Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/914212
87 Q4 2017 / CINEMONTAGE TECH TIPS Premiere Pro CC 2018 now includes a feature called Project Locking, which is useful in situations where multiple editors or assistant editors work on a single project. By locking a project, you can alert others when it is currently being edited to prevent them from overwriting your edits. In addition, you can assign read-only access to a project for those who need it for viewing purposes only. There are important new cloud-based collaboration enhancements to Premiere Pro as well. Adobe Team Projects allows Creative Cloud users to host projects in the cloud with the ability to store source files locally or share lightweight proxies with others who are located off site, making collaboration between remote editors a lot easier. Collaborators have tools that allow them to share their changes with others — with periodic reminders to do so. In addition, improved asset status badges let you know when edits are made by collaborators, even before they share their changes. Note that Team Projects also works with Adobe After Effects. LET'S GET IMMERSED Unless you are a hermit, you probably have noticed the tremendous interest in what is known as immersive content (more commonly known as Virtual Reality or 360-degree filmmaking). While I still wonder to what extent people will choose to watch movies while donning headsets, one thing is for certain: The technology is super cool. But, in addition to the coolness factor, there are intriguing perks to immersive content, such as being able to look around and focus on anything you like. That's especially useful in videos shot in exotic locations (such as travel or nature documentaries) or at concerts (see Figure 2). Did you ever watch a live concert video only to be frustrated when the camera cut away during an amazing lead guitar solo? With an immersive video, you're free to look at anything you want whenever you want. The potential of this exciting new technology is just starting to be explored by artists, designers and filmmakers. Not too long ago, Adobe acquired Mettle, a company that provided 360-degree tools for Premiere and After Effects, and its co-founder, Chris Bobotis, has become the director of immersive technology at Adobe. Now, in Creative Cloud CC 2018, we see the fruits of the Mettle acquisition with several important new immersive features being added to both Premiere Pro and After Effects, resulting in what Adobe calls "the most comprehensive toolset for immersive content." Now you can work with 360/VR video the way you're accustomed to in Premiere Pro and After Effects with the VR video mode and the new VR Comp Editor. Equirectangular 360-degree footage is transformed into flat rectangular images that you can easily navigate through on your screen. Things get even better if you wear a headmount display, since the Adobe Immersive Environment in Adobe Premiere Pro now allows you to see your video as your audience will — while editing. You can use headsets such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive to navigate and scrub the timeline. In After Effects, there's a new feature called Extract Cubemap that allows you to take 360-degree footage and flatten it out. This simplifies things like motion tracking, rig removal and rotoscoping tasks. In addition, there are new tools in After Effects that allow you to design immersive motion graphics experiences such as the new Create VR Environment feature. This helps you to add text and animations to your immersive experiences and position them exactly Figure 2: There are lots of exciting new features for working with immersive content and 360/VR projects in the 2018 release of Premiere Pro CC. Figure 3: After Effects now also has many new tools for working with immersive content in the 2018 release of the Creative Cloud.