The Basics of an Animation Project with Adobe Premiere

This page covers an introduction to Adobe Premiere Pro, particularly the essentials for an animation-based project.

First, there are steps you should follow to set up a production folder, establish a Premiere project, and its important settings. There are a few descriptions about the workspace, such as adding and deleting tracks. For other details about processes, you will find a list of links to additional pages

Getting started

Generally for student projects, we create projects that output at high-definition, at “1080p.” The dimensions of the screen will be:

1920 pixels horizontally
1080 pixels vertically

That’s not to say all artwork and footage should be at those dimensions. They can be higher definition, of course. In fact, 1080p has evolved to now be standard resolution for media projects.

“Pixels” are “picture elements.” A pixel is the smallest element of a screen image, a tiny little square, depending on the resolution.

The dimensions of your 1080 composition will consist of 2,073,600 pixels.

With more pixels in a field, the pixels are therefore much smaller. This makes images rich with detail, saturated and sharp.

If source images are higher resolution, that’s great! They are more than full screen. You can scale them down and they will still fill the screen.

If the dimensions are less than 1080p, like 720 x 540, that’s a problem. The images will not fill the screen. You cannot scale up, otherwise the quality will be weaker. We will notice the pixels as they become larger. Scaling down higher-definition images is the only option.

Information on main features and operations of Adobe Premiere

Click the links below for information on:

To add additional Video & Audio Tracks

Premiere is primarily video editing software, although the program works well for assembling animation clips, essential compositing, and audio editing. It uses “tracks” for image/video and sound. Other programs such as Adobe Animate and After Effects, Harmony and TV Paint utilize “layers.” They are basically the same thing: layers and tracks. You can add multiple tracks to your Premiere project. This will allow you to layer images, construct complex visual compositions, and layer sounds.

To add tracks, go to the Main Menu > Sequence > Add Tracks. From the Add Tracks Window:

Enter an amount of Video and/or Audio Tracks. Be careful. If you intend to add video but not audio, be sure to enter “0” for audio. Otherwise Premiere will add at least one additional audio track each time, by default. But, you can also delete unused tracks later (by going to Main Menu > Sequence > Delete Tracks).
Placement: Use the pull-down menu to choose where you would like the new track to be located (e.g., “after” Track x).
To rename a track, go to it in the Timeline. Context-click and choose “Rename.” It is important to name tracks and keep your project organized.

To scale images & footage

If images and footage are at higher dimensions that the given Premiere sequence, you will have to scale the proportions of the footage because the dimensions are higher than 1080p.

The simplest way to do this is to select the footage in the Timeline and then right-click > Scale to Frame Size.

Scale to frame size

Another option, when you have visual and compositional control, is to do so manually.

Go to the Editing Window.
Choose the Select Zoom Level pull-down menu and choose a size like 50%. Doing so will reveal the full video frame, with some extra.
Double-click on the frame in the editing window.
The action will reveal a bounding box and scaling handles around the edge of the image.
When you select and grab one of the corner handles of the bounding box while also pressing Shift on the keyboard, you will scale down the image proportionally.

To rename files in the Timeline

You can rename clips in the Timeline. This is particularly important if you reuse files from the Project Window and make multiple image sequences. Again, it’s a way of being organized. Simply find the clip in the Timeline, context-click and choose Rename. (You can do the same to rename files in the Project Window.)

To lock tracks

If you would like to lock a track, to make sure that you do not inadvertently move and image by mistake, there is a Toggle Track Lock on each video and audio track, located near the “hide/shy” switch or Toggle Track Output.

To copy & paste clips

When you drag a file from the Project Window onto the Timeline, Premiere refers to it as a “clip.” It is thus an instance of the file. You can reuse a clip many times over, for several instances. In addition to dragging a clip onto the Timeline, you can also copy and paste from the Timeline. The advantage is that, if you copy a clip from the Timeline, you will also copy attributes you have given to the clip, which won’t be the case if you drag it from the Project Window. With the latter, you would add an instance without attributes, fresh and new.

To lengthen the duration of a clip

It is easy to change the duration of a still image. Video files and image sequences require another step or two. To change the duration of a still image on the Timeline, simply use the Selection Tool (which has an Arrow Symbol), hover over the tail edge of the clip until you see a “red end-bracket shape” ( ] ) with an arrow pointing to the right. Hold down and drag to the right to make the clip duration longer, and to the left to make the clip duration shorter. If it seems that you are working with tiny, two-frame clips that are difficult to see, you should zoom in, to the individual frame level, to see a clip properly in the Timeline.

Alternatively, go to the clip on the Timeline, context-click and choose “Speed/Duration.” Enter the intended duration (e.g., from 2 frames to 8 frames, etc.).

To build a preview

Every once in a while, you will have to preview your work. This is when the software calculates the effects that you have applied to various clips in the Timeline. While you work away, you will undoubtedly notice a red line develop along the top edge of the Timeline, immediately below the frame counter. The colour line indicates that effects are “not rendered.” Building a preview will render effects, and the red line will change to green as a result. To make a preview, simply hit the Return/Enter Key. Alternatively, go to the Main Menu > Sequence > Render Effects in Work Area.

JKL keys for playback

When you work with Premiere, you can scan through clips by using the “J, K & L” keys:
Click the L – key and the Edit Line will then play forward in real-time
Click the K – key while Premiere plays and the clip will stop
Click the J – key and the clip will play in reverse in real time
Click the L – key or J – key quickly twice and the file will play fast-forwards or in fast-reverse