Since non-linear editing software became easier to use and more cheaply available, video editing became a tool for the masses, not unlike pen and paper. Final Cut Pro X was derided for its interface change , but in reality, it dumped old conventions for a sleek and modernized interface that just worked. And several years later, on the same Macbook Air I installed it on seven years ago and paid for once, without a subscription , it still works just as well and mostly as fast. Apple's Final Cut Pro X.
Except that it has for a decade, and the creep upwards has only been in the last few years. In the process, the programs will keep layers, color settings, and styles intact. Flash provides native support for Photoshop files; Illustrator files get the same treatment in Flash.
Adobe's Dynamic Link technology enables video editors to move content throughout Premiere, AfterEffects, and Encore while maintaining editing access. The Puppet tool makes animating a cartoon character or a real person as easy as sticking a pin on the limbs, then stretching them by using the mouse. Adobe AfterEffects CS3 offers powerful new toys that are a snap to check out, once you've already learned the ins and outs of the interface. New creative tools include Puppet, Shape Layers, and Brainstorm.
Puppet enables you to make lively character animations, and copy and paste them onto multiple figures, without dealing with paths and Bezier shapes. It's easy to add simple pinpoints, say, to hands and feet, and then stretch them with the stroke of a mouse. The Starch option can fix a stable point while you choose for others to flop around.
We turned photos of friends into Gumby-like jumping figures in a few quick steps. Shape Layers allow you to create vector shapes and text without opening Illustrator. We had tested this feature before its final release, and thought it was a piece of cake. However, suffering amnesia months later, we cursed Adobe's user manual for making something simple seem nearly impossible. Once you master the basic steps, however, you might enjoy the relief of tweaking new, preset Brainstorm animations to your liking.
And the results of After Effects' new capabilities are already starting to surface in commercials that feature fancy, exploding, fractal-like animations. Creating 3D models from flat Photoshop photographs is relatively easy as well.
You can also apply 3D effects to individual text characters. The Shape Layers features in After Effects enable drawing and animating vector shapes. Premiere While the last version of Premiere was known to improve stability, this upgrade expands its creative tools. There aren't as many fun toys as in AfterEffects, but Premiere does offer less-complicated controls if you want to slow down, say, the last moments at the finish line in footage of a foot race.
Time Remapping lets you create slow-motion and other time effects with keyframe precision within the timeline--but not during real-time playback, which would be much more elegant. And while Premiere's color correction tools are good, they're shallower than those offered by Color within Apple Final Cut Studio 2. Once you add an effect in After Effects, Dynamic Link can make the change live in the attached Premiere clip--a big boost if you're making round trips throughout the CS3 applications.
Premiere's color-correction may be a cinch to use, but they're not as deep as those offered within Apple Final Cut Studio 2. Soundbooth Rather than including the more complex Audition in CS3, Adobe designed the Soundbooth audio editor to appeal to visual thinkers. For instance, you can see hisses, pops, and cell phone rings easily in Soundbooth's colorful Spectral Frequency display, similar to Apple Soundtrack Pro's Frequency Spectrum View.
We like that removing an unwanted noise is as easy as using the eraser, marquee or lasso tools in Photoshop. Auto healing considers what's before and after the selection when cleaning up pops and clicks, but it could be smarter. Nondestructive effects allow you to restore an original file, should you slip up.
Dragging controls let you easily fade sound in and out, enhancing the volume by 3 decibels with one click. The Play Selected Frequencies Only box allows you to zero in on a problem area. You can produce multichannel, 5. Plus, Soundbooth offers thousands of royalty-free scores, not just loops, to play with, which should expand as Adobe offers users a software development kit.
Although Soundbooth is less intimidating than audio editors such as Audition or Ableton Live, it could be more intuitive. For instance, we had to squint to see the tiny icons for navigating waveforms and enhancing volume. Soundbooth's Frequency Spectrum view adds color to waveforms to enable simple cleanup of pops, hisses, and other audio aberrations. Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash Photoshop CS3 Extended includes features for animators and video editors who want to render their work for After Effects.