Warning: Premiere Pro 2015.3 removes Speedgrade integration and has no backward compatibility

[Seneca_lives]

The latest PPro update (2015.3, updated today) creates project files that can't be read by the latest version of Speedgrade (not updated today or since whenever). It also removes the "Direct Link to Speedgrade" option from its menus. This means, that as of today, Adobe is effectively without a color grading solution.

The new PPro does provide support for Tangent control surfaces - including full customization through the Tangent Mapper application - which is in itself a very good thing. However, this was apparently enough for Adobe to decide that Direct Link and Speedgrade are no longer needed and this is simply not the case.

This leaves any remaining Speedgrade users and colorists in general with very few options:

1. For now, I recommend you reinstall the 2015.2 versions of Premiere/AE/AME through Creative Cloud to finish any current projects - they can exist side by side, at least - but that still means missing out on any new features and compatibility with client files. This is clearly not a sustainable solution. And Premiere versions are linked to After Effects versions, so you'll also lose out there...

2. Use Speedgrade the old-fashioned way, in native mode, using EDLs or exporting DPX. Which was never an ideal solution back in de CS6 days, but the world has moved on even if Speedgrade hasn't, and Speedgrade has no way of dealing with many more recent file formats (MXF being the most prominent). Sad to say this is simply not an option on many projects. Never mind that the roundtrip functionality and flexibility of Direct Link is gone, which was really Speedgrade's biggest selling point.

3. Try to grade in Premiere. Not really an option for serious work: Premiere's Lumetri implementation currently lacks support for layers (other than by clumsily stacking Lumetri effects), grading shadows/midtones/highlights separately as well as setting their ranges, and basic 2-up/3-up/snapshot functionality. I'm sure I can think of many more. Point is, as a color grading application the Lumetri Panel is a joke, a slightly better version of the plug-in effects that amateur colorists used to apply per-clip.

4. Jump ship. I've resisted this for a long time, as it would mean investing in new control surfaces, but Adobe's neglect has gotten to a breaking point. I'd resigned myself to the fact that Speedgrade would continue as a zombie application, never updated and slowly forgotten. Alas, even that was too much to ask.

[R Neil Haugen]

Just tried this out on a couple projects ... yes, it's simple and quick ... and yes, it works. At least on a relatively simple project.

My more major/important & therefore complicated jobs I haven't brought into 2015.4 from 2015.2, just on account of this grading issue.

I'll be interested to hear how those with more complicated projects fare, of course, but ... it looks very promising right now.

Neil

[patshiPJZ]

Hey Neil,

I tested it on 2015.4 projects with many sequences in it and works so far. If I stumble on some "inconsistencies" I can look into it and can implement some "feature preventation" mechanism, which holds the extra data from the newer project file version and later adds it back after converting back from the older to the newer version. But the future will show.

Patrick

[R Neil Haugen]

Thanks, Patrick!

Neil

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi all,

Any off topic discussion regarding the removal of Direct Link will be moved to the Video Lounge. Have a comment about the removal of SpeedGrade? Here is a link to the Video Lounge, the location for OT discussion. Please make your comment there.

I remind everyone that this is a troubleshooting forum, so please stay on topic and post appropriately. There is nothing the support staff can do about this or any change coming from the engineering team.

Thanks for understanding.

Kevin

[what_]

Does the technique menitioned here still work

SpeedGrade Help | Adobe Premiere Pro and SpeedGrade workflows

I can't see

File > Send to Adobe SpeedGrade

as mentioned in the document.

[R Neil Haugen]

That page is for CS6.

They changed the "send to SpeedGrade" in the original CC version, and up through 2015.2, using that command sent the project directly to SpeedGrade, or, you could just navigate from SpeedGrade to a PrPro project file and open it. Was really quite slick and useful.

However, 2015.3 is a complete new version, NOT a simple dot-update, even though they kept the 2015 name.

2015.0/.1/.2 program files are 9.x versions.

PrPro 2015.3/4 are 10.x versions.

There is NO 10.x version of SpeedGrade, and it is fairly apparent they are not intending to release one.

And that is very relevant, as the Direct Link to SpeedGrade only works with comparable versions. So from the 10.x version of Premiere Pro there is no longer a "Send to SpeedGrade" option. And the last SpeedGrade version release, 2015.1, is not compatible with the 10.x version of PrPro, either 2015.3 or 2015.4.

To use the Direct Link as it was called, you need to work a project within the 2015.2 PrPro and 2015.1 SpeedGrade compatible versions.

However, there's another thread on the SpeedGrade forum, where the 'how-to' of changing one character in a PrPro project file so that SpeedGrade 2015.1 will open a 10.x project, and ... there's also a thread where another user has created a little applet to automatically create a saved-as copy of a project file to be used within SpeedGrade, and then automatically convert the file back to a 10.x "version" after you're done. I've used it, and it so far has worked fine. It is NOT supported by Adobe, and there is a small fee to purchase the little app ...

Premiere/Speedgrade Project Converter Tool

Also ... I will say that for many simpler projects, the new Color Workspace in PrPro works rather well. But if you need multiple secondaries or things like that, extensive shot-matching among other things ... well, you can "stack" Lumetri effects, and create a sort-of kinda-like a 2-up workspace for viewing playback ...

but first ... the color workspace panel controls ONLY work with the "last" applied instance of Lumetri, so if you wish to modify the settings of an 'earlier' instance, you need to use the Effects Control panel twirl-down controls for it;

second ... external control surfaces ONLY work with the 'full' Color Workspace panel controls, so they also ONLY work with the last instance of Lumetri in the Effects control panel.

To get around this, you can put Adjustment Layers on a clip within PrPro, and then use those to apply more 'layers' of Lumetri, and each one will be usable via the main Color Workspace and any external controls.

The unfortunate side effect of multiple Lumetri instances, where 'stacked' directly on a clip or via layers of Adjustment Layers, is the really choke down your computer's performance in playback and rendering/exporting.

Which for most people did not happen to nearly the same extent within SpeedGrade via Direct LInk. Although some did get some slowdown & lag in processing.

-----------

As to the other things on that page of CS6 use of PrPro/SpeedGrade ... yes, you can still do a flattened file exported out with an EDL from PrPro 2015.4 and work that within SpeedGrade 2015.1. Or send an AAF or XML file out, and use say Resolve to conform the original files and work the grading of your material.

Neil

[what_]

Thanks Neil, that page was actually from the current "manual" on the adobe website i.e. what you get when you click on "get started" with speedgrade. Its amazing that a multi million pound product like creative cloud has such lacklustre non-integrated documentation implementation. Very misleading.

It does seem fairly obvious that Adobe are going to retire the product, so they should just get it over and done with rather than mess us all around! Lumetri in Premiere isn't as bad as I first thought, but gone is the polished interface etc.

[KevinAGI]

I'm sorry but I can not tow the Adobe line on this one. Although the lumetri panel is good for quick looks it is far from a professional color correction tool. I bought into the whole integrated suite thing. I built a professional post production pipeline based on it, even using the new 2015 master clip corrections for dailies one lights, only to have a portion cut off. Now I am stuck on an older version lacking the new proxy workflow, or the new version and double color correcting. I for one do not want to go backwards in functionality.

Kevin

Sent from my iPhone

[R Neil Haugen]

Hey, so totally understand your feelings & thoughts. There myself, as a matter of fact. So the 10.x version is very frustrating, as it has some very good new things but breaks one of my MAIN usability points of the 7/8/9 series of programs.

I'm not sure the 'team' is really thrilled to get more of these, but of course, the User may always get their feelings to the Adobe team leadership and especially the folks above them who determine budgets via the bug/request feature form. While those folks do not visit here, they DO get a tabulated version of the bug/feature forms submitted with numbers & such. Sometimes these do get re-consideration of features and functions, and sometimes ... it is just a way to pas on the user-base thoughts & feelings on the choices made.

Either way works for me.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Neil

[KevinAGI]

I keep leaving them, I only wish I actually had anyone's ear at adobe

anymore.

Kevin Christopher

Editor/Post Production Supervisor

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Kevin,

Sorry that we don't really respond to every bug report filed. We don't have the bandwidth. If you send me a message after the product team gets back from IBC, say, in a couple of weeks. I can forward your info to a program manager and they will contact you.

Thanks,
Kevin

[R Neil Haugen]

Some of the Adobe 'manual' pages aren't kept up as one might hope. So I can go through them and see things from LONG past days ... that are either still up in completeness, or have had a line or two added to "clarify" something.As with this page.

Neil

[PatBranch]

Has Adobe made an official comment about what they plan to do with Lumetri as a replacement for Speedgrade? They announced PP 2017 and the only thing they changed in Lumetri is the color picker... Premiere Pro CC new features | New virtual reality capability

It takes 10x as long to match two clips with Lumetri. Right clicking to lock slider dragging in SG was amazing. Of course, they haven't added that to PP. I really hope they don't just kill the Audition & Speedgrade round-tripping out of nowhere someday...

[R Neil Haugen]

Officially SpeedGrade is I guess "on hiatus" would be a good phrase. As I was told at MAX, Audition was on hiatus for 2 or 3 "cycles" while work was concentrated on bringing PrPro's audio tools up then a big effort was poured into that app.

I was assured that no final decision has been made.

That said ... there were other attendees walking around saying the body's in the coffin just not in the ground yet.

I've no way of knowing nor is anyone who might really know talking about it. I was hoping for more in  Lumetri with this release and well ... there wasn't any real change.

Using an external controller like the Tangent Ripple is vastly improved from mouse work. Four to five times faster and you can do things you'll never get to with single slider mouse operation.

Makes shot-matching much easier and faster. Which is still far slower and more difficult than in SpeedGrade.

Neil

[stephenmmiller]

Okay, my Lumetri panel is missing. When I got the update, it appeared the first time I opened Premiere Pro CC 2017 for Windows. Then the next time I opened it to work on a video, it was gone. There's no "Color" option in the workspace switcher bar. Am I missing a click somewhere?

[stephenmmiller]

Well, never mind. I missed a click. I opened up CC 2016. More coffee, please.

[R Neil Haugen]

Hey, not the first time I've done something like that ... sheesh. Yep, working working what the hello, then ... um ... oopsies.

And of course, me being me, I've posted such things several times here then within minutes went ... um ... ow, that was ... um ... um ...

Neil

[njc596s]

For Mac users looking for a workaround, here's an option.

I wrote an Automator app to hack the Project version (as mentioned earlier in this forum), allowing "modern" Project files to open in Speedgrade.

The app creates a copy of your Project file, alters it, and names it "[Filename] SPEEDGRADE.prproj"

This file SHOULD open in Speedgrade natively. Obviously, once you open in Premiere again, the file won't work in Speedgrade.

I used it on a project file with multi-cam footage, and it works fine. Your mileage may vary -- especially if you've got effects or Lumetri stuff going on in your project file.

Since it's a completely unofficial blunt-force hack, I'd recommend making a backup of your actual project files before giving it a shot.

You can download for free via Dropbox here:

Dropbox - SpeedgradePrep.zip

If you use it, please pay it forward by making an official request for continuing Speedgrade by going here:

Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[graphicsdump]

Just made a feature request, thanks Kevin for providing that link.

I used to use Apple Color until that product was abandoned. POOF!

Adobe, please don't do this to us...or, develop something else that will be a long term software package, like the classics - AE, PP, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.