| Don't let unfamiliar terms discourage you from learning all you can about Premiere Elements. If you don't completely understand what one of these words means, flip to the indicated page, read the full definition there, and find techniques related to that term. - Alpha channel
The area of a graphic or video clip that Premiere Elements reads as transparent. This transparency can be inherent in the native file, as with a Photoshop file that has no background layer, or the alpha channel can be created in Premiere Elements by using the Key effects to define color ranges as transparent. Page 290
- Analog
Literally meaning a representation of something else, the word refers to the recording of sound or images with traditional, non-computer-based means, such as a vinyl record album or a VHS videotape. 35
- Auto-play DVD
A DVD in which the video automatically begins to play when it is loaded into a DVD player without first launching a splash screen or menu. 352
- AV inputs
The usually red, white, and yellow (white and yellow only on a monaural unit) RCA-style jacks used for connecting an analog camcorder to a television or other playback device. 50
- Bézier
A system for controlling a curve's shape by manipulating handles at the end points of the curve. 227
- Capture
The process by which video is transferred from a camcorder to a computer-based editing program and, if necessary, digitized in the process. 34
- Chapter markers
Designated points in a video that the viewer can quickly jump to by following links from a DVD menu. 356
- Clip
Any graphic, still, audio, or video segment placed on the Timeline in a video project. 4
- CTI
The current time indicator; the vertical hairline that indicates your frame position on the Timeline. 4
- Deinterlace
The process of converting interlaced images into noninterlaced form by creating two frames out of one interlaced frame. 169
- Digital
The recording and processing of any information, including picture and sound, using mathematical measurements, as in the way computers use chains of 1s and 0s to represent all data. Page 35
- Digital video
Video which records sound and motion as computer data, or chains of 1s and 0s. Also called DV. 16
- Digitizing
The process of converting analog information or video into computer files or digital information. 36
- DV bridge
A hardware device that connects an analog camcorder to a computer for the purpose of converting the analog video stream into digital video files. 48
- DV-AVI
A PC-based video file format, designated by the file extension .avi, but distinguished from other kinds of AVI files by its use of the near-lossless DV codec, or file compression system. Because of its perfect balance of size and quality, it is the preferred video format for PC-based video editors as well as being the universal language that all PC-based video-editing software speaks. 17
- FireWire
Initially a brand name for Apple's high-speed data connection, it has become universal shorthand for any OHCI-Compliant IEEE-1394 connection. It is also the current standard for transferring digital video data from a camcorder to a computer and back again. 16
- Folders
A sorting system used in the Media panel in which clips can be stored in collections and subcollections for easy access and categorization. 4
- Interactive marker
Marks a point in a video where an event should take place. 184
- Interlaced
Two video frames merged into one using each frame's odd or even fields. Interlaced video draws only half of the lines on the screen for each frame, taking advantage of the time it takes for a image to fade on a TV and giving the impression of double the actual refresh rate, helping to prevent flicker. 169
- Keyframing
The method used by Premiere Elements (as well as Premiere Pro and After Effects) for creating motion paths and transitioning effects. Points representing precise settings for effects or positions are placed on the Timeline and the program automatically creates a movement or transition between them. Page 5
- Matte
An area of a clip designated as transparent. The shape and position of a matte can be defined using vector points (as with Premiere Elements's Garbage Matte) or by linking it to the size and position of an image on another video track (as with Premiere Elements's Track Matte). 289
- MPEG
A video file format developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group, MPEGs use a temporal compression system, a system of compressing the file by re-using repeated elements from frame to frame, which produces very small filesalthough sometimes technically challenging files to edit. Although Premiere Elements 2.0 can work with MPEGs, you should consider them to be chiefly a delivery format (the files you burn to your DVDs) and not the preferred format for editing video. 17
- Nonlinear editing
A computer-based video-editing system in which collected media can be easily assembled, trimmed, and re-ordered indefinitely. 2
- Passthrough
A method of digitizing analog video by connecting an analog camcorder to a computer through a digital camcorder. 48
- Pixel
Pixels are the basic building blocks of all digital images. Although they seem to be painted with continuous color, digital imageson television, on your computer, or in your digital cameraare actually composed of tiny rectangles of various settings of red, green, and blue color. In most cases, these pixels are so small that they seem to blend into a smooth flow of color. However, when an image is stretched beyond its intended resolution, or over-rezzed, the pixels become visible and the image will appear jagged or pixelated. 16
- Raster image
Images or graphics composed of pixels, such as photos and other Photoshop images. Usually these pixels are small enough that they aren't perceived as individual blocks of color. However, over-scaling a raster image reveals the pixels, making the image appear jagged or pixelated. 117
- Rendering
Premiere Elements's process of creating video frames from stills or, transitioned or effected video clips. Page 6
- Resolution
The pixel density of an image. Print images require a much higher resolution (200300 pixels per inch) than onscreen images (about 72 pixels per inch), but too little resolution in any medium reveals the pixels that make up the image, making the picture look jagged. 97
- Scene markers
A type of DVD chapter marker that links from the scenes menu to a designated point in the video. 359
- Scratch disk
An area of your hard drive in which Premiere Elements writes temporary files while rendering and encoding your project. Often the amount of scratch disk space needed to render and encode a project exceeds the size of the output file. 18
- Scrubbing
Manually moving the CTI back and forth along the Timeline in order to locate a specific clip or frame or to test a transition. 5
- Timeline
The linear palette in which audio and video clips are assembled to create a video project. 4
- Title
An image used to display credits, the name of a movie, identify people or places when they appear in a movie, or superimpose text. 298
- Title overlay
Any combination of text, shapes, and graphics that, when placed over a clip, reveals the clip(s) on the track(s) below through its transparent areas. 304
- Track
The layers of audio or video clips on the Timeline. 123
- Transition
Controls the way one image or clip in your project leads into the next. 156
- USB Video Class 1.0
A relatively new high-speed standard for transferring digital video from specially equipped camcorders to a computer over a USB 2.0 connection. 16
- Vector image
A graphic composed of a series of outline points; it can be scaled to any size without becoming pixelated. 97
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