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Rendering and previewing sequences

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Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro

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  1. Adobe Premiere Pro User Guide
  2. Beta releases
    1. Beta Program Overview
    2. Premiere Pro Beta Home
    3. Beta features
      1. Translate captions
      2. Generative extend overview 
      3. Generative extend FAQs
      4. Color management system
  3. Getting started
    1. Get started with Adobe Premiere Pro
    2. What's new in Premiere Pro
    3. Best practices for updating Premiere Pro
    4. Keyboard shortcuts in Premiere Pro
    5. Accessibility in Premiere Pro
    6. Frequently asked questions
    7. Release notes
  4. Hardware and operating system requirements
    1. Hardware recommendations
    2. System requirements
    3. GPU and GPU Driver requirements
    4. GPU Accelerated Rendering & Hardware Encoding/Decoding
  5. Creating projects
    1. Start a new project
    2. Open projects
    3. Move and delete projects
    4. Work with multiple open projects
    5. Work with Project Shortcuts
    6. Backward compatibility of Premiere Pro projects
    7. Open and edit Premiere Rush projects in Premiere Pro
    8. Best Practices: Create your own project templates
  6. Workspaces and workflows
    1. Workspaces
    2. Import and export FAQs
    3. Working with Panels
    4. Windows touch and gesture controls
    5. Use Premiere Pro in a dual-monitor setup
  7. Frame.io
    1. Install and activate Frame.io
    2. Use Frame.io with Premiere Pro and After Effects
    3. Integrate Adobe Workfront and Frame.io
    4. Share for review with Frame.io
    5. Invite collaborators to co-edit a project
    6. Frequently asked questions
  8. Import media
    1. Importing
      1. Transfer files
      2. Importing still images
      3. Importing digital audio
    2. Importing from Avid or Final Cut
      1. Importing AAF project files from Avid Media Composer
      2. Importing XML project files from Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro X
    3. File formats
      1. Supported file formats
      2. Support for Blackmagic RAW
    4. Working with timecode
  9. Editing
    1. Edit video
    2. Sequences
      1. Create and change sequences
      2. Set In and Out points in the Source Monitor
      3. Add clips to sequences
      4. Rearrange and move clips
      5. Find, select, and group clips in a sequence
      6. Remove clips from a sequence
      7. Change sequence settings
      8. Edit from sequences loaded into the Source Monitor
      9. Simplify sequences
      10. Rendering and previewing sequences
      11. Working with markers
      12. Add markers to clips
      13. Create markers in Effect Controls panel
      14. Set default marker colors
      15. Find, move, and delete markers
      16. Show or hide markers by color
      17. View marker comments
      18. Copy and paste sequence markers
      19. Sharing markers with After Effects
      20. Source patching and track targeting
      21. Scene edit detection
    3. Cut and trim clips
      1. Split or cut clips
      2. Trim clips
      3. Edit in Trim mode
      4. Perform J cuts and L cuts
      5. Create and play clips
      6. Adjust Trimming and Playback preferences
    4. Video
      1. Synchronizing audio and video with Merge Clips
      2. Render and replace media
      3. Undo, history, and events
      4. Freeze and hold frames
      5. Working with aspect ratios
    5. Audio
      1. Overview of audio in Premiere Pro
      2. Edit audio clips in the Source Monitor
      3. Audio Track Mixer
      4. Adjusting volume levels
      5. Edit, repair, and improve audio using Essential Sound panel
      6. Enhance Speech
      7. Enhance Speech FAQs
      8. Audio Category Tagging
      9. Automatically duck audio
      10. Remix audio
      11. Monitor clip volume and pan using Audio Clip Mixer
      12. Audio balancing and panning
      13. Advanced Audio - Submixes, downmixing, and routing
      14. Audio effects and transitions
      15. Working with audio transitions
      16. Apply effects to audio
      17. Measure audio using the Loudness Radar effect
      18. Recording audio mixes
      19. Editing audio in the timeline
      20. Audio channel mapping in Premiere Pro
      21. Use Adobe Stock audio in Premiere Pro
    6. Text-Based Editing
      1. Text-Based Editing
      2. Text-Based Editing FAQs
    7. Advanced editing
      1. Multi-camera editing workflow
      2. Editing VR
    8. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Mix audio faster
      2. Best Practices: Editing efficiently
      3. Editing workflows for feature films
  10. Video Effects and Transitions
    1. Overview of video effects and transitions
    2. Effects
      1. Types of effects in Premiere Pro
      2. Apply and remove effects
      3. Use FX badges
      4. Effect presets
      5. Metadata effect in Premiere Pro
      6. Automatically reframe video for different social media channels
      7. Color correction effects
      8. Effects Manager
      9. Change duration and speed of clips
      10. Adjustment Layers
      11. Stabilize footage
    3. Transitions
      1. Applying transitions in Premiere Pro
      2. Modifying and customizing transitions
      3. Morph Cut
  11. Titles, Graphics, and Captions
    1. Properties panel
      1. About Properties panel
      2. Edit text
      3. Edit shapes
      4. Edit audio
      5. Edit video
      6. Mask with shape
      7. Create, apply, and redefine text styles
    2. Essential Graphics panel (24.x and earlier) 
      1. Overview of the Essential Graphics panel
      2. Create a title
      3. Linked and Track Styles
      4. Working with style browser
      5. Create a shape
      6. Draw with the Pen tool
      7. Align and distribute objects
      8. Change the appearance of text and shapes
      9. Apply gradients
      10. Add Responsive Design features to your graphics
      11. Speech to Text
      12. Download language packs for transcription
      13. Working with captions
      14. Check spelling and Find and Replace
      15. Export text
      16. Speech to Text FAQs
    3. Motion Graphics Templates
      1. Install and use Motion Graphics templates
      2. Replace images or videos in Motion Graphics templates
      3. Use data-driven Motion Graphics templates
    4. Best Practices: Faster graphics workflows
    5. Retiring the Legacy Titler FAQs
    6. Upgrade Legacy titles to Source Graphics
  12. Fonts and emojis
    1. Color fonts
    2. Emojis
  13. Animation and Keyframing
    1. Adding, navigating, and setting keyframes
    2. Animating effects
    3. Use Motion effect to edit and animate clips
    4. Optimize keyframe automation
    5. Moving and copying keyframes
    6. Viewing and adjusting effects and keyframes
  14. Compositing
    1. Compositing, alpha channels, and adjusting clip opacity
    2. Masking and tracking
    3. Blending modes
  15. Color Correction and Grading
    1. Overview: Color workflows in Premiere Pro
    2. Color Settings
    3. Auto Color
    4. Get creative with color using Lumetri looks
    5. Adjust color using RGB and Hue Saturation Curves
    6. Correct and match colors between shots
    7. Using HSL Secondary controls in the Lumetri Color panel
    8. Create vignettes
    9. Looks and LUTs
    10. Lumetri scopes
    11. Display Color Management
    12. Timeline tone mapping
    13. HDR for broadcasters
    14. Enable DirectX HDR support
  16. Exporting media
    1. Export video
    2. Export Preset Manager
    3. Workflow and overview for exporting
    4. Quick export
    5. Exporting for the Web and mobile devices
    6. Export a still image
    7. Exporting projects for other applications
    8. Exporting OMF files for Pro Tools
    9. Export to Panasonic P2 format
    10. Export settings
      1. Export settings reference
      2. Basic Video Settings
      3. Encoding Settings
    11. Best Practices: Export faster
  17. Collaborative editing
    1. Collaboration in Premiere Pro
    2. Get started with collaborative video editing
    3. Create Team Projects
    4. Add and manage media in Team Projects
    5. Invite and manage collaborators
    6. Share and manage changes with collaborators
    7. View auto saves and versions of Team Projects
    8. Manage Team Projects
    9. Linked Team Projects
    10. Frequently asked questions
  18. Long form and Episodic workflows
    1. Long Form and Episodic Workflow Guide
    2. Using Productions
    3. How clips work across projects in a Production
    4. Best Practices: Working with Productions
  19. Working with other Adobe applications
    1. After Effects and Photoshop
    2. Dynamic Link
    3. Audition
    4. Prelude
  20. Organizing and Managing Assets
    1. Working in the Project panel
    2. Organize assets in the Project panel
    3. Playing assets
    4. Search assets
    5. Creative Cloud Libraries
    6. Sync Settings in Premiere Pro
    7. Consolidate, transcode, and archive projects
    8. Managing metadata
    9. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Learning from broadcast production
      2. Best Practices: Working with native formats
  21. Improving Performance and Troubleshooting
    1. Set preferences
    2. Reset and restore preferences
    3. Recovery Mode
    4. Working with Proxies
      1. Proxy overview
      2. Ingest and Proxy Workflow
    5. Check if your system is compatible with Premiere Pro
    6. Premiere Pro for Apple silicon
    7. Eliminate flicker
    8. Interlacing and field order
    9. Smart rendering
    10. Control surface support
    11. Best Practices: Working with native formats
    12. Knowledge Base
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
      3. Fix Premiere Pro crash issues
      4. Unable to migrate settings after updating Premiere Pro
      5. Green and pink video in Premiere Pro or Premiere Rush
      6. How do I manage the Media Cache in Premiere Pro?
      7. Fix errors when rendering or exporting
      8. Troubleshoot issues related to playback and performance in Premiere Pro
  22. Extensions and plugins
    1. Installing plugins and extensions in Premiere Pro
    2. Latest plugins from third-party developers
  23. Video and audio streaming
    1. Secure Reliable Transport (SRT)
  24. Monitoring Assets and Offline Media
    1. Monitoring assets
      1. Using the Source Monitor and Program Monitor
      2. Using the Reference Monitor
    2. Offline media
      1. Working with offline clips
      2. Creating clips for offline editing
      3. Relinking offline media

In this Help article, learn how to render, preview, and playback sequences in Premiere Pro.

Premiere Pro attempts to play back any sequence in real time and at full frame rate. Premiere Pro usually achieves this for all sections that either need no rendering or for which Premiere Pro already has rendered preview files. However, real-time, full frame-rate playback is not always possible for complex sections without preview files: unrendered sections.

To play back complex sections in real time and at full frame rate, you may have to first render preview files for those sections. Premiere Pro marks unrendered sections of a sequence with colored render bars. A red render bar appearing in the time ruler of a sequence indicates an unrendered section that probably must be rendered to play back in real time and at full frame rate. A yellow render bar indicates an unrendered section that probably does not need to be rendered to play back in real time and at full frame rate. Regardless of their preview quality, sections under either red or yellow render bars should be rendered before you export them to tape. A green render bar indicates a section that already has rendered preview files associated with it.

Sequences refer to preview files in much the same way as source media. If you move or delete preview files in the Windows or Mac file browser rather than the Project panel, you'll be prompted to find or skip the preview files the next time you open the project.

Note:

You can customize a sequence preset to allow previewing of uncompressed 10-bit or uncompressed 8-bit footage. For more information, see Create a sequence with uncompressed video playback.

This FAQ on Adobe forums summarizes what the red or yellow bar might mean in a sequence.

Define the work area for rendering

  1. Do any of the following:

    • Drag the work area bar over the section you want to preview. Make sure that you drag the work area bar from its textured center; otherwise you cue the playhead instead.

    • Drag the work area markers (at either end of the work area bar) to specify the beginning and end of the work area.

    • Position the playhead, and press Alt+[ (Windows) or Option+[ (Mac OS) to set the beginning of the work area.

    • Position the playhead, and press Alt+] (Windows) or Option+] (Mac OS) to set the end of the work area.

    • Double-click the work area bar to resize it to either the width of the time ruler, or the length of the entire sequence, whichever is shorter. To define the whole sequence as the work area, the whole sequence must be visible in the Timeline panel.

      When setting the work area bar to define an area for rendering, corresponding options appear in the Sequence menu: Render Effects in Work Area, and Render Entire Work Area. A command for Delete Work Area Render Files is also available. These options will not appear in the Sequence menu if the work area bar is not enabled.

    Note:

    Position the pointer over the work area bar to display a tool tip that shows the work area bar's start timecode, end timecode, and duration.

Define the area for rendering using In and Out points

  1. You can mark In and Out points to define an area for rendering:

    • Mark In and Out points for the area of the sequence that you plan to render.

      When marking In and Out points to define an area for rendering, corresponding options appear in the Sequence menu: Render Effects In to Out, and Render In to Out. A command for Delete Render Files In to Out is also available. These options will not appear in the Sequence menu if the work area bar is enabled.

Render a preview file for a section of a sequence

You can render any part of a sequence that falls under a red render bar. You can also define a section of the sequence you want to render by setting In and Out points.

Render a preview file for a section of a sequence setting In and Out points:

  1. Set In and Out points to mark the area you want to preview.
  2. Choose Sequence, and select one of the following:

    Render Effects In to Out

    Renders the sections of the video tracks lying within the In and Out points containing a red render bar. Alternatively, press Enter.

    Render In to Out

    Renders the sections of the video tracks lying within the In and Out points containing either a red render bar or a yellow render bar.

    Render Audio

    Renders a preview file for the sections of the audio tracks lying within the work area.

    Note:

    You can set Premiere Pro to render the audio tracks whenever you render the video tracks. For more information, see Render audio when rendering video.

    The rendering time depends on your system resources and the complexity of the segment.

    These options are not available if the work area is enabled.

    Note:

    To maximize the quality of motion in rendered preview files, check the Maximum Render Quality option in Sequence Settings. For more information, see Settings.

Render audio when rendering video

By default, Premiere Pro does not render audio tracks when you select either Sequence > Render Effects In Work Area, or Sequence > Render Entire Work Area. However, playback may suffer when the data throughput of your disk drive cannot sustain the flow when mixing multiple channels of audio and audio in a complex sequence. You can change this default so that Premiere Pro automatically renders audio previews whenever it renders video previews.

  1. Select Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Premiere Pro > Preferences > General (Mac OS).
  2. Select or deselect Render Audio When Rendering Video.
  3. Click OK.

Work with preview files

When you render previews, Premiere Pro creates files on your hard disk. These preview files contain the results of any effects that Premiere Pro processed during a preview. If you preview the same work area more than once without making any changes, Premiere Pro instantly plays back the preview files instead of processing the sequence again. Premiere Pro stores the preview files in a folder you can specify. Similarly, preview files can save time when you export the final video program by using the processed effects already stored.

Note:

Adobe Media Encoder does not automatically use Premiere Pro preview files for encoding. To make use of the Premiere Pro preview files, you must select the Use Previews option in Adobe Media Encoder for each encoding process.

To further save time, Premiere Pro maintains existing preview files whenever possible. Preview files move along with their associated segment of a sequence as you edit your project. When a segment of a sequence is changed, Premiere Pro automatically trims the corresponding preview file, saving the remaining unchanged segment.

Note:

When completely done with a project, delete preview files to save disk space.

Use preview files when rendering

  1. In the Export Settings dialog box, check Use Previews.

Delete preview files

  1. With a Timeline panel active, do one of the following:

    • To delete the render files only for a range of clips, adjust the Work Area bar so that it spans only the desired range. Then, choose Sequence > Delete Work Area Render Files. Those preview files which have any part of their associated clip within the work area will be deleted.

    • To delete all the render files for a sequence, choose Sequence > Delete Render Files.

    Note:

    You can set a keyboard shortcut for Delete Render Files and Delete Work Area Render Files.

  2. When you are prompted, click OK.

Play a sequence from start to finish

  1. In the Program Monitor, click the Play In To Out button  .

Scroll a sequence during preview

You can set an option to automatically scroll a sequence when it is wider than the visible area in its Timeline panel.

  1. Choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Premiere Pro > Preferences > General (Mac OS). Type the desired lengths in the Preroll and Postroll fields.
  2. Choose an option from the Timeline Playback Auto-Scrolling menu:

    No Scroll

    Sequence doesn't scroll.

    Page Scroll

    Sequence scrolls through the visible area of a Timeline panel a page at a time. This is the option set by default.

    Smooth Scroll

    playhead stays in the center of the visible area while the sequence scrolls under it.

Previewing on a television monitor

You can display the sequence on any monitor connected to your computer. Previewing on a television monitor requires video hardware that provides an appropriate video port for the monitor.

Previewing on a television monitor via video card

Some video cards and operating system software products support a television monitor independent of the computer desktop. Others support a second computer monitor that is contiguous with the computer desktop so that it can also function as additional space for the application. See the documentation that came with your video card and operating system.

Preview on a television monitor via camcorder or deck

If you're editing a DV project, you can preview the sequence on a television monitor via your IEEE 1394 connection and camcorder or video deck.

Note:

You may not be able to preview on a TV monitor via camcorders or decks in HDV mode. Set these, instead, to DV or Auto mode.

  1. Make sure that the monitor is connected to the DV camcorder or deck and that the camcorder or deck is connected to your computer.
  2. (For camcorder setup only) Set the camcorder to output to the monitor. Some devices detect this automatically, while others require you choose a menu option.
  3. In the Source Monitor or Program Monitor, click the panel menu button to the upper right, select Playback Settings, and choose the desired options from the following.

    Desktop Video Display During Playback

    Specifies whether or not to play back to the Program Monitor. Deselect this option to play back only through the external monitor specified in the External Device option. If the External Device option is set to None, Desktop Video is selected to ensure playback to the Program Monitor.

    External Device

    Sets an external device through which to play back video.

    Aspect Ratio Conversion

    Determines how pixel aspect ratio is converted for DV projects.

    Desktop Audio

    Sets audio playback to the computer

    External Device Audio

    Sets audio playback to a connected external audio device.

    Export: External Device

    Enables export to tape for the specified device. This option doesn't affect playback to an external device during export.

    Disable Video Output When Premiere Pro is in the Background

    Disables video to the external monitor if Premiere Pro is not the active application on your desktop.

    24p Conversion Method

    Specifies the conversion method for 24p footage. See Set 24p playback options.

Note:

There can be a slight delay between the playback on the desktop and the playback on a television via a camcorder/VCR. If the video and audio seem out of sync, try to preview both video and audio through the same device.

Ensure that Adobe video applications use the same cached files

Adobe video applications can automatically insert a unique document ID into each imported file. These unique IDs ensure that each application accesses the same cached previews and conformed audio files, preventing additional rendering and conforming.

  1. In the Media section of the Preferences dialog box (or the Metadata section for Soundbooth), select Write XMP IDs To Files On Import.

    This setting is global—a change in one Adobe video application affects all the others. This setting also results in new file modification dates when IDs are initially inserted.

Note:

To save rendering time when transferring a project to another computer, move both cached and original files.

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