CREATING 1080P PROXIES FROM 4K/UHD FILES This handout will guide you through the stages of creating proxies. ​ If you shoot UHD or 4K footage you may find that your computer/editing software can’t play these files properly - resulting in slow and choppy playback which can make them difficult to edit, especially on laptops/older computers. In order for your computer to play these large files back you can create PROXY FILES. A proxy is a converted, smaller copy of the original file, enabling your computer to play and edit these files in real time. You can then edit these files (this is called Offline Editing) and link these back up to the original, higher quality ​ ​ files at the end of the edit if you required (this is called Online Editing). ​ ​ NOTE: Always store proxies in a separate sub folder within your master edit folder and never rename these ​ proxies. Keep the file names the same as your original files in case you need to reconnect the proxies back to 4K/UHD later on. CREATING 1080P PROXY FILES FROM 4K/UHD QUICKTIMES BEFORE YOU START Create a new folder (ideally within your master edit folder) to store your proxies. Do not rename files as you create proxies (in case you want to reconnect them later on). CREATE A 1080P PRESET IN ADOBE MEDIA ENCODER 1/ Open Adobe Media Encoder 2/ Preset>Create Encoding Preset ​ 3/ Give the Preset a name (i.e. ‘PRO RES HQ 1080P’) ​ ​ 4/ Choose video format Apple Pro Res (HQ) Check Export Video & Audio ​ ​ ​ ​ 5/ Deselect Match Source - under Width / Height type in 1920 W 1080 H (uncheck the chain icon first) ​ ​ 6/ Click OK ​ Creating a new 1080P preset in Media Encoder ​ QUEUE AND RENDER FILES 1/ In the Queue window Click ‘+ and add the files you want to convert ​ ​ ​ ʼ​ 2/ Under Preset in the Queue window click the drop down button and select your newly made preset ​ ​ 3/ Ensure that you have selected a destination folder to write the files to ​ ​ 4/ Click the play icon - files will now transcode to 1080P ​ ​ The Queue window in Adobe Media Encoder ​ RECONNECTING 1080P FILES BACK TO 4K IN PREMIERE You may want to reconnect the 1080P files back to your original 4K files after editing (you would usually do this if you need to export a 4K or UHD file). NOTE: Itʼs good practise to save a copy of your project at this point in case something goes wrong (File>Save a Copy). ​ ​ 1/ In Premiereʼs project bin select all the clips you want to Reconnect 2/ Right click and Proxy>Reconnect Full Resolution Media ​ ​ ​ 3/ Browse to the files that Premiere asks you to locate and Click OK ​ The clips should now reconnect back up to the original 4K/UHD files The clips in your timeline should now be 4K/UHD. If you need to change the sequence settings to fit the new, larger footage: 1/ Select Sequence>Sequence Settings ​ 2/ Change the sequence dimensions to 4160 x 2160 (4K) 3840 x 2160 (UHD) ​ Changing sequence settings back to 4K ​ CONVERTING BRAW FILES TO QUICKTIME PRO RES 1080P BRAW (Blackmagic RAW) is an uncompressed video file which contain metadata and information allowing the editor to control more colour data in the image. BRAW files cannot be played back in standard media player software such as Quicktime or VLC. BRAW uses its own free player (BRAW player) to play back these files (although the player cannot convert BRAWs to other formats). https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/products/blackmagicraw At the time of writing, Adobe Premiere cannot import BRAW files. In this example we’ll use Da Vinci Resolve to convert the BRAWs to Quicktime Pro Res 1080p files for editing in Premiere (although you could also edit BRAW natively in Da Vinci). NOTE: You can also use Da Vinci to convert other file types such as quicktimes etc. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/ (NOTE Da Vinci versions lower than v.16 may not be able to import BRAW files) 1/ Open Da Vinci 2/ Create a New Project ​ 3/ In the Media tab click File>Import>Media ​ 4/ Select the BRAW files you want to transcode in the finder window 5/ Select all the BRAW clips, right click and select Create New Timeline Using Selected Clips ​ 6/ Double click the newly created Timeline... (This will open all the clips in order in the Editing window) 7/ Click the Deliver tab and select all the BRAW clips (CMD + A) ​ ​ ​ ​ 8/ In the Render Settings tab - click the ProRes Master preset button ​ ​ 9/ Under Location click Browse and select the folder you want to save to ​ ​ 10/ Check Individual Clips ​ 11/ Under the File tab ensure Source Name is selected (this is in case you want to reconnect files later on) ​ ​ ​ ​ 12/ Click Add to Render Queue ​ 13/ In the Render Queue window click Start Render ​ The BRAW files will now be exported as 1080P Pro Res Quicktimes to your destination folder. Matt Page / Moving Image BA / [email protected] PREMIERE PROXY WORKFLOW https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/premiere-pro/kb/ingest-proxy-workflow-premiere-pro-cc-2015.html ADOBE MEDIA ENCODER https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/media-encoder.html DA VINCI RESOLVE https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve BRAW PLAYER https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/products/blackmagicraw .