Help in using Adobe Premier Pro 7!!

Hi there,

I have recently acquired Adobe Premier Pro version 7. Does anybody know where I can download a manual or view tutorials on this software.
I am used to using Pinnacle Studio ver 8 software and compared to this product, Premier Pro is a completely different kettle of fish. I've viewed the demo on the Adobe website and the features included are awesome. I just need some help to get to grips with this software, as it is currently way above my head. Any suggestions anyone?

 

Yes, Premier is a real Video editor and Studio 8 is a beginners Program, and you really see what a real video editor can do when you compare the features in Premier Pro to Studio 8......
Well The Help File that comes with Premier should help you out a Lot, and you should be able to download a Manual at the Premier Web site and if you want real instructions there are DVD Video Presentations for how to use Premier but they usually cost quite a Bit of Cash...I actually Find that "Vegas Video 4"
is a Lot easier to use than Premier Pro and Find it and Lot more Functional and it doesn"t have a Cluttered interface like Premier, and it"s Transitions and effects are Better IMHO than premier and the audio effects and editing features are better in Vegas ....so if you ever get fed up with premier Pro you might want to check into vegas Video4....Cheers

 

Thanks for that Minion, I will definitely look into that Vegas software. I'll leave Premier Pro 7 for now, until I become more acquainted to video editing. I'm a bit impatient and want to get some projects off the ground. I've heard that Premier 6.5 is easier to use and I was contemplating in trying this out instead. Have you heard anything about this product? I'm thinking of playing it safe by sticking with mainstream products as I suppose you get a better scope of support for them. But I'm also aware that there could be a less known product which works the best. Perhaps even Vegas video 4.
Oh decisions, decisions!!!!

 

Well I also Have Premier 6.5 and 6.0 and I find that Premier Pro is the best out of the Bunch accept for the Fact it only captures Video file DV sources were the other Premier versions would capture from Analogue sources..Another very Good Video editing Package is "Ulead Video Studio Pro 7" it isn"t as Profecinal looking as the others But is still very Good, It comes with a Whole Host of seperate Modules for capture, Editing, Video Paint,CG Animation,Audio editing and disk burning...It is worth Checking out and there is a Demo at the Ulead Site....Cheers

 

I got myself a copy of vegas video 4 w/ DVD architec. I have been using Windows Movie Maker and was able to put my home movies on DVD rather easily. I downloaded the vegas manual from sonic and have some trouble using the program. Is there a place where they have guides to do the basic editing, transitions etc. for vegas? Sort of like the guides here on Afterdawn. The only ones I can find are for more advanced users and not geared to the newbie.

 

Well I don"t know of any Manuals but there is a Vegas Video forum on the net...But to do simple things like adding Transitions and Filters and basic editing it really easy...To add a Transition between 2 Clips is very easy , all you do is first Drag the First clip to the Time line, then Drag the Second clip to the Timeline but let it overlap the First file a Little, The Amount of Overlap will be the Length of the Transition,now you go to the Transition menu and Drag the Transition you want to the Overlap and then the Transitions settings will pop up , You don"t need to adjust the Transition settings if you don"t want to ,or you can use Preset settings...To see what the Transition looks like between your Clips you just click on the Time line before the Transition then click the Play button and in the Preview window you can see what the Transition looks like...To add a Video Filter or Video effect you Just find the effect you want then drag it to the Clip you want it to effect and then the effect setting will pop up and you can adjust the settings and you can instantly see the Effect in the Preview window...All this stuff is the easy stuff the Hard stuff is then you have to start composting and Blending 2+ Video sources together and Overlays and Layering...I know how to use Most of the Functions in Vegas accept the Scripting Functions which you have to know how to write code in Visual C+...Well anyways Most editors work this way were most of the Functions are just Drag and Drop...well I hope this Helps a Bit....Cheers

 

Hi Minion,
Just to say a big thanks for recommending Vegas 4. I've been using it and I have to admit it's great. Very stable as well. It took me a while to figure out the transitions as I was just trying to drag and drop, but now I've sussed that you can overlap the clips then you can drag any effect you like or when you join two clips together you get a little triangle appear at the top between the clips, if you drag that then it increases\decreases the opacity as you wish for fading. Then if you want you can add another transition effect to it. I prefer this method. There is a lot more stuff which I have no idea which I will have to play with but two things. First, when I capture files Vegas 4 churns out the AVI files which are bigger. I admit this way is quicker, but I prefer if there was an option to encode them to Mpeg2 (like you can with Pinnacle) this is useful because they're smaller files, and I am constantly having to watch out for diskspace. Is there an option available to do this?
Secondly you mentioned about forums on the Net for Vegas, do you know where precisely? I want to find as much info on this as poss, because I am sure I'm doing a few things the long way round.
Thanks again

 

Hi, You can encode to Mpeg1/2 with Vegas ,It has a High Quality encoder By MainConcept and a Dolby digital AC3 encoder for DVD audio accept to enable these Features you have to install "DVD Architect",It will add Mpeg and AC3 encodeing to Vegas Video and it is a good But complicated DVD authoring Program, But I use it mostly because it add Mpeg1/2 and ac3 encodeing to Vegas 4...I believe the Support Forum is Through the Sony Web site, there should be a Link at the site were you download Vegas/DVD architect.....Cheers

 

Hi Minion,
I originally installed Vegas 4 with the DVD architect, but I still don't have any Mpeg2 encoder options when I capture. there is an option when I render, but I want to edit the files as Mpeg2 before I render it.

 

Hi, You can not capture to Mpeg with Vegas and Vegas does not edit in Mpeg format anyways and even if it did you should not edit mpeg files with an editor like Vegas because it will allways re-encode the mpeg files when it renders a new file and this will greatly degrade the Final Quality....The structure of mpeg files makes it difficult to edit them...Is the Problem because your Captured files take up too much Disk Space?? You can allways use a different Capture Program to Capture to and use a Codec to capture with so the Files are a Little smaller but the only codec I would recomend would be the HuffyUV Codec for Capture if you want to keep the Highest Quality....I have a Lot of Disk Space for Capture so I usually do not have to worry about Large Files, I have 280GB of Disk space so I am usually OK...I just Picked up a new 160gb Maxtor Drive for $80 US, might be worth the investment......Cheers

 

I see, I suppose I wont bother with the codec then as I really want the best quality. Hard drive disk space is the real issue here. I don't have much of it. I only have 20b free and I constantly have to play around with files and defrag to keep my disk optimised.
I've run out of IDE channels and SCSI drives are too expensive, so it seems I'm going to invest in an external firewire drive, that way I don't have to do a complete rebuild on my system.
Thanks again Minion.

 

You don"t need to get an external Firewire Drive you can just get yourself a PCI IDE Card, These Cards usually come with 2 IDE Slots to hook up as many as 4 Drives and they are Quite Cheap at about $10..A lot of the Bigger Drives actually come with an ATA/133 PCI IDE Card...As For Captureing With a Codec the HuffyUV Codec is Lossless so the Quality of the Captured files useing this codec is the same as if you captured Uncompressed..It is Probably the Only Lossless Codec there is and is extremely Popular because of it"s High Quality...see ya Later.....Cheers

 

Hi Minion,
Yes I thought of installing a PCI IDE card, but the problem I have would still remain, I have no spare hard drive slots left in my tower to insert another hard drive without replacing an existing one. I have the space inside, but I have nothing to screw it to. Any suggestions?
As for the Huffy codec I will definitely try it. Is it straight forward to use?, do I get a prompt to use the codec when I start capturing data? - I'll have a go. Thanks.

 

Hi, Well If you have Any Drive Bays open even a CD-Drive bay then you can use it for a Hard drive or if you have a Smaller dive allready installed like a 20gb or 40gb you could replace it with a Bigger 120gb or 160gb or even a 250gb, OR since Firewire Harddrives are Quite a Bit more expensive than regular Hard drives you could allways get a New PC Case that Has More Drive Bays, If you are In the USA you can Get really Nice Cases for Under $50 or if you wanted to make the Extra Investment you can get one of those Kick ass ThermalTake Xazer Cases, they have something like 12 Drive Bays and 7 Fans and a Digital Temp read out,and Digital Fan and Temp controll and electric Doors covering the Drive Bays and a Lock and Key plus they look awesome but they run about $150 US but are Probably the Best Cases you can get....As For the HuffyUV Codec it doesn"t have a Lot of Settings and is allready set the Best settings by Default...So you Just install it and then Choose the Codec as your Compressor when Rendering your Project or when captureing Video, there are no setting you need to adjust to use the Codec you Just have to make sure that you Have chosen the Codec as your Compression Format...And if you use this Codec to capture Video with Try to allways Capture in a YUV Colorspace (YUV,YUY2,YV12,UYUY,ect) because you will allways get better Quality compression when useing a YUV Colorspace....Cheers

 

Ok Minion, slow down here, YUV Colorspace? you've lost me there. Is this something I have already?
Also would you recommend me editing the files with Vegas after I have used the Huffy UV codec to compress them?
Thanks

 

Hi, You will not be able to Capture useing a Codec if Useing Vegas Video to capture, Because Vegas only Captures to Uncompressed AVI when useing a Analogue source and it will only capture to DV if useing a Digital Source, But you can Do the Captureing useing something like Virtual VCR or something simular...
And Yes If you capture to this Format you can edit in this Format ,Because HuffYUV is a Lossless Codec you can edit and Render as many times as you want without looseing any Quality, That is the Meaning of Lossless....As for Colorspaces Most Capture Cards Have the Option to Choose what colorspace you capture to, it should have options Like "RGB24,RGB32,YUY2,UYVY,YV12" and Useing a YUY2 Type colorspace as opposed to a RGB colorspace is Prefered ....Good Luck

 

would anyone be kind to assist me in finding Vegas Video Serial and Activation Code. Able to do everything but when rendering as MPEG its asking for actiavtion code.

Many Thanks

 

Thanks Minion,
Where would I find these options to select the colourspace? Is it within the capture software?

 

These Options are In your Capture Cards Settings that you can assess within the Capture Software...Your Capture Card should have a settings Dialog were you select the Resolution and were you can adjust the Brightness and Contrast they should be in the same settings page...Depending on the Capture software you are useing would determine how you access these Settings....As for activateing the Mpeg2 encodeing in Vegas Video you have to install DVD architect and then you will have access to Mpeg encodeing and AC3 encodeing.....Cheers

 

I really appreciate ur help. Furthermore,
as I have created a timeline with media in Vegas 4 ready for burning - How do i import a file or project into DVD architect?

Thx