Adobe Launches AI-powered Text-Based Editing and Other New Tools

Adobe collaborative editing
(Image credit: Adobe)

LAS VEGAS—In the runup to the 2023 NAB Show, Adobe has announced a host of new improvements to its production software offerings, including the launch of AI-powered text-based editing, the expansion of its Frame.io Collaboration Platform to photos and PDFs, the addition of context-sensitive Properties Panel and community-requested improvements to After-Effects and user-requested improvements to the speed and stability of its software. 

“Today’s creatives are racing to meet demand for standout video content across platforms and surfaces that is growing exponentially,” said Ashley Still, senior vice president, creative product group and digital media growth at Adobe. “We are excited to help them meet these challenges with the latest cutting-edge Premiere Pro and After Effects innovations, empowering creative professionals to focus on the craft of creating, while cutting out time- consuming tasks that prolong content ideation, creation and delivery.”

A few highlights of the improvements and Adobe announcements include:  

  • Adobe Premiere Pro debuts Adobe Sensei powered Text-Based Editing, making editing video as easy as copying and pasting text, and Automatic Tone Mapping to achieve consistent colors and contrast when mixing footage from different cameras, Adobe reported. 
  • Premiere Pro adds dozens of user-requested features while delivering enhanced performance and stability making it the fastest, most reliable version ever released.
  • After Effects celebrates 30th anniversary, adding a context sensitive Properties Panel to give users quick access to the most important animation settings.
  • Frame.io empowers teams to seamlessly collaborate on reviews of photos and PDFs in a centralized cloud-based workspace.
  • Camera to Cloud capabilities now natively integrated in FUJIFILM X-H2 and X-H2S cameras create new end-to-end content capture, editing, review and approval workflows, to enable instant photo capture and cloud collaboration.
  • Adobe previews Forensic Watermarking, strengthening cloud security for enterprises by deepening digital protection of sensitive pre-release content.
  • Nearly 3 million users, including creatives at the world’s largest brands, agencies and studios now trust Frame.io for seamless collaborative review and approvals.

Specific updates to Premiere Pro include: 

  • Text-Based Editing represents a groundbreaking shift in post-production workflows, Adobe said. Premiere Pro is the only professional editing software to incorporate Text-Based Editing, revolutionizing the way creators approach their craft by making video editing as simple as copying and pasting text. Powered by Adobe Sensei, Text-Based-Editing automatically analyzes and transcribes clips so editors, producers, and assistants can simply copy and paste sentences into any order they want and instantly see them appear on the timeline. Transcripts can be searched in the transcript window to identify exact words and phrases.
  • Automatic Tone Mapping and log color detection lets editors mixes and match HDR footage from different sources into the same SDR project and get great looking, consistent color. This means editors don’t need to use look-up tables (LUTs) or manually balance footage to get great looking images.
  • Addressing dozens of top user requests, Premiere Pro features significant under-the-hood improvements, and is the fastest and most reliable version ever shipped. In addition to enhanced performance and stability, new features include background auto save, system reset options, and an Effects Manager for plug-ins and even more GPU acceleration.
  • Collaborative editing enhancements include Sequence Locking, enabling the active editors to lock a sequence so it becomes view-only for other editors, Presence Indicators to provide visibility on who is working in shared projects, and Work While Offline to allow editors to continue to work offline, then publish changes without overwriting others’ work when they return online. Included with Creative Cloud, Frame.io support enables secure sharing, collaborative review and project management for Premiere Pro edits, including direct export, upload and Share for Review capabilities.
  • Premiere Pro also adds improved format support for RED V-Raptor X, ARRI Alexa 35, and Sony Venice v2 cameras; expanded Speech to Text support for Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish; GPU acceleration for debayering and transition effects; simpler track targeting; and the ability to export and render directly to Adobe Media Encoder, Adobe said. 

Specific updates to After Effects include: 

  • The new Properties Panel offers quick and easy access to the most important animation settings in one convenient panel, Adobe said. The Properties Panel is context-sensitive, automatically showing users the most important controls needed based on selections, cutting down on the time needed to navigate through the timeline and reducing the learning curve for new users.
  • New ACES and OpenColorIO maintains consistent colors when sharing assets with other post-production apps to help users create more predictable and photo-realistic images in less time and effort.
  • New community-requested features deliver performance optimizations including faster timeline layer selection and multi-frame rendering of shapes – plus new keyboard shortcuts for Selectable Track Mattes. After Effects now helps users fix common issues without the need for IT expert assistance, including in-app troubleshooting for potential workflow issues, system performance optimizations, simple interfaces for enabling and disabling plug-ins and diagnostics to fix bottlenecks in caches and preferences, Adobe said. 

Adobe’s latest releases of Premiere Pro and After Effects, including beta versions of Premiere Pro’s Text-Based Editing and Automatic Tone Mapping, and After Effects’ Properties Panel, will be on display at the 2023 NAB Show from April 15-19 in Las Vegas at booth #N2438, and generally available in May 2023.  

Adobe’s latest release of Frame.io will also be on display at the 2023 NAB Show. Fujifilm’s native Frame.io Camera to Cloud integrations for X-H2 and X-H2S cameras are available April 13. 

George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.