Capturing, digitizing, and importing

With your hardware hooked up, you can bring assets into a project by capturing them from digital sources, digitizing them from analog sources, or importing them from locations on your hard disk.

Importing assets from file-based formats

File-based camcorders from various manufacturers record video and audio into files of specific formats organized within specific directory structures. These include Panasonic P2 camcorders, Sony XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX camcorders, Sony CF-based HDV camcorders, and AVCHD camcorders.

Camcorders recording in any of these formats typically record to hard disks, optical media, or flash memory media, not to videotape. These camcorders and formats are therefore referred to as file-based rather than tape-based.

The video and audio from a file-based camcorder are already contained in digital files. No capture or digitizing step is necessary to bring them into Adobe Premiere Pro. The process of reading the data from the recording media and converting it to a format that can be used in a project is instead referred to as ingest. Adobe Premiere Pro ingests files in any of these file-based formats from any of their media.

XDCAM and AVCHD

You can find the video files from XDCAM HD camcorders in the CLIP folder, written in the MXF format. XDCAM EX camcorders write MP4 files into a folder named BPAV. For more information on the XDCAM format, see “XDCAM: Codec technology for XDCAM tapeless products and systems, by Hugo Gaggioni,” at pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/xdcam/solutions/XDCAM_WhitePaper_F.pdf

AVCHD video files can be found in the STREAM folder. For more information about the AVCHD format, see “AVCHD format specification overview,” at www.avchd-info.org/format/index.html

The Panasonic P2 format

A P2 card is a solid-state memory device that plugs into the PCMCIA slot of a Panasonic P2 video camera, such as the AG-HVX200. The digital video and audio data from the video camera is recorded onto the card in a structured, codec-independent format known as MXF (Media eXchange Format). Specifically, Adobe Premiere Pro supports the Panasonic Op-Atom variant of MXF, with video in DV, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, and DVCPRO HD formats. A clip is in the P2 format if its audio and video are contained in Panasonic Op-Atom MXF files, and these files are located in a specific file structure.

The root of the P2 file structure is a CONTENTS folder. Each essence item (an item of video or audio) is contained in a separate MXF wrapper file. The video MXF files are in the VIDEO subfolder, and the audio MXF files are in the AUDIO subfolder. XML files in the CLIP subfolder contain the associations between essence files and the metadata associated with them.

Note: Adobe Premiere Pro does not support proxies recorded by some Panasonic P2 camcorders in P2 card PROXY folders.

For your computer to read P2 cards, it needs the appropriate driver, which you can download from the Panasonic website. Panasonic also provides the P2 Viewer application, with which you can browse and play media stored on a P2 card.

Note: To use certain features with P2 files, you first change the file properties from read only to read and write. For example, to change the timecode metadata of a clip using the Timecode dialog box, you must first set the file properties to read and write. Use the operating system file explorer to change file properties.

Import assets from file-based sources

(Optional) Copy the entire contents of one or more P2 cards, Sony CompactFlash cards, XDCAM media, XDCAM EX SxS cards, or AVCHD media to a hard disk.
Though it is possible to import assets into Adobe Premiere Pro directly from a these media, it is usually more efficient to copy the contents of any of them to a hard disk before importing. Also, playback performance is generally much better from a dedicated internal drive or RAID than from a camera or memory card reader.

Note: For XDCAM EX, you must copy the entire BPAV folder and its contents, not just one MP4 file at a time.
Do one of the following:
- Select File > Import.
- Select the Media Browser. If the Media Browser is not already open, select Window > Media Browser.
Note: You can dock or group the Media Browser like any other panel in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Browse to the CONTENTS\VIDEO folder for P2 files, the Clip folder for XDCAM HD files, the BPAV folder for XDCAM EX files, the VIDEO\HVR folder for Sony HDV files, or the STREAM folder for AVCHD files.
The Media Browser will show a thumbnail or icon (depending on the format) and shot name for each shot in the shot folder, automatically aggregating spanned clips and shot metadata from the subfolders into single clips for any of these formats. The Media Browser shows different sets of metadata for different formats.
If you selected File > Import, select one or more MXF files (for P2 or XDCAM HD), MP4 files (for XDCAM EX), MTS files (for AVCHD), M2T files (for Sony HDV), or shots. Do one of the following:
- To import P2, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX, HDV, or AVCHD video content and its associated audio content, select the respective files from the VIDEO (P2), Clip (XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX), HVR (HDV), or STREAM (AVCHD) folder.
- To import only the P2 or XDCAM HD audio content, select the MXF files from the AUDIO (P2) or Sub (XDCAM HD) folder.
Do one of the following:
- If you chose File > Import, click Import.
- If you located the MXF files by way of the Media Browser, either select File > Import From Browser, or drag them from the Media Browser into the Project panel.
If you selected File > Import or File > Import From Browser, the asset(s) will be imported into the Project panel as single clips.

About spanned clips

When a shot or take is recorded requiring more than the file size limit of a medium, a file-based camcorder starts another file and continues recording the shot to it without interruption. This is referred to as clip spanning as the shot spans more than one file or clip. Similarly, a file-based camcorder may span a shot across clips on different cards or disks, if it has more than one card or disk loaded. It will record the shot until it runs out of room on the first medium, then start a new file on the next medium with available space, and continue recording the shot to it. Although a single shot or take can be recorded to a group of multiple spanned clips, it is designed to be treated as a single clip.

For P2 and XDCAM EX, Adobe Premiere Pro imports all of the spanned clips within a single shot or take as a single clip. It will import all the clips within a shot on a card when you select any one of them, provided none of the spanned clips is missing and the relevant XML is present. When one or more spanned clips are missing from a shot, Adobe Premiere Pro will import one or more of them depending on where the missing clips fall within the shot.

To import a group of spanned clips, select one of them to import all of them. If you select more than one spanned clip, you will import duplicates of the whole group of spanned clips as duplicate clips in the Project panel.

If the group of spanned clips itself spans two P2 or XDCAM EX cards, copy the full directory trees from them both to same-level folders on the hard disk before importing. For P2 media only, you can alternatively import clips spanning two P2 cards if both cards are simultaneously mounted to your computer.

Importing still images

You can import still images with frame sizes up to 4096 x 4096 pixels, individually or in groups. The size and aspect ratio of imported still images are affected by the same factors that affect other imported assets, for example, whether they use square pixels. Adobe Premiere Pro supports 4-channel assets at 16‑bits per channel as well as 8‑bits per channel files.

You can import individual still images into Adobe Premiere Pro or import a numbered sequence of still images as a sequence. You can import still images from Adobe applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator, or you can import Adobe Stock Photos from Adobe Bridge. For information about the still-image formats that Adobe Premiere Pro imports, see File formats supported for import [Sam K to check].

An imported still image uses the duration specified in the Still Image preferences. You can change the duration of a still image in a sequence.

Preparing still images before importing

Before you import a still image into Adobe Premiere Pro, prepare it as completely as possible to reduce rendering time. It’s usually easier and faster to prepare a file in its original application. Consider doing the following:

Make sure that the file format is supported by the operating system you plan to use.
Set the pixel dimensions to the resolution you will use in Adobe Premiere Pro. If you plan to scale the image over time, set image dimensions that provide enough detail at the largest size the image has in the project.
For best results, create files with a frame size at least as large as the frame size of the project so that you don’t have to scale up the image in Adobe Premiere Pro. Scaling an image larger than its original size can cause loss of sharpness. If you plan to scale up an image, prepare it at a larger frame size than the project’s. For example, if you plan to scale up an image 200%, prepare the image at double the project frame size before you import it.
Crop the parts of the image that you don’t want to be visible in Adobe Premiere Pro.
If you want to designate areas as transparent, create an alpha channel or use the transparency tools in applications such as Photoshop or Illustrator.
If final output will be shown on standard television screens, avoid using thin horizontal lines (such as 1-pixel lines) for images or text. These may flicker as a result of interlacing. If you must use thin lines, add a slight blur so that the lines appear in both video fields. See Interlaced video, noninterlaced video, and progressive scanning.
Save the file using the correct naming convention. For example, if you plan to import the file into Adobe Premiere Pro in Windows, use a three-character filename extension.
When you prepare still images in applications that support color management, such as Photoshop, colors may appear more consistent between the application and Adobe Premiere Pro if you prepare images in a video‑friendly color space, such as sRGB or NTSC RGB.

Preparing 3D images or animations for import

When creating 3D images or animations for use in Adobe Premiere Pro, follow these guidelines whenever possible:

Use broadcast‑safe color filtering.
Use the pixel aspect ratio and frame size specified in the sequence settings in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Use the appropriate field settings to match your project.
If you’re using an Adobe application to generate the sequence, select the Embed Project Link option so that you can open the sequence in the application that was used to create it.

Importing Photoshop and Illustrator files

You can import files from Adobe Photoshop 3.0 or later, or from Adobe Illustrator. You can control how layered files are imported. Empty (transparent) areas of nonflattened files are transparent when imported into Adobe Premiere Pro, because the transparency is stored as an alpha channel. This lets you import graphics and superimpose them over clips in other tracks with no extra effort.

In addition, you can import a layered Photoshop or Illustrator file as a sequence, enabling you to set up graphics in these applications and then import them into an Adobe Premiere Pro project.

Also, you can import Photoshop files that contain video or animations if they are saved from Photoshop in timeline animation mode. You can import them either with selected layers imported as individual clips into a bin, with selected layers imported as individual clips into a bin and sequence, or with selected layers merged into a single video clip.

Note: Individual layers moved from a Photoshop composition into an Adobe Premiere Pro project may not behave as expected.

For more information about importing Photoshop files, see the video tutorial, Premiere Pro CS3 Essential Training: Importing Photoshop Files, on the lynda.com website.

Import a layered Photoshop file

When you import a layered file saved in Photoshop file formats, you can choose how to import the layers in the Import Photoshop Document dialog box.

Note: Some Photoshop layer attributes aren’t supported, such as special blending modes and the Knockout option. For best results, use basic transparency and opacity in Photoshop.

Adobe Premiere Pro imports attributes that were applied in the original file, including position, opacity, visibility, transparency (alpha channel), layer masks, adjustment layers, common layer effects, layer clipping paths, vector masks, and clipping groups. Photoshop exports a white background as opaque white, whereas it exports a checkerboard background as a transparent alpha channel when exporting to a format that supports alpha channels.

Importing layered Photoshop files makes it easy to use graphics created in Photoshop. When Adobe Premiere Pro imports Photoshop files as unmerged layers, each layer in the file becomes an individual clip in a bin. Each clip’s name consists of the layer name followed by the name of the file that contained it. Each layer is imported with the default duration you select for still images in Preferences.

You can import Photoshop files containing video or animations like any other Photoshop file. Since each layer is imported at the default still-image duration, the imported video or animation may play back at a speed different from that of its source in the Photoshop file. To make the speed match, change the still image default duration before importing the Photoshop file. For example, if the Photoshop animation was created at 30 fps and the Adobe Premiere Pro sequence frame rate is 30 fps, set the still image default duration in Adobe Premiere Pro to 30 frames in Preferences.

The options you select in the Import Photoshop Document dialog box determine how the layers in the video or animation are interpreted on import into Adobe Premiere Pro.

From the Import dialog box, when you select a Photoshop file containing layers for import, the Import Photoshop Document dialog box opens. The Import As menu gives you these options for ways to import the file:

Merge All Layers

Merges all layers, importing the file into Adobe Premiere Pro as a single flattened clip.

Merged Layers

Merges the layers you select into a single, flattened, file.

Individual Layers

Imports only the layers you select from the list into a bin containing one clip for each source layer.

Sequence

Imports the layers you select, each as a single clip, creates an Adobe Premiere Pro sequence containing the clips, and deposits all these into their own bin in the Project panel. Choosing Sequence allows you to select one of the following options from the Footage Dimensions pop‑up menu:

Document Size: Changes the frame size of the clips to match the frame size specified in the Sequence Settings dialog box.
Layer Size: Matches the frame size of the clips to the frame size of their source layers in the Photoshop file.
Note: When you import one layer as a single clip, its name in the Project panel consists of the layer name followed by the original filename.

Importing Illustrator images

You can import an Adobe Illustrator still‑image file directly into an Adobe Premiere Pro project. Adobe Premiere Pro converts path‑based Illustrator art into the pixel‑based image format used by Adobe Premiere Pro, a process known as rasterization. Adobe Premiere Pro automatically anti‑aliases, or smooths, edges of the Illustrator art. Adobe Premiere Pro also converts all empty areas into an alpha channel, so that empty areas become transparent.

If you want to define the dimensions of the Illustrator art when it is rasterized, use Illustrator to set crop marks in the Illustrator file. For information about setting crop marks, see Illustrator Help.

For more information about importing Illustrator files, see the video tutorial, Premiere Pro CS3 Essential Training: Importing Illustrator Files, on the lynda.com website.

Importing numbered still‑image sequences as one clip

You can import an animation contained in a single file, such as an animated GIF. You can also import a sequence of numbered still‑image files, such as a TIFF sequence, and automatically combine them into a single video clip; each numbered file becomes one frame of video. Importing a sequence is useful for animations exported as a series of numbered still images by applications like After Effects. The images in the series cannot include layers. For information on layers and flattening, see the application’s documentation.

Make sure that each still‑image filename contains an equal number of digits at the end and has the correct file extension—for example, file000.bmp, file001.bmp, and so forth.
Choose File > Import.
Locate and select the first numbered file in the sequence, select Numbered Stills, and click Open. When Numbered Stills is selected, Adobe Premiere Pro interprets each of the numbered files as a single frame in a video clip.

Note: Changing the default duration of still images in the Preferences dialog box does not affect the duration of numbered stills imported into a video clip. Each still becomes one frame when imported in this way.