Adobe Premiere

You may remember that the default effect setting for effect duration was 30 frames, before you changed it to 15 frames earlier in the lesson. Before you add the transition from Earth.mov to Eye.mov, you need to reset the default effect setting for the effect duration.

1. Click Cross Dissolve in the Transitions palette.
2. In the upper right corner of the Transitions palette, click the menu button and choose Set Selection as Default.

   NOTE: Even if a transition is already the designated default (icon outlined in red), you choose Set Selection as Default to change the default effect settings for the default transition and all other transitions.

3. In the Default Effect dialog box, type 30 for the effect duration. While you are looking a the Default Effect dialog box, make sure that Effect Alignment is set to Center at Cut. Click OK.

Now the default effect duration has been restored to 30 frames.

Typically, a transition overlaps portions of clips that are not essential to the video program, since these portions are likely to be obscured by the effect of the transition. So it often makes sense to pre-trim your clips, in order to make sure the transition occurs where you want it to. In the next few steps, you’ll pre-trim clips, add them to the Timeline, and then insert the transition.

1. Double-click Eye.mov in Bin 1 of the Project window to view it in the Source view in the Monitor window. Or, simply drag the Eye.mov clip icon to the Source view in the Monitor window.
2. Double-click the timecode under the Source view (at the right), type 114, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to locate a specific frame.

   NOTE: The timecode needs to be in 30 Frames per Second Non-Drop Frame (00:00:01:14) format. If necessary, click the Timeline window to make it active. From the title bar, choose Window > Window Options > Timeline Window Options. In the Timeline Window Options dialog box, select 30 fps Non-Drop Frame Timecode. Click OK.

3. Now, click the Mark Out button () under the Source view to set a new Out point for the Eye.mov clip. The Clip Duration shown under the Source view (at the left) now indicates that the clip has been trimmed to 1:16 to allow the transition to operate with the eye open instead of blinking.
4. Verify that the edit line is at the end of Earth.mov clip in the Timeline.
5. Now, do one of the following:
   • Make sure the Monitor window is active. From the title bar at the top of the Premiere screen, choose Clip > Insert at Edit Line.
   • Click the Insert button () at the bottom of the Source view to insert the trimmed Eye.mov clip into the Timeline after Earth.mov.

     Source view with timecode and Insert to Timeline button indicated

   • Drag the trimmed Eye.mov clip from the Source view to the Timeline at the edit line.

   To add a transition between Earth.mov and Eye.mov, you will use the Transitions palette. But first, you’ll change the duration of a transition.

Although render-scrubbing in the Timeline ruler displays the transition effect, this preview method cannot show it precisely. Before you generate a preview in this way, however, you need to set the work area bar to specify the portion of your project that you want to preview.

1. In the Timeline window, drag the arrows at the left and right ends of the yellow work area bar to cover an area slightly larger than the transition between the Solar1.mov and Earth.mov clips.
2. Hold down the Alt key (Windows) or the Option key (Mac OS) as you drag the pointer in the Timeline ruler to move the edit line across the transition. Note that the pointer has changed into a smaller arrow, indicating that you are previewing effects. The preview plays in the Program view in the Monitor window. The motion is not smooth or precise because you are moving through the transition manually.

   NOTE: If you scrub without using the Alt (Windows) or Option key (Mac OS), you will not see any transitions or effects that have been applied, but an “x” will appear in the Program view to indicate the location of an effect.

3. Save the project.

   Alternatively, depending on the capabilities of your system, do one of the following:

   • Choose Timeline > Preview, or press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) on the keyboard to build, render, and play a preview file.

     As Premiere generates the preview file, the Building Preview dialog box displays the status. When completed, the preview plays in the Program view in the Monitor window. You can replay this preview by pressing Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).

   • Invoke Real-Time Preview as described in the previous section.

     NOTE: Preview to RAM is no longer an option in Premiere 6.5. For more information, see “Using Real-Time Preview,” in Chapter 2 of the Adobe Premiere 6.5 User Guide Supplement.

Two preview options are useful when working with transitions: previewing at the intended frame rate and render-scrubbing in the Timeline.

To preview transitions (and other effects) at the intended frame rate, you use Real-Time Preview (Windows) or Preview To Screen (Mac OS); or generate a preview file. Premiere then plays this file in the Program view in the Monitor window.

Previewing in Real-Time

Adobe Premiere 6.5 offers Real-Time previewing of transitions, transparencies, titles, and other effects, if your system is powerful enough. To preview in Real-Time, without rendering preview files, requires 500 MHz PIII for Windows and 300 MHz Power PC processor for Mac OS. Mac OS systems must be running at least OS 9.2.2 or OS 10.1.3.

1. To set Real-Time Previewing, choose Project > Project Settings > Keyframe and Rendering.
2. Select Real-Time Preview (Windows) or To Screen (Mac OS) and click OK.
3. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) and playback begins at the edit line.

A transition instance refers to an individual occurrence of a transition in the Timeline. The default settings make the transition operate from clip A to clip B. You can change the direction for a specific instance without changing the default. You do this by changing the direction of the transition after it has been inserted into the Timeline.

1. Double-click the Cross Dissolve transition icon in the Video 1 Transition track of the Timeline. Now, the Cross Dissolve Settings dialog box appears.

   A. Start/End slider  B. Track selector
   C. Transition thumbnail icon area

   The Cross Dissolve Settings dialog box shows the “start” clip in the upper left and the “end” clip at the upper right. By default, “A” and “B” are displayed in these clip thumbnail viewers, but you can display the actual clips instead by clicking the Show Actual Source box below the viewers.

   Now you’ll explore transitions.

2. Click in the Show Actual Sources box to display the starting and ending frames of the clips used in this transition. Solar1.mov is now displayed as clip A and Earth.mov is displayed as clip B, because the direction is set for “A-to-B”.

   Below each clip thumbnail viewer is a Start/End Slider that allows you to change the initial and final appearance of the transition. You can adjust the Start sliders separately for different settings, or you can adjust them simultaneously if you want the same setting.

3. Press and hold the Shift key as you move one of the sliders to 40%. Notice that the other slider moves to the same position.
4. Put the Start and End sliders back to the original settings for this transition instance.
5. Click the track selector tool in the Cross Dissolve Settings dialog box once. The track selector tool sets the direction of the transition—from A-to-B or from B-to-A.
6. Notice that the direction of the transition is now from clip B to clip A and the arrow faces up. Click OK.
7. In the Timeline window, select 1/2 Second from the Time Zoom Level. Now you can see the track selector tool with the Cross Dissolve transition icon.
8. Click the track selector tool once to restore the A-to-B direction for this transition instance. (The arrow now faces down).

First, make your clips and transitions a little easier to see in the Timeline.

1. Choose Windows > Window Options > Timeline Window Options. Then, select the medium-sized Icon Size if it is not already selected. Click OK.
2. From the Time Zoom Level pop-up menu at the bottom of the Timeline window, select 1 Second so you can see the action clearly, as it happens.
3. Hold the Control key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac OS) as you click first on the Solar1.mov icon and then on the Earth.mov icon in Bin 1 of the Project window to select both clips.
4. Choose Project > Automate to Timeline to bring both clips to the Timeline.
5. In the Automate to Timeline dialog box, change the Contents setting to Selected Clips, change the Ordering setting to Selection Order, and change Clip Overlap from 15 frames to 30 frames. Verify that Sequentially, Beginning, Use Default Transition, and Ignore Audio are selected in the dialog box. Click OK.

The Cross Dissolve transition appears in the Timeline window between the two clips.

6. In the Timeline window, click the Track Mode button to the right of the Video 1 track label to display the Video 1 upper track, the Transition track, and the Video 1 lower track. This reveals the substructure of the Video 1 track in Single-Track editing mode. Use this expanded view of the tracks for the entire lesson.

Now the Timeline window contains two clips, starting with Solar1.mov in the upper track of Video 1 track and ending with Earth.mov in the lower track of the Video 1 track. The default transition, Cross Dissolve, has been inserted in the transition area between them.

You could also create a storyboard with the clips, use Automate to Timeline using the default transition, then modify or replace selected transitions as needed later. For additional information about creating a storyboard.

Now, you will modify the default effect settings of the Cross Dissolve transition before you add any clips to the Dream.ppj timeline.

1. In the Transitions palette, double-click the Dissolve folder and look at the Cross Dissolve transition icon. The icon should be outlined in red to indicate that it is the default transition. Click once on the icon to select the transition.
2. From the Transitions palette menu, click Set Selected as Default. Now the Cross Dissolve icon is still outlined in red, but the Default Effect dialog box appears so you can modify the settings of the default transition.
3. Type 15 to replace 30 as the number of frames to be used for the transition’s Effect Duration. Verify that the Effect Alignment is shown as Center at Cut. Click OK.

Working with the default transition

Premiere automatically uses Cross Dissolve as the default transition, as it is one of the most commonly used transitions. If you frequently use another transition, you can set it as the default. The default transition can be added to any project quickly, without stopping to open the Transitions palette by dragging the transition to the Timeline.

To specify a different transition as the default:

1. Choose Window > Show Transitions.
2. Select the transition that you want to use as the default.
3. From the Transitions palette menu, choose Set Selected as Default.
4. Type the duration that you want for the transition. (You can later change the duration for any specific transition instance in the Timeline.)
5. Choose the default alignment for the transitions: Center at Cut.
6. Click OK. These settings remain in effect for all projects until you change them.

To apply a default transition to your project in Single-Track Editing Mode:

1. Add or position two clips on the Video 1 track so that they meet.
2. Position the edit line where the two clips meet.
3. Click the Apply Default Transition button in the Monitor window, or press Ctrl+D (Windows) or Command+D (Mac OS). If extra frames are not available at the In and Out points of the involved clips, the Fix Transitions dialog box appears. If necessary, select options from this dialog box.

Cross Dissolve is the factory setting for the default transition in Premiere 6.5 because it is so frequently used in video and films. In a Cross Dissolve, one scene “dissolves” into another over a brief duration. You can select another transition as the default at any time. The default transition and the default effect settings apply not just to the current project on which you are working; but to all your projects. Working with a default transition is a quick way to insert transitions between clips. You can modify or replace them after you are satisfied with the general flow of the project.

It is often useful to restore the default preferences of Premiere—including the default transition and the default effect settings—to the factory settings before you launch the program for a new project. In this way, you avoid any unintended carryover of specialized settings changes to another project. See “Restoring default preferences” on page 5.

The default effect settings for all transitions specify a duration of 30 frames with the alignment of the transition centered at the cut between the two clips. You can change both the duration and alignment of the transition in the Default Effect dialog box.

For most transitions, the default direction of the transition is from clip A to clip B (left to right in the time sequence). You alter the direction of the transition to move from clip B to clip A by double-clicking the transition icon and making changes in the transition Settings dialog box. Additional effect parameters, if they pertain to a transition, are also changed in the Settings dialog box for that transition.

All transitions have duration, alignment, and direction parameters. Some transitions have additional parameters such as borders, edge adjustments, and anti-aliasing. The parameters depend on the nature and complexity of the specific transition type.

Duration refers to the number of frames required for the transition. All transitions use frames from the end of the first clip—called tail material—and frames from the beginning of the second clip—called head material—to create the transition.

Alignment refers to the position of the transition in relation to the cut between the two clips. The options are Center at Cut, Start at Cut, and End at Cut.

Direction indicates how the transition operates on the two clips. Normally, the direction will be from clip A to clip B—from left to right in the Timeline. In most cases, Premiere sets the direction of the transition automatically, and you won’t have to worry about it. Later in this lesson, you’ll use the Track Selector and other controls to modify the direction of a transition.

Adobe Premiere 6.5 includes a wide range of transitions, including 3D motion, dissolves, wipes, and zooms. The transitions are grouped into folders, by type, in the Transitions palette. Each transition is listed with a unique icon to the left of its name.

1. If the Transitions/Video/Audio palette is not visible, choose Window > Show Transitions. If necessary, click the Transitions tab to make it active and resize the Transitions palette by dragging its lower right corner.
2. Double-click the Dissolve folder or click the Expand/Collapse button to the left of the Dissolve folder to see the types of dissolve transitions available. Notice that the Cross Dissolve icon is outlined in red. This indicates that Cross Dissolve is selected as the default transition.
3. On the Navigator/Info/History palette, click the Info tab (if the Info palette is not already active), to see a description of the selected transition. As you select a transition, its description and icon appear in the Info palette.
4. Now, click and hold the small black arrow in the upper right corner of the Transitions palette and choose Animate from the menu, if it is not already selected. Animate allows you to see the style of each type of transition. If you find the animated icons distracting while you work, de-select Animate.