So adobe updated After Effects to version 18.4. The July 2021 update has the following features:
Improved Default Property naming in Essential Graphics Panel.
Support for MKV Files.
Automatic default audio device switching on Windows.
And it looks like Multi-Frame Rendering has remained in the beta for the moment.
Nothing too monumental here, unlike the Premiere Pro update today.
The software for the Elgato Stream Deck has been updated to version 5.0 with the addition of a store. Jose Antunes at ProVideoCoalition has a great article on it.
Now it is great for them to have a store, but the store is pretty useless to me if it doesn’t have SideShowFX in it, because they make the profiles for pro video users. Now you can find software for streaming in the store, but the Stream Deck really works for Pro Video users, and to not have that software represented seems like a huge mistake.
I still plan on doing an article on Steam Deck and SideshowFX, but have been so busy I haven’t had the time.
Chris Zwar has posted an overview of his 18 part in depth series on Adobe After Effects and performance. He has been writing these must read articles since 2019 and every pro after effects user should have a look. It goes about as in depth as you can on what After Effects does and why it can be very hard to speed up.
I was rendering some graphics in After Effects for use in Premiere Pro and started thinking about Alpha interpretation. I have been doing graphics professionally since I started editing the behind the scenes footage for Lord of the Rings , The Fellowship of the Ring and over the years I worked out that Straight alphas almost always worked out better for me, with better edges. Now I have read that Final Cut Pro prefers a premultiplied alpha, but I have certainly had better luck with with a straight alpha. I wanted to dive into what the differences really are, and a great definition is in Help for After Effects.
Image files with alpha channels store transparency information in one of two ways: straight or premultiplied. Although the alpha channels are the same, the color channels differ.
With straight (or unmatted) channels, transparency information is stored only in the alpha channel, not in any of the visible color channels. With straight channels, the results of transparency aren’t visible until the image is displayed in an application that supports straight channels.
With premultiplied (or matted) channels, transparency information is stored in the alpha channel and also in the visible RGB channels, which are multiplied with a background color. Premultiplied channels are sometimes said to be matted with color. The colors of semitransparent areas, such as feathered edges, are shifted toward the background color in proportion to their degree of transparency.
Some software lets you specify the background color with which the channels are premultiplied; otherwise, the background color is usually black or white.
Straight channels retain more accurate color information than premultiplied channels. Premultiplied channels are compatible with a wider range of programs, such as Apple QuickTime Player. Often, the choice of whether to use images with straight or premultiplied channels has been made before you receive the assets to edit and composite. Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects recognize both straight and premultiplied channels, but only the first alpha channel they encounter in a file containing multiple alpha channels.
Setting the alpha channel interpretation correctly can prevent problems when you import a file, such as undesirable colors at the edge of an image or a loss of image quality at the edges of the alpha channel. For example, if channels are interpreted as straight when they are actually premultiplied, semitransparent areas retain some of the background color. If a color inaccuracy, such as a halo, appears along the semitransparent edges in a composition, try changing the interpretation method.
And that explains it, since with premultiplies the edges can get some of the background color leaking into them in some cases, which is not the case with straight alphas.
And while quicktime and Apple may prefer premultiplied alphas that does not make them better or desirable, Apple already has it’s whole gamma shift issue with quicktime that is a disaster, so adhering to what they want isn’t always the best idea.
Maxon has updated Universe (formerly Red Giant Universe) to 4.0. Universe is a set of Transition and effects plugs ins for editors and motion graphics artists, and is red giants fast rendering transitions.
The suite has 3 new plug ins, Electrify to add electrical effects, Analog to add the look of Analog video, and Texturize Motion which adds animated textures to your footage for a sketchy stop motion look. They have also included 100+ presets for the new effects and 140 new presets for Array Gun and Typographic.
Universe is available as a subscription for $199 a year, or as part of Red Giant Complete for $599.99 annually or Maxon one with all their products for $1199 a year or you can pay a monthly for $30, $79 or $149.
Personally I have used the Red Giant plug ins for many many years, and they have many of my go to effects. They are also fast and work across editing software for the most part. It is a big expense every year, but I find it very worth it for the suite of tools. And honestly if I could afford it would love to add Cinema 4D to the mix.
Check it out at the ProVideoCoalition, it is extensive and well worth a read.
Trailer editor Chris Salters has posted 2 remote collaboration workflows, one free and one including a second computer. Great to see an almost free solution and a much more robust solution as well as solutions better than Zoom though much more expensive (starting at $399 a month).
I like that he sets up a solution that will work with other programs as well.
The budget solution creates a new video monitor which means you are eating more of your precious video memory, which worries me a little, but for screening should be ok.
And the other solution requires another computer and some hardware, so might be more for where companies can provide hardware.
Cavalry the new 2D animation software has been updated to version 1.1. You can check out the announcement here. The most exciting is the text features which are already supposed to be better than any other program out there, but it’s versions 2.0 should be really impressive.
I have barely played with the subscription based Cavalry, but it does seem pretty easy to understand and use for someone who has used After Effects at least. You can try it for Free at limited resolution with watermarked output, but its $20 pounds or month or 16 Pounds if you do a yearly.
There are quite a few videos to get you started with the app. I really do need to delve into it, because it seems like they were trying to make a modern After Effects, and especially when the new font tool is out this should be well worth checking out.
Rich Young at the ProVideoCoalition has released a May 2021 After Effects Roundup that has quite a few videos in it and is really worth a read for all after effects users.
Check it out if you have a chance.
Adobe has announced Adobe Creative Cloud Pro Edition at it’s Adobe Blog. This is just like the normal version of Creative Cloud but the with the addition of unlimited access to over 200 million assets from Adobe Stock.
The price is the same as Creative Cloud for teams at $79.99 a month for a year and $89.99 a month after that.
For individual users this only makes sense if you use a lot of stock and templates, but for businesses this could end up being a huge money saver, and well worth it.
