Previewing a video program

You can preview part or all of the video program as you edit it without having to export the entire video program. You can display previews in the Monitor Program view, in the center of a monitor on a black background, or on any compatible NTSC or PAL monitor attached to your computer. Previewing is relatively quick for a program that simply cuts between clips. Applying transitions, effects, or superimposition settings adds processing time to a preview.

Premiere offers several methods to preview your program; the method you choose depends on whether you want a quick preview, a preview at a precise frame rate, or a compromise between the two. The appearance of a preview is controlled by the settings in the Video Settings panel of the Project Settings dialog box (see Specifying project settings).

The area to be previewed, called the Work Area, is defined by a yellow bar that stretches across the top of the timeline, or the work area band. The work area bar automatically expands to encompass the whole program as you add clips to the timeline, but it is also manually adjustable.

When you use certain video cards, you can view in real time programs that include transitions, motion settings, and effects without the need to render a preview. To use this feature you need a video card that supports real-time capabilities. For information on real-time capabilities, see the documentation supplied with your real-time video card.

To set the area to be previewed (the work area):

Do any of the following:

To create a preview file for the work area but not play it back, choose Timeline > Render Work Area. This command saves time in final processing by creating a preview file while not requiring you to view the section after it has been rendered.

Editing Video > Previewing a video program

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