Rendering a Limited Portion of the Timeline

[George Tyndall]

As usual, my post is directed to those members who, like me a few months ago, are new to the use of PRE.

When one has the native format for one’s project (DV AVI for SD and m2t/MPEG2 for HD) on the Timeline, only those areas that one edits may need to be rendered for smooth playback–for example, that portion of the Timeline where transitions or effects have been added.

If PRE is unable to display any of those edited portions of the Timeline at full speed and quality, a red line will appear above that portion. To select just this limited portion of the Timeline to render, one must adjust the Work Area Bar (WAB) so that it overlies only that portion. Here is a simple method:

1. Position the CTI where you want the beginning of the WAB to be, then press Alt+[.
2. Position the CTI where you want the end of the WAB to be, and then press Alt+].
3. To render that limited portion, press Enter.

To resize the width of the WAB to the width of the entire movie, Alt-double-click it.

The WAB is also useful for ascertaining the duration of a given area of the Timeline. The procedure is as follows:

1. Position the beginning and end of the WAB as described above.
2. Hover the pointer over the WAB to learn the WAB’s start timecode, end timecode, and duration.

[Cinde]

Good information, George.

Along those same lines, is there a way to export only a portion of a video as an avi?

[George Tyndall]

Good information, George.

Along those same lines, is there a way to export only a portion of a video as an avi?

Assuming you are working in SD, yes.

Place the WAB over the desired portion of the Timeline.

Select File>Export>Movie to export just that portion as an AVI.*
____
* If you are working in HD (1440x1080), selecting File>Movie will result in the export of the area under the WAB as an MPEG2 (1440x1080i)

[Cinde]

Ummm, George? What is the difference between SV and DV?

[George Tyndall]

Ummm, George? What is the difference between SV and DV?

SD=Standard Definition
HD=High Definition (Blu-ray)

[Cinde]

Well DUH! I misread it. Wonder what else I have misread today?
That was so simple, thankfully it wasn't dyslexia kicking in again... or maybe it was.
Really laughing at myself...

[Ken Jarstad]

Unless something has changed in subsequent versions I would say that you don't need play with the WAB. In my version 2 when I add a transition or effect pressing Enter will render just that portion of the Timeline.

[momoffduty]

In version 3 the WAB designates the area to render. Keyboard shortcut to position the WAB is alt+{ and alt+}....very handy. Also if you hover over the WAB it will state the time length. Use these 2 things most. If I want to fill a space or rework a short section I place the WAB over that area to get the time length. At the end of the timeline I will rework the segment for that length, group the clips and then move them to the original area. Or, have made something in my ongoing Practice project to rework, export as a DV-AVI and brought that into the project. By doing this there is no worry for the rest of the project to be sliding out of place while reworking an area. (In Pro there are nested sequences for this.)

Can't remember who posted here originally with the tip on hovering for the length of time, but Thanks!

[Cinde]

Cheryl, you just gave us another great addition to our tips! Thanks.

[Ken Jarstad]

Alt+{ and Alt+} or Alt+[ and Alt+]

[momoffduty]

Alt+{ and Alt+} or Alt+[ and Alt+]

Ken, typo on my part, it is [ and not { Sorry.