Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects Now Supports ProRes RAW

Ever since Apple announced ProRes RAW, filmmakers and editors alike have been waiting for non-linear editors outside of Final Cut Pro to support the format. Adobe has stepped up and released an update to Creative Cloud that brings ProRes RAW support to Premiere Pro and After Effects as well as Premiere Rush for both Windows and Mac. The latest version (14.2) also adds several new features to to all three programs, plus Audition and Character Animator. 

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ProRes RAW captures the maximum amount of data from the camera's sensor giving filmmakers more creative freedom in the color grade. Now that Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Rush supports it natively, creators can drag and drop ProRes RAW files directly to the timeline as they would other supported formats. Windows users will need to first install the Apple ProRes RAW for Windows plugin to enable playback enables of ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ video.

As for Blackmagic Design bringing it to DaVinci Resolve, that's a different story. No Film School interviewed a representative from Blackmagic in early 2019, and was told it would mostly likely be developed for the program. Since, no announcements have been made available. A work-around in DaVinci Resolve has been to transcode the 12-bit ProRes RAW file to ProRes 4444. 

In addition to ProRes RAW, Premiere Pro sees an improved pen tool that supports Bezier curves. The updated tool allows for free-flowing parametric curves to be created without needing to leave the non-liner editor for After Effects or Illustrator. 

On top of that, the Effects Control panel has a new filtering mode. If you've used keyframes on a clip in the Effects Control panel, you know how tight things can get. Adobe has added a filter button at the bottom of the panel. You can choose to show only keyframe properties or edited properties which should help clear the clutter. 

Adobe's Creative Cloud Library now supports audio. Prior, to the update, the asset platform only allowed you to organize logos, colors, and videos, but users can now share add, search, and share their favorite sound effects. 

Another improvement is the added support of GPU acceleration for NVIDIA and AMD hardware. The update adds encoding on Windows for H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) for its Quadro and GeForce graphics cards. NVIDIA says high resolution files can be exported up to 5 times faster than using only the CPU. GPU accelerated encoding will be supported by Media Encoder, After Effects, and Audition. 

In addition, Adobe also says Auto Reframe is faster. The Sensei powered AI tool automatically reformats video for different aspect ratios. So if you shot 16:9, but need a 1:1 export, try Auto Reframe before diving in by hand. 

After Effects users see see an updated Tapered Shape tool to design tapered, wavy, pointed or rounded strokes on shape layers. The feature adds animation tools for stylize looks or motion. The Concentric Shape Repeater tool adds new parameters to Offset Paths. Users can now make copies that are tilted inward or outward. Additionally, there Mask and Shape cursor indicators in After Effects to show which tool is being used. 

Concentric Shape Repeater tool

With the Creative Cloud update, macOS users see a new feature called automatic audio hardware switching. The option is found under hardware preferences and is labeled system default.

After selecting the option when changing audio devices, the Adobe application will automatically switch to the current hardware. The feature is currently only available for macOS, but found in After Effects, Media Encoder, Audition, Character Animator, Prelude, Premiere Pro, and Premiere Rush.

Premiere Rush can now automatically resize projects to the 4:5 aspect ratio. iOS users see two other new features. You can import media directly from the Premiere Rush media browser on iOS devices, and with back camera switching, Premiere Rush can capture video directly from the ultra wide, wide, or telephoto camera.

Adobe Creative Cloud 14.2 is available now. 

Is the addition of ProRes RAW something you were waiting for? Let us know in the comments below.