ECaBrams on using Random Expressions in After Effects

A very useful lesson on adding randomization in After Effects.

You should check out the rest of ECAbrams videos on youTube as well.

I really need to dive more into expressions. I can use them and do some modifications, but I am not really an expert or good at creating my own, which is something that really can bring master levels of After Effects.

ProVideoCoalition is reporting that Adobe has EOLed Adobe Prelude

Scott Simmons at the ProVideoCoalition is reporting that Adobe has End Of Lifed as of September 8th, 2021. The article also talks about that Bridge remains, and there is Lesspain Software’s Kyno, or maybe Hedge which was bought by Divergent Media and could be merged with EditReady.

Now I hate to see the creative suite having less apps, and I hated when they removed SpeedGrade (and am still hoping for a return as Lumetro Pro), but while I have opened Prelude I can honestly say I have never used it.

Honestly I think Prelude should have been upgraded and made free instead of killed. Adobe Premiere could use a full metadata system and they could learn a lesson from Final Cut Pro X and it’s metadata super powers. And if they made Prelude free and easy to use anyplace including on iPad and iPhone to be able to metadata footage quickly and easily and pass it to Premiere it would be beyond useful.

I am happy that Adobe seems to be really big on new features in Premiere right now, but axing apps from their suite doesn’t seem like a good start.

ProVideoCoalition on should you be uploading 4K Video to YouTube

Nick Lear at the ProVideoCoalition has a must read article on if you should upload 4K video to YouTube.

I do love that since YouTube re-compressed everything you should basically upload in your editing format, since they don’t have upload limits like Vimeo. It is pretty funny that Adobe Media Encoder’s YouTube settings are H.264, but I guess it saves your bandwidth.

Macworld’s take on iPhone adding scanning for Child Abuse Materials and Privacy

I have been reading a lot of articles on Apple’s recent move to add CSAM or Child Sexual Abuse Materials in any photos you sync with iCloud (which is all of them if you have iCloud backup on). I really like the depth that Jason Snell at Macworld has taken on the issue, and why it is an issue.

Apple’s approach here calls all of that into question, and I suspect that’s the source of some of the greatest criticism of this announcement. Apple is making decisions that it thinks will enhance privacy. Nobody at Apple is scanning your photos, and nobody at Apple can even look at the potential CSAM images until a threshold has passed that reduces the chance of false positives. Only your device sees your data. Which is great, because our devices are sacred and they belong to us.

Apple’s approach here calls all of that into question, and I suspect that’s the source of some of the greatest criticism of this announcement. Apple is making decisions that it thinks will enhance privacy. Nobody at Apple is scanning your photos, and nobody at Apple can even look at the potential CSAM images until a threshold has passed that reduces the chance of false positives. Only your device sees your data. Which is great, because our devices are sacred and they belong to us.

The risk for Apple here is huge. It has invested an awful lot of time in equating on-device actions with privacy, and it risks poisoning all of that work with the perception that our phones are no longer our castles.

And while it is noble to try and do something about Child Sex Abuse, it also does fly in the face of Apple and them being the arbiter of privacy. And that isn’t even talking about false positives. And then there is where does this lead, because if they are scanning your photos won’t they soon be scanning everything, and where is the privacy there.

Adobe adds Simplify Sequence to Premiere Pro Beta, and this I will use

Adobe made the announcement in the beta forum in their communities.

Woohoo, something I never asked for but will certainly use. Just removing the disabled clips and empty tracks is very cool.

Now if only they could also un-merge clips (since merged clips break audio metadata so a mixer is basically unable to relink clips because their names and timecode change) and maybe flatten multi-cam as well, though you can already do that.

I do love that Adobe all the suddens seems to adding new features at a prodigious rate, but I just hope they will still go back and fix what is broken and has been for a long time.

Jason Boone at Frame.io on Premiere Pro Audio Tools

Jason Boone at Frame.io insider has an must read article entitled “These Premiere Pro Audio Tools Will Make You A Mix Master.”

I am an editor and not a sound guy, so this is certainly useful. I do spend a lot of time with the essential sound panel to get a passable mix, but for me a mix should go to a mixer, but that doesn’t always happen, so learning as much as you can is a great thing.

I do plan on doing some more sound specific lessons for Premiere and Audition in the future, but I have not delved into it to much as of yet.

Blackmagic has released an updated web presenter in 4K for $695 a great solution for work from home streaming

Blackmagic design has done it again and have released a 4K streaming version of the web presenter.

The previous $495 version could accept a 4K signal, but it only could output at 1080, but this can output at a full 4k for a better signal for $695.

And like the previous model it has a USB C out so you can connect it to your computer as a web cam to use in Zoom. And with my UltraStudio 4K I could easily run it via the SDI input without bothering the HDMI out (though it also has an HDMI out).

I was talking to a DP with the director on a notes call and I really wished I had this setup so We could do live sessions. I know a lot of producers like to do a session in person and being able to stream live to a producer and talk really is something I need to add to my setup soon so I can continue to work at home. I am really looking forward to trying out Sofi Marshall’s setup and getting this going.

Billy Rybka’s 4 top DaVinci Resolve Plugins for 2021

You can also read about these 4 plugs in at 4K Shooter.

OK I haven’t used these yet, but I want to try them all out.

I use Optical Flares from Video Copilot for flares in my motion graphics all the time, so I do love having access to flares and $39 for LensMaster Flares is ridiculously cheap.

And I have to admit to hating doing audio mixes and cleanup, and though I do use Essential Sound in Premiere it doesn’t do as much as it looks like Alex Audio Butler does. And I really want to get my hands on the ERA 5 Bundle. I don’t really mess with EQ and compression unless I have to, so these tools would be amazing to have.

And I just installed Reactor from We Suck Less. I haven’t delved too deep into Fusion as of yet, but I have played a bit. And to have this amazing set of tools for free. Wow! I can’t wait.