Updates Galore for Adobe CC and Premiere Pro 2015 [Tech Tuesday]

Adobe has updated Creative Cloud 2015 across the board, adding a gamut of new features and apps (you can read about the photo-centric news—including Adobe Stock—in tech editor Greg Scoblete’s write-up on PDN). But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, especially if you subscribe to the full complement of Creative Cloud applications.

Perhaps more intriguing and useful than the updates to Photoshop and Lightroom, at least for videographers, are the improvements to Premiere Pro and After Effects. Thanks to Premiere Pro 2015’s addition of the Lumetri Color, color grading is extremely easy, even for novices.

Presets are available, as are color adjustments using sliders, but it’s also impressively simple to create and apply your own custom “looks”—a task that was previously assigned to SpeedGrade. Look for new curves, hue/saturation controls and other improvements, too, and to get a better idea of how to use the Lumetri Color panel, check out the video below.

Also new in Premiere Pro 2015 is Morph Cut. Designed for talking head videos, this feature allows you to smooth out transitions between cuts for a more seamless clip. It takes a little time to learn how to finesse Morph Cut, but Premiere Pro does a lot of the heavy lifting.

If you’re shooting video, you’re likely working in After Effects—at least for part of the time. With the new Face Tracker feature, you can mask a face to apply different effects or adjustments. When privacy is a concern, Face Tracker allows you to blur out individual faces.

And, Face Tracker can be used in conjunction with Adobe Character Animator to integrate facial movements. Even if you don’t have a professional use for animations, it’s a really fun application, especially if you have kids and want to amuse them with a little video.

Be sure to go to the Adobe site to get the full scoop about all the updates.