New Elgato Stream Deck +

We don’t know too much about it as yet, having only received a flyer with lots of pictures, and the information that you can “download over 200 ready made plugins or map keyboard shortcuts to keys and dials“. See more here.

2022-11-16_09-50-41I also know that our friends at SideshowFX must have been aware this was coming as they have simultaneously announced profiles for DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Photoshop and Cubase are already available.

See more here.

Quick Tour: BorisFX Continuum 2023

Anybody who is an editor will probably have – or at some stage had – BorisFX Continuum in their toolkit. Now that ver 2023 has been released, here is a quick tour of Continuum’s latest effects, action-packed transitions, Particle Illusion updates, BCC+Light features, and 250+ curated presets by Nick Harauz.

New After Effects features shipping and in public Beta

The latest release of Adobe After Effects is now shipping with new features to address the needs of modern motion designers. Highlights include Selectable Track Mattes, which make working with mattes dramatically easier while also keeping compositions smaller. Native H.264 encoding gives users the option to export files directly from After Effects. We’re also including over 50 new presets created by professional designers to accelerate common creative tasks. Everything in this release, as well as features now in public Beta, is based on feedback from the After Effects community.

Selectable Track Mattes

Matte layers define areas of transparency within a design, allowing users to combine visual elements with precision. Previously, motion designers had to create individual mattes for each layer to be matted, making compositions more difficult to manage. Now, with Selectable Track Mattes, users can apply one matte to as many layers as they want, regardless of where each layer sits in the layer stack. This makes it easier to edit mattes and make global changes, resulting in faster workflows with fewer layers.

“I am absolutely LOVING the new Selectable Track Mattes,” says motion designer Nick Greenawalt, who shares After Effects tips and tricks on his YouTube channel, Motion by Nick. “This feature cuts my layer counts significantly and makes projects so much simpler to navigate. New users will never know what it was like to work with hundreds of matte layers, but I sure do. Selectable Track Mattes is a game changer.”

Over 50 new Presets for faster animation workflows

Great motion design can require detailed work, often involving repeated steps. Presets help users save time by providing building blocks for common tasks. The new release introduces over 50 new animation presets, built by professionals and designed to make day-to-day tasks easier. They include fun, flexible animations for text, animated elements like map pins, convenient design elements like a 2D text box, and more.

Along with the new animation presets, After Effects 23.0 has new composition presets that make it easier to start new projects. Composition presets provide frame rate and frame size for common deliverable formats. There are new and updated presets for social platforms, vertical video, and Ultra HD.

Native H.264 encoding

New hardware-accelerated native H.264 encoding lets users export H.264 files directly from After Effects. Depending on the project and available resources, motion designers can export right out of After Effects or offload the task to Adobe Media Encoder so they can continue working on their compositions while exports are in progress.

Focused keyframe navigation

Perfecting an animation requires reviewing keyframes and making fine adjustments until the desired result is achieved. Keyboard shortcuts allow motion designers to navigate keyframes efficiently and new commands now allow users to focus on the keyframes for specific properties or layers. At any time, the user can switch back to navigating all of the visible properties or layers in their animation using the existing commands.

200 percent faster template performance in Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro now supports multi-frame rendering of animated title and motion graphic templates (MOGRTs) from After Effects. This improves preview playback and render performance by 200 percent or more, depending on the template and the user’s system.

More user-requested features in public Beta

We’ve also introduced a few more features in After Effects Beta

  • 3D Model Import (Beta) is for motion designers who need to combine 2D and 3D assets in their compositions. With this functionality, users can Import 3D models into their projects without requiring third-party plugins.
  • Context sensitive Properties Panel (Beta) shows you only the controls you need to edit the currently selected item. That means you spend less time twirling through layer hierarchies or opening different panels and more time creating.
  • OpenColorIO and ACES color management (Beta) allows users to work at the highest levels of image quality throughout their pipeline using OpenColorIO color management, including Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) workflows.

Install the latest release of After Effects now from the Creative Cloud desktop application.

Learn more about the latest release of After Effects

Find out what’s new in the latest release of Premiere Pro

Adobe Announces Expansion of Creative Cloud

Adobe has announced at Adobe MAX the expansion of collaboration tools within Adobe Creative Cloud and Document Cloud, enabling new workflows that will empower creators to meet ever-growing content demands across multiple platforms. Content now fuels the global economy, and the rise of remote work means more content is being created by distributed teams, making seamless collaboration critical to delivering content with speed and scale.

According to a recent Adobe study, more than 165 million people have joined the Creator Economy since 2020, and roughly one in four people are contributing photography, videography, creative writing and other digital content. As many creators now have the flexibility to work remotely, they expect their tools to enable collaboration with their stakeholders and organizations, whether they are in the same room or halfway across the world.

“Creativity today is a team sport. To deliver a successful project on deadline, a team needs to share everything from creative inspiration to assets to feedback,” said Scott Belsky, chief product officer and executive vice president, Creative Cloud at Adobe. “The innovations we’re announcing today enable seamless collaboration throughout the creative process.”

Photoshop and Illustrator Introduce New Share for Review Collaboration Capabilities

Incorporating stakeholder feedback is key to delivering successful projects, and designers want to easily and seamlessly manage what they share with stakeholders during the review process. Now available in beta for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Share for Review (beta) eliminates the tedium and inefficiency of the review and feedback process while providing creators with full control over what they share and with whom:

  • Share for Review allows creators to share a version-specific link to a Photoshop or Illustrator file, then see reviewers’ comments and conversations automatically flow back into their app, eliminating the need to juggle between tools to address feedback.
  • Creative teams can use Share for Review to complete work faster and with greater creative control, deciding which version of a file to share and when to push changes.
  • Collaborators do not need to sign up or sign in to comment.
  • Reviewers can highlight, pin and make comments on specific parts of images or illustrations.

Adobe Previews World’s First Camera to Cloud Integration With RED and Fujifilm

Now used globally by more than 5,000 productions, Adobe Camera to Cloud (powered by Frame.io) ignited the transition from external drives to cloud-based camera workflows, and fundamentally changed the way video is created. Today, Adobe is previewing new Camera to Cloud integrations built into RED Digital Cinema’s V-RAPTOR and V-RAPTOR XL camera systems and Fujifilm’s X-H2S mirrorless digital cameras to further revolutionize collaboration in production workflows.

Adobe’s first-to-market Camera to Cloud technology enables production teams to automatically transfer media from the production set to the cloud, letting the post-production team start work on the footage immediately. The newly announced Adobe Camera to Cloud integrations further streamline the process by transferring media directly from cameras to organized Frame.io folder structures, without the need for intermediate devices, saving both production costs and time. This new in-camera evolution is anticipated to become a standard within the next decade.

“The RED team is proud to build on our history of working with Frame.io, becoming the first cinema camera company to bring this groundbreaking advancement to the filmmaking community,” said Jarred Land, president and co-owner of RED Digital Cinema. “As we introduce this technology to deliver direct RAW and proxy files directly to edit via the cloud, we are excited for users to start unlocking the benefits that cloud collaboration can bring to productions at all levels.”

“Natively integrating Adobe’s Camera to Cloud with Fujifilm’s X-H2S mirrorless cameras removes a huge time barrier between production and post for photographers and videographers,” said Masato Yamamoto, general manager, Imaging Solutions Div. at FUJIFILM Corporation. “It’s not just ground-breaking, it’s game changing. We’re honored to bring this technology to mirrorless digital camera users around the world, and we’re excited to see what comes next.”

More PDF Collaboration and Productivity

PDF has been the standard for document-based collaboration for decades. Over the last year alone, users opened 50% of PDFs in Acrobat on mobile and web devices than the year prior and Adobe processed over eight billion digital signatures. Today, Adobe is announcing improvements to how users collaborate in digital documents, including an all-new viewer that streamlines access to Acrobat tools for collaboratively creating, editing, e-signing and reviewing PDFs, plus Core Accessibility enhancements, including Read out Loud and High Contrast support, that will enable more team members to comfortably participate in collaborative projects.

As interest in virtual work and the opportunity to leverage virtual and augmented reality to improve collaboration continues to expand, Adobe is developing Acrobat for Meta Quest, enabling users to fully use PDF documents within virtual and augmented productivity spaces. In addition to enabling PDF viewing, editing, converting, compressing and sharing, Acrobat for Meta Quest will support collaboration through commenting, highlighting and drawing – the same Acrobat features people love on the web are coming next year to immersive mixed reality.

The newly announced features and integrations add to Adobe’s powerful existing collaboration features and tools, including:

  • Frame.io for Creative Cloud, the industry’s first post-production review and approval workflow directly integrated with Premiere Pro and After Effects, which allows key stakeholders (editors, producers, agencies and clients) to collaborate seamlessly in the cloud, reaching final approval faster and easier than before.
  • Invite to Edit for Photoshop and Illustrator, allowing users to save time and maximize efficiency by co-editing and commenting on Photoshop and Illustrator live cloud documents directly within the app.
  • Microsoft Teams Integrations for Adobe Document Cloud, the next milestone in advancing modern documents is the only integration of its kind for sending documents and creating e-signatures without leaving Teams.
  • Collaborate across teams or across the globe, with Adobe Workfront. Teams and stakeholders can work seamlessly together to plan, produce and deliver projects in real time, whether they are across the office or across the ocean.

Like to create your own music? PRESONUS Releases STUDIO ONE™ 6

PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc. today announced the global launch of Studio One6, the latest version of the company’s award-winning music production software for macOS and Windows. Studio One 6 is the most recent chapter in the evolution of one of the bestselling digital audio workstations in the world, featuring industry-leading innovations, mixing improvements and the most advanced user interface customization options available. Version 6 makes audio content creation fast and easy, with everything you need to record, produce, mix, master and perform in a single intuitive application. Studio One 6 is available for purchase as a perpetual one-time license, or as an annual or monthly subscription to PreSonus Sphere via PreSonus.com and participating dealers. In addition to the latest two versions of Studio One Professional, PreSonus Sphere™ members get access to expanded collaboration tools in Studio One and online, Community, exclusive educational content, all PreSonus software and add-ons giving the best value to creators and the ultimate Studio One experience. With additional landmark innovations in the works for future iterations, Studio One 6 is just the start of the rollout of a new and improved feature set to support recording professionals.

“In this latest iteration, the team stayed focused on listening to loyal users’ needs, creating innovative solutions to boost productivity in the professional audio production space,” said Arnd Kaiser, General Manager, Software at PreSonus. “We want engineers, producers, recording musicians and creators around the world to feel supported and inspired to build their best work yet. Studio One has evolved over the past 12 years and is now an established major player in the audio production space known for unique features and a fast, intuitive workflow. We continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in recording and are now the first digital audio workstation in the industry to feature end-to-end lyric support for both audio and MIDI, from songwriting to recording and live performance.”

“We are excited for the launch of Studio One 6 and are fully invested in supporting the continued expansion and adoption of Studio One as the total solution for professional and committed at-home creators,” said Evan Jones, CMO, FMIC. “The global adoption of digital creative and productivity tools continues to grow and expand across all forms of musical expression, in the hands of an even wider audience of creators, producers, mix engineers, and artists. Together with PreSonus hardware and Studio Onewe’re providing the total solution for professional and committed at-home creators, and we can’t wait to hear the music they’ll make.”

Studio One™ 6 offers major new features and enhancements to boost creativity for seasoned professionals; moreover, the redesigned and customizable user interface helps creators focus on the task at hand. Studio One 6 is available in both perpetual (priced at $399.95 USD for Professional) or as part of the PreSonus Sphere™ subscription, which gives members every upgrade for free. Going forward, PreSonus Sphere™ members ($14.95/month or $164.95 annual) will always have access to the current version of Studio One Professional as well as one version back, giving them the freedom to upgrade whenever it works best with their projects.

Studio One 6’s top new features include:

  1. Smart Templates: New Smart Templates combine preconfigured tracks and channels with a customized user interface and automatic download of required content to get started recording and producing right away. Smart Templates provide essential tool sets for the tasks at hand, including basic recording, beat making, mixing stems, mastering an album, setting up for a live show and more. Smart Templates include a convenient drop zone to easily import needed content like audio, video and MIDI files as well as interactive tutorials with instructions and links to related video content.
  2. Customization Editor: The new Customization Editor provides a convenient and easy way to show or hide nearly all tools and functions, customizing the user interface to create a streamlined, focused workflow for the task at hand.  First-time users, seasoned professionals and everyone in between can create a Studio One interface customized for their needs. Best of all, customizations can be saved to recall at will — a few for essential workflows are provided as jumping-off points.
  3. Industry-leading Lyrics Support: Studio One 6 now provides powerful, industry-leading lyric support. Lyrics can be added to scores, MIDI productions, audio sessions – even live performances! Use the all-new Lyrics Display as an editor, a teleprompter or a quick, innovative way to navigate a lyric-laden production. When working with Score or Piano view, lyrics can be attached to notes word by word or by syllable. Lyrics can also be transferred to the Show Page to use during rehearsals or performances.
  4. Global Video Track: Content creators and sound-to-picture professionals alike will appreciate the all-new Global Video Track and its intuitive workflow. Add video clips by simply dragging video files onto the timeline. The Video Track can hold an unlimited number of video clips, making it easy to work on multiple reels of a feature film in a single session. Video thumbnails are generated automatically to provide a preview for easy navigation. A dedicated sub-track is provided for embedded audio to use as reference, complete with mixer channel, full plug-in processing and output routing options.
  5. Advanced PreSonus Sphere Collaboration: Studio One 6 deepens the integration with the PreSonus Sphere™ fully loaded with powerful, cloud-based collaboration Workspaces, using convenient sharing options and built-in sync options right from the main menu. An all-new comprehensive installation window lets members quickly explore, download and install exclusive PreSonus Sphere™ content, with a variety of display, search and filter options.
  6. New Plugins: It wouldn’t be a Studio One upgrade without new and improved Native plug-ins and version 6 is no exception. The Studio One new De-Esser is an efficient and intuitive tool for taming vocal sibilance and other high-frequency sounds. The new Vocoder is a creative playground that lets users turn a voice or any audio source into a unique synth or effect. Finally, the ever-popular ProEQ, Autofilter, Mai Tai, Sample One XT and Presence XT have all been significantly enhanced and improved.

“From 2017 on, Studio One has been the official DAW here at Studio DMI, in every room, for every purpose,” said Luca Pretolesi, Grammy Nominated Mixing and Mastering Engineer at Studio DMI Las Vegas. “Every record I’ve worked on so far, from big album projects like Drake to dance records for Diplo, has been done in Studio One. PreSonus Studio One 6 is out and it’s great. There are so many improvements and I think everyone at PreSonus read my mind. They elevated certain functionality and features that are very important for my workflow, especially the Channel Overview. Staying on one channel and being able to access everything on the channel is a key element for me. I love the additional function on the sidechain; it was already crazy before. The ProEQ3 is even better. The dynamic functionality and the solo make it the ultimate EQ in a plugin format.”

Studio One 6 introduces a long list of additional new features and enhancements, including improvements to the Console, the Browser, the Start Page and much more. In addition, the Studio One 6 Console is also packed with new features developed at the request of the loyal Studio One community. Fader Flip lets users control FX/Bus sends, sidechains and Cue Mix sends all from the main faders. Stereo channels now feature a choice between balance, dual or binaural panning as well as a new panner pop-up editor. The new Channel Overview provides a single, consolidated view of all channel parameters, including input controls, inserts, sends and Cue Mix sends for the selected channel that can be pinned to keep a critical eye on individual channels. Finally, Studio One 6 takes workflow efficiency to a new level with Track Presets, storing every aspect of a given track or channel for instant recall, even for multiple selected tracks/channels.

There are various pricing options available and they can be seen here (in USD$)

 

New ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2023

ACDSee introduces AI-powered features and significant improvements in the latest edition of the flagship software, ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2023

ACD Systems International has launched the 2023 edition of its flagship software, ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2023. To continue elevating the creative possibilities for photographers of all levels and styles, numerous updates are included in Ultimate 2023. Most notably of these are two new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered features: AI Face Edit and AI Actions, and a new Advanced Search feature with AND/OR search capabilities. These features and more enhance your suite of tools to bring your photographic imagination to life.

“The new features and enhancements help photographers edit photos and manage them in a variety of ways, all in an instant. By taking advantage of the new AI Features and Advanced Search, photographers will find their process flowing smoother than ever before. Photo Studio Ultimate 2023 is the ticket to a future where Artificial Intelligence will help transcend a photographer beyond their limits.” – Frank Lin, COO & CTO.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2023 is now available for pre-order, and will be available to buy outright and with a subscription model September 21st, 2022. Photographers of all skill levels and styles are encouraged to further their craft through the powerful, easy-to-use software.

Top Features:

  • AI Face Edit – Edit facial features such as the Face, Eyes, Nose, Mouth and more.
  • AI Actions – Perform complex procedures such as selecting the sky, subject, or removing backgrounds, all with a single click.
  • Advanced Search with And/Or Logic
  • Improved and speedier Quick Search
  • ACDSee Photomerge – Includes Panoramic Stitching, HDR, and Focus Stacking
  • Shape Selection Tool
  • Tighter Integration with Microsoft OneDrive™

ACDSee has a loyal following for its Photo Studio products, which have led the industry for decades thanks to their superior Digital Asset Management. With the Ultimate 2023 edition, ACDSee is excited to carry on this tradition by capitalizing on the success of some of its most loved features, including:

  • Layered Editing
  • Face Detection & Facial Recognition
  • Powerful Batch Tools
  • RAW Development
  • Light EQ™
  • Path Text
  • Pixel Targeting
  • Color & Tone Wheels
  • Liquify Tool
  • RAW support for 700+ cameras

 

Da Vinci Resolve User? There’s a new release from SideshowFX just for you.

I have waxed lyrical about the Loupedeck CT for a little while now, but no device like it is any good without it being to work with your favourite programs. More importantly, it must add value and not just be a gimmick.

Since my switch to DaVinci Resolve earlier this year, I have been using the Loupedeck CT with SideshowFX’s DaVinci Resolve pack and loving it. But Resolve has a major claim to fame in its colour management and grading, so SideshowFX has been working on a specialist pack just to cover this area.

And it was made available last night.

SideshowFX say that “With this pack and your Loupedeck CT or Loupedeck Live device you have access to and can control most parameters in the Colour Room workspace“.

The website at https://www.sideshowfx.net/davinci-resolve-color-panel-loupedeck  has all the information including a trial version you can download. Additionally, they have made a detailed PDF as a download. You can get that here.

The DaVinci Colour Panel for Windows costs USD$44.99

 

New version of BorisFX Continuum

In what BorisFX calls “the most comprehensive post-production toolkit ” the latest version 2022.5 is 80 plus new effects, presets and gtransitions. Its available for Adobe and AVID products as well as those NLEs etc that support OFX such as Vegas pro and DaVinci Resolve.

What’s New

  • 15 transitions & 5 creative effects
  • 60+ presets including video glitch, light leaks, and camera shake
  • Up to 35% faster renders on BCC+ effects
  • FX Editor: User-friendly onscreen controls
  • Particle Illusion: 3D model support, text/ mask emitters & more
  • Simplified Mocha masking workflow

If you’re on a subscription or upgrade & support plan, you’ll always have access to the most recent version of Continuum.

To get more details, visit www.borisfx.com

 

Major Adobe Updates Announced

We’ve received three emails from Adobe the last couple of days covering major updates and enhancements. They are reprinted here in their entirety.


Adobe Supercharges Photoshop and Lightroom with Multi-Surface Updates

  • Major editing and performance enhancements in Photoshop on the Web unveiled
  • New video editing capabilities, AI-powered Adaptive Presets and Auto Red Eye Removal released in Lightroom
  • New AI Photo Restoration Neural Filter in Photoshop previewed

PARIS, France, — June 14, 2022 —Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today unveiled major updates to Creative Cloud applications Photoshop, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, delivering significant new features, benefits and value to customers. Today’s updates deliver new editing and usability enhancements to Photoshop on the Web (beta), leverage Adobe Sensei AI and machine learning to help simplify complex workflows for creatives and streamline cross-device (desktop, web and mobile) collaboration workflows for Photoshop and Lightroom users.

“These innovative, AI-driven features for desktop, web and mobile make it fast and easy to create great images anywhere with Photoshop and Lightroom,” said Scott Belsky, chief product officer and executive vice president of Adobe Creative Cloud. “We’re continuing to add new capabilities to Photoshop on the Web, making it not only a great way to collaborate on projects but also to facilitate key edits in your browser.” Belsky unveiled these updates from a customer event in Paris. They include:

AI-Powered Innovations and Expanded Workflows in Photoshop

Neural Filters in Photoshop put the power of cutting-edge AI and machine learning into the hands of creatives. Built to help lower barriers to creativity, Neural Filters have emerged as one of Photoshop’s most popular AI-powered tools. They dramatically reduce complex workflows into easy-to-use, transformative solutions for photo editing and manipulation. Over 300 million Neural Filters have been applied to creative work by more than four million creatives to date.

Adobe today previewed a powerful new Photo Restoration Neural Filter designed to help users bring old or damaged photos back to life by detecting and eliminating scratches and other minor imperfections in seconds.

Adobe also announced updates to Photoshop on the web (beta) including:

  • New, easy-to-use editing features like Curves, Refine Edge, Dodge and Burn, and Smart Objects conversion;
  • Mobile browser access for fast and easy reviewing and commenting;
  • Onboarding and learning content for new creatives and citizen creators who were previously unfamiliar with Photoshop; as well as
  • Performance and UX enhancements

Powerful New Features Across Lightroom Ecosystem

Today’s updates to Lightroom and Lightroom Classic deliver powerful new editing capabilities and time-saving workflows for photographers. Notable additions include:

  • The ability for photographers to quickly trim and apply edits to video clips in Lightroom using the same editing sliders and presets used on photos (desktop and mobile);
  • AI-powered Adaptive Presets for applying different effects to distinct parts of a photo (Lightroom desktop, Lightroom Classic, Adobe Camera Raw);
  • Key workflow enhancements for adjusting intensity of presets (Lightroom desktop, mobile, web, Lightroom Classic) and comparing photos side-by-side (Lightroom desktop);
  • AI-powered Auto Red Eye Removal (Lightroom desktop and Adobe Camera Raw);
  • New Premium Presets (Lightroom desktop, mobile, web, Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw); and
  • Expansion of Remix capabilities to Lightroom mobile and web. 

For complete details on the Lightroom Ecosystem release, visit the Adobe blog.

Pricing and Availability

The Photo Restoration Neural Filter is coming soon to Photoshop on the desktop, and Photoshop on the web is available at https://creativecloud.adobe.com/cc/photoshop to anyone with a Photoshop subscription.

The latest releases of Lightroom and Lightroom Classic are now available and can be downloaded via the Creative Cloud Desktop app. Updates to Lightroom mobile are rolling out globally starting today and can be downloaded in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Adobe Advances Metaverse With Powerful New 3D and Immersive Experiences

  • Substance 3D applications surpass 100% YoY growth, demonstrating strong demand
  • New Substance 3D releases include native Apple M-series chips support for Painter, Designer, Sampler
  • Hugo Boss, Salomon, and other leading brands use Substance 3D to deliver immersive experiences
  • Adobe expands access to Substance 3D to students and teachers worldwide free of charge

PARIS, France — June 14, 2022 — Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced major updates to Adobe Substance 3D – a suite of tools and services that support 3D content creation from the beginning to the end of your project – expanding on the tools’ extensibility and performance. Updates include a 3D Materials SDK for developers, powerful new plugins, and native Apple M-series chips support for Painter, Designer, and Sampler. The company also previewed innovations from Adobe Research focused on new ways to design, create, and deliver engaging and realistic immersive experiences, and showcased how leading brands are using Substance 3D tools to build unique customer experiences. Additionally, Adobe announced that Substance 3D applications will be free to teachers and students worldwide.

“Smart brands are getting “metaverse-ready” by growing their 3D and immersive content creation capabilities. That means that creative artists with expertise in 3D have a wealth of opportunities,” said Scott Belsky, chief product officer and executive vice president of Adobe Creative Cloud speaking at a customer event in Paris. “These innovations provide new superpowers to the rapidly growing number of creative people using Substance 3D.”

Substance 3D Collection for Powering 3D and Immersive Experiences

The growing importance of 3D and immersive content has contributed to strong demand for Substance 3D tools across gaming, entertainment, and e-commerce industries. 3D content creation also continues to grow into a core skill for creative professionals as more brands prepare for the metaverse and other immersive experiences. Substance tools have seen a strong 100 percent year-over-year growth, with now hundreds of thousands of monthly active users.

Adobe announced multiple updates across the Substance 3D Collection, including:

  • Native Apple M-series chips support for Substance Painter, Designer and Sampler, enabling 3D content creators to work faster than ever before. All three tools are part of the Substance 3D Collection, the only end-to-end solution for 3D visuals and experiences.
  • To make the power of Substance materials as accessible as possible, a new Substance 3D Materials SDK allows developers to write their own plugins and use the Substance 3D Material and Model engines inside other applications. A new Substance 3D Automation Toolkit provides features for automating Substance files-based tasks.
  • A Substance Materials Plugin in Photoshop joins an existing plugin for Illustrator – which is already used by hundreds of thousands of Illustrator users – and helps save users time and eliminates numerous steps needed to create texture and design variations and 3D effects. The latest update to the Substance 3D Plugin for Unity enables artists to load, apply and modify Substance parametric materials directly inside the Unity engine, a development platform for creating 2D and 3D multiplatform games and interactive experiences.
  • Expanding capabilities into 3D sculpting workflows, Adobe will also release Substance 3D Modeler to customers later this year. Modeler introduces an intuitive approach to 3D modeling that frees users from previously complex and technical constraints. The desktop and VR tool enable a vast range of creative possibilities, including the creation of concept art, sketching and prototyping, the crafting of detailed characters or props, or even sculpting an entire scene.

“Incorporating Adobe Substance 3D into our product design and development processes has unlocked a new level of creative freedom for the HUGO BOSS team,” said Sebastian Berg, Head of Digital Excellence at HUGO BOSS AG. “The emergence of the Metaverse presents exciting opportunities for the fashion world, and Adobe Substance 3D tools are an integral part of our approach, as we execute on our plan to develop 80% of our collections on a digital basis by the end of this year.”

“Visualization is one of the keys to success in accelerating decision making, strengthening the link with creative direction and reducing our time-to-market by validating the product in the marketing touchpoints,” said Guillaume Meyzenq, SVP Consumer Category Running, Outdoor & Sportstyle, Salomon. “The Adobe Substance tools allow us to reinforce the user experience, offer us a lot of flexibility and a reduced adoption time for the designers by importing digital assets from other tools.”

“The mix of simplicity and raw power of what I can do in Adobe Substance 3D Modeler is staggering. It’s the gold standard for two handed sculpting,” said Bay Raitt, a 3D graphic novelist and principal UX designer at Unity. “With a set of perfectly chosen controls, Modeler is deceptively simple to use, but as your skills improve it is worthy of deep mastery for even the most dedicated sculpting and world building tasks.”

New Adobe Research Innovations for Future Metaverse Experiences

Adobe Research, a world-class organization with research scientists, engineers, artists, and designers who shape experimental ideas into innovative technologies, today previewed research projects designed to power future Metaverse experiences:

  • New AR and 3D shopping tools from Adobe Research and Adobe Commerce bring rich online information to the in-store shopping experience. Customers can scan products on their mobile devices to access personalized shopping insights, product price comparisons, reviews, and product details. This helps customers make better in-store purchasing decisions and gives retailers the tools to adapt to customers’ needs in real-time. B2B companies can also use this technology to optimize warehouses.
  • Adobe today previewed a new intelligent method for optimizing load time while maintaining visual fidelity for optimal AR customer experiences. The new AI-powered approach allows brands to deliver a high-quality AR experience in a fraction of the time it would normally require by prioritizing AR content that is most likely to be relevant to the viewer first based on their movements within the physical space. This will help brands alleviate the common challenges stemming from slow load times on large AR scenes. This technology will be integrated into Adobe Aero later this year.

Pricing and Availability

Native Apple M-series chips support for Substance Painter, Designer and Sampler and the Substance Materials Plugin for Photoshop are available today. The Substance 3D Plugin for Unity will be available later this month, and Substance 3D Modeler, currently in beta, will be available later this year.

Starting this summer, Adobe will expand free access to Substance 3D applications to teachers and students worldwide. Universities subscribing to the Creative Cloud All Apps plan already have free access to Adobe Substance 3D applications.

Additionally, Adobe is partnering with schools on 3D and immersive curricula including RUBIKA DESIGN Valenciennes Design School in France and the ArtCenter in Pasadena, California.

Next-Generation Adobe Analytics Delivers Customer Insights From Streaming Media and the Metaverse

  • New data sources make Adobe Analytics industry’s first true omnichannel analytics product
  • New Adobe Analytics service makes the transition from other analytics solutions seamless
  • Brands of all sizes including Albertsons Companies, Amazon Web Services, General Motors, Marriott Hotels, PGA TOUR, Sephora, and The Home Depot rely on Adobe Analytics to deliver great customer experiences

SAN JOSE, Calif. June 14, 2022 — Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced new services in Adobe Analytics, delivering a single workspace for brands to unify data and insights across all media types, now including the metaverse and streaming media. With global brands adopting Adobe Analytics, Adobe also introduced a new service to seamlessly transition data from other analytics products while preserving historical compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.

“Delivering personalized customer experiences is a top priority for every business in every industry, and the key to making it happen is connecting real-time insights across all aspects of the customer journey,” said Amit Ahuja, senior vice president, Adobe Experience Cloud platform and products at Adobe. “With support for Metaverse and Streaming Media channels, Adobe Analytics continues to lead the industry as the only true omnichannel analytics solution for customer engagement.”

Adobe Analytics is the solution of choice across industries, providing insights for brands to understand the effectiveness of cross-channel experiences and marketing campaigns. In the retail sector, 9 of the top 10 U.S. brands rely on Adobe Analytics to understand shopper journeys that move from online to in-store. In travel, 8 of the top 10 hotel chains and 7 of the top 10 U.S. airlines lean on Adobe to enhance digital services as demand picks back up. Adobe Analytics is also leveraged by 8 of the top 10 financial services institutions, 9 of the top 10 media companies and 8 of the top 10 healthcare companies. It is widely used across the public sector and educational institutions as well.

A Single Workspace for Omnichannel Data

As consumer habits change and more daily life moves online, brands have had to connect more data sources in areas such as e-commerce, social media and support centers, to form a clear picture of customer engagement. At the same time, a growing audience around streaming media and immersive experiences has created new opportunities for forward-looking teams. Adobe is introducing new innovations to help brands capitalize on these trends: 

  • The Metaverse: Adobe Analytics is at the forefront of supporting data from emerging channels, including voice assistants and the connected car. Today, Adobe is previewing support for Metaverse analytics, as more brands begin to embrace immersive and 3D experiences. With a rearchitected platform, Adobe can now seamlessly extend the reach of Adobe Analytics to new and emerging channels. In the Metaverse, brands will be able to measure and analyze specific events, such as the volume of engagement with 3D objects and immersive experiences, as well as collecting interactions across multiple metaverses. This data can then be combined with insights across other channels like the website or mobile app, to understand changing consumer preferences. With Adobe Creative Cloud and immersive design tools like Adobe Substance 3D, Adobe is uniquely positioned to help brands design, deliver, measure, and monetize experiences in the Metaverse. (LINK)
  • Streaming media: While streaming is a key investment for the entertainment industry, other sectors such as retail and banking continue to prioritize video and audio content. Adobe is introducing new capabilities today for brands to understand how streaming fits into the overall customer journey. Through Customer Journey Analytics (CJA), teams can tie digital media consumption to engagement on other channels like social media, websites and offline channels. A retailer, for instance, can see the types of content that drive social engagement and/or in-store activity, to deliver personalization and drive retention efforts.
  • Partner ecosystem: Adobe now has hundreds of third-party integrations with top technology solutions including AppsFlyer, Branch.io, Brightedge, Genesys, Hootsuite, Invoca and Medallia. Each is accessible in the Adobe Exchange marketplace, and Adobe now has a community of over 4,300 active partners across technology providers, system integrators, agencies, and developers. This enables Brands to combine data sources from chat bots to call centers to advertising campaigns with Adobe Analytics behavioral data to understand customer experiences holistically.

Seamless Adoption of Adobe Analytics

Adobe introduced a new service today that makes it easy for businesses across industries to switch to Adobe Analytics:

  • Seamlessly bring data together: Brands are sitting on mountains of data, as the digital economy continues to expand. With the bulk data insertion API now available, teams can move or activate any volume of historical data into Adobe Analytics. It covers any online or offline channel, allowing brands to transition data sources from point-of-sale devices, CRM systems and mobile applications.
  • Intelligent Data Mapping: Data preparation is a major hurdle for brands during the migration process, as teams often have to reformat their data to fit a new analytics platform. Adobe Analytics is providing flexibility for brands to bypass the preparation work, while also avoiding data destruction. As data comes through, Adobe Analytics preserves the underlying structure, while also suggesting new ways to measure the customer journey. Brands can also retroactively apply dimensions to historical data, such as new attribution models.  

 

SoKrispyMedia Produces Viral Video Using New Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve Studio 18

live action production and visual effects (VFX) company SoKrispyMedia recently completed work on its newest viral video, “Trapped in a First Person Video Game,” using DaVinci Resolve Studio 18 editing, color grading, VFX and audio post production software, along with Blackmagic Cloud.

Best known for its massive viral films such as “Chalk Warfare” and its work with MrBeast and his recent “Squid Game” recreation, SoKrispyMedia is no stranger to cutting edge technology and innovation. Its newest video, based on the popular video game Dying Light 2 Stay Human, combines live action production, VFX and practical stunts, and was produced in only six weeks.

Director and Visual Effects Designer Sam Wickert shot most of the project on a Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 digital film camera, with post from media ingest to cut and color handled in DaVinci Resolve Studio 18, which is currently in public beta. “We were grateful for being able to stay in one package, honestly, as a 12 minute short film is a lot to tackle in a six week turnover time,” said Wickert. “Once you factor in all of the stages of post production, including selecting takes, assembly edit, audio, VFX, color, etc., there isn’t a lot of time left to bounce in and out of various pieces of software.”

Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve 18 could not have come at a better time for SoKrispyMedia. “Blackmagic Cloud was something we were really excited about and something we used quite a bit on this project,” added SoKrispyMedia Producer Micah Malinics. “We had a pretty busy schedule during our post timeline because we were traveling, taking meetings, and generally on the go. Since we were editing this film ourselves, we needed to find a solution to allow us to seamlessly access the project even if we weren’t at our primary workstation.”

“Blackmagic Cloud allowed us to work between workstations, regardless of where they were, without the need to migrate projects,” said Wickert. “This was great since we were editing the project on a pretty tight deadline. This isn’t something we could do easily in the past; for example, managing various project files across devices became pretty clumsy when we would go back and forth between multiple devices in one day. With Blackmagic Cloud, we didn’t slow down when moving between machines or even working on the road.”

SoKrispyMedia’s work with Blackmagic Cloud on “Trapped in a First Person Video Game” won’t be its last. “As more and more of our productions embrace remote workflows, it’s fantastic that we can work in cloud based and multi user interfaces easily and efficiently,” continued Malinics. “While there will always be certain needs to have artists and vendors in house, this workflow enables us to have a smoother experience in post whether our team is all together, working remotely around the world, or a hybrid of the two.”

“A lot of our work embraces innovative and bleeding edge technology, and we’re really excited with how Blackmagic Design is implementing these types of new features,” said Wickert. “The cloud workflow and DaVinci Resolve Studio 18’s AI tools and advanced hardware utilization really improve the way that we work, and we’re excited to dive more into DaVinci Resolve Studio 18, and the Blackmagic Cloud this year!”