"Use Preview Files" works in CS5.5 but is "Useless" in CS6

[Cavemandude]

I'm a heavy user of the "Use Previews Files" option when exporting files. This has worked great with Premiere CS5.5 but using the same method in CS6 no longer works and reverts back to rerendering the original files in the timeline and rerendering all the effects on them which is very time consuming since the original files are HD and are being downscaled in a DV widescreen timeline.

Anyone figure out how to get Premiere CS6 to correctly find the preview files when exporting using the "Use Preview Files" option?

In the meantime, I had to load all the preview files I had rendered back into a new timeline and reassemble them in the correct order. Once I did that, I exported this 1 hour 38 minute timeline to an MPEG-2 file which only took 19 minutes instead of the 7 hours it would have taken even with the "Use Preview Files" on and with a fully rendered timeline.

Again, it works great in CS5.5 so something changed in CS6 to make the "Use Preview Files" useless now.

Randy

[JoshWeiss]

Please do share Randy.

[shooternz]

You solved it...YAY...so why keep it a secret from those that tried to help... or others that may need the info ?

Get with the community spirit thing.

[muzflowers]

Same issue.

Randy, please share workaround.

Can't do warp stabilizer with synthese edge withous worked 'use preview files' in CS6.

[Stanley Arthur]

Wow. Bad form, dude. I need this answer. I'm in a situation where I cannot use Beauty Box without the ability to make short preview files and use them during export, due to the fact that any sequence longer than 2-3 minutes will not fully render using Beauty Box without just freezing and quitting. You are 100% correct that this checkbox does not work by default. So now begins my search in preferences to figure this out. Glad you solved it. Sad that someone here would have offended you to the point of not sharing with the majority of good-natured folk here. It's also kind of sad that an Adobe emp. would not read this and figure it out for those of us who are ham-stringed by this nonsense.

I appeal to your better nature and ask that you post the solution.

[excited_Genie16B8]

I suspect the solution never came because there just is no other setting beyond the checkbox to make this work (assuming no QuickTime is involved).

[JoshWeiss]

It happens to work for me too, but it Didn't work for me in CS 5.5, so maybe a preference, maybe a mac pc thing, who knows...other than the guy who has solved it....

[Keith_Clark]

i don't use preview export myself, but i add in a vote for 'share the solution'

[Cavemandude]

Just to preface, I live in Baton Rouge, LA and have been dealing with Hurricane Isaac since Tuesday.

I'm using an NVIDIA GTX 580 video card. If you also have a Mercury Engine (Cuda) approved video card, do all of your regular editing and rendering using the GPU Acceleration Renderer on. Once  you are done editing and want to export the timeline using these preview files, open up the Project Settings menu (I made a keyboard shortcut to open this) and select Software Only as the Renderer and select Keep Preview Files when prompted. Go to Export Media, check the Use Preview Files (No Max Quality settings) and you should be good to go. To test it, just turn the Renderer on and off between GPU and Software Only before exporting.

I've done this on 15 or so film transfer and video projects that have been 2-3 hours long and it has not failed once.

It's a bug, smash it.

Randy

P.S. The inaccurate chapter points (consistently around 20 frames too early) that Premiere CS6 produces for Encore are still bugging the hell out of me. Works perfect in CS5.5. I started a thread about this issue also with no solution at this point.

[muzflowers]

Not work in my case.

[Cavemandude]

Just to add, I'm using DV as my preview files and exporting from a DV project.

[Stanley Arthur]

Well Dude, I concur. This has worked for me. I just took a 30 minute 1080p sequence loaded with a mixture of stills with motion, clips with warp stabilizer, color correction and linked After Effects comps and rendered the entire work area, giving me a green line from what had been a mixture of yellow and red. The render didn't take as long as I expected, so that was nice. Then, at your suggestion, I disabled GPU acceleration and clicked "use previews" while exporting to MPEG-2 DVD with "Match Source Attributes (High Quality). The resulting export of a 30 minute sequence was about 10 minutes. For the record, my preview files are Matrox MPEG-2 I-frame at 100 Mbps which, to my eye, are outstanding and run slick as snot on my Z800 using the Matrox MXO2 MAX LE.

[Cavemandude]

Wonder if this a PC bug only. I'm using a PC,  no Mac to test it.

Randy

[Cavemandude]

The latest 6.0.2 update does not fix this problem.

[muzflowers]

6.0.3 update does not fix this problem too.

[ExactImage]

I tried severasl variations of source and destination codecs and couldn't get this to work on either Mac or Windows.   Wish I could

[Kevin-Monahan]

muzflowers wrote:

6.0.3 update does not fix this problem too.

6.0.3 was a Windows only update and only to solve a security certificate issue. No other features were added or bugs fixed.

If you have the problem that preview files are not being used, please file a bug report: http://www.adobe.com/go/wish

Thanks!

[muzflowers]

I was reported it 2 month ago, still no luck, no answer, no bugfix.

[muzflowers]

6 month with bug without luck. Common, Adobe ! Your support is sucks.

[ExactImage]

This and the AVCHD bug and I'm getting pretty disalusioned with Adobe.   FCP X is actualy looking much better now!

[Cavemandude]

So after completing 100's of projects using Premiere CS6 and the method that I explained in one of my previous posts to quickly export/encode timelines using preview files I ran into a problem. Whenever I use the Shadow/Highlight filter on a video clip and render it, Premiere can no longer find the preview file for that clip when I export or encode a timeline thus making Premiere rerender all the effects in that clip and the entire timeline.

I didn't do an upgrade to Premiere so I'm not sure why it now does this. I went back to my last completed and rendered project and timeline I finished a couple days ago and 90% of the 100+ video clips had the Shadow/Highlight filter used and it will export and encode the timeline using the preview files without issue. I haven't tried to rerender anything in that project to see if it would still work though.

[Cavemandude]

Well, after rebooting 3 times during troubleshooting I finally decided to turn the PC off/on and that fixed the problem.

[excited_Genie16B8]

Sometimes a cold boot will fix things a reboot won't.

[Cavemandude]

So, I came across a new thing with the Use Preview Files" workaround when exporting. When trying to export using the Preview files on this last project it was hanging up and rerendering the effects in the timeline so it was not finding the Preview files as it usually does with the "Software only" workaround. This was a film transfer with 20 reels of film in the timeline all with various color correction filters on them. Some reels were cut into sections so that I could apply different types of color correction and reframe the image when needed. What I decided to do was to see if it was the entire timeline causing it not to find the Preview files or possibly a specific reel in the timeline. I first tried exporting just Reels 6-20 and to my surprise it found all the Preview files and exported quickly like it should. I then tried exporting just Reel #1 and this is when it initially looked like it found the Preview files and then slowed down like it didn't. I had Reel #1 cut into 2 sections with the 2nd section slightly reframed so I decided to take the 2nd section out and get it back to just one continuous section. Rerendered the timeline for that reel and it found that new Preview file for the entire reel and exporting quick. So I went back and tried all 20 reels, the entire timeline, and it had no problem finding all the Preview files now and exported it quickly without having to rerender the effects.

[Cavemandude]

Just tested to see if Premiere CC fixed the "Use Preview Files" bug in CS6 but no go, still the same problem and solution. Maybe next year...

[muzflowers]

Adobe! You are lazy ! When you fix this bug, in CS42 ?