Adobe Premiere Pro CC NAB preview

PVC by Scott Simmons

This next version of PPro adds some big flashy new features and lots of little things editors will love

It comes as no surprise that Adobe has a big video tools reveal in store for NAB 2014. All the video apps in the Creative Cloud get updated as the slow and steady advance of their video tools continue. It’s no surprise that Adobe Premiere Pro CC gets my main focus as the NLE keeps getting better. Check out detail on After Effects and the other CC apps as well. While there are signature new features that will get most of the press there’s a lot of utilitarian things that hardcore storytellers will appreciate. No word on exactly when this will ship but keep an eye toward the Creative Cloud.

Yes, the flashy new effects related additions to this updated version of PPro will get lots of press and deservedly so. Things like Master Clip Effects, After Effects text templates andbuilt-in source clip Masking and Tracking are great additions and we’ll touch on them later. But for now … it’s these little things that many craft editors like myself will most appreciate. Under the hood changes which will make a difference in their day to day editing doldrums, much more-so than the effecty ones. These are a lot of the really nice, little updates I noticed while working with this new version.

Additional import options for Premiere project files

When scanning the What’s New doc this first caught my eye. When using it I said a hallelujah. PPro had a bad habit of having to reimport all existing media into your project when sharing a timeline with another editor or even another project. And since you can only open one PPro project at a time this could mean hundreds (or thousands) of duplicate master clips in a project. While there were apparently ways around this (which I was never able to make work) we now have a much more simple option.

From my initial tests it looks like importing duplicate media is a thing of the past.

Just adding a few checkboxes in this new Import Project dialog box gives the editor options. Might this make the process of bringing in another edit sequence a bit more complex? Yes. Does this go against the philosophy of some other NLEs? Yes. Does is make this important process of bringing in another sequence too complex and confusing? Heavens no.

If you’re smart enough to use Premiere Pro you’re certainly smart enough to deal with a few new menus items and check boxes that allow for more customization of the NLE and better workflows. read more...