael

[Dustin Salsberry]

Okay, I will hop on this train to see if someone can help me with my workflow. Unfortunately, my would-be adequate SLI setup isn’t up to snuff for GPU accelerated multicam editing because neither card has 1GB memory independently. So, I created very low-res proxy files for my 9 HD shots and I was able to make my edits with perfect fluidity in a low-res multicam sequence.

That’s when things break down for me. My misstep was in thinking that I could then replace the proxy footage with the HD footage, increase the resolution of the sequence, and render it out. So, the question is, is there any workable way to use these sorts of proxies for multicam editing? If I make my destination sequence 1920×1080 to start with, the low res proxy files are too small to watch in the multicam monitor (even maximized) to make any sound judgments. I also tried replacing the footage and copying the contents of my low res sequence into a HD one, but the result only copies one camera angle and only shows the piece of the footage that would be visible in the small resolution window.

Any help is much appreciated.

[George T. griswold]

Hi Graham,

There is one trick. Let’s say you have a bin of primary footage that you want to be your sequence settings…. Before you insert a single element into the timeline, drag one clip over to the timeline from your bin. It will then ask to change the sequence settings. Don’t load into the source viewer and then insert— it won’t ask. You can have your sequence set for anything and it will ask… easy way not to plow through all the setup choices. Hope this helps for the future.

George Griswold
New Orleans, LA
http://www.videonow.info

[Jared Nelson]

“You can commonize those to your export format on export.

Is it possible that there is no need to edit the Sequence settings if all of the video clips are already playing back correctly?

Where it might be necessary to make the changes in a system that requires transcoding like FCP, perhaps it is not necessary in CS6 PP?”

So, I agree with Graham and think it is silly to not be able to change your sequence settings in PPro. Even if there is nothing in the sequence. So thats lame.

I am the type of editor who generally likes to standardize my workflow with processes like transcoding and other things that may not need to be done with CS6.

However, Michael’s post got me thinking about a process I do on occasions.

Sometimes I have a project that is shot 1080p. The first few rough cut will be done in 1080. Then we will change the timeline to 720 and scale up certain shots of the video.

Michael, are you recommending to do something like that in the original 1080 timeline and exporting to 720, right?

Will there be any quality loss when exporting scaled video in CS6?

Are there any other workflow suggestions based on the process I mentioned above?

Thanks

[Robert Wentz]

I agree with the OP that its odd you can not change a sequences settings post edit.

One simple example where this might be useful:

You have a segment of your sequence where the camera was rotated 90degrees. You want to rotate the footage but not loose resolution by scaling it down to fit your current 16::9 format or cropthe top/bottom of the rotated clip.

Id like to just duplicate the orig sequence, get rid of the non rotated clips then simply edit the frame width/height to accomodate for the otherwize identical sequence settings (framerate, codec, etc)

[Casey Culver]

@kris One reason you might want to change sequence settings is if you’re using multicam. I transcoded to 720 ProRes Proxy because my machine (really any machine) couldn’t handle 16 streams of 1080p h264, but it sure runs through that Proxy like a beauty. Anyway, once I begin to add in cutaways, I’d like to do so in 1080, so I pop my 720 multicam in the 1080 timeline – keeping my proxies still connected in case I want to make any changes. I then go back to my original 1080 media once the edit is set, but darn it if the multicam sequence is 720 and there’s no way to change the sequence settings… The only solution is to hack into the actual PP file, and thank goodness Thoraya Binz shows you how to do it here https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/936546

[Jeff Fust]

That is a DSLR sequence preset and you cannot edit presets. However, if you switch the first drop-down menu from DSLR to Custom, then the other settings will no longer be grayed out and you can make a custom sequence that has whatever video preview resolution you prefer. Once your settings are correct, then you can save it as a preset so you won’t have to do this step every time.

I agree there should already be a preset for working in Apple Pro-Res and/or other preview resolutions as well, or at least the option to change the setting manually after the sequence is set up, but we all know Apple, Adobe and Avid don’t play well with each other 🙂
,

Best,

Jeff Fust
Producer/Editor
Pax et Bonum Communications

[Ht Davis]

You’re funny… Remember this adage as long as you edit: Always scale down at the end. When you use a proxy video, you want the same resolution as your source.

Here’s my Suggestion…
I import the video into the project panel in full res. I place each in its own sequence (I create each sequence and drop the video into it), at normal size for the output, but for the PREVIEW (at the bottom)… …I set a proxy file to use. This will allow you to make edits using the resolution you want to work in, while outputting the resolution you want to end up with. Now you can render your previews, and offline your large files. At this point you should be able to continue your work. If you have trouble with multi cam… This issue has been faced before.
When you render your proxy video, use the same resolution, but drop the quality, or use a COMPRESSED PROXY. This means you use a similar extensioned file, but use the compressed form of it. This cuts down on the data speed needed, and should produce great quality while keeping speed. I work from a core2duo laptop with 4gb ram and 256mb vid card. I still get great results using both methods with up to 4 cameras and 1 external audio source. I just have to render effects every 2 or three cuts to make sure the previews are updated. Give’s me time to do my chores.

My chores:
1Make Coffee
2Pour coffee
3drink coffee
4Relieve myself of coffee
5repeat 2-4
6repeat 2-4
7repeat 1
8repeat all