Adobe kicked off the NAB conference with the announcement of the new 2019 version of their industry-standard Creative Cloud suite of software products for media creation. The new updates put a heavy emphasis on improving in the performance and stability side of the platform, with significant boosts promised for professionals utilizing high-end workstations.
Adobe Premiere Pro 2019
Performance enhancements in the new Adobe Premiere Pro include improved mask tracking at ultra high resolutions like 4K and 8K, hardware acceleration support for HEVC (H.265) on Windows, and dramatically improved export times for computers with dual GPUs. These performance improvements also extend to After Effect (Adobe’s animation software), where GPU-driven effects should also see marked improvements.
Premiere Pro 2019 includes a couple of minor feature additions, the first of which is a new Freeform View in the Assembly mode. Freeform View utilizes a unique canvas-style interface, which allows the editor to visually arrange individual clips into shot stacks or storyboards. These project-based layouts can be saved within the program itself and travel with your bin when moving projects. Best of all, storyboard layouts can be easily selected and imported directly into a sequence as part of the editing process.
Another area that has been significantly improved in Premiere Pro is the software’s implementation of visual tools like rulers and guides for adding custom titles, graphics and animated element layers into a sequence. Editors familiar with Photoshop will immediately recognize the familiar ability to set custom guides to ‘snap’ assets in place easily and reliably. Guides can also be saved as presets for use on related projects, as well as exported for use in After Effects.
After Effects 2019
And speaking of After Effects, the new 2019 version of the software is where most of the headline features of this year’s updates can be found. Easily the most exciting new feature for most users will be the new Content-Aware Fill for video. Using a simple mask and tracking workflow, Content-Aware Fill utilizes Adobe’s Sensei intelligent software to analyze a scene and remove unwanted visual elements such as exit signs or rouge pedestrians.
While an early demo shared with Church Production Magazine seemed very promising, a feature this groundbreaking usually calls for further testing to truly evaluate just how useful this potentially game-changing ability could prove to be in real world scenarios.
In a surprise move that seems to have been borrowed directly from Adobe’s Dreamweaver, the Expressions feature has received a serious upgrade in After Effects 2019. Users writing specific codes for additional functionality and customization will now have access to a full, rich code editor and interface. The Expressions tool will also identify code errors at a line level and even suggest possible fixes.
The upgrade to the Expressions tool will be a godsend to advanced-level users of After Effects who count on the program for knocking out high-end work on a consistent basis. It’s notable to see Adobe focusing so much attention on a feature utilized only by the highest of high-end animators, but it will undeniably go a long way towards keeping After Effects the default professional standard for visual effects.
Audition 2019
While the tools in Adobe Premiere have undoubtedly improved over the past several versions, Adobe’s standalone Audition CC continues to be at the center of the company’s approach to professional sound design. Audition 2019 boasts a new voiceover recording tool set, allowing native “punch and roll” recording for ADR, or “Automated Dialog Recording” sessions. These tools will make it significantly easier for producers to record and replace dialog recorded in locations with poor audio.
Additional improvements in Audition include auto-ducking for background audio tracks, allowing users to automate the mixing of ambient sound and effects with dialog and music tracks. The keyframe editor has also been improved to allow for precise numeric value inputs, rather than a standard drag-and-drop approach.
Availability
Adobe Creative Cloud 2019, including Premiere Pro, After Effect and Audition, is available for download and licensing today. To find out more about the various subscription plans available to customers visit http://adobe.com.
