Red Giant, long-time developers of innovative post-production tools, have unveiled Red Giant Complete, a yearly subscription plan for all of their tools. Is it worth the price of admission? Image Credit: Red Giant The Details on Red Giant Complete The details matter here, especially when the asking price is $599/year for professionals, $299/year for academic settings. That’s the same price as Adobe Creative Cloud, and potentially twice what you’d pay to license Final Cut Pro X. That might seem like a lot to ask for a set of plugins, but to look at it another way, buying that same software outright would run you $3,500. Every tool works with After Effects, and some tools work other apps as well: Adobe Premiere is well supported, and Final Cut Pro X isn’t too far behind. Outside of that, support starts to get a little more limited, although not entirely absent. Sorry, Avid and Davinci editors. However, if you only need one piece of software, or dislike subscriptions, the good news is that buying outright is still absolutely an option for you. Individual software packages are still available on their website. But when the cost of one package can already run up to $999, I personally find it hard to justify purchasing unless you have a very specific need. If you know you need these tools, then the cost is reasonable for what you get. What’s Included Everything. Seriously. Every tool and plugin Red Giant has ever made. By my count, that’s 5 software “Suites”, for a total of 113 tools. Trapcode Suite is a particulate and 3d vfx suite that lets you easily generate fluids, particles, objects, light, and more. Magic Bullet Suite has top-notch color and grading tools that far outpace what you find in Lumetri. Universe Suite contains all of the supplemental tools for finishing your video, from unique text generation and animation to transitions to little stylistic flourishes like camera shake and glitch FX. VFX Suite is there for seamless compositing and tracking, and Shooter Suite will help you dump, process, and back up your footage so you’re ready to rock when you hit the edit suite. Should you Subscribe to Red Giant Complete? Red Giant makes excellent tools for workflows of all sizes and shapes. But the final question is whether to subscribe or purchase. This package is obviously targeted at the power user, the super fan, the person or organization that can use the full suite from top to bottom, and to end. If that sounds like you, then take advantage of this deal by simply going to their website. Existing Red Giant users can even get 50% off their first year through February 1 with code RGC50 at checkout (or RGC50A for academic purchases). If you are looking for one specific set of tools, however, you might want to consider the numbers a little bit more carefully. What do you think? Would Red Giant Complete complement your workflow, or do you do just fine with your native plugins and effects? Let us know in the comments!

Finland-based company Loupedeck just released its second hardware controller for accelerating creative workflows: The Loupedeck CT (as in Creative Tool). While the original Loupedeck+ was aimed more at a dedicated Lightroom workflow, the new Loupedeck CT is a more versatile beast: Everything is customizable plus the embedded multi-function wheel with touchscreen dominating the surface is really cool! One versatile controller to rule them all. That’s the dream of everybody working in the creative space. But how does this dream matches reality? Well, the new Loupedeck CT comes close, very close! It is smaller than the original Loupedeck+ so it can sit next to your keyboard (which is still a thing, believe me). Its housing is made of aluminium rather than plastic, so it’s more rugged, too. But the real advantage over the original Loupedeck+ lies in its flexibility: Most of the buttons are not pre-labeled anymore, 12 of them aren’t even real buttons but LCD screens which you can label (and map) to whatever function you like. Loupedeck CT Next to these LCD buttons you’ll find 6 dials which –again– are mappable to custom functions. In order to maintain a clear overview, the current function is displayed right next to it. However, the real star of the whole device is of course the giant mutli-function wheel with embedded touch screen dominating the center of the Loupedeck CT. And if you ever worked with such a hardware controller you’ll know how delightful it can be to be able to adjust two setting at once without taking your eyes off the screen. The company claims that most of the current pro creative apps, such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro X and Ableton Live are supported by the Loupedeck CT. Later this year support for Autodesk Fusion 360 will be added. One thing, that immediately caught my eye was the missing support for DaVinci Resolve. This is disappointing but to be fair, it’s not Loupedeck’s fault. Blackmagic Design chose to only support a very limited number of hardware controllers beside their own lineup. Back to the device itself, here is a little introduction video for your viewing pleasure: In terms of usability the Loupedeck CT is much more versatile than then dedicated Lightroom-centric Loupedeck+. You can use it with Premiere (read our article here) but all the labeled buttons and dials need to be remapped for that so this solution is not exactly intuitive. Enter the Loupedeck CT: 12 mappable LCD buttons, customizable dials with custom LCD labeling and of course the giant dial with touchscreen in the center. Loupedeck offers a dedicated software for mapping and tweaking almost everything on the Loupedeck CT but they also offer presets for most apps so you can dive straight in. Here is a quick demo of the device and its feature while using it in Adobe Premiere Pro: I think this device is really a next-gen controller. I do use the Streamdeck (article here) a lot and I really like it but it only offers buttons. The Loupedeck CT with its dials and buttons and especially with its ARRI Mastergrips styled center dial is really next-level I think. No DaVinci Resolve ’round here Resolve does support several control surfaces beside their own giant Advanced Control Surface. But since they expanded their lineup with the introduction of the Mini and Micro Panel the company seems to cease support for new third-party devices. Supported devices such as the Tangent Wave 2 were implemented into Resolve before the introduction of  their lower tier micro and mini Panels so they are still supported but you can’t customize them since their buttons and dials are hard-mapped to the software. Blackmagic Design’s own Mini Panel. No way around it for now. Although I can understand Blackmagic’s policy here (give away the software for free, earn money with the associated hardware) some problems arise here: The dedicated Blackmagic control surfaces only work with Resolve. Using several other pro creative tools? Bad luck. Users can’t take advantage from other companies innovations, such as the Loupedeck CT. The CT doesn’t come with a trinity of color wheels, sure, but maybe we are looking at a growing system of modular control surfaces here. Maybe another Loupedeck device which adds these color wheels in the future? Yes, please! Add support for these third-party devices in DaVinci Resolve? Yes, please! So if you want to use this pretty handy and versatile Loupedeck CT with Resolve, let Blackmagic Design know! Loupedeck even offers an open SDK for third-party developers, so if you’re a skilled dev feel free to adapt this device to your choice of creative software! Loupedeck is now accepting open integration requests by third party developers, interested in expanding our software compatibility by creating a hardware enabled integration. Pricing and Availability The Loupedeck CT is not exactly cheap  ($549 / 499€) but please bear in mind that Loupedeck is not a giant corporation but a rather small company making innovative stuff for creatives. Shipping starts November 11th. Links: Website What do you think about this device? Do you use other control surfaces for your creative work? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

For the second time this year, Lesspain Software releases a new version of their popular asset management and review tool, Kyno. Version 1.7 adds support for extended metadata workflows as well as ProRes export on Windows machines. There’s more, of course, so let’s dive in! Kyno is a simple, yet powerful media management tool for both Mac and Windows machines. It does not depend on a proprietary database but builds on your OS file system and adds metadata to that very file structure. Add any storage to your system, Kyno can handle it. With Kyno you can offload, browse, review, tag, log, organize, transcode, rewrap and export your footage. A one-stop-shop for all things media and it supports all the professional codecs of course (although you need the pricier Kyno Premium for some of the more advanced codecs and some other features – see below). Kyno 1.7 – More Metadata and ProRes Export on Windows The new version 1.7 adds crucial features to the already impressive roster. Windows users now can export any flavor of ProRes to cater to ProRes workflows within their projects. Windows 7 or higher is required for this. For Mac users, this isn’t anything new but the next feature will be: The support for metadata has been significantly increased. Now you can send all metadata, including XMP based fields straight to your NLE of choice, such as Final Cut Pro or FCPX. Ratings, custom tags and everything else are available through the corresponding XMP file. Turning it around, you can export any custom metadata, such as annotations, markers, tags or keywords via XML straight to Kyno. The software will ask you which fields you want to merge with the existing set of metadata. This results in a very neat and organized library of media assets with consistent metadata throughout any project (and beyond that when archiving your assets). Furthermore, you can paste metadata onto existing master clips. This is handy when proxy clips have been logged, and you want to merge the resulting metadata with the original master files. This works even if the (transcoded) proxy files come with a different file extension than the unaltered master files. 32-Bit Files on macOS Catalina Yes, Apple has done it again. Some bridges have been burned with the latest OS and as a result, no 32-bit binary can be opened any longer. In particular, any media files which have been created using the Quicktime 32 framework won’t run on macOS 10.15 Catalina. But fear not, Kyno 1.7 can find these legacy assets and you can transcode them into something more future-proof. Interestingly this feature even works on macOS Catalina! This feature is especially useful if you’re a FinalCut Pro X user since older versions of that NLE used to output Quicktime 32 based media assets. But please make sure that your app of choice is being supported by Catalina before upgrading to this OS. Since it is dropping support for all things 32-bit some apps may be broken after upgrading. Other Features for Kyno 1.7 HEVC is here to stay. More and more cameras rely on this rather new codec, also known as h.265, as an acquisition format. Kyno is now able to tap into your operating systems hardware-acceleration for decoding (playback) HEVC footage on Mac and Windows and encoding (export) on Mac machines. Your computer needs the respective hardware for that, of course. LUTs can be applied from within Kyno, too. The drilldown feature is one of the most popular features within Kyno. With it you can click on a single parent folder and Kyno will relentlessly search for compatible media assets in that folder and all of its sub- and sub-sub-folders. With Kyno 1.7 you can finesse this feature even more: Filter for a certain folder name and Kyno will search for all media files within your desired folder (or drive) but only in folders with the name you specified. For example, you could select an external drive, enable drilldown and specify the folder name “dailies“. Each and every asset within all folders which are labeled “dailies” on that drive will pop up immediately. Neat! Here’s a full list of features (all editions): Support for exporting all flavors of ProRes on macOS and Windows 7 or higher Support for macOS Catalina A new checkbox in the transcoding dialog allows you to mirror the directory structure to the destination when transcoding, enabling powerful proxy and metadata workflows Copy & paste metadata from one clip to other clips (Cmd/Ctrl-C, then select one or more other clips and select “Paste Metadata…” or Cmd/Ctrl-Alt-V) New filter for legacy Final Cut Pro media Full Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro metadata import support (via XML and drag and drop for Final Cut Pro) Kyno now offers full metadata support for Premiere Pro via XMP. Rating, Tags and Angle metadata will be transferred when sending to Premiere Pro Playback and transcoding of HEVC is now hardware-accelerated on macOS and Windows. HEVC encoding support has been added on macOS Adjustable playback resolution for ProRes clips Support for simple boolean expressions in filter queries e.g. “car and drone”, “sports or food”, “car and not b-roll” New filter for containing folder name, for example, to show all clips in all folders named “dailies” We’ve made the display of dates in the list view more flexible in width and localized according to your system preferences The “Date created” column was added next to the existing “Date modified” column Set a marker’s or subclip’s description as note when sending to Final Cut Pro Added playback support for DNxHR 444 12bit clips The frame rate filter now allows identifying clips with variable or constant frame rate (CFR/VFR) If you prefer to always display zero-based timecodes, we’ve added a preference for that (Preferences/Settings – Advanced – Use zero-based timecode) Added support for playback of Canopus HQ/HQA Added support for playback of MJPEGB encoded Quicktime clips We’ve implemented hardware accelerated decoding and playback of H.264 clips on Windows Improved matching of files when importing metadata (Kyno, Final Cut Pro XML, Final Cut Pro 7 XML), now supporting powerful proxy workflows Derive export file name for FCP7/Premiere xml from folder name These new features are exclusive to the Premium edition: Upload clips or subclips including metadata to Frame.io, convert hi-res footage before sending and apply LUTs or burn in timecodes Use the brand new Archiware P5 Archive integration to archive folders or clips including metadata from within Kyno (setup in Preferences – Integrations) You can now play back, manage and transcode Avid Op Atom MXF files, even directly from the Avid MediaFiles folder Support playback of spanned MOV/ProRes proxies from RED camera cards We made a number of performance improvements for RED RAW R3D playback Pricing – Kyno vs Kyno Premium There are two editions of Kyno, Standard and Premium (and Enterprise, but that’s not important for us here). Both editions share the same pricing structure, pay once and get a year worth of updates. There is no subscription, which is good! Kyno is €159 (including tax), updates for another year (aka “renew your license”) clocks in at €79. For the Premium edition, these prices translate to €349 for the license and €169 for another year. Note: you don’t have to pay for each year. Your version won’t get any updates after your license period ends but the version you’re on will still work as usual. Links: Lesspain Software Do you use Kyno for managing your media assets? If not, do you use any other software solution for that matter? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

During IBC 2019 we met up with Sam from Frame.io who talked us through the updates in Frame.io version 3.5 update. This new version brings useful features like range-based comments, advanced searching filters, and some new functions for the Adobe Premiere Pro Frame.io app, like proxy files downloading. Secure sharing is also a new feature, which is currently in beta version only. Frame.io V.3.5 – new filters Frame.io is a collaborative online platform where everyone in a team can give feedback to uploaded assets, like videos. There is now a new version 3.5 of the platform, which got released just before the IBC 2019. During the show we met up with Sam from Frame.io to hear the most important new features of the version 3.5. Frame.io Version 3.5 New Features Range-based comments is a new feature providing users with a possibility to comment on a particular section of the video rather than only on a specific frame. The range can be specified very precisely – by holding “Shift”, users can move the range by a single frame (precision scrubbing). Frame.io V.3.5 – new range-based comments Advanced searching filter provides a more customizable and convenient way to look at all the assets in frame.io. Users can combine filters to see only the exact assets they want to. Secure sharing is a new feature, which is only in the beta version now. It provides users with a more secure sharing option. When sharing an asset, there is now a new “invite only” setting. When this option is selected, the sent link will only work as an invitation to the platform. To see the shared content, the person needs to first register to frame.io. This way, users can control who sees their shared asset. One more new feature for the Frame.io Adobe Premiere Pro app is the ability to download low-resolution proxy files. Frame.io automatically creates a low bitrate H.264 proxy file for every asset uploaded. Previously, it was only possible to download full-resolution files. This will help in situations when working in a remote location with a poor internet connection. Frame.io V.3.5 – new sharing options (still in beta only) Price and Availability Frame.io version 3.5 is already out and all existing users will get this update for free. Frame.io is an online subscription service that starts at $19 per month for a Pro membership and $49 for a Team plan. They also offer seven days trial version for free. What do you think of the new Frame.io 3.5 features? Do you use Frame.io for your team work? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

Premiere Pro CC, Avid Media Composer and Edius now have the capability to read and edit Blackmagic RAW 1.5 with the latest updates. Editors can now celebrate and download the latest free update to BRAW 1.5, which includes a plug ins that enables native editing in Premiere Pro and Avid Media Composer. Importing and editing the RAW footage is now possible in Edius, by updating to version v9.5. File transcoding is no longer required, which will increase the efficiency of the workflow. This also benefits the grading suite, as the metadata stored inside of the RAW files is passed through to DaVinci Resolve. Additional updates to Blackmagic RAW include the Speed Test, which tests the GPU and CPU against the different RAW constant bitrates, and how fast the processors can decode them. There are also minor bug fixes too The update is completely free, and you can download the latest BRAW 1.5 update via the Blackmagic website here.

Auto Reframe intelligently reframes your footage or sequence to social media aspect rations, coming soon to Adobe Premiere Pro. Ever had a client request 9:16 or 1:1 aspect ratio videos after you shot standard 16:9 landscape? Yep me too. In this latest update, if you are editing a vertical or square aspect ratio sequence that has 16:9 footage, the process of changing the aspect ratio is very simple. You can drag and drop the Auto Reframe tool onto clips in the timeline, and the tool will dynamically adjust the position and movement of the footage to keep the action in the centre of the frame. Keyframes can be adjusted to be slower, faster depending on the type of action in the video clip, or removed all together. Reframe Your Sequences For Social Media Formats   The process is even simpler with sequences, as the Auto Reframe tool can create a new sequence with the desired aspect ratio (square, vertical etc). The reframing will be applied to all the clips in the sequence, again keeping the most important content in the centre of the frame. For lots of action, the motion preset may need to be fast, or for slower movements or content the movement may be slow or static. As the movement is keyframed, it is very simple to adjust or remove the movement. Video clips and graphics are independently resized and moved for the different aspect ratios, meaning time isn’t wasted by then adjusting the position or keyframing of text or effects. This also reduces the time needed to edit for different social platforms too. Best of all, this tool is non-destructive; as an effect the tool can be turned on or off. The tool creates duplicate sequences, or you can choose to nest pre-edited clips too. Auto Reframe for Adobe Premiere Pro CC is coming soon (no details on release date yet), so we will keep you updated when the feature will be included in the next version of Premiere Pro CC. It will, however, be interesting to see how well Adobe Sensei functions to isolate the action and put what we see in the demonstration video to practice. Will the footage need to have high contrast, or only feature one piece of action for it to work? Have you been in a situation where Auto Reframe would have saved the day? Will you be updating Premiere Pro CC when Auto Reframe is included? Let us know in the comments.

ProRes RAW will be implemented as a standardised format across Premiere Pro CC, joining Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Edius. It’s a big week for RAW, and it has now been confirmed that Apple ProRes RAW will be supported by Adobe Premiere Pro CC, joining Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Edius (as of IBC 2019) as an industry wide standard. This news will be a relief for video producers and editors that have needed to switch editing platforms to be able to work with ProRes RAW. Adobe will be working on the integration of ProRes RAW into Premiere Pro CC, rather than using a plug in, like it is the case with Premiere support of Blackmagic RAW. There is no indication yet as to when the update from Premiere supporting ProRes RAW will become available though. We also don’t know yet whether only Premiere Pro CC on the Mac or also Windows will be supported. For Atomos device owners, this is fantastic news, as Jeromy Young (CEO, Atomos) says; This is a great day for creatives, a standard RAW video format is what we need to enable computer processing for creativity and we are proud to see ProRes RAW supported natively in Premiere Pro CC, Final Cut Pro X and Media Composer. There are lots of ongoing discussions between manufacturers surrounding whether RAW can be outputted from specific cameras. We have since found out that the Nikon Z6/Z7 and Panasonic S1H will be able to, will Canon’s and Sony’s future offerings follow suit too and allow RAW output? What do you think of this latest development in RAW support? Can you now edit ProRes RAW from your Atomos device in Premiere Pro CC or other NLE’s? Let us know in the comments.

MASV Panel integrates the MASV file transfer service right into Adobe’s Premiere Pro, while maintaining the same speed and reliability. This enables users to send full Premiere projects, project sequences, or files from the bin with a few clicks. It is possible to export sequences to Media Encoder, and then automatically send the output files without the need to wait for them to render. MASV Panel – integrating file transfers into Premiere Pro MASV is an online service for delivering huge files (in fact, unlimited file sizes) over the internet. It is based on a pay-per-transfer model, to be precise, pay-per-download at the moment. In May 2019, my colleague Olaf, a long-time MASV user, published his MASV 3 review. Make sure to check it if you are interested in such a service. MASV’s creators are expanding the service with new features quite often. Recently, they added Slack integration, new desktop apps, and the ability to extend the 10-day delivery limit. For more information about the update, please read this article. Within this article, I will take a look at the latest update, which has brought MASV Panel – the Adobe Premiere Pro integration with the MASV service. What exactly does MASV Panel offer? MASV Panel – Sending Huge Files Directly from Premiere Pro With MASV Panel for Adobe Premiere Pro you can send full Premiere projects, project sequences, or files from your bin with a few clicks. When sending project sequences, MASV Panel enables selecting any export preset, exporting the sequences to Media Encoder, and then automatically sending the output files without the need to wait for them to render. MASV Panel uses the same code base as the MASV desktop application, which provides highly reliable transfers. It is no problem to change wifi locations, put the computer in sleep mode in the middle of a transfer, or work while using an unreliable cafe network. MASV runs on Amazon Web Services, which – according to MASV’s creators – offers high security trusted by large companies. The transferred and stored data is encrypted and complies with GDPR privacy guidelines. Sending files with MASV Panel The MASV Panel comes as part of the MASV membership, for no additional cost. The membership itself is free – MASV charges you $0.25 per gigabyte of data downloaded. The standard availability timeframe of transfers is 10 days. To extend the availability, you can pay $0.10 per gigabyte per month. More information on pricing can be found here. Do you already use MASV? How do you like it? Did you ever need to send an entire Premiere Pro project to someone via the internet? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.