By Mike McCarthy
The Adobe MAX creativity conference is taking place virtually for the second year in a row, and with this event comes the release of new versions of many of Adobe’s products. One interesting note relating to this is that Adobe’s versioning of each video application is now Version 22, regardless of the tool’s previous version. This will make the version numbers consistent across the different applications and match the year that the release is associated with. Last year, Premiere Pro 2021 was released, but it was Version 15.0, while After Effects was Version 18.0. Unlike Adobe’s move to redesign its applications icons to all look the same (so you can’t easily tell the difference between an AEP file and a Premiere project), this broad consistency change seems like a good idea to make it easier to track versions across time.
The application I am most interested in is Premiere Pro (although at the end of this review, I touch on After Effects and Photoshop). Last year’s Version 15 release added a new approach to captions, which Adobe has continued to flesh out with more automatic speech-to-text tools and better support for new titling options. Other improvements to Version 15 introduced through the year included more control over project item labels and colors in collaborative environments, HDR output on UI displays via DirectX and automatic switching of audio devices to match the OS preferences.
Adobe Premiere Version 22 Updates: HDR and More
HEVC and H.264 files are now color-managed formats, which means that Premiere now correctly supports HDR files in those codecs. This had been a huge hole in the existing HDR workflow because Premiere could export HEVC and H.264 files of HDR content but couldn’t import or view them. The issue is now resolved, opening a host of new HDR workflow options.
Adobe also added support for hardware-accelerated decoding of 10-bit 4:2:2 HEVC files on new Intel CPUs, which is a new format for recording HDR on high-end DSLRs that is not currently accelerated on Nvidia or AMD GPUs. This should allow processing of HDR content on much smaller and lighter systems than are currently required with the existing ProRes-based HDR workflows. Adobe also added color management for XAVC files in SLog color space and better support for Log files from Canon and Panasonic as well.
One other feature Adobe has announced for Premiere Pro 2022, that hasn’t been released to the public version, is fully redesigned import and export windows, which consume the entire UI, for no apparent reason, and do not include all of the functionality of the previous approaches. I believe it might be more consistent with Premiere Rush’s UI, and may be similar to Resolve’s export options.
The main thing I am missing is the source settings in the export window, which previously allowed you to crop and scale the output in different ways. These results can be achieved by adding export sequences that include the content are trying to output, but this is not as simple to do on a large scale, and can’t be included in presets. Obviously I am not a fan of these changes, and see no upside to the new approach. Currently the older import and export UI controls are still available in Version 22.0, and are still available in the Beta versions, if you send your sequence to Media Encoder. Hopefully these functions will be included in the new approach to exporting before it comes out of beta.
The Lumetri scopes have also gotten some attention as they become more significant for HDR processing. The vectorscope is now colorized, and you can zoom in to any section by double-clicking. The histogram is much more detailed and accurate, offering a more precise view of the underlying content. The Lumetri Curves effect UI now scales horizontally with the panel for more precision. I would prefer to be able to scale it vertically as well, but that is not yet supported. Adobe has also implemented a more powerful AI-assisted Auto Tone function that sets all of the basic controls based on an analysis of the content.
Another new feature coming out of beta is the Simplify Sequence functionality. This creates a new, cleaned-up copy of an existing sequence. The clean version can remove inactive tracks and clips, drop everything to the lowest available track and be further fine-tuned by locked layers. This is a great tool that was implemented in a well thought out and nondestructive way.
Also arriving in the beta version is a feature called Remix. Originally introduced in Audition, Remix will adjust the duration of music tracks while using AI to preserve the tempo and feel of the original asset. I believe it does this by attempting to remove or loop repetitive sections, and it visually displays where the automatic edits are being made right on the clip in the sequence.
After Effects & Other Apps
After Effects is another application I use, although less and less over time as Premiere gains many of the functions that used to require jumping over to AE. But the big news there is that Adobe is introducing multi-frame rendering to help users tap into the potential processing power of multi-core CPUs. On my high-core-count systems, I am seeing a 3x speed increase when rendering the composited scenes for my Grounds of Freedom animated web series. My main 5K composited scenes used to take 3 to 5 hours to render, and that looks like it will be cut to 1 to 1 ½ hours, which is fantastic.
After Effects is also getting a speculative render feature to try to prepare for smoother playback when your system is idle. Because of the type of work I do, I wouldn’t use this feature much, but I am sure it will be great for some users. I tested out GridIron Nucleo Pro for AE7 15 years ago, and Adobe was playing with both of these functions back then. The old multi-frame render options got bogged down managing that much data, but Adobe seems to have sorted that issue out by now because a 3x increase in real-world speed is nothing to scoff at. Adobe has also added a composition profiler that tells users how long each layer is adding to the render time, with that info available right in the layer stack.
Adobe also just completed its acquisition of cloud collaboration tool Frame.io, and as an existing Frame.io user, I am eagerly waiting to see what develops from this. But there are no new details to announce yet.
Photoshop is also getting a number of new features, mostly centered on AI-powered tools and collaboration with iPad and web users. The power of Photoshop for iPad will soon be available directly in a web browser for collaboration through the new Creative Cloud Spaces and Canvas. Users will be able to share their work directly from Photoshop, which will generate a public link to the cloud document for browser-based feedback or editing.
The AI-based object selection tool has been improved to show users what object boundaries have been detected wherever they hover their cursor over the image. There are also improvements in the interoperability between Photoshop and Illustrator, allowing Illustrator layers to be pasted into Photoshop while retaining their metadata and even vector editability. Illustrator is also getting an AI-enhanced vectorizing tool to better convert bitmap imagery to vector art.
Lots of new functionality is coming to Creative Cloud, and you can learn plenty of tips and tricks from the various sessions that are available throughout the free event. Anyone can sign up to attend online, so be sure to check it out.
Mike McCarthy is a technology consultant with extensive experience in the film post production. He started posting technology info and analysis at HD4PC in 2007. He broadened his focus with TechWithMikeFirst 10 years later.
