

Adobe Premiere for SGI 4.2 Read Me
Adobe Systems, Inc.
July 1997

*************************************************************************
IMPORTANT: Please keep a copy of your product serial number found on your
registration card. You will need it if you call Adobe Tech Support.
*************************************************************************


This file includes the following sections:

* Installation Update: SGI IRIX Patches
* The SGI Video and Audio Panels
* The IRIX Environment
* SGI Codecs and Capture/Playback
* Adobe and SGI Plug-ins
* Late Breaking News
* Third Party Software
* Tips, Tricks, and Undocumented Features
* About EDLs
* About the Make > CD-ROM Movie command
* Pointers to Additional Sources of Information





INSTALLATION UPDATE: SGI IRIX PATCHES

Before installing Premiere, you should read this section to determine
if you need to install any software patches from Silicon Graphics, Inc.
The Getting Started Guide describes how to install the Adobe Premiere
software.

Note: the file "install.script" found on the Premiere CD-ROM is not used
for installation; instead, it allows the IRIX Icon Viewer to run when
you double-click on the CD-ROM icon on the desktop.

You can install any necessary SGI patches using the Software Manager
at the same time you install Adobe Premiere.  Before you press the Start
button to begin installation, you need to decide which patches you want
to install from the CD-ROM.  The Software Manager does not select patches
automatically.  If you do not see the list of products and patches
in the Software Manager, press the Customize Installation button.

The Adobe Premiere CD-ROM contains the following items:

    SHORT NAME       DESCRIPTION

    premiere         Adobe Premiere 4.2
    patchSG0001694   Patch SG0001694: IRIX 6.3 Digital Media bug fixes
    patchSG0001795   Patch SG0001795: O2 OpenGL bugfix and performance patch
    patchSG0001838   Patch SG0001838: dmedia audio plugins patch for 6.3
    patchSG0001876   Patch SG0001876: X server rollup patch
    patchSG0001976   Patch SG0001976: 6.3-O2-10K Kernel Graphics Driver
    patchSG0002053   Patch SG0002053: IRIX 6.3 Video Out bug fix

If you have the "Short Product Names" toggle set in the Software
Manager's "Software" menu, you will see the short names on the left.
If not, you will see the description on the right.  If you have the
"Subsystems Only" toggle set in the "Software" menu, you will see a
more detailed list.  You can deselect this toggle while installing
Premiere.

     NOTE: Silicon Graphics frequently updates and replaces
     patches, so you may have replacements for these patches
     already installed on your O2 system disk or from a patch
     CD from Silicon Graphics.

You must manually choose the patches to be installed on your system.
The "Status" field of the Software Inventory will indicate if a
patch is newer or older than what you have installed on your system.
Only select patches marked "New", "Upgrade", or "Patch Upgrade".
Do not choose any patches marked "Same" or "Downgrade".  To select
a patch for installation, click the toggle box under "Install" to
the left of the patch name.  The Software Manager will install
those patches marked with a checkmark.

Once you have selected the appropriate patches for your system, you
can press the Start button to begin installation.

You may find conflicts when installing the SGI patches.  In this
case, the Software Manager enables the Conflicts button and disables
(greys out) the Start button.  Press the Conflicts button to see the
"Software Manager -- Conflicts" dialog.  This tells you which of the
patches that you are installing have been replaced by newer versions
already installed on the system.

For conflicts indicating that the patch is older, you will see a
description similar to this:

    You have marked patchSG000XXXX.dmedia_eoe_sw.lib (Digital
    Media Execution Libraries) (123456789), which is an older
    version of patchSG000YYYY.dmedia_eoe_sw.lib (Digital Media
    Execution Libraries) (987654321)

In this case, you should choose the option marked like this:

    Do not install patchSG000XXXX.dmedia_eoe_sw.lib (Digital
    Media Execution Libraries (12456789)

This ensures that you do not overwrite the newer version of the patch
that is already installed.

You may also see conflicts for patch subsystems that require
software not installed on your system.  This sometimes happens
for development software or 64-bit versions of software which
are not installed on your system.  In these cases, the only
toggle shown will be like the one above, where you do not
install the subsystem.  You should select the toggle to resolve
the conflict in these cases.

Consult your SGI IRIX documentation for complete instructions on
using the Software Manager and the software installation process.

Note: In order to install the Premiere SDK with the "inst" program,
the environment variable $DISPLAY must be set, and root must have
authorization to connect to the X server.







THE SGI VIDEO AND AUDIO PANELS

If you change the settings of the video or audio panel, you should do
so in a way that Premiere will recognize the changes.  Here are some
guidelines:


Video Panel Input Settings

  * The video panel input settings are read by the Movie Capture,
    Waveform Monitor, and Stop Motion windows.  You should only
    change video panel input settings through the Video Settings
    dialog, which you invoke by selecting the Video Input menu item.

    Press the Video Panel button in the Video Settings dialog to
    open the video panel and/or bring it to the front.  You must
    press this button if you plan to change the video panel input
    settings, even if the video panel is already open and visible.
    After changing the input settings, you can close the Video
    Settings dialog, and Premiere will recognize the new settings.
        
    When you first open one of the three windows that use the video
    panel input settings, Premiere will set them to those of the
    last Premiere session, which it saves in its preferences file.
    If there are no video panel settings saved, it simply sets the
    input timing to be either Square NTSC or Square PAL, depending
    on whether the current setting is NTSC or PAL.  It does this
    because Premiere prefers working in square pixels, but the SGI
    default setting for all timings is CCIR.  (Your SGI
    documentation tells how to change the default setting for the
    video panel, if you choose to do so.)

Video Panel Output Settings

  * Premiere checks the video panel output settings in two
    cases: before printing to video, and when sending the Preview
    window to video out.  If you change your output settings when
    the preview is already sent to video out, you must deselect
    the toggle in the Preview window's popup menu, then reselect
    it in order for Premiere to recognize the new settings.

  * Premiere expects the default signal for video output to
    be set to Image.  This allows it to send images to video
    output only once, instead of resending the image for every
    frame.  To check your default signal for video out, choose
    Pro -> Video Output -> Signal Controls in the video panel.

  * On the O2, the default Video Output Sync source is Genlock.
    If you do not have an external sync source connected to your
    video input, you might get better results setting it to Internal.
    You can change the Video Output Sync source by selecting the
    menu item Pro -> Video Output -> Signal Controls in the video
    panel.

Audio Panel Input Settings

  * Only the Movie Capture and Audio Capture windows read the
    audio panel input settings.  Premiere will only recognize changes
    in audio input settings when they are made through the Sound
    Settings dialog, which you open by selecting the Sound Input menu
    item.  Press the Audio Panel button to open the audio panel and/or
    bring it to the front.  You must press the Audio Panel button if
    you plan to change audio input settings, even if the Audio Panel
    is already open and visible.  When you have finished adjusting the
    audio panel input settings, you can press OK in the Sound Settings
    dialog so Premiere will recognize the new settings.

  * The Movie Capture window will restore audio input settings
    when it is first opened to those when it was last closed, which
    it saves in the preferences file.  If there are no audio input
    setting preferences saved, they are not changed.  The Audio
    Capture window does not change the audio input settings,
    regardless of any preferences saved by the Movie Capture window.

Audio Panel Output Settings

  * Premiere always changes the audio output settings to match
    its current audio source.  You should not have to change them
    when using Premiere.  However, since audio input and output
    settings are independent on the O2, if you have the Monitor
    toggle set in the audio panel, Premiere's automatic changing
    of the audio output settings can cause distortion when
    monitoring input, if the output sample rate does not match
    the input sample rate.







THE IRIX ENVIRONMENT

New Unix users or users familiar with Premiere on Windows or Macintosh
should be aware of these issues:


File Permissions

  * Most Unix systems have default configurations that prevent one
    user from writing or deleting another user's files.  For this
    reason, Adobe recommends that the licensed user of Premiere
    always log in to the same account when running Premiere.  In
    particular, do not run Premiere logged in as root, but rather
    as a normal (non-privileged) user.  This is especially
    important the first time you run Premiere, since this is when
    it sets up its working directory.

    For example, if Premiere doesn't seem to be saving your
    preferences, you may have created Premiere's working directory
    as a different user, or with the wrong permissions.

  * Many of Premiere's write permission errors and volume errors
    occur because a temporary or scratch directory is owned by
    another user or has the wrong permissions.  You should use the
    File -> Preferences -> Scratch Disk menu item to check your
    scratch directory settings.

    The default setting for temporary files and captured clips is
    "Same As Application".  This means Premiere's working
    directory, which is normally in your home directory.  If you are
    having trouble capturing clips or saving files, and you don't
    see any problems with the destination directory, check
    Premiere's working directory, or the directory "Temporary Items"
    (note the space in the name).

    Likewise, the default directory for video and audio previews is
    "Same as Project".  If you are having trouble building previews,
    check the permission of the directory that contains the
    project, or the sub-directory Adobe_Premiere_Preview_Files in
    that directory.

    You may want to change your scratch disk settings to always use
    the same directory, instead of using directories relative to
    the application or project.

  * The Sample Project should be copied from either the CD-ROM or
    /usr/adobe/Premiere_4.2/Sample_Project into your working
    directory if you plan on modifying it or generating previews or
    movies from it.  This avoids permission problems caused by not
    being able to write to the original read-only directory.

Resizing Windows

  * In the IRIX Desktop, you normally resize a window by dragging
    one of its sides or corners.  However, some Premiere windows
    also let you resize a window by dragging the box in its lower
    right corner in the same way you would on a Macintosh.  These
    windows are:

        Movie Clip Windows
        Preview Window
        Movie Capture Window
        Stop Motion Window
        Trimming Window

    Premiere provides this alternate method of resizing so you can
    get visual feedback of the frame affected by the size of the
    window.

    All of these windows except the Trimming Window allow keyboard
    modifiers while dragging the lower right corner, in order to
    affect the size of the frame in the window, as follows:

        Ctrl    keep the current aspect ratio
        Alt_L   snap to predefined sizes
        Alt_R   allow resize to any aspect ratio and size

    (Movie clip windows always maintain the aspect ratio of the frame
    inside the window.)

    If you do not use a modifier, the default resizing behavior
    depends on the window:

        Movie Clip    keep the current aspect ratio
        Preview       keep the current aspect ratio
        Capture       snap to predefined sizes
        Stop Motion   snap to predefined sizes
        Trimming      keep the current aspect ratio

  * Movie Clip windows adjust the size of the frame inside the window
    to keep the clip's current aspect ratio.  The other windows limit
    the size of the window to enforce any size restrictions.  If you
    resize a window using the desktop (by dragging a corner or edge),
    Premiere will use the restrictions for the default resize behavior
    (with no modifiers), and change the window size if necessary
    after you have finished the drag.








SGI CODECS AND CAPTURE/PLAYBACK

At the time of release, there were several issues related to compression
and capture/playback in Adobe Premiere for SGI that you should be aware
of. Some of the limitations or problems may have been addressed in
subsequent IRIX updates. See your current SGI IRIX documentation.

Motion JPEG Format A

  * Support for Motion JPEG Format A allows transfer of QuickTime
    movie files using this codec to other platforms that support this
    industry standard. Movies using this format will be automatically
    recognized during Open or Import, while selecting the Motion JPEG A
    compressor in the Compression panel allows creating movies and
    previews in this format. This codec is functionally very similar to
    the standard SGI JPEG codec, using the built-in JPEG hardware for
    fast compress/decompress, however the file format includes a small
    amount of extra information in each frame to indicate the field
    boundaries. Due to the slight performance degradation needed to
    encode this extra information, Motion JPEG A is not available for
    capture in Movie Capture.

Movie Capture Post-Compress

  * The Post-Compress Video setting of Movie Capture will not create a
    usable movie file if either the JPEG or Motion JPEG A compressor is
    selected.  To capture to JPEG format, turn off Post-Compress Video and
    set the compressor to JPEG.  To capture to Motion JPEG A with
    Premiere, turn off Post-Compress Video and set the compressor to None.
    Capture the clip and use Make Movie to convert to Motion JPEG A.

Codec Size Constraints

  * The implementation of the software codecs (Apple Video,
    Apple Animation, Cinepak, and Indeo) require that image width and
    height both must be evenly divisible by 4. Also, there are minimum
    and maximum sizes for the various software codecs, generally 160x120
    up to 768x576.

  * The O2's JPEG and Motion JPEG A hardware require that the image width
    be divisible by 16 and the height be divisible by 8. When using
    field-processing, this means the frame height must be divisible by 16.
    Minimum and maximum sizes are limited to 160x120 up to 768x576.
    Because of the real-time constraints of capture, Movie Capture will
    round up sizes to meet the hardware constraints of JPEG, possibly
    resulting in a band of pink pixels at the bottom of odd sized captures.

    Outside of capture, if these size constraints are not met, Premiere
    will automatically use a slower software-based JPEG compression
    algorithm that is capable of processing images up to 2000x2000.
    However, the software JPEG codec does not currently support all image
    sizes.  An attempt to use an unsupported size may produce console
    error messages such as the following:

	BindMovie: Can't bind movie to ports:
	Buffer size was not big enough to hold requested data!
	mvRenderMovieToOpenGL failed: Internal movie library error

    Use of the software JPEG codec can cause also application
    instabilities or a crash in cases where it has to process different
    size clips when playing a preview or printing to video.  If you are
    working with source clips that do not meet the hardware JPEG
    constraints, they must all be the same size, and the preview window
    should be set to the same size if possible.

    When working with JPEG or Motion JPEG A clips which meet the hardware
    JPEG constraints, the preview window size should meet them as well.
    In particular, do not use the Preview size 240x180 with JPEG, since
    180 is not a multiple of 8.

  * The Indeo codec can cause application instabilities or a crash if
    you attempt to use Indeo movies of different sizes in the same session
    of Premiere.  Either use just one size throughout your project, or
    convert each movie by importing it into a temporary project in a
    separate session of Premiere and make a new Indeo movie at the
    desired size. You can use Movie Analysis to determine if a movie
    uses Indeo and what its size is.

    It may be desirable to turn off the Preview check box in the open file
    dialog to avoid inadvertantly viewing a wrong size Indeo movie.

    Also, if a project's compressor is set to Indeo, the preview window
    must be changed to the same size as any Indeo clips in the project
    before Preview or Print to Video is used.

  * The Indeo codec consumes system swap space when it is used for
    compression or decompression (for example, in Make Movie).  When
    working with Indeo movies, use the "swap -s" command to monitor
    available swap space.  When swap space is depleted, exit and restart
    Premiere to avoid a crash or other system problems.

  * The None codec (uncompressed) has no constraints on width or height
    other than a maximum of 2000x2000. Although it requires the most
    data space and bandwidth to process, uncompressed is a good choice
    when working at unusual sizes, such as when creating storyboards or
    importing or exporting animation sequences or still images at
    non-video sizes.

Alpha Channels

  * Only the None (uncompressed) and Apple Animation codecs support
    alpha channels in movie files. Apple Animation movies will have the
    alpha correctly read but the alpha channel will not be written,
    while None supports both read and write of the alpha channel.

Field And Frame Processing

  * For JPEG and Motion JPEG A QuickTime movie files, the format of the
    data can be either field-based (where the data for the first field
    precedes the data for the second field) or frame-based (the data for
    the two video fields are interleaved by even and odd scanlines).
    Captured movies from Premiere's Movie Capture are always field-based.
    Movies made via Make Movie (and variations such as Make Snapshot,
    Make CD-ROM Movie, temporary preview files built using Project >
    Preview, etc) are field-based if field-processing is set in the
    Preview or Output Options dialogs, otherwise they are frame-based.
    JPEG movie files created in other applications may be either
    field-based or frame-based (use the "dminfo" command in IRIX to
    determine this).

Full-speed Playback of Previews

  * For optimal playback of previews in the Construction Window, use the
    Project > Preview menu item or the Enter key, and all movies must be
    field-based (or all frame-based), not a combination of types. This
    includes the temporary preview files built for the parts of the
    Construction Window where effects like filters, transitions, motion,
    or transparency are used. While Premiere can play each individual
    movie at full-speed, it cannot switch between the different types
    of movies during a Construction Window "preview" without dropping
    frames during playback. This is particularly important if the Preview
    is being sent to video-out.

Audio Block Sizes

  * The size of audio blocks in a movie file can vary from 1 video frame's
    worth (1/29.97 second for NTSC or 1/25 second for PAL) up to
    several minutes, with choices such as 1/2 second, 1 second or 2 seconds
    available. This parameter is set in the Output Options dialog for
    Make Movie, or in the Recording Settings dialog for Movie Capture.
    The block size controls how much audio is written contiguously in the
    movie file when interleaving the audio data with video frames.

  * The audio block size should be chosen based on your desired usage of
    the movie. The SGI playback software is optimized for the 1-Frame
    block size, and there may be dropped frames during capture or playback
    with larger block sizes at higher data rates. However, Premiere
    makes movies a little faster when the audio block size is 1 second,
    and larger block sizes may provide better playback on other platforms
    such as Macintosh or Windows computers. The display of the audio
    waveform in the audio tracks of the Construction Window is optimized
    for 1 second blocks, although you may want to turn off waveform
    drawing altogether via Preferences > Audio > Approximate audio
    for All views.

Data Rate Limiting

  * The limit data rate parameter in the Compression panel is not
    supported by all codecs, in particular by the hardware JPEG codec.
    You should vary the Quality slider to pick a setting that is
    appropriate for your source material that balances the desired
    image quality (higher Quality) with a data rate that provides
    smooth capture and playback without dropped frames (lower Quality).
    The actual source material will affect the optimal setting, since
    dark slow-moving scenes usually compress better than brightly colored
    fast-moving scenes at the same Quality setting. After capturing or
    making a movie, use the Movie Analysis tool to determine the actual
    data rate of the movie.

SGI Capture and Playback Tools

  * IRIX provides a number of useful utilities for capturing and playing
    digital media. For capture, see mediarecorder, dmrecord and soundeditor,
    plus the Live Video Input feature in the videopanel program, and the
    Monitor feature in the audiopanel program. For playback, see mediaplayer,
    moviemaker, soundplayer and dmplay, plus the Live Video Output feature
    in the videopanel program. For still images, see imgview and
    imgworks. For determining information about specific digital media
    files, see dminfo and imginfo. For converting digital media files
    between various supported formats, see dmconvert and mediaconvert.
    Consult your SGI IRIX documentation for usage of these and other tools.

  * When encountering difficulties with input and output of video or
    audio within Premiere, you should use these SGI tools to troubleshoot
    your system to help determine if the problem exists only in Premiere,
    or in your system in general. If it is not Premiere-specific, you may
    need to contact SGI Tech Support.








ADOBE AND SGI PLUG-INS

In Adobe Premiere for SGI, the following standard Premiere plug-ins
have been replaced by SGI-enhanced versions:

   Video Filters
      Blur                 Find Edges         Sharpen
      Blur More            Gaussian Blur      Sharpen Edges
      Convolution Kernel   Gaussian Sharpen   Sharpen More
      Emboss               Horizontal Flip    Vertical Flip

   Transitions
      Center Merge         Iris Cross         Slide
      Cross Dissolve       Iris Square        Split
      Direct               Push               Swap
      Inset

There are also these new SGI plug-ins:

   Video Filters
      Fade                 Fxbuilt Filter

   Audio Filters
      Normalize            Parametric Equalizer

   Transitions
      Fxbuilt Transition

   Data Converters
      Image                Audio
   (for reading image and audio files using SGI's libraries)

SGI provides other plug-ins not supported by Adobe.  All SGI plug-ins
for Premiere are in the directory /usr/lib/dmedia/plugins/premiere.
There is a sub-directory for each type of plug-in.  You can use these
plug-ins with Premiere, but you should contact SGI technical support
if you have problems with any plug-in not listed above.

To install a new SGI plug-in, we recommend you make a symbolic link
to it in your Premiere working directory, as follows:

  1. Start a Unix Shell window.

  2. Change to your SGI Plug-in subdirectory in your Premiere
     working directory.  Normally, your Premiere working
     directory is the directory AdobePremiere4.2 in your home
     directory, in which case you can enter the command:

       cd $HOME/AdobePremiere4.2/Plug-ins/dmedia

     If you set the environment variable PREMIERE_ROOT to use
     a different directory as your Premiere working directory,
     then you would use this command:

       cd $PREMIERE_ROOT/Plug-ins/dmedia

  3. Use the "ln" command to make a symbolic link to the SGI
     plug-in you wish to use.  For example, if you wanted to
     use the SGI Zoom transition, you would use this command:

       ln -s /usr/lib/dmedia/plugins/premiere/video_transitions/Zoom.so .

     (Don't forget the space and . at the end.)

This creates a link with same name (in this case Zoom.so) in your
current directory (the SGI plug-in directory).  The next time you
start Premiere, the plug-in will be available for your use.

If you want to remove the plug-in from your working directory, you
can do so using the "rm" command, or by dragging the file to the
dumpster using the desktop.  You should also remove the plug-in's
"resource fork", created by Premiere.  The plug-in's resource fork
is a file with the same name as the plug-in with a percent sign (%)
in front (%Zoom.so in the example).

You can use a similar process to install an Adobe plug-in that
would normally be replaced by an SGI plug-in.  These plug-ins
are in the directory

     /usr/adobe/Premiere_4.2/AdobePremiere4.2/Unplugged

If you want to use one of the plug-ins, we recommend you make a
symbolic link to it your Adobe Plug-in directory, as follows:

  1. Start a Unix Shell window.

  2. Change to your Adobe Plug-in subdirectory in your Premiere
     working directory.  If you use the default Premiere working
     directory, you can enter the command:

       cd $HOME/AdobePremiere4.2/Plug-ins

     If you set the environment variable PREMIERE_ROOT to use
     a different directory, then you would use this command:

       cd $PREMIERE_ROOT/Plug-ins

  3. Make a symbolic link to the Adobe plug-in you wish to use.
     For example, if you wanted to use the Adobe Blur transition,
     you would use this command:

       ln -s /usr/adobe/Premiere_4.2/AdobePremiere4.2/Unplugged/Blur .

     (Don't forget the space and . at the end.)

  4. Adobe plug-ins come with resource forks, so you will also have
     to make a symbolic link to the resource fork:

       ln -s /usr/adobe/Premiere_4.2/AdobePremiere4.2/Unplugged/%Blur .

     (Don't forget the space and . at the end.)

The plug-in will be available the next time you run Premiere.  If you
later want to remove the plug-in, you should remove it and its resource
fork with the "rm" command, or by dragging them to the dumpster.

Adobe recommends that you do not use the Adobe and SGI version of
the same plug-in at the same time, in order to avoid confusion.
Projects built with one version of a plug-in (e.g., SGI Blur) cannot
use the other version of the plug-in (e.g., Adobe Blur).  If you do
decide to use both versions of a plug-in, Premiere places either
[Adobe] or [SGI] after the plug-in name in its dialog boxes, so you
can tell which is which.

Some other important plug-in issues:

  * SGI audio filters that can preview always preview the entire
    clip, regardless of Premiere's preference setting.  Among the
    SGI plug-ins normally installed with Premiere, only the
    Parametric Equalizer has this feature.

  * Use of the SGI FXbuilt Transition or FXbuilt Filter may cause
    application instabilities in larger projects. If you are experiencing
    problems, create a simple project with just one of these effects
    plug-ins, render the effect into a movie, and then import that movie
    into your larger project.

  * Premiere supports plug-ins compatible with SGI Photoshop 2.5, not the
    newer 3.0 or later version of Photoshop plug-ins.

  * Premiere will not accept a setting value of zero for the
    Photoshop filters Pinch, Spherize, Twirl, Wave, and Zigzag.
    (Note that a setting of zero has no effect on the image.)
    Trying to set one of these settings to zero will cause it
    to revert to its default or previous setting.  If you want
    to use the zero setting as the start or end of a time-
    varying filter, you should instead use a very small value,
    such as one.





LATE BREAKING NEWS

  * When making a movie as numbered TIFF images, the images are
    compressed according to the current setting in the Compression
    panel:

        Compression Panel Setting       TIFF Compression

        None                            Uncompressed
        JPEG                            JPEG
        Motion JPEG A                   JPEG
        (any other setting)             LZW

    Settings other than the Compressor are ignored.

    When exporting a frame as a TIFF image, no compression is
    used.

    When making a movie as numbered PICT images, or exporting a
    frame as a PICT image, PackBits compression is used.

  * Adobe Premiere for SGI does not read or write compressed
    PICT images. When making a PICT in Premiere for Macintosh that you
    want to use in Premiere for SGI, be sure to set the Compressor to
    None.

  * If you have a directory of image files that have names that differ
    only by a number in the filename either at the end or just before
    the extension, Premiere will attempt to open the files as a numbered
    sequence. If you only want to import a single image, you should copy
    the file to another directory or rename it without the number.

  * Adobe Premiere for SGI does not read raw image files.  Use the
    imgcopy command to convert a raw image into a format supported
    by Premiere.  See your SGI documentation for information on the
    imgcopy command.  The Adobe Premiere User's Guide contains a
    list of image file types supported by Premiere.

  * If you plan to use a track from an audio CD, you should copy
    it to your hard disk, such as by dragging it to a local
    directory from the audio CD player.  This greatly improves
    playback performance of the audio track in Premiere.

  * Included in the Goodies folder is an unsupported program that
    converts a Premiere for Macintosh 4.2 project file into a Premiere
    for SGI 4.2 project file. Use a file transfer program, such as FTP,
    to copy the Macintosh project file and the associated source material
    to your SGI computer. Be careful to use "binary-mode" parameters
    so that the files are not corrupted during the transfer. Then, use
    a Unix shell window to run the following commands, where you need
    to replace the filenames with your specific files:

        cd /usr/adobe/Premiere_4.2/Sample_Files/Goodies
        ./project_converter -c -o outputproject inputproject

    The options indicated above are:

        -c    converts Mac filenames with spaces to use underscores instead
        -o    specifies the name of the output file (else writes to stdout)

    Note that only the standard plug-ins that are available in both
    the Macintosh and SGI versions of Premiere 4.2 should be used
    (avoid 3rd party plug-ins or platform-dependent plug-ins). The use
    of other plug-ins may cause the application to behave incorrectly
    since the data saved in the project file for each plug-in cannot
    be converted.

    Naturally, your source material (movies, still images, audio, etc.)
    must be in a format that is supported on the SGI platform. Avoid
    Macintosh-specific file formats, including codecs and compression
    settings that are not available elsewhere. If you are having trouble
    converting an entire project, try transferring individual files into
    a temporary empty project (or eliminate effects such as filters or
    transitions) to pinpoint the problem.

    The resulting project file, together with the referenced source
    material, may then be opened in Premiere for SGI. Remember that the
    converter program and the resulting converted project files are
    available for your use, but are not supported by Adobe Systems, Inc.
    due to platform differences betweeen Macintosh and SGI which may lead
    to possible inaccuracies during the conversion process.





THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE

Diaquest Device Control

  * DQ-TimeCoder Frame Accurate VTR Control and Time Code

    Diaquest offers its industry standard device control plug-in
    software and cable product for use with Adobe Premiere for SGI.
    (It is also available for Windows/NT and Macintosh.)

    Adobe Premiere customers with professional video equipment use
    DQ-TimeCoder to provide the time code link which enables frame
    accurate video work within Premiere.

    DQ-TimeCoder provides frame accurate, real-time machine control
    of professional and broadcast VTRs directly from the Premiere
    desktop.  DQ-TimeCoder also provides SMPTE or EBU time code
    numbers for Premiere created files.

    DQ-TimeCoder allows the user to capture, batch capture, and
    automatically recapture frame accurate, time coded Premiere
    clips, and to generate frame accurate edit decision lists
    (EDLs) from these clips.  DQ-TimeCoder provides the ability
    to log tapes and create batch capture lists.  These
    functions require both time code and video machine control,
    and are not available without DQ-TimeCoder.

    DQ-TimeCoder is available from Diaquest and its authorized
    resellers.  Contact Diaquest at sales@diaquest.com for
    further information.



Kai's Power Tools 2.0

  * The following KPT 2.0 filters do not work with Premiere, and
    Premiere will not allow them to be applied to a clip:

        KPT Fractal Explorer
        KPT Gradient Designer
        KPT Gradients on Paths
        KPT Texture Explorer

  * The following KPT 2.0 filters are not useful with Premiere
    because they require a selection:

        KPT Seamless Welder
        KPT Selection Info




TIPS, TRICKS, AND UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES


This section contains some performance hints, alternate ways of performing
specific tasks, and other additional information not available in the
Premiere 4.2 User Guide.

Project Controller

  * If you have multiple audio tracks that are overlapping in the
    Construction window, you may notice poor performance when using
    the Project Controller.  You can eliminate this problem by taking
    an audio snapshot.  This will mix and save an audio preview that
    will be used by the Controller.  To make an audio-only snapshot,
    hold down the Alt_L key while choosing Snapshot from the Make menu.
    You can also choose Audio Snap from the Commands palette.  The
    quality of the resulting audio mix is determined by the Preview
    Options.  For more details about the Snapshot command, see the
    user guide.

  * Movies may not play smoothly with the Project Controller if you
    have selected the Enhanced Rate Conversion or the Process At
    option in the Audio Preferences dialog.  You can eliminate this
    problem by taking an audio snapshot, as described above.

  * To improve the performance of still images with the Project
    Controller, make a video snapshot of the still images in the
    Construction window.  For more details about the Snapshot command,
    see the user guide.

Trimming Window

  * If you click on the position between the two SMPTE counters, you
    can type in a value for a rolling edit.  A positive number rolls
    the edit to the right; a negative number rolls the edit to left.

  * You cannot perform a rolling edit between linked clips (i.e., clips
    with audio and video) and non-linked audio and video clips on the
    same tracks.  This problem can be avoided by locking one of the
    tracks or by creating soft links between the nonlinked audio and
    video clips.

  * By default, the next and previous edit buttons cycle through every
    edit in both the video and audio tracks.  (Only tracks A & B are
    analyzed by the Trimming window.) If you want to jump to the next
    or previous edit of the same type only, hold down the Shift key
    while pressing the next or previous edit buttons.  This procedure
    also works with the next and previous buttons in the Construction
    window.

Previewing and Making Movies

  * Set your Preview Options to match your Output Options if you want
    Make Movie to use your already rendered preview files.

  * Audio rates can be set to any value using the Other option in the
    Audio Rate pop-up menu in the Output Options dialog box.

  * Audio can be resampled, both up and down, at much better quality
    if the Enhanced Rate Conversion option is selected in the Audio
    Preferences dialog box.  The enhanced conversion uses filtered
    sampling.  When this option is selected, audio takes longer to
    process.

  * Audio can be processed at a sample rate and bit depth that are
    different than the output options.  This is especially useful if
    you are capturing audio at a high quality, mixing sound or
    applying sound filters within Premiere, and then down-sampling
    the audio for the final movie.  You should process audio at the
    capture rate rather than the final output rate because processing
    audio at lower sample rates introduces noise.  If you select the
    Process At option, the audio is down-sampled only when you build
    or preview the movie, not when you are filtering or mixing the
    audio.  To select a rate and bit depth, click the Process Audio
    At option in the Audio Preferences dialog box, then use the
    pop-up menus to the right of the check box.  When you compile the
    final movie, the sample rate and bit depth in the Output Options
    dialog box are used.

  * Making movies using the QuickTime Composite option recompresses
    movies with key frames.  The only frames that are not recompressed
    are the key frames themselves.

Project Window

  * You can display the in point timecode for each clip in the Project
    window by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking the column head
    of any comment field.  The in point timecode appears in the comment
    field.

Construction Window

  * Red triangles at the beginning of clips indicate that the audio and
    video of linked clips are no longer in sync. You can automatically
    re-sync a clip by clicking the red triangle and selecting the
    appropriate number from the pop-up menu. If you want to adjust all
    audio clips to the left (track-select style), hold down the Alt_L
    key while selecting the number from the pop-up menu. This procedure
    is useful for re-syncing a whole track.

  * The timecode for the starting and ending points of a clip in the
    Construction window are displayed in the Info window when the clip
    is selected in any window.

  * The positions of the first and last fade points of audio and
    superimposed clips are displayed in the Info window when the clips
    are selected.

  * To go back to your previous position in Construction window, press
    the / key. This is especially useful when working with virtual clips.

Clip Windows

  * If you have timecode in a clip, the counter in the Clip window can
    be set to count from 00:00:00:00 instead of the true timecode number
    by choosing Zero Based from the Count pop-up menu in the Clip Window
    Options dialog box.

Virtual Clips

  * To replace a virtual clip with a compiled movie of the virtual clip,
    choose the Replace with Source command from the Clip menu.

Command Palette

  * You can automatically add and remove items in the Command palette
    by holding down the Ctrl key and selecting an item from a menu.
    Selecting an item alternately adds and removes it.

Movie Recording

  * In the Movie Capture or Clip Logging windows, you can choose the
    destination list when logging a clip.  To choose a destination list,
    click the Log button and use the Log To menu in the File Name
    dialog box.  You can use the Log To menu to display any currently
    open batch list or to create a new, untitled batch list.  The
    default batch list in the menu is the last selected list or the
    list that is in the most recently active Batch List window.

  * When using Movie Capture, the reel name is not preserved in the
    movie file with the timecode. Either use just one tape reel,
    or add the reel name to the filename to help you identify which
    source reel the movie was captured from. Since the reel name is
    not available, this also affects multiple-reel EDLs.

Stop Motion Capture

  * The frame rate for movies captured with the Stop Motion window is
    determined by the settings in the Video Input dialog box.  You can
    open this dialog box from the Stop Motion menu.

Storyboards

  * Export Storyboard can be used in the Construction window; however,
    only the area under the work area bar is exported and exported
    frames are determined by the markers in the Construction window--not
    by the markers in the clips themselves.

  * If you are seeing garbled images in your Storyboard from the
    Construction Window, temporarily set the Compressor to None in the
    Compression panel, since the size of the storyboard thumbnails may
    not meet the size constraints of other codecs.

Miscellaneous

  * You can toggle the timecode format that is displayed in all windows,
    including the Clip, Movie Capture, Trimming, and Construction windows,
    by holding down the Alt_L key while clicking the timecode display.
    Formats include nondrop-frame SMPTE, drop-frame SMPTE, frame count,
    35mm foot and frame, and 16mm foot and frame.

  * To create a QuickTime movie with multiple audio tracks, select the
    8-bit Multi or 16-bit Multi option from the Audio Format pop-up
    menu in the Output Options dialog box.  Use the Audio Mapping
    command in the Project menu to determine which audio tracks will
    be mapped onto the various QuickTime audio tracks.  You can map
    stereo tracks in Premiere onto two QuickTime tracks.  You do this
    by checking the grouping boxes at the top of the Audio Mapping
    dialog box.

  * Double-clicking in any blank area in the Project, Library, or
    Sequence windows brings up the Import dialog. Double-clicking in
    any blank area while holding down the Ctrl, Alt_L, or Alt_R key,
    or triple-clicking, brings up the Import Multiple dialog.

  * Holding down the Alt_L key while choosing any of the Insert in
    Construction Window commands will ask for an alias name for
    the clip being inserted.

  * Periodically, suggestions will appear to help you avoid mistakes
    when building movies, adjusting preview settings, etc.  Most of
    these warnings can be turned off so they won't come up again.
    If you wish to reset the messages, remove the files

        %AdobePremiere4.2.Prefs
        AdobePremiere4.2.Prefs

    in the Preferences subdirectory of your Premiere working
    directory.  Be sure to save any window layouts before throwing
    away this file.







MORE ABOUT EDLS

  * Frame accuracy: For edit decision lists to be frame-accurate, the
    timecode must be accurately stamped in your QuickTime movies, and
    movies must be captured at full frames rates. For Premiere
    projects, EDLs, or batch lists generated from projects to work
    correctly with timecode, all source material must be conformed,
    preferably at capture time, to the proper frame rate for the
    source material being edited (29.97 for NTSC, 25fps for PAL).
    Premiere's Movie Capture automatically captures correctly conformed
    movies. For other source material, use the Conform Movie tool.

  * In key (superimpose) levels in edit decision lists, Fade (level)
    controls for keys are handled as though each point is set to 0
    percent or 100 percent.  You can add notes that give the actual
    values of the points.  The notes can be used for adjusting the key
    levels during an on-line editing session.

  * To view, edit or print EDLs that are over 32K bytes in size, use an
    IRIX text editor, such as "vi" or "jot". Be aware that some EDL
    formats use 8-bit ASCII characters with a parity bit in the top bit,
    so you may need to convert EDLs to and from plain 7-bit ASCII using
    IRIX tools such as "tr" when editing them outside of Premiere.







ABOUT THE MAKE > CD-ROM MOVIE COMMAND

This supplements the Make > CD-ROM Movie command information
contained in the Adobe Premiere User Guide.

  * When compressing movies with Cinepak, movies will sometimes be
    generated at below the requested data rate; this will sometimes
    affect the quality of the compressed frames, but is highly
    dependant on the settings chosen and the source material being
    compressed. When the "Raise Low Data Rates (slow)" option is
    enabled, the CD-ROM Movie command will attempt to recompress
    frames that fall significantly below the requested data rate
    until the size of the compressed frames are as close as
    possible to the requested size. This can marginally improve
    the quality of some types of source material at low data rates,
    but can take a substantially longer time to compress because
    the source material may be recompressed many times before the
    targeted data rate is reached.

  * When calculating the data rate for a movie, the audio data rate
    is always subtracted from the calculated data rate for the video.
    For example, if you set the Data Rate option to 200k per second,
    then set the audio to 8-bit stereo, 22050Hz, then the audio will
    require 44k bytes per second.  That means that 156k (200k - 44k =
    156k) bytes per second will remain available for storing a movie's
    video content. The CD-ROM Movie command will make the video
    portion of your movie with a 156k max data rate so that movie the
    will play back at a data rate of 200k bytes per second.

  * When your project contains multiple types of audio, all audio will
    be resampled to the Audio settings you chose in the Make CD-ROM
    Movie dialog box.

  * When using the Deinterlace option in the Special Processing dialog,
    field 1 will always be the deinterlaced field. Pixels from field 2
    will be discarded, and replaced with interpolated field information
    from field 1.

  * In the Special Processing dialog, when cropping, you can constrain
    the positions of the cropping handles to a multiple of 4 pixels by
    holding the Alt_L key as you drag the handles. This is recommended
    when using the Indeo Video or Cinepak compression.
    You can constrain to a 4:3 aspect ratio when dragging the handles
    if you hold the Shift key.

  * When using Indeo Video v3.2 compressor, Intel recommends
    a key frame rate of 4 for best results.

  * The Output Options settings under the Make menu have no effect on
    the CD-ROM Movie command, and the settings chosen in the Make
    CD-ROM Movie dialog will take precedence over all other settings
    when compressing a movie with the CD-ROM Movie command. The only
    settings external to this dialog that will affect the processing
    of a movie are the project's time base, found under the Presets
    menu option, and the Process At and Downsampling options found in
    the Audio preferences dialog.

  * The CD-ROM Movie command is designed to be used with compression
    methods targeted for CD-ROM playback at low data rates. This
    plug-in is not designed for and will not work well for creating
    high data rate movies such as those using JPEG compression boards
    that do not allow non-keyframed material or fine control of data
    rate parameters. High data rate movies could and should be used
    as source material for creating CD-ROM movies, but the final movie
    compressed by this plug-in should be targeted at low data rate
    compressors such as Cinepak or Indeo.






POINTERS TO ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION

In addition to Tech Support at Adobe and SGI you may be able to find
additional information and help with using Adobe Premiere on your SGI
O2 system at the following places:

The Adobe Premiere Listserv (mailing list)
------------------------------------------
An e-mail group for all Adobe Premiere users. For more details refer to

    http://www.wwug.com 

To subscribe to the Premiere Listserv:
1. Send an e-mail to majordomo@netus.net
2. Type in the body of the email, "subscribe premiere"

Digital Video Internet Newsgroups
---------------------------------
rec.video.desktop 
rec.video.production 

SGI Internet Newsgroups
-----------------------
comp.sys.sgi.apps
comp.sys.sgi.graphics 
comp.sys.sgi.hardware




-----------------------
Adobe and Adobe Premiere are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated which
may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Silicon Graphics is a trademark
of Silicon Graphics, Inc. QuickTime is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective holders.


