Earlier this year Adobe unveiled the latest
version of its video editing suite -- now called the
Adobe Production Studio (www.adobe.com/productionstudio).
Built around new versions of Premiere Pro for video
editing and After Effects for motion graphics and
visual effects, the suite also includes new versions of
Encore DVD for DVD authoring and Audition for
professional audio mixing and editing.
Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
This new collection is all about full
support for the broad range of video formats, from SD and DV
to HDV and HD, with even better integration among the Adobe
tool set, plus the bonus of a significantly improved
interface.
Let's highlight some of the most exciting
features in Encore DVD for authoring projects to disc.
Premiere Pro obviously gives you a lot of
flexibility in turning your edited production into a DVD
presentation. But to combine multiple productions, and to
use much more customization, you also can turn to Adobe
Encore DVD 2.0 (www.adobe.com/products/encore).
Encore DVD provides a base of
straightforward drag-and-drop DVD authoring, plus
Photoshop-like menu design and Premiere-like timeline
editing. But its core strength is the Photoshop integration:
all menus and buttons and even styles are just Photoshop PSD
files, easy to use either as template designs, or customized
for your own use.
Encore DVD has been significantly enhanced
in this new version, starting with the new docked interface.
The Timeline also is more flexible, with the ability to
assemble multiple video and image clips on a timeline, along
with multiple audio clips (so you don't have to pre-edit
each movie separately in Premiere Pro). You also can
automatically add chapter points at intervals along a
timeline.
The next big addition is the ability to
create a timed photo slideshow with soundtrack and
transitions. Use the Slideshow window to arrange the
images, add background audio, select transitions, and
specify the timing (or manual advance). Then use the
Properties and Character panels to customize each image,
changing scaling to the screen size, adding a text subtitle,
and even adding dynamic pan and zoom effects.
Under the curtains, Encore DVD also has
added some interesting new functions to help with designing
DVDs. Encore DVD already supported Playlists, which allowed
you to reuse material on a disc by displaying it in a
different order -- for example just the highlights of a
series of clips. The limitation to playlists was that the
DVD would jump to a specified chapter point, and then
continue playing until the end of the entire clip in the
timeline.
The new Chapter Playlists give you
even more control -- you can now select to play only
individual chapters from longer clips, so, for example, your
sports DVD can have a menu button that jumps to a playlist
that plays through each section of each clip that shows a
particular person. Just edit the original clips once, mark
the interesting chapter points, and then create multiple
different playlists to re-use the material in different
ways.
Encore DVD also has had a smart approach to
menu design, in which menu templates are just Photoshop
files, and the special elements like buttons and even video
thumbnails are identified simply by their PSD layer names.
As a result, it's easy to modify Encore DVD menus and
templates to customize your own design. This new version
extends this idea to be able to automatically generate a
collection of linked chapter index menus, as is done
in consumer tools like Sonic MyDVD.
Chapter Index Menus
By using Scene menu templates with marked
Chapter buttons, the new Menu > Create Chapter Index
command will automatically generate one or more scene index
menus, complete with video thumbnails for each chapter,
along with linked Back, Next, and Main Menu buttons. Once
the menus are built, you can even change the template design
for them in one click.
Finally, the most impressive addition to
Encore DVD is the new Flowchart view, which
automatically lays out elements of your disc and its
navigation in a schematic tree structure. This is not just a
static view of your menu navigation -- the view dynamically
updates around the selected element to reposition the
neighboring linked nodes as you explore the design.
Even better, the flowchart is not just for
viewing -- it is a full alternate editing environment in
which you can edit links, and even add new nodes using drag
and drop, or in the Properties panel.
Of course, there's a lot more that's new and
interesting in Encore DVD 2.0, but the idea here has been to
highlight some of the more visible and exciting new
features, and show you how they integrate into the
applications that you may already be familiar with.
Adobe has worked hard to bring its video
applications together with a new look, common interface
design, and cross-application integration for moving quickly
and naturally between the different tools for different
kinds of media. The applications are more powerful, more
responsive, more flexible, and more mature. Which also makes
them more fun to use.
So check them out for yourself -- the Adobe
website offers tryout versions of Premiere Pro 2.0, Encore
DVD 2.0, and other applications that you can download and
experiment with for 30 days. Also check the site for
updates, tutorials, support forums, downloads, and other
free resources.
Adobe Production Studio
The Standard edition of Production Studio at
$1,199 (estimated street price) includes Premiere Pro 2.0
and After Effects 7.0 Standard for video editing and
effects, plus the latest version of Photoshop CS2. The
Studio also includes the Adobe Bridge media organizer and
viewer (which is shipped with each individual application),
and the Adobe Dynamic Link function to use After Effects
compositions directly in Premiere Pro and Encore DVD
(available only as part of the Studio).
While you can do a lot with Premiere's
built-in audio editing and enhanced DVD authoring
capabilities, you can also step up to the Premium edition at
$1,699, with full After Effects 7.0 Professional, plus
Audition 2.0 and Encore DVD 2.0 for more advanced work, plus
Illustrator CS2.
Adobe also offers a new Video Bundle, with
the full Production Studio plus Macromedia Flash
Professional 8, for $2,099.
Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
Slideshow editing
Chapter Playlists
Chapter Index Menus
Flowchart view