Part VIII Working with Video and Animation IN THIS PART Chapter 25 Video Editing Basics Chapter 26 Animating in the Animation (Timeline) Panel Chapter 27 Correcting Video Files and Adding Artistic Effects Chapter 28 Animating Using the Animation (Frames) Panel 35_584743-pp08.indd 78735_584743-pp08.indd 787 5/3/10 10:45 AM5/3/10 10:45 AM 35_584743-pp08.indd 78835_584743-pp08.indd 788 5/3/10 10:45 AM5/3/10 10:45 AM 789 CHAPTER Video Editing Basics IN THIS CHAPTER Aspect ratios The Animation (Timeline) panel Opening video files Trimming and rearranging video footage Adding files to a video project W hen you work with video in Photoshop, it isn’t to create an extensive video project; that’s what Premiere is for. Photoshop enables you to bring in pieces of video that need the special Photoshop touch and clean them up a bit. You also can create fantastic composites with video files that you may not be able to accomplish in fine Photoshop style anywhere else. The Animation (Timeline) panel gives you just enough capability to make working with video files an efficient and rela- tively uncomplicated process. The first step in being able to edit your video files in Photoshop is to under- stand the video workspace. The Animation (Timeline) panel is practically an application all by itself, giving you the ability to add, edit, and move video clips not only as layers but through time. You can add other layers as well: image files, text, and 3D objects. In this chapter, I show you how you can open, add, and maneuver these files within a video timeline so you are pre- pared to correct lighting and color and create artistic effects with video files and image files. Working with Video Files To work with video successfully, you need to know the basics of video file formats, why they are different, and how they work. Some file formats are higher quality and, consequently, larger than those of lower quality. You also must understand aspect ratios. Photoshop has more possibilities for chang- ing the aspect ratio than you might think. Using the right aspect ratio and understanding the settings are important to creating successful video files within Photoshop. 36_584743-ch25.indd 78936_584743-ch25.indd 789 5/3/10 10:48 AM5/3/10 10:48 AM Part VIII: Working with Video and Animation 790 Cross-Ref Review the basics of video file formats in Chapter 3. n Setting aspect ratios An aspect ratio is the relative width to height of a video or an image. The frame aspect ratio indi- cates the ratio of the video or image frame. You are probably familiar with the 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios that are industry-standard television sizes. The next step in getting to know all about pixels is understanding the pixel aspect ratio. Correcting the pixel aspect ratio Individual pixels also have aspect ratios. Depending on the video standard, pixels have either a square aspect ratio or a rectangular aspect ratio. A computer monitor, for instance, is usually set up for square pixels. For example, a 4:3 monitor typically has a setting of 640 pixels wide and 480 pixels tall, which results in square pixels. Televisions do not have square pixels. Their pixels match the aspect ratio of standard video, which is rectangular. That means that when you play a movie on your computer that is a standard video format, the video is distorted unless the pixel aspect ratio is taken into account and adjusted. When you import a video file into Photoshop, it automatically performs a pixel aspect ratio correc- tion on the document, so it appears just as it would on a television screen. This reduces the pre- view quality of the document, but it is only for preview purposes and doesn’t change the document materially in any way, as shown in Figure 25.1. FIGURE 25.1 When Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction is turned on, the image looks normal. 36_584743-ch25.indd 79036_584743-ch25.indd 790 5/3/10 10:48 AM5/3/10 10:48 AM Chapter 25: Video Editing Basics 791 You can turn off Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction and preview the video with all the pixels intact. The image looks distorted, but it actually contains the correct number of pixels. Simply choose View ➪ Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction to toggle the correction on or off. Figure 25.2 is an example of this feature turned off. Note You can view both pixel settings at once by choosing Window ➪ Arrange ➪ New Window for (document name). This opens a second window containing your document. You can correct the pixel aspect ratio in one and leave the correction off in the other. n FIGURE 25.2 This is like watching regular 4:3 television on a 16:9 television. Changing video aspect ratios You are probably familiar with common video aspect ratios such as 4:3 and 16:9. You are probably less familiar with pixel aspect ratios, which is what Photoshop uses. Here’s a list of Photoshop’s preset aspect ratios to help you translate pixel aspect ratios into more familiar terms. The number listed in parenthesis is the relative height of the pixel to a width of 1. For example, D1/DV NTSC (0.9) has a pixel aspect of 1 wide and .9 high, making it slightly wider than it is high. l Square: As discussed, most computer monitors have square pixels. Some video made for a 4:3 screen ratio is also captured at 640x480, making the pixels square. 36_584743-ch25.indd 79136_584743-ch25.indd 791 5/3/10 10:48 AM5/3/10 10:48 AM Part VIII: Working with Video and Animation 792 FIGURE 25.3 A pixel ratio of 1:0.9 creates nearly square pixels and is just right for a 4:3 frame. l D1/DV NTSC (0.91): This is a standard capture ratio for pixels, probably the most com- mon, with a pixel ratio of 720x480. Standard 4:3 televisions and video cameras both probably have this setting, although widescreen is becoming more popular. Figure 25.3 shows an example of this aspect ratio. l D1/DV PAL (1.09): The PAL pixel ratios create a pixel that is taller rather than wide. This is the standard pixel aspect ratio used for 4:3 screens. PAL is the video format used in most countries outside North America. l D1/DV NTSC Widescreen (1.21): This is the common pixel aspect ratio for NTSC 16:9 screen. Most video cameras also shoot in this aspect ratio. l HDV 1080/DVCPRO HD 720 (1.33): This is the standard pixel aspect ratio for big- screen movies and is becoming more popular with higher quality video cameras. The frame size is 1440x1080 pixels for the highest quality setting. The screen size used for this pixel aspect ratio is 16:9. l D1/DV PAL Widescreen (1.46): This is the common pixel aspect ratio for PAL 16:9 screen. l Anamorphic 2:1 (2): This pixel ratio—obviously, quite a bit more rectangular than the others—should be used only if your footage was shot with an anamorphic lens. An ana- morphic lens creates wide pixels that condense to be shown at 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. l DVCPRO HD 1080 (1.5): This pixel ratio is used in a video ratio of 16:9. It has a high-quality pixel level with a 1280x1080 frame size. Figure 25.4 shows an example of this aspect ratio. 36_584743-ch25.indd 79236_584743-ch25.indd 792 5/3/10 10:48 AM5/3/10 10:48 AM Chapter 25: Video Editing Basics 793 FIGURE 25.4 A pixel ratio of 1:1.5 creates very rectangular pixels. You can create a custom pixel aspect ratio by choosing View ➪ Pixel Aspect Ratio ➪ Custom Pixel Aspect Ratio. This opens a dialog box that allows you to name your custom ratio and set the height of the pixel (with the width equal to 1). Remember that you are setting only the preview ratio, however, so no matter what you see, your video plays back on a television at its normal aspect ratio. Figure 25.5 shows an example of an unusual aspect ratio. The pixel aspect ratio is important to know a bit about, but if you are wondering whether you’ve gotten in over your head, don’t worry too much. When you open a video file, the pixel aspect ratio is automatically set to the aspect ratio at which the video footage was shot. As long as you are edit- ing just one aspect ratio, you should be okay. When it comes to adding an image to your video footage, however, you may want to correct its aspect ratio to match that of the video. Correcting the aspect ratio of an image You can add as many images to a video file as you want. The video file can even be set to the cor- rect aspect ratio. When you place images that don’t fit the aspect ratio, any portion of the image that doesn’t fill the frame of the video is transparent, as indicated in Figure 25.6. 36_584743-ch25.indd 79336_584743-ch25.indd 793 5/3/10 10:48 AM5/3/10 10:48 AM Part VIII: Working with Video and Animation 794 FIGURE 25.5 It looks cool now, but it plays back normally on a 4:3 television, just like it would play back stretched on a 16:9 display. FIGURE 25.6 A tall image set in a 4:3 aspect ratio shows transparency in the areas that the image doesn’t cover. 36_584743-ch25.indd 79436_584743-ch25.indd 794 5/3/10 10:48 AM5/3/10 10:48 AM Chapter 25: Video Editing Basics 795 You can solve this problem in one of two ways: You can create a background for all the images that are placed in the video, or you can create a background for each image. Either way, you need to create an image document that is the right pixel aspect ratio. You can create a document in Photoshop with the correct pixel aspect ratio for your video file by following these steps: 1. Choose File ➪ New to open the New dialog box. 2. From the Preset drop-down menu, choose Film & Video. This creates several presets for your document and gives you several more menu options, as shown in Figure 25.7. FIGURE 25.7 The Film & Video preset in the New dialog box 3. Choose the size of your video footage from the appropriate drop-down menu. 4. From the Pixel Aspect Ratio drop-down menu, choose the pixel aspect ratio you want for your footage. 5. Click OK. The default settings created by the Film & Video preset are standard for most video files. If you want to create an HD video, you can change the number of pixels and the resolution to a higher quality, of course. You also can change the color settings and background contents, among other things. The important thing is to create a document that’s the same size and pixel resolution as the video you are trying to create. 36_584743-ch25.indd 79536_584743-ch25.indd 795 5/3/10 10:48 AM5/3/10 10:48 AM Part VIII: Working with Video and Animation 796 After you click OK to create the new document, you are reminded that Adobe has just turned on the Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction for this document because it presumably will be part of a ren- dered video file eventually. The document created by the Film & Video presets looks different than the usual Photoshop docu- ment. Notice in Figure 25.8 that guidelines are added to the blank canvas. These guides don’t print or show up on your video; they indicate the safe zones in the video file. As long as your action is contained within the outside bounding box and your text is contained within the inside bounding box, you won’t lose any of the important pieces of your video to a television that cuts out the edges of the video and enlarges the center. FIGURE 25.8 The Film & Video presets give you guides for placing and editing your video. Title safe area Action safe area Note If you are creating a video for the Web, you probably chose the square pixel settings, which means the Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction doesn’t have to be turned on. You can disregard the guides as well, because computer monitors play the entire video without cropping the edges. n You can now place an image in this document or create a neutral background that can be placed in the video file as a separate layer behind any photos that are placed in the video file. Video filters The Video filters are accessed in the filter menu and are specifically for video files. Video filters can be used on video or image files that will be placed into video files. These filters work to reduce the noise of a video file. 36_584743-ch25.indd 79636_584743-ch25.indd 796 5/3/10 10:48 AM5/3/10 10:48 AM . need to create an image document that is the right pixel aspect ratio. You can create a document in Photoshop with the correct pixel aspect ratio for your video file by following these steps: . new document, you are reminded that Adobe has just turned on the Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction for this document because it presumably will be part of a ren- dered video file eventually. The document. off. Note You can view both pixel settings at once by choosing Window ➪ Arrange ➪ New Window for (document name). This opens a second window containing your document. You can correct the pixel aspect