My Top Nine most annoying things in PRE11 (so far)

[wyzboing]

A lament to previous versions of Premiere Elements:

I’m sure everyone has a favourite version of PRE – you just get used to working with a particular interface where you don’t have to think about where everything is. You get used to its quirks and get to know how it will behave.

Sometimes though, you just have to move on for one reason or another. But despite some shiny new features you still grieve the loss of some things which you wish Adobe had just left alone. Here are my gripes with PRE 11 in comparison to PRE8 and earlier. I wonder if they bother others as much as they annoy me. Forgive me if some of these already changed in 9 or 10.

In no particular order, as they are all annoying in their own way:

1. Panes and panels which pop themselves away when you don’t want them popping away. It disturbs the creative flow. I’m working. I’d like to leave the lid off the toolbox so I can see inside it. I’m a very tidy person and can decide for myself when to put my toys away. I worked out you can pin the Assets Panel – can you do this with any of the other panels?

2. Panes which pop up from the bottom of the screen covering the timeline. Usually the bit just where you want to stick your transition or effect. Is there any way of un-tethering these essential bits of workspace and putting them somewhere useful? Actually move this gripe to the no.1 slot – this really is very, very, annoying.

3. The snipping tool which has attached itself, almost invisibly, to the side of the CTI like a limpet below the waterline. Usually just in the place where you are going to grab a keyframe. It has a nasty habit of jumping out between you and the timeline and turning your pointing tool into a hatchet, chopping your clips to smithereens before you have realised it. Aagh!- get back into your toolbox where you belong you vicious implement!!.

4. The demise of the right-click command which went something like “please stick back together these bits of clip which I have inadvertently chopped up”. Ok someone is going to tell me that this command never existed. I just checked PRE8 and can’t find it. Did it exist in 4? I swear I haven’t dreamt this up. Yes, I could delete one section and drag the remaining section out to fit, but what if I had already keyframed the deleted section? Grouping doesn’t do the same job.

5. The swathes of empty space either side of the monitor panel in 11. Now this may seem a bit radical but has anyone thought of filling that space with panels for effects, transitions and the like? If you have a nice wide screen (brilliant for your timeline) this constitutes about 1/3 of your screen standing empty.

6. Files appearing at the wrong level in the Project Assets panel. Previously when you clicked once to select a folder any media you added would be added to that folder. In PRE 11, whether in list or grid view, you have to double click to open the folder before adding the media. Alright, I’ll concede this one. Having worked it out I’ll just have to get used to it.

7. The demise of the right-click command meaning “please show me the properties for this clip”, which opened the old properties panel. It still exists but doesn’t do the same thing. Alright - I’ll just have to get used to this too.

8. The Applied Effects Panel’s mean habit of snapping everything shut. Actually I’d like to see the keyframes for more than one effect at the same time. Sometimes I want to sync my effects so being able to see keyframes applied to one effect and then decide where I want to put the keyframes for another effect is very useful. Instead, the Effects Panel plays this game where you have to memorise the keyframes from one effect and then it hides those away while you try and guess where to put the keyframes on your next effect (on the same clip so we’re not copying and pasting attributes). It's a bit like pinning the tail on the donkey. Am I missing some major and obvious keyframing skill here? Am I making keyframing more difficult than it should be? Excuse the pun but is this Adobe’s idea of a Panel game?

9. Lack of customisation options for the workspace: Gone is the option to select & move columns in the Project Assets Panel as per the old Media Panel; gone is the option to move panels around. I’ve had a look around but just can’t see how either of these options may be achieved. There is no mention in Steve’s Muvipix book on PRE11 on customising the workspace as per previous versions so assuming that if anyone, Steve would know, I guess these aren’t possible.

Ok, so I had 10 gripes but have reconciled 1 of them so down to 9. And all I’ve managed to do so far is drop a few clips on the time line, trim, transition and try a few effects.

Are there any other irritating things I need to watch out for further down the line?

Regards

wyzboing

[Steve Grisetti]

I kind of wish you were on the Adobe development team, wyz. Version 11 performs like pro for me -- but there are a few things about that interface that clearly were designed by people who don't actually edit video.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

I hope that "Kevin from Adobe" is reading this.

[RJ Johnston]

So you are too advanced for Premiere Elements 11 but too poor for Premiere Pro? In case you haven't noticed, over the last several years Adobe has been trying to make you move from one to the other. Unfortunately for Adobe, I went to Vegas Pro when the time was right. However, Pre 11 outperforms Vegas Pro 12 in certain areas, I have come to realize.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

.....too poor for Premiere Pro?......over the last several years Adobe has been trying to make you move from one to the other....

Too true, Robert! A tenfold price jump here in the UK to move from PrEl to PPro.

[wyzboing]

you are too advanced for Premiere Elements 11

Advanced? I don't think so. My creative ambition is far greater than my technical ability. I know nothing compared to you guys - that's why I'm here!

wyz

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Advanced? I don't think so.

If you have been used to using the early versions of PrEl then you'll find the change to PPro a lot less daunting than you might think. Those early PrEl versions were very much like cut down versions of PPro.

[gpvids]

Add this to the list of annoyances. PRE11 will not allow me to add a VOB (of my content), something about it being copyright! Perhaps it detected I created the DVD using a M$ application, HA

[Steve Grisetti]

This is so strange. I just created a terrific video from a DVD file yesterday. Worked great for me!

[Ron]

Hmmmm.....

[videolady]

Further to the customized workspace...I used to have the Monitor panel on one screen (so playback was large to see my changes) and everything else was on my other monitor. Is this possible at all in PREL 11?

[Steve Grisetti]

In version 11, you can split the timeline off and move it to a separate panel, but the other panels remain locked to the interface.