learning-curve-sa

[learning-curve-sa]

Reduce the burden of marking and get instant results with the Acrobat PDF Marking Tool

In the age of online teaching and learning, it has become commonplace to allow students to compile and submit written assessments of many kinds online. Most online learning management systems have great tools in place for marking multiple-choice assignments, but when it comes to written assignments, the options are limited.

The Acrobat PDF Marking Tool was first developed by Learning Curve over 10 years ago but with the challenges brought on by Covid-19, universities had to find a way to assess students in an abnormal environment. Now completely revamped and compatible with Microsoft365, the Acrobat PDF Marking Tool allows markers to use intuitive PDF annotations to mark assignments right on the page and be able to calculate and upload marks using an automated and repeatable process.

The decisive and time-saving tool, used by universities during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns, has now become standard practice at some institutions. From the University of Pretoria, Professor Theuns Steyn reports the EMS lecturers’ regard the tool as the new norm in marking.

PDF is the most secure portable document format available  and with ability to be used off-line by individual lecturers and designated markers, PDF’s can be marked at different locations without compromising security. Saving valuable lecture time, the Acrobat PDF Marking Tool is a versatile solution to many vexing issues in the online assessment arena.

The PDF Marking Tool adds that extra layer of security ensuring marks cannot be tampered with. Dr. Ben Kotze – Assistant Dean Teaching & Learning, Faculty of Engineering – Central University of Technology.

Some of the key features and benefits of the customisable Acrobat PDF Marking Tool include being able to place individualised comments on scripts assisting students with their learning process . Marks are added automatically saving time and eradicating the risk of human error and can even be automatically uploaded directly on to various Learner Management Systems. Used by several universities in South Africa the Acrobat PDF Marking Tool makes marking a breeze, on or off campus.

The Acrobat PDF Marking tool provides the marking flexibility required by teachers as well as the added layer of security that is a cornerstone of Adobe Acrobat DC.

To find out more about the adoption of the PDF Marking Tool at your institution, please contact us –

Cape Town (021) 790 4170 | JHB (011) 468 4575 | webquery@learningcurve.co.za

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-0{width:100% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-0 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 1.92%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 1.92%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-0{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-0 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-0{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-0 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-flex-container.fusion-builder-row-1{ padding-top : 20px;margin-top : 0px;padding-right : 20px;padding-bottom : 0px;margin-bottom : 0px;padding-left : 20px;}

The post Reduce the burden of marking and get instant results with the Acrobat PDF Marking Tool appeared first on Learning Curve.

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe Acrobat 2017 End of Life Draws Closer

Adobe Acrobat 2017 was released on June 6th, 2017 and in line with Adobe’s Support Lifecycle Policy, product support will cease on June 6th, 2022.

What does “end of support” mean and how does this affect users?

End of support means that Adobe will no longer provide technical support – including product and security updates for Acrobat 2017.

The easiest option is to stick with Adobe Acrobat 2017 – that’s the reason you purchased perpetual licenses, right? Not so fast…

This route is marred with a myriad of pitfalls, the biggest being the security risks. Continued usage after end of support puts your business at risk for serious disruptions related to security, compliance, and compatibility with future Microsoft releases. Without further product patches from Adobe, your data will be more vulnerable to viruses, hackers, and spyware.

“Running antivirus on an out-of-support system will not provide adequate protection against the latest threats” Tim Rains, Cybersecurity Executive

The Solution

Digital transformation has become a necessity for business success in today’s marketplace. Now more than ever, organisations need to keep remote teams productive, connected, and secure while minimising IT workloads and reducing costs. That’s where a subscription to Adobe Acrobat DC can help.

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-0{width:100% !important;margin-top : 0px;margin-bottom : 0px;}.fusion-builder-column-0 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 1.92%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 1.92%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-0{width:100% !important;}.fusion-builder-column-0 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-0{width:100% !important;}.fusion-builder-column-0 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-1{width:33.333333333333% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-1 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 5.76%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 5.76%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-1{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-1 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-1{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-1 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

Keep teams connected, productive, and secure. Give everyone access to the PDF files and tools they need—  when they need them—from desktop, web, and mobile.

Collaborate across locations and devices by sharing PDFs, collecting comments, and tracking progress in real time from anywhere.

Accelerate transactions by collecting legally binding e-signatures in minutes.

Send PDF files for digital review—anyone can view and comment on your file with no sign-ups or software required.

Turn paper documents into smart, searchable PDFs by snapping a picture with the Adobe Scan app.

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-2{width:66.666666666667% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-2 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 2.88%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 2.88%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-2{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-2 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-2{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-2 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-flex-container.fusion-builder-row-1{ padding-top : 20px;margin-top : 0px;padding-right : 20px;padding-bottom : 20px;margin-bottom : 0px;padding-left : 20px;}

Integrate with leading productivity  platforms. Add time-saving PDF tools to Microsoft 365, Google Drive, and  Box. With Acrobat DC, teams can:

Convert Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files to high-quality PDFs in Microsoft 365, or work with Microsoft 365 files in Acrobat DC.

View, create, organize, and combine PDFs in OneDrive or SharePoint.

Create, share, collaborate, and approve assets and agreements in Microsoft Teams to speed up content creation and document approvals.

View, create, organize, and export PDFs or send PDFs for signature inside Google Drive and Box.

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-3{width:66.666666666667% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-3 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 2.88%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 2.88%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-3{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-3 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-3{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-3 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-4{width:33.333333333333% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-4 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 5.76%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 5.76%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-4{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-4 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-4{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-4 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-flex-container.fusion-builder-row-2{ padding-top : 20px;margin-top : 0px;padding-right : 20px;padding-bottom : 20px;margin-bottom : 0px;padding-left : 20px;}

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-5{width:33.333333333333% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-5 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 5.76%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 5.76%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-5{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-5 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-5{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-5 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

Streamline software management and  increase security. Reduce the IT overhead associated with software management  and deployment, and ensure compliance across your organisation.

Easily assign, reassign, remove, and track Acrobat DC licenses  through the intuitive, web-based Adobe Admin Console.

Get ongoing access to the latest Acrobat new features and security updates to deploy on your own schedule.

Deploy Acrobat DC in virtual environments with named user support for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop, VMware Horizon, Microsoft App-V, and Windows Terminal Server (WTS).  • Authenticate users via single sign-on (SSO), and protect  intellectual property with a dedicated encryption key  (requires Acrobat DC for enterprise).

Take advantage of 24×7 advanced technical support and live chat sessions (requires Acrobat DC for enterprise).

Mitigate PDF-based attacks with multiple defenses and advanced security techniques, such as sandboxing, leak protection, and code sanitation.

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-6{width:66.666666666667% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-6 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 2.88%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 2.88%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-6{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-6 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-6{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-6 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-flex-container.fusion-builder-row-3{ padding-top : 20px;margin-top : 0px;padding-right : 20px;padding-bottom : 20px;margin-bottom : 0px;padding-left : 20px;}

Simplify purchasing and maximise savings. 

Acrobat DC is purchased through Adobe’s Value Incentive Plan  (VIP) buying program, which provides simple transactions,  flexible terms, and volume discounts.

Make software budgeting more predictable with an annual  plan, or maximise savings with a three-year commitment.

Shift your software spending from a capital expense to an  operating expense.

Save more with VIP Select by purchasing 10 or more  licenses and locking in your discount level for all purchases  throughout your subscription term.

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-7{width:66.666666666667% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-7 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 2.88%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 2.88%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-7{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-7 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-7{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-7 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-8{width:33.333333333333% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-8 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 5.76%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 5.76%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-8{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-8 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-8{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-8 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-flex-container.fusion-builder-row-4{ padding-top : 20px;margin-top : 0px;padding-right : 20px;padding-bottom : 20px;margin-bottom : 0px;padding-left : 20px;}

Acrobat Acrobat DC subscription gives you so much more than the latest desktop software. Designed for today’s multi-device world Adobe Acrobat DC is the global standard for creating, scanning, editing, signing, protecting and managing PDFs.

Ready for worry-free workflows? Upgrade today and keep your business moving forward with Adobe Acrobat DC. 

Contact us today to find out more.

.fusion-button.button-1{border-radius:5px 5px 5px 5px;}Contact Us

.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-9{width:100% !important;margin-top : 10px;margin-bottom : 20px;}.fusion-builder-column-9 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 1.92%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 1.92%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-9{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-9 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-9{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-9 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}

.fusion-body .fusion-flex-container.fusion-builder-row-5{ padding-top : 20px;margin-top : 0px;padding-right : 20px;padding-bottom : 20px;margin-bottom : 0px;padding-left : 20px;}

The post Adobe Acrobat 2017 End of Life Draws Closer appeared first on Learning Curve.

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe Stock For Teams – 5 Reasons You Should Grab It Today

Adobe Stock is undoubtedly the leading marketplace for creatives. It’s advanced search feature and seamless integration with Creative Cloud are just two of many reasons Adobe Stock for teams is incredibly valuable to customers of all sizes.

Here are 5 excellent reasons to choose Adobe Stock for Teams:

Comprehensive Marketplace With 200,000+ fresh images added daily from 700,000+ contributors around the world, Adobe Stock offers the most diverse collection of local imagery.

Integrated workflows Adobe Stock offers deep, native integration with Creative Cloud apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign with no need to install or manage plug-ins. Adobe Stock also integrates with Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides.

Advanced search functionality Adobe Stock uses Adobe Sensei machine learning technology to dramatically improve the relevance of your search results. You’ll find exactly what you need, faster than ever.

Worry-free licensing and management Creative Cloud for teams administrators can easily add or remove members from a single Adobe Stock teams plan without worrying about shared login credentials or lost passwords. Shared licenses amongst the team and Creative Cloud Libraries allow teams to collaborate effectively.

Trusted service provider Adobe Stock is made by the same company that brings you Creative Cloud, so you can count on unmatched integration with the world’s best creative apps as well as unparalleled workflow efficiency.

Adobe offers a comprehensive mix of Individual, Teams, and Enterprise plans to serve your business’s needs. To find out which Adobe Stock for Teams plan is right for your organisation, take a look at the table below.

To discover more about how Adobe Creative Cloud for Teams, visit https://learningcurve.co.za/commercial/

[learning-curve-sa]

Integrating Creative Problem Solving in Education

Numerous studies, including ones from the US Department of Education, World Economic Forum, and Bloomberg indicate that tomorrow’s jobs will demand “creative problem solving skills.” But what exactly are creative problem solving skills? And are they being taught effectively to the next generation who will face competition for jobs from automation? How do educators bridge the skills gap to ensure our students are ready for careers that don’t even exist yet?

Globally, educators believe that students need to develop skills to protect their futures, as the professions that require creative problem solving are less likely to be impacted by automation. However, it isn’t just job-protection where creative problem solving makes a difference. Almost 90 percent of respondents surveyed believe students who excel at creative problem solving will have higher-earning job opportunities in the future, and 85 percent agreed that these same skills are in high demand by today’s employers for senior-level and higher-paying careers.

In partnership, Learning Curve and Adobe are committed to supporting educators who are wanting to teach creative problem solving, getting technology into the hands of schools and students, and inspiring young people to create. While technology alone is not the answer, it plays a key role. Adobe’s newest generation of apps have been developed specifically with students and teachers in mind. From storytelling tools like Adobe Spark to powerful video editing with Adobe Rush, the experience empowers students of all grades to create high quality visuals and presentations in minutes! Integrate creative problem solving into your classroom – today.

Take one of over 20 free collaborative courses, taught by educators for educators, to learn how to integrate digital media and creative problem solving into your curriculum.

Become an Adobe Creative Educator by joining the Creative Educator program for educators in every subject area and grade level. You will receive curated professional development materials and information about events and the opportunity to connect with like-minded educators from around the world. To recognise your professional development you’ll earn badges for completing each level of the program.

Discover Khan Create – Adobe educators extend Khan Academy and Pixar in a Box lessons with engaging, creative activities for students of all ages.

To deliver better access to the tools that will help educators teach these skills and to honour our commitment to the digital journey in education, Learning Curve are exclusively offering the following:

Creative Cloud Subscription - R399!

Exclusive access to the entire Creative Cloud Suite for just R399* per user, per year with no minimum purchase required. This offer is available to all educators and scholars from Grade 0 to 12. Licenses are available for individual purchase through our online store. For bulk purchase, please contact us directly.

Buy Now!

Free Access to Adobe Spark!

FREE access to Adobe Spark for your entire institution. Whether for a few members of staff or the entire institution, Learning Curve will get you up and running so educators and scholars can create graphics, web pages and short videos in minutes! Full introduction training available as well as lesson plans developed in line with South African CAPS curriculum.

Contact us to activate!

To find out more, please feel free to contact our Adobe Educational Specialist, Gerda Bessinger – gerda@learningcurve.co.za or email students@learningcurve.co.za 

  *Proof of employment / enrolment at educational institution must be provided at the time of purchase.

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe Lightroom Speeds Things Up

Adobe Announces The Update to the Lightroom Ecosystem We’ve Been Waiting For!

Today, Adobe announced updates to the Lightroom ecosystem, including GPU-accelerated editing in Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw, providing a smoother and more responsive experience. Finally! (And hopefully) the update we’ve been waiting for since long before the Creative Cloud subscription service came into play. If this works as well as i’m hoping, I’ll officially stop complaining as much as I have been! (trust me, anyone who has to work in close proximity knows my woes with LR processing speeds). In Adobe’s official August Photography Update the details say they’ve focused on “Performance and improving your workflow” adding several minor improvements and additions listed below. At the time of this write up and release, we’ve not been able to get hands on directly with the application so we can’t confirm these improvements yet, but believe me, I’ll be downloading and running tests on this as soon as it’s available and will update accordingly! I’ll time a random batch edit and export tonight to compare it to the updated version once it’s live. This update is supposed to enhance your workflow by finally taking advantage or GPU acceleration, allowing Lightroom to leverage your video cards while editing, giving you a “smoother and more responsive experience.” According to the blog post, the performance enhancements will be most noticeable if you’re using…Read more

Adobe promises faster Lightroom photo editing thanks to GPU chip

PC graphics processors are being put to new use in the latest release of Lightroom Classic.

Lightroom Classic lets photographers edit and catalog photos. Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET Adobe's Lightroom, long dogged by complaints it's grown sluggish at editing and organizing photos, got a performance boost Tuesday by tapping into the processing power of the graphics chip in Windows and Mac computers. The August release of Lightroom Classic should speed up editing and make the software more responsive in general, said Josh Haftel, principal product manager at Adobe, in a blog post. The benefits will be more pronounced on high-resolution monitors and with fast graphics chips, he said, but didn't quantify the improvement. Lightroom can handle common photo formats like JPEG, but it's best suited for people who tap into higher-end cameras' ability to shoot in raw photo formats. Those preserve more details, color and dynamic range, but require you to put in some work making them into a presentable, shareable form. And it's a lot of work for computers to handle those raw photos, too, so performance boosts are crucial. Lightroom had used the GPU earlier, so what's new this time? Here's what Haftel told me: The most recent improvements to GPU acceleration are targeted at improving the performance while editing. That means the improvements will be seen while moving the editing sliders. We're working on improving the GPU acceleration for rendering images, such as on export. No timeline can be shared at this time. He also said Adobe is working to bring more GPU acceleration to other versions of Lightroom besides Classic. For details on using it, check Adobe’s instructions on enabling Lightroom GPU acceleration. Adobe has several Lightroom incarnations: the full-featured Lightroom Classic, which is the renamed version of the original software for Macs and Windows machines; Lightroom, which also works on PCs, relies on cloud-based photo storage and lacks some Classic features; the related Lightroom for the web; and mobile versions for Android and iOS phones and tablets….Read more

Lightroom will finally become faster as Adobe announces GPU-accelerated editing

If there’s one thing most Lightroom users agree about, it’s that the program could use a speed boost. In its latest announcement, Adobe introduces GPU-accelerated editing in Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw. It should make the editing process smoother and make the programs faster and more responsive. Adobe announced the upcoming improvements on its blog. There are several new features coming in the latest update, but the GPU-accelerated editing is certainly the most interesting one. Adobe writes that this feature lets Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw provide a “smoother and more responsive experience.” As I mentioned, there are a few other improvements to Lightroom ecosystem. They allow you to:

Batch merge for HDR and panoramas (Lightroom Classic).

Download edits found on Discover posts as presets by tapping on the three-dot menu at the top of each post, afterward head to your preset library to start applying them to your images (Lightroom for mobile, iOS and Android).

Recover deleted photos on the device you’re using (free users) and any devices connected to your account (premium subscriptions) (Lightroom Ecosystem).

Use color labels to organize your collections, collection sets and smart collections (Lightroom Classic).

Export your photos as PNGs (Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw)…Read more

Adobe Announces Numerous New Features for Lightroom Including Deleted Photo Recovery, Presets From Discover, More

Adobe today announced numerous new features for Lightroom Classic, Camera Raw, Lightroom for Mac and Windows, Lightroom for iOS, and Lightroom for Android. Here's a brief overview of what's new: Improvements to Lightroom Classic & ACR ● GPU Accelerated Editing (Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw) Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw take advantage of the more powerful graphics cards (GPUs) while editing, providing a smoother and more responsive experience. GPU acceleration is more pronounced with larger resolution monitors (4k and above) as well as with more powerful GPUs. ● PNG export support (Lightroom Classic and Camera Raw) The PNG file format is a popular uncompressed file format often used on the web. Lightroom and Camera Raw have supported importing and opening PNG-based files for some time, and now you can export your photos as PNGs. ● Library Module Improvements (Lightroom Classic) As part of our on-going effort to improve speed and performance in Lightroom Classic, significant improvements were made to the Library module while browsing folders. ● Color Labels for Collections (Lightroom Classic) Color labels have long been used in Lightroom Classic as a way to quickly visualize different groups of photos and recently we made it possible to add color labels to folders. In this update, we added the ability to also add color labels to Collections. Find what you’re looking for faster by adding color labels to collections, collection sets, and smart collections. ● Batch Merge for HDR, Panoramas, and HDR Panoramas (Lightroom Classic) Batch processing is a great way to speed up your workflow by helping you gang up processor-intensive efforts and letting your computer do the heavy lifting without having to wait for each task to be done. The August release of Lightroom Classic makes it possible to batch process HDR and panorama merges. To batch merge, first make a stack of each HDR or pano that you want to merge (make sure that you’re selecting like stacks, all HDR or all pano merges, without mixing up the two types). Then, select each stack you want to merge and select the appropriate option from the Photo > Photo Merge menu. New Features Throughout the Lightroom Ecosystem ● Recover Deleted Photos (Lightroom for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, and lightroom.adobe.com) A new Deleted folder is now available in all Lightroom apps, making it possible to recover photos that were accidentally deleted for up to 60 days. If you’re using a free version of Lightroom, you can recover your photos on the device on which they were deleted. If you’re a Creative Cloud member or have a Premium subscription, you can recover deleted photos on any device connected to your account. ● Create Presets From Discover Posts (Lightroom for iOS, Android, and ChromeOS) Discover posts were introduced in the May 2019 release and allow you to see the edit process applied to a photo. Now you can turn those edits into a preset that you can apply to any of your photos. Tap to open a Discover post and then tap on the three-dot menu at the top-right and select Download as Preset. You’ll be able to find that new preset named after the Discover post within your preset library. ● Improved Search Options (Lightroom for iOS, Android, and ChromeOS) Three new auto-complete search tools were added to Lightroom for iOS, Android, and ChromeOS (these tools were already available in Lightroom for Windows and Mac) making it easier than ever to find the exact photo you’re looking for. You can now search for photos shot with a specific focal length, for raw, HDR, or pano photo types, and… Read more

Adobe updates Camera Raw and Lightroom, adding GPU acceleration

Adobe has released a slew of updates to Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic, all focused on improving performance and workflow.

Image Credit: Adobe Creative suite developer Adobe has rolled out several improvements to Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic, their desktop-centric photography programs. The updates add new functionality and overall improvement to'performance. Both Lightroom and Camera Raw now feature GPU Accelerated Editing, giving users the ability to utilize more powerful graphic cards to provide a smoother and more responsive experience. The better the GPU, the better the experience, and the effects will be most noticeable on monitors that feature a 4K resolution or higher. Perhaps one of the most requested additions —the ability to export images as PNG files —has been added to both Camera Raw and Lightroom. While both apps have been able to open and edit PNG-based files, users have had to export as JPEGs, PSDs, TIFFs, and DNGs. Now users can utilize the popular, uncompressed PNG file format. Image Credit: Adobe Lightroom classic sees significant improvements in the library module while browsing folders, and users can now assign color labels to groups of photos. This gives users the ability to tell what photos are in a specific group at a glance. Color labels can be applied to collections, collection sets, and…Read more

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/adobe-lightroom-speeds-things-up/

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe Just added Video Speed Adjustment To The Adobe Premiere Rush App

Image Credit: Adobe

Adobe Premiere Rush supercharges video speed adjustment

Adobe Premiere Rush, Adobe’s cross-platform video editor for smartphones, tablets, and PCs, arrived on select Android devices in May following a broad launch last year on PC, Mac, and iOS. Now, Adobe is beefing up Rush with a new feature that enables users to manipulate the speed of videos and add ramps while maintaining pitch. The speed adjustment controls in Rush version 1.2 live in the speed panel (under the subheader Range Speed) and display speed as a percentage, where 100% is real time and values below or above the baseline are in slow and fast motion, respectively. You’re able to enter a specific value or use a slider, and optionally enable the Maintain Pitch option to preserve the original pitch of audio at any speed. (Normally, speeding up footage raises the audio’s pitch, while slowing it down lowers it.) The feature niftily lets you adjust speed within portions of clips as opposed to whole scenes. Creating these portions is as easy as dragging the blue handles on the target clip in the timeline or in the speed panel; as the handles are dragged, Rush displays particular frames where the changes take full effect. Speed adjustment in Adobe Premiere Rush Image Credit: Adobe As for ramping, which refers to the progressive speeding up or slowing down in or out of a speed range, they’re set to 0.5 seconds by default, but can be adjusted to any value. As Adobe notes, they help smooth out speed changes that might otherwise seem jarring. Lastly, the updated Rush lets you manually set a clip’s duration, after which it automatically adjusts the clip’s speed to the appropriate value. Among Adobe Rush’s other core features are integrated color, audio, and motion graphics tools and one-click publishing to social media sites like Facebook and YouTube, with support for native YouTube features like video scheduling and thumbnail selection. Also on tap is auto-ducking, which leverages the power of Adobe Sensei — Adobe’s machine learning framework — to automatically generate clip volume keyframes from music to reduce the volume when dialogue, sound effects, and other audio elements are present...Read more

Adobe's Premiere Rush version 1.2 adds speed adjustments

Adobe's Premiere Rush latest update brings its highest requested feature—speed adjustments—to its mobile video editor. When Adobe's cross-platform editing app Premiere Rush launched last year, I was excited for the tools it provided and also for the opportunities it gave beginner content creators since its so simple and easy to use from a mobile device. However, the first iteration did lack a few features. Figure A Recently, Premiere Rush got a new update. One of the most requested feature—speed adjustments—was added to Premiere Rush version 1.2. Speed up and slow down With Premiere Rush version 1.2 users can now adjust the playback speed of their video footage to truly immerse viewers into a scene. You can use speed to show extended time periods in a few moments or conversely, slow footage down to draw your viewers in for peak interest (Figure A). Premiere Rush version 1.2 makes this easy to achieve for any video creator. The interface of Premiere Rush version 1.2 is touch friendly on the desktop version, and this translates well with mobile devices. The speed option is clearly visible on the menu and uses toggles, sliders, and handles to help you dial in your speed settings...Read more

Adobe Premiere Rush Gets New Speed Panel

Adobe has added professional-style speed controls to its mobile Premiere Rush CC video editing app, making it much more useful for YouTubers and other creators on the go. You can do simple speed changes much like in the main Premiere Pro CC app by either stretching/shrinking clips or entering a specific speed percentage. You can also create speed ranges within a section of your clip, starting it in fast motion and finishing in super slow-mo, for instance. If you need even more granular control, Adobe said that Premiere Rush CC is the first mobile video editing app with speed ramping, though Muvee might beg to differ. In any case, that feature (shown above) will let you progressively change the speed of a clip from fast to slow or vice-versa, Matrix style, without a lot of hassle....Read more

Adobe Premiere Rush Gets New Speed Panel

Adobe added a new Speed panel to Premiere Rush, giving users the ability to slow down or speed up footage and adjust speed ramps with the option of  maintaining audio pitch. Adobe Premiere Rush Adobe Speed can be controlled by tapping a button at the bottom of the screen to open the Speed panel. Once opened, the panel displays a “Range Speed” percentage that can be adjusted on a slider to speed up or slow down a given section of footage. (A speed percentage can also be typed in as a specific value.) The range that the new speed applies to can be adjusted by dragging handles on a clip in the timeline or in the speed panel with “Range” selected. Speed ramps — which progressively speed up or slow down in or out of the selected range, easing the transition from normal to off-speed footage — can be turned on and off. While speed ramps default to a half-second, they can be adjusted to any length. Rush also allows users to simply set a desired duration for a given clip and let the program adjust the clip’s speed to fit in the specified time. Adobe says this comes in handy for creating time-lapses...Read more  

Adobe Adds Speed Controls to Premiere Rush Video Editor

Adobe's prosumer video editor, Premiere Rush, gets an upgrade today that includes its most-requested feature. Version 1.2 of the editor—which runs on iOS and Android devices, as well as desktops—includes the ability to speed up or slow down clips or parts of clips. Using the feature, editors will see a clip's speed marked as a percentage where 100% is real-time. Dropping that percent down slows the clip and raising it speeds the clip up. To make speed effects less jarring, editors can ramp into the new speed and then ramp out of it. Adobe notes Rush is the first mobile video editing app that includes ramping on speed changes. One handy feature in the speed controls is the ability to set the duration of the altered clip, then let the program calculate the new speed value. This makes it easy to create time lapse videos from longer clips. The video at the bottom of this page shows how the feature can be used to create a time lapse. Rush will maintain the audio pitch of a time-adjusted clip by default, although that can be turned off. Speed changes made in Premiere Rush will carry over if the project is opened in Premiere Pro…Read more

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/adobe-just-added-video-speed-adjustment-to-the-adobe-premiere-rush-app/

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe Lightroom is Available from the Mac App Store

Adobe Lightroom is now on the Mac App Store

The first major Adobe app has arrived on the Mac App Store. The first major Adobe app to be available on the Mac App Store has finally arrived. Adobe Lightroom, one of the apps in its Creative Cloud suite, is now available for download. It was one of the applications Apple promised would be available through its platform when it introduced the newly redesigned Mac App Store, along with Office 365 and Live Studio from Snap Inc. Microsoft's office application suite made its way to the store earlier this year, marking the first time Apple has offered a bundle of software on Mac's application marketplace. To be clear, Adobe already offers other products on the platform, but they're lighter versions of its major applications -- like Photoshop Elements instead of the full-feature Photoshop...Read more

Adobe brings Lightroom to the Mac App Store

Adobe has brought Lightroom, its flagship photo editing and management app, to the Mac App Store a year after Apple announced its big revamp coinciding with the release of macOS Mojave. The move is Adobe's first major app to make the leap. Adobe's Lightroom joins Microsoft's Office 365, Panic's Transmit, and Bare Bones Software's BBEdit as major Mac apps now available from the largest catalog of Mac apps in the world. While major developers were quick to embrace the iOS App Store, many Mac developers hesitated to put their work on the Mac App Store because they already had other options for selling their work. Additionally, Apple imposed some restrictions for apps sold on its official App Store that were similar to iOS, but entirely new to the more openly permissive software model that has long existed for Macs. Apple has made some adjustments to accommodate Mac developers' needs, and last year also gave its Mac App Store the same overhaul that it brought to iOS 11 two years ago. The revamped App Store in macOS Mojave, just like iOS 11's a year earlier, focuses on editorially curated content, with regular "App of the Day" and "Game of the Day" sections as well as lists, how-tos, developer interviews and feature pieces highlighting third-party developer's work. Apple opens the aperture for Lightroom Another enticement for Adobe bringing Lightroom to the Mac App Store: Apple's own Aperture is now going away, with last year's Mojave being the last version of macOS capable of running the aging app. Apple first launched Aperture back in 2005 as a professional version of iPhoto. Aperture was initially viewed as Apple taking on Photoshop, but the new title was really aimed at managing photographic workflows rather than comprehensive photo editing. Adobe was quick to react, however, launching its own beta of Lightroom just weeks after its launch. After competing for several years, Apple essentially put Aperture into maintenance mode in 2014 and last version of macOS capable of running its aging, 32-bit Aperture software. The title hasn't been listed on the Mac App Store since 2015. Lightroom for pros in the Mac App Store Emphasizing its professional audience, Adobe commonly refers to the title as "Photoshop Lightroom." The app is a free download from the Mac App Store and comes with a free one-week trial…Read more

Adobe endorses Apple Mac App Store with Lightroom release

The photo editing software is the first Adobe product to arrive in Apple's online store. Stephen Shankland/CNET The Mac App Store has received significant criticism, but Apple's efforts to improve it apparently have paid off, as Adobe started using the store to sell its Lightroom software for the first time on Thursday. The photo-editing and cataloging software, geared for photo enthusiasts and pros who want something richer than Google Photos or Apple Photos, costs the same as outside the Mac App Store: $10 per month, including the software and 1TB of online storage. "With the redesign of the Mac App Store, it was the perfect time to set this in motion and make Lightroom the first Adobe app to be available on the MAS," Sharad Mangalick, Lightroom principal product manager, said in a statement. "We've been working closely with Apple to bring Lightroom to leverage the new MAS." On iPhones and iPads, the App Store is the only way you can download software, and plenty of Adobe apps are available there. But on Macs, you can also download apps directly from the software maker. By bypassing the Mac App Store, developers can sidestep some security-minded restrictions, Apple approval processes and the 30% fee Apple charges. Plenty of software is available through the Mac App Store, though, which can be familiar to iPhone users, bring buyers some assurances that software can be trusted, and offer sellers benefits when it comes to software discovery, distribution and payments. Apple scored one notable victory when Microsoft released Office 365 on the Mac App Store in January. Adobe offers Lightroom in the Mac App Store with a seven-day free trial. "Once your free trial ends, the recurring monthly payment is automatically charged to your iTunes account," Adobe says on the Lightroom Mac App Store listing. If you want to cancel, you have to do so at least 24 hours before the beginning of a new monthly billing cycle. It's a 603MB download. Adobe's Lightroom software, now available in the Mac App Store, is designed for editing and cataloging photos and costs $10 per month. Apple One app that isn't available through the Mac App Store, though, is Adobe's Lightroom Classic, a version with a longer lineage and a richer feature set. For now at least, the newer Lightroom, until recently called Lightroom CC, is the only option. "Lightroom is better suited architecturally to operate within the structure of the Mac App Store," Mangalick said of Lightroom Classic's absence. "We can't go into specifics, but it is related to sandboxing and how Lightroom and Lightroom Classic differ in approaching photo organization." Sandboxing is a security precaution that reins in potentially badly behaving apps, but it also limits the power of legitimate apps…Read more

Adobe Lightroom returns to the Mac App Store

The first pro Adobe app in Apple’s redesigned store. Adobe has made Lightroom, its pro photo editing and management tool, available on the Mac App Store. It’s the first pro Adobe app to make it to the App Store since Apple redesigned it with Mojave, last year’s version of macOS. The Mac App Store version of Lightroom is the “new” Lightroom formerly known as Lightroom CC, which syncs with complementary mobile and tablet apps and has a different UI to what is now called Lightroom Classic. It’s free to download and use for a week, then it’ll require…Read more

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/adobe-lightroom-available-mac-app-store/

[learning-curve-sa]

Create Anytime, Anywhere with Adobe Fresco

Adobe Fresco brings painting to the iPad

Do you like to be creative on your iPad? Adobe brings Fresco to Creative Cloud, so you can paint wherever you want. Adobe has a wide range of professional tools available via Creative Cloud. As a (professional) photographer you can, for example, get started with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. However, many creative people do not stick to a single hobby and for them there is now added Adobe Fresco , previously known as Project Gemini.

So anyone who likes to paint a portrait instead of taking a photo can work with Adobe Fresco later this year. That has got its name from an age-old Italian painting technique. It is not known when the app will be available correctly, but we do know that the private beta test is currently available. Adobe thus comes up with its own alternative to popular apps such as Procreate…Read more

Upcoming free app for the Apple iPad might turn you into the next Michelangelo

Adobe announced today that its drawing and painting app for the iPad originally called "Project Gemini," will be known as Adobe Fresco when it launches later this year. Fresco is an old technique used for hundreds of years that involves painting on wet plaster. It requires the artist to complete the painting before the plaster dries. That type of "spontaneous creativity" is at the center of Adobe Fresco. The app will first be available for iPads with Apple Pencil support, which means that users can unleash their creativity wherever they are. Eventually, Fresco will be offered for other stylus supporting touchscreen devices. The app uses Adobe's AI-based Sensei platform for the Live Brushes feature. This allows users to "paint" on the app using watercolors and oils and experience the same response as a painter would in real life. Adobe says that those using the app can even paint with virtual water to dilute colors. The company has gone to the trouble of determining how certain paint pigments interact on different types of surfaces and has recreated these experiences for the Adobe Fresco app. Brushes used in Photoshop can also be employed in Adobe Fresco and users have access to digital brushes from artist and digital brush creator Kyle Webster. The app is equipped with vector brushes to allow the artist to "create clean, crisp, and infinitely scaleable lines and shapes." And users will be able to create their own brushes thanks to Adobe Capture.

 "Drawing is fundamental to developing creative literacy. It is most people’s first connection to creativity, and every great painting, sculpture, film, or building began with a drawing. And today, more than ever, it’s essential for everyone to develop creative literacy. As artificial intelligence takes over more and more repetitive and mundane tasks, creativity is the unique human quality that sets each of us apart and helps us succeed.

Connecting brain and hand through drawing unlocks creative magic. To forge that connection, a digital generation needs a digital tool, which is why we’re developing a powerful and sophisticated drawing and painting application."-Adobe While Fresco will have professional features like layers, masking, and selection, Adobe points out that the app has what it calls a "streamlined" interface that even children can use. And Fresco users will be able to move their project between the app and Photoshop seamlessly. The art can also be exported to PDF where it can be edited using Adobe Illustrator. Read more

Adobe’s upcoming iPad painting app is named Adobe Fresco

"Adobe scientists have studied the chemistry of common real-world pigments like cobalt and ochre. They've looked at the physics of how watercolors are absorbed into thick, cotton-based paper. And they've examined the ways that a thick slash of oil paint dries to add dimension to a painting," wrote Scott Belsky, Creative Cloud executive vice president…

 “Adobe scientists dangle studied the chemistry of classic accurate-world pigments be pleased cobalt and ochre. They’ve regarded on the physics of how watercolors are absorbed into thick, cotton-basically based paper. They assuredly’ve examined the ways that a thick reduce of oil paint dries so that you simply can add dimension to a painting,” wrote Scott Belsky, Ingenious Cloud govt vp in a weblog post. To that halt, Adobe Fresco will encompass a original characteristic called Are residing Brushes which mimic how accurate watercolor and oil paints behave on a canvas. Reckoning on the instruments primitive, colours can bleed into every diversified or be applied in neat, crisp, radiant strokes. To boot to having access to brushes from Photoshop, artists can dangle derive admission to to thousands of brushes created by digital brush maker Kyle Webster. Fresco is anticipated to be Adobe’s acknowledge to Procreate and diversified rival iPad apps. Recordsdata automatically keep on Ingenious Cloud, giving artists a replace for iOS’s file management system or Dropbox. Being cloud-basically based further expands the Fresco’s skill and permits artists to manufacture on-the-plug...Read more

https://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/create-anytime-anywhere-adobe-fresco/

[learning-curve-sa]

New AI Takes the Phony Out of Photoshop

New Technology Can Detect Photoshopped Fakes, Even Reveal the Original Images

Photoshop is arguably the most powerful tool at a photographer's disposal. And like many powerful tools, it can be used for either good or harm. The good news is that technology has recently been developed to counter nefarious and sneaky image manipulations. Adobe and the University of California Berkeley have teamed up to develop new software that detects facial manipulations that have been implemented on images by Photoshop's Face Aware Liquify tool. In a study, both humans and AI and computers were tested on their ability to detect altered facial features. Not surprisingly, AI was the overwhelming winner. But what is surprising is that AI not only could detect the facial "fakes" with 99% accuracy, it could even revert those images to their original state.

In the age of Photoshop and of facial manipulation apps, the lines between reality and fantasy have become blurred. Photographers have been caught and ousted for cheating on contests with composites, while photojournalists have been reprimanded for manipulating seemingly accurate images. And rightfully so…Read more

This neural network detects whether faces have been Photoshopped

Using Photoshop and other image manipulation software to tweak faces in photos has become common practice, but it’s not always made clear when it’s been done. Berkeley and Adobe researchers have created a tool that not only can tell when a face has been Photoshopped, but can suggest how to undo it. Right off the bat it must be noted that this project applies only to Photoshop manipulations, and in particular those made with the “Face Aware Liquify” feature, which allows for both subtle and major adjustments to many facial features. A universal detection tool is a long way off, but this is a start. The researchers (among them Alexei Efros, who just appeared at our AI+Robotics event) began from the assumption that a great deal of image manipulation is performed with popular tools like Adobe’s, and as such a good place to start would be looking specifically at the manipulations possible in those tools. They set up a script to take portrait photos and manipulate them slightly in various ways: move the eyes a bit and emphasize the smile, narrow the cheeks and nose, things like that. They then fed the originals and warped versions to the machine learning model en masse, with the hopes that it would learn to tell them apart. Learn it did, and quite well. When humans were presented with images and asked which had been manipulated, they performed only slightly better than chance. But the trained neural network identified the manipulated images 99 percent of the time. What is it seeing? Probably tiny patterns in the optical flow of the image that humans can’t really perceive. And those same little patterns also suggest to it what exact manipulations have been made, letting it suggest an “undo” of the manipulations even having never seen the original. Since it’s limited to just faces tweaked by this Photoshop tool, don’t expect this research to form any significant barrier against the forces of evil lawlessly tweaking faces left and right out there. But this is just one of many small starts in the growing field of digital forensics. “We live in a world where it’s becoming harder to trust the digital information we consume,” said Adobe’s Richard Zhang, who worked on the project, “and I look forward to further exploring this area of research.”…Read More

Love Photoshop? This AI Can Detect If Photos Are Edited

In a world where technology is often used to manipulate photos to make them appear real, it sometimes is difficult to determine if a photo is edited or not -- but not for long as a team of researchers from Adobe and UC Berkeley have developed an AI to do just that. In a new paper titled “Detecting Photoshopped Faces by Scripting Photoshop,” the researchers Sheng-Yu Wang, Oliver Wang, Andrew Owens, Richard Zhang and Alexei A. Efros said they were able to create a new AI that is capable of detecting images that were edited or warped using Photoshop. Warped images like these are meant for fun. Some edited images, however, are meant to mislead. (Photo: Pixabay/composita) How they did it The team explained that they were able to create the AI by scripting Photoshop, and by feeding the AI fake images until it was able to detect the fake from the real photos. PetaPixel reported that the researchers used thousands of photos scraped from the internet. These photos were either edited automatically using a Photoshop script, or edited by a human artist. They then compared the number of successful photoshopped image detections both people and the AI can do. “We started by showing image pairs (an original and an alteration) to people who knew that one of the faces was altered,” said researcher Oliver Wang. “For this approach to be useful, should be able to perform significantly better than the human eye at identifying edited faces.” It works! The researchers proudly said that the AI is better than people at detecting edited from non-edited images. Humans were able to identify edited photos about slightly more than half of the time (53 percent). The AI, on the other hand, successfully detected edited images almost all of the time (99 percent). More than just knowing if an image is photoshopped, the AI is also capable of determining what part of the image was edited or warped, and is also capable of “undoing” the edit to return the image to how it originally looked like...Read More

Adobe and UC Berkeley Show Off AI-Based Photoshop Detection Software That Reveals and Reverses Edits in Photos

Kendrick Lamar isn’t the only person that wants us to be “Humble” on Instagram with unedited photos. A new AI-based piece of software can detect a photoshopped face and even reveal what the picture was prior to the edits being applied. Image via Negative Space from Pexels.com. Researcher for Adobe Oliver Wang said of the process, “We started by showing image pairs (an original and an alteration) to people who knew that one of the faces was altered…For this approach to be useful, it should be able to perform significantly better than the human eye at identifying edited faces.” The AI performed way better than any human could at the task and could even reverse the edits performed on the photo. With a detection rate accuracy of 99%, the AI’s ability to reverse engineer an edited photo bodes well for the research project’s hope of using things like this to verify the accuracy of photos and videos in the future. As editing and manipulation become increasingly sophisticated, the greater the need for software capable of detecting edits and changes…Read more

http://learningcurve.co.za/uncategorized/new-ai-takes-phony-out-photoshop/

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe Acrobat's PDF Software Stays Ahead of the Pack

Acrobat Pro DC: Adobe's PDF software is still the one to beat A feature-packed solution for professionals Since its development back in the 1990s, the PDF has gone on to become the industry standard for documents. The file’s ability to work across all platforms has seen it become a ubiquitous format, and Adobe’s software remains the most popular choice for viewing, editing, and sharing PDFs. The latest Acrobat Pro DC suite brings a slew of benefits and features that allow you to create and edit your PDFs, export to Office formats, read your documents across multiple devices, sync and store them in the cloud, sign the PDFs with ease, and much more. One the best elements of the digital age is less reliance on paper. We all know what it's like having to wait for a form to arrive in the post so we can sign it and send it back. Some companies let you print the documents out at home, but that still requires using snail mail once they’re signed. Collecting physical signatures is said to add 3.1 days to a process, yet just 18 percent of North American businesses use e-signatures, and over 60 percent are unaware of this solution. Adobe’s Fill & Sign feature takes the physical element out of paperwork: you can use the iOS or Android app to add your signature to a PDF with a finger, or just type your name using a desktop keyboard and it will be turned into a handwritten format, which is then stored and ready for use on any PDF. You can even convert a photo of a form into a signable PDF. The tool can also be used to request signatures—recipients don’t need to purchase anything or sign up to use it—and form deliveries are tracked. In today’s connected society, it’s important to be able to read and edit your work on the go. That’s where Adobe’s Document Cloud comes in, letting you access all your PDFs from your smartphone or from any computer using a web browser. Collaboration is also made simple, with recipients receiving links to PDFs that they can open, view, and comment on, all without needed to sign in or install software. Acrobat Pro DC’s latest update brings with it a revamped UI that makes accessing the plethora of tools on offer very simple…Read more Adobe unveils handy capture mode in its Scan app There’s going to be some rejoicing for marketers on the move, as Adobe has unveiled a new feature in its Adobe Scan app, enabling users to toggle between a variety of capture modes to ensure that documents, forms, whiteboards, and business cards are captured picture-perfectly as PDFs. The new feature enables users to select modes by swiping left or right. Once captured, Adobe Scan uses Adobe Sensei AI to intelligently identify and sharpen printed or handwritten text while removing elements such as glare and shadows. Users can then store and share these PDFs, fill and sign them in Acrobat Reader mobile, as well as pull contact details directly from business cards into their phone’s contacts. The app has amassed nearly 30 million downloads and 140 million scans. Together with Acrobat Reader mobile – a free PDF reader built by Adobe that works with Adobe Scan and is packed with essential PDF tools – users can work on-the-go as if they were in the office. The app has also added the ability to automatically search digital documents instead of flipping through stacks of paper, filling and signing forms with a few taps, and annotating and sharing trackable PDFs – all possible via a mobile device…read more PDF Reader Pro - View, Annotate, Form Filler review: A lightweight Windows app for basic editing needs This freebie makes it easy to edit, annotate, and share documents, but it lacks advanced functions. PDF Reader Pro - View, Annotate, Form Filler tells you everything you need to know  about it right there in its name. This free, lightweight Windows app provides a basic set of tools for working with Adobe Acrobat documents in an unintimidating interface. PDF Reader Pro eschews the Office-style interface you see in a lot of PDF editors. Instead, a row of icons above the document pane provides access to editing functions. Another set down the left side lets you view the current document as thumbnails, change the display, or print. The editing functions are pretty basic. You can add, highlight, underline, and strikethrough text; make freehand markups; add notes, hyperlinks, and stamps; and bookmark pages. A three-dot menu at the end of the top toolbar holds the file info, save, and share buttons. With the last, you can share a PDF via Dropbox, Email, Skype, Twitter, and other apps. A link is included to add more options from Microsoft Store.

PDF Reader Pro makes editing text simple and intuitive.

The straightforward interface makes editing docs quick and easy. To add text, for example, you just click the text icon, which opens a drop-down menu where you can select your font style, color, and size. Then you just place the cursor where you want it and type away. Adding a stamp is as simple as choosing one of the 14 offered, then clicking on the page where you want it to appear. Clicking the BOTA button from the left-side toolbar allows you to view any of the bookmarks, outlines, thumbnails, and annotations associated with the current document by toggling through a smaller sub-toolbar. From here you can jump to specific bookmarks, sections, chapters, or pages within a document and quickly scroll through text revisions and comments. PDF Reader Pro also supports PDF forms, allowing you to fill in interactive fields such as check and text boxes. You can sign documents and open password-protected files, as well…read more

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/adobe-acrobats-pdf-software-ahead-pack/

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe Premiere Rush Debuts on Android

Premiere Rush, Adobe’s video-editing app for YouTubers, is now available on Android

Adobe’s Premiere Rush CC, which arrived on the desktop and iOS last October, is now available on Android. The video-editing app is a simplified, mobile version of Adobe’s more powerful Creative Cloud software, but borrows some key features from Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition. For example, there are motion graphics templates from Adobe Stock for smooth transitions and auto-ducking features that balance and adjust audio to the background music. Adobe says the app is tailored to YouTubers and online video creators, with exporting options optimized for social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. That means you can input your video title and add metadata like descriptions in Premiere Rush, without having to go through the process in each individual app. The app also automatically syncs projects to the cloud across desktop and mobile, so you can pick up where you left off on any device. Read more

Hands On With Adobe’s Premiere Rush Video Editor for Android

Mobile video editing tools have struggled to keep up with the exploding demand from a wide variety of users — ranging from professional video bloggers to casual users sharing their experiences. There are plenty of simple, consumer-oriented tools, and some cool special-purpose tools like DJI’s Mimo, but most of them don’t tie into a larger ecosystem or full professional workflow. Adobe has been working to change that with its Premiere Rush entry-level video editing tool. Available since the fall on Mac, Windows, and iOS, Rush is now shipping on Android. The app has a deceptively simple interface but is powered by the same underlying engine as its beefy sibling, Adobe’s Premiere Pro. That means it benefits from the same high-quality rendering, motion-graphics templates, and presets, and that its projects can be directly imported into Premiere Pro for further work. I’ve been using Rush on Windows since its release, but as an Android phone user, I haven’t been able to try out the mobile version until now. After using the Android version, I’ve come away impressed. A Clever Implementation of Rush’s UI on a Phone Screen It is no easy feat to cram a powerful video editing interface into a touch-only device and a phone-sized screen, but Adobe has done a remarkably good job. Essentially all the capabilities of desktop Rush seem to be there, although they can be a little harder to find. The UI is responsive, and for anyone used to the mobile version of Lightroom, will seem familiar. However, the small screen and being touch only does have its drawbacks. First, an errant finger can cause all sorts of trouble. It is remarkably easy to forget that you’re in a particular mode and accidentally duplicate content or add an unwanted title, for example. Fortunately, Undo is only a touch away. It can also be hard to select small screen elements. When I inadvertently added extra copies of a title to one of my clips, it wasn’t easy to select it precisely enough to delete it. Before I managed to do that, I’d added a couple more. It can also be tough to see exactly what is happening between clips. Short transitions are almost invisible. But overall, the interface is very usable, although I can’t wait until it runs on some larger-screen devices. There is quite a bit of good online tutorial and help material, but much of it uses the desktop version of Rush to illustrate how to do specific task… read more

Adobe Launches Significant Update to Premiere Rush

Adobe’s Premiere Rush application, an all-in-one tool for shooting, editing, and sharing videos, has just received a significant update. Premiere Rush has already been available for Windows, OS X, and iOS. The software brings simplified versions of tools from Premiere Pro and Audition (Adobe’s pro video and audio tools, respectively) into a single app. With a focus on creating and sharing online videos, Rush has always had an emphasis on portability, enabled by Adobe’s creative cloud. The new update brings Premiere Rush to Android phones, via the Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store. While I have an iPhone, I’ve found Premiere Rush to be a great way to shoot and edit short videos in the field, and I’m happy to see Adobe bringing this app to more users. Along with the new Android app, all users now have access to new Motion Graphics templates. A number of additional templates are also available via Adobe Stock. The starter plan for Premiere Rush offers access to a full featured version, and is available for both desktop and mobile users. Users can create an unlimited number of projects, but are limited to exporting up to three projects… read more

Adobe's mobile video editor Premiere Rush makes its debut on Android

What you need to know

Adobe Premiere Rush is now available for Android devices.

The video editor allows you to seamlessly transition between your mobile devices and computer for editing.

There is a free trial but prices start at $9.99 per month.

Video creators, get ready to rejoice. Adobe Premiere Rush is finally available on Android! The video editor combines elements of Premiere Pro, Audition, and After Effects, providing one of the best ways to edit your video projects. Another way it has a leg up on other video editors available is the fact that it can run on all of your devices. Whether you want to do all your editing on your phone, your computer, or seamlessly transition between the two, Premiere Rush has you covered. One of the ways it accomplishes this seamless integration is by uploading your files to the cloud. With everything hosted in the cloud, you'll never have to worry about transferring your files and you can pick up where you left off on any device.

Premiere Rush provides you with a stellar way to edit by using a simplified editing workflow, motion graphics templates, AI-powered audio auto-ducking, and more to get the best out of your content. It even has built-in support for one-click publishing to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and others. Premiere Pro users will also be thrilled to know that projects created in Premiere Rush can be opened in Premiere Pro as well. Meaning you can start a project on mobile and easily transition to Premiere Pro on your computer for more advanced edits later on. You might remember Adobe first released Premiere Rush last year for computers and iOS, but with the video editor finally making its way to Android devices, it opens up more opportunities for creators on the go… read more

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/adobe-premiere-rush-debuts-android/

[learning-curve-sa]

Latest Adobe Updates for Video, Audio and Animation

After Effects & Premiere go hand-in-hand

Adobe Brings about Significant Changes to an Almost Perfect CC Lineup

NAB show started way back in 1923, about 96 years ago. Held at the Las Vegas Convention centre, it is the go-to convention for everything related to Media. All the big names such as Adobe showcase their new products during this event. This year’s show happens to be right around the corner. With two days left until the event, Adobe has announced a couple of incremental updates. While updates like this will be announced at the event, Adobe took the initiative to start off a day early. The updates in question are for the Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition and Character Animator. Apart from incremental stuff like better codec and improved render times, they have included a couple of useful features. Starting off with Premiere Pro, Adobe has included a new layout system for the project panel. Users can now arrange their media according to the project’s requirement. Extending this to After Effects, both the platforms can now share this, working in tandem. Another issue that quite a lot of Premiere users can relate to is audio and text placement. Adobe was keen to include rulers and auto detection which allows for more accurate results. Apart from that, encoding for H.265 and HEVC would be improved. Now if you’re wondering what that means, it basically will result in better loading times and real-time scribbling through the project. Heading over to the After Effects side now. After Effects has always been considered as the photoshop of the video world. Even Mac users would have to agree that while their FCPX is superior to Premiere in some ways, they have nothing to compete with Adobe’s fine After Effects. Making it quite the industry benchmark. While it is all that perfect, Adobe continues to add more features to it. The latest one is the Content-Aware fill tool. It would allow, like in Photoshop, to remove objects in a frame. While that does not sound all that impressive, the software works to keep the entire video that way, judging from that frame. CRAZY! Adobe, while pioneering their Photoshop, have the advantage to play around with other products in a similar manner… Read More

Adobe Announces Updates for Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Character Animator

Ahead of the annual NAB media show, which kicks off on April 6, Adobe is launching its traditional spring update with new updates for Creative Cloud apps including Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Character Animator. As always, Adobe's updates bring performance improvements, new features, and improved efficiency for its video and audio tools. In After Effects, there's a new Content-Aware Fill feature for video, which is a neat option that works just like Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop. You can select an object that you want to remove in a video and use Content-Aware Fill, powered by Adobe Sensei, to remove it. Using Content-Aware Fill, you can remove logos, shadows, mics, and other objects from videos. There's a new Freeform Project panel in Premiere Pro that's designed to allow you to arrange your video clips into select shots so you can build out and visualize a project to come up with new ideas. Aligning text and graphics in Premiere Pro is easier through Rulers and Guides, and Guide Templates can be shared between After Effects and Premiere Pro. Premiere Pro is also gaining Faster Mark Tracking, which Adobe says will bring more efficient color and effects workflows. Encoding for H.264 and HEVC has been improved for smoother playback in both Premiere Pro and After Effects. For advanced users, After Effects has a new Expressions Editor for navigating through code visually with features that include … Read more

Hands On With Adobe’s New Content-Aware Tools for Video, Other NAB Updates

The annual NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) event is traditionally a showcase for new high-end video and audio editing features, and this year is no exception. Adobe has rolled out a host of new features and performance tweaks to its Creative Suite tools — particularly Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Character Animator. Not to be left out Cyberlink is also rolling out updates to PhotoDirector and PowerDirector for subscribers to its 365 Suite. For those who still think of video production as a niche market, Adobe projects that there will be nearly 605 billion minutes of video created every week by 2021. Of course, as anyone on YouTube knows, most of that will unfortunately never be edited, but it still leaves a huge amount that will be. Content-Aware Fill for Video The ability to plausibly fill in erased areas by using content-aware tools has been one of the most-impressive new photo editing technologies of the last decade. Now, Adobe has brought that same capability to video. Intuitively, that is a harder problem and certainly requires more processing power. However, video does have one natural advantage. Since there are typically many frames of the same scene, if you are trying to remove an offending object that is moving across the scene, the application can look at a variety of frames to see what the occluded background should be in other frames. Of course, that still means there is a need for plenty of advanced algorithms to get the color blending and lighting right. There isn’t a lot of documentation out yet on how to use the new Content-Aware Fill in After Effects, but basically, it takes a few steps. First, you create a mask around the element you want to remove and then Track it as the object you want to remove moves, making sure the mask moves to follow the object. If the Mask doesn’t need to change shape, then AE’s automatic mask tracking works pretty well. Finally, you can choose to Content-Aware Fill using one of three modes. Object is the most sophisticated, and attempts to isolate and replace an object within the mask. Edge Blending gives you the sort of blur you see when faces or license plates are obscured in videos. Surface is the simplest and is designed to fill from solid surfaces under the section being replaced (like removing logos from the back of a laptop). The only other setting is choosing whether you want to fill the entire comp or just the work area. Using Content-Aware Fill in After Effects is easy once you get the hang of it Once I got the hang of the workflow, the process was pretty straightforward. It does lean much more on the CPU than the GPU, which is a little surprising given how good GPUs are at most of the needed tasks, so it can take a while. The fill is accomplished with an overlay of PNG files, so it can also consume quite a bit of disk space if you have a high-resolution video or are filling a long clip. As a simple example, here is some 4K drone footage I edited to remove our tracking vehicle for part of the shot (from about 7 seconds in to 18 seconds):

… read more

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/latest-adobe-updates-video-audio-animation/

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe CC Updates and Releases – The Full Scoop

Adobe Creative Cloud Updates

Adobe today announced performance updates and new innovations for video and audio tools in Adobe Creative Cloud, all designed to improve efficiency in video production. What’s new? New features include Content-Aware Fill for video, powered by Adobe Sensei, the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology, along with new capabilities for titles and graphics, crafting animations, refining audio mixing, and organizing and preparing project media. Some of the hundreds of performance improvements include faster Mask Tracking for effects and color workflows, dual GPU optimization and improved hardware acceleration for HEVC and H.264 formats in Premiere Pro. In After Effects, enhancements include GPU-accelerated effects, such as Change Color and Roughen Edges.

 “With the new performance improvements in today’s Premiere Pro release, we’re excited to see dual GPU support to speed up export times, do lighting fast edits, and become better creators.” -Niko Pueringer and Sam Gorski, co-founders of Corridor Digital

Remove unwanted objects automatically with Content-Aware Fill in After Effects—Formerly Project Cloak,Content-Aware Fill for video is powered by Adobe Sensei and automates the process of removing visual elements like boom mics, signs, logos and even people from footage, saving hours of tedious manual work.

Organize and storyboard your media in the Freeform Project panel in Premiere Pro—Arrange assets visually and save layouts for shot selects, production tasks, brainstorming story ideas, and assembly edits.

Design with precision and consistency with Rulers and Guides—Work with familiar Adobe design tools inside Premiere Pro, making it easier to align titling, animate effects, and ensure consistency across deliverables.

Polish audio easily and efficiently with Punch and Roll in Audition—The new feature provides efficient production workflows in both Waveform and Multitrack for longform recording, including voiceover and audiobook creators.

Surprise viewers in Twitch Live-Streaming Triggers with Character Animator Extension—Livestream performances are enhanced where audiences engage with characters in real-time with on-the-fly costume changes, impromptu dance moves, and signature gestures and poses—a new way to interact and even monetize using Bits to trigger actions.

Generate an audio mix with Auto Ducking for ambient sound in Audition and Premiere Pro—Powered by Adobe Sensei, Auto Ducking now allows for dynamic adjustments to ambient sounds against spoken dialog. Keyframed adjustments can be manually fine-tuned to retain creative control over a mix.

Add visual variety—Adobe Stock now offers an extensive collection of 10 million professional-quality, curated, royalty-free HD and 4K video footage and Motion Graphics templates from leading agencies and independent editors to use for editorial content, establishing shots or filling gaps in a project.

From shoot to showtime—Premiere Rush, introduced late last year, offers an efficient mobile-to-desktop workflow integrated with Premiere Pro for on-the-go editing and video assembly. Built-in camera functionality in Premiere Rush helps you take pro-quality video on your mobile devices.

Premiere Pro New Features Premiere Pro Freeform Project panel Visually review, organize, and storyboard your media. Assemble rough cuts and then drag them right onto your timeline for editing. Rulers and guides New rulers, guides, and grids make sizing and aligning graphics and titles easier. Snap graphics to guides or each other. Color-coded guides ensure consistent positioning for lower thirds, logos, and more. Auto Ducking for ambient sound Powered by Adobe Sensei, Auto Ducking for ambient sound utilizes AI technology to detect dialog or voiceover and automatically adjust background sound. Adjustments are keyframed and easy to fine-tune. Faster mask tracking Speed up color grading and effects workflows with improved performance for HD, 4K and higher resolution content… Read More

Everything You Need to Know About the April 2019 Releases

Refining the workflows for video and audio production. The Spring 2019 release of the Adobe video and audio tools offers improved performance, more polished workflows, and the power of Adobe Sensei artificial intelligence to accelerate post-production. Watch our livestream with Jason Levine on April 4 at 9 a.m. PT to see what’s new in Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Character Animator or try out some of the features yourself using free footage from Adobe Stock. Follow the links below for everything you need to know about the latest releases.

What’s new in Adobe video and audio Remove objects from your video with Content-Aware Fill in After Effects, powered by Adobe Sensei. Organize and storyboard your media in the Freeform Project panel in Premiere Pro. Design titles and graphics with precision and consistency using Rulers and Guides in Premiere Pro. Polish long-form recordings with Punch and Roll in Audition. Generate audio mixes with Auto Ducking for Ambience, in Audition and Premiere Pro. Work faster in Character Animator with better puppet rigging...Read more

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/adobe-cc-updates-releases-full-scoop-2/

[learning-curve-sa]

Adobe CC Updates and Releases - The Full Scoop

Adobe Creative Cloud Updates

Adobe today announced performance updates and new innovations for video and audio tools in Adobe Creative Cloud, all designed to improve efficiency in video production. What’s new? New features include Content-Aware Fill for video, powered by Adobe Sensei, the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology, along with new capabilities for titles and graphics, crafting animations, refining audio mixing, and organizing and preparing project media. Some of the hundreds of performance improvements include faster Mask Tracking for effects and color workflows, dual GPU optimization and improved hardware acceleration for HEVC and H.264 formats in Premiere Pro. In After Effects, enhancements include GPU-accelerated effects, such as Change Color and Roughen Edges.

"With the new performance improvements in today’s Premiere Pro release, we’re excited to see dual GPU support to speed up export times, do lighting fast edits, and become better creators."

-Niko Pueringer and Sam Gorski, co-founders of Corridor Digital

Remove unwanted objects automatically with Content-Aware Fill in After Effects—Formerly Project Cloak,Content-Aware Fill for video is powered by Adobe Sensei and automates the process of removing visual elements like boom mics, signs, logos and even people from footage, saving hours of tedious manual work.

Organize and storyboard your media in the Freeform Project panel in Premiere Pro—Arrange assets visually and save layouts for shot selects, production tasks, brainstorming story ideas, and assembly edits.

Design with precision and consistency with Rulers and Guides—Work with familiar Adobe design tools inside Premiere Pro, making it easier to align titling, animate effects, and ensure consistency across deliverables.

Polish audio easily and efficiently with Punch and Roll in Audition—The new feature provides efficient production workflows in both Waveform and Multitrack for longform recording, including voiceover and audiobook creators.

Surprise viewers in Twitch Live-Streaming Triggers with Character Animator Extension—Livestream performances are enhanced where audiences engage with characters in real-time with on-the-fly costume changes, impromptu dance moves, and signature gestures and poses—a new way to interact and even monetize using Bits to trigger actions.

Generate an audio mix with Auto Ducking for ambient sound in Audition and Premiere Pro—Powered by Adobe Sensei, Auto Ducking now allows for dynamic adjustments to ambient sounds against spoken dialog. Keyframed adjustments can be manually fine-tuned to retain creative control over a mix.

Add visual variety—Adobe Stock now offers an extensive collection of 10 million professional-quality, curated, royalty-free HD and 4K video footage and Motion Graphics templates from leading agencies and independent editors to use for editorial content, establishing shots or filling gaps in a project.

From shoot to showtime—Premiere Rush, introduced late last year, offers an efficient mobile-to-desktop workflow integrated with Premiere Pro for on-the-go editing and video assembly. Built-in camera functionality in Premiere Rush helps you take pro-quality video on your mobile devices.

Premiere Pro New Features Premiere Pro

Freeform Project panel Visually review, organize, and storyboard your media. Assemble rough cuts and then drag them right onto your timeline for editing.

Rulers and guides New rulers, guides, and grids make sizing and aligning graphics and titles easier. Snap graphics to guides or each other. Color-coded guides ensure consistent positioning for lower thirds, logos, and more.

Auto Ducking for ambient sound Powered by Adobe Sensei, Auto Ducking for ambient sound utilizes AI technology to detect dialog or voiceover and automatically adjust background sound. Adjustments are keyframed and easy to fine-tune.

Faster mask tracking Speed up color grading and effects workflows with improved performance for HD, 4K and higher resolution content… Read More

Article written by: By Matthew Allard ACS and originally posted on News Shooter

Everything You Need to Know About the April 2019 Releases

Refining the workflows for video and audio production.  The Spring 2019 release of the Adobe video and audio tools offers improved performance, more polished workflows, and the power of Adobe Sensei artificial intelligence to accelerate post-production. Watch our livestream with Jason Levine on April 4 at 9 a.m. PT to see what’s new in Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Character Animator or try out some of the features yourself using free footage from Adobe Stock. Follow the links below for everything you need to know about the latest releases.

What’s new in Adobe video and audio Remove objects from your video with Content-Aware Fill in After Effects, powered by Adobe Sensei. Organize and storyboard your media in the Freeform Project panel in Premiere Pro. Design titles and graphics with precision and consistency using Rulers and Guides in Premiere Pro. Polish long-form recordings with Punch and Roll in Audition. Generate audio mixes with Auto Ducking for Ambience, in Audition and Premiere Pro. Work faster in Character Animator with better puppet rigging. Learn what’s new in Premiere Pro (13.1) Find out what’s new in After Effects (16.1) See what’s new in Audition (12.1) Discover what’s new in Character Animator (2.1) Try the new features yourself Explore Content-Aware Fill in After Effects with free footage from Adobe Stock and instructions if you want to try it yourself. Explore the Freeform Project panel in Premiere Pro with examples, guided instructions, and a whole collection of free footage from Adobe Stock so you try it out yourself. Explore the Premiere Pro titling tools with new Rulers and Guides. Try it yourself with free footage from Adobe Stock….Read more Article written by Anita Engelman and posted on the Adobe Blog.

http://learningcurve.co.za/productupdates/adobe-cc-updates-releases-full-scoop/

[learning-curve-sa]

Speed Up Your Workflow with Adobe Dimension CC's Cloud Rendering Feature

Adobe Dimension CC can now render images in the cloud

Adobe today announced the latest release of Dimension, the company’s 2D and 3D compositing tool and one of the newest members of its Creative Cloud suite. The two highlights of the new release are cloud rendering, which is now in beta, and the ability to import substance materials from Allegorithmic’s Substance Designer. Cloud Rendering in Dimension is the feature with the widest implications for both the way Adobe thinks about the cloud and its longterm business. Users can use this new feature to offload the rendering process from their own machine and send it to the cloud. Generating 3D content takes a lot of compute power, after all, especially when you get to the point where you want to create a high-res final product. While most modern laptops and desktops have enough horsepower to render these images, it’ll take a lot of resources and may tie up your computer for a while (and get your fans spinning). To do this, Adobe needs to pay for the cloud resources, though, and that’s not cheap. So to use this feature, all Creative Cloud users will get 15 free rendering credits. Each render will cost between one to three credits, depending on the quality of the image.For now, those 15 credits is all you’ll get, though. There’s no way to buy more credits during the beta and while Adobe says that it wants to continue giving users free renders after the beta period is over, the company isn’t saying how many credits subscribers will get or sharing its pricing structure for buying credits yet. During the beta, image sizes are limited to 2000×2000 and Adobe will also denoise the image for free. It’s easy to see how Adobe could take this technology and apply it to other compute-heavy processes like video renders. The addition of Allegorithmic support doesn’t come as a surprise. After all, Adobe acquired the company, which builds tools for creating textures and materials for game creators, visual effects artists and designers, in January. Dimension now supports Substance’s native file format and because these materials are based on parameters, it’s easy to adapt them to the specific scene they are in ….Read More The article was written by Frederic Lardinois (@fredericl) and posted on TechCrunch

Adobe Dimension now lets you offload 3D rendering from your Mac to the cloud

Alongside significant updates to Creative Cloud video and audio applications, Adobe today announced its April 2019 release of Dimension, a tool built for designers creating 3D scenes and objects. Today’s new features expand Dimension’s capabilities with tools that help you create higher quality images in less time. Headlining Dimension’s update is Cloud Rendering, a new beta service that will speed up the workflows of pro users while allowing hobbyists and those with older and less performant hardware to work efficiently. Cloud Rendering sends your completed 3D scenes to Adobe’s servers for rendering rather than taxing the resources of your own Mac. The results of your render are streamed back in real-time so you can monitor its progress and download the final image. During the service’s beta period, Creative Cloud users will get 15 free render credits per month. Each render requires 1-3 credits to complete based on the quality settings you choose. Paywalling Cloud Rendering might put the service out of reach of the users who could benefit from it the most, but the process is computationally intensive and may not be feasible to offer for free. Adobe hasn’t announced final pricing or availability beyond the beta period. Starting today, Dimension users can also import materials to their scenes in the .SBSAR format created with Substance Designer. Along with support for higher resolution placed graphics, 3D scenes should look more realistic. Graphics and colors can now be saved to your Creative Cloud Libraries. Images saved in Libraries are cloud-linked and will automatically update in Dimension when edited… Read More This article was written by Michael Steeber (@MichaelSteeber) and posted on 9to5Mac

https://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/speed-up-your-workflow-adobe-dimension-ccs-cloud-rendering-feature/

[learning-curve-sa]

Content-Aware Fill for Video – The Details

  Adobe brings content-aware fill for videos to After Effects Adobe today announced that it is bringing content-aware fill to After Effects, the special effects software that is part of its Creative Cloud offering. The company has long offered this feature in Photoshop, where you can use it to automatically remove objects from a photo, with the application filling in the blank space with appropriate pixels, based on what’s around it. As you can imagine, doing this for a video is significantly harder because you have to do this for every image while the objects move. The company notes that this new feature is powered by Adobe Sensei, the company’s AI platform. To remove an object (or maybe a stray boom mic) from a scene is to mask it. If everything works as planned, the tools will automatically track the object through a scene (even when it moves behind another object for a bit) and replace it with more suitable pixels. If you need to fine-tune the result, you can also use Photoshop to create reference frames. Adobe notes that content-aware fill is also a very useful tool for 360-degree VR projects, where you can’t always hide everything around the camera …Read More This article was written by Frederic Lardinois (@fredericl) and posted on TechCrunch.   Adobe’s new After Effects tool allows users to remove objects from footage The tool is now available to all Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers who are on the 16.1 Spring update. — Adobe Adobe has added the content-aware fill tool to the latest version of Adobe After Effects in the 16.1 Spring update. The feature was originally a tool only available in Photoshop and was meant to be used for still images, which is why some who are familiar with Photoshop may recognise the name. Similar to how it works in Photoshop, the After Effects version of the tool enables users to remove certain unwanted objects from their footage, but in the After Effects version, the tool uses Adobe's machine learning AI called Sensei to track the objects' movements. Previously, users would have to get third-party plugins like Mocha Pro to track and remove objects in After Effects. With the new content-aware fill, that functionality is built-in to After Effects, and all users need to do is to create masks at the beginning, middle, and end of the footage, then have the Adobe Sensei AI handle the in-between tracking… read more Original article written by by christopher fam and posted on The Star Online   Adobe After Effects Now Lets You Remove Objects from All Frames of Video At Once Photoshop’s content-aware feature is now available for videos in Adobe’s After effects as well, as per the latest update. This will let users remove unwanted objects from the videos, and with the use of Adobe Sensei machine learning, you will not have to remove it in every frame. Content-aware so far has been removing unwanted objects from the still images, whereas now objects will be removed from the moving scenes and will fill in the missing pixels automatically.

In 2017, this feature was first displayed as an experimental at Adobe Sneak with the name Project Cloak. Now the Creative Cloud subscribers also have access to this tool. This could be a good option in post-production editing as for removing the boom mics or eliminating people or other irrelevant objects if they come into the final shot.

Adobe has also introduced certain updates for their other video and audio editing software, some of which will be making use of Adobe Sensei. Artificial intelligence is being used by auto-ducking for Ambience which will analyze seamless mix in the audio clips in Adobe Audition and Premiere Pro. Also, clips would be organized and a better storyboard would be built with the use of a new Freeform View in Project Panel. Puppet rigging will also improve with the Adobe Character Animator, "you can apply behaviors, tag layers, and search through puppet rigs, allowing you to work faster and create more refined performances." …read more Article written by Aqsa Rasool and posted on Digital Information World

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/content-aware-fill-for-video-details/

[learning-curve-sa]

Don't Trust What You See - Content Aware Fill Like You Have Never Seen It Before

Content Aware Fill has just been taken to a whole new level for video editing! All it takes is a few simple, rough selections of an image to completely remove it from the clip AND recreate the background. At 30fps, you can only imagine how much time you would save removing something or someone from just 1 minute of footage. Want to try it for yourself? You will need a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro which is included as part of Adobe Creative Cloud available here. If you are a student or graduate, then check out the banners on our homepage for super deals on Creative Cloud. For a ready-to-play-with video clip, you can also download this clip for free from Adobe Stock (clip ID 222377892) If you have never dabbled with Premiere Pro before, we have got you covered here too. Here is a source that will give you instructions for setting up Premiere pro projects like this Have fun!

http://learningcurve.co.za/general-news/content-aware-fill-like-never-seen-before/