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Also check out my review of Adobe CS6 here.

by Peter Bohush

With the release of Creative Suite 6, Adobe has also introduced a new subscription pricing model as an alternative to buying the entire suite or individual applications.

Dubbed the Creative Cloud, the subscription-based offering is “a hub for making, sharing and delivering creative work,” according to Adobe Systems Inc. Instead of buying the software (and Adobe apps are not cheap,) users can opt to pay a monthly subscription for use of all the CS6 applications on any of their computers.

The included programs are the latest releases of Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Flash Professional and other products. In addition, two new Touch apps, Proto and Adobe Collage, are now available for iOS devices such as the iPad.
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Adobe CS6: Suite-New & Improved Production Tools
by Peter Bohush

With Creative Suite version 6, Adobe has raised the bar yet again with a comprehensive set of applications for TV, commercial, web and film post-production. CS6 is a 10!

The CS6 Production Premium package is anchored by Photoshop (image editor), Illustrator (vector graphics drawing), After Effects (motion graphics and visual effects) and Premiere Pro (non-linear editor.)

Production Premium also comes bundled with Audition (audio editing), Encore (DVD and BluRay mastering), Flash Professional (interactive web graphics), Media Encoder (file compression and conversion), Bridge (view, manage and batch process many types of graphics and files), and two new applications: Prelude (for ingesting, logging and transcoding digital video footage) and SpeedGrade (color correction and grading.)

The Big Mamou of all Adobe products is called their Master Collection, and in addition to the apps in Production Premium it adds InDesign (desktop publishing), Acrobat X (PDF creation), Flash Builder (application development), Dreamweaver (website design) and Fireworks (prototype designer.)

Production Premium CS6 caters to many types of TV and moviemaking professionals: editors, visual effects artists, audio designers, graphic artists, colorists, directors and more.

With CS6, Adobe has not only bookended the post-production process with Prelude and SpeedGrade, but added a truly extensive list of new features to the core products. Continue reading →

A little demonstration of the dynamic linking feature in Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium 5.5, with Premiere Pro and After Effects.

This is a companion tutorial to my review of Premiere Pro 5.5.

Adobe Premiere Pro Delivers Solid Performance in a True Professional Workflow
by Peter Bohush

Adobe’s Premiere Pro 5.5 editing software, which anchors Adobe’s Production Premium suite of applications, emerged from a decade in the shadows in 2011 when Apple all but abandoned the professional post-production market by replacing Final Cut Pro 7 with FCP-X, which introduced clear technical advancements but also a new design that conflicted with established industry workflows.

Seeking an alternative application offering not only the needed features but also the assurance of ongoing technical support and development, Adobe Premiere Pro stepped back into the spotlight. When editors took a look at Premiere Pro, they were pleasantly surprised to find it as a worthy choice for editors at all levels, from indie YouTubers to big budget feature films.

In fact, the recent feature films “Hugo” and “Act of Valor” were edited with Premiere Pro, and like “The Social Network” before, utilized Premiere Pro’s built-in integration with Adobe’s other apps After Effects, Photoshop and Audition, to speed up their workflow.
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A complete visual effects package for editors and vfx artists

by Peter Bohush

People think it’s always sunny and warm here in Los Angeles, but I like to point out that we have four distinct seasons: fire, mudslides, riots and earthquakes. If one needed to represent L.A.’s seasons in a movie, Digieffects would be a go-to tool to get the job done.

The DigiSuite from Digieffects is comprised of three software products: Delirium, Damage and Buena Depth Cue, all now in version 2.5. These distinct plug-in applications give editors and visual effects artists a wide array of effects from fire, smoke, rain, fog, distortion and channel mapping to grain, scratches and jitter, and finally real-looking lighting and rack focus.

Delirium 2.5

Delirium is a set of 44 effects in five categories: Phenomena, Color, Distort, Mood and Composite. Many of the effects are either particle-based creations, such as rain and snow, or lighting effects such as glows and blooms. Together they offer a rich set of tools for many types of effects.

The Phenomena category is perhaps the flashiest of the set. The plug-ins allow for the creation of many natural effects, including bubbles, electrical arcs, fairy dust, fire and fireworks, fog, muzzle flash, rain, smoke, snow and sparks.

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Like having a Director of Photography in your editing system

by Peter Bohush

Recently I had the opportunity to test out an amazing software product, Tiffen Dfx 3.0, that mimics glass filters, lenses, lighting effects and optical processes. It comes as close as software can come to recreating the lighting effects that an experienced photographer or director of photography would be able to do in-camera, as well as add special effects in post production with ease.

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