Sunday, September 22, 2013

PE11: Title Templates In Adobe Styles UPDATED

INTRODUCTION

Premiere Elements 11 does not support the tga format and in particular the tga graphics found in the title templates of earlier versions of Premiere Elements. In a prior blog post, details were given for how to get the Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 Travel/topo title template with its text (.prtl) and tga (as .png) graphic into Premiere Elements 11 on Windows 7 and 8 64 bit. The workflow for that consisted of folders and files transplanted from one version to another. But, reflecting back, could this have been done by creating a look-alike title template in Premiere Elements 11?

ISSUE

How does one go about creating a "Look-Alike" title template in Premiere Elements 11?

SOLUTION

The prtl title templates file, with embedded graphic, can be created in the Premiere Elements 11 Titler. And, the installation of the "Look-Alike"title template or "My Own" title template is quick and easy. The .prtl produced has the advantages that it can be used for more than one version of Premiere Elements on the same computer and/or used just within the Premiere Elements 11 project. See Important Update Message at the end of this blog post.

The answer to the ISSUE question will be given by example as the Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 Travel/World Travel title template with its text and graphic is reproduced in Premiere Elements 11 Titler.

HOW TO

STEP 1
The goal is to create a Premiere Elements 11 title template that looks something like the Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 Travel/World Travel/world travel_title title template shown in Figure 1. 

 
Figure 1. Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 Travel/World Travel/World Travel_Title.
The .png graphic to be used is 720 x 480 pixels; consequently, in this example, the Premiere Elements 11 project preset is set manually at NTSC DV Standard. To do that, go to File Menu/New/Project, set the project preset at NTSC DV Standard, and, before exiting the new project dialog, be sure to place a check mark next to "Force Selected Project Setting on This Project"

STEP 2
Go to Premiere Elements 11 Text Menu/New Text/Default Text and click on Default text. That will open the Titler. Get rid of the default "Add Text" in the Titler's opened title.

With the Titler opened, go back to the Text Menu, but this time Text Menu/Add Image, and then navigate to and select your world travel graphic. IMPORTANT.  Beforehand this graphic was given the same name as the .prtl file that was to be created and then saved as a .png file in the Logos Folder found in the Windows 7 or 8 64 bit path of Local Disc C\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 11\Presets\Logos. In this case, the modified Adobe World Travel Title Bkgd_7.tga file look was decided on as represented in Figure 2a.

Figure 2a. World Travel Graphic (PNG) Added To Title In Titler Via Text Menu/Add Image.


As part of the modification in Photoshop Elements 11, the feathered gray ellipse was added to the original Adobe file, and then the file Saved As .png for use in Premiere Elements 11 Titler. Refer to Figure 2b for what this original Adobe file looked like.

Figure 2b. Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1 World Travel Title Bkgd_7 Before Addition Of Feathered Gray Ellipse..
Your own World Travel Title graphic as a .png file could have been used instead, such as the following which I put together in Photoshop Elements 11, using its Content.

Figure 2c. World Travel Type Graphic (Png) Created By Me As Alternative.

STEP 3
For the "WORLD TRAVELS" text in the Titler...
  • In the Text section of the Titler, select the Horizontal Type Tool and type the text WORLD TRAVELS
  • In the Styles section of the Titler, apply the CharlemagneStd. Gradient 67 Style to the selected WORLD TRAVELS text.
  • In the Text section of the Titler, set the Font Size for 68, Bold, and position the WORLD TRAVELS text.
  • In Color Properties of the Text section of the Titler, set the Fill and Stroke for the selected WORLD TRAVELS text.
For the "TRAVEL SUB TITLE" text in the same title of the Titler,,,
Same as for WORLD TRAVELS except Font Size is 26.

For this presentation the Color Properties dialog basic settings details...

WORLD TRAVELS Fill
Click on Fill box. First set for "4 Color Gradient", and then set for R, G, B = 209, 202, 147, Drop Shadow, Angle =1, Distance = 1. Softness = 1.
WORLD TRAVELS Stroke
Click on Stroke box next to the Fill box. First set for "4 Color Gradient", and then set for R, G, B = 227, 254, 152, Stroke = 4, Stroke Weight = 7, Drop Shadow, Angle = 1, Distance = 1, Softness = 1.
Note: CharlemagneStd Gradient 67 Style seems to have been used without major adjustments. So, after applying the CharlemagneStd Gradient 67 Style, you should not have to make any major adjustments to arrive at the above settings. (A bonus of sorts.)

TRAVEL SUB TITLE Fill
Click on Fill box. First set for "Solid", and then set for R, G, B = 206, 190, 147, Drop Shadow, Angle = 1, Distance = 1, Softness = 1.
TRAVEL SUB TITLE Stroke
Click on Stroke box. First set for "Solid", and then set R, G, B = 128, 59, 1, Stroke = 0 or 1, Stroke Weight = 18, Drop Shadow, Angle = 1, Distance = 1, Softness = 1.

These settings are not fixed, and adjustments, especially in the Drop Shadows option in Color Properties, may need some tweaking. Figure 3 shows the typical Color Properties dialog for the WORLD TRAVELS text when the Fill box was selected

Figure 3. Typical WORLD TRAVELS Color Properties Dialog With Fill Box Selected.

STEP 4
When the creating of the title template is completed, close out of the Premiere Elements 11 Titler. Open Project Assets, select the title, go to File Menu/Export/Title and export your title as a .prtl file saved to the computer desktop. Make sure that you give the .prtl file the same name as the graphic used which is saved to Logos. At this point, you can decide to do one of the following or both
  • Title Template .prtl for Use in more than one version of Premiere Elements. Save the .prtl file in a special folder named "Custom Title Templates" and use it in essentially any version of Premiere Elements on that computer via Premiere Elements' Get Media/Add Media/Files and Folders.
  • Title Template .prtl for use just within Premiere Elements 11 from its Text & Titles under the Action Bar Menu or Titles & Text Tab. For this, the placement of the title template .prtl file on the hard drive goes according to the following path:
Local Disc C
Program Files
Adobe
Adobe Premiere Elements 11
Presets
Templates
Common

In the Common Folder, create a new folder named "Customized Title Templates". In the "Customized Title Templates" Folder, create a new folder name "Look-Alike". In the "Look-Alike" Folder, place the newly created .prtl title template named "Look-Alike". In the "Customized Title Templates" Folder, I also created another new folder named "My Own" in which I placed the "My Own" title template .prtl that I created.

In Premiere Elements 11 workspace, these two title templates presented as shown in Figure 4a and Figure 4b.

Figure 4a. Final "Look-Alike" Title Template (.PRTL)

Figure 4b. Final "My Own" Title Template (.PRTL)

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09 28 2013

IMPORTANT UPDATE MESSAGE

After this blog post was published, a vulnerability in the Add Image aspects of the details was discovered. The vulnerability is the graphic missing from the title when put to use in a project after the source graphic has been moved from its hard drive save location, the location where it was when it was called into action in the Text/Add Image step.

Even though this type of title was created with an image "embedded", the resulting saved title .prtl appears not to be an all in one file. The .prtl saved via File Menu/Export/Title  is the text file which traces back to the image file at the image's location at the time it was imported into the title in the Titler via Text/Add Image.

We have remedied that matter here by making the Logos Folder the "home" for the graphics in these particular Add Image in the Titler situations.

This situation applies to both suggested uses

Title Template .prtl for Use in more than one version of Premiere Elements

Title Template .prtl for use just within Premiere Elements 11 from its Text & Titles under the Action Bar Menu or Titles & Text Tab

Unique to this situation is the absence of the missing media "Where is file....?" and/or the colorful Media Offline display. The text is there but not the graphic when graphic file movement is involved.

Currently being explored are aspects of all this related to creating the title with added image for use when Premiere Elements on different computers is involved.

More later.

ATR