Knights of the Editing Table Excalibur has been updated to version 1.1.0 with Undo support now added

 

Knights of the Editing Tables awesome Excalibur a keyboard based launcher for Premiere Pro has been updated to version 1.1.0, and it is a free update to registered users. 

The most exciting feature is having added Undo which works with both Excalibur commands (which sometimes didn’t show up in the Premiere Pro history) and normal Premiere Pro commands.

And support for Control surfaces like Stream Deck and Loupedeck which will certainly allow for some new control abilities. I know many settings for the Stream Deck in After Effects use VideoCopilots FX Console, so this will certainly be an exciting addition in the future.

You can also add Adjustment layers, Nest clips as Premiere Does or per Excalibur which allows for multirack audio to nest. You can add a show clip keyframe command.

My next post is another post on Excalibur, so be sure to check that out as well.

I am having some issues with this release in Premiere Pro 2019, which it did work in previously and as the error message shows it has to with world scripting added in later releases.

Apple Quicktime on Mac and it’s awful issue of Gamma Shift in Video from Premiere and DaVinci Resolve

An image from a short film I have been grading, on the left is the image as shown by quicktime, and the right is in VLC matching what you see in DaVinci, you can see that they are quite different. It is the damn Apple Quicktime Gamma shift!

So I have been having issues with the gamma problem with my producers viewing my movies, since I am working from home, and we are running Premiere. I knew about the issue in the past, but have been looking into any solutions, and found some amazing articles on the subject that you should certainly read to know more about this frustrating issue.

Todd Dominey has an awesome article on the issue from Janurary 24th, 2021, that is a must read.

And Dan Swierenga has another great read on DaVinci and the issue at his blog The Post Process.

For those who don’t know is that basically Apple and Quicktime have a Gamma shift issue with Video Footage that has to do with Apple Colorsync and how it tags video. So if you play your videos on a Mac in Quicktime or in any Colorsync application (life Safari) a video from Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve they will be brighter and less contrasty than they actually are. It can be a huge issue when sending to clients.

The issue does not occur with Final Cut Pro X because it uses ColorSync (not having to be cross platform).

The solution is to use a non-colorsync application to play the video back and it will look correct (or at least more as it was intended). This can be done with Mozilla Firefox or VLC.

You could add a LUT to try and fix it (and Adobe actually has one) but for people on windows or using a non-color sync app the image will be too dark, and the the fix is never going to be perfect.

So the problem become getting people to use VLC as Apple is never going to fix it’s messed up Gamma settings.

Adobe Creative Suite Video feature request, easily copy and paste a Lumetri color from Premiere Pro to After Effects without exporting a LUT

 

As someone who works extensively between After Effects and Premiere Pro, I do love Adobe Dynamic Link (though it could use an update for sure), there is one thing that I wish could come easily between the two programs, and that is Lumetri Color Effects.

Yes you can pass the Lumetri Effect them through via Dynamic Link, but that is better for sequences, than individual shots. And yes you can export a .cube effect from your Lumetri Color, which is a LUT. The LUT can then be added in Lumtri, but it isn’t just repeating the Lumetri Effect, it is a Lumtri with a LUT added to it (and since After Effects and Premiere Pro use different Color spaces since After Effects uses RGB vs YUV), it is easier to tweak a bit if it is the Lumetri Color effect.

Now the easiest for the user would be if you could copy and paste the effect.

The Lumetri Color panel is one thing, but it is also an effect.

And the Lumetri effect shows up in After Effects as an effect as well.

Now I am assuming copy and paste would be difficult as some program would need to be running to catch the copy and move it over (something in creative cloud), but this would be absolutely ideal.

Now the solution is to make all your selects in Premiere and send it over via Adobe Dynamic Link then use the lumetri off those. And this does work, but it isn’t as easy as copy and pasting from one to the other for sure.

Or you can send out individual LUTS from the Lumetri Color Tab.

And select Export Cube to export a LUT that you can then add onto a Lumetri basic correction or a look you can use in the Creative section of Lumetri (and this is good because you can control the strength of the effect).

Now they could put in a Creative Cloud sync like you can do with Essential Graphics templates, but most of the time I am using my own Adobe login so the sync is useless, and I have always thought it needed some more job specific settings, like they only show up if you select the job you are on, and would download the templates to the job folder so that when you back it up they are there for anyone using the job especially in the future.

Adobe Photoshop version 22.2 February 2021 releases most exciting new feature is Super Resolution for scaling an image in Camera Raw’s version 13.2 March 2021 release

 

So Adobe Photoshops February 2021 version 22.2 update only had a couple of new features, the ability to invite others to edit, and to sync your presets.

It is the Camera RAW version 13.2 March 2021 release that has the most exciting new feature. It had some normal updates, like Support for new camera and lenses, other enhancements, and Apple ProRAW profile, but the most exciting feature is Super Resolution.

Super Resolution helps create an enhanced image with 2x the width and 2x the height of the original image, or 4x the total pixel count. Most file types such as JPEG and TIFF are supported. You can especially use Super Resolution when you have to make large prints or increase the resolution of a cropped image.

This could be a huge feature for video editors, as I am always getting images that are way too small for what I need. 

Now from what I see this need to be either activated through Adobe Bridge 2021 for non RAW images, or by opening a RAW image in Photoshop, activating the RAW panel form within Photoshop doesn’t seem to allow this happen.

So open the image from within Camera RAW.

Now if the Open in Camera Raw doesn’t show up for JPEG or HVEC files, you can go to the Camera Raw Preferences.

And select File Handing.

And under JPEG, HEIC, and TIFF Handing you should select Automatically open JPEGs and HEICs with settings.

Once you get the image in Camera RAW, you right click on it (or control click if you don’t have a right mouse button on Mac) and chose Enhance or hit Shift+Command+D.

This will bring up the Super Resolution Dialogue box.

And when you hit Enhance, it will a little time and double the size of the image, quadrupling the resolution and amaz�ingly it looks damn good. Way better than previous scaling. The image will be an Adobe DNG file.
I wish they would put this in as a feature in Photoshop itself to do it easier, and let you chose format, but the results can’t be argued with.
I have a feeling I will be using this quite a bit!

Stu Maschwitz has updated his Prolost EDC Presets to version 2.5

Stu Maschwitz, author of the DV Rebel’s Guide and designer of the Magic Bullet color grading system for Red Giant and now Chief Creative Office of Maxon has updated his Prolost EDC Presets for Adobe After Effects. You can pay what you want, though they default is $4.

EDC, as in “everyday carry” — the stuff you don’t leave the house without. Whenever I install a new version of After Effects, these are the handy little timesaving presets that I drop in first.

Most of the EDC presets are simple. Shortcuts to common settings, better defaults for often-used effects, or better interfaces for my favorite expressions.

But hey, Prolost EDC has been around since 2015, and some of these tools have gotten quite powerful. Check out Prolost Array, or Prolost Levels, both new in v2.5.

I update this set from time to time, and you’ll receive a fresh download link every time I do. It’s like subscribing to my personal After Effects toolbox.

And these include 2 new powerful filters, Prolost Levels and Prolost Array, for a total of 48 presets. Well worth picking up for any price.

Adobe releases Premiere Pro March 2021 version 15.0 Update

 Adobe has released the official 2021 Release of Premiere Pro with version 15.0.

New features include a much needed all new Captions engine.

Media Replacement in Motion Graphics Templates.

Equitable Language with changes in terminology to reflect diversity and inclusion.

A woohoo feature is a Faster Warp Stablizer.

Team Projects has had improvements.

You can now copy and paste audio effects in the audio track mixer and legacy audio effects have been removed.

I just wish the Speach to Text feature was out of beta, but it hasn’t even hit a public beta yet, so I am guessing it will be a while, damn.

Excalibur from Knights of the Editing Table is an amazing keyboard shortcut plug-in for Premiere Pro, it significantly speeds up my editing, it us a must have!

 Knights of the Editing Table has made the amazing new plug-in for Adobe Premiere Pro that adds quick smart keyboard short cuts for Premiere Pro. It reminds me of ObDev’s awesome keyboard launcher Launchbar, which I swear by and love, except thus us within Premiere Pro. You hit a quick keybiard shortcut, and the type what you want, say di for dissolve, then if you hit return it adds a transition or you can hit > and type how many frames you want it. 

Here is an overview.

At $75 it is a steal. I have written about it before, but after using it I have been very impressed, though even after the 1.0.1 update I have had some issues putting transitions on clips, but everything else has been incredibly fast, and Premiere really needs a paste on same track shortcut without turning off the track targeting.

Every editor should give this a try!

Apple app updates only compatible with Big Sur, but showing up in Catalina, and continuing to give notifications of updates is incredibly annoying

So I am running Catalina 10.15.7.

 

But Apple keeps sending me Updates Available, but the only available update is for Garage Band, which the update only works in Big Sur. I know they want me to move to Big Sur, but I literally can’t.

And the reasons I can’t just update to Big Sur are many. First off Catalina is running very well right now, but also I am on a job that uses Adobe Premiere Pro 2019 13.1.5, and I haven’t seen anything that shows that it runs in Big Sur. And while I would rather move to a newer version, that is what they are running at the company.

Excalibur for Premiere Pro adds quick keyboard shortcuts for Premiere Pro and is $25 off till the end of the year

 

Knights of the Editing Table has released a new extension plug in for Premiere Pro on Mac and Windows that adds quick keyboard shortcuts to Premiere Pro to speed up your editing workflow, it is called Excalibur. Check out the video above or their page on how this can speed up your workflow.

This looks very cool. I already use Launchbar from Obdev to do similar things for the Mac, and Andrew Kramer from Video Copilot has one for After Effects called FX Console.

I wouldn’t have known about this if it wasn’t for the article about it at ProVideo Coalition by Scott Simmons who beta tested it.

I purchased this and will be testing it out, as I love speeding up my workflow. My biggest frustration has been getting used to things like this and then having to go work in an office and not having it, but with the Covid Pandemic forcing my editing to be from home, I can safely use it for the time being.