Since launching earlier this year, growing numbers of users have been downloading Beta builds of Adobe video apps, allowing them to explore new tools and provide feedback to the product teams. The company recently revealed new features going into its public Beta: The After Effects Beta has improved camera tools, and a new 3D Transform Gizmo and Premiere Pro Beta lets users try out the new Quick Export function.
Adobe says its Premiere Pro team has been analysing workflows from start to finish to identify areas that can be streamlined, always with the goal of accelerating editorial and simplifying tasks while ensuring users retain full control over their content. Users can now take advantage of the following features:
- Scene Edit Detection allows editors to quickly find cuts in previously edited video, faster and more accurately, thanks to Adobe Sensei. The feature adds cuts and markers so that users can apply effects to individual shots and re-edit previously rendered content quickly and efficiently.
- HDR for Broadcasters enables users to produce programming in Rec2100 HLG HDR for modern HDR broadcasting, including automatic colour conversion, HDR scope support, colour space overrides for incorrect metadata, and full colour management for Apple ProRes and Sony XAVC Intra formats.
- Quick Export (in public Beta) offers easy access to the most popular and frequently used export settings, right from the header bar in Premiere Pro. Editors can use the default, high-quality H.264 output with matched Source Settings or choose from a short list of H.264 presets that allow you reduce the size of your export files.
Modernizing motion design in After Effects
Graphics artists rely on After Effects for motion design, and working in 3D has become essential in producing compelling content for broadcast and advertisers. Adobe is currently testing the following After Effects features in public Beta:
- 3D Transform Gizmos help users navigate a scene faster and more intuitively. Users can scale, position, and rotate layers with helpful guides that show how far a layer or object has been moved and how many degrees it has been rotated. Users also can switch between gizmo modes to focus on a single task and make precision adjustments efficiently.
- Camera navigation tools are reimagined, giving artists an intuitive and flexible approach to navigate 3D spaces. The new default scene camera streamlines scene setup. Adding multiple cameras to a scene showcases various viewpoints: intuitively orbit, pan, and dolly around objects using customisable keyboard shortcuts.
Coming soon to Character Animator
Adobe says its Character Animator team has also been working hard to support aspiring and experienced animators with new features and workflows to make the animation process even more efficient. Many of the new features coming to Character Animator are now in public Beta. These include:
- Speech-Aware Animation uses the power of Adobe Sensei to automatically generate animation from recorded speech and includes head and eyebrow movements corresponding to a voice recording. Speech-Aware Animation was developed by Adobe Research and previewed at Adobe MAX in 2019 as Project Sweet Talk. The feature requires Windows 10 or macOS 10.15.
- Limb IK (Inverse Kinematics) gives puppets responsive, natural arm and leg motion for activities like running, jumping, and dancing across a scene. Limb IK controls the bend directions and stretching of legs, as well as arms. For example, pin a hand in place while moving the rest of the body or make a character’s feet stick to the ground as it squats in a more realistic way.
- Timeline organization tools include the ability to filter the Timeline to focus on individual puppets, scenes, audio, or key frames. Takes can be color-coded, hidden, or isolated, making it faster and easier to work with any part of your scene. Toggle the “Shy button” to hide or show individual rows in the Timeline.
- Lip Sync, powered by Adobe Sensei, has improved algorithms and machine learning, which now delivers more accurate mouth movement for speaking parts.
- Merge Takes allows users to combine multiple Lip Sync or Triggers into a single row, which helps to consolidate takes and save vertical space on the Timeline.
- Pin Feet has a new Pin Feet When Standing option. This allows the user to keep their character’s feet grounded when not walking.
- Set Rest Pose now animates smoothly back to the default position when you click to recalibrate, so you can use it during a live performance without causing your character to jump abruptly, for example if you inadvertently move your face out of the frame.
Improving performance across the applications
ProRes multicam performance in Premiere Pro can support up to 2x more streams, accelerating editing workflows with this widely used format.
Coming shortly to After Effects, Channel effects are now GPU-accelerated, providing up to 1.65x faster performance. These include Minimax, Shift Channels, Set Channels, and Channel Combine.
OpenEXR Previews for multipart and multichannel files are now up to 3x faster in After Effects. (This improvement was included in the August performance update for After Effects.)
Faster Effects scanning for VST3 and Audio Unit (AU) plugins in Audition and Premiere Pro means faster launch times for users with third-party audio plugins. Effects scanning is up to 15x faster on macOS and up to 10x faster on Windows.
Visit www.adobe.com