AV News 196 - May 2014
Referring to software review sites can create further confusion. Different
reviews offer different recommendations and list entirely different pros and
cons for the same software package. Fortunately those lucky enough to own
Adobe Photoshop CS5 or CS6 Extended versions already own high quality
video editing software. This is incorporated within the 'Photoshop Extended'
version package along with 3D capabilities. CS6 launched in May 2012
included improvements to the video timeline engine previously used in CS5,
and is now more than a match for many of the specialist stand alone editing
software packages currently available.
As you would expect Photoshop Extended version handles numerous video
file formats including the most popular AVI, DV, FLV and F4V, MPEG-1,
MPEG-4, plus some formats not quite so popular. Files can be imported using
the file open command or simply by dragging and dropping video files directly
into Photoshop's Timeline. A rendered video can be exported in formats that
include DPX (Digital Picture Exchange), MOV (QuickTime), and MP4 (Moving
Picture Experts Group) these include dozens of pre-sets for particular
applications including H.264, YouTube, iPhone, Android phone, Quicktime,
and many others.
Above is a full screen view of Photoshop Extended showing its Video Timeline.
When importing or opening video clips this timeline view will appear
automatically, you can however open the timeline from the 'Window' option by
ticking 'Timeline' in the drop down menu. The large top image is a movie
preview of the active video clip. In this example three videos named Clip 1, 2,
and 3 are loaded into a 'Video Group' on one line, i.e. the purple (active clip)
and two coloured blue. Note 'Video Groups' combine multiple clips and other
content such as text, shapes, still images, fades, cross fades etc on a single
track in the timeline. Also in our above example another video clip named Clip
4 Overlay sits outside this group above the others
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