Pfeiffer. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production. Technology, productivity and workflow integration

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1 Pfeiffer Report Benchmark Analysis Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production Technology, productivity and workflow integration Executive Summary This report presents the findings of a market-specific benchmarking project conducted by Pfeiffer Consulting for Adobe Systems, combined with technology analysis of the latest release of the Adobe tools for video professionals. Market Situation. Video production, post-production and distribution are undergoing seismic shifts caused by fundamental evolutions in authoring technologies and changes in distribution and consumption of videos, films and animated content linked to the internet and digital distribution of content. In particular, the maturation of high-definition digital video capture, and the vast possibilities of non-linear editing and digital effects production and motion graphics are driving fundamental changes of the professional video workflow. About Adobe Production Premium. Adobe s latest suite of video-centric tools and technologies provides a highly integrated environment covering production and post-production workflows, motion graphics and effects production, and output to a variety of standards and output channels, including high-definition video, Blu-Ray and DVD creation as well as output to web-standards such as Flash video. Key Benefits. Adobe Production Premium is a milestone release of Adobe s video tools, that offers highly efficient non-linear editing tools, support for the majority of tapeless video formats, as well as Dynamic Link integration between After Effects and Premiere Pro (as well as several other programs comprised in the suite). Integration of competing non-linear editing environments with Adobe Production Premium can significantly reduce bottlenecks in existing After Effects, direct-to-disc and tapeless workflows. Productivity. Productivity provided by Adobe Production Premium is significantly higher than with previous releases, based on a wide variety of productivity and efficiency measures conducted for this project. Table of Contents Introduction The Adobe Production Premium Technology Platform The Productivity Impact of Tapeless Video and Direct-to-Disk Recording The Best of Both Worlds: Integrating After Effects and the Editing Workflow The Cumulative Effect of Productivity Gains Pfeiffer Consulting

2 Introduction About this Report This report presents the findings of a market specific benchmarking project conducted by Pfeiffer Consulting for Adobe Systems, combined with technology analysis of the latest release of the Adobe tools for video professionals. Productivity measures, based on the Pfeiffer Consulting Methodology for Productivity Benchmarking, compared workflow productivity based on the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium with previous releases of the software or in some cases competing tools from other vendors. Workflow benchmarks and efficiency measures analyzed the productivity impact of features introduced in the latest release of the different software components of Adobe Production Premium as well as improved integration between the different applications. For details on the methodology used for the productivity benchmarks, please refer to the Methodology sidebar on the page 4. Structure of this Report This report is structured in 4 sections: The Production Premium Technology Platform (page 3) presents the different components of the Adobe video production environment, as well as key results from the benchmarks conducted for this project. The Productivity Impact of Tapeless Video and Direct-to-Disk Recording (page 5) takes a closer look at tapeless video support in Adobe Production Premium. The Best of Both Worlds: Integrating After Effects and the Editing Workflow (page 7) analyzes the integration between After Effects and video editing software as well as integration of video and effects production with Adobe Photoshop. The Cumulative Effect of Productivity Gains (page 11) investigates the impact of cumulative productivity gains on return on investment. About Pfeiffer Consulting Pfeiffer Consulting s mission is to provide unique high-level, international market intelligence and strategic consulting for both content and technology providers. Pfeiffer Consulting is the publisher of the Pfeiffer Report on Emerging Trends and Technologies, an online resource on trends in the technology and content industry, as well as numerous specialized studies and reports. For more information, please visit: Major Findings ttadobe Production Premium is a mature and highly sophisticated editing and effectscreation environment that offers significantly increased productivity over previous releases. ttadobe Production Premium natively supports a wide variety of tapeless video formats, including XDCAM, AVCHD, P2 and RED, eliminating the need to transcode and rewrap footage prior to editing. ttby exporting effects-ready projects to Premiere Pro, users of other editing solutions can increase the productivity of their effects workflow. ttadobe Production Premium can integrate with other non-linear editing environments to increase overall productivity. About Pfeiffer Consulting ttpfeiffer Consulting is an independent technology research institute and consulting operation focused on the needs of publishing, digital content production, and new media professionals. ttdownload the complete Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium Benchmark Report at Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production 2

3 The Production Premium Technology Platform Major Points ttthe video and film production industries are undergoing significant changes that redefine how video is produced as well as viewed. Adobe is uniquely positioned to address changes on both content creation and distribution sides of the equation. ttadobe Production Premium is a milestone release that features mature and sophisticated editing, effects and administration tools as well as integration that strongly increases productivity. ttpervasive metadata support offered by Adobe tools is a key component in creating content that can be intelligently leveraged on a variety of platforms. An industry in flux The video and film technology landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years, and changes are bound to continue as the next waves of digital technologies drive increasingly sophisticated content. Tapeless capture of highdefinition footage is quickly taking center stage as the most efficient way to produce footage for almost every segment of the market, but brings new challenges for video editing and special effects workflows. Add to this the proliferation of internet-based content and the constantly growing number of output channels and consumer devices that can access video and need to be catered for, and you understand that for video professionals, it is not exactly business as usual. An increasingly fragmented production environment Video production tools come in all sorts and flavors, and continue to grow and diversify, ranging from multi-million dollar hardware solutions to surprisingly capable software packaged with your home computer. Adobe is playing a unique role in this marketplace, for a number of reasons. Adobe tools have been the cornerstone of every major aspect of the digital content revolution that is reshaping our modern society. Even if it were only for Photoshop, After Effects and Flash, the company would be a leading software provider for the video production industry. Adobe Production Premium: Efficiency of the Production Enviornment Premiere Pro : Workflow Efficiency Time in seconds. Shorter is better After Effects Quicksearch/Composition Navigator Time in seconds. Shorter is better Search for asset within a typical project Apply video transitions between 3 clips Search for asset within a complex project Apply video transitions to 10 clip sequence Navigate 5-level nested composition Navigate complex nested composition Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium shows productivity increases with many common operations in the production workflow, both compared with previous releases of the suite and with competing products After Effects makes it significantly easier to navigate compositions and to find specific parameters in complex projects. The chart on the right shows the time necessary to navigate and search different types of compositions. 3 Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production

4 Methodology This report is based on technology analysis and market-specific productivity benchmarks conducted by Pfeiffer Consulting for Adobe Systems Incorporated. It also includes elements from independent research and technology analysis projects conducted by Pfeiffer Consulting. Productivity Measures Pfeiffer Consulting conducted extensive, market-specific productivity and efficiency benchmarks of common video production and effects creation workflows, comparing features and productivity enhancements introduced with Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium, as compared with the previous release of Adobe Creative Suite, as well as competing products. Nature of benchmarks Experienced professionals performed segmentspecific workflow tasks and assignments, defined in clearly repeatable steps and executed in a closely monitored way. To ensure real-world results, no scripting was used for any benchmarks. All statements in this report are factual and can be independently verified. For in-depth discussion of the benchmark methodology, system configurations, and comprehensive benchmark description and results, please download the complete Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium Benchmark Report at Soundbooth : Equalize Volume of Multiple Clips Time in seconds. Shorter is better. Equalize volume of 5 individual clips Equalize volume of 10 individual clips Soundbooth allows users to work on several files at once. The chart shows the time necessary to equalize the volume of several sound clips, an operation that would previously have taken several steps for each individual file. As it is, Adobe s software tools continue to grow and adapt to a constantly evolving marketplace. They leverage authoring and production tools that span the full gamut of digital content produced today, and provide the much sought-after integration with web and interactive distribution channels few companies if any can match. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium For video producers, Adobe Production Premium is clearly a milestone release. While the company has offered key software for video professionals for a very long time one cannot imagine modern digital effects or motion graphics production without After Effects the current release of the video suite offers a maturity and efficiency that goes far beyond the previous releases. In a highly competitive, increasingly fragmented production environment, Adobe Production Premium has several key strategic advantages, even beyond the integration of key software packages such as Photoshop and CS3 Impact of Available Memory on Efficiency of 64-bit Systems GB 4GB 2 min. 53 sec. All texts and illustrations. Reproduction prohibited without previous written approval. For further information, please contact research@pfeifferreport.com. The data presented in this report are evaluations and generic simulations and are communicated for informational purposes only. The information is not intended to provide, nor can it replace specific productivity research and calculations of existing companies or workflow situations. Pfeiffer Consulting declines any responsibility for the use or course of action undertaken on the basis of any information, advice or recommendation contained in this report, and can not be held responsible for purchase, equipment and investment or any other decisions and undertakings based on the data provided in this report or any associated document. Adobe, Acrobat, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, OnLocation, Photoshop, Flash, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Version Cue are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Final Cut, Motion, Mac, Macintosh Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. OpenType and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Complete two 2-minute tasks in parallel (Photoshop filter, After Effects render) 4 min. 28 sec The Impact of 64-bit hardware: The chart shows the time necessary to complete 2 two-minute tasks (After Effects rendering, Photoshop filter) in parallel on a Mac Pro workstation, equipped respectively with 4GB and 16GB of memory. (See also the sidebar on page 4.) Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production 4

5 The Impact of Speech Search on Workflow Productivity Premiere Pro : Speech Search Search for point in 10 minute interview Search for point within 10 interview clips of 2 to 3 minutes each sec. 1 min. 28 sec. 1 min. 35 sec. 9 min. 48 sec. Speech search is one of the most spectacular features of Adobe Production Premium. The feature allows users to translate spoken words into text that is inserted as metadata into a clip, thus making videos searchable, both for prodution purposes or for being posted on the web. For text-centric production environments such as interviews and documentaries, speech conversion offers very significant productivity gains. It also provides an impressive demonstration of the potential of pervasive metadata in video production The 64-bit Solution While 64-bit workstations have become quite common in video production, software support for 64-bit hardware, allowing a program to access more than the 2GB a 32-bit application can use, is spotty at best. Two Adobe applications currently offer native 64-bit support: Photoshop (albeit only on Windows), and Lightroom 2. However, increased memory on a 64-bit computer brings productivity benefits even without native 64-bit support. Even if individual processes cannot access more than 4GB of memory on a 64-bit system, they can use multiple chunks of memory to exceed the 4GB limit, avoiding the need to use virtual memory. In our tests, conducted on a Mac Pro workstation, we compared the time necessary to complete two discrete tasks that each took just under two minutes individually (a complex Photoshop filter on a large image, and a rendering operation using After Effects), once using 4GB of memory, once using 16GB. Using the second memory configuration, the test took 40% less long than with 4GB of memory. (See chart on page 3.) After Effects. Unlike its most direct competitor, Apple s Final Cut Studio 2, Adobe Production Premium offers not only strong creative editing applications, but also covers production management tools such as OnLocation, as well as pervasive metadata support, increasingly vital in modern video and film production. As far as output is concerned, Adobe Production Premium supports a wide variety of formats and platforms, including high-definition video, DVD and Blu-Ray support as well as direct integration of the video production suite with Flash video and the Flash authoring environment. Last but not least, Adobe tools run smoothly both on Mac and Windows platforms, and allow transparent integration between both environments, as well as enabling easier integration with other tools in the post-production pipeline. The power of integration Beyond the intrinsic qualities of the individual tools provided by Adobe s video suite, the most compelling aspect is the high degree of integration between the different components of Adobe Production Premium. Practically speaking, this means integration with web-design, interactive workflows, sophisticated graphic design; an increasingly fluid and streamlined environment combining and connecting all types of creative content. It has become clear today that no production environment is an island anymore. While video and film production could live a relatively autarchic existence in the past, this is clearly not possible in today s media environment. As distribution channels are becoming increasingly diversified and fragmented, content needs to be more and more integrated. Video producers have to confront multiple resolution workflows, and deployment of their content in a variety of different ways. Adobe Production Premium has a lot to offer to video producers, even if they use different tools for the core editing tasks. OnLocation can provide significant productivity gains for other editing solutions through direct-to-disk video capture, for instance. Or take special effects production: After Effects is one of the most widely used tools for sophisticated digital effects, yet no other editing environment can match the integration between After Effects, Photoshop and the video editing environment Adobe Production Premium provides. And then there are metadata, of course. Adobe Creative Suite 4, as a whole, offers the ease of use and integration of metadata creation and management that media workflows are increasingly relying on; video production, it is clear, has become part of a much bigger picture. 5 Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production

6 The Productivity Impact of Tapeless Video and Direct-to-disk Recording Major Points tttapeless video production workflows offer flexibility and productivity in a non-linear editing environment that is redefining how video and film are produced. ttadobe Production Premium natively supports the leading tapeless video formats, including XDCAM, AVCHD, P2 and RED, eliminating the need to transcode footage prior to editing. ttthe possibility to edit directly from the removable storage medium used by the camera provides increased productivity in deadline-sensitive editing situations. Potential and challenges of the next wave of video workflows There seems to be little doubt in the video production business that tapeless high-definition workflows are the way of the future. The convenience and efficiency these file-based workflows provide in non-linear editing environments are very significant, and cameras using high-speed memory cards or hard drives to store footage are available from the consumer level up to professional-level equipment used in broadcast environments. And the film industry is not far behind: while most Hollywood productions are still produced using film, digital systems such as the RED camera are gaining traction and offer quality and optical sophistication that is beginning to rival traditional equipment. Even in production environments that still use tape-based cameras, recording directly to disk instead of shooting to tape and subsequently importing the footage into the digital editing environment results in very significant productivity gains. (See sidebar and chart on page 6.) Like most sweeping technology innovations, tapeless video comes with its share of challenges. Tape and film have been around for a long time, and there is a well-established understanding of the most efficient way of producing content with these tools. Digital workflows, on the other hand, evolve constantly, and minor technology issues can have huge ripple effects in a production environment. The issues start with file formats. There is not, as yet, a single recognized standard for HD video, making it essential for software developers Productivity Gains of the Integrated Tapeless Video Workflow Import of 1080i 50i (HQ) Footage from XDCAM EX Camcorder Tapeless Workflow Benchmark (Combining P2 and XDCAM Formats) Simple clip (60 seconds) 18 sec. 19 sec. 25 sec. Workflow Total 3 min. 9 sec. 7 min. 44 sec. Long clip (5 minutes) 1 min. 19 sec. 1 min. 20 sec. 1 min. 58 sec. 13 min. 55 sec. Complete project (8GB SxS card) 6 min. 50 sec. 6 min. 53 sec. 8 min. 57 sec. Workflow Total (including render) 21 min. 45 sec Adobe Production Premium offers support for all of the leading tapeless video formats both in Premiere Pro and in After Effects, including XDCAM, P2, AVCHD and RED. In addition to productivity gains linked to file import, Premiere Pro allows users to work with native video files directly from the memory card, eliminating the need to copy video to disk prior to editing. The chart on the right shows a workflow benchmark combining footage from both XDCAM and P2 camcorders in a single project. 6 Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production

7 Tapeless Workflows and Direct-To-Disk Tapeless Workflow Benchmark (AVCHD Format) On Location/Premiere Pro : Direct-to-Disc Workflow Test Workflow Total 3 min. 20 sec. 58 sec. Workflow Total (including render) 7 min. 13 sec. 8 min. 42 sec. Extract three 3-minute segments from source material 11 min. 31 sec. 11 min. 54 sec. 17 min. 17 sec Tapeless production environments are quickly gaining ground, and can offer spectacular productivity gains. The chart on the left shows workflow productivity of an AVCHD-based workflow using Premiere Pro, the first release of Adobe s software to support the AVCHD format, compared with The chart on the right compares the time necessary to import footage captured to disk compared with the time necessary to ingest the same footage from a tape-based medium. (OnLocation, which was used to capture files to disk, can also be integrated with other editing solutions.) to support the largest possible variety of formats and vendors. Archiving footage is another challenge: there is no convenient master tape or roll of film that can be stored in a fireproof vault for preservation. Last but not least, video and film have become part of a much larger media landscape that ranges from the multiplex to your cell-phone by way of the internet, creating the need for reliable and efficient multiple resolution workflows. Tapeless workflows with Adobe Production Premium The latest release of Adobe s video production environment tackles the challenges of tapeless video on a variety of fronts. As far as format support is concerned, Adobe Production Premium supports a wide range of popular tapeless video formats, including the XDCAM format developed by Sony, the P2 format used by Panasonic s professional camcorders, AVCHD (a specification developed by Panasonic and Sony, and supported by a growing number of vendors) as well as the increasingly popular RED format. Support for these file formats is provided not only by Premiere Pro, but also in After Effects. In addition to the productivity gains inherent in tapeless workflows, Adobe Production Premium provides a more streamlined workflow. Part of this is due to the fact that Adobe tools can natively work with these files while competing editing environments need to ingest and transcode file formats such as AVCHD before the editing process can begin. But Premiere Pro offers another feature that can be strategically important in deadline-driven production environments: Adobe s editing environment can work with native files directly on the memory card or even the camera hard drive, eliminating the need to copy files to the local workstation for editing. Finally, Adobe Production Premium also offers the possibility of capturing video from tape-based cameras, using OnLocation, so footage can immediately be used in Premiere Pro and other video editing solutions. The productivity benchmarks conducted for this project document the efficiency gains linked to these possibilities (see charts on pages 5 and 6). Benchmarks measured not only the time to import footage from a variety of formats, but also analyzed the efficiency of the editing workflow, including workflow tests of mixed environments, building a short video from different file formats. Beyond the editing process, the tight integration with effects production on one side, and output to a variety of different platforms and popular video formats such as Flash video as well as Blu-Ray discs on the other round out the Adobe video workflow. Direct-to-Disk with OnLocation While OnLocation sports a rich set of options for managing shoots, the possibility of capturing footage from tape-based cameras directly to the hard drive of a connected computer is one of the features that will be attractive to many users of tape-based cameras, even if they are using competing editing programs such as. Direct-to-disk recording saves the output from the camera directly to disk without modification, so users get the content in its original form without quality loss, eliminating the time-consuming importing process as well as the risk of dropped frames. The files produced by OnLocation can be directly placed in the editing environment, with no further intervention required, and let users go from shoot to editing without having to wait for the tape to be imported. OnLocation (which now supports both Mac and Windows platforms) not only allows the capture, but the program helps manage aspects such as exposure and lighting to make sure different clips come in with exactly the same look, thus reducing the time to color correct individual clips to match them to others. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production 7

8 The Best of Both Worlds: Integrating After Effects and the Editing Workflow Major Points ttafter Effects is an essential part of the modern video production workflow that forms a hub between video production and interactive workflows. ttadobe Production Premium offers tight and efficient integration between the editing environment and After Effects. ttdynamic Link removes productivity bottlenecks between the editing environment and After Effects. ttby exporting edited, effects-ready projects to Premiere Pro, users of other editing solutions can increase the productivity of their effects workflow. The hub of motion graphics Few software products can claim to both have created an industry and developed a cult following, but After Effects is certainly one of them. It is also probably one of the most feature-rich and deep programs ever developed, and it occupies a central spot in video production as well as in Adobe s Creative Suite. After Effects has been a market leader in mainstream effects production for years, and its use is widespread and diversified. The program has been essential in creating award-winning movies such as Waltz with Bashir and Hollywood blockbusters like Iron Man, and it occupies a crucial position at the crossroads of video production, special visual effects, 3D animation and interactive content. Typical After Effects projects can count thousands of layers, and interdependencies of elements that can make a complex web-site pale by comparison. In other words, After Effects is central to modern video production, and the integration it offers with the other components of Production Premium delivers concrete productivity gains. The challenges of After Effects integration While After Effects has been around for a long time, the integration with common non-linear editing environments is less than perfect. It works, but it also contains some serious productivity bottlenecks. The Multiple Facets of Dynamic Link After Effect/Premiere Pro : Dynamic Link Workflow DVD Preparation Workflow with Dynamic Link Time in seconds. Shorter is better sec Apply effect to 4-second clip from editing sequence using After Effects 1 min. 28 sec. 4 min. 52 sec. Move project from editing application intodvd program and make ready to burn to DVD Dynamic Link can provide significant productivity gains when integrating different applications in a video production workflow. (See also the sidebar on page 9.) The chart on the left shows the time necessary to apply an effect to a 4-second clip in Premiere Pro with After Effects. (Since Final Cut Pro does not support Dynamic Link, clips need to exported to After Effects, rendered, and re-imported.) The chart on the right shows the impact of Dynamic Link integration between Premiere Pro and the DVD /Blu-Ray authoring program Encore. 8 Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production

9 Effects Production in a Mixed Environment After Effect/Premiere Pro : Dynamic Link Workflow Integration with After Effects After Effects workflow project (Total) 2 min. 14 sec. 4 min. 13 sec. 41 min. 31 sec. Conventional Final Cut+ After Effects workflow Final Cut project export to Premiere Pro, Dynamic Link with After Effects 2 min. 46 sec. 41 min. 31 sec The productivity impact of Dynamic Link in effects production can be significant, since the user is not required to render a clip to bring it into After Effects, and then again to re-import it into the editing application. Chart on the left: the time necessary to complete the editing phase of a multistep effects projects (using After Effects) on 5 clips in a project, then revising two clips a Imagine that you have a video composition that requires some visual effects work, as well as motion design for titles and other elements. In most editing solutions, this requires rendering the composition to a unique movie file that is then imported into After Effects and enhanced. Once the effects are completed, they need to be rendered out to a movie file that the editing application can use, and have to be re-imported to replace the original sequence. Even if they are only executed once, these steps are time consuming. When adjustments are needed either in the editing program or in the effects composition (as is very often the case), the repeated rendering in order to get it right can take hours. Adobe started to tackle this problem by introducing Dynamic Link, a technology that eliminates the need for rendering between several applications. (See sidebar.) While it requires powerful hardware to make best use it (playback of dynamically linked files can be jumpy), it creates a much smoother workflow situation that does not interrupt the creative process by repeated rendering operations. Integrating After Effects in mixed environments Dynamic Link is an obvious benefit for workflows that are completely based on Adobe Production Premium, but even users of competing editing solutions can use the integration between After Effects and Premiere Pro in order to speed up their After Effects work. Premiere Pro can import projects as XML files that preserve the structure and links with the original footage. In other words, it is possible to complete the bulk of editing tasks in Final Cut, then hand over the project as an XML file to Premiere Pro and start the After Effects work using the tight integration between Adobe applications to speed up effects production. Practically speaking, this process makes sense in a revision-intensive effects workflow, where many round-trips between After Effects and the editing program are required. Some of the rendering time is of course still necessary; but in a Dynamic Link workflow it occurs at the end and can be executed as a background task, and therefore does not interrupt the creative process. In addition, Dynamic Link also works between Premiere Pro and Encore, meaning that a whole editing project can be dynamically linked to a DVD/Blu-Ray interface, or exported to Flash. Finally, integrating editing with the Adobe Suite of tools also allows Final Cut users to access the Blu-Ray authoring features of Encore, without having to migrate their whole editing workflow to Premiere Pro second time). Chart on the right: the same project, first executed in Final Cut Pro and After Effects, then exported from to Premiere Pro, and completed using Dynamic Link with After Effects. Benchmarks include the time necessary to export from into Premiere Pro. Figures do not include the final rendering of the completed project. Dynamic Link Dynamic Link, which was significantly expanded in Adobe Production Premium, aims at streamlining the exchange of assets between different components of Production Premium. Without Dynamic Link, each time a modification occurs in an After Effects composition that has to be reflected in the video editing software, the sequence needs to be re-rendered and manually updated in the editing software. Dynamic Link, on the other hand, creates a connection between After Effects and Premiere Pro. If a composition in After Effects is altered, the changes are reflected immediately in Premiere Pro, and vice versa. If one creates a Dynamic Link between a Premiere Pro composition and Encore, changes to the edited sequence show up in the DVD authoring environment. Dynamic Link is supported between After Effects, Premiere Pro, Encore and Soundbooth. Productivity gains are significant, especially when compared with other editing environments. In an effects-heavy Final Cut Pro project, for instance, it makes a lot of sense to export the Final Cut project to Premiere Pro, to benefit from the tighter integration with After Effects, once the basic editing is finished. (See charts on this page.) Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production 9

10 Photoshop Extended Photoshop, Video Editing and Effects: Who Does What? After Effects Premiere Pro Final Cut tt Pixel Data Can be imported as a composition with editable Layer Styles or merged layers as footage Can be imported as separate layers, separate layers in a sequence or as a merged flat image Separate layers imported in a folder by default No other import options ttalpha Chanels Supported Supported Supported ttadjustment Layers Fully editable Can be individually animated Visual information displayed if imported as merged image Not editable Not recognized ttlayer Styles Fully editable Can be individually animated Displayed Not editable Not recognized tttext Layers Fully editable Can be individually animated Can be animated as a separate layer Not editable Can be animated as a separate layer Not editable tt 3D Layers Fully editable Can be animated in 3D space Displayed as 2D image Displayed as 2D image ttvideo Layers Supported Supported Not supported The role of Photoshop in video and film production Photoshop is certainly one of the most widely used tools in creative workflows around the world, and the program has become a cornerstone not only for digital imaging and publishing professionals, but for video professionals as well. The scope and variety of Photoshop s applications in a video production is considerable and ranges from simple retouching operations on individual frames, to sophisticated rotoscoping, or retouching entire video clips, text effects, to highly sophisticated image processing tasks. Like After Effects, Photoshop is a world unto itself, and belongs to the extremely rarefied group of technologies to have become a verb in everyday language. The integration of Photoshop with video editing applications varies greatly. While all of them support basic layers, alpha channels and text, support for more sophisticated features in popular video editing applications is scarce. Not surprisingly, Adobe beats its competitors in this game (see sidebar) offering for instance support for layer styles such as drop shadows in Premiere Pro. But the most sophisticated integration Photoshop enjoys is with After Effects, which treats Photoshop files as a perfect complement to the compositing and animation workflow, and allows users to animate practically every aspect of an imported file: text in an imported Photoshop file can be edited without requiring a round-trip to original application; parameters of layer styles such as drop shadows can be animated in very sophisticated ways; 3D layers can be manipulated in 3D space. In other words, After Effects and Photoshop provide a kind of synergy that only very few program environments can offer, and constitute a powerful integrated toolset for animators, motion designers, and visual effects professionals around the world. Support for Photoshop features varies widely between different applications common in the video production workflow. After Effects allows users to access and animate almost every conceivable aspect of even very sophisticated Photoshop documents, including native import of 3D layers. On the other end of the spectrum, Final Cut Pro supports only basic features of Photoshop files. 10 Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production

11 The Cumulative Effect of Productivity Gains Major Points tteven seemingly minor productivity gains on frequently repeated operations can lead to significant return on investment. ttthe ROI projections provided in this report are based on extensive benchmarks and productivity measures conducted with Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium. ttthe ROI projections derived from the cumulative effect of productivity gains can easily reach thousands of dollars per workstation and per year. ROI can be a subjective notion While in some sectors of activity, the exact meaning of return on investment (ROI) can be very clearly understood and easily defined, this is far from being the case in creative industries in general, and in particular when the investment in enabling technologies is concerned. ROI is essentially a matter of approach: what exactly is considered a valid return on investment? While a decision maker in a bottling plant may have a clear idea of the return a specific technology investment may bring, the situation is much less clear-cut in a publishing house, advertising agency, or video production company essentially, any company where the goods sold depend on creativity and not just production capacity. Perceived ROI also varies considerably depending on the size of an operation: Smaller effects studios and creative agencies frequently value the creative edge a new tool provides more than they do calculated cost savings, and thus base their equipment decisions on available funds and immediate usefulness; in larger operations such as agencies or media groups, the cost of deployment and training will factor heavily in any decision to purchase or upgrade creative technologies. The Impact of the User Interface on Productivity Premiere Pro : Editing and Workflow Efficiency Video editing workflow efficiency (Average of 11 benchmarks) min. 29 sec. 6 min. 3 sec. Adobe Production Premium in general, and Premiere Pro in particular, offer significant productivity gains over previous releases of the software. This chart shows the average of eleven individual productivity measures of efficiency features introduced with Premiere Pro. The program is over twice as efficient as the previous release of Adobe s non-linear editing program. Final Cut Pro was also significantly slower then Premiere Pro in these benchmarks. 4 min. 24 sec Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production 11 All text and graphics.

12 The ROI of Final Cut Integration You use best what you use most. Familiarity with a well-known tool, knowing what one can achieve, and how fast it can be done, is essential to get a job done on time and with the best possible result. It is for this very reason that the loyalty to their tool of choice by seasoned users is very significant, even when presented with an attractive alternative. Who wants to change their client? The situation of Adobe Production Premium in the context of video production workflows is a strange one, since the suite combines some market-leading tools and technologies (Photoshop, After Effects, Flash) with others that challenge widely used products. Premiere Pro has matured into a very capable non-linear video editing program, one that is more productive than Final Cut in many of the tasks benchmarked for this project. Yet the primary value proposition Adobe Production Premium brings to Final Cut Studio users is not that of a replacement of their tool of choice, but rather as an extension. Adobe s suite of tools offers integration with crucial media technologies that no competitor can match, and connects video production with the world of interactive design and internet distribution that media producers increasingly require. In other words, it is possible to benefit from this integration (Dynamic Link between a variety of programs, Flash export, Blu-Ray support, direct-to-disk capture of footage, etc.) without giving up one s established video editing workflow. And it s under these circumstances that the return on investment of Adobe integration with Final Cut can be very significant. Handing off an effects-ready video project to Premiere Pro can save hours of rendering time. Capturing footage directly to the computer hard drive significantly reduces the time a Final Cut user needs before editing can start once a shoot is completed. Integration with Encore also allows Flash export and Blu-Ray support for video projects, opening up completely new distribution perspectives for video producers. The invisible gains There is one factor, however, that is almost universally underestimated when analyzing return on investment: the considerable cumulative effect of small productivity gains in everyday operations that a new software release can bring. Let s take a simple example: Each time you use the Composition Navigator or Quicksearch in After Effects to find elements of a composition you save a few seconds (or minutes, in the case of complex compositions). Over the course of one month, these features can save you several hours. Each time you use OnLocation to capture video directly, you save over a minute for every minute of footage. Depending on the quantity of footage you produce, this can save you hours every week. And we are only considering a few isolated feature. Once one starts adding up the individual productivity gains provided by a variety of efficiency enhancements and features introduced in Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium, it is clear that the returns on investment can be very significant. (There is one caveat, however: to benefit from these efficiency gains, it is necessary to adopt the improvements a new release offers. Not surprisingly, users who continue to work in old ways will see much less increase in productivity. But that risk is small, since most efficiency improvements in require little or no learning.) Every click counts It is a widely accepted fact in productivity research and ergonomics that every click counts, and every trip to the menu bar slows the user down. If one works in an office environment without particular time pressure, these gains may seem insignificant, but in highly competitive, deadline-driven businesses such as advertising, media production, and publishing, even seemingly minor productivity gains are immediately useful. The bottom line Pfeiffer Consulting has analyzed the data from the productivity benchmarks to establish the impact of productivity gains on return on investment. The effect of these minor time savings are compounded over days or weeks and translate into major productivity enhancements. The result is greater profitability and the confidence to deliver the finished product within a tight deadline. Adobe increases the productivity of average users by providing efficiency gains in a large number of everyday operations. The ROI can very easily reach thousands of dollars per workstation per year. These ROI projections show that significant ROI can be derived from productivity gains in every one of them. In some workflow situations, the ROI impact of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium can be in excess of $10,000 per year and per workstation. About the ROI Projections The ROI projections on the following page have been calculated using a simple methodology. The top half of the table presents the features taken into account, and calculates the number of seconds saved by one individual operation over a previous release. In addition, these time savings are mapped to the hourly cost of a creative professional. The lower half of the table uses the same features and time savings, applies a reasonable weekly frequency of use for each feature, and calculates the savings based on hourly rates. Finally, the bottom of the table presents the cumulated cost savings of all features included in the table over a month and a year (based on 20 workdays per month and 220 workdays per year). Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production 12 All text and graphics.

13 Production Premium: Return on Investment Scenarios (Per Workstation) The figures presented in this table are average values of groups of several benchmarks. To see the list of individual benchmarks and results, please refer to the Appendix of this report. Prod. measures in Adobe CS3 workflow (Time in seconds) Prod. measures in Adobe workflow (Time in seconds) Individual time savings (seconds) Productivity gain (%) ROI generated (1 $100) Incremental productivity gains (Return on Investment generated by individual operation) Video Editing Workflow ttpremiere Pro : Apply Effect to Multiple Clips (Average of 2 benchmarks) % $0.26 ttpremiere Pro : Apply Multiple Effects (Average of 3 benchmarks) % $0.52 ttpremiere Pro : Remove Effects (Average of 2 benchmarks) % $0.75 ttpremiere Pro : Change Speed of Multiple Clips (Average of 2 benchmarks) % $0.82 ttpremiere Pro : Apply Trans. to Multiple Clips (Average of 2 benchmarks) % $0.35 ttpremiere Pro : Speech to Text (Average of 2 Benchmarks) % $7.84 ttsoundbooth : Adjust Volume of Multiple Clips (Average of 2 Benchmarks) % $1.69 Direct-to-Disc Workflow ttonlocation : Import Footage (Average of 3 Benchmarks) % $14.85 ttonlocation : Direct-to-Disc Workflow Test % $17.60 After Effects Workflow ttafter Effects : QuickSearch Parameters (Average of 2 Benchmarks) % $1.34 ttafter Effects : Navigate Project (Average of 2 Benchmarks) % $0.22 ttafter Effects /Premiere Pro : Dynamic Link % $1.61 Digital Imaging Workflow ttphotoshop : Workflow Efficiency (Average of 7 Benchmarks) % $0.32 ttphotoshop : OpenGL Support (Average of 7 Benchmarks) % $0.12 ttphotoshop : User Interface Efficiency (Average of 3 Benchmarks) % $0.28 ttbridge : Image Management (Average of 2 Benchmarks) % $0.71 ROI projections (based on incremental productivity gains) Video Editing Workflow Time saved (seconds) Number of occurrences (Per week) ROI (1 $100) ttpremiere Pro : Apply Effect to Multiple Clips (Average of 2 benchmarks) $6.47 ttpremiere Pro : Apply Multiple Effects (Average of 3 benchmarks) $13.05 ttpremiere Pro : Remove Effects (Average of 2 benchmarks) $15.06 ttpremiere Pro : Change Speed of Multiple Clips (Average of 2 benchmarks) $8.20 ttpremiere Pro : Apply Trans. to Multiple Clips (Average of 2 benchmarks) $3.50 ttpremiere Pro : Speech to Text (Average of 2 Benchmarks) $15.68 ttsoundbooth : Adjust Volume of Multiple Clips (Average of 2 Benchmarks) $8.45 Direct-to-Disc Workflow ttonlocation : Import Footage (Average of 3 Benchmarks) $45.32 ttonlocation : Direct-to-Disc Workflow Test $57.62 After Effects Workflow ttafter Effects : QuickSearch Parameters (Average of 2 Benchmarks) $33.30 ttafter Effects : Navigate Project (Average of 2 Benchmarks) $8.61 ttafter Effects /Premiere Pro : Dynamic Link $24.50 Digital Imaging Workflow ttphotoshop : Workflow Efficiency (Average of 7 Benchmarks) $8.08 ttphotoshop : OpenGL Support (Average of 7 Benchmarks) $2.33 ttphotoshop : User Interface Efficiency (Average of 3 Benchmarks) $5.51 ttbridge : Image Management (Average of 2 Benchmarks) $3.53 Total ROI generated/week $ Total ROI generated/month $1, Total ROI generated/year $11, Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Streamlining Video Production