Can you really create a new trimmed project as per the old and recent Adobe documentation on the use of the Project Archiver's Archive Project option?
The Archive Project option generates a folder named Trimmed which contains a project file and only the source media that existed on the project's Timeline. But, when that Timeline source media consist of video trims from the Preview Windows Set In Set Out points, the expectations in the Trimmed Folder include
- a new project file
- the new project file's source media being the Timeline trim and not the whole video from which it was trimmed
- for the trim, 30 frames of extra footage before the In Point and After the Out Point (handles)
ISSUE
In spite of the Adobe documentation on the use of the Project Archiver's Archive Project option, the above expectations have not been met since Premiere Elements 4, 7, and 8.0/8.0.1. Simply put, the Project Archiver's Archive Project option does not work as advertised for Premiere Elements 9.0/9.0.1, 10, 11, and the current version 12.
And, even when it does work in Premiere Elements 4, 7, and 8.0/8.0.1, it does not for all video formats.
SOLUTION
No solution was found for this issue. All that was left to do was to report* where expectations did not meet reality. The Project Archiver/Archive Project option was used to create a Trimmed Folder for Timeline trims of the following formats** in Premiere Elements 4 through 12
- DV.AVI Standard 720 x 480 @ 29.97 interlaced frames per second
- AVCHD.MP4 1920 x 1080 @ 29.97 progressive frames per second
- H.264.MOV 1920 x 1080 @ 29.97 progressive frames per second
- a new project file
- the new project file's source media being the Timeline trim and not the whole video from which it was trimmed
- for the trim, 30 frames of extra footage before the In Point and After the Out Point (handles)
The results are summarized for each format in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 below.
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| Table 1. DV AVI Std Results. |
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| Table 2. H.264.MOV Results. |
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| Figure 3. AVCHD.MP4 Results. |
Lots of information in Tables 1, 2, and 3, some explainable, some not. But, just focusing in on the DV.AVI Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 study (Table 1), what is the specific evidence in support of the expectations for
- a new project file
- the new project file's source media being the Timeline trim and not the whole video from which it was trimmed
- for the trim, 30 frames of extra footage before the In Point and After the Out Point (handles)
If the Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 project was opened, the DV.AVI file imported, the project saved/closed, then the file size of the project file (project.prel) saved to the computer hard drive was 118 KB. But, in the Trimmed Folder, the project file had a file size of 144 KB.
the new project file's source media being the Timeline trim and not the whole video from which it was trimmed
If the project file in the Trimmed Folder was opened, the project opened to a Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 workspace showing only the trim on the Timeline, and the file in Project Media had a file size of 224 MB and not 760 MB.
for the trim, 30 frames of extra footage before the In Point and After the Out Point (handles)
The trim created with the Preview Window's Set In and Set Out points was 00;01;00;00 (1 minute and no seconds). Yet the trim in the Trimmed Folder had a duration of 00;01;02;00 (1 minutes, 2 seconds.). In a 30 frames per second system, those extra 2 seconds for the trim file duration in the Trimmed Folder can be explained by the concept of handles and "30 frames of extra footage....."
There was no option to set set the handles of this option to anything else.
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*More information on this matter will be posted when and if it is available.
**The same source video was used to create the 3 files, each with a different format. All Premiere Elements versions used Display Format of 30 fps Drop-Frame Timecode. Although the Premiere Elements project preset did not seem to factor into this matter, each format was imported into a program's project whose settings matched those of the imported format as close as possible.
IMPORTANT UPDATE. November 1, 2014. This "New Trimmed Project" of Premiere Elements (the topic of this blog) that has not worked since Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 is now working in newly released Premiere Elements 13 (at least the tryout version of it).
ATR
