Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual

Creating Your First Video Project

The first step in creating your video masterpiece is to gather and organize the files you want to use. Start by creating a folder for your project and then create two more folders inside the first: name one Audio (for background audio and sound effects) and the other Content (for video clips, still images, logos, and so on). Inside the Content folder, take some time to figure out the order in which you want the content to play before you open it in Photoshop. For example, by including a letter or number at the beginning of each filename, the content will sort itself alphabetically or numerically when you import it into your Photoshop document. Because the Timeline panel is so small, organizing your content beforehand makes your life a lot easier.

Another reason to organize content up front is that Photoshop doesn’t embed video files into your document. Instead, it links to the original file, keeping your Photoshop document’s file size manageable and leaving the original video file untouched. The downside to this setup is that if you move the video file on your hard drive, you’ll break the link. But the upside is that this linking lets you perform nondestructive editing—Photoshop applies your edits to a copy of the original clip when you export your project (Exporting Videos).

Tip

Before starting any video project in Photoshop, change your workspace to one that Adobe designed specifically for video editing; simply choose Window→Workspace→Motion. When ...