Walkthrough: Adobe Premiere Elements 9  (10/2010)
    Enhancements and Visual Tour

    by Douglas Dixon

About the New Adobe Elements 9
New / Enhanced Features - Summary
Elements Organizer - Interface & Visual Tour
Premiere Elements - Interface & Visual Tour
   Organize Tab - Acquire, organize media
   Edit Tab - Assemble, edit, enhance media
   Disc Menus Tab - Create interactive menus for DVD / Blu-ray discs
   Share Tab - Save, export, upload
System Requirements
Adobe Elements 9 Products

A summary of the new Adobe Premiere Elements 9 -- 
    Key new features and enhancements, with a visual tour of the interface and functions

Adobe links:

• Adobe Premiere Elements 9 - www.adobe.com/products/premiereel
  • PR 9/10 - Adobe Premiere Elements 9
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 - www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel
  • PR 9/10 - Adobe Photoshop Elements 9
• Adobe Consumer Photo and Video Products - www.adobe.com/digitalimag/consumer
  

See articles on previous versions:

• Summary: Adobe Premiere Elements 8 (9/09)
• Adobe Premiere Elements 8 Reviewed (9/09, Videomaker Magazine)
• Summary: Adobe Premiere Elements 7 (9/08)
• Adobe Premiere Elements 4 & Photoshop Elements 6 (3/08)
• Summary: Adobe Premiere Elements 4 (11/07)
•   Summary: Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 (11/07)
• Easier Editing: Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 (1/07)
•   Summary: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 (1/07)
• Getting to DVD with Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 (11/05)
• Getting Started with Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Elements (1/05)

Find related Adobe articles in the Manifest Tech Blog

Find Adobe Premiere Elements 9 on Amazon.com
Find Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 & Premiere Elements 9 bundle on Amazon

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About Adobe Elements 9

The Adobe Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements applications provide an accessible interface for enthusiast consumers that still provides access to significant chunks of the underlying power and flexibility of Adobe's professional Premiere Pro CS5 and Photoshop CS5 applications, including video tracks with keyframed effects, and images with layers and effects.

Yes, the Elements applications add a friendlier consumer interface with extensive tips and tutorials, and simplified editing modes like the video storyboard and one-click photo quick fixes. But idea is to provide a growth path as you get more experienced -- so you can start simply, but then not hit a dead end in the application as your editing gets more sophisticated.

The bottom line is that Adobe has designed the Elements tools for motivated enthusiasts who want to do more than a quick occasional edit -- people who are motivated and organized about shooting and managing their footage, and willing to put in the effort to tag and analyze it.

As a result, the Elements line is about more than accessible editing -- It's built around three major themes: Organization, Automated analysis and editing, and Online sharing.

    Premiere Elements 9 - Animated Cartoon look - NewBlue Cartoonr Plus

Organizer

Beyond the core Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements applications, the Elements products are built around the Elements Organizer, a separate application for importing, organizing, and tagging both photos and video. In the Organizer, you can can drag and drop to group and apply albums and tags, even with a Keyword Tag Cloud for frequently used tags.

Then click to select albums or tags, or do a search, to isolate the media that you want to edit.

Automation

Beyond manual tagging, Elements supports automated analysis -- As you import media in the Elements Organizer, it can apply the Auto-Analyzer to determine the video quality. After detecting scene changes, it detects and tags clips based on video features, audio characteristics, and video content. And for photos, it not only finds multiple faces in images, but then does people recognition -- prompting you to enter the names of different people, and then finding additional matches to those faces.

Of course, this analysis requires significant processing time, so the Organizer will crunch away in the background as you import new collections of media (and can continue running even if you close the application). This is similar to the background processing in Premiere Elements for conforming the audio and rendering the timeline.

The pay-off for this automated analysis, and all your work in organizing albums and manually tagging clips, is not just a warm and fuzzy feeling. Given all this information about your clips, Premiere Elements then can be much more intelligent in performing a new level of automated editing, including creating a polished movie using a theme, plus automated trimming, stabilization and lighting fixes, and audio balancing. Plus, motion tracking adds graphics overlays that automatically move with subjects in footage. These assists can be fully automated, or customized by selecting specific options and modifying the results.

Online Sharing

Elements also provides is even stronger support for online backup and sharing though Photoshop.com (using your Adobe ID). Your media catalog can be automatically backed up online, organized in albums that can be private or shared. And the online catalog can be used to sync your media across multiple computers running Elements.

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New / Enhanced Features 

Mac OS

• New - Now fully available for Mac OS
  
  • with Organizer - Smart organization, sharing, instant movies, access backup, tutorials, artwork

Import

• New - Import from compact HD camcorders, including Flip camcorders and DSLR still cameras
• Enhanced - Optimized SD and HD editing, including AVCHD - From Premiere Pro

Edit

• New - Cartoon Fx look - Animated look, customize styles - NewBlue Cartoonr Plus
• New - Fix audio problems - Reduce background noise, volume and clarity - NewBlue Cleaner
• Enhanced - InstantMovie - New themes

Share

• New - Share videos and photos on Facebook - directly from Organizer - Automatically optimizes
• New - Share as interactive Web DVD experience - with scene index and chapter menus - directly from Organizer
• Enhanced - Share Online Albums with animated templates (Flash)
• Enhanced - Relevant how-tos appear when you need them for creative inspiration

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Elements Organizer -- Interface and Features -- Visual Tour

• Fully featured Elements Organizer - Easy to use media management hub
      Find, view, and protect your video clips and photos in one convenient place
      Protect with automatic online backup and 2 GB of free storage (20 GB with Plus)
      Access and share from anywhere

    Elements Organizer - Organize tab
       - Thumbnails of media clips on left
       - Attributes on right: Albums, Keyword Tags, Smart Tags, Star Ratings

Organizer Workflow

• Get photos and videos from camera or card, scanner, folders, by searching; Watch folders
• View, organize, edit as thumbnail, or full-screen (side by side photos)
• Organize / share in multiple catalogs, Backup / restore catalog from optical or hard drive
• Organize in smart Albums, apply Keyword Tags, Run Auto-Analyzer to smart tag files
• Search by media attributes, date, history
• Burn data disc, Copy to removable disk
• Apply photo fixes directly, make photo creations
• Share directly, burn to disc, upload and share online
• Launch Photoshop Elements or Premiere Elements for more advanced editing and sharing

Organize Tab

• Preview clips as thumbnails, full window
      Full Screen view (F11): Film Strip thumbnails on side panel, Slide Show
          Side by Side View (Above and Below) to compare two clips
          Quick Organize: Albums and Tags
          Quick Edit: Photo Rotate, Edit (Auto adjustments), Delete, Mark for Print
• Assign Star Ratings - 1 to 5
• Organize in Albums
      Organize in nested Albums
      Control sharing via Photoshop.com
      Create Smart Albums that automatically collect media based on defined criteria.
• Assign Tags
      Apply Keyword Tags (People, Places, Events), with sub-categories
      Smart Tags - Split scenes and identify the most interesting, highest-quality clips
          Scene detection - automatically split footage into individual scenes
          High/Medium/Low Quality, In Focus/Blurred, Too Bright/Dark, High/Low Contrast, Shaky
              Audio (dialog, music, low/high volume), No Objects, Single Object
              Faces (one / two, small/large group, close up / long), Motion (pan / tilt / zoom)
      Keyword Tag Cloud icon - Video tag list as cloud, larger if more frequently used
• Assign multiple: Select clips and click or type to apply albums and tags, or drag and drop multiple tags
• Tag & rating information then used for automated tools: InstantMovie, SmartFix, SmartTrim

Fix Tab

• Photo Fix Options - Auto Smart Fix, Color, Levels, Contrast, Sharpen etc.
• Edit Photos - Quick Photo Edit, Guided Photo Edit, Full Photo Edit (Photoshop Elements)
• Edit Videos (Premiere Elements)

Create Tab

• Photo creations - Photo Prints, Photo Book, Greeting Card, Calendar, Collage, Slide Show, PhotoStamps)
• Video creations - Instant Movie, DVD with Menu (Premiere Elements)
• More Options - CD / DVD Jacket, CD/DVD Label, VCD with Menu, Flipbook)

Share Tab

• Online Album - To Photoshop.com with animated template
      Export to CD/DVD, FTP, Hard Disk
• E-mail Attachments, Photo Mail
• Disc - Burn Video DVD / Blu-ray (Premiere Elements)
      Burn data CD / DVD
• Online Video Sharing (Premiere Elements)
• Mobile Phones and Players (Premiere Elements)
• Share to Flickr, Facebook, SmugMug Gallery
• More options - PDF Slide Show, Send to CEIVA Digital Photo Frame, Share with Kodak Easyshare Gallery

    
     Elements Organizer - Fix, Create, and Share tabs

Automatic Analysis

• Smart Tagging works automatically on import, clicks already analyzed
      Auto-Analyzer button at bottom of window shows status
• Auto-Analyzer: Process footage for characteristics and quality, set Smart Tags
      Preferences to automatically analyze all media in catalog on import
      Runs in background, optionally only when system idle. Optionally runs on startup
      Filters: Audio, Blur, Brightness and Contrast, Face, Motion,Object Motion, Shake
      Icon below thumbnail window to show status, enable / disable
• Recognize People: Find faces, tag with names
      Optionally search and tag faces automatically, Scan photos and prompt to identify faces

Online Backup / Synchronization

• Backup to Photoshop.com account (though Adobe ID) to protect files
• Sharing options for each Album (not Smart Albums) - Personal URL at Photoshop.com
      Share, Display in My Gallery, E-mail notifications, Permissions to download and order prints
• Sync from online to multiple computers
      Media added, deleted, or edited on one computer is automatically be synced to another
• Preferences to enable/disable Backup/Sync,
      Set new albums to Backup/Sync automatically, Ask before deleting, Resolve conflicts, Size, File types
• Icon below thumbnail window to show status, enable / disable, resolve conflicts
      View files backed up, not backed up, pending

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Visual Tour -- Premiere Elements -- Interface and Features

    A visual tour of Premiere Elements 8 interface elements and associated features.

Interface Design

• Intuitive interface, clean, easy-to-use workspace
      Darker appearance, so images pop out from gray background
      (Removed color-coded tabs, Edit > Preferences > General - User Interface Brightness)
• Common Elements Organizer for media management shared with Photoshop Elements
      Common database accessible from either application
• Visually tag video clips and photos to categorize by people, places, or events
• View, search, sort assets in a variety of ways - file name, tag, date, time

   Premiere Elements 9 interface - Edit tab - Cartoon Effect
      - Monitor panel (top left)
      - Tasks panel (top right) - Edit panel - Video Effects - Edit effect parameters
      - Project panel (bottom) - Timeline

Interface Elements

• Monitor panel (top left) - Display clips
• Tasks panel (top right) - Color-coded tabs: Organize, Edit, Disc Menus, Share
• Project panel (bottom) - Sceneline / Timeline
• Floating panels, hidden by default:
  - Info panel - Information about selected item
  - History panel - Undo list
  - Events panel - Errors / messages
  - Audio Meters, Audio Mixer
• Drag and drop to move / resize / dock (hold down Ctrl)
      Use Window > Show Docking Headers to see names of panels
• Tutorials for creative inspiration
      Message Pod with light bulb icon and text appears at bottom right of window 
          suggests helpful tutorials for current actions
      Click to show Inspiration Pod mini-window with tutorial descriptions
      Click Learn How to display Inspiration Browser to review all tutorials, video and PDF

Tasks panel - Workflow tabs

• Organize - Get, review media, InstantMovie, Projects
• Edit - Edit clips into movie: Effects, Transitions, Titles, Themes, Clip Art
• Disc Menus - Create interactive DVD / Blu-ray disc menus
• Share - Export / upload movie: Online, portable devices

Monitor panel - Edit and preview

• Preview and edit clips, apply effects, create titles, position overlay images and text
• Trim and split clips, drop filters and effects on a frame
• Create picture-in-picture effects, type titles and text on screen
• Shows Text tools when editing titles: Type, shapes, lines, colors
• Becomes Disc Layout panel for Disc Menus workspace

Project panel - Sceneline / Timeline

• Sceneline (storyboard) - Arrange clips, apply titles, transitions, effects
      Drag and drop, copy and paste thumbnails of clips
• Timeline - Trim, layer, and synchronize multiple tracks of media
      View starting and ending point of each event to synchronize multiple events
      Up to 99 audio and video tracks

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Organize Tab: Acquire, organize media

    Organize  tab - Organize
        - Monitor panel (top left)
        - Tasks panel (top right) - Organize tab showing Media clips
        - Project panel (bottom) - Timeline with clips

• Get Media tab - Import or capture video, still, audio
      Video -DV Camcorder, HDV Camcorder
          DVD Camcorder or PC DVD drive
          Flip, AVCHD, Cameras and Phones
          Webcam or WDM Device
      Photos - Digital Still Camera & Phones    
      Videos / Photos / Audio - Files and Folders
• Media tab - Find media files from Organizer
      Filter by media type, album, tags, ratings
• Organizer tab - Switch to Elements Organizer to categorize and tag
• InstantMovie tab - Automatically create movie from clips using theme (switch to Edit tab)
• Project tab - View project media files

Import / Export Formats include:

• AVCHD (import only), Blu-ray Disc (export only)
• DV-AVI (import/export on Windows, import only on Mac OS), DVD, Dolby Digital Stereo
• H.264, HDV, MPEG-1 (import only), MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MP3, QuickTime, Windows Media (Windows only)
• Import/export of some formats may require free activation via Internet connection
• DV/i.LINK/FireWire/IEEE 1394 interface required to connect a Digital 8 DV or HDV camcorder
• USB2 interface required to connect a DV‐via‐USB compatible DV camcorder
• QuickTime 7 software required if importing/exporting QuickTime formats
• Windows Media Player required if importing/exporting Windows Media formats

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Edit Tab: Assemble, edit, enhance media

Edit and preview directly in large Monitor window
        Trim and split clips, drop filters and effects on the frame
            create fun picture-in-picture effects, type titles and text directly on the screen
    Assemble production on Sceneline (storyboard) or Timeline
    Browse and apply elements by visual thumbnails, drag and drop to apply to video
        Customize with slider controls
        Select and click Edit Effects / Transitions to edit - Properties
    Use Organize tab to review media elements (Project) and add new clips (Media)

    Edit tab - Effects
       - Monitor panel (top left)
       - Tasks panel (top right) - Edit tab showing Transitions
       - Project panel (bottom) - Multi-track Timeline with video and audio clips

• Effects - Apply video and audio effects and presets
      Video Effects categories - Adjust, Blur & Sharpen, Channel, Distort, Generate, Image Control,
             Keying, Perspective, Pixelate, Render, Stylize, Time, Transform
             NewBlue Art Effects, NewBlue Cartoonr Plus, NewBlue Film Look
             Video Stabilizer - Restore shaky footage
             Videomerge - Extract moving subject from solid color (green-screen) backgrounds 
                overlay into a new background setting
• Transitions - Apply video and audio transitions
      3D Motion, Dissolve, Iris, Map, Wipe, Page Peel, Picture Wipes, Slide, Special Effect, Stretch, Wipe, Zoom
      NewBlue 3D Explosions, NewBlue 3D Transformations, NewBlue Art Blends, NewBlue Motion Blends
• Titles - Apply pre-formatted titles with event and design themes
      Title, frame, scrolling credits, lower third designs
      Edit and align type
      Customize style with shadows, glows, effects
      Animate to fade, bounce, spin, zoom, scroll
• Themes - Apply automated movie themes
      Add professional touches to clips: title, effects, transitions
      Event-based - including Wedding, Birthday, Travel
      Style-based - including Comic Book, Music Video
      Slideshow: Pan and Zoom, Wedding Doves
• Clip Art - Frames, objects, and animations  to add to video
      Baby, Food, Home, Nature, Sports, Speech Bubbles, Fire, Clouds, etc.
      Some HD, some animated artwork

Enhance with Effects and Styles

• Enhance movies with fun, stylish motion graphics, effects, transitions, themes, titles, and disc menus.
• Motion-tracking - Add graphics, text, effects that automatically move with the subjects in your scene
      Add thought bubbles or hats above people’s heads
• Artwork library - Fun frames, objects, and animations
• Movie video effects - Motion blur, cartoon effects
      Apply effect to a specific area of a scene and keep it locked on the action with motion tracking
• Play with visual effects - Browse effects by visual thumbnails
      Drag and drop to apply to video, modify using easy slider controls
      New effects include Duochrome, Dreamglow, Film Look (Ongoing delivery of effects with Plus)
• Movie themes for cinematic flair 
      Coordinated music, transitions, effects, disc menus, title screens (Ongoing delivery of themes with Plus)

Smart Tools for Automated Editing

• Use Auto-Analyze Smart Tags to indicate quality and interest of sections of footage (Elements Organizer)
      Content intelligence: Positive and negative characteristics of footage
• InstantMovie - Automatically create movie from clips using theme (Organize tab)
      Edits best clips together with coordinated music, titles, effects, and transitions
      Choice of movie themes, using creative techniques from Hollywood directors
      Selects and trims clips, determines order and timing, based on quality tags and ratings
      Adds music, titles, effects, and transitions based on themes (styles and events)
      Customization options to control Speed and Intensity (number of cuts)
      Advanced users can further edit the result
      Use Pan and Zoom slideshow theme for cinematic slide show imported from Photoshop Elements
• Smart Trim - Automatically cut bad footage, or recommend cuts
      Remove least interesting, lowest quality footage; fit desired duration
      Automatic, or manual - mark suggested trims with blue diagonal lines
      Customize: Set Quality and Interest Level
      Icon above Timeline/Sceneline
• SmartFix - Automatically fix imperfections
      Fix shaky footage and color and lighting problems (Shadow / Highlight)
      Automatically offers to fix when drag to Sceneline
• SmartMix - Automatically balance audio elements 
      Add music and sound effects without overpowering dialog or background audio
      Mixer Options to assign specific tracks as foreground, background, disabled
• Motion Tracking - Add graphics, text, effects that automatically move with subjects in footage
      Select clip in Timeline/Sceneline, click Motion Tracking icon above, Runs Auto analyze
      Play clip to preview tracking with yellow rectangle in Motion Tracking mode
      Drag artwork to object's tracking rectangle to apply and track (Motion keyframes)
      Drag effects to object's tracking rectangle, adjust size, to apply and track (Mask)

Audio Tools

Audio Tools icon / menu above Timeline / Sceneline

• SmartMix - Automatically balance audio elements
      Add music and sound effects without overpowering dialog or background audio
• Audio Mix - Easy audio mixing and refinement
      Audio Mixer window works like a mixing board in a recording studio
          Adjust relative volumes with sliders: dialog, background music, sound effects
      Smart Mixer by foreground / background
• Add Narration - Record voice narration (from sound card)
• Detect Beats - Create slide shows and movies that move to the music
      Automatically detects tempo of musical soundtrack (Clip > Beat Detect)
      Syncs beginning and end of each scene with the beats
• Add Narration - Record voice narration track
• SmartSound - Add soundtrack (also Tools icon in Organize / Project panel)
      Automatically adjust to match the length of movie 
      Automatically detects music tempo and syncs the beginning and end of each scene to beats
• Time Stretch - Maintain audio pitch (Clip >Time Stretch)

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Disc Menus Tab: Create interactive menus for DVD / Blu-ray discs

   Disc Menus tab - Main menu - Design DVD
       - Monitor panel (top left) - Main menu template, edit to customize, main and scene menus below
       - Tasks panel (top right) - Menu options

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Share Tab: Export  /  Upload

    Share to computer files, DVD / Blu-ray disc, online, portable devices
    Share movies - via DVD, Blu-ray Disc, mobile devices, Photoshop.com, YouTube, and more
    Online Albums - Share videos on the web with dynamic, animated templates (via Organizer)

   Share Menus tab - Sharing options

• WebDVD - Build interactive DVD to view online or on PC
      Use Disc Menus tab to create interactive menus
• Disc - Burn DVD disc, and HD to Blu-ray disc
      Use Disc Menus tab to create main and scene menus
• Online - Direct upload to video sharing websites
      Photoshop.com, YouTube, Podbean podcasts [removed FTP to other websites]
      Presets for Adobe Flash video
• Computer - Export files for viewing on computers
      Adobe Flash Video - for posting online
      MPEG - for PC playback or DVD
      AVI - for editing in Premiere Elements, including DV
      Windows Media - for Windows playback
      QuickTime - for Mac playback
      Image - for still images
      Audio - for audio only
• Mobile Phones and Players - Export for mobile devices
      Apple iPod and iPhone - i.e., H.264 640x480, 320x240
      Audio Podcast - H.264 (AAC) / MP3
      Creative Zen - WMV 320x240
      Microsoft Zune - WMV 320x240
      Pocket PC - WMV 240x176
      Smartphone - WMV 224x128 landscape, 176x144 portrait
      Sony PSP - H.264  320x240
      Mobile Phone - 3GP - MPEG4 176x144, 320x240, 352x288 H.263
• Tape - Record to DV or HDV camcorder

Online Backup and Sharing - Photoshop.com

• Share interactive photo albums and videos online
• Access photos and movies online from any web-enabled computer using online Organizer
• Automatic backup to online storage: Basic 2 GB, Plus 20 GB
  • Plus level $49.99 per year for 20 GB of storage space
  • www.adobe.com/products/psprelements/membership
• Regular inspiration updates (Plus): Download new creative project elements on regular basis
  • Tutorials, themes, templates, artwork into Elements applications
• Photoshop Express mobile: Upload, view, and share photos on the go
  • iPhone, iPad, Android
  • http://mobile.photoshop.com

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System Requirements

Minimum System Requirements include:

Windows

• Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows Media Center, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
• 2GHz or faster processor with SSE2 support;
  • 3GHz processor required for HDV or Blu‐ray; dual-core processor required for AVCHD
• 1GB of RAM; 2GB required for HD editing (including HDV, AVCHD, or Blu‐ray)
• 4GB of available hard‐disk space to install applications; additional 5GB to install content
• Graphics card with the latest updated drivers
• 1024x768 display resolution at 96dpi or less

Mac OS

• Mac OS X v10.5.8 through v10.6
• Multicore Intel processor
• 2GB of RAM
• 4GB of available hard‐disk space to install applications; additional 5GB to install content
• Graphics card with the latest updated drivers
• 1024x768 display resolution

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Adobe Elements 9 Products

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