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Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 to CC: Wish List Scorecard

Adobe Premiere Pro CC

This list is a follow-up to my post, Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.5 Wish List (FCP switcher). Well, as we all know, CS6.5 never materialized because Adobe switched to a new, subscription-only release model. I won’t get into that except to say that I’ve been a Creative Cloud member from the start, and it’s currently worth it to me.

» Scroll to the Premiere Pro CS6 to CC Scorecard

Update August 16, 2013

I will continue to maintain this scorecard as Adobe checks more items off the list (hopefully), but I have posted a fresh list based on my ongoing experiences with Premiere Pro CC:

Adobe Premiere Pro CC Gripes and Wish List

Adobe Premiere Pro CC
Premiere Pro CC is a significant upgrade to CS6.

I first tried out Premiere about a year and a half ago with version CS5.5. I liked the general feel immediately. The same could not be said of Final Cut Pro X. (I’ve given FCPX several chances. Events? Come on.)

Premiere CS5.5 was not ready for prime time either, however, but Adobe recognized that Apple had left the door open to a large contingent of disgruntled pros. Adobe shifted more resources into Premiere development and actively sought out the input of the Mac creative community. Ironically, this is something that Apple did not and does not do, an attitude that makes sense for “dumb consumers” but not — let’s just say for example — a professional user who can catalog the 88 features that would make his working life easier.

A result of Adobe’s new focus, Premiere Pro CS6 was a major upgrade over CS5.5. Yet, when my FCP7 colleagues would ask if Premiere was the way to go, I could only say that they would probably like it better than FCPX, but that a few things would undoubtedly drive them crazy, namely track targeting in the Timeline.

Premiere Pro CC is the first major release that began development after the FCPX debacle, and it shows. It caters directly to Final Cut switchers. That’s a good thing. There’s a reason that Final Cut gained supremacy among Mac users while Premiere settled into its place as a second-rate Windows alternative. (I’ll leave my thoughts on the remarkably capable Avid, with its mind-numbingly poor interface, for another discussion.)

At this point, I recommend Premiere Pro CC to Mac users who must inevitably say good-bye to the venerable and rapidly graying FCP7. It’s not quite what Final Cut Pro 8 could have been, but it’s getting there.

Of course, I am extremely picky when it comes to the software I use for work (okay, any software). So it won’t be long before I publish my new list of Premiere Pro CC gripes, but Adobe has put a big dent in the list I started the day I downloaded CS5.5. I’m looking forward to more frequent updates through Creative Cloud.

Premiere Pro CC Scorecard based on my list of CS6 Gripes: 40 of 88 items checked off the list
(score updated: June 2015)

  1. Dash

    Hardware acceleration support for more AMD/ATI GPUs Explanation

    I give this a “neutral” because moving forward, it looks like Adobe will support hardware acceleration in high-end Apple hardware whether equipped with AMD or NVIDIA GPUs, but if your current system’s AMD card is not supported, don’t hold out hope that it ever will be.

  2. Thumbnail images/show frames bug Explanation

    In my original list, I called this a bug because I figured there was be no way it could be intentional behavior. After two major updates, I now realize that it’s not a bug. It’s just weak implementation.

    There is no persistent cache for thumbnail images in the Timeline. The images get recreated every time a project is opened.

    This is also the case for bin thumbnails, although that may have something to do with hover scrub.

    In Final Cut Pro 7, you could set the thumbnail image disk cache size, and I would set it high enough that I could go back to a project months later and still have thumbnails load instantly as I scrolled through the Timeline. The only real limitation was the memory setting for the cache, which had to stay pretty low in a 32-bit app, but that shouldn’t be a problem in a 64-bit app.

    If you set your Timeline for continuous thumbnails, Adobe’s behavior is extremely annoying in a long sequence. It slows you down. I understand that the thumbnails may have to regenerated after changes to track size or as clips are adjusted, but a RAM cache already exists (or else thumbnails would get regenerated every time you scrolled, which is not the case). So save it to disk! It won’t take up much space.

  3. CheckCheck

    Assign source/target tracks/selected tracks/active tracks/are you kidding?/WTF? Explanation

    This gets a double check mark because it’s huge. Track patching has been vastly simplified and improved. It’s much more like Final Cut Pro 7, only more customizable.

    This was my explanation of the problem in previous versions:

    If you’ve switched to Premiere from Final Cut Pro, you know what I’m talking about, and you’re pissed. The source track/target track/selected track system at the head of the Timeline and at the heart of Premiere’s basic editing operations is remarkably overcomplicated and inconsistent. Since it’s clear that Adobe has been listening, there must be some licensing issue, some esoteric use, or some bizarre nostalgic embrace of this craziness by John Adobe himself that has allowed this mess to continue to exist.

    In order to target a track to insert or overwrite a clip (V, A1, A2, etc.), you also have to separately select it at the front of the Timeline (Video 1, Video 2, Audio 1, Audio 2, etc.). In many cases, you also have to individually unselect every other track that you don’t want to target, because Premiere will just pick the top selected track as the target regardless of the one you have targeted.

    I’ll try to break it down with an example, but there are so many permutations, it’s difficult to be concise.

    So you have a clip open in the source viewer and you want to perform an overwrite edit. Being accustomed to FCP, you slide the clip over the Program viewer and drop. Simple enough. It will land in the Timeline in whichever track is the lowest of those that are selected. Okay, weird, but no biggie, and yes, you can select multiple video tracks, although only one will be used. (The selected tracks are the ones in the wider of those 2 columns at the head of the Timeline.) Just ignore the source track indicators (the V, A1, etc.). I know what you’re thinking. It would be easier just to slide those into place, rather than all the clicking it takes to select your target track and unselect the others, but the source track target makes no difference in this operation.

    Of course, you’re a pro. So you want to learn the keyboard commands as quickly as possible. Try the same exact thing, only this time, press the period key. That’s the overwrite shortcut. At this point, any number of surprising things can occur. One possibility is that nothing will happen. That’s because you have to slide the source track indicator to your target track AND make sure the track is selected in the next column. Forget the whole lowest selected track thing. That no longer applies.

    It used to be even worse. Try repeating those same steps in CS5.5 using the Insert button instead of the associated keyboard shortcut, and you’ll get a third set of entirely distinct behaviors.

    Thinking this was still too simple, Adobe threw in “sync lock” for good measure. It’s kind of like a reverse track lock, which is a nice idea. The supposed function is to push all sync locked tracks down the Timeline after an insert edit and keep the others in place, but turn it off for a track and you’ll find it makes no difference — unless you also deselect the track. Be sure to select at least one of the tracks that is supposed to move as well.

    I won’t even get into more insert edit nonsense.

    Finally, just as a final fuck you, it’s actually possible to click on the source track indicators (as opposed to sliding them) and select or deselect them, much like the target tracks. What this abominable combination of unselected, yet kind of selected, source track and selected and/or unselected target tracks can accomplish, I don’t know. Frankly, I don’t want to know.

    The “slideable” V and A1, etc. markers should set the target tracks both in function and name. Personally, I would get rid of the track selection altogether (We never missed it in FCP.), but at the very least, those selections shouldn’t have any impact on standard insert and overwrite edits, regardless of whether an editor prefers keyboard shortcuts, mouse clicks, or telepathy.

    Even if the behaviors were consistent, what’s with all the track selection/deselection? You can assign keyboard shortcuts to some of these behaviors (e.g. to select all tracks), but why make such a fundamental element — no, the fundamental element — of editing so convoluted?

    Lastly, the two columns of Source and Target or whatever, take up more space than necessary. There’s nothing I hate more than a waste of perfectly good pixels!

  4. Premiere Pro CS6 is buggy on a Mac: frequent crashes and “serious error” messages Explanation

    The first time you see the message that Premiere Pro has encountered “a serious error” and has to shut down, you assume from the tone that it is a rare circumstance and that the authorities have been notified. But this error and other fatal errors are flat out common. They can happen at any time, and when they do, I find myself Googling “what’s new in FCPX” and start to wonder if I’ve made a mistake.

    From my CS6 gripes:

    Every time I open a project file in Premiere, I get a little anxious watching the progress bar trudge along, especially if it has been a few weeks or months since I last opened the file. This fear is born of not-entirely-infrequent encounters with messages such as one that ominously states that a “serious error has occurred that requires Adobe Premiere to shut down.”

    It’s polite of Premiere to give the heads up that it’s about to crash, but the end result is the same: a quickened pulse and flashes of second-guessing my backup routine. Frequently, the project file will open after a system restart, but this does little to inspire confidence.

    In Final Cut Pro 7, I expect even the oldest project files to open painlessly and have been rarely let down.

    Difficultly opening project files is just one example of Premiere’s instability. Many other operations have led to crashes as well. Hopefully, I will soon be able to describe the Mac version of Adobe Premiere Pro as being “rock solid,” but it’s not there yet in CS6.0.2.

  5. Deleting an item from a bin should not delete it from the Timeline Explanation

    I frequently create temporary bins for copies of “maybe” clips. In Premiere, I can’t clean up those bins, i.e. delete them, if I end up using even just one of the clips. This really becomes a problem because of the way I create iterations of sequences. I regularly copy my current sequence and drop it in a bin called “incremental”, sometimes renaming it to indicate the most recent changes. That way, when I screw something up down the line, I can go back to that sequence. Auto backup is great in emergencies, but it does not give me that kind of control or freedom to experiment.

    Those sequences add up though and suddenly I can’t remove a clip from a bin because it was used in some early draft.

    This is all part of a bigger problem, though, which is the whole master file versus instance versus subclip versus dup clip thing. There aren’t any good indicators regarding the relationships of these clips, and there are few ways to adjust them.

    If clips are going to be connected, then they should be fully connected. For instance, changing the name of a clip in the bin should change it in the Timeline. Adding an effect or trimming should affect the corresponding clips between bin and Timeline. Otherwise, the clips should just be completely separate instances. I haven’t been able to find an option to turn a clip into an independent instance, although it has to exist. Right?

    In my view, every clip is basically a subclip: a set of in/out markers referencing the original source material. That’s non-destructive editing. An option to “link” clips together (in terms of name, in/out points, filters, etc.) is a great idea, but make it useful and definitely include the ability to break the links.

    Also, editing an instance of a title does change every other instance of that title throughout the sequence. I would prefer to be able to edit them separately without having to duplicate them in the title editor.

  6. Bin effects Explanation

    Related to the above, it should be possible to add effects to clips in bins or keep effects on clips added to bins from the Timeline. It would also be nice to be able to group effects together in bins for a specific project. The effects list window is better suited for global collections.

  7. Check

    Capability to open multiple projects simultaneously Explanation

    Maybe if we say, “pretty, please?”

    Update: Adobe added the ability to import assets and timelines from other projects in CC. It would still be nice to be able to work on more than one project at once without having to re-load all the media. However, the most common reason for opening multiple projects is probably to copy over assets or sequences, in which case, the Dynamic Link project import is actually a more powerful feature. So I’ll check it off the list.

  8. Background rendering Explanation

    Until I can preview any sequence full-screen at full-res with multiple effects, rendering will be part of my workflow, and therefore background rendering would be beneficial.

    I don’t mind dropping the playback to low resolution temporarily as my footage renders, but I shouldn’t have to export an entire project to preview it at high res.

    Quality hardware is an important investment, but requiring everyone to work on pimped-out towers (or cylinders) is not the answer. Sometimes, the available hardware is not your call, and there are many jobs where being able to cut on a laptop is crucial. I have found this to be the case with large corporate events where work areas are often set up quickly, sometimes in tight corridors, and subject to change. There are many other forms of production where mobility is even more important.

    Also, with each bump in processor power comes a new, more demanding codec. Adobe’s solution for editing several forms of raw, such as CinemaDNG, is to use a proxy format. What? This completely upends their no intermediate codec ideology. And now 4K is here.

    I do believe there should be a choice in the way that background rendering initiates. Per the user’s preference settings, background rendering should start: automatically (instantly), only through manual initiation, or during idle time.

    However, the real potential of background rendering lies in combining it with an export format, which brings us to the next item…

  9. Background rendering + ProRes + “Use Preview Files” could be awesome Explanation

    Put more simply, “background rendering + smart rendering” would be awesome.

    Adobe did make a very important upgrade to smart rendering in CC. Smart rendering and the “use preview files” export option now work with Apple ProRes. This is huge for those of us who are accustomed to the Final Cut Pro 7 workflow.

    Yet, by adding ProRes smart rendering, Adobe is acknowledging that rendering as you work is a legitimate Premiere workflow. Of course it is, because it can save substantial time when exporting, especially when it comes to re-exporting after making minor adjustments in the Timeline.

  10. Check

    Improved render selection options Explanation

    You can now select a range of clips directly in the Timeline to render.

  11. Dash

    DisplayPort/Thunderbolt out to HDMI Explanation

    I give this a “neutral” because the newest Macs have HDMI outputs and Thunderbolt, but it’s still a major problem on my iMac. I accept that a third-party card is required for the most accurate color correction on an external display, but there’s no reason this ability shouldn’t exist as it does in both FCP7 and X (with a simple adaptor).

  12. Check

    Cursor icons for tools are too big and embarrassingly crude Explanation

    It’s surprising that such a fundamental element of Premiere is still so unrefined.

    The cursor icons for the various editing tools are too big, too imprecise, and just ugly. The trim tool and the ripple tool should have different shapes that indicate their function, not just different, non-semantic colors.

    Update: “Leaner trim icons” added in CC 7.1. That’s a nice improvement, but the trim and ripple tools should still have different shapes rather than just different colors.

  13. Check

    Button icons at head of Timeline are too small and embarrassingly crude Explanation

    I’m going to give them this one only because the Timeline head has been so drastically improved.

  14. Really annoying cut selection behavior Explanation

    Clicking near a cut with the trim tool highlights it in such a way that it blocks other edit tools, such as the ripple edit tool, from working on the edge of the adjacent clip. You have to unselect by clicking somewhere else in the Timeline.

  15. Check

    Edit tool hover areas at edges of clips are too big Explanation

    I could be imagining things, but I think they got this one. It used to be that when you zoomed out on strings of short clips, it was hard to click on the middle of an individual clip to select it (partly due to those those bulky tool icons). I think they shrunk the hover area around the edit point, which is a nice improvement.

  16. Check

    Better clip selection indication in Timeline Explanation

    Much better! It used to be very difficult to discern what, if anything, was selected in the Timeline. Transitions always looked selected!

  17. Sometimes the standard trim tool refuses to switch to ripple edit and vice versa Explanation

    I thought this was a bug, but it might just be a manifestation of problem #14.

  18. Check

    Option to show frames in Timeline without any text labels Explanation

    The timeline looks significantly more polished with a variety of options.

  19. Check

    Previous/next edit with up/down arrow: almost got it right Explanation

    This was something they really fixed in CS6. The up and down arrow keys replaced CS5.5’s page up and page down keys as the previous/next edit navigation controls, freeing the paging keys to, get this, page through the Timeline.

    Much more importantly, they added the ability to skip to the next edit across all tracks (by using shift-up and shift-down), as opposed to whatever track happened to be selected at the head of the Timeline.

    Unfortunately, they really got the shift thing backwards. So although I try to stick with the CS6 default keyboard layout, the first thing I do is make this the other way around. Shift-down goes to the next edit among selected tracks (a feature I’ve never needed), and plain old down-arrow-down goes to the next cut — always.

    With the introduction of Creative Cloud preference synching, this little nuisance has become…littler. So count it!

  20. Up-arrow/down-arrow should go to in/out of clips in Source Monitor Explanation

    The up and down arrow keys currently do nothing in this window, which is inconsistent and inefficient, since my fingers are often already on the left/right arrow keys going frame by frame. In other words, the up and down arrow keys should behave the same way as shift-i and shift-o.

  21. Remember size and position of bin windows Explanation

    It’s hard to believe they haven’t fixed this yet. When you double-click a bin, it always opens a small, default-size window.

  22. Hide mouse pointer in full screen mode Explanation

    Pretty basic. Having to hide the mouse pointer in the corner is pretty irritating.

  23. Project browser should auto refresh/sort Explanation

    After renaming a clip, you have to click on the column name (twice really), to get it to sort.

  24. Color labels in Project Panel should change the appearance of the actual text Explanation

    The FCP way was much more useful. The color boxes in a separate column all blend together. They don’t allow me to really highlight clips or make much use of color coding at all. Also, what’s with the default color names? Righ-clicking on a clip gives you a list of exotic names without any visual indication of the label’s color.

  25. Copy should always be option-drag on a Mac Explanation

    Always. Copy is currently command-drag in the Project panel.

  26. Check

    Stop auto save from hijacking my screen while Premiere is in the background Explanation

    They fixed this in a point update to CS6. Previously, while working in other apps, Premiere would force itself into the foreground to show that it was performing an auto save. This was especially disruptive because Premiere keeps performing auto saves even if nothing has changed since the last one (see gripe #28).

  27. Check

    Stop auto save from interrupting adjustments in Timeline Explanation

    It appears to until you’re not in the middle an adjustment now. Classy. Ideally, the auto save would just be a background function.

  28. Check

    Auto save location preference and functionality Explanation

    This gripe should have been split in two, but as of the first update to CC, they got them both!

    From my CS6 gripes:

    In FCP7 I set the number of auto saves to the maximum of 100 and Premiere can go even higher. I have always used this feature as an additional backup and archive system, which has come in very handy. Those files add up, however. So, I wish I could set up Premiere to auto-save to an external drive.

    Also, auto saves continue to occur whenever there are unsaved changes. This means that if you make a small adjustment and then leave Premiere for a while, it will keep auto saving the same iteration, which is not only inefficient but leads to my next point…

  29. Auto save: delete oldest Explanation

    Rather than delete the oldest auto save file once it has reached the limit set in the preferences, auto save starts reusing the same set of file names. This makes it unnecessarily difficult to determine which file is the latest version.

  30. Clicking to new CTI position shouldn’t stop playback Explanation

    If you move the CTI while it’s in play mode, it should continue to play from that spot after you release the mouse, not stop there. This isn’t a minor thing. It’s the way I audition cuts.

    If this would bother long-time Premiere users (if such a thing even exists), make it a preference.

  31. Check

    Snapping (CTI, blade tool, clips) Explanation

    Done!

    From my CS6 gripes:

    Currently, there is no way to turn on snapping of any kind for the blade tool, which is stupid. The command-K option to cut at the CTI position does make this less of an issue, but the blade tool is pretty useless if it can’t snap to the CTI position or the edges of clips in other layers.

    For the CTI, the standard “s” toggle for snapping does nothing. In CS6, holding down the shift key does temporarily engage snapping, which is an improvement, but it presents a very inconsistent behavior, because holding down shift does not engage snapping for clip adjustments.

  32. Fine control over trim adjustments without having to zoom in Explanation

    Holding down shift would be a good option to allow adjustments in single frame increments at any zoom level.

  33. Conforming audio Explanation

    The ability of CS6 to work natively with DSLR footage is awesome, but it’s not fully DSLR native if it has to pre-render a major component of the footage before it can play, even if it’s just the audio.

  34. Dash

    Media loading Explanation

    They may have sped this process up. I will re-evaluate after I’ve worked on some bigger projects.

    From my CS6 gripes:

    When launching a project, it can take a long time for all the media in the project to “load” as tracked in the status bar. I’m sure there’s a reason for this, but since the program is able to determine which source media files are missing before this step (and gives you the option to reconnect them at that time), what is it doing and why must it load every clip in the project, even those not in use by any sequences?

  35. Dash

    Smoother scrubbing Explanation

    I’m sure this comes back to the lack of supported hardware acceleration on so many Macs, but scrubbing is pretty awful. While this is understandable with native footage, FCPX is silky smooth at full resolution.

    I give it a “neutral” because it seems to have improved somewhat and other reviewers have raved about the speed on systems with hardware acceleration.

  36. Check

    Increase undo limit Explanation

    You can now increase the limit to 100 in the preferences. That’s a big improvement. I challenge them to get it to 1000.

  37. After an undo, CTI should return to where it was at that point in “history”

  38. Check

    Clearer visual indicators that a clip has been adjusted in the effect controls panel Explanation

    Clips in the Timeline now sport an “Fx” indicator that turns orange when effects have been applied.

    I would take it a step farther and add better visual indicators to the effect panel itself as to what specific parameters have been adjusted.

  39. Ability to switch off all effects for a given track Explanation

    This would allow you to edit more quickly when effects are forcing you to render after every cut.

  40. Check

    Color correction shape mask Explanation

    In cleaning up the 3-way color correction effect in CS6, Adobe took my advice almost to the letter. (Yes, I take full credit!) They put the most important adjustments up top and replaced the confusing highlights/mid-tone/shadows drop-down selector with three dedicated wheels.

    However, a simple shape mask is sorely needed. I find masks are much more useful and ultimately faster than relying on shaky ranges that rarely nail skin tones with any precision.

    Basic color correction is one of the things that Apple really got right with FCPX. Speedgrade and DaVinci Resolve are great for big projects, but I shouldn’t have to leave the NLE for color correction as often as I currently do.

  41. Check

    Audio scrubbing without pitch change Explanation

    I guess the pitch change is intended to mimic linear editors, which was fun for a few seconds, but I have a much easier time navigating dialogue with the stutter-style scrubbing.

  42. Border controls for still images

  43. Check

    Ability to place a marker on a clip in the Timeline without opening clip Explanation

    I’ve changed this from an X to a dash because it is possible to set up a keyboard shortcut for “Add Clip Marker”. I have chosen control-m. This works, but it would be much more intuitive to have “m” mark either all selected clips under the CTI or the timeline if no clips is selected.

    Also, Add Clip Marker is extremely buggy with merged clips. It doesn’t always work and sometimes even causes Premiere to freeze up, requiring a Force Quit. This may be related to the fact that Match Frame for merged clips is broken in CC as well.

    Lastly, sometimes the Clip Marker is visible only on the audio track and not the video track, which is very odd.

    Update: Ability to apply markers directly to clips was added in CC 7.2, which is nice, but Clip Markers still aren’t visible if a video track is collapsed, which is very annoying.

  44. Check

    Better support for shared media access Explanation

    Adobe Anywhere may cover this and more, but it requires a disappointingly complex, expensive, custom-built hardware configuration.

  45. Dash

    More robust “find” function Explanation

    Truthfully, I don’t remember exactly what my problem was with this and haven’t had much chance to test it out in CC.

  46. Dash

    The button editor is unbelievably buggy Explanation

    They fixed this somewhat. It no longer cuts off buttons the way it used to, but it still doesn’t even center! Do I need to teach them some CSS?

  47. Show number of frames being adjusted during keyframe adjustments

  48. Enable/disable specific effect parameters/keyframes

  49. Dash

    Button that resets effect and clears all keyframes Explanation

    This gets a “neutral” because I’ve gotten used to clearing keyframes and reseting the overall effect separately.

  50. Dash

    Position controls starting point and reset button Explanation

    There should be a preference to make the default position 0.0 x 0.0 (as opposed to 50% of whatever the resolution happens to be), and include a reset button.

    Update: They added reset buttons for all individual parameters in CC 7.1. Nice!
  51. Check

    When clip is double-clicked in Timeline, CTI position in source viewer should match location in Timeline Explanation

    You would think Match Frame would accomplish this, but it opens a different instance of the clip. Also Match Frame for Merged Clips is broken in CC.

  52. Check

    When CTI reaches end of sequence, play/pause shouldn’t jump back to the start Explanation

    A preference has been added to address this.

    From my CS6 gripes:

    This is particularly irritating when playing video near the end of the sequence and you hit the spacebar to pause it. If the CTI happens to reach the end first, it will jump all the way back to the very beginning. If I wanted to go back to the start, I would have just used the “home” key as always.

  53. Check

    Dragging clip from Timeline to Project panel should make a copy (not a subclip that has to be named)

  54. Copy/paste clip from Timeline into bin

  55. Check

    Drag from Source Monitor panel to Project panel to create copy of clip

  56. Dash

    Peak files get “lost” and have to be regenerated Explanation

    Peak file generation can now be turned off in the preferences. I don’t know if there are still problems with the files getting disconnected, but the whole process should be invisible to the user.

  57. Check

    Use top-half waveforms for a cleaner look that saves space Explanation

    Fine. Call them “rectified” if it makes you feel superior. Looking good though.

  58. Check

    Control-k should cut through clip(s) selected in the Timeline instead of using the track selection Explanation

    Now that the blade tool has snapping in CC, I can live with this, but it’s still annoying.

    Update: Added in CC 7.1. This is much more convenient, but instead of updating one function at a time to respect clip selection, just ditch track selection all together for a consistent experience throughout the interface.
  59. Check

    Faster top speed in J-K-L control

    Update: Added in CC 7.1. I don’t know what the top speed was before, but it wasn’t very fast. Now you can get up to 32x, which is about as fast as you would ever need to go. Well done!
  60. “Esc” out of window maximize Explanation

    The grave accent window maximize is a truly awesome feature. So yeah, I know, pressing it once maximizes. Pressing it again snaps it back. Don’t ever lose that behavior. But I get used to hitting “Esc” to leave full screen mode. I would consider it a personal favor if that button snapped-back maximized windows as well.

  61. Check

    Save changes to current workspace (without having to retype exact name as a new workspace)

  62. Ability to cancel New Project dialogue without having to reload current project Explanation

    In other words, don’t close the current project until a new project is actually started. (This would be moot if you could open multiple projects.)

  63. Check

    Tab between panels to make them active Explanation

    Here it is: “Ctrl+Shift+” to tab left and “Ctrl+Shift+.” to tab right.

    I will probably switch the second one to Ctrl-tab but all right!

    I would rather it not take pit stops at the tool and audio level panes though.

  64. Dash

    “Automate to Sequence” with merged clips causes loss of audio sync Explanation

    I don’t yet know if this bug has been fixed, but merge clips is definitely still buggy. Match Frame is now broken, and syncing audio by waveform analysis has yet to work for me.

  65. Merged clips mysteriously become audio only and cause crashes when opened Explanation

    Merged clips have been very buggy since their introduction.

  66. Check

    Return and Enter should have different behaviors Explanation

    They fixed this in a CS6 point update. “Return” now moves to the next line. “Enter” simply enters.

  67. Check

    Currently have to click “close” twice to close properties window Explanation

    This got fixed in a CS6 point update.

  68. Check

    Better track coloring Explanation

    So they went with a darker shade instead of a lighter shade just to make it look like they weren’t stealing all of my ideas, but it’s a nice improvement in addition to the prettier waveforms.

    From my CS6 gripes:

    The new track coloring feature is great, but it makes audio tracks the exact same color as video tracks. Audio tracks should be a lighter shade of the selected color or look otherwise distinct even when waveforms are hidden. The [A] and [V] designations are too indistinct and frequently get cut off.

  69. Check

    Better markers for sequences and clips Explanation

    They added more functionality in CS6, but they should include colors and more keyboard shortcut controls.

  70. More logical clip sliding with keyboard commands Explanation

    “Cmd-,” (that’s command-comma) and “Cmd-.” (command-period) should cause a clip collisions, not overwrite, because a good use of those keyboard commands is to slide a clip up to but not over the adjacent clip.

  71. Check

    Opt-up-arrow and opt-down-arrow should allow you to shift the track position of selected clips Explanation

    They call it a nudge. That works.

  72. Check

    Add ability to select a cut directly and add default transition Explanation

    This was added in a CS6 point update. Nice.

  73. Check

    Add through edit indicator in Timeline and “Join Through Edit” option Explanation

    You almost missed out on a check mark here, Adobe! You can now right click on an edit point and select “Join Through Edits”. I’m not sure why it’s plural, but more importantly, in order to see the through edit indicators, you need to select “Show Through Edits” in the Timeline settings. Why this wouldn’t be on by default is beyond me.

  74. Default sliding behavior should move the clip’s audio track to correspond with the video track Explanation

    You could then use the shift-drag technique if you want to choose a different track for the audio.

  75. Check

    More/clearer control over cache locations Explanation

    Done. But there should also be an option to reset the cache/render file locations to their defaults.

  76. Remember last used setting of export source range (or default to “entire sequence”)

  77. Larger timecode display with h,m,s,f instead of colons Explanation

    I think the large timecode display in FCPX is too often dismissed as eye candy, but it’s a legitimately brilliant interface element. It really helps you effortlessly keep your bearings with much less eye strain.

  78. Simple slug Explanation

    In CS5.5 you had to create a black matte. In CS6 they added “Black Video”, but it still involves an extra step to take it from the Project panel to the Timeline.

  79. More detailed tool tips or hover explanations in preferences Explanation

    For example: The options regarding XMP data should make it clear that the original files will be modified by Premiere. This caused me problems in other applications. (After researching these settings, I understand that various Adobe applications use this information to share resources, but it’s still very unclear what the specific benefits are or what functions are lost without this option.)

  80. Check

    More detailed support documents Explanation

    The online support documents on the Adobe site are actually very good at this point, and Adobe employees are also active in the support forums. Try finding an official representative of Apple in a support forum.

  81. Footage auto-analysis: shot recognition, color correction, and color match Explanation

    If only Apple had just added these features and others to the FCP7 framework instead of reinventing the wheel and taking the train “off the tracks” in the process.

    Adobe can do it better by using smart folders in addition to the traditional bins that we know and trust (anything besides those dreadful iMovie-style “events”).

  82. Effect previews Explanation

    There has to be a quicker way to preview effects, perhaps along the lines of the Lumetri Looks preview thumbs (minus the guy with the mohawk).

  83. Dash

    Built-in syncing for dual audio recordings Explanation

    Theoretically, you can now automatically sync and merge clips by audio waveform analysis, but it has yet to work for me.

  84. Check

    Add user defined list of favorite folders in Media Browser Explanation

    And let us set the default directory.

  85. Many, many more effects! Explanation

    Some very basic effects are missing: vignette, border, and motion blur to name a few. Adobe’s stock response to this has been to use After Effects or Photoshop. Round-tripping with Dynamic Link is a great option, but I see no reason that more effects shouldn’t be built it. Obviously, Adobe sees the benefit of including effects within Premiere or they would provide zero.

  86. Check

    Many, many more looks! Explanation

    Lumetri Looks. Cool. Keep them coming.

  87. Dash

    More speed! Explanation

    You can always use more speed. I’ll revisit this with my next hardware upgrade.

  88. Check

    Cheap-looking CTI head Explanation

    I saved this one for last because it has absolutely no impact on my ability to edit, but I’ve always found the unrefined appearance of the CTI amusing. They wisely dropped the rudimentary 2-frame animation that existed in CS5.5 and earlier, but it still looks like a crappy gif icon.

Discussion

17 comments on “Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 to CC: Wish List Scorecard”
  1. Chris  

    Alot of your gripes are actually addressed in FCPX. Just sayin’. 🙂

    • Dax  

      I have no doubt. I think FCPX actually got a lot of things right. I love its color correction scheme. The problem is that a few of the things I don’t like about it are major and baked into the core of the system. I don’t know if I could get used to the trackless timeline. Maybe. But the auto save routine and the way it organizes projects and media drive me insane. Making it work with shared media seems like a nightmare. I feel much more in control with Premiere.

      When I first tried CS5.5, I was somewhat astounded by how many dumb little problems it had for a mature program. Yet, I thought it had more potential to be a true, professional-level successor to FCP7. It definitely seemed that Adobe was more interested than Apple in actually listening to what editors needed.

      Premiere has improved by leaps and bounds with CS6 and CC. If they address stability concerns and background rendering, my list would consist mainly of minor irritations — not that I consider any irritation minor or I wouldn’t spend time on these posts!

    • Chris  

      I know what you mean. I was an FCP7 / PP guy before I finally gave in to FCPX. It was a tough transition, but I can’t even touch Premiere now. For me, the gripe you mention about more effects and having to roundtrip with After Effects was big for me. There are certain times when that is acceptable. But it really is an old paradigm and in my opinion should be limited to effects shots. I shouldn’t have to link into After Effects to add a vignette, as you mention.

      The killer feature of FCPX is the one that I think a lot of people overlook. And that is the integration with Motion. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve saved by building my own animated titles and effects in motion, and then using them (with complete customizability) in FCPX.

      I think PP is great for people who want to stay in the “FCP” paradigm… working on one project at a time, tracks, etc… But if you can take the time to wrap your head around it, FCPX really is amazing.

  2. Brad  

    Great list, as a long-time Premiere user i’ve become so used to some of the crappy ways things work that it’s nice to see a fresh perspective picking apart the things that they don’t like. Helps me revisit my techniques and improve my workflow knowing what has been addressed from others perspectives.

  3. jason  

    RE: Clip Markers – You have been able to add marks to a clip in the timeline since CS6 and still can in CC. It’s a bit buggy in my opinion, but if you go into keyboard shortcuts, the TIMELINE PANEL you’ll see ADD CLIP MARKER. You also have to make sure SHOW CLIP MARKERS is enabled in the timeline display.

    THe clip does have to be selected in the timeline for the markers to be added though.

    Also, thank god, in this update you can now jump between clip and timeline markers in the timeline. in CS6 you could only jump to timeline markers, which made clip markers pretty useless.

    • Dax  

      Thanks. Yeah, it’s very buggy, actually. Sometimes the “Add Marker” button works while the “m” key does not. Other times, it doesn’t work at all. In other cases, the mark appears on only the audio track, which is strange and unfortunate. The audio track isn’t alway visible when I’m trying to match up a clip marker with a timeline marker.

      You’re right about jumping between clip and timeline markers now. Good point.

      What I would like to see is this: If I select a clip and press “m”, it should mark the clip at the CTI, without having to open the clip in the Source viewer. If no clips are selected at the CTI, it should mark the timeline.

      Edit: After a discussion in the forums, I discovered that you can set up a keyboard shortcut for “Add Clip Marker”. This is not as elegant a solution as the above, but it’s okay. Unfortunately, there’s a major bug when it comes to merged clips. Attempting to add a marker to a merged clip actually causes Premiere to freeze in my experience, requiring a Force Quit. This may be related to the Match Frame bug. As many users have reported, Match Frame is often unable to match the proper frame when applied to merged clips. Merged clips were extremely buggy in CS6. The trend continues.

  4. JW  

    Great list. I hope someone at Adobe is paying attention. I send them 5-10 bug reports and “wishes” a day.

    FYI, #37 was fixed with today’s update.

    • Dax  

      Thanks! I haven’t found that to be the case with #37 though. When I undo, the CTI stays put, even after multiple undos. It would be helpful if it moved back to wherever it was at the point of each step, especially if I’ve scrolled to another segment of the Timeline.

    • JW  

      Strange; on my system the undo behaves as ‘expected’ now … even after multiple pastes, moving around, etc.

    • Dax  

      Interesting. I wonder if there is a preference setting that affects that behavior, although I don’t know what it would be. Are you Mac or PC?

    • JW  

      I’m on Mac 10.7.5. You?

    • Dax  

      Mac OS 10.8.4

  5. JW  

    Here are my gripes, if you care to add … (I’ve sent these all to Adobe):

    89. After pasting clips in a sequence, they should be selected (for deletion, modification, whatever.) I shouldn’t have to manually re-select them all. This is standard behavior on all apps, including Adobe.

    90. There should be a shortcut for “Reveal in Finder” from the Timeline. It’s in the context menu (right click) for Chrissake!

    91. Opening an item from the Project window via shortcut (e.g., ) should open in Source or Program depending on its type. If it’s a clip, open in Source. If it’s a sequence, open in Timeline!

    92. Scrub Audio Toggling has been buggy since CS5, I believe, and it’s still buggy. If you toggle it via shortcut, the toggling does not occur until you either (a) play video, or (b) move around with mouse. If you try to toggle it while moving around with keyboard, it just has not effect.

    I wish they would make it like Avid, where if you scrub with keyboard while holding down it temporarily scrubs with audio.

    93. There’s a bug where half the time I simply cannot delete an effect from the Effect Control panel. Neither nor nor will get rid of it.

    94. Need a “reverse match frame” — if I match frame from Source panel, it should find that frame in the Timeline (if it exists.)

    95. After I Undo, the clips which were selected before my last action should still be selected! E.g., If I select a bunch of clips, then hit , when I meant to hit , and then Undo, I now need to manually re-select all those clips again. Major PITA.

    96. Nearly impossible to select a cut for trimming when it’s “under” a transition effect icon. You have to grab a 1-pixel region near the edge. Annoying.

    97. The Titler?!?! I don’t have room to list everything that’s wrong with it. But for starters:
    97a. Can’t change font size of text if it contains different sizes. (You can in Ae, Ai, Ps, etc.) You should be able to enlarge a bunch of text and have the characters maintain their RELATIVE size.
    97b. How the heck do you exit the Titler with shortcut?? closes each panel individually.
    97c. Shortcuts to change leading should be the same as in Ae, Ps, Ai, etc. Not the bloody OPPOSITE.

    98. Need a way to batch export several sequences. Takes forever to queue up a bunch in AME.

    99. Need a shortcut to switch through panels in a single frame. E.g., If I have many timelines open, why can’t I flip left or right through them, like in Ae?

    PLEASE, ADOBE, DO THE RIGHT THING!

    • JW  

      Sorry, I’m so frustrated I typed “Ph” and “Pr” when I meant to type “Ps” for PhotoShop (and I can’t seem to edit.)
      Wishlist for this blog: 1. Ability to edit comments.
      🙂

    • JW  

      Oh, crap … all my keyboard shortcuts were stripped from that post, I guess since I foolishly used > and < …

    • Dax  

      I fixed the Ps. I plan to upgrade the commenting functionality of this blog when I have the time, but your packafoma.com feature request is noted!

  6. bazinga  

    I stumbled on this post, after google search about the N.41 🙂
    C’mon adobe, it will be very nice if you deal with it.

    Nice blog 🙂

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