New Software Spotlight – Adobe Creative Cloud for Video 2017

Adobe has released an update to its Creative Cloud platform. In this release are a number of new features to its video based platform that includes Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Media Encoder, and Adobe Audition.

The goal for Creative Cloud for Video in this release is to give you everything that you need to create more stunning videos faster and better than ever. By giving you more powerful tools, the ability to ingest video faster, and provide better collaboration tools, you will have a much more efficient and productive workflow. For more information or check out the various membership plans that are available you can just go to Adobe Creative Cloud.

Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017 (November 2016)

Adobe Premiere Pro is a real-time, timeline based video editing software application. It widely used within the film and video industry. Adobe Premiere Pro CC reduces the complex process of video production. It does this by integrating multiple products such After Effects, and Audition to make each step of the video production more efficient and giving you more time to work your story.

In this release of Premiere Pro CC, a new Team Projects workflow is introduced and although it is still in beta, it is aimed at editors and motion graphics artists who work together on projects. It also integrates After Effects CC and Prelude CC. This is a hosted service that provides deep collaboration tools such as version history and intelligent conflict resolution. It also lets post-production teams share edits and get the latest changes so everyone can stay up to speed. This means that you can have concurrent changes happen within a single project so no one gets left out of the loop.

While it was introduced earlier in 2016, the VR workflow now has more improvements in this release. For example, you can work with stitched equirectangular video to show field-of-view. This means that you can replicate viewing experiences while you edit your content. It also expands on the virtual-reality features that are a part of Premiere Pro. It provides the ability to detect automatically if your VR media is monoscopic, stereoscopic over/under, or stereoscopic right/left, giving you the freedom to focus on your work and let Premiere Pro determine the proper VR settings behind the scenes.

They added a really nice keyboard shortcut mapping UI screen that highlights the current mapping of keyboard shortcuts. This way you can visually see the shortcuts on the screen and easily be able to see unassigned key maps in the event you want to create your own.

Other features include enhanced open captions that make it easier than ever to work with captions. This makes it as easy create open captions as you create closed captions. The Lumetri color tools has expanded with new color pickers as well as more intuitive selections directly on the video itself. You can also publish your work to Behance, use Live Text Templates to include dynamic graphics with your video content, and harness the power of After Effects directly in Premiere Pro. You also have support for the latest file formats and there is a whole host of improved audio effects.

After Effects CC 2015 (13.8)

After Effects CC is digital motion graphics and compositing software that is used by motion graphic designers, visual artists, and video editors. It can be used in both film and video post-production. It uses a system of layers organized on a timeline to create composites from still images and motion footage such as from video files.

It has become the industry standard for visual effects and motion graphics because it offers flexible tools that can be used to prepare dynamic media. It integrates well with other tools used in the industry. You can find imagery created in After Effects in everything from motion pictures to cell phones to websites.

Included here, as it is with Premiere Pro, After Effects comes with the hosted collaboration service that is built on Adobe Anywhere. Your teams project data is securely based in the cloud and your media files are saved in local source files or lightweight proxies. You are able to collaborate more efficiently with others while making sure everyone is up-to-date with the edits.

There is a new 3D composition renderer using Maxon’s Cinema 4D that makes it easy to create logo’s and 3D text using the hardware you already use for After Effects. You can manipulate shapes, bend planes, and work with extruding 3D text right inside the timeline. It is made to be easy to control quality and render setting using basic controls.

There are also a lot of performance based improvements to this version such as building on the much improved architecture introduced in the last version to bring better performance using smarter processing. There are additional GPU-accelerated-enabled effects such as Brightness and Contrast, Find Edges, Hue/Saturation, Mosaic, Glow, Tint, and Invert.

There is a new improved live text templates workflow. Previously, you could only share a live text template by providing a complete project file and the needed assets, now you can provide an easy-to-share file that has everything that is needed. You can also open a Character Animator scene directly in After Effects or Premiere Pro and keep a live connection to the original scene using Adobe Dynamic Link. This means that when you make a change to the scene in Character Animator, it is automatically updated in After Effects or Premiere Pro.

Other improvements include integration of TypeKit fonts such that when you share with a collaborator who does not have a font installed on their computer, it will automatically sync when they open the project. You can also create a project template that you can base all your future projects on that includes things like color management and folder structure and these can be shared with your collaborators.

Adobe Audition CC

Adobe Audition CC is the latest release of the comprehensive Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) production solution from Adobe Systems. It features a multi-track, mix/edit environment that you can use to create your own music, record and mix a project, produce a radio spot, clean up audio, as well as compile and edit a soundtrack. In fact it is your own personal recording studio.

New to Audition is the on-boarding experience. It gives new users a series of guided walkthroughs of common tasks. Things like reducing background noise, mixing audio elements, or creating podcasts. If you are new to Audition or unfamiliar with a particular task, this will help guide you through it.

Many video editors mix their own audio and this version of Audition allows those with limited mixing experience to perform mixing techniques easily with great results. The Essential Sound panel provides a complete tool kit to provide professional results. You can save the applied adjustments as presets for use in similar projects.

Audition now lets you export you edited audio, directly to Adobe Media Encoder for a linear post-production workflow. You can use format presets and channel customization. Your project can start rendering automatically in the background when the project files are prepared.

Adobe Creative Cloud membership is US$49.99 per month, with an annual contract. A special introductory offer of US$29.99 per month for existing CS individual customers is also available. You also have the ability to subscribe to individual items as well. If, for example you only use Adobe Photoshop, you can license it for $19.99/month. There is also a photography membership that is priced at $9.99/month that is available for anyone.

Overall, After Effects seems to me to have the most to offer in this release with all of the performance improvements, 3D composition renderer, live text templates, Character Animator enhancements and so on. But Premiere Pro coming in a close second with VR support, enhanced open captions, Lumetri color tools update, expanded destionation publishing, and both having team projects.

Audition has some nice additions, but with the subscription model, not everything has to be a major update. You get the changes when they are available and don’t have to wait for major features to be developed. So, if you have a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, then you already have the upgrade. If not and are into video production, what are you waiting for?