Adobe Premiere Elements 12 User Manual

ADOBE® PREMIERE® ELEMENTS

September 2013

Help and tutorials

What’s new 1...................................................................................................................................................

What’s new 2.............................................................................................................................................................................

Workspace 5....................................................................................................................................................

Workspace 6..............................................................................................................................................................................

Importing media through Embedded Elements Organizer 11....................................................................................................

Creating a video project 13..............................................................................................................................

Creating a project 14.................................................................................................................................................................

Saving and backing up projects 16............................................................................................................................................

Project settings and presets 18.................................................................................................................................................

Viewing a project s files 22........................................................................................................................................................

Viewing clip properties 25..........................................................................................................................................................

Undoing changes 28..................................................................................................................................................................

Working with scratch disks 30...................................................................................................................................................

Creating instant movies 32........................................................................................................................................................

Importing and adding media 35.......................................................................................................................

Adding media into Adobe Premiere Elements 36......................................................................................................................

Add numbered image files as a singleclip 43............................................................................................................................

5.1 audio import 44....................................................................................................................................................................

Creating specialty clips 46.........................................................................................................................................................

Guidelines for adding files 48....................................................................................................................................................

Set duration for imported stillimages 51....................................................................................................................................

Working with scratch disks 52...................................................................................................................................................

Working with offline files 54.......................................................................................................................................................

Working with aspect ratios and field options 55.........................................................................................................................

Supported devices and file formats 59......................................................................................................................................

Sharing files between Adobe Premiere Elements and Adobe Photoshop Elements 61............................................................

Importing and Exporting movies using Adobe Revel 62............................................................................................................

Creating specialty clips 64.........................................................................................................................................................

Arranging movie clips 66.................................................................................................................................

Arranging clips in the Quick viewtimeline 67.............................................................................................................................

Arranging clips in the Expert view timeline 70...........................................................................................................................

Creating a picture-in-picture overlay 78.....................................................................................................................................

Grouping, linking, and disablingclips 80....................................................................................................................................

Working with clip and timeline markers 82................................................................................................................................

Previewing movies 87................................................................................................................................................................

Editing clips 92.................................................................................................................................................

Trimming clips 93.......................................................................................................................................................................

Split clips 101.............................................................................................................................................................................

Replace footage 102..................................................................................................................................................................

Changing clip speed and duration 103......................................................................................................................................

Freezing and holding frames 105..............................................................................................................................................

Working with source clips 106...................................................................................................................................................

Trimming Unwanted Frames - Guided Edit 109........................................................................................................................

Editing frames with Auto Smart Tone 111.................................................................................................................................

Adding Transitions between video clips - Guided Edit 113........................................................................................................

Adding Brightness Contrast Color - Guided Edit 115................................................................................................................

Applying transitions and special effects 117....................................................................................................

Transition basics 118.................................................................................................................................................................

Applying transitions to clips 119................................................................................................................................................

Adjusting transitions 123............................................................................................................................................................

Effects basics 126......................................................................................................................................................................

Finding and organizing effects 128............................................................................................................................................

Working with effect presets 129.................................................................................................................................................

Superimposing and transparency 131.......................................................................................................................................

Reposition, scale, or rotate clipswith the Motion effect 136.......................................................................................................

Pan and zoom to create video-likeeffect 139.............................................................................................................................

Create a Vignetting effect 144...................................................................................................................................................

Create special transitions 145...................................................................................................................................................

Creating a Picture in Picture - Guided Edit 147.........................................................................................................................

Effects reference 149.................................................................................................................................................................

Editing frames with Auto Smart Tone 186.................................................................................................................................

Applying and removing effects 188............................................................................................................................................

Applying effects using Adjustment layers 192...........................................................................................................................

Adjust temperature and tint 194.................................................................................................................................................

Adding Title to your movie - Guided Edit 195............................................................................................................................

Adding sound effects to a video 197..........................................................................................................................................

Adding Scores to your movie - Guided edit 198........................................................................................................................

Adding music scores to video clips 200.....................................................................................................................................

Add FilmLooks effects 203........................................................................................................................................................

Add a Split Tone Effect 204.......................................................................................................................................................

Add an HSL Tuner effect 205....................................................................................................................................................

Creating titles 206............................................................................................................................................

Creating and trimming titles 207................................................................................................................................................

Editing and formatting text 213..................................................................................................................................................

Applying styles to text and graphics 216...................................................................................................................................

Adding shapes and images to titles 218....................................................................................................................................

Arranging objects in titles 221....................................................................................................................................................

Adding color and shadows to titles 225.....................................................................................................................................

Designing titles for TV 229.........................................................................................................................................................

Exporting and importing titles 231.............................................................................................................................................

Adding Narration to your movie - Guided Edit 232....................................................................................................................

Mixing audio 233..............................................................................................................................................

Using soundtracks 234..............................................................................................................................................................

Create narrations 237................................................................................................................................................................

Mixing audio and adjusting volume 239.....................................................................................................................................

Creating disc menus 243.................................................................................................................................

Types of discs and menu options 244.......................................................................................................................................

Working with menu markers 246...............................................................................................................................................

Creating disc menus 251...........................................................................................................................................................

Previewing menus 257..............................................................................................................................................................

Saving and sharing your movies 258...............................................................................................................

Sharing from the Publish And Share panel 259.........................................................................................................................

Create DVD files for web 260....................................................................................................................................................

Sharing to DVD or Blu-ray Disc 261..........................................................................................................................................

Sharing for PC playback 265.....................................................................................................................................................

Sharing to the web 269..............................................................................................................................................................

Sharing to mobile phones and players 270...............................................................................................................................

Supported file types for saving and exporting 272.....................................................................................................................

Compression and data-rate basics 274.....................................................................................................................................

Common settings for sharing 276..............................................................................................................................................

Archiving projects 281...............................................................................................................................................................

Working with projects 283................................................................................................................................

Working with scratch disks 284.................................................................................................................................................

Viewing clip properties 286........................................................................................................................................................

Viewing a project s files 289......................................................................................................................................................

Undoing changes 292................................................................................................................................................................

Saving and backing up projects 294..........................................................................................................................................

Project settings and presets 296...............................................................................................................................................

Creating a project 300...............................................................................................................................................................

Keyboard shortcuts 302...................................................................................................................................

Using default shortcuts 303.......................................................................................................................................................

Customizing shortcuts 304........................................................................................................................................................

Glossary 306....................................................................................................................................................

Glossary 307..............................................................................................................................................................................

What's new

Guided view for new users Auto Smart Tone More Film Looks

New Film Looks

Yesteryear Scores and sound effects Motion tracking Video Adjustment Layers

The current release of Adobe Premiere Elements has a number of new features that help you transform video footage to impressive movies.

Guided view for new users

In Adobe Premiere Elements 12, Guided view makes movie-making simpler and easier. Guided view helps you edit video clips by guiding you through a series of steps. You can perform tasks like trimming unwanted frames, or adding scores to video clips to slightly more complex tasks like animating the graphics in your video clips, with easy to follow step-by-step guided assistance.

Click the Guided view to view the Guided Edits available to help you transform raw video footage to better movie clips. Add the video clip on the timeline and then select a Guided Edit from Quick or Expert view. There are Guided Edits to help you in your movie-making endeavors. For example, removing footages, adding narration, adding titles, and so on.

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Auto Smart Tone

Auto Smart Tone is a powerful tool for automatically bringing your dull, dim, or washed-out videos to life. This feature uses a smart algorithm to modify the brightness and contrast of your video. The Auto Smart tone feature applies a correction to the scenes in your video. There is a controller that you can move around on the frame to fine-tune the results.

Auto Smart Tone to modify video clips

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More Film Looks

More Film Looks have been added under Effects on the Action bar. You can apply these to your video clips to achieve effects like Animated, Trinity, Cross Process, and Yesteryear. To achieve that perfect effect after applying a film look, enhance the effect, To enhance an effect, adjust the equivalent presets in Adjust/Applied Effects panel.

New Film Looks

Yesteryear

Before Yesteryear Film Look

After applying the new Yesteryear Film Look

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Scores and sound effects

You can now add scores to video clips and thus enhance the musical atmosphere of the video. A score here refers to an audio track that you can drag-and-drop to a video in the timeline. A score in terms of duration played includes an intro, a body, and an extro. The music played in a score dynamically fits to the length of the video track. If you reduce the time of the score track, down or stretch it out, it rebuilds itself to match the duration. Despite any truncation in the score, it has the same intro and extro, there was earlier.

Also, there are sound effects that help you to make a creative point or emphasizing a certain portion of the video clip or movie. These effects are added to the video background.

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Motion tracking

Motion Tracking gives you the ability to track the movement of an object in a video clip. You can attach clipart like still images, graphics, or video clips to the object. These objects then move together on the screen. Motion tracking is a new animation-like effect that helps track a certain object easily in a video clip.

Adobe Premiere Elements enables you to put easily resizeable frames on particular objects to track them as per the intent. Therefore, you can create movie compositions to follow the motion when there are many objects in a clip and draw user attention to a particular object. For example, can be used in a car race to draw attention to a particular vehicle.

Tracking movement of an object

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Video Adjustment Layers

Adjustment layers help apply the same effects to multiple clips. Effects applied to an adjustment layer affect all the layers below it. You can use combinations of effects on a single adjustment layer. You can also use multiple adjustment layers to control more effects. Adjustment layers can be applied in both Quick and Expert mode.

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Workspace

Networks and removable media with Digital Video

troubleshooting (Oct. 19, 2012)

Workspace

Welcome screen Quick view Guided view Expert view Add Media panel Quick view timeline Expert view timeline Action bar Adjust panel Applied Effects panel Publish and Share panel

The Adobe Premiere Elements workspace presents a simplified interface for enthusiasts. It organizes features into the Quick, Guided, and Expert view based on their complexity.

The Quick view aggregates basic features that enthusiasts commonly use to quickly edit video footage and share with others. It optimizes common tasks that you perform with clips, such as editing clips, creating menus for DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and sharing movies.

The Expert view includes advanced features and tools, such as Audio Mixer, Time Stretch, that professionals use to perform intricate video editing tasks.

The Guided view helps you edit movies by guiding you sequentially though a series of steps. This ease of use helps edit movie clips and apply various effects with a guided approach.

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Welcome screen

When you first launch Adobe Premiere Elements, the Welcome screen opens.

Click Video Editor to open an existing project or create a project in the workspace. Access the Elements Organizer to organize, tag, and perform basic editing tasks on your media before importing them into Adobe Premiere

Elements.

Customize launch options

By default, the Welcome screen opens when you launch Adobe Premiere Elements for the first time. Click the Settings button on the Title bar to specify the window or application that you want displayed on subsequent launches of Adobe Premiere

Elements. Select one of the following launch options:

Welcome Screen: Launches the Welcome screen each time you open Adobe Premiere Elements. This option is enabled by default. Organizer: If you use Elements Organizer to organize your media before editing them in Adobe Premiere Elements, choose this option. Video Editor: Select this option if you want the Adobe Premiere Elements workspace to open every time you launch Adobe Premiere

Elements.

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Quick view

Use the options in the Quick view to add titles, effects, and transitions, background music, and graphics to your clips. Pan or zoom your clip, if necessary, or use Smart Trim for a crisper video. Use Instant Movie to automate movie creation steps.

The Quick view contains the Add Media panel, Quick view timeline, Action bar, Adjust panel, Applied Effects panel, and the Share panel.

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Guided view

The Guided view provides instructions on how to perform various tasks in both Quick and Expert views. In one of the views, select a guided edit from the Guided tab and follow the instructions.

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Expert view

In addition to the panels available in the Quick view, the Expert view contains the Project assets panel. This panel contains the media files you import into your Premiere Elements project. Use the panel options to organize the files as a list or in a grid.

The grid view displays a thumbnail for each file. If you add any media asset to the timeline, a green icon appears below the thumbnail for the asset.

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Add Media panel

The Add Media panel lets you add media files from various sources to the Quick view timeline so you can rearrange and edit them.

Add Media panel

Use the Add Media panel to add media files from sources, such as video cameras, flip videos, webcams, digital still cameras, WDM devices, mobile phones, Adobe Revel account, and folders on your hard disk.

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Quick view timeline

The Quick view timeline contains the following tracks:

Video: Edit your video clips and images in this track Titles: Add text titles to your clips here Sound: Add background music and other sounds to your movie Narration: Include recorded narrations for your movie here

Quick view timeline

The Quick view timeline displays each clip as a series of frames that span the entire clip length. You can trim unwanted portions within individual frames and rearrange them. You can also swap the position of a clip with another to make a coherent movie sequence.

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Expert view timeline

For more advanced editing, use the Expert view timeline. The Expert view timeline graphically represents your movie project as video and audio clips arranged in vertically stacked tracks. When you capture video from a digital video device, the clips appear sequentially as they occur.

Expert view timeline

The Expert view timeline uses a time ruler to display the components of your movie and their relationship to each other over time. You can trim and add scenes, indicate important frames with markers, add transitions, and control how clips are blended or superimposed. Compared to the Quick view, the Expert view timeline has more tracks.

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Action bar

The Action bar contains options that provide easy access to common features you use for editing tasks. Use the options to add titles, transitions, special effects, graphics, music, and markers to your clips.

The Action bar contains the following options:

Organizer: Opens Elements Organizer to let you organize and manage your media files Instant Movie: Automatically guides you through the movie creation process. It lets you quickly select movie templates and edit clips. Instant

Movie also lets you add theme-based effects, titles, transitions, and audio to your movie. You can change settings as desired. Tools: Provides options that let you add cool effects to your video. For example, use Time Remapping and Smart Mix to add sophisticated motion

effects to your video. You can choose Smart Trim to let Premiere Elements automatically edit your footage for a crisper video. Transitions: Provides transitions you can use between your movie clips. The Transition contextual control appears automatically when you apply a

transition for the first time. Use it to modify the transition properties. To open the Transition contextual control later, double-click the transition. The Expert view provides more transition effects compared to the Quick view.

Titles and Text: Contains pre-formatted title templates you can use in your movie. The Title contextual control appears automatically when you apply a title to your movie for the first time. Use it to modify the title properties. To open the Title contextual control later, double-click the title. The Expert view provides more title templates compared to the Quick view.

Effects: Shows special effects and presets you can apply to clips in your movie. To edit a special effect after applying it, click Applied Effects to modify the properties in the Applied Effects panel. Compared to the Quick view, the Expert view provides more effects that are organized under

various categories.

Audio: Lets you add theme music to your movie. You can select multiple music clips from here, and they are played in the order selected. Click

Use Smart Sound to choose third-party music plug-ins for your movie.

Graphics: Lets you add graphic images, such as clip art and callouts (thought bubbles or speech balloons) to specific portions in your clips.

Adjust panel

The Adjust panel lets you adjust the inherent properties of your clip, for example color and lighting. You can also use the Smart Fix tool to enhance the quality of your video footage.

Adjust panel

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To display the Adjust panel, select the clip and then click Adjust on the right. If you add a title to your clip, use the Adjust panel to alter its properties, if required.

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Applied Effects panel

The Applied Effects panel lets you view the properties of effects already applied to your clip. The panel provides various options that enable you to modify the applied effects.

Applied Effects panel

To display the Applied Effects panel, select the clip to which effects are applied, and click Applied Effects on the right.

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Publish and Share panel

Use the Share panel to save and share (export) your finished project.

Publish and Share panel

You can save your project for viewing on the web, a mobile phone, a computer, DVD, Blu- ray disc, and more.

Private Web Album: For sharing to your Adobe Revel library. Online: For video that can be uploaded to video sharing websites, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo Disc: For copying your movie to DVDs, Blu- ray or AVCHD discs Web DVD: For high-quality video that can be viewed online or on your computer Computer: For video that can be viewed on computers Mobile phones and players: For video that can be played on mobile phones and other devices

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Importing media through Embedded Elements Organizer

You can import media (photos, videos, and audio) in Elements Organizer to the Adobe Premiere Elements Editor workspace. You can import media present in a catalog to PRE workspace. However, the media that has been organized into albums in Elements Organizer appears as local albums in the Embedded Elements Organizer. The Embedded Elements Organizer or Embedded EO enables you to add media to the timeline directly. You can access the Embedded EO option from the Add Media drop-down list.

Note:

The creation and deletion of albums is not possible in Embedded EO.

Accessing media through Embedded EO

You can now access the albums created in Elements Organizer from PRE Editor worskpace itself. There is an Embedded Elements Organizer option present under Add Media that enables access to EO albums. To import media through Elements Organizer, follow these steps:

1. Click Add Media > Elements Organizer.

2. Click Local Albums. The albums created in Elements Organizer are displayed nder Local Albums. Click on an Album to display the media present under that album in Embedded EO.You can click again on the album to deselect it, this refreshes the media visible in Embedded EO and displays all the media available in the Elements Organizer catalog.

Click on the Show Still Image icon if nothing is displayed in Embedded EO.

3. Double-click on a video or audio file to preview it in the Source Monitor.

4. Click on a file to select it. Click Add Files to add it to the timeline. You can select multiple files and add them to the timeline. Also, you can drag and drop media from the Embedded EO to specific points in

the video on the timeline.

5. Click Done once you are through adding the files to exit Embedded EO.

Working with files in the Embedded EO

You can perform various tasks on your files in the Embedded EO panel. Click Add Media > Elements Organizer to access this panel. You can perform the following tasks in this panel:

Embedded EO workspace

Embedded EO is primarily a workspace to view the media files present in Elements Organizer. You can view, sort, and import media from here. You can resize the Embedded EO window. The resizing is not retained once you exit the application. However, the following three are important part of the Embedded EO option:

A. Back button

B. Local Albums

Click Back to return to the Add Media options.

Click Local Albums to view the media in the Elements Organizer catalog. Click an album to view the media present in that

album.

C. Previous and Next button

You can view upto 1000 files in Embedded EO.

Note:

Click the previous or next button to move through the displayed media.

Embedded EO panel buttons

A. Search content

Click this icon to open a text box. Enter the search criteria and press Enter to search for a specific media file. This is not a live

search so must press Enter after entering your search criteria.

B. Show Video

C. Show Audio

D. Show Still Image

Click this icon to view video files only.

Click this icon to view audio files only.

Click this icon to view photos only.

E. Select order

Click this to sort the files by date or the batches in which they were imported. You can sort the photos in the following ways: Newest/Oldest first: Sorts the files by creation date. Default order of display in Embedded EO is newest first. Import batch: Sorts the files according to the batches in which they were imported. The rendition vidoes are not visible when files are sorted

by the Import batch option.

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Creating a video project

Creating a project

Projects Review project presets and settings Start a new project Open a project

Projects

Premiere Elements creates a project file for every new project that you want to publish or save to work on it later. You can also create a project before importing media.

The project file references the media that you add to a project including videos, images, titles, and themes. Project files are small in size. They include title files and references to the source files that you capture or import. Because the project files store

references, avoid moving, renaming, or deleting the source files so that Premiere Elements can locate them.

Review project presets and settings

When you create a project, you can review the default preset and settings by clicking the Change Settings button in the New Project dialog. Adobe Premiere Elements automatically adjusts your project settings based on the type of media you import.

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1. In Premiere Elements, select File > New Project.

2. Click Change Settings.

Start a new project

1. Do one of the following:

From the Welcome screen, click Video Editor and select New Project. If Premiere Elements is open, choose File > New Project.

2. (Optional) To change the project settings, click Change Settings, select a different preset, and click OK.

Note:

After you change your project settings, you cannot modify them later.

If you do not change the project settings, Adobe Premiere Elements uses the settings of your previous project. Alternatively, it creates an NTS/PAL AVCHD full HD project based on your region settings.

You can import a clip whose settings do not match the settings of an empty project. Adobe Premiere Elements overwrites the project settings with the settings of your clip when you drop it on to the Expert view timeline.

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By default, the folder where you save your project also stores rendered previews, conformed audio files, and captured audio and video. These files are large, so save them to your largest, fastest hard drive. To store the files separately from projects, choose Edit > Preferences > Scratch

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Disks.

Open a project

You can open only one project at a time. To ensure that Premiere Elements can open an existing project, ensure that both the project file (.PRE) and the source files are accessible on your computer.

Do one of the following:

In the Welcome screen, click Video Editor and then click Existing Project. Choose the project name. (If the project isn’t listed, choose Open, select the project file, and click Open.)

If Premiere Elements is open, choose File > Open Project or Open Recent Project; then select the project file, and click Open. In Windows®, double-click the project file.

note: Premiere Elements can open projects you create in earlier versions. However, previous versions cannot open projects you create in later versions. If you have multiple versions of Premiere Elements installed, open a project from within the software. Alternatively, rightclick/ctrl-click the file and choose the application.

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Saving and backing up projects

Save a project Back up a project with Auto Save Open an Auto Save project

Save a project

Saving a project saves your editing decisions, references to source files, and the most recent arrangement of panels. Protect your work by saving often.

To save the currently open project, choose File > Save. To save a copy of a project, choose File > Save As, specify a location and filename, and click Save. To save a copy of a project and continue working in the original project, choose File > Save A Copy. Specify a location and filename, and

click Save.

Tip: To specify where Premiere Elements stores project-related files, such as captured video and audio, and previews, set up a scratch disk.

Back up a project with Auto Save

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To revisit editing decisions or recover from a crash, enable the Auto Save option. This option automatically saves backup project files to the Adobe Premiere Elements Auto-Save folder at a specified time interval. For example, you can set Premiere Elements to save a backup copy every 15 minutes.

Automatic saving serves as an alternative to the Undo command, depending on the project changes between each save. Because project files are smaller compared to source video files, archiving multiple versions of a project consumes less disk space.

1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Auto Save.

2. Do one of the following, and then click OK:

Select Automatically Save Projects, and enter the duration in minutes after which Adobe Premiere Elements saves the project. Type a number for the Maximum Project Versions to specify how many versions of each project file you want to save. For example, if

you type 5, Premiere Elements saves five versions of each project you open.

note: Each time you open a project, save it at least once before the Auto Save option takes effect.

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Open an Auto Save project

1. Do either of the following:

Start Adobe Premiere Elements. In the Welcome screen, click Video Editor and then click Existing Project. In Adobe Premiere Elements, choose File > Open Project.

2. In the project folder, open the file in the Adobe Premiere Elements Auto-Save folder. (If no files are available, the Auto Save preference is

Note:

possibly turned off.)

When you start Premiere Elements after a crash, a message prompts whether you want to open the last saved version of your

project.

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Project settings and presets

About project settings and presets Dynamic sequence preset Create or change project presets Check your project’s settings

About project settings and presets

Project settings determine the properties of your video and audio project assets. For example, they determine their format (DV, HDV, AVCHD), source (hard disk or Flash memory camcorder), and aspect ratio (standard or widescreen video). Project setting also specify the frame rate, audio sample rate, upper or lower field first, and bit depth for your project.

When you start a new project, Premiere Elements applies a project preset to it. A project preset is a collection of preconfigured project settings. You can use the default project preset for the television standard for the Premiere Elements version installed on your computer.

NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) is the television standard for the Americas, the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. PAL (Phase Alternating Line) is the standard format for Europe, Russia, Africa, Middle East, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific, China,

and other parts of Asia. Because you can’t change the project preset after starting a project, verify the format of your source footage before selecting a project preset.

If you specify lower quality settings for output (such as streaming web video), do not change your project settings. Change your export settings instead.

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Dynamic sequence preset

When you add a movie clip to the Expert view timeline, Adobe Premiere Elements automatically changes your project settings in the background to match the clip properties. They include dimension, fps, pixel aspect ratio, and field order.

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Create or change project presets

Adobe Premiere Elements includes default project presets for media from common sources, including DV camcorders, cameras, DVD discs, and mobile phones. You cannot create a custom project presets or change a project preset after selecting a preset and starting a project.

To change the project preset when starting a new project, click the Change Settings button in the New Project dialog. Select the preset that matches your footage.

If you add a movie clip whose preset does not match the project’s preset to the Expert view timeline, a message appears. Click Yes to let Adobe Premiere Elements change the project’s settings to use the closest available preset. For more information, see Dynamic Sequence Preset.

Select a project preset

By default, Premiere Elements uses an AVCHD preset for the television standard you specify when you install the program. Select a new preset to create projects in a different format, television standard, or frame aspect ratio.

The preset you select becomes the default, which is used for all new projects, until you select another preset. If you choose a preset temporarily, change it when you’ve finished using it.

1. Start Premiere Elements.

2. In the Welcome screen, click Video Editor, and then click New Project. (Or, choose File > New > Project.)

3. In the New Project dialog box, click Change Settings.

4. Select the preset that matches the format and standard of the footage you want to edit. For example, to edit most HDV footage from 1080i camcorders, choose HDV 1080i 30 or HDV 1080i 25.

5. Click OK.

6. Provide a name and location for your project, and click OK.

Change the settings of an open project

After you create a project, you can only make minor display-related changes to the project settings.

Note:

You cannot change the Editing mode and the format of Preview files after you create a project.

1. Choose Edit > Project Settings > General.

2. In the Project Settings dialog box, specify project settings for General, Capture, and Video Rendering.

3. Click OK.

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Check your project’s settings

Project presets include project settings under three categories: General, Capture, and Video Rendering. After you start a project, you can’t change most of the settings, such as frame rate, size, and aspect ratio. However, you can review the settings to ensure that the media you want to add to the project is compatible.

Open the project in Premiere Elements, and choose Edit > Project Settings > [category].

Note:

Third-party products, such as PCs, capture cards, and hardware bundles sometimes include custom presets. See the third-party

documentation for details.

NTSC vs PAL presets

NTSC presets conform to the NTSC standard, where each video frame includes 525 horizontal lines displayed at 29.97 frames per second. The Standard NTSC preset applies to footage that has a 4:3 aspect ratio. The Widescreen NTSC preset applies to footage that has a 16:9 aspect ratio.

PAL presets conform to the PAL standard, where each video frame includes 625 lines displayed at 25 frames per second.

General settings

General settings (Edit > Project Settings > General) control the fundamental characteristics of a project. They include the editing mode used to process video, frame size, aspect ratios, count time (Display Format), and playback settings (Timebase). These settings match the most common source media in your project. For example, if most of your footage is DV, use the DV Playback editing mode. The quality of your video can deteriorate if you change these settings arbitrarily.

General settings include the following options.

Editing Mode

Fields, and Sample Rate preview settings. The editing mode determines these settings.

note: The Editing Mode setting represents the specifications of the source media, not the final output settings. Specify output settings when you export a project.

Identifies the television standard and format for the project. You cannot change the Timebase, Frame Size, Pixel Aspect Ratio,

Timebase

Playback Settings

functions. For a DV editing mode, this option indicates where you want your previews to play. For information on the playback settings for third-party plug-ins, see the developer documentation.

Frame Size

source media. You can’t change the frame size to compensate for slow playback. However, you can adjust the playback settings: Right-click/ctrlclick the monitor and choose Playback Settings. Adjust the frame size of the output by changing the Export settings.

Pixel Aspect Ratio

different from your video, the video can appear distorted when you render it and play.

Fields

footage with fields, even if the footage was recorded as progressive scan.

Display Format (video)

and motion-picture film. For DV NTSC video, choose 30-fps Drop-Frame Timecode. For DV PAL video, choose 25-fps Timecode.

Title Safe Area

rectangle with crosshairs marks the title-safe zone when you click the Safe Zones button in the monitor. Titles require a wider safe zone than action.

Specifies the time divisions used to calculate the time position of each edit (PAL: 25, NTSC: 29.97).

This button is available if you use a DV preset, a DV editing mode, or install a plug-in that provides additional playback

Specifies the frame pixels for your project playback. In most cases, the frame size for your project matches the frame size of your

Sets the aspect ratio for pixels. The video format (PAL or NTSC) determines this ratio. If you use a pixel aspect ratio that is

Specifies the field dominance, or the order in which the two interlaced fields of each frame are drawn. Premiere Elements captures DV

Specifies the way time appears throughout the project. The time display options correspond to standards for editing video

Specifies the frame edge area to mark as a safe zone for titles, so that titles aren’t cut off by TVs that zoom the picture. A

Action Safe Area

rectangle marks the action -safe zone when you click the Safe Zones button in the monitor.

Sample Rate

require more disk space and processing. Record audio at a high-quality sample rate, and capture audio at the rate at which it was recorded.

Display Format (audio)

in audio samples. However, you can display time in milliseconds for sample-level precision when you are editing audio.

Specifies the frame edge area to mark as a safe zone for action so that TVs that zoom the picture do not exclude the action. A

Identifies the audio sample rate for the project preset. In general, higher rates provide better audio quality in projects, but they

Specifies whether audio time display is measured by using audio samples or milliseconds. By default, time is displayed

Capture settings

Capture settings (Edit > Project Settings > Capture) control how video and audio are transferred directly from a deck or DV camcorder. (Other Project Settings panels do not affect capturing.)

Video Rendering settings

Video Rendering settings control the picture quality, compression settings, and color depth that Premiere Elements uses when you play video from the Expert view timeline.

To access Video Rendering settings, choose Edit > Project Settings > Video Render. These settings include the following options:

Maximum Bit Depth

increases precision but decreases performance.

Allows Premiere Elements to use up to 32-bit processing, even if the project uses a lower bit depth. Selecting this option

File Format

Compressor

Specifies the format of the preview video.

Identifies the codec (compressor/decompressor) that Premiere Elements applies to generate movie previews. The project preset

defines the codec. You cannot change it because it must conform to the DV standard.

note: If you don’t apply effects to your clip or change its frame/time characteristics, Adobe Premiere Elements uses the clip’s original codec for playback. If your changes necessitate frame recalculation, Adobe Premiere Elements applies the codec identified here.

Optimize Stills

Select this option to use still images efficiently in projects. For example, you can use an image that has a duration of 2 seconds in a 30-fps project. Premiere Elements creates a 2-second frame instead of 60 frames, each with a duration of 1/30 second. Deselect this option if projects encounter playback problems when displaying still images.

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Viewing a project’s files

Project Assets panel overview Rename a source file in a project Find an item in a project Locate missing files for a project Delete a clip

Project Assets panel overview

The Project Assets panel lets you preview source material for your projects. Select the Expert view and then click Project Assets. You can view the contents of a project using the list view or the grid view. Use the panel options menu to switch between the views. The grid view displays a snapshot of the video you imported into the project. The Project Assets panel indicates files that you use in the Expert

view timeline with a green icon. Use the Search box to search for files within the panel.

Display and arrange media items

In the Project Assets panel, you can display items in the List view. The List view lets you view more items simultaneously, search, and sort items by properties such as media type and duration.

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To sort items in List view, click the column heading by which you want to sort the items. (For example, click Media Type to sort items by type.) If folders are expanded, items sort from the top level and down the Project Assets panel hierarchy. To reverse the sort order, click the column heading again.

To see more of the column headings in List view, drag the right side of the Project Assets panel to the right. Alternatively, drag the scroll bar at the bottom of the panel to the right.

Organize clips in folders

The Project Assets panel can include folders into which you can organize project contents in the same way as folders in Windows Explorer. Folders can contain media files or subfolders. Consider using folders to organize media types, such as DV captures, Adobe Photoshop Elements still images, and audio files.

In the Project Assets panel, do any of the following:

Note:

To access the Project Assets panel, select Project Assets in the Expert view.

To add a folder, click the New Folder icon at the bottom of the Project Assets panel. In the list view, if you click New Folder multiple times in a row, each new folder is nested inside the previous new folder.

To move an item into a folder, drag the item to the Folder icon. You can move folders into other folders to nest them. To display the contents of a folder, double- click the folder. Alternatively, in List view, click the triangle beside the Folder icon to expand

the folder. To navigate to parent folders, click the appropriate icon. You can click and hold this button to see a list of all the folders above the one

currently listed. You can also jump to a folder by highlighting it and releasing the mouse button.

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Rename a source file in a project

To rename a clip, select it, choose Clip > Rename, type the new name, and press Enter. (The change affects only references used in the project; the name of the original source file in the Project workspace and Windows remains the same.)

To rename an original source file, close Premiere Elements, and rename the file in Windows. The next time you open the project, Premiere Elements asks you to locate the file.

Tip: You can also rename a selected clip by clicking its name once to select the text, typing the new name, and pressing Enter.

Find an item in a project

Right-click an item in the Expert view timeline, and select Reveal In Project.

To find an item on the hard drive, right-click the clip, choose Properties, and note the path at the top of the Properties panel.

Locate missing files for a project

Premiere Elements doesn’t store original source files in a project—it references the name and location of each source file when you import it. If you later move, rename, or delete a source file in Windows, the Where Is The File dialog box opens when you next open the project.

In addition to source files, a project also references preview files. Preview files allow you to preview effects in real time without having to render them—a process that can take hours. Preview files can be re-created if necessary.

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Note:

After you create the final movie, you can delete source files if you do not plan to reuse them. If you plan to re-edit the movie in the future,

archive the project with the Project Archiver before deleting source files.

In the Where Is The File dialog box, choose one of the following options:

Display Only Exact Name Matches

know that the name of a file has changed, deselect this option.

Replaces the missing file with the original or replacement file.

Select

Starts the Windows XP Search feature.

Find

Skip Previews

Replaces the missing file with an offline file. The offline file acts as a placeholder for related clips in the Project Assets panel and the

Skip

Expert view timeline.

Skip All

Ignores missing preview files so you aren’t asked to find them.

Replaces all missing clips with offline files without asking you for confirmation.

Displays only the files that match the name of the missing file when the project was last closed. If you

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Delete a clip

Because Premiere Elements doesn’t store media files in the project, deleting a clip from a project removes all instances from a movie. However, Premiere Elements does not delete the clip’s source file from the Windows desktop. To conserve disk space, delete the source file.

To delete a media file from the Project workspace, do one of the following:

Select the file in the panel and click the Delete icon.

Right-click/ctrl- click it in the Expert view timeline, and choose Delete. You can also delete by selecting the file and pressing the Delete key. The file is deleted from the Elements Organizer, but it is not deleted from your hard disk.

Tip: To identify unused items in a project, see the Video Usage and Audio Usage columns in List view. To display these columns, scroll to the right. A green check mark (list view) and a green dot (grid view) indicates that the asset is being used in the project.

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Viewing clip properties

See an overview of basic clip properties View comprehensive file information Customize List view properties View details about effect properties

See an overview of basic clip properties

To view the basic properties of a clip, right-click/ctrl-click the clip in the Project Assets panel, choose Properties.

View comprehensive file information

Premiere Elements includes tools that you can use to evaluate a file in any supported format stored inside or outside a project. For example, you can determine whether a clip you exported has an appropriate data rate for Internet distribution. Video file properties can include file size, number of video and audio tracks, duration, average frame rate, audio sample rate, video data rate, and compression settings. In addition, they include information about dropped frames in captured clips.

Use the Get Properties feature to check for dropped frames in a clip you captured. Use the Data Rate Analysis graphs to evaluate how well the output data rate matches the requirements of your delivery medium. The graphs depict the render keyframe rate, the difference between compression keyframes and differenced frames (frames that exist between keyframes). They also depict the data rate levels at each frame.

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Do one of the following:

If the clip is in the Expert view timeline, select it and choose File > Get Properties For > Selection. If the clip is not in the project, choose File > Get Properties For > File. Locate the clip you want to analyze and then click Open.

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Customize List view properties

You can customize the List view to display only the information you want to see. You can also rename columns, add columns of your own, rearrange columns, and change the width of columns.

Specify which properties appear in List view

The Name property appears by default, and displays the clip name on disk. You cannot remove the Name property using the Edit Columns dialog box. You can change the name the clip uses inside the project.

1. Open the Project Assets panel.

2. Right-click/ctrl- click in the Media view, and choose Edit Columns. Ensure that you click an area outside the rows containing the assets.

3. Select any of the following properties you want to appear in Media view, and click OK:

Displays a check mark if the clip is used in the project.

Used

Media Type

Frame Rate

Media Duration

Settings dialog box.

note: In Premiere Elements, all durations in a panel include the frames that the In point and Out point specify. For example, setting the In point and Out point to the same frame results in a duration of one frame.

Video Duration

Elements, such as changing the clip speed.

Audio Duration

Elements, such as changing the clip speed.

Video Info

Audio Info

Video Usage

Media, such as Movie or Still Image.

The frame rate of the clip, such as 29.97 fps.

Length of the captured media on disk, expressed in the Display Format specified in the General section of the Project

The duration of the clip the Video In point and Out point define. Incorporating any adjustments applied in Premiere

The duration of the clip the Audio In point and Out point define. Incorporating any adjustments applied in Premiere

The frame size and aspect ratio of the clip, and whether an alpha channel is present.

The audio specifications of the clip.

The number of times the video component of a clip is used in the movie.

Audio Usage

Status

Client

The number of times the audio component of a clip is used in the movie.

Specifies whether a clip is online or offline. If a clip is offline, this option also indicates why.

Field for adding a client’s name or other details.

Adjust columns in List view

Use the List view to quickly evaluate, locate, or organize clips based on specific properties.

1. Open the Project Assets panel.

2. Do any of the following:

To change the width of a column, position the pointer over a dividing line between column headings until the Column Resize icon appears. Then, drag horizontally.

To create a column, right-click/ctrl-click and choose Edit Columns, click Add and select a column name (after which the new column appears). Type a name and choose a type for the new column, and click OK. Text columns can contain any text you enter. Boolean columns provide a check box.

To display a column, right-click/ctrl-click and choose Edit Columns, and then click the box next to the column name you want to display.

To sort columns in ascending or descending order, click their heading. To rearrange columns, right-click/ctrl-click and choose Edit Columns, select a column name, and click Move Up, or Move Down.

note: Premiere Elements locks some column attributes. You can’t locate or change these attributes in the Edit Columns dialog box.

+ 289 hidden pages

Adobe Premiere Elements 12 User Manual

Contents

What's new

What's new

Workspace

Workspace

Importing media through Embedded Elements Organizer

Creating a video project

Creating a project

Saving and backing up projects

Project settings and presets

Viewing a project’s files

Viewing clip properties