Adobe CC ‘Next’ video tools at NAB 2015 [updated]

At NAB 2015 next week, Adobe plans to preview the latest features coming to Creative Cloud pro video apps, posted now by Adobe with Coming Next to Adobe Pro Video Tools. A webcast from the NAB 2015 show floor on April 16 was posted later. The webcast provided a chance to see highlights of the release and chat in real-time with presenter Jason Levine and #TeamAdobe.  

At NAB 2015 next week, Adobe plans to preview the latest features coming to Creative Cloud pro video apps, posted now by Adobe with Coming Next to Adobe Pro Video Tools. A webcast from the NAB 2015 show floor on April 16 was posted later at Adobe and on YouTube. The webcast provided a chance to see highlights of the release and chat in real-time with presenter Jason Levine and #TeamAdobe. 

Here’s an overview of CC “Next” video tools:

The upcoming Creative Cloud release may at first leave you with a thirst for a sharper focus on tools inside the apps, though early returns are quite positive (see links below). But we have to wait for the release to see how the big color and preview updates shake down. The key themes are:

• New color workflows that make color an integral part of the creative process, including the Color workspace in the Lumetri Color panel and scopes in Premiere Pro CC (extracted from Speedgrade and Lightroom) and some new support in Creative Cloud Libraries.
• Mobile apps and integrations that extend the creative process, include a streamlined workflow for opening Adobe Premiere Clip projects in Premiere Pro CC, new mobile motion capture technology, and the upcoming Project Candy for easily creating Looks from pictures.
• Deeper collaboration, from small teams to large enterprises, including asset sharing via Creative Cloud Libraries for mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-desktop workflows. Also, Adobe Anywhere, coming soon in two versions, offers collaborative editing workflows for larger workgroups and for less larger teams (though without Mercury Engine acceleration).
• Tools and features that empower artists to create more and deliver faster are promised: Adobe Character Animator, Lumetri Color and Morph Cut in Premiere Pro CC, Time Tuner in Adobe Media Encoder CC, Preview enhancements and Face Tracker in After Effects CC, and more.

Adobe is offering switchers to Adobe Creative Cloud — those from Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid, or upgraders from previous CS versions — a $29.99 per month offer, which ends May 29, 2015. If you’re going to NAB, Adobe’s Megan Keane has a guide, All Things Adobe at NAB 2015.

Below are the main feature updates in text and video, pulled from Adobe team blogs and others.

Adobe Premiere Pro CC (team blog)

• Lumetri Color Panel in Premiere Pro combines features from Speedgrade and Lightroom. Vignettes are amazingly simple and customizable.
• Improved scopes for the long-suffering Premiere user.
• Morph Cut is a new transition akin to Avid Fluid Morph, coming out of an Adobe lab project.

◊ Be sure to see Premiere Pro product manager Al Mooney’s feature announcement, with more on the Speedgrade blog, as well as a video (below), another from 2015 NAB Supermeet, and What’s New Premiere Pro CC for NAB 2015 from Adobe’s Dave Helmley (video below).
◊ Help has a new features summary (update coming).
◊ Josh Weiss (@reToolednet) has video overview (below), Premiere Pro CC – April 2015- New Features Teaser.
◊ Some may be disappointed at the first glance of the new color features — hoping instead for a “Lightroom Speed Cine” UI — but Scott Simmons offers a positive take in Have A Look At The Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2015 Update: A lot of new features including a surprise color grading overhaul. Also, reviews from Walter Biscardi and from Robbie Carman (in a 17-minute video) dig the new Lumetri color panels.

 

Adobe’s Dave Helmley has video and text in What’s New Premiere Pro CC for NAB 2015:

 

Josh Weiss (@reToolednet) has a video overview: 

NextWaveDV spoke to several Adobe reps about upcoming product updates and squeezes out some extra tidbits from Todd Kopriva:

 

 

Adobe After Effects CC (team blog)

• Improved preview options, including uninterrupted previews (be sure to see the Motionworks video). Hopefully it’s just the first fruit of a re-architecture for greater interactive performance. And, 3rd-party plug-ins will need updates to work in the new architecture.
• Character Animator, a linked but separate app shipping later, is a preview of the same tech seen as Project Animal last Fall.
• Related is Face Tracker, which lets you follow facial gestures with greater accuracy.
• There are CC Libraries, but quirkier than those that shipped with the Design applications last Fall.

 

◊ Be sure to see After Effects product manager Todd Kopriva’s feature outline in next major update for After Effects CC revealed. Todd later posted details as usual in what’s new and changed in the upcoming update to After Effects CC.
◊ After Effects Help has a New features summary (update coming).
◊  Check out the Adobe Forum if you want to talk about the new features.
◊ We usually expect an insightful overview from Chris and Trish Meyer, who offer an After Effects NAB 2015 Preview: A big overhaul under the hood promises a more responsive program. They also have a new tips video and article while you wait for the “CC Next” release, After Effects Hidden Gems Weekly.
◊ Look out also for a video summary on new features from Motionworks, New Features in Ae CC 13.5 by John Dickinson. Mikey Borup also added a video overview, which is embedded below. Later, Jeremiah Karpowicz posted PVC at NAB 2015: Talking After Effects Updates with Todd Kopriva and Dave Simons, also embedded below.

Adobe Media Encoder CC (team blog) 

• The marquee feature for the next release is Time Tuner, which lets you adjust the duration of content at render time.
• Multichannel audio output with Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus, plus support for encoding and decoding of JPEG 2000 in an MXF wrapper. 

◊ Al Mooney posted all the new features in his announcement, What’s Coming Next to Adobe Media Encoder.
◊ Help has a new features summary (update coming).

Adobe SpeedGrade CC (team blog)

• It’s more about putting features into Premiere, but without the fun of Magic Bullet Looks, superficial as that may be. It’ll be interesting to see if Speedgrade goes the way of Apple Color.
• You can bring editing projects into Adobe SpeedGrade CC with Direct Link, now including support for the new Premiere Pro Lumetri color tools.

◊ Eric Philpot has the perspective from Speedgrade, What’s coming next to SpeedGrade and Creative Cloud? (Hint: it’s going to be colorful)
◊ Help has a new features summary (update coming).
 

Adobe Audition CC (team blog)

• Premiere timelines can now be streamed via Dynamic Link directly into the Video panel in Audition, with full native resolution and frame rate.
• Full-Screen mirror video display
• Easy link your multitrack clips to new media assets, changing the content while keeping all edits, automation, and effects
• There’s a good number of other features this time too!

◊ Help has a new features summary (update coming).

Adobe Prelude CC (team blog)

• Voice over recording is new
• Additional Audio Tracks

◊ Help has a new features summary (update coming).

Adobe Story Plus CC (team blog)

• Story wasn’t mentioned in the press so far.

 ◊ Help has a features summary.

 

Adobe Anywhere for video

• No big news for now from the last release, though new releases were mentioned.

◊ Scott Simmons has a Q and A with Aframe about Adobe Anywhere in the Cloud

◊ Earlier, Oliver Peters compared Adobe Anywhere to Avid Everywhere

 

Also trumpeted is Project Candy, which is like DeBabelizer for making CLUTs from pictures, but without all the hairpulling. It’s seen briefly below in “Coming to Adobe Premiere Clip – Apply your own custom Looks”. Also, Robie Carmen has more video and text in Capturing & Modeling Color in Creative Cloud 2015 at MixingLight.com.

Finally, Andy Plesser has an CC Next overview interview with Al Mooney at BeetTV, mirrored at The Huffington Post, via #PostChat.