Adobe adds updates to the Creative Cloud

Richard Harrington has the article on the new updates only for Creative Cloud users. • Adobe Illustrator has three new features — available only to Creative Cloud members — that give you the ability to package files, un-embed images, and do more with the Links panel. To access these features, update Illustrator from its main menu by choosing Help > Updates. • Adobe Muse – now includes built-in support for contact forms and many other new exclusive features. • Adobe Edge Animate preview – now has resizable layouts, rulers and guides, and a more precise timeline. If you used Edge in the past, you’ll notice we’ve also updated the name.Glad they are finally doing some new features to the cloud, but I want them for Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop more, though any are of course welcome.

Some more cool After Effects Scripts

Some more really cool looking scripts from AEScripts and the Pro Video Coalition.Layer Repeater to easily offset layers in space and time suggested $19.99 but name your own price.Masks and Shapes gives you more control over creating shapes and masks and can save them out as a text file, suggested $9.99 but name your own price.Projection, makes it easy to camera map onto 3D planes in After Effects with 3D Camera Tracker, Syntheyes, Boujou or PF Track. $24.99 down from $49.99.Illumination adds a new dimension of lighting control, and adds the softbox. $19.99 down from $39.99Pixel Cloud, a compositing tool to relight a 3D generated image or displace the pixels in 3D space, $89.99 down from $129.99.Paste Multiple Keyframes, lets you copy and paste keyframes from multiple layers at the same time, suggest $9.99, but name your own price.Auto Lip-Sync, create a mouth that automatically animates according to your voice recording. $39.99Null Swapper swaps null layers for light layers for Trapcode Particular and Plexus, and this one is free.

Some quick likes and dislikes of editing a recent project with Premiere Pro CS6

Over the last 2 days I cut a short film on Premiere Pro CS6. It was shot on a Canon 5D and I had no time to convert the footage, so I figured Premiere Pro was the way to go because I wouldn't need to re-compress the footage.I used Plural Eyes to sync the footage to the external microphone, and it worked, though took some finessing, and some manual syncing and I would say it got about 75% of it.Then I started cutting and had all the crash issues from my earlier post on the NVIDIA GTX 285, but was able to switch to my NVIDIA QUADRO FX 48000 and mostly cleared up the issues. No more serious Error messages, and no more screen going black. Still some random crashes, but nothing too bad, that a quick restart wouldn't get running again.I was running the footage out of premiere pro through my DV deck to an external NTSC monitor, and it looked great.Now I edit in Apple Final Cut Pro 7 and AVID Media Composer, but have always preferred some things of Final Cut Pro. And there are some things about Premiere Pro that I like and some I don't.I don't like how you can only set a duration for your default transition in Premiere Pro, and you can't set up a favorites bin of effects either per project or within the system. I would always make a bin of favorites in Final Cut Pro with various lengths, and was quickly able to apply any transition I wanted.I also don't like how on a clip in the timeline that is not butted up to another clip, all transitions start at it's cut and can't be put center on the cut or ending at the cut. You have to extend the clip to make the transition go further than the cut. Now it is pretty easy if you select the cut first as you can just hit E to extend the clip to the playhead, even if a transition is already on it. And I have set command-D to apply the default transition, so I can easily extend clips and apply the default transition with one hand (awesome), but I still want a bin of my favorite effects, and if not in the effects browser, let me do them in the project like I can do with AVID.The integration with Adobe After Effects is a thing of beauty. Just being able to make changes so quickly is totally awesome. Once you have either imported a After Effects Sequence or sent files to one from Premiere, you just save changes in AE and they show up in Premiere, and you render in Premiere. AWESOME! This makes Premiere the best program for graphics intensive stuff bar none. I think Premiere Pro should become the premiere program for Direct Response because of this alone!When Snapping is turned on, why does the cut tool not snap to the playhead. Now it seems to still cut…

Premiere Pro CS6 having some serious issues with NVIDIA GTX 285

I started on a job today shot on a 5D and didn't have time to convert to ProRES, so I decided to cut it in Premiere Pro CS6 to save conversion time, plus since I have a compatible PluralEyes to sync off camera audio. It took a bit of time to do the sync, but after I watched my footage and then began cutting, but Premiere Pro could not have been more unstable. I crashed over and over, and was losing time and work. So much that I tried exporting to quicktime, but it was just going to take too long to render the timeline so I could edit.I found this thread on the Adobe Forums, and found my exact problem. I'm on a MacPro 4,1, Lion 10.7.4, CS6.0.1, 32GB RAM, GTX 285 with the latest nVidia and CUDA drivers.  I am seeing 2 primary issues: Lots of Serious Error crashes.  This happens without any noticeable pattern - sometimes with the title tool, trim monitor, or simply just scrubbing the timeline.  It seems to happen more frequently with Dynamic Links in the timeline.  Also, I believe it is happening more often (or maybe exclusively)  with the MPE GPU option enabled.  I think in Software Only mode, it may not be present, although further testing required. Also, I am having an issue where Pr will display black only in the source and program monitors, unless I click around the timeline and will get flashes of images.  This is remedied by changing over to Software Only for the MPE.  It seems to be worse if Safari is running.I was having the same issues exactly, and have the same system setup, but with only 24 GB of RAM, and am running Mountain Lion 10.8.0. I kept having to trash my prefs which worked for about 5 minutes before I crashed again.So I decided to remove the GTC285 and put in my QUADRO FX 4800. It is old and slow, but still pretty decent. I installed it about 2 hours ago, and Premiere Pro has been rock solid afterwards.This shows it is either an NVIDIA driver or CUDA issue, or something in the Premiere Code with the GTX 285, as with the QUADRO FX 4800 it is running like a dream.Adobe and NVIDIA need to fix this fast, because this is a major issue. If it was not for me having a spare video card I would have been SOL, as I have to finish this project and fast!UPDATE: Had one crash after 3 and a half hours, but I have been saving now, back to the old paranoid saving all the time. Still unbelievable the difference with the different video card!UPDATE AGAIN: And crashed again! OK, so not rock solid, but still much better than it was with the GTX 285.

Red Giant has released Trapcode Suite 12

Trapcode Suite 12 from Red Giant on Vimeo.Check it out at Red Giant, where it is $899 or between $99-$499 for an upgrade.The new upgrade includes Trapcode Mir a brand new motion design tool. Trapcode Mir from Red Giant on Vimeo.It now includes 105 Particular/Shine Guru Presets from MoGraph artist David Vinson.And maintenance updates for Lux, Echospace, Particular and Form.The Guru presets help, but this doesn't seem like much of an overall suite upgrade for the price, especially if you already have the guru presets! I mean a new app, that you may or may not use, and no update to the rest of the suite, and the upgrade costs the same as buying the app. Red Giant obviously included the Guru presets to make this seem more worthwhile, but at $99, it seems a bit much when all you get is a maintenance release for all the apps you know and love.

Zaxwerks releases 3D Invigorator Pro V6

Zaxwerks has finally upgraded 3D Invigorator Pro to Version 6. And it had better be a whopper of an upgrade now that After Effects CS6 has Ray Traced Extruded Text and Shapes.New features for Invigorator Pro include: ▪ Ray-Trace Reflectivity & Shadows! (NEW) ▪ Ultra Realistic Shadows with Ambient Occulusion (NEW) ▪ Create Glass or Water with Refraction (NEW) ▪ Super Easy Grid Creator (NEW) ▪ Increased Number of Sets and Layer Maps (NEW)Here is what they have to say:Our new Ray Trace renderer produces ultra-cool pictures, with reflections of objects in other objects, smooth realistic shadows, and glass refractions. Mmmmm. Sweet, sweet pictures.New workflow features include the ability to trace pictures then map the picture back onto the object with one click; the ability to turn whole folders of images into 3D objects; and the ability to collect all project related files if you have to move the project from one computer to another. If you’re not a 3D-techie this means it’s now easier than ever to turn client artwork into flying 3D objects.Best of all in version 6 are the new Object Fragmentation features. This set of features lets you slice, chop or crack your 3D objects into little fragments. Big deal, most 3D programs can do this, right? Not even close. What ProAnimator does is to turn fragmentation into a design tool where you can change your mind as the design evolves. Slice your logos into planks, strips, cubes, chips, chunks or shards. No pre-planning required. Change the fragmentation, change the text getting fragmented, change the bevels, change the color, change anything at anytime for the greatest flexibility imaginable.ProAnimator 6 has also added more animation controls especially designed to take advantage of the thousands of pieces generated by the fragmentation features. So now you can take your thousands of fragments and spin, tumble, whip and cascade them in cooler, fresher and more eye-catching ways than before. Spill the fragments into the screen and watch them assemble into your logo. Drop the fragments and watch one word turn into another. This can be done with any text, logo or imported 3D object.Stop for a moment and realize that now you can design on the fly with fragments as easily as full objects. It’s like a particle system that’s easy and fun to control and completely real-time and interactive. It’s all waiting at your fingertips to give your work an exciting edge over your competition.It is $399 or $99 for an upgrade from 5.0.