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Southwest Gaming ExpoWorkshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2009)ICIDS 2009 Interactive StorytellingGlobal Game Jam
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Introduction
For all the video included in a game, whether it be cut scenes, the game introduction, or even marketing materials, you’ll need a video editing package. Adobe’s Premiere Pro CS3 is an awesome editing package and if you’ve purchased Photoshop and Flash, it was probably included in the suite anyway.
If you’re working with video, then you’ll also need both an audio editing package and a DVD authoring package to create the chapters and menus for the disc. Adobe has these needs taken care of with their SoundBooth CS3 and Encore CS3 packages.
Premiere Pro CS3 and SoundBooth CS3 are both available as a stand-alone package or as part of Adobe’s Creative Suite 3. Encore CS3 ships with the stand-alone version of Premiere Pro CS3 or you can get all three packages as part of Creative Suite 3 Production Premium, which also includes After Effects CS3 Professional, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Flash CS3 Professional, and Illustrator CS3. All three packages are also available in the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection, which includes everything.
The new version of Premiere Pro CS3 is more efficient than previous editions and it ships with Adobe OnLocation CS3 (for Windows only), as well as, Encore CS3. The new version also includes native support for the Panasonic P2 format and allows output to both DVD and Blu-Ray discs, as well as, a multitude of mobile devices using Adobe Device Central CS3.
For all your audio tasks, SoundBooth CS3 includes tools for capturing and cleaning audio, as well as modules for creating custom compositions. The software is also tightly integrated with Premiere Pro and Flash making it easy to move edited audio to any of the other Adobe products that require audio.
The Premiere Pro CS3 interface
The Premiere Pro CS3 interface (Figure 1) should feel very comfortable if you’ve spent any time with any of the other Adobe products. It features palettes of controls that can be easily docked to the sides of the interface or to each other. It also includes tool palettes and right click pop-up menus for easy access to the exact command you need.
Figure 1: The Premiere Pro CS3 interface feels and works like the other Adobe packages.
In the Window menu is a Workspace option that allows you to customize your favorite layout or you can select one of the presets: Audio, Color Correction, Editing, and Effects. The entire interface uses drag and drop to move assets from one palette to another such as from the Project palette to the Timeline palette. It is also tightly integrated with Adobe Bridge, which makes finding specific video and audio clips easy.
Included OnLocation and Encore CS3
Premiere Pro CS3 ships with Adobe OnLocation. OnLocation works with Windows or you can use it on a Mac with Bootcamp. This software streamlines the video capture process by recording SD or HD video directly to a laptop computer using Firewire.
When using OnLocation, you can immediately review any shot. The software can also be used to calibrate your camera and process video on the fly. The new version also includes support for a broader range of cameras including Canon, Sony and JVC units.
OnLocation also includes tools for checking your image quality including a waveform monitor, a vectorscope, a signal verifier, and an audio spectrum analyzer. Using these tools, you can save film and time by checking your shots before returning the studio with a bunch of sub-standard video.
Premiere Pro CS3 also ships with an updated version of Encore. Encore CS3 (Figure 2) is a full-featured DVD authoring package that now includes the ability to create Blu-Ray discs. Encore includes a feature that lets you create a single project and save it to two different formats at once.
Figure 2: Encore CS3 includes a Flowchart mode which shows where each menu items jumps to.
Another new feature in Encore CS3 is the ability to export projects to the Flash SWF format. This enables you to easily publish your projects on the Web. Encore CS3 is also integrated tightly with Photoshop allowing you to design menus in Photoshop and import them directly into Encore. Changes can be tweaked in Photoshop and immediately propagated to Encore. Once the menu structure is looking good, you can send the menu to After Effects where you can animate the text and add motion the interface. Finally, Premiere Pro CS3 includes an Export to Encore feature that transport your current project directly to Encore.
After the project is complete, Encore can automatically handle all the required embedding and conversion. It can also optimize any codecs that you are using to fit all the content within the desired disc.
Slow Motion effects
Another new feature in Premiere Pro CS3 is the ability to create slow motion effects (or speeded up effects) using Premiere Pro without having to load the video segment into After Effects or some other package. After applying these effects, you can see the results in real-time and the software even blends between adjacent frames to produce high quality results.
Export to Flash and mobile devices
Premiere Pro CS3 can also be used to produce video for the Web. It can now export directly to the Flash (FLV) video format. You can also create Flash queue points using markers added to the Timeline palette. These queue points let you trigger interactive events within Flash.
Using Adobe Device Central CS3, which is included as part of the Creative Suite, you can easily export video files rendered in Premiere Pro CS3 to a host of mobile devices including Apple’s iPod. Device Central also lets you preview the file before you export by emulating various devices and new devices are being added to the system all the time.
SoundBooth CS3, the audio Swiss army knife
I’m also throwing coverage of SoundBooth CS3 in this review, not because it doesn’t have the depth to warrant its own review, but because it works so well with Premiere Pro. For game audio, SoundBooth CS3 is the only audio tool that you’ll need. It includes all the features needed to capture, clean up, convert, edit, layer and create audio files.
The SoundBooth interface (Figure 3) is clean and easy to follow making it accessible to the beginner, but powerful enough to be used by the experienced professional. It also looks and feels like its Adobe counterparts.
Figure 3: SoundBooth CS3 includes features for capturing, fixing and composing audio files.
Not only can SoundBooth record audio, but the Clean Up tools let you quickly remove background noise, unwanted clicks and pops and annoying rumble. There is also an Auto Heal tool (Figure 4) that works like Photoshop’s Healing Brush to strip out and remove unwanted sounds without negatively impacting the background tracks.
Figure 4: The Auto Heal tool automatically removes unwanted sounds from the current file.
Within the Effects menu are a range of audio tricks for adding delays, distortion, changing pitch and speed, reverb and many other cool edits. There is even a Vocal Enhancer feature automatically adjusts the vocal tracks to isolate them from the surrounding noise making them easy to understand and interpret. Other effects can muffle a sound to make it sound like it is under a blanket, or make the chorus of the audio file sound like an alien attack. There is also a feature for looping the audio file.
The AutoComposer Score tool lets you compose a custom soundtrack by selecting a mood and the length of the audio and it automatically generates the audio file for you. It also includes a mode where you can alter the Intensity, Volume and Lead to synchronize with a loaded video file.
SoundBooth CS3 can work with a large assortment of audio file formats including DV, MP3, MP4, WMV, MOV, and AIFF.
Summary
The ability to create Blu-Ray discs or to export to Flash video is enough of a reason to upgrade to Premiere Pro CS3. The inclusion of both OnLocation and Encore CS3 to the package increases the value of the upgrade and new features like the slow motion effect make this upgrade sweet.
For audio production, SoundBooth CS3 is an all-inclusive package that features an amazing set of features. It also integrates very nicely with the other Adobe packages making it the audio workhorse for Premiere Pro and Flash.
Premiere Pro CS3, Encore CS3, and SoundBooth CS3 all run on both Mac and Windows. While Premiere Pro CS3 Professional runs on Mac OS X, updates to allow the software to run on Mac OS X Leopard will be available in late 2007. All three can also run under both Windows XP and Vista. For more information on Premiere Pro CS3, Encore CS3, SoundBooth CS3, Creative Suite 3 Production Premium or any of the other Adobe products, visit the Adobe web site located at www.adobe.com.
Kelly L. Murdock is the president of Logical Paradox Design, a design firm specializing in design and 3d graphics. He is the author of multiple computer books including co-authoring the Creative Suite 3 Bible.
