Adobe CS4: The Next Tier, Part 2

In the last installment, I covered the top Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) features you probably didn''t hear about for Adobe Encore, Soundbooth, and Media Encoder. Here, I''ll describe the same types of features for Premiere Pro. Just for the record, the most ink-worthy new features in Premiere Pro CS4 include AVCHD support and the extension of Dynamic Link to include the transfer of sequences from Premiere Pro to Encore and the new standalone Media Encoder. Here are some valuable new features that may not have received the same level of attention in the CS4 news reports.

As I mentioned in the first segment, I recognize that there are many different editing styles and project types; while I've tried to be general, the features that I mention are necessarily idiosyncratic to my editing style and the type of work that I do. I apologize in advance if I omitted features that you feel are most critical.

Figure 1. One project, multiple sequences with different presets.
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When editing HD video, my personal preference is use a sequence preset that matches my target output resolution, irrespective of the acquisition format. Even when shooting in HDV, if I were producing for 640x360 streaming output, I would use a preset that conforms to that resolution. With CS3, however, I had to choose one sequence preset for the entire project, so when producing for Blu-ray and streaming, I had to create two different projects. I could import the first project into the second, which saved some time, but any changes made to the first project after I imported it didn't flow through to the second.

One of the most significant changes in Premiere Pro is the ability to create sequences with different presets as shown in Figure 1. If you edited your AVCHD sequence first, you could drag the finished sequence into the other timelines, treating the AVCHD sequence as a nested sequence. Since the AVCHD sequence is at full 1920x1080 resolution, you'd have to scale it down to fit the other two resolutions and could even adjust positioning—say, for better rule-of-thirds positioning or for a better fit in the 4:3 window. Any edits made to the source AVCHD sequence would automatically flow through to other sequences where it's nested.

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Figure 2. Creating a nested sequence.
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While on the subject of nested sequences, I'll note that CS4 also lets you create a nested sequence from clips on an existing timeline, which is useful in a number of instances. For example, suppose you wanted to reuse a series of clips in your current project. You probably should have produced this segment as a nested sequence from the start, but the creative impulse didn't strike until well into your editing. Alternatively, suppose there are a number of clips on the timeline to which you'd like to apply the same effects; nesting them together would also be more convenient.

Figure 3. Voila! New sequence in the Project window, nested sequence in the Timeline.
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To create the nested sequence, select all the target clips, right click and choose Nest (Figure 2). Premiere creates the nested sequence in the Project window and replaces the selected clips with that nested sequence in the timeline (Figure 3).

Figure 4. Avid's patch-bay feature now applied to Premiere Pro.
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One feature that will appeal to Avid users switching to Premiere Pro and keyboard shortcut power users is the ability to specify an insert audio and video track via "patch-bay" selections shown on the extreme left of Figure 4. You drag the V and A designations to the target track and Premiere Pro places any video inserted via keyboard shortcuts into those target tracks.

Adobe also bolstered Premiere Pro's keyboard shortcuts significantly; when you upgrade you should definitely scan through the Keyboard Customization window and check them out. One shortcut that's already become essential is "back slash" to view the entire timeline (as before) then back slash again to return to the previous view.

Figure 5. Applying one transition to multiple clips.
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Like many editors, I have a love/hate relationship with editing. I love the creative aspects and hate the boring, repetitive aspects. Fortunately, in addition to expanding the former, CS4 does a lot to minimize the latter.

For example, Premiere Pro can now apply one effect to multiple clips in a sequence, which is a huge timesaver. Simply select all the target clips, drag the effect onto any one of them, and Premiere Pro applies it to all. In most instances, this will work best when you create a custom preset for the sequence—say, for color correction—and then apply it to all clips in the sequence.

In addition, Figure 5 shows the new ability to add the default transition to multiple clips, which will save precious time on those multicam edits where you need a five-frame dissolve to soften the shot transitions. With CS3, you had to click Ctrl+D to insert the default transition, then Page Down to move to the next edit, then Ctrl+D again. This got very old when you had two to 300 edits in a 30-minute set; now it's a single click.

Figure 6. You can now remove effects from a single or multiple click.
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You can now remove effects from a single or multiple clips by using the Remove Effects command and then choosing the effects to remove. This is particularly useful when you've applied an effect to multiple clips and need to adjust the effect. For example, suppose you color-corrected a clip, saved the preset, and then applied it to multiple clips. You create your first test DVD and see that your color is still off.

If you modify the preset to correct the problem, you can't simply re-apply it to all clips because Premiere Pro won't replace the current instance of the effect, it adds another, which gets messy. Now, you can easily remove the effects and start over.

Figure 7. Normalizing all selected clips with one command.
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Adobe also extended the one to many concept to audio, and now you can adjust the volume of multiple clips simultaneously. Again, select the clips, then right click and choose Audio Gain. Premiere opens the Audio Gain menu shown in Figure 7. Choose how you want to adjust gain, click OK and Premiere Pro adjusts the audio volume for all selected clips.

Figure 8. New Crash Reports in CS4 should help in early bug detection and resolution.
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The final new CS4 feature that I'll discuss is the new Crash Reporter. Though the beta was generally stable, when it crashed, CS4 popped up the dialog shown in Figure 8. While my problems were seldom repeatable, I did send all reports to Adobe and hopefully they will lead to earlier problem detection and an overall more stable suite.

That's it. Overall, I think the major new features in CS4, particularly Dynamic Link from Premiere Pro to Encore, the greatly enhanced Adobe Media Encoder and AVCHD support make the upgrade decision a slam dunk. Not to mix metaphors, but all the features discussed this month are just icing on the cake.