Comprising all of Adobe’s essential Windows-based video software in a single suite, Production Studio Premium aims to provide the one-stop solution for video production houses that Creative Suite delivers to commercial artists. It’s headed by new versions of its key titles, notably the video editor Premiere Pro 2.0 and the motion graphics tool After Effects 7.0 Professional.

Complementary titles such as Audition 2.0 provide audio-editing facilities, while Encore DVD 2.0 takes care of DVD authoring. Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator CS2 provide bitmap and vector support respectively. Further Creative Suite influences can be found with the inclusion of Adobe Bridge for universal asset management controls, while the new Dynamic Link feature integrates the titles more tightly.

The first thing that becomes apparent when opening any of the primary titles is the revised interface. All the titles share similar features, including innovative docking and resizing controls. Timelines across the titles remain consistent and provide familiarity, while keyboard shortcuts have become unified to improve workflow. Even Audition has removed lingering traces of its original identity as Cool Edit, making the combined tools at last feel like a true collaborative environment.

Premiere Pro
Premiere Pro 2.0 now enables an extra level of video creativity through support for multiple camera editing. With the new quad-view monitor, you can view the results of up to four cameras that were filming the same shoot, and switch and edit between them in real time without worrying too much about sync inconsistencies.

Up-to-date video support is expected in any new release. Premiere caters for standard and high-definition formats including DV, SD, HDV, HDCAM, D5 HD and Windows Media, all at popular resolutions and frame rates. For serious video professionals using the AJA Xena HS real-time encoding card, there’s even native support for SD and HD. This means Premiere can capture and lay off video from any HD-SDI or SD-SDI VTR, making this a powerful combo of capture and delivery tools for playing back to Digi Beta or D5.

Native support for 10-bit video files is joined by support for 16-bit Photoshop files and 32-bit colour processing, which can also now be found within After Effects. Colour correction is both more precise and much smoother than was previously possible, and provides noticeable differences with colour matching. And with GPU-accelerated rendering, you’ll notice a difference in performance as well as additional effects and transitions.

DVD output is also handled within Premiere. The results, although effective, barely scratch the surface of what a dedicated application such as the supplied Encore DVD has to offer. But for a quick-fix menu-driven DVD, the inclusion will be appreciated by production staff: the results are more than adequate for digital dailies or test discs.

Editors will also appreciate the new review and approval methods, which make effective use of familiar PDF technologies and include the ability to embed or stream video. This allows a client to preview and make comments on your pre-production work using nothing more complicated than Acrobat Reader.

Being able to pause video and make comments relating directly to a specific point in the current reel is a significant advance too. Once returned, the comments automatically create clip markers within the timeline, enabling you to see exactly which points the review notes address.

After Effects 7 Professional provides a strong motion graphics accompaniment to Premiere’s editing tools. In common with its related titles, the program’s interface now follows the tabbed palette standard. An adjusted workspace can be saved for future use: preset configurations are available for specific tasks, such as motion-tracking or painting.

One of the most impressive additions to the new version is to be found through the new controls available for editing animation and keyframes. The new Graph Editor provides Bézier handles, colour coding for spatial curves and freeform controls that help to make transitions and transformations much smoother.

There are some subtle editing influences from Macromedia Flash to be found within these timeline controls, while others could be easily find their way back into the vector animation tool now that the Adobe acquisition of Macromedia is complete. The method may take a little getting used to, but thanks to intuitive tools that most users will be familiar with through using Photoshop, this shouldn’t present too many issues. The strengths of the new approach will be quickly realised.

Noticeable benefits to real-time performance are possible when using OpenGL cards: blending modes, motion blur, anti-aliasing, track mattes, high-quality shadows and transparency come into effect to extend the potential of your output. Similarly, with the Pro version you can now achieve powerful speed effects courtesy of the new Timewarp feature, which slows or speeds up footage effectively with minimal distortion. Timewarp analyses pixel motion between frames, using vector techniques that can be found with some image-resampling applications.

DVD and audio
For DVD output, Production Studio Premium provides Encore DVD 2.0. Thanks to its comprehensive support for fully layered Photoshop files, you can make use of Adobe’s flagship title – also included – to create the look and feel of your DVD interface before taking the end result into Encore. This makes sure that you retain full control of all the embedded elements.

Both hard-nosed pro’s and occasional users will be grateful for the new Flowchart feature. With influences from Dreamweaver’s site map function, the Flowchart provides a clear graphical tree structure for understanding the content of your DVD. This displays the hierarchy of content and how it is related, and enables you to drag and drop page locations onto each other to create the basic structure. It also provides a useful central location for accessing individual points or pages to edit.

Audition 2.0 is a dedicated audio application. Support for ASIO cards provides a more direct approach to editing than previously: you can hear changes made in real time, with reduced latency. Locating specific points is easier thanks to new tape and shuttle scrubbing methods, while the frequency space environment gives you a more visual approach to recognising waveform content.

Bonus utilities
The inclusion of key imaging programs from the Adobe range complete the package of editing tools available to you. Little introduction is needed for Photoshop CS2, nor for the vector package Illustrator CS2. Add to this the integration provided through Bridge and Dynamic Link, and you’ll find Production Suite Premium contains everything you’ll need to create your next blockbuster epic. Apart from the video camera itself, of course...