Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Adobe Prelude CS6 , a new software in Adobe Creative Suite ’s multimedia system - oriented Production Premium bundle , is design to streamline the process of reviewing , logging , take , and add together metadata to tapeless medium — video footage derive flat from a visiting card , photographic camera , or heavy drive . It transfer , transcodes , and verifies the media upon ingest and can copy those filing cabinet to various locations at the same time . It allow for you to export the logged and organise clips directly intoPremiere Pro CS6 ( ) andFinal Cut Pro 7 ( ) telecasting editing app program . ( Final Cut Pro X will import XML files exported from Prelude , but there ’s no automated export function from Prelude directly to FCP X. )
While Prelude CS6 nominally replaces Adobe ’s OnLocation political platform , which was part of previous Production Premium suites , it has very different functions . It helps you ingest and manage large sum of recorded content from various sources and lets you organize the clips and also add directorial notation and harsh cuts to cash in one’s chips on to an editor program . You might say it ’s the director ’s dick for managing and selecting the daily — the footage shot on any give day . However , unlike OnLocation , it will not countenance you to tether your photographic camera to your MacBook Pro or disk directly to disk , and you may not apply it as a hot range . These OnLocation lineament are no longer uncommitted in any Adobe merchandise in the CS6 retinue , so you will have to rely on an old version of OnLocation or third - company software for these routine .
Full or partial ingest
The ingesting process in Prelude CS6 lie in of log and channelize footage from your photographic camera , medium card , or a hard driving , and fix it for helping hand - off to your post - production work flow . A fond ingest only reads the mass medium from its informant and allows you to organize it and train rough cutting off and subclips in Prelude CS6 for an easier editing work flow . This is useful for quick edits in a surge job where hours of captured footage or media already on a production heavy drive does n’t need to be transferred or transcoded .
Prelude CS6 give you the option to transcode media files on the fly while ingesting to your strong drive .
A full ingest allows you to whole change all video footage files to your designated hard drives and transcode them for a simpler handoff for redaction . This is peculiarly utilitarian when your labor ’s media comes from several camera beginning that do n’t match — such as from P2 cards mixed with DSLR footage . The ability to channelize the transcoded file to more than one localisation is helpful for security system and reliever of your original footage . I did find however , that the verification option slows down the process significantly . In my trial run , it take at least twice as farsighted to transfer / transcode my media files with verification turn on , but it ’s a safeguard that makes the spare meter worthwhile .
Prelude CS6 gives you the option to transcode media files on the fly while ingesting to your hard drive.
For example , Prelude disclose an mistake via a down - up dialog corner while reading the MOV files from my DSLR ’s SD add-in . This must have been an issue with the card itself or the Canon format , as I stress it several times both with and without substantiation , and it turn down to read the media .
I had to put the card back in the camera and launch the Canon public-service corporation to pull the final four video recording clips off the card remotely through a USB cable , but then Prelude CS6 take in the medium files off the severe thrust just fine . I had previously launch the Canon utility to download the medium onto my hard drive and it just skip over the files it could n’t read without any word of advice . Had I trust the Canon public utility company alone without verification , I would have seize all the file had transferred aright , reformatted the media , and lost four files .
Prelude CS6 read and transport most file types include RED R3D , ARRI Raw , and AVCHD among others , and transcodes to several transferrable formats that any non - linear editor can read . However , it can not read epitome stacks such as DPX sequences . My run with the Sony media from an EX3 worked fine , as did other file character from various cameras that I already had on various external hard drives .
Transcoding works well — in some of my tests I converted all footage on a projection to 30fps H.264 QuickTime MOV with a pay off 1080p Indian file size of it and it performed cleanly with a combining of file character ranging from a Sony EX3 , Canon 60D , and several GoPros .
Thumbnail hover-scrubbing and selecting I/O points on ingest
If you are previewing a great deal of clips on a media card or other source and need to pick out only sure portions of long time to ingest , then the thumbnail vista will help you classify through them rapidly . Available only during trailer for absorb media files , the thumbnail view supply some of the same feature available in the Premiere Pro CS6 project panel . There , you’re able to adjust the size of the thumbnails , do a live hover - scrub over any of the clips , and grade a harsh edit clipping by take it and using the “ I ” and “ O ” keys to select the in / out points .
Setting In and Out point on private clips in the media directory windowpane .
I was let down however , that this feature is only available during the ingest trailer / selection operation and not in the project gore itself . It would be peculiarly utile when form big project with multiple photographic camera sources to do agile previews and excerption without own to open each clip in a proctor to preview after it ’s ingested into the projection . I can only take ( and hope ) that the next update of this product will have this feature of speech approachable in any body politic , as with Adobe ’s other video products such as Premiere Pro .
Setting In and Out points on individual clips in the media directory window.
Create rough cuts for a quick Premiere Pro editing workflow
One of the most telling features of Prelude CS6 is the ability to create subclips and assemble them into a rough cut chronological sequence that opens in Premiere Pro CS6 . This tolerate the film director of a shoot to rapidly seize quality nip and harsh edits of individual clip and assemble them into a timeline to hand off to the redaction squad for post - product .
The mantrap of export a rough gash task for editing is that the editor do n’t have to import or wield full raw media files in their NLE , but only the segments they take to focus on , from Prelude .
Subclips can be created from media file , allowing you to set edit points for the gravelly cut .
While creating a rough cut, comments can be added into the Timeline in full runtime.
Macworld’s buying advice
Adobe Prelude CS6 is not sold individually , but come as part of the CS6 Production Premium , Master Collection , orCreative Cloudsubscription . This is a first generation release and looks like very unchanging . The power to take in , organize , and do gravelly edits on medium clips prior to handing off to editing in Premiere Pro makes the Production Premium suite that much more valuable as a professional workflow . unluckily , there are no lineal replacements for OnLocation but a couple of prosumer options for Mac users may be Phone Sweets’VeeScope Live($100 ) or Divergent Media’sScopeBox 3($100 ) .
[ Jeff Foster has written and contributed to several books and magazine , and has been producing honour - advance motion graphics , photography , and creative blueprint for major pot , television , and film for more than 20 years . ]
Subclips can be created from media files, allowing you to set edit points for the rough cut.
