PE: Slideshow Photos at Music Beats

INTRODUCTION

Placing slideshow photos at music beats has been feature of Premiere Elements at least from 4 through 2019 soundtrack/music track. These versions include

• "detect beats" choice with manual placement of photos at the beat markers automatically set by "detect beats" choice 

or instead

• unnumbered markers manual placement coupled with media's Create Slideshow choice for automatic placement of photos at the unnumbered markers.

Especially for Premiere Elements 11 through 2019, refer to HERE for the Adobe document "Using soundtracks" and its section titled "Create beat markers for soundtracks". That document has "Applied to: Premiere Elements" and "Last Published: July 28, 2017". Also, refer to HERE for my comments in the old forum thread titled "Beat Markers" and dated March 26, 2014.

ISSUE

It was decided to share some notes on the subject, pointing out that even the media's Create Slideshow option has survived through Premiere Elements 2019.


OBSERVATIONS

For automatic placement of beat markers and manual placement of photos at those Timeline beat markers -
I used Beat Detect option in called Timeline workspace (versions at least 4 to 10) or called Expert workspace (versions 11 through 2019). Beat Detect Settings dialog and its default settings shown in Figure 1 are representative of that dialog from all the versions.

Figure 1. Beat Detect Settings Dialog And Its Default Settings Representative Of That Dialog In Premiere Elements Versions At Least 4 Through 2019.

Each photo was then dragged to an automatically placed beat marker, and photo was manually  adjusted as needed.



For manual placement of unnumbered markers at music beats heard by user and Create Slideshow automatic placement of photos at Timeline unnumbered markers -
I ran the audio clip, and, as the music played, I hit the * key to place the unnumbered marker(s) across the audio clip duration at spots where I believed I heard a music beat. This worked using the * key of the computer auxiliary keyboard (not the * key above the 8 of the computer main keyboard). Then I went to Project Assets (versions 11 through 2019), selected more than one photo at a time, right clicked in the selection, and clicked on Create Slideshow option. In the Create Slideshow dialog, I made sure that I had a check mark next to "Place Images/Clips at Unnumbered Markers". The Create Slideshow dialog and its settings shown in Figure 2  are representative of that dialog from all the versions.

Figure 2. Create Slideshow Dialog And Its Default Settings Representative Of That Dialog In Premiere Elements Versions At Least 4 Through 2019.

Note: "Place Images/Clips at Unnumbered Markers" was grayed out unless I had the unnumbered markers placed before going to the Create Slideshow which was available from the project media area. In some earlier versions of Premiere Elements (like 4 and 7), the Create Slideshow option was not present unless the media were being viewed and selected in the Project header/List View and a file thumbnail right clicked to get at the Create Slideshow option and dialog.

COMMENTARY

It was interesting to follow the evolution of this topic. Back in the days of Premiere Elements 4 and 7, that Create SlideShow dialog worked for automatic placement of photos at beat markers or unnumbered markers even though the selected option in the Create Slideshow option reads "Place Images/Clips at Unnumbered Markers".

More information to be posted when available.*

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*Generalization for Premiere Elements 11 - 2019 versions with Video Story and Instant Movie features: Adobe's placement of beat markers as part of an Instant Movie theme can be seen after the completed Instant Movie is broken apart at the Premiere Elements Expert workspace Timeline. There was no sighting of beat marker placement in a Video Story theme, another one of the "template based movie" features.

PE 2019: Quick Workspace Music Remix Adobe Documentation Issues

INTRODUCTION

The music Remix feature was introduced to Premiere Elements in version 15 and carried over to the subsequent versions of 2018 and current version 2019. See HERE for the ATR Premiere Elements Troubleshooting blog "PE 15: Music Remix (NEW), Fitting Music to Movie" dated December 25, 2016.

The Adobe's description is "The music Remix feature in Premiere Elements allows you to easily increase or decrease the length of an audio clip to match the desired duration without losing the continuity of the audio content."  It is supposed to work in the Expert and Quick workspaces. Essentially, the music Remix feature is aimed at allowing the user to change the user personal music file duration without changing the music arrangement - basically a conversion of user personal music file to a music score type.

ISSUE 

The online Adobe Premiere Elements help document for music Remix shows a generalized  "Applies to: Premiere Elements" and a last published date of the other day December 14, 2018. See HERE. The details for the feature in the Expert workspace of 15, 2018, and 2019 and Quick workspace in 15 and 2018  appear to be as advertised; but not so for the feature in the revised Quick workspace of 2019. Shortcoming - the Quick workspace illustration and details are not those for what was actually found in the 2019 revised Quick workspace.

OBSERVATIONS

Music Remix of a soundtrack was possible in the Music Track in Expert workspace of 15, 2018, and 2019 in the absence of an image in Video Track 1. And, Music Remix of a soundtrack was possible in the bar labelled for audio/sound clips in the Quick workspace of 15 and 2018 in the absence of an image in the scene space of the filmstrip.

In contrast, in the 2019 revised Quick workspace's music Remix feature focus appeared to be on a limited "Fit to Movie" although incidentally the fitting might be happening using a music Remix programming.

Noted in the 2019 revised Quick workspace's music Remix feature

• The imported soundtrack in the audio/sound clips bar presented as a band which had at its right edge a white circle with gray triangle...clicking on the gray triangle gave a pop up which included a "Fit to Movie" option...that option was grayed out unless there was an image in the first scene space of the filmstrip. 

• Clicking on the "Fit to Movie" option brought up a Remix action dialog with a "preparing your clip for Remix" message. 

• The end result might best be described as using a "Fit to Movie" option so that the soundtrack was fitted to the total duration of the filmstrip scene space images, and, in this fitting, a music Remix program was used. There is no signs of any remix handles in this new 2019 revised Quick workspace at the level of the imported soundtrack in the workspace's  audio/sound clips bar.

COMMENTARY

The simplest case* for getting through a music Remix workflow in 2019 revised Quick workspace appeared to be:

• Import one or more images to filmstrip scene spaces

• Import a single soundtrack into the audio/sound clips bar

• Use "Fit to Movie" option found in pop up from soundtrack in audio/sound clips bar in order to get soundtrack to fit to total duration of the scene space images.

The Adobe documentation for its Premiere Elements music Remix feature did not agree with what I actually found in Premiere Elements 2019 Quick workspace. Until proven otherwise, it appears that Adobe Premiere Elements 2019 help documentation for its 2019 revised Quick workspace should be looked at by Adobe. It is not understood why Adobe documentation dated only the other day should contain this kind of issue (now about 2 months after release of the 2019 version).

More news to follow on this topic as more information becomes available.** Still reviewing any user misinterpretation versus 2019 documentation update needed from Adobe.

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*One scenario explored was filmstrip with 6 scene space images (each 5 seconds duration), and two soundtracks in the audio/sound clips bar. To get first soundtrack fitted to first 3 scene space images and the second soundtrack fitted to last 3 scene space images....
3 scene space images  imported
First soundtrack imported
Fit to Movie option applied
then
3 more scene space images imported
Second soundtrack imported
Fit to Movie option applied
**Sound quality of Remixed soundtrack was not good nor smooth in these quick explorations. Music Remix Target duration less than 60 seconds probably impacted that sound quality issue. The latter minimum Remix duration was found to apply to the Remix feature and not the Premiere Elements version/workspaces.  A lot more explorations into music Remix in 2019 revised Quick workspace needed.


ATR

PE 2019: Picture-In-Picture Effect in Revised Quick Workspace Removed?

INTRODUCTION

"Workspace Basics" dated October 4, 2018 is one of the Adobe Premiere Elements 2019 documents published online at the time of the release of the Premiere Elements 2019 latest version. The document details include those for the 2019 revised Quick workspace as well as those for the prior 2018 Quick workspace. See HERE. There is no mention of the picture-in-picture effect in this document for either version 2019 or 2018. And, the latest Adobe document found to address create a picture-in-picture overlay in Quick view was dated July 28, 2017. See HERE and its sections for "Create a picture-in-picture overlay in the Quick view" as well as "Create a picture-in-picture overlay in Expert view".

ISSUE*

The details for "Create a picture-in-picture overlay in Quick view" were found applicable to Premiere Elements 2018 but not Premiere Elements 2019. No way was found in those details to create a picture-in-picture effect in Quick workspace of Premiere Elements 2019. I had to go to the Premiere Elements 2019 Expert workspace in order to create a picture-in-picture effect in a project. These studies were done with Premiere Elements 2018 and 2019 on Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit, Windows 10 Home 64 bit, and Windows 10 Professional 64 bit.

DETAILS

Premiere Elements 2018 Quick workspace picture in picture workflow that will or will not work in Premiere Elements 2019 Quick workspace

STEP 1
Add Media/Files and Folders to import background image (photo or video) with the Open command of the Add Media dialog. Instead of Add Medial/Files and Folder route to the background image, Windows key + E followed by selected image drag and drop into Quick workspace monitor.
Note: worked in 2018 and 2019.

STEP 2
Windows key + E** to bring up Windows Explorer/File Explorer and then navigation to photo or video wanted as overlay. Drag of selected image into monitor of Premiere Elements 2018 Quick workspace monitor, immediately followed by Picture in Picture pop up which included the picture-in- picture option.
Note: worked in 2018, but in 2019 there was no pop up with picture-in-picture option, and the end result was the image in its own scene space and not as an overlay for the background image in its scene space.

STEP 3
Clicked on picture-in-picture option which immediately placed overlay on background image and generated a Picture in Picture dialog which included settings for overlay duration, inserted at, ends at. Clicked Done when finished.
Note: worked in 2018, not applicable to 2019 since no Picture in Picture option in Step 2.

SOLUTION

No explanation nor solution for the above results was found for the Premiere Elements 2019 Quick workspace behavior related to the picture-in-picture effect. Pending further insights into this situation, two workarounds used for this 2019 Quick problems were

• Better to do picture-in-picture effect in Premiere Elements 2019 Expert workspace - worked for video-in-video, photo-in-video, video-in-photo, and photo-in-photo.

• But possible in Premiere Elements 2019 Quick workspace, to do opened Titler's Text Menu/Add Image (See HERE) - worked for photo-in-video and photo-in-photo.

More information as it becomes available related to

• This Premiere Elements 2019 issue

• Adobe documentation and update needed

• User misunderstanding

• Other
  

COMMENTARY

There is a fine line between "revised workspace" and "feature removed from a workspace". I am still exploring the difference.

FYI note - Adobe's acknowledged list of "no longer supported by Premiere Elements 2019" includes

• Flash files

• DVD (Mac only)

• Quick time format

• Direct share on Facebook

See HERE for Adobe document containing 2019 removed features details.
 
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*As an aside note, I am also having problems with opening Guided lessons in the Premiere Elements 2019 Quick workspace. See HERE.
**This step also worked by using cascading windows technique instead of Windows key + E.

PE 2019: Guided Edits Opening Only For Expert Workspace Based Lessons

INTRODUCTION 

The Premiere Elements 2019 Editor workspaces (modes) are Quick, Guided, and Expert. The Guided mode  is described by Adobe in its October 4, 2018 document titled "Guided Mode" found HERE. The Guided mode offers a variety of lessons (reportedly with Quick and Expert versions). To navigate to the Quick version of a Guided lesson, Adobe says click Quick tab, then click Guided tab. To navigate to the Expert version of a Guided lesson, Adobe says click Expert tab, then click Guided tab.

For Premiere Elements 2019, the titles for the Guided Edits categories and lessons are:
 
Basics
Get Started
Trim and split clips
Add transitions between clips
Add Titles

Video Adjustments
Fix brightness, color, and contrast
Color Pop
Animate graphics
Add an adjustment layer
Fix action cam footage
Luma fade transition effect  (New)

Audio Adjustments
Add narration
Add a musical score

Fun Edits
Put a video inside your title
Crate slow or fast-motion effects
Crate a picture-in-picture effect
Apply an effects mask
Create a freeze frame with motion title
Create an animated social post
Create Bounce Back Effect
Glass pane effect (New)

ISSUE

For Premiere Elements 2019 Editor, it did not matter if Quick tab/then Guided tab or Expert tab/then Guided tab, I find that always the Expert version of the selected lesson opens in the Expert workspace with instructions applicable to the Expert workspace.

In contrast, for Premiere Elements 2018 Editor, that issue was not found to exist. In Premiere Elements 2018, clicking Quick tab/then Guided tab has the selected lesson opening in Quick workspace with instructions applicable to the Quick workspace. And, clicking Expert tab/then Guided tab has the selected lesson opening in Expert workspace with instructions applicable to the Expert workspace.

I have seen this behavior with Premiere Elements 2018 and 2019 on 3 different computers ... Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit, Windows 10 Home 64 bit, and Windows 10 Professional 64 bit.

I have not found this issue reported online and am continuously looking for an explanation - program flaw or issue unique to my setup. The Adobe document cited above is dated October 4, 2018 with an Applies to: Premiere Elements. Because of the document dating, I have assumed that the document's instructions are applicable to Premiere Elements 2018 and Premiere Elements 2019.

Future areas of focus 

• Premiere Elements 2018 used was purchased version; whereas, Premiere Element 2019 was tryout version (which are typically full featured).

• Adobe October 4, 2018 document's instructions might not have been updated for Premiere Elements 2019.

SOLUTION

No solution found to date. Over the years I have typically preferred the Expert workspace; consequently, the solution for some might be to use the Expert workspace for your projects, Guided or otherwise.

More information to follow as it becomes available.

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ATR