Premiere to turn 5.0

MacWeek, Jan 19, 1998 by Matthew Rothenberg

A new version of Premiere promises to bring new high-end capabilities to Adobe

Systems Inc.'s video-editing software, sources said.

Due by late spring for the Mac OS and Windows NT and 95, Premiere 5.0 will

reportedly represent a complete rewrite of the application's code base. While

sources cautioned that all the features are not yet frozen, the new version

will reportedly offer better audio syncing and feature a dual-monitor inter-

face that permits the type of three-point editing familiar to users of

high-end digital and analog video-editing systems.

In addition, Premiere 5.0 will offer a significant performance boost over ear-

lier versions, add a variety of interface enhancements and feature hooks for

the dual-stream architecture used by a forthcoming generation of

high-performance video cards, sources said.

According to sources, the upgrade's new Monitor window will allow users to

view the source clip as well as edited footage simultaneously.

In addition, the new version reportedly offers control over four data points -

in and out of the source and destination - any three of which define the edit.

Sources said this "three-point" approach to nonlinear editing is more intui-

tive and accurate than the system used in the current version of Premiere.

"It's a model that's becoming standardized in nonlinear editing," one source

said.

Meanwhile, Premiere 5.0 will mark the debut of a collapsible time line and a

revised Navigator window, sources said. "The new time line is much more power-

ful," a source said. "You can either work collapsed, like Radius Edit or Avid

[Technology Inc.'s nonlinear systems], or work with an unlimited number of

tracks in the classic Premiere style." Users can collapse both video and audio

tracks, and transitions will collapse automatically. Furthermore, when users

insert or delete segments in a sequence, the new time line will "ripple down"

automatically to reflect the revised composition.

While the current version includes a Go To command with a modal dialog box for

navigation, sources said Version 5.0 will allow users to keep a project window

open at all times; the time line and the Monitor window will refresh

automatically as producers move through their projects.

The upgrade will also address long-standing complaints about Premiere's

audio-sync capabilities. Sources said that while a rounding error in the cur-

rent version's Construction window causes audio and video tracks to lose sync

over time, the upgrade will be able to perform the complex calculations

required to coordinate them seamlessly.

Meanwhile, all audio tracks in Version 5.0 will handle stereo data, sources

said. Audio in the current version, by contrast, comprises a set of monaural

tracks that users have to modify via pan filters. The upgrade will feature

stereo panning as well as live control of a variety of keyframable audio fil-

ters, such as reverb and echo, sources said.

Audio sliders will offer proportional dragging, sources said; by holding down

a modifier key, users will be able to move audio sliders in 1 percent incre-

ments.

Premiere 5.0 will provide a new slate of effects and titling capabilities,

sources said. Rolling credits will be built into the title window, and users

will be able to specify the direction and speed of title rolls.

While support for a dual-stream video architecture will not be implemented

until a later revision of Premiere 5.0, the capability will eventually mean

that the Adobe package will make it easier for board vendors such as Truevi-

sion Inc. and Pinnacle Systems Inc. to bypass QuickTime. With the new

dual-stream boards, users will be able to access two sources of full-screen,

full-motion video simultaneously.

Finally, the Premiere upgrade will represent a shift to the "unified" Adobe

interface that has already made its mark on packages such as Photoshop,

Illustrator and PageMaker. Sources said keyboard equivalents will be brought

in line with other Adobe software, and the new version will feature the tabbed

folders prevalent in Adobe's graphics applications.

Sources said they are excited about the revision, which they characterized as

a major advance for Premiere as a professional video-editing tool.

"Editors have traditionally dismissed Premiere as a toy," one source said.

"With this upgrade, Adobe has worked long and hard to overcome that impres-

sion."

Adobe declined to comment.

John Poultney contributed to this report.