Adobe Video Fall Updates 2023: Premiere Pro, After Effects, FrameIO

Ant Pruitt September 13, 2023

During IBC, Adobe has announced more updates to its professional video creation products in Creative Cloud*. Adobe has been on a tear with updates around its video editing software Premiere Pro as well as its compositing package, After Effects. Some previous updates include changes to the interface, new features and of course the growing AI integration.

Premiere Pro Updates

A few months back, Adobe allowed editors to speed up the rough cut workflow with its text-based editing tool. I can speak first hand that this tool has been a bit of a game changer for creating social media/promotional content at the speed of typing on a keyboard. But Adobe isn’t stopping here.

Improved Text-based editing

Adobe has allowed even more speed when removing pauses in dialogue. Instead of going line by line to find the pauses, now an editor can select all the text and Premiere Pro will highlight the pauses for removal.

Image: Adobe - Premiere Pro text-based editing interface

Enhanced dialogue

Previously, enhanced audio tools were only available in the Adobe Podcast service as a beta online. This has now been implemented into Premiere Pro with additional controls to really fine tune how much better crappy audio is cleaned up.

Color grading enhancements

The Lumetri color panel has included some bug fixes for the QuickTime gamma issue as well as better LUT management, metadata and timecode burn-in, Blackmagic RAW installer guidance and performance boost. I admit that I still enjoy Davinci Resolve more for creative color grading, but Lumetri is getting closer and closer to Resolve on that front.

After Effects Updates

Adobe continues to make After Effects a true 3D workspace for video compositing. Substance 3D has also provided some free 3D assets that can help get a creator started with beautiful, 3D motion graphics. No Substance subscription required.

Roto Brush AI improvement

The new Roto Brush is in public beta and it has continued to get better with not only the selection process, but the motion tracking has improved because of AI Sensei. This is the tool used to separate a subject in a video file for compositing.

3D Workflow

Now the tools are all available within an After Effects composition as Adobe has optimized the 3D rendering engine. One can only assume this includes the Apple Silicon architecture. No more round-tripping from After Effects to other 3D applications. Lighting and texture assets are all in one place.

FrameIO Updates

FrameIO is a great tool for sharing assets of a creative project with your team members or clients. Now there’s more flexibility in how files can be shared as a comparison view for your team or client reviews. This is going to be key considering how often generative AI images are created with different iterations. Adobe has also updated workflow with its Camera-to-Cloud (C2C) interface by adding more compatible devices:

Atomos Ninja
Atomos Ninja Ultra
Accsoon Seemo
Accsoon Seemo Pro
Fujifilm GFX 100ii

The Accsoon annoucement is huge considering the entry price of Accsoon gear.

More information on the Fall 2023 Adobe Video updates can be found here on the Adobe blog. These updates are now available in public beta for you to try out, but the official updates will hit the apps later this fall. . .usually around October and Adobe Max. Get your hands on the Creative Cloud suite if you’ve not gotten into the Adobe products just yet by going here* for a free trial .

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Adobe Announce New Partnerships and Key Collaboration Tools at Adobe Max 2022

Ant Pruitt October 18, 2022

Adobe Max 2022 kicks off in Los Angeles with many expectations in this world of content creations with AI becoming more of a norm in the creative space. Adobe is set to announce improvements to its Adobe Sensei AI with several new tools built into it’s Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro tools and more. AI has been controversial in the creative space recently, but as I’ve said many times before, AI can be GREAT for content creators in an effort to speed up repetitive tasks. Here are some of the tools of note coming from Adobe.

Even Better Masking and Selections in Photoshop and Lightroom

Better AI for creating masks and selections in the photography tools will be a big hit. Selections and masks allow creators to work even better with compositing images or get into fine details of the retouching processing. Object selection in the 2021 release of Photoshop was pretty dadgum good. It’s now been optimized even further for better performance. This selection performance will also be available in Lightroom. In addition to the selection updates, Lightroom will also see a performance boost in healing brush and content-aware fill. More information on the Lightroom updates are available here on the Adobe blog, and here for the Photoshop updates.

Adobe Video Updates

On the video side of things, Premiere Pro and After Effects will see a performance boost in renders as well as faster performance on motion graphics templates (.mogrt files). I dig Premiere Pro, but found the .mogrt files included with the subscription to be PAINFULLY slow at times. So slow that whenever I found a graphic, I’d just try to build it myself from scratch because it rendered on the timeline faster. Native H.264 encoding will now be available in After Effects directly from the render queue instead of having to jump into the Adobe Media Encoder (AME) app. After Effects will also have some public beta announcements regarding track mattes, and animation presets as mentioned in the video below as well as on the Adobe blog here.

Cloud Collaboration Rules

Adobe previously announced it’s Frame.IO integration and it’s a big hit for video creators collaborating with other creators, as well as speeding up the review process with clients. Now, Adobe is partnering up with RED and Fujifilm for even more Camera-to-Cloud integration. It’s no secret that RED cameras are found on many sets of some of the biggest television series and movies on the market. Adobe has now certified Red and Fujifilm as partners in Camera-to-Cloud (C2C). What does this mean? Proxy and RAW assets captured on the likes of a Red V-Raptor can be uploaded to the FrameIO service allowing collaborators access to assets needed for the post-production process. A great demo is in the video below.

Adobe Max is available for free as a virtual event if you’re interested in checking it out. I wasn’t able to go this year, but I’m registered and look forward to checking out more from the team including some of their sneak peak projects.

Adobe Camera to Cloud Includes Atomos Zato, Mo-Sys and Teradek at IBC

Ant Pruitt September 8, 2022

With IBC 2022 kicking off, Adobe announces new partnerships and integration with its Creative Cloud ecosystem. Particularly, on the video side with its Camera to Cloud (C2C). There’s been a push for online collaboration for several years now. In my opinion, the COVID-19 pandemic really accelerated these efforts from big tech companies such as Adobe. So at IBC, Adobe is set to continue its double-down position and expand on Camera to Cloud.

New Partnerships for C2C

Teradek was along for the ride in collaborative creation since Adobe’s 2021 C2C announcement. The two teams have now added new pieces of hardware to the mix allowing live, wireless monitoring of video content as it’s shot as well as high quality streaming online. The Teradek Serv Micro is a wireless transmitter allowing for monitoring video capture on a set for directors, and stake holders to their mobile iOS or Android devices in 8-bit 1080p video up to 30fps. The Teradek Prism Flex is an encoder for your computer that will allow for streaming to the web or social media platforms up to 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 color. Tools like this in place really open things up for video creators. The head of post at Duplass Brothers Productions, Alex Regaldo says “for the first time, it feels like indie filmmaking is comparable to big-budget productions , and we can’t imagine a production without it.” The Atomos Zato Connect has also been added to the lineup of hardware supported to integrate with C2C.

Updates to Premiere Pro and After Effects

The Adobe video apps featured some updates in the latest Aug2ust 2022 releases of After Effects and Premiere Pro.. I’ve been bouncing back and forth using Davinci Resolve and Premiere Pro for some of my jobs, but I’ve really bene digging the Frame.IO integration in Premiere Pro for client approvals. Ridiculously easy to use as show here. Some of the updates to Premiere Pro include a better titling tool so so graphic creation is more efficient, improved audio ducking for voice tracks with music beds and also GPU-accelerated unsharp mask. After Effects a few beta options such as track matte LAYERS and quick exports with native h.264.

The updates are all detailed on Adobe’s blog here. Check it out for more information on all the new hardware as well as the software update list.

Adobe Premiere Pro June 2022 Updates Released

Ant Pruitt June 21, 2022

Each summer, Adobe pushes out features for its video editing software aimed at making the creative workflow more efficient. Whether it’s leaning on AI with Adobe Sensei, adding new features or just simply adjusting the user interface. Today’s the day for the latest on the Adobe Premiere Pro* updates.

Vertical Workspace

Video creation is great, but apparently, video creation for social media is even better. With platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok pushing the video viewing behavior from the traditional “landscape” 16:9 aspect viewing to “portrait” 9:16 aspect viewing, it’s been critical that content creators embrace not only shooting for vertical viewing, but also editing for it. Adobe has added a dedicated Vertical workspace for this purpose. It has also updated the Essentials workspace to really help editors that are on a single screen or laptop.

Proxy Workflow

Working with proxy files in video editing is nothing new, but Adobe has opt to make it more obvious to the editor that proxy files are being utilized in the project timeline. This is done by adding badges to the clips in the timeline that are proxies, as well as adding badges to the file in the project bin.

New Text Tools

The update also includes the ability to add nice looking shadows and gradients to text you create as graphics in your video. The interface is still the same, there’s just another field added.

Other updates include improved performance for M1 Apple computers as well as additional GPU-Accelerated effects. More info on the update can be found on the Adobe blog post here.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Adobe Lightroom Adds Video "Editing" And More AI

Ant Pruitt June 14, 2022

Adobe has announced new updates for its Lightroom photo editing software. It’s the time of year where the children are out of school, vacation and travel time is picking up and more images will be snapped with your favorite camera of choice. Perfect time to get the most out of your photos and videos with updated editing tools. Here’s a quick look at some of the Lightroom updates announced.

Video Processing

You’ve been able to add video files to Lightroom for a handful of years now. Granted, I didn’t see much use for it, personally, but the capability was there. You couldn’t really do an “edit” to the video file if you needed to. Even something as simple as shorten the video. Makes sense considering Adobe offers several other video editing options with its Premiere Pro ,* Premiere Rush* and After Effects* software. Now you can import video files to do some very light retouching as well as trim the video. You can’t create video with multiple clips are anything like that, but if you’re trying to retouch a single file, you can do so. This of it how you’d use the native photos app on your iPhone or Android device. There’s usually a simple video touch up option in it. This is the same as that, just with Adobe tools and AI included. This update is available for Lightroom, Lightroom on mobile and also Lightroom Classic.

AI Mask Controls

Adobe’s Sensei AI has continued to get better over the years to help speed up the post-processing workflow. The mask tool in Lightroom is useful for doing selective adjustments. Now you can create a mask in a photo and apply the same type of selection as well as the parameters to another photo in your group. So if you’re trying to do a selective adjustment on a person to, but would like to apply the same processing to a product shot, you can with copy and paste. The AI will recognize the subject of each image and process accordingly without you needing to adjust your selection.

GPU EXPORT!!!!

Also in this update, Lightroom Classic has been rewritten to export utilizing the GPU on your system where applicable. This is BIG and should give a boost in performance.

More information about the updates such as adaptive presets, red-eye removal and more can be found on the official Adobe blog post. Get the Adobe Photography package for just $9.99 a month* with my affiliate link to step up your photography processing game as well as help support me and my efforts.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Adobe Integrates Frame.IO Into Its Creative Apps

Ant Pruitt April 12, 2022

Adobe acquired Frame.IO in the summer of 2021 and all of the creative world was a buzz. It was an acquisition that just made sense in the creative space. Especially the film side. Now, Adobe has announced some fascinating and seamless integration of Frame.IO into its Premiere Pro and After Effects video apps.

Yup. The acquisition allows for simple integration for Creative Cloud subscribers* to work even more efficiently on video collaborations. Creative teams can work on a project managing assets as they’re used to doing with Premiere Pro and After Effects, but now there’s better versioning and review tools built right in. Even if you’re not a collaborative type like me, but want to have a client review a sequence, they can. And get the ability to add notes and mark-ups right onto the file with this new integration. Pretty good stuff. All of this will begin to roll out in PHASES starting April 12th (today).

Adobe also announced better performance for the M1 Apple silicon in its creative suite. In particularly in After Effects boasting an 3X performance boost. WOAH. I like After Effects, but man it can be really slow depending on the composite or effects. M1 users, rejoice.

Premiere Pro has also gotten a new look with its import, export and upload layout. More on that redesign and proposed efficiency can be found here on the Adobe blog. Sounds good, but I find the Frame.IO news to be the true meat of today’s announcement. I’m looking forward to trying this out with my clients for their video reviews.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Better Masking and Selections Coming to Adobe Lightroom and ACR

Ant Pruitt September 28, 2021

Adobe Lightroom Classic is part of my photography workflow for post-processing as well as organizing and cataloging my files. The tools in post-processing have become second nature for me these days. Now Adobe is adding more capability to Lightroom Classic, Lightroom (Cloud) and Camera Raw apps with it’s precise masking tool.

The tool is going to offer more flexibility when using the adjustment brush to do selective adjustments in your image. Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, some selective adjustments can be quite tedious in Lightroom. Which is why I usually switch to Photoshop for that part of my post-processing. But it’s nice to see that this may save me a few minutes of work by keeping me in Lightroom.

More details about the update can be found here on the Adobe blog. Check out this quick video showing off forth-coming tool.

New Photoshop Updates for Desktop and iPad Announced

Ant Pruitt August 17, 2021

Adobe has announced new updates to its popular photo editing and manipulation software, Photoshop. The popular app continues grow as more and more tools and options are integrated with each update. Today’s update is great for photographers shooting landscape images or outside in general as the Adobe Sensei AI continues to get better. Here are some of the updates of note for both Photoshop on the desktop computer as well as the iPad.

Sky replacement AI updated

We’ve all been there. We’ve snapped a photo outside and the sky just looks. . .blah. Sky replacement AI has gotten more and more popular for this reason. With the latest update to Photoshop's sky replacement feature, you can now choose from more skies in your replacement, import up to 5,000 skies, and control how the newly replaced sky is applied.

AI is the big key to the Neural Filters of Photoshop, too. Adobe has included some improvements and updates for this feature set which includes:

Preset images now included for Style Transfer to provide a starting point
Use any custom and apply the style of that image to your document
Superzoom now operates on the entire layer instead fo only a cropped area of the image.

In addition to the sky replacement updates, Adobe announced more control over its Transform Warp tool. this is useful for allowing graphic designers the ability to create complex shapes within their project with the implementation of Bezier handles. For those of you interested in providing feedback for future Photoshop features or suggestions, you can be a part of Photoshop Beta. Just install the beta app via your Creative Cloud app running on your computer.

Photoshop on iPad updated

The iPad version of Photoshop has two nice updates that’s currently found in the desktop version. The Healing Brush and Magic Wand. Healing is great for retouching, small spot removal and so forth in photo manipulation. I use it regularly in portraits. The Magic Wand is great for quick selections of objects in your photo.

These are nice features to be added to Photoshop on iPad. I still think there’s a little ways to go before I can make it my mobile photo manipulation app, but it’s nice to see the improvement happening for the project.

You can find out more about the latest Photoshop updates (and MORE) via the Adobe blog post right here. And if you’re interested in getting Photoshop and Lightroom for yourself, click here and get it for $9.99 per month. A great value, in my opinion.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Adobe Announces July 2021 Update For Video Creators and More

Ant Pruitt July 20, 2021

Adobe announced it’s forth-coming updates to many of its Creative Cloud software that’s bound to make the workflow of a content creator even better, but also, better for the consumers of the content being created. There’s quite a bit coming in the world of video and animation, but also the graphics world. I’ll share a few details of those updates. Let’s start with Premiere Pro and captions.

Captions and Transcriptions in Premiere Pro

Adobe previously implemented some AI tech to help get transcription in video products, but this is now updated and ready to go with the July 2021. I watched a demo from Mr. Patrick Palmer showing off the new features of seamlessly creating captions and subtitles with Adobe Sensei AI. Subtitles in particular are becoming more and more popular today because many people struggle with impaired hearing concerns.

A faster experience in After Effects (beta)

I’ve used After Effects here and there for simple motion graphics and noise reduction in video. And I gotta tell ya, After Effects is SLOW when it comes to pre-rendering your footage during your edit. Some things are faster than others, but it can still be a bit of a bear unless you have quality hardware running the app. Yes, Adobe announced a performance boost, as usual, but this is a bit different as After Effects will now do speculative rendering in the background. This is useful if you’re in the middle of dialing in your effects controls and parameters. No more adjusting a parameter, hitting enter to render, seeing that the parameter didn’t quite work, changing the parameter, hitting enter to render and hoping you got it right. This is a beta preview, but coming soon.

More for your iPad with Adobe Fresco

The beautiful painting/digital art app Fresco has been updated providing more tools for the creative artist. Similar to Photoshop on iPad, Fresco allows the artist to work in layers. The ability to move objects and change blend modes are key to getting the art to really come together. Adobe has enhanced this with better functionality in moving and rotating items as well as adding grid tools. More on this app found on the Adobe blog post, here.

Adobe has its full rundown of updates across it suite of apps via separate blog posts. Check out more on the Premiere Pro updates here, After Effects here, Fresco here, and Character Animator here. No, I didn’t get into the improved support for Apple M1 chips because that’s to be expected. But I DO want to give kudos to Adobe for becoming part of the Blender Development fund. Blender is an amazing 3D modeling app that’s FREE. It’s nice seeing proprietary companies giving back to the open source community.

As usual, if you’re interested in signing up for the Adobe Creative Cloud, you can do so for as little as $10 per month using my affiliate link.

Adobe "Modernizes" Premiere Pro With New Beta UI

Ant Pruitt June 22, 2021

Most content creators are familiar with Adobe’s video creation tool, Premiere Pro*. Yes, there’s a bit of a love hate relationship with this software, but it really does do a good job making high quality video creation accessible to many. The UI has been fine for me, but apparently, Adobe and the community thought the user interface could be improved. So, the Adobe video team is doing just that via a public beta.

Phase 1 of the beta update: removing the techno mumbo jumbo

When launching Premiere Pro, the existing opening dialog to create a new project is fairly extensive. You have the open to name the file, but then you also have scratch disk, ingest and processing options to address. Most of the items on that opening dialog really isn’t needed just to “create” a new project. Adobe and the community has realized that and is getting rid of this information. Adobe is streamlining this opening dialog for a more visual interface allowing you to see your media and set necessary project parameters on one screen instead of multiple tabs. It ALMOST looks like the opening screen of Premiere Rush. Almost.

Once you’re into your project, the timeline interface and workspace looks fairly similar with a few tweaks to the menus and panel headings. For example, the main header bar is not as big as it used to be. This now gives you a few more pixels of screen space for your source and program monitors. Adobe states that this is an effort to not only give a few more pixels of screen real estate, but also an effort to unify the user experience (UX) across other Adobe products such as Photoshop, Lightroom and After Effects.

Exporting the content you create is very similar to the Premiere Rush interface. You get a couple presets to handle the export based on the platform where the content will be viewed. Video formatting varies from platform to platform. Having presets allows your content to be viewed in its best format on the platform without a bunch of compression and artifacts.

As a Premiere Pro* user, I will have to ease into the new redesign. I’m a creature of habit when it comes to using my creative apps. Heck my current layout of Premiere Pro has a custom workspace that I set up to better fit my needs. Fortunately, this will still be an option for us old dogs struggling to learn new tricks.

This is only the first phase of the new interface redesign. Adobe didn’t specify a timeline for subsequent phases, but wanted to reiterate that phase one is all about getting started with a project as well as the export process. Adobe did mention that more updates are coming to the Lumetri color panel as well as background video rendering beyond using Adobe Media Encoder software. Find out more about the beta here on the Adobe blog.

(*) Affiliate link used. When you use my affiliate links, I receive a small commission from your purchase at no additional cost to you as the consumer. Thank you for your support