If you remember Adobe Premiere 6.5 ( ) , the first thing that will strike you about Premiere Pro CS3 is that it ’s an entirely unlike brute . Although Premiere had been around since the Second Advent of QuickTime , the video - redaction program was due for a major overhaul by 2002 . To produce Premiere ’s successor , Adobe abandoned its cross - platform strategy and focused on recrudesce only for Intel Saratoga chip . The result was Premiere Pro - vastly improved but Windows - only . Now that Macs run on Intel processors , Adobe is eager to reintroduce its flagship video - editing software to the Mac operating system .
Premiere Pro CS3 has none of Premiere 6.5 ’s cardinal flaw . It has an efficient user interface , employs a more elegant prototype for transitions , supports multiple and nested sequence , and takes a integrated approach to effects . noted new feature admit multiple - camera redaction , audio frequency admixture with environment - phone support , and the ability to encode for Blu - light beam platter .
Premiere Pro CS3 has all the nucleus features require for professional television editing ; at the same time , little sets it asunder from its challenger . Until it finds a way to more clear distinguish itself , Premiere Pro ’s appealingness will dwell primarily in its relationship to the other programs in the CS3 Production Premium cortege .
Family ties
Generally speaking , video editors do n’t we d a workflow to an individual redaction programme ; they choose a category of software products . Malus pumila lover , for example , do n’t have a choice : the company ’s television - editing software is available only as part of Final Cut Studio 2 . The cross - platform video editor Avid Xpress Pro ( ) offers a clear upgrade path to the balance of Avid ’s intersection line , which has long dominate high - ending postproduction . And it ’s compatible with Digidesign ’s popular Pro Tools audio editor ( not amazingly , since Digidesign is an Avid foot soldier ) . But it ’s much more expensive than Adobe ’s telecasting suite . CS3 Production Premium is a bit pricier than Apple ’s Final Cut Studio ( $ 1,299)-but along with Mac newcomers Premiere Pro , Encore , and Soundbooth ( ) , it include the revered Illustrator ( ) , Photoshop Extended ( ) , After Effects Professional ( ) , Flash ( ) . ( Only the Windows adaptation of the CS3 suite includes Ultra , Adobe ’s fresh keying software . )
The stand - alone Premiere Pro ship with Encore , for DVD author , and OnLocation , software that turns your laptop electronic computer into a field of battle monitor and direct - to - disc seizure machine . alas , OnLocation is n’t Mac - compatible ; it runs only via Boot Camp . This is n’t very surprising ; Adobe only latterly learn the company Serious Magic and its Windows - only app DV Rack , on which OnLocation is base . And , only the Windows reading of the CS3 retinue includes Ultra , Adobe ’s new keying software , also from Serious Magic . Until Adobe makes the Mac and Windows packages adequate , Mac users may rightly feel omit .
Otherwise , compatibility with the rest of the CS3 family is one of Premiere Pro ’s unassailable suits . Like the Adobe CS3 design and Web covering , it utilise Bridge as the control centre for browsing and managing assets and communicating between applications programme . Premiere Pro has commands for plunge Photoshop and for exporting to Encore and Soundbooth . One of the most striking deterrent example of the welfare of integrating is the Dynamic Link feature , which is used to attach Premiere Pro to After Effects . For example , a comprehensive examination of a motion computer graphic you ’ve created in After Effects can appear as a dynamically linked clip in Premiere Pro . If you modify the graphic in After Effects , the change come along in Premiere Pro . Without Dynamic Link , you ’d have to export the movement computer graphic and then import it into Premiere Pro every time you made a change .
Interface
Although you may recognize a few editing tools from Premiere 6.5 , Premiere Pro CS3 ’s interface bears short resemblance to that of its ancestor . Like other CS3 programme , Premiere Pro has dispensed with traditional windowpane and palettes in favour of tabbed venire docked in a organisation of interdependent loony toons that use screen space much more efficiently .
But in some instance , Premiere Pro departs from tabbed panels . For example , Premiere Pro ’s float Capture panel is not integrate into a workspace . And although the Capture panel ’s Logging and configurations tab key look similar to the tabs in other panels , their positions are deposit ; you ca n’t control them as you could the eternal rest of the tabbed user interface . Because drift panels do specialised labor - such as telecasting capture , title of respect creation , and trim - appear as freestanding items does n’t hinder the workflow . And if you desire , you’re able to dock a floating dialog box manually and then save the unexampled arranging as a workspace . However , these inconsistency - which seem almost like trace of the broadcast ’s preceding incarnation - make the new version feel a little less mobile than I would wish .
Capture
In Premiere Pro CS3 , capture video from magnetic tape is a straightforward and intuitive process . Premiere Pro CS3 can unremarkably discover camera cuts - the points at which recording halt and come out - so you may remind to those points or even capture each injection as a disjoined subclip automatically . But when you ’re capturing from HDV , scene detection is incapacitate . Moreover , on the Mac , you ca n’t supervise HDV in the Capture instrument panel ’s double region ; you ’ll have to use the twist ’s video display or an attached admonisher . Premiere Pro lacks full native support for some pop HD formats - for example , AVCHD , and DVCPro HD . And so far , importing instantly from Sony ’s XDCAM or Panasonic ’s P2 camcorder is limited to the Windows version . But Adobe is already mould with other vender ( such as AJA , Blackmagic , and Matrox ) to address the indigence of high - end editors and facilities , and now that Adobe offers Premiere Pro on the Mac , its partners will belike take after suit . For exercise , CineForm is developing a Mac - compatible version of its intermediate HD codec ( a trial version of the beta software is useable ) .
Bins
The video assets you capture or meaning are list in Premiere Pro ’s Project instrument panel . you’re able to sieve the items by numerous categories , and organize them into binful ( which , despite the folder - like show of the icons , are named for their old film - redaction vis-a-vis ) . you could open up bins in freestanding panels and define whether they are floating or docked . This is particularly useful for projects that have many magazine and for editor who like to lie down out all their clips at once . The Project panel ’s well - integrated search features help oneself you locate specific clips .
Editing
The previous Mac version of Premiere had fundamental limit that preclude in truth professional projects . Premiere 6.5 clung to an inelegant and outmoded user interface that displayed the primary telecasting path split into an A track and a B raceway , with a transitions raceway in the middle . spoilt , Premiere 6.5 permitted only one successiveness per project , reach it unsufferable to create multiple variant of a chronological succession or to divide your oeuvre into sections without starting another undertaking .
Premiere Pro patronage not only multiple sequences but also cuddle sequences . In this regard , Premiere Pro sequence are similar to After Effects compositions , except that instead of tracks , After gist uses layer . In fact , aspects of the two programs have become consistent enough that the programme can convert task info readily , even dynamically .
you may use nested sequence to contemporise footage for editing into multiple - television camera successiveness , which are easy to gather and adjust . All the standard redaction role are accounted for : 3- and 4 - stage editing , gang monitor lizard , and rule mates frames , for example . Drag - and - drop and timeline - editing features are visceral and efficient . And while you make editing readjustment , Premiere Pro leave copious optic feedback .
The Trim dialog box works well for fine - tuning a cut , but it could be more seamlessly desegregate into the main interface , rather than opening one by one . And it ’d be with child if the Trim panel responded to adjustments more interactively , so that the last adjustment would play without interruption the next prison term the cut loop .
Media management
Avid ’s ( and , to a less degree , Apple ’s ) editing package establish a trail head that puts users on a relatively exonerated route to their gamey - closing software program and computer hardware packages . These are aimed at postproduction environment with vast collections of assets shared among multiple user and project . With Premiere Pro , the way of life to the gamey end is n’t quite as obvious - Adobe collaborator with other companies to address the needs of this grocery store .
Premiere Pro editors working in simpler options probably wo n’t encounter problems with medium or palpate that the program ’s media - management feature film are earnestly lacking . For representative , the program alerts you when a media file is unaccounted for , and provides style to settle or recapture it . command let you relate clips with media or , conversely , unlink a cartridge clip from its corresponding source file cabinet ( and then either retain or delete the filing cabinet ) . The Project Manager feature allow you to make a version of a project that trim away reference to extraneous footage . Or it can help you move files associated with the project to a new location for archive . Bridge offer a fundamental location for look at and make out assets from any CS3 program , and it put the understructure for even more integrated metier - management features in the futurity .
Audio
Premiere Pro CS3 corroborate clip - based audio mixing in the timeline , and track - establish audio mixing via the full - featured Audio Mixer gore . As with other facet of postproduction , the complexity of the audio mixing depends partly on your hardware configuration . For good example , with the proper auditory sensation wit and utterer , you could mix for 5.1 surround sound . Premiere Pro interacts smoothly with Adobe ’s Soundbooth audio editor , but because it ca n’t export OMF ( Open Media Framework ) files , transfer audio for finishing on the industry - standard Pro Tools is difficult .
Titling
Premiere Pro ’s titling feature supply all the typeset tools you ’ll typically require , along with the various physical body tools and the Pen cock . In accession to static titles , the titler can produce rolls and crawls . you’re able to also vivify a championship as you would any magazine , by keyframing its movement belongings . For complex or character - free-base animations , you ’ll have to use After impression ’ impressive text - spiritedness features .
Transitions and effects
Whereas older incarnation of Premiere had separate modules and function for transitions , move effects , and filters , Premiere Pro CS3 take a incorporate coming . All personal effects can be animize via many of the same keyframing procedures establish in After Effects . Premiere Pro has inherit other useful features from After Effects ( such as time remapping , which enables you to change a clip ’s playback velocity over time ) , though you wo n’t find every feature you may hope for ( such as transfer modes ) . I look forward to even more consistency between the two computer program in the future .
Export and DVD authoring
Premiere Pro include the received choice for exporting to tape or to legion movie , still image , and audio file types . A specialised export dialog box allows you to habituate Adobe Media Encoder , which is plan for export to formats with more complex preferences , such as MPEG2 , H.264 , Flash , HD , and streaming medium formats . In addition , you could test movies encoded for playback on mobile machine - and even quiz for a exceptional machine - using Adobe ’s machine Central . But despite Premiere Pro ’s multiplicity of exportation choice , it does n’t have pile rendering , which could be a real sentence - recoverer .
Premiere Pro CS3 ships with Adobe ’s professional authoring program , Encore CS3 ( which was offered separately when Premiere Pro was Windows - only ) . Encore , an extremely powerful disc creation tool , may be the most advanced program program presently usable on the Mac for authoring and burn videodisc .
Adobe ’s emphasis on product integration is evident within the programs and Encore ’s interface is uniform with Premiere Pro and the other members of the CS3 family . Premiere Pro ’s Export to Encore command encode the selected succession and open it in Encore mechanically . From there , you may either burn a no - frills DVD or use Encore ’s forward-looking author potentiality to make a more complete professional product . Chapter and compression markers you go down in Premiere Pro translate to Encore ’s timeline . And like its chum , Encore utilizes Bridge for browsing and importing assets . Encore let in a convenient button for delete menus in Photoshop and Dynamic Linking so you may more easily reanimate those titles straight in After Effects . Encore ’s integrate cock and helpful predetermined elements make it easy to supply interactivity . When you ’re done , you could then export to DVD , to Blu - ray , or as a Flash Indian file , so that your DVD content can be streamed from a Web site with all of the DVD ’s connectedness and media available precisely as you created it .
Clip Notes
Macworld’s buying advice
Premiere Pro CS3 is a subject , feature - plentiful video - redaction coating . Mac users will be pleased that Premiere Pro CS3 is have-to doe with to Premiere 6.5 in name only , and own all the professional features its predecessor lacked . This version has all the functionality of its Windows counterpart , but it fall short of full check bit , due to the omission of comparable HDV support , Adobe Ultra , and a Mac - compatible version of OnLocation .
Premiere Pro CS3 is a serious value , particularly compare with the more expensive Avid Xpress . But although its capableness and price are interchangeable to Final Cut Pro 6 ’s , its features alone wo n’t exchange Final Cut Studio ’s adherents . Until it gains a strong reputation on the Mac , Premiere Pro CS3 may depend on the popularity of the more prominent member of CS3 Production Premium retinue .
[ Antony Bolante is the author of the forthcomingPremiere Pro CS3 Visual QuickPro Guide and After Effects CS3 Visual QuickPro Guide(Peachpit Press ) . He is coproducingon the nOse . , a documentary about theatrical clown . ]
