Premiere Pro CC 2019 Will Feature New Lumetri Curves, Essential Sound Repair, VR 180, Essential Graphics Upgrades, and more!

By Jason Cox

Have you been watching the calendar? If so, you probably realized it’s IBC week in Amsterdam, which means Adobe has taken the opportunity to preview the next major release of Premiere Pro! If the last few years are any indication, we will hopefully be able to get our hands on these new features in a few short weeks, likely coinciding with the upcoming Adobe MAX conference being held in Los Angeles, October 15-17. Here’s a rundown of the new features coming to Premiere Pro CC 2019.

This release of Adobe Premiere Pro CC - coming soon - offers faster performance, streamlined workflows for amazing motion graphics, powerful selective color grading tools, intelligent audio cleanup for noise and reverb removal, end-to-end 180 VR production, and more. —Adobe

All New Lumetri Color Curves

The Lumetri tools turn color and light into an integral part of editorial so you can refine your cuts and your color in the same creative workflow. New Selective Color Grading tools in Premiere Pro and After Effects - coming soon - take the guesswork out of curve adjustments. —Adobe

5 New Hue Saturation Curves

Adobe has finally shown some love to the attention-starved Lumetri Color panel. Adobe has unveiled what they’re calling “selective color grading” in Premiere Pro: five new color curves in the Lumetri Color panel. Editors and colorists will find the Curves tab upgraded with new Hue vs. Hue, Hue vs. Luma, Luma vs. Sat, and Sat vs. Sat curves.

Hue vs Sat: This control actually existed before in the form of a radial control, but will be converted to match the UI of the new curve controls. Hue vs Sat allows users to control the saturation of a certain range of colors. It’s an easy way to desaturate your whole image except one color.
Hue vs Hue: This is a wonderfully easy tool for shifting one hue range into another range. Shift the seasonal look of trees, change the color of someone’s shirt, turn someone’s skin blue! The sky is the limit.
Hue vs. Luma: Users can take a sample of a specific hue and adjust its brightness.
Luma vs Sat: Users can change the saturation level of a specific luma range.
Sat vs. Sat: Users can add or subtract saturation amounts to and from precise saturation values.

These curves give editors more granular color control than ever before in Premiere Pro. And they’re beautifully simple and intuitive. Each curve comes with an eyedropper to make color selection easy.

Stack Multiple Lumetri Color Effects

Adobe has added the ability to stack Lumetri Color effects within the Lumetri Color panel. Users will be able to add, rename, and clear Lumetri Color effects from a drop down menu at the top of the panel. This will make Lumetri Color workflows with the panel much more streamlined.

Enhancements to Essential Graphics and Motion Graphics Templates

Motion Graphics templates provide a comprehensive toolset for creating and managing imagery and brand identity in video content, combining polished graphics with efficient customization in editorial. New authoring tools in After Effects streamline production in Premiere Pro. —Adobe

New Authoring Tools for Motion Graphic Templates

First off, you’ll notice some subtle refinements to navigating the Essential Graphics panel. New authoring tools in After Effects will allow Motion Graphics templates to be more organized in Premiere Pro. Motion graphic designers will be able to group editable parameters into drop down lists to simplify the workflow for editors. Older Motion Graphics templates can also take advantage of the new authoring tools in After Effects.

Manage External Motion Graphics Templates in the Essential Graphics Panel

Users will be able to Manage Additional Folders of Motion Graphics templates directly in the Essential Graphics panel. This will give users more custom organization over their templates.

New Vector-Based Motion Parameter for Graphic Clips

Another addition is the new Vector Motion effect, which will be found on all graphic clips in the Effect Controls panel. Historically, when it comes to imported vector-based files (such as those from Illustrator), Premiere has always rasterized them. Premiere can now continuously rasterize text and shapes made inside of Premiere. Keyframe the scale under Vector Motion, and the graphic will stay crisp, regardless of size.

Change Fonts in Motion Graphic Templates

Lastly, one of the most requested upgrades is the ability to change fonts in Motion Graphics templates. Using new font controls, editors will be able to change template font properties and characteristics. That is, of course, if the template designer made the font editable.

Use Spreadsheets to Drive Motion Graphics Templates

Motion Graphics templates provide a comprehensive toolset for creating and managing imagery and brand identity in video content, combining polished graphics with efficient customization in editorial. —Adobe

The biggest new feature coming to the Essential Graphics panel is data-driven infographics. Editors can quickly turn spreadsheets into beautiful graphics using Motion Graphics templates created in After Effects. Drag and drop spreadsheets directly in the Essential Graphics panel and the visuals in the Motion Graphics templates will be updated automatically. Not comfortable working with spreadsheets? No worries! Users will be able to customize the selection of spreadsheet data directly in Premiere Pro.

New Audio Repair Effects

Instantly improve your audio by removing background noise or reverb. New Reduce Noise and Reduce Reverb sliders in the Essential Sound panel let you dial down background noise or reverb to improve recordings. Adaptive algorithms apply real-time adjustments based on the specific characteristics of each sound clip. Make audio easy with intelligent tools and take your video productions to the next level. —Adobe

Improved DeNoise Audio Effect

If you’ve ever been frustrated with Premiere Pro’s Adaptive Noise Reduction audio effect, you’re not alone. The “fwoom” delay (if you’ve used it, you know what we’re talking about) and it’s mediocre capabilities sometimes made the effect a disappointment. Well, rejoice! There is an all new DeNoise effect that gets the job done much better. It will significantly limit your reliance on Audition to clean up background noise.

All New DeReverb Audio Effect

Even with noise reduction and selective EQ adjustments, unwanted reverb can still ruin dialogue. Till now! The next release of Premiere Pro will have an all new DeReverb effect as well, designed to… well, remove reverb!

Both these audio cleanup effects rely on “adaptive algorithms” that analyze the characteristics of your audio. (We’re kind of surprised Adobe Sensei isn’t taking the credit.) Adobe claims these effects can yield results almost instantly. Use the Essential Sound panel to automatically DeNoise and DeReverb your audio using the sliders to find the sweet spot. Alternatively, you can manually apply these audio effects to audio clips in the Timeline and to tracks using the Audio Track Mixer.

VR180 Support and Immersive Environment Improvements

Support for VR180

Adobe will be adding support for the new and emerging VR180 format, designed to make immersive video a bit simpler to approach than full VR/360 video. While there are only a small handful of cameras on the market today that support 180 video, Adobe obviously hopes to see its adoption take off in the near future.

Adobe Immersive Environment Enhancements

Adobe hasn’t forgotten 360-degree video either. They’ve made improvements to the Adobe Immersive Environment, including better custom layout options like Theater Mode, a virtual reference monitor for screening your 2D or immersive content, and Spatial Markers that logging notes that can transfer between your VR headset and the Timeline.

New Spatial Markers let you review 180 and 360 footage more efficiently in the Adobe Immersive Environment. Place spatial markers on your media while in your headset for reference when you return to the desktop Timeline. —Adobe

Consolidate Duplicates

It’s finally here! We can finally remove duplicate references to media inside the Project panel.

If you’re someone who frequently imports sequences from one project into another, your dark days of duplicated media which couldn’t be removed are over! It may not be the sexiest feature in the next version of Premiere Pro, but editors and their assistants who care about project management will be thrilled!

Performance and Format Support

With CC 2019, we’ve got our annual list of newly supported formats, including growing MXF Op1b files generated by Grass Valley systems, ARRI Alexa LF footage, HEIF files (Mac Only), and an update to the latest RED 7.0.8 SDK.

Adobe has also made significant under-the-hood improvements to hardware-based encoding for H.264 and HEVC. The result is smoother performance and faster rendering. Lumetri Color performance is also improved.

More Details Coming Soon!

Check back here at Premiere Bro soon for a deeper look at all the nooks and crannies once CC 2019 is released. And stay tuned for a report on the ground at Adobe MAX next month!

What are your initial thoughts on Adobe’s IBC 2018 preview of Premiere Pro CC 2019? Which feature are you looking forward to the most? Let’s get our geek on in the comments! We’ll reply to everything!

Jason Cox

Jason has spent most of his life in and around the nation's capital. He currently teaches courses as an independent certified trainer of Adobe and Apple software, produces training courses for PluralSight, and is a freelance editor around D.C.. He’s presented at NAB, the Government Video Expo, and Pluralsight Live. In his spare time, Jason loves to drink chocolate milk, play old school video games, attend concerts, and travel near and far by train, plane, and motorcycle. Follow Jason on Twitter at @jasontcox and visit him on the web at www.somemightsaymedia.com.

Sep 13 Adobe Previews Premiere Pro CC 2019 at IBC

Premiere Pro CC 2019 Will Feature New Lumetri Curves, Essential Sound Repair, VR 180, Essential Graphics Upgrades, and more!