Coming To Premiere Pro CC: UltraHD, HDR, Optical Flow ...And Deadpool?
What an epic week for Premiere Pro! In preparation for IBC 2015, Adobe dropped the curtain on the next wave of creative tools coming to Premiere Pro CC. This is not to be confused with a big bug-squashing update (9.0.2) also pushed out this week.
Deadpool Edited on Premiere Pro CC
Before we talk toys, Adobe dropped this bombshell in the middle of the Premiere Pro blog post like it's no big deal. Adobe revealed that Deadpool is being edited exclusively with Premiere Pro! Talk about a feather in the hat for Adobe. A feather with attitude!
It would be money if Deadpool refers to the NLE it was cut on...
Added Support For UltraHD, 4K, And Beyond
Premiere Pro CC continues to lead the NLE pack with its industry-leading mixed format capabilities. This release adds support for encoding and decoding with HEVC (H.265), DNxHR, OpenEXR and Dolby Vision codecs. Watch the UltraHD Format Support video.
What is HEVC?
HEVC stands for High Efficiency Video Coding. In a nutshell, HEVC is the successor to H.264 and it's better suited for 4K video. The inter-frame compression used in HEVC is more efficient than H.264 because it's better able to predict frame-to-frame pixel changes by using areas of analysis that vary in size and shape. More on H.265 and HEVC compression explained here.
What is DNxHR?
DNxHR stands for Digital Nonlinear eXtensible High Resolution and is the next generation of DNxHD. As you can guess, DNxHR was created to support resolutions greater than 1080 HD. 8K is not currently supported. DNxHR is backwards compatible with DNxHD. Read more about the key benefits DNxHR.
What is OpenEXR?
OpenEXR is a high quality image format specifically for high-dynamic-range (HDR) images. OpenEXR supports both 16-bit and 32-bit floating-point images which provides significantly more color precision than 8-bit (DSLR) formats. Read more for atechnical introduction to OpenEXR or go to openexr.com.
Initial Support For HDR Workflows
The next release of Premiere Pro CC will be its initial step into the world of High Dynamic Range. Even though these new HDR workflows and effects will be compatible with any piece of footage, obviously, these tools are optimized for media captured on HDR devices. The images below are screenshots taken from Adobe's sneak peek videos. Click to enlarge and see the HDR tools coming to Premiere Pro CC.
It was only two months ago when the Lumetri Color panel was released; who knew creativity would get this colorful! Watch the High Dynamic Range Workflows video.
What is Dolby Vision?
Dolby Vision is a new mezzanine format that supports HDR workflows and is designed to push the film and television industry towards the new Rec. 2020 color space. Dolby has positioned this format as an end-to-end solution, capable of carrying HDR-captured images through editing and grading in post-production to streaming and broadcast. You can read the Dolby Vision whitepaper here or view the Dolby Vision video introduction here.
Lumetri Color Effect For After Effects
This is relevant to Premiere Pro users because it ensures Lumetri Color effects applied in Premiere Pro will be maintained in After Effects. Don't be confused; After Effects is not getting the Lumetri Color panel.
Touch And Gestural Editing
One day, touch and gestural editing will look like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. The next release of Premiere Pro is one step closer to that reality. The Premiere Pro blog post specifically refers to multi-touch features used in the Assembly workspace. These functions include pinch-to-zoom, scrubbing, and marking in and out points on media clips. The Program monitor will display drop-zones for making specific edits when clips are hovered over it.
Optical Flow Time Remapping
This new time interpolation feature is applicable to all footage, regardless of whether or not it was shot at a high frame rate. This will also come in handy when converting frame rates! Previously, frame rate conversion was something that required jumping into After Effects in order to get optimal results. Optical Flow is GPU optimized. But that doesn't mean that Optical Flow will not require rendering. It will. GPU acceleration will make render times faster. Watch the Optical Flow video.
Publish to Facebook
Adobe has added Facebook to the list of online platforms you can publish to directly on export. Simply login into your Facebook account, select your privacy settings and export. Watch the Publish to Facebook video.
Video Limiter Effect In Export Window
In the image above, you can see the Video Limiter effect is also available on export. This is a way to ensure properly graded editsare broadcast safe without giving users the illusion of a magical broadcast safe filter. Check out this great article on legalizing color with the Video Limiter effect by Simon Walker.
Automatic Loudness Correction
Editors will be able to add a Loudness filter on export, just as they would a timecode or title overlay. Adobe's professional video and audio applications keep making it easier to legalize audio for broadcast.
Watch the video for the new Remix, Generate Speech, and Automatic Loudness Correction features in Adobe Audition (see below) as well as the Loudness Normalization effect in Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder.
Remix In Adobe Audition
Morph Cut for song editing. It will be interesting to find how well Remix preserves the integrity of a song, particularly with lyrics. Regardless, this will be the perfect tool for quickly editing music choices into a rough cut to audition for producers and clients.
Generate Speech In Adobe Audition
Like the video says, this feature allows editors to easily generate a scratch track to time voiceovers for their edits. Unless you are Premiere Bro, in which case, you can easily create more tutorials with an automated voice.
Other Links
CG Channel Adobe unveils updates to After Effects, Premiere Pro
Pro Video Coalition Creative Cloud video updates at IBC 2015
