Larry Jordan compares Apple Compressor 4.1 to Adobe Media Encorder CC

Larry Jordan did an extensive comparison of the latest Apple Compressor to Adobe Media Encoder.

He ran the tests twice, as at first he used default settings and didn’t check image quality, but his seconds test are more equivalent, and the results surprised me as I gave up on Compressor a long time ago.

Basically it looks like for Single Pass encoding Compressor is faster, but for Multi-Pass (though it defaults to single pass) or resized compressing Media Encoder is faster, and it looks better at lower file sizes, though Compressor has more ability to customize settings.

The article is certainly worth a read, especially for all those who do a lot of compression.

David Fincher has moved to Premiere Pro CC for his film GONE GIRL

Studio Daily is reporting that David Fincher’s new film GONE GIRL is being edited on Premiere Pro CC. And we already know Saturday Night live is using it for it’s pre-done segments.

Lets hope this is moment like when Walter Murch used Final Cut Pro 3 to cut Cold Mountain. That really pushed Final Cut Pro more mainstream. And since I have seen so many big companies moving back to AVID of late, it is great to see something high profile like this, to push Premiere Pro, which I really prefer to AVID, especially for Graphics heavy projects, like Direct Response which I mostly cut of late.

Not that Premiere doesn’t have it’s issues, but overall it is a very impressive program, and it’s integration with After Effects really makes it even better.

Adobe has announced an upgrade to the Creative Cloud Video Suite for NAB

Rich Young a the ProVideo Coalition has the news on this exciting next release of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Video Suite.

Looks like Adobe is taking aim at the finishing power of AVID with the ability to add effects to Master Clips in Premiere, as well as edit Text from After Effects Projects within Premiere.

Scott Simmons has a more extensive look at Premiere.

And as for After Effects, the effects on a per mask basis is pretty exciting, as it will change the use of layers and adjustment layers within After Effects.

Chris and Trish Meyer look deeper at After Effects.

Looking forward to it. The fast update cycle is pretty awesome. I would like to see AVID come close.

Red Giant Releases Universe Plug In

Red_Giant_Universe

Red Giant has released a new set of GPU accelerated plug ins called Universe. Right now you can try out the Free plan which includes 32 free plug ins, and you will be able to get Premium plug ins, or create your own. They are also updating many of their old plug ins to work GPU enhanced in universe.

Supernova: Behind the Scenes of Red Giant Universe from Red Giant on Vimeo.

There is the free membership, a $10 a month Premium Plan or a $99 per year plan, or a $399 Lifetime plan that does not expire!

The Plugs include:

Universe Free Tools
Universe Blur (7 plugins)
Universe Distort (8 plugins)
Universe Generators (4 plugins)
Universe Glow (3 plugins)
Universe Transitions (9 plugins)
Universe Premium Tools
Universe Chromatic Glow
Universe Holomatrix
Universe Knoll Light Factory EZ
Universe Noise
Universe Premium Transitions
Universe Prism Displacement
Universe Retrograde
Universe Toonit

This sounds very cool, and I have already installed and am looking forward to trying them out. Not sure about the monthly pricing unless they do add as many effects as they say they will, but the Lifetime is probably the best deal here, especially seeing things like Knoll Light Factory being added with GPU support.

Also is an addition is called Red Giant Supernova, which allows you to program plug ins quickly using the Red Giant Universe Library. So it fairly easy to create your own plug ins.

Supernova: Behind the Scenes of Red Giant Universe from Red Giant on Vimeo.

Having problems with Adobe Dynamic Link and Adobe Encore

Adobe’s Dynamic Link technology is one of the most exciting features of it’s Creative Cloud suite, with the ability to link to projects instead of having to render out movies. You can have an After Effects project within premiere and make changes and they dynamically update. Or you can use Media Encoder to render directly from project files. Or directly have Premiere Pro sequences within Encore. And I was even more excited when they hired and Put Wes Plate, the creator of Automatic Duck in charge of it.

The problem is that it does not always work well. With After Effects sequences within Premiere, many times they won’t link unless you already have the After Effects project open when you open the Premiere Pro sequence. This is usually simple enough to deal with, though does not always work, and gets even more complicated when you have things from multiple After Effects projects.

Really the coolest use of it is to select a sequence of clips in a Premiere Pro Timeline and send them into After Effects, though I don’t like how it handles it in Premiere. Your clips are immediately replaced with and After Effects sequence, losing the original clips, so you must first either duplicate the timeline or the clips, personally I wish there was a way to have it turn off the clips and lay the After Effects project on a layer above the clips in premiere, but for now that is nitpicking.

My big problem right now is with Adobe Encore. And it likely has something to do with it being End of Lifed by Adobe (yes Adobe I know most people just download clips now, but some of us still need to make discs, and a new more compatible version with CC would really help). I created a DVD of my editing and graphics reels to send out, and made a nice little menu for it, but I linked to the sequences using dynamic link, and now the project just won’t open anymore. Yes I can build it again, but I had nice looking menus all done, and it is a pain to have to make this again!

I wouldn’t be surprised at some point if Adobe creates some sort of Adobe Dynamic Link Server that runs in the background, and can keep the linking working without having to have all the apps open. but I have a feeling even if that happens Encore will be SOL on that one.

I know Dynamic Link is a complicated thing, but I just wish it worked better all the way around.