Stabilize video footage with Shake Stabilizer
You can stabilize shaky video footage using the Shake Stabilizer option. Shake Stabilizer removes the jitter caused by camera movements, transforming shaky, handheld footage into steady, smooth shots.
Shake Stabilizer is available in both Quick and Expert views. However, for best results, use Shake Stabilizer from the Expert view. The Expert view offers advanced options that help fine-tune the results you achieve with Shake Stabilizer. It is recommended that you take small sections of the clip that has unwanted shake and then apply Shake Stabilizer. You can trim or split a clip to break it into smaller sections.
For information about how to trim a clip, see Trimming clips . For information about how to split a clip, see Split a clip.
Apply Shake Stabilizer from the Quick view
1 Click Quick to switch to the Quick view. From the timeline, select the video clip on which you want to run Shake Stabilizer.
2 Click Adjust to open the Adjust panel. Click Shake Stabilizer.
3 Based on your requirements, select a mode to run Shake Stabilizer:
• Quick: Select this mode if you want to quickly analyze a clip and stabilize the shakes. This mode is optimized for performance as it analyzes alternate frames. It takes less time, but the results might not be optimized.
• Detailed: Select this mode to analyze each frame and achieve better results. The Detailed mode takes more time.
While stabilizer is processing the frames, you can continue working on the project.
5 You can click Cancel to stop processing the frames. Click Stabilize to start processing again.
Apply Shake Stabilizer from the Expert view
The Expert view is the recommended view for performing shake stabilization on a video clip. You can configure the advanced options available in this view to enhance the shake removal from the clip.
1 Click the Expert tab to switch to the Expert view. To stabilize motion in a particular video clip, select the clip in the timeline.
2 Click Adjust to open the Adjust panel. Click Shake Stabilizer.
3 Click Quick or Detailed to select the mode for running Shake Stabilizer. Refer to the Apply Shake Stabilizer from the Quick viewsection for more information about the modes.
While Shake Stabilizer is processing the frames, you can continue working on the project.
5 Click Advanced to view the available advanced options. You can select options to avoid extreme cropping or to adjust other parameters.
The options available in the Advanced tab are displayed. You can configure these options to fine-tune the Shake Stabilizer effect applied on your video clips.
a Motion: Controls the intended result for the footage. Smooth Motion retains the original camera movement but makes it smoother. When selected, smoothness is enabled to control how smooth the camera movement becomes. The No Motion option attempts to remove all camera motion from the shot. This setting is used for footage where at least a portion of the main subject remains within the frame for the entire range being stabilized.
b Smoothness: Use the slider to increase or decrease smoothness in the video clip. Lower values are closer to the camera’s original motion while higher values are smoother. Values above 100 require more cropping of the image. Enabled when the Result is set to Smooth Motion.
d Boost Stabilization: When selected, Shake Stabilizer starts again to find elements to track. When you select this option, an analyze and fix workflow on the clip is initiated. The analysis is slow but produces the best results.
e Rolling Shutter Ripple: The stabilizer automatically corrects the rippling associated with stabilized rolling shutter footage. Automatic Reduction is the default. Use Enhanced Reduction if the footage contains larger ripples.
f Crop Vs Smooth: When cropping, this option controls the trade-off between smoothness and scaling of the cropping rectangle as it moves over the stabilized image. Lower values are smooth, however, more of the image is viewed. At 100%, the result is the same as the Stabilize Only option with manual cropping. See Defining Video Frame for information about the Stabilize Only option.
g Synthesis Edge Feather: Selects the amount of feather for the synthesized pieces. It is enabled only when using Video Frame to Stabilize, Synthesize Edges. It is enabled only when using the Stabilize, Synthesize Edges framing. Use the feather control to smooth over edges where the synthesized pixels join up with the original frame. See Defining Video Frame for information about the Stabilize, Synthesize Edges option.
You can click Cancel to cancel the effect from being applied on the clip. Click Stabilize to again start stabilizing the clip.
Video Frame settings
The Video Frame option controls how the edge appears in a stabilizing result. This can be set to one of the following: • Stabilize Only: Displays the entire frame, including the moving edges. Stabilize Only shows how much work is being
done to stabilize the image and these are clearly visible around the edges. • Stabilize, Crop: Crops the moving edges without scaling.
• Stabilize, Crop, Auto-scale (default): Crops the moving edges and scales up the image to refill the frame. • Stabilize, Synthesize Edges: Fills in the blank space created by the moving edges with content from frames earlier
and later in time.
Recommendations for using Shake Stabilizer
• Shake Stabilizer is a memory-intensive and time-consuming operation. While it lets you use the application during processing, it makes the application slow. Once Shake Stabilizer completes the stabilizing stage, the application returns to the normal state. It is recommended to first identify the shaky portion of the footage and then split to extract those portions and run Shake Stabilizer only on those extracted clips.
• If you are applying Shake Stabilizer from the Expert view, try the Quick mode first. The Quick mode is faster but might introduce some unwanted crop in the output. If you are not satisfied with the results, try the Detailed mode. For better results, enable Boost Stabilization under the Advanced section while using the Detailed mode.
• Make sure that project settings and clip settings always match.
• In some cases, the clip mismatches with the current project but matches with one of the application's project settings preset. In this case, Shake Stabilizer requires clip dimensions to match project settings. Create a new project to solve this problem.
• Another possibility is that the clip mismatches with the current project and also does not match with any of the application's project settings preset. To fix this issue, export the clip to one of the standard formats and then create new project using that clip.
Trimming clips
About trimming and retrieving clips
When you build a movie, you rarely use an entire clip. To define the frames you want to use, set In and Out points. The In point is the first frame of the clip you want to use. The Out point is the last frame of the clip you want to use. Setting In and Out points does not delete frames from the hard drive. Instead, it isolates the portion you want included in the movie. In and Out points act like a window over the clip, showing only the frames from the In point to the Out point. You can move In and Out points as needed to regain any frames you might have trimmed.
A In point B Trimmed frames C Out point
You can trim frames from either end of a clip. To trim frames from the middle of a clip, first split the clip (which creates two parts of the original clip). Then, trim the unwanted frames from the end of the first new clip or the beginning of the second.
You can trim a clip in the Preview window, the Monitor panel, the Quick view timeline, or the Expert view timeline. You can retrieve frames from source clips (clips not yet placed in the Quick view timeline or the Expert view timeline) using the Preview window. You can retrieve frames from clips in the Quick view timeline or the Expert view timeline.
About Smart trimming
You can create a refined good-quality video file by removing unwanted sections. Adobe Premiere Elements 13 enables you to efficiently handle blurred, shaky, and unwanted low-quality sections of your video file. You can easily and quickly edit and fine-tune the video files.
Smart trimming enables you to trim the low-quality sections of a video file. Smart trim can be done manually and automatically. You can trim clips from the Quick view timeline or the Expert view timeline.
Smart trimming is of two types, manual and automatic. Manual Smart trimming is the default mode. In this mode, you can specify the options that determine the trimmable sections. In the automatic Smart trim mode, Premiere Elements automatically determines the trimmable sections. You can choose to delete them or retain them.
Manual Smart Trim
1 To enable Smart Trim, click Tools on the Action bar and then select Smart Trim from the Tools panel. By default, Manual Smart Trim Mode is enabled.
Note: When you are in the manual Smart Trim mode, you see the message, Smart Trim Mode: Trim or Delete The Highlighted Sections, above the Monitor panel. You also see the Smart Trim Options button.
2 (Optional) Click the Smart Trim Options button on top. In the Smart Trim Options dialog, use the slider to specify the Quality options. The values set here determine the trimmable sections. If you do not set the options here, default settings are used.
Premiere Elements analyzes the clip, and highlights the sections of the clip that need trimming. The highlighted sections depend on the values set for the Quality Level options. Striped patterns are used to highlight the trimmable sections.
3 (Optional) View the bad-quality tags that Adobe Premiere Elements applied on the trim sections by hovering the mouse over the Smart Trim section of the clip.
4 To select trim sections in a clip, do one of the following:
• Double-click the clip in the Expert view timeline to select all the trimmable sections in a single clip.
• To select all the trimmable sections in multiple clips, drag a marquee around the selected clips in the Expert view timeline. Right-click/ctrl-click the trim sections, and choose Select All.
• To select all the trimmable sections in multiple clips in the Quick view timeline or the Expert view timeline, select Ctrl-A. Right-click/ctrl-click a section > Select All.
The selected trim sections are highlighted. When you select a trimmable section, all trimmable sections turn into blue-striped sections.note: To choose selected trim sections from multiple clips, first select the clips, and select the trim sections.
5 Right-click/ctrl-click a trimmable section (the blue-striped region). The following options are displayed:
Trim Enables you to trim the selected trimmable section.
Keep Enables you to retain the selected trimmable section.
Select All Selects all the trimmable sections in the current selection.
Smart Trim Options Displays the Smart Trim options.
6 Select Trim to trim the trimmable region, or select Keep to retain the trimmable section. You can also trim clips using the Delete key on the keyboard.
7 (Optional) To undo the previous trim action, right-click/ctrl-click the clip in the Expert view timeline, and select Undo Smart Trim.
To exit the Smart Trim mode, click the Done button.
Automatic Smart Trim
1 To enable automatic Smart Trim, click Tools on the Action bar and then select Smart Trim from the Tools panel.
3 In the Smart Trim Options dialog, select Automatic.
4 (Optional) Use the slider to specify the Quality option. The values set here determine the trimmable sections. If you do not set the options, default settings are used.
5 Click Save.
Premiere Elements analyzes the clip and highlights the sections of the clip that need trimming. The Automatic Smart Trim confirmation dialog is displayed.
Note: If a clip is not selected, striped patterns are used to highlight the Smart Trim sections of the clip.
Smart Trim options
Smart trimming uses quality factors such as brightness, blur, shaky, and contrast factors such as face, motion, and dialog as criteria to trim the clips. You can set the levels of quality before trimming the clips.
Quality Level
Enables you to specify the levels of quality factors that Premiere Elements uses to determine the trimmable sections. The quality factors include blur, shaky, brightness, focus, and contrast. If you move the slider to the extreme right, all low-quality sections are highlighted as trimmable sections. As you move the slider toward the left, the trimmable sections reduce. If you move the slider to the extreme left, only low-quality sections are highlighted for trimming.
Access Smart Trim options
To access the Smart Trim options, enable Smart Trim and do one of the following: • Click the Smart Trim Options button on the top of the Monitor panel. • Right-click/ctrl-click a trimmable selection, and select Smart Trim Options.
Trim a clip from the Quick view timeline
You can directly trim clips in the Quick view timeline.1 Select the clip in the Quick view timeline.
2 Position the pointer over the edge of the clip you want to trim until the correct icon appears: • Trim-In icon to trim the beginning of a clip.
• Trim-Out icon to trim the end of a clip.
3 Drag the trim handles to the desired frame. The Monitor panel displays the frames as you drag, also showing the frame from the adjacent clip (if any). Subsequent clips in the track shift in time to compensate for the edit, but their durations remain unchanged
Remove frames from the middle of a clip
You can retain material at the beginning and end of a clip for your movie, but remove material from its middle. Split the clip right before the unwanted section begins, to create two clips. Then, trim the unwanted material from the beginning of the second clip.
1 In the Quick view timeline, select the clip containing unwanted material. The clip appears in the Monitor panel.
2 Drag the current-time indicator on the Quick view timeline to the frame where the unwanted material begins.
3 Click the Scissor button on the current-time indicator.
The original clip is split into two clips in the Quick view timeline.
5 In the Preview window, drag the current-time indicator to the frame just after the last frame of unwanted material,
6 Click the Set In Point button. This trims the unwanted material from the beginning of the second clip and shortens the clip in the Quick view timeline, leaving a gap between it and the clip before.
The unwanted material is removed from the beginning of the second clip (or end of the first clip, if you chose to edit that clip). The gap created between the first and second clips is automatically closed.
7 Right-click/ctrl-click in the gap in the Quick view timeline, and then click Delete And Close Gap.
Retrieve frames in the Monitor panel
1 Double-click a clip in the Quick view timeline.The start and end points of the clip becomes visible in the Preview window of the Monitor panel.
2 In the Preview window, do one of the following:
• To retrieve frames at the beginning of the clip, drag the In point handle to the left. • To retrieve frames at the end of the clip, drag the Out point handle to the right.
Trim in the Expert view timeline
You can remove or regain trimmed frames from either end of a clip by dragging the clip’s edge in the Expert view timeline. To help you locate the desired frame, the Monitor panel displays it at the changing In or Out point of the clip as you drag. If another clip is adjacent to the edge you’re trimming, the Monitor panel displays the frames of both clips side by side.
The frame on the left (the Out point) is earlier in time, and the frame on the right (the In point) is later in time. Subsequent clips, as well as blocks of empty space, in the Expert view timeline shift as you drag the clip’s edge. A tool tip displays the number of frames you are trimming as you trim them. This window displays a negative value if you drag the clip’s edge toward the beginning of the movie.
It displays a positive number if you drag toward the end of the movie. You can tell whether you have trimmed a clip by looking for a small gray triangle in the top corner at either end of the clip in the Expert view timeline. The triangle indicates you have not trimmed that edge.
For linked clips (video that includes a soundtrack), dragging the edge of one clip changes the In or Out points of both clips. Sometimes you want to trim linked clips independently to create split edits (also known as L-cuts and J-cuts). Pressing Alt when you trim allows you to set the In and Out points of the video and audio separately.
Trim clips in the Expert view timeline
1 Position the pointer over the edge of the clip you want to trim until the correct icon appears: • Trim-In icon to trim the beginning of a clip.
• Trim-Out icon to trim the end of a clip.
2 Drag the edge to the desired frame. The Monitor panel displays the frames as you drag, also showing the frame from the adjacent clip (if any). Subsequent clips in the track shift in time to compensate for the edit, but their durations remain unchanged.
Remove frames from the middle of a clip in the Expert view timeline
You can retain content at the beginning and end of a clip for your movie and remove content from its middle. Split the