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StreetwiseCreative
Known Participant
May 12, 2017
Answered

4K proxy in 1080 project - workflow

  • May 12, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 4621 views

I'm trying to get my head around use of proxies for editing 4K material in a 1080 project.

I shot a lot of Sony a6500 4K footage recently. I wanted to edit in 1080 so that I could have maximum flexibility to push in, etc. This footage is sitting on an USB 3.0 external drive (what I would call "offline").  When I go to create proxies on a local SSD (what I would call online), there are only three size options (1024x540, 1280x720, 1536x790). So I have "Ingest" checked, and "Create Proxies" checked, and 1280x720 selected.

When I import a 4K clip, I notice that it appears as though the original 4K clip shows up in my media browser, and 1280x720 "proxy" clip is created in the "online" directory on the SSD that I chose in the Ingest settings.

Here's where it gets confusing for me:

If I create a new 1920x1080 sequence and drag a clip from the Media Browser in to it, it's exactly as expected and needs to be scaled down to 50% to fit. But how do I know that's not the actual 4K footage? If I right-click and "Reveal in Explorer", it points to the original location. Alternatively, If I drag the newly made 1280x720 proxy clip to the timeline, it's way too small and needs to be scaled up just to fit. So I know that's not right either as I would expect to have a source larger than the sequence.  So what sequence size do I want to be using and which video clip (media browser or proxy) should I be using?

Thanks

Dave

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Horshack

You shouldn't drag the proxy clips into a sequence - drag the original clip and the Premiere will automatically use the proxy it created for that clip, doing all the resolution adjustments behind the scenes.

1 reply

Horshack
HorshackCorrect answer
Legend
May 12, 2017

You shouldn't drag the proxy clips into a sequence - drag the original clip and the Premiere will automatically use the proxy it created for that clip, doing all the resolution adjustments behind the scenes.

S
StreetwiseCreativeAuthor
Known Participant
May 12, 2017

Okay, I think I get it now. So earlier, I deleted the proxy file just to see what would happen and the file on the timeline continued to work, I assume because Premiere reverted to the 4k file in the absence of the proxy.

Another question: So if I drag in 1080 footage from another source and don't want/need proxies, I would just turn that off prior to import, correct? Also, when I go to export, do I need to do anything special? Looks like not.

Thanks for the help!

Horshack
Horshack
Legend
May 12, 2017

Yep, you can turn off the ingest option before importing your 1080 footage in - there's no issue with a project/sequence having a mix of files with and without proxies. When you go to render Premiere will always use the full-resolution media, provided it's accessible at the time of render; if not it will use the proxy media instead, giving you a warning when it does.

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