At the 2012 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas, Adobe is showing off the new version of Creative Suite 6 (CS6), which targets video professionals, broadcasters, and filmmakers.
Pricing has not yet been disclosed, and Adobe hasn't yet given a final release date more specific than the first half of 2012—which doesn't give them much time. Details on the products are available at this Adobe events page. The suite includes all of the following applications:
- Premiere Pro CS6 – the video editor
- ItAfter Effects CS6 – post production motion graphics effect generator
- Photoshop CS6 – the image editor
- ItAudition CS6 – sound editor and mixer
- Adobe Encore CS6 – Disc authoring and burning (included with Premiere Pro)
- Adobe Media Encoder CS6 – outputs optimized video for multiple device targets (included with Premiere Pro)
- Adobe Story Plus – script development and production scheduling
- Prelude CS6 – A new app for organizing production workflow through on-set ingest, logging
- SpeedGrade CS6 - professional color grading tool
Oddly missing from the group is Adobe OnLocation, which is presumably being supplanted by Prelude and Story. Illustrator CS6, Flash Professional CS6, and Bridge CS6 will also come with the Production Premium suite, but Adobe didn't share any details about those at today's NAB event.
The biggest updates to existing apps come to Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop. CS6 Premiere Pro gets a redesigned and simplified user interface, with large view for the source and preview video at top left and right. The interface is still highly customizable, and you can even switch back to its previous layout and add and remove buttons to taste. A lot of video editors use keyboard shortcuts instead of interface buttons, so the default trimming away of some buttons looks cleaner without removing functionality.
Clips can now be skimmed through with the cursor, a la Apple's iMovie, and you can mark rough in and out edits right in the clip thumbnails. Markers also get more power, with color coding; comments and durations can now be assigned to them, as well. A new trim mode shows both the outgoing and incoming frames, and there's lots more keyboard shortcut support (10 assignable) for trims and trim modes. Effects can now be applied to multiple clips using layers and masks, not unlike in Photoshop.
Premiere Pro's multichannel audio mixer has also been redesigned, and the Audio Meter is now resizable. And the Warp Stabilizer from After Effects CS5.5 is now included in Premiere Pro.
Speaking of After Effects, the CS6 version gets a global performance cache, which consists of a global RAM cache, a persistent disk cache, and a new graphics pipeline. All this means you'll often no longer have to wait for previously rendered frames to re-render. Also new, the 3D camera tracker lets you analyzes 2D footage and lets you place 3D objects in the scene convincingly. According to Adobe's documentation, "the 3D Camera Tracker effect even helps create 'shadow catchers,' so your new 3D layers can cast realistic shadows onto flat surfaces in the existing footage." After Effects CS6 also introduces a new ray-traced 3D rendering engine, which lets you create sophisticated 3D text and shape layers.
For a look at what's new in Photoshop CS6, see our Hands on with Photoshop CS6 Beta. In short, it has a new Camera Raw process, and adds new content aware fill and move, with some rich video editing capabilities of its own. It also boasts new drawing and text tools.
"With the upcoming release of Creative Suite 6 Production Premium, which we are revealing at NAB, Adobe is redefining the content creation workflow," said Jim Guerard, vice president and general manager, Video Solutions, Adobe. "This is a perfect opportunity to show off the new and breakthrough performance innovations in Creative Suite 6 Production Premium and demonstrate how it's possible to work at the speed of your imagination, making workflows more efficient and audience experiences more compelling. From planning to playback, Adobe and its broadcast and media customers are leading the industry and reshaping how the digital video industry creates and consumes rich media."
Look for more coverage and reviews on PCMag.com when CS6 is finally launched.
For more from Michael, follow him on Twitter @mikemuch.
