Proxy Workflow with Interpreted Footage // THE ANSWER

[ulikunkel_autobahn]

After scrubbing the web and the forums for a solution for using Premiere's relatively new-fangled Proxy workflow using interpreted footage, I found a great workaround/hack that definitely gets the job done. I would like to thank arodon7 for his/her post that includes this extremely useful YouTube tutorial.

For the sake of SEO, I am talking about taking high frame rate footage that you might want to play back at a slower frame rate to achieve a slowmo/slomo/slow motion effect. If you're shooting at 120fps and you want your footage to look like it's playing back in slow motion, you have to tell Premiere to treat the footage like it's playing back at the timebase of your sequence, say 23.976, by going to Clip/Modify/Interpret Footage, then entering in the timebase of your liking.

However, if you try to create proxies from these interpreted clips, Premiere sends the clips to Adobe Media Encoder flagged with their original frame rate. The resulting proxy is out of sync with the interpreted footage because it's playing back at its native speed rather than the interpreted speed, rendering it useless.

It seems to me that given the simplicity of the "hack" referenced in the YouTube tutorial that this would be a very easy thing for your developers to fix. So why has it not been addressed? Why is there a brand-spanking new version of Premiere and do you not advertise the bugs that have been fixed? Finally, WHEN CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE THIS PROXY FEATURE FIXED?

Thank you for reading this and taking it seriously. 

Mod note: Edited for content.

[R Neil Haugen · Accepted solution]

A rather bizarre opening statement ... these forums are here for getting comments most that will be critical of the current state of the program, or why else would one post here? You're having trouble with the program, you post here and see if someone can offer a helpful suggestion.

A normal human part of the above is a rant now an then. The policies are simply to keep the language "clean", don't attack people in "flaming" behavior, and be respectful of contrary ideas. If you've looked through this forum much, there's been a TON of threads where people question the sanity and such of the folks of the development program. Past that, I don't know a single person who uses this app (including a few engineers I've talked with) that wouldn't want at least a few major changes to suit their own needs.

The issue with proxies and interpreted time-rate original media is a royal pain, I totally agree. The best way to move that up on the list is to file the feature report forms ... no, they never respond. But every bug or feature report gets filed on the collated lists that are constantly sent to all the managerial types.

Mod note: Specific Feature Request for this Issue. Upvote here: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro/suggestions/33858397-proxy-workflow-int...

As to when this will be improved ... that we'll never know until they announce the release info for a release that 'drops' including this.

For all readers coming to this thread ... saving you some time. Say you've selected one or more clips on a sequence/project, and used Modify/Interpret time to change the playback speed. Now you can create proxies, but they will be at the ORIGINIAL speed ... NOT good.

So ...

1. In the project panel, select the clip/s that have been interpreted & need proxies to match.
2. Right-click, "Proxies/create proxies" which will cause AME to launch.
3. IMMEDIATELY switch to AME and stop the processing of that first proxy file.
4. Right-click the file, select "Reset".
5. Select that and any other files you may have sent along, right-click, "Modify/Interpret" and set to the same time-base as the original media's interpreted setting used on your timeline.
6. Start the processing.
7. When complete, all but that first file you stopped & reset will show as "attached", you'll need to attach that first file.
8. Select that file that isn't attached, right-click, and 'attach proxies'.
9. In the dialog box that pops up, navigate to the location for your proxies, select the proper file, and click "attach".

Now, you should have working proxies at the interpreted time setting.

And please, file the feature request for this!

Neil

[rikpix]

ulikunkel_autobahn, thanks for posting about this problem, and R_Neil_Haugen, thanks very much for the clear and concise description of the steps for the solution. (and for the encouragement/explanation about the usefulness of submitting to the feature/bug report forms... knowing that we'll never get a response, but also knowing that it DOES make a difference is super useful to hear) Cheers all!

[Dtorroija]

what???

sorry this is a very slow solution when you have 500 clips I have to proccess on the daily bases 

[R Neil Haugen]

If they're all in a batch, it takes a little bit of extra time over what it should be, true. But it's not like you do that bit about 'relinking' with all of them. That should only be necessary with the first file. You don't do that with all 500!

So ... after you go stop the queue, reset to the proper time, and 'go' ... you're about done. At the end, just manually relink the one file.

And yes ... this is something that should be fixed. Period.

Neil

[Jeff Bugbee]

Great write up for the solution

[Al Yonder]

I thought this was the solution I was looking for.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the audio is then out of synch when you toggle and play back the proxy. 

Works perfectly for picture but the sound linked to the clip is then thrown out.

[ChrisJohnBrooke]

Hello, I've been reading this with interest and just tried your workflow, however when I stop the AME queue and right click 'Interpret Footage' is greyed out.  Any ideas why that would be?  Thank you, C.

[R Neil Haugen · Accepted solution]

A better process is to approach it differently. Rather than using the interpret footage options to change playback speed, use the Duration options instead.

Then proxies follow the changes to playback.

Neil

[riteshm85690147]

Wow! Thank you so much! Worked seamlessly.

[R Neil Haugen]

Thanks ... and please go to that UserVoice link and upvote this. This needs attention ... sigh.

Neil

[riteshm85690147]

Thank you once again.

Just submitted the wish form highlighting the issue.

Not sure what the User voice link is... sorry.

[basil1891]

We can upvote this: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro/suggestions/33858397-proxy-workflow-int...

... It's there from 2018 and still not fixed ... 'sigh'

[lthlwpnfilms]

So I read an article from Adobe a while ago, I've always been interpreting footage but apparently that should ordinarily just be used for 'hail mary' situations. Taking an example of 50fps footage on a 25fps timeline, what you should do instead is make the proxies from the original files, select all the files from the folder and change the speed at source to 50% and then make sure your sequence is 25fps. The proxies link properly and it plays back on the timeline as you'd expect.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Community,

Please upvote here: Mod note: Specific Feature Request for this Issue. Upvote here: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro/suggestions/33858397-proxy-workflow-int...

Thanks,

Kevin

[R Neil Haugen]

Done. Why it always hasn't, that's the real question, right?

Neil

[Kevin-Monahan]

Yep. Do you know of any otther big posts on this topic? Trying to herd all the cats in 2022. Let me know via PM.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Ella Barva-Smith]

Here's a QUICK FIX that no one has seemed to mention!

1. Create your proxies at their original frame rate (we will interpret them in Premiere)
2. Rather than 'Attach Proxies', import them separately into your project.

3. Interpret your proxies to the desired frame rate - whatever you've interpretted the original source to.
4. Create a sequence with both your original (perhaps 4k footage) AND your proxie files (now interpreted) on top. They should be identical.
5. Disable your original high-res footage.
6. Cut both the proxie files and 4k footage simultaneously (without lagging - woohoo!)
7. Once you've got your timeline pieced together, go ahead and delete the proxie files (or disable them), and enable your original footage! 

This is the EASIEST workaround for me, because relinking each individual clip is an absolute nightmare and far too time consuming. But YES - it would be great if Adobe could fix this problem. It is LONG overdue.

[justinneal00]

Ella Barva-Smith, this is a fantastic idea. 

[R Neil Haugen]

And totally unnecessary if you use the intended process of Speed/Duration to change your original footage to the timeline fps.

Then create your proxies directly from the original footage.

And yea, you need to figure out the percentage difference in speed, which is a bit of a pita. Do it once, write it down.

Neil

[justinneal00]

Not TOTALLY unnecessay.

I'm having major issues playing back proxies of high fps footage when the proxies are "attached," even if I have not slowed the footage down in any way. But when I import the proxies into Premiere, they play back fine. So if I use Ella Barva-Smith's method it plays back with no lag. 

[R Neil Haugen]

High-fps isn't standard proxy workflow of course.

And for most people with trouble getting proxies to interpreted speed media, it's because they have say 59.94 they want to use on a 29.97 timeline. Which is where the Speed/Duration method works fine to make proxies after changing the speed.

Neil

[justinneal00]

Yes, I understand.

[R Neil Haugen]

Feels kinda dorky I will say ... compared to the "interpret footage" process. But works with proxies. Ah well.

Neil

[justinneal00]

Using proxies for Team Projects has been giving me grief lately. In ways that don't make a lot of sense for my circumstances. So at this point I'm fine with a solid, consistent workaround to get the job done. Time Remapping works fine on the high fps proxies, but only when I import them, not when I attach them. Which is bizarre and only recently began acting so strangely.