Dragging audio files directly via Drag and Drop from a web page to Premiere Pro Timeline

[mhuellwegen]

Hi Kevin,
hello Comunity,
dear Adobe,

today I would like to share this feature request with you, the comunity and to Adobe:
For me it would be wonderful (and a real acceleration of the workflow) to simply Drag and Drop audio files from a webpage (e. g. sites offering "sfx" and "adlibs" files or other ai stuff like "text to speech", prepared for this purpose) directly into e. g. the Premiere pro "Timeline" window in the same way as I already can do currently only with files that are located in a local folder on my hard disk.

As a senior windows programmer i can provide a short working c++ win32 example how to do, since accepting files from a Webpage via "Drop" event is (in this special scenario) a bit tricky since you can't use the simple way of using the win32 function DragAcceptFiles(hwnd, TRUE); and ... case WM_DROPFILES:... in hWnd message loop.

I can also provide the correct javascript sample code for implementing the Drag and Drop feature for audio files on such webpages as well.

Would this be a great feature for Adobe Premiere pro and/or Adobe Audition as well?
Is anyone interested?

Regards,
Martin

[R Neil Haugen]

Premiere needs all assets to be 'local', on an actual physical drive. For this to work, Premiere would have to download the asset to local storage first. How would you envision that working?

[mhuellwegen]

@R Neil Haugen 
> Premiere needs all assets to be 'local', ... , Premiere would have to download the asset to local storage first.
No, since the Webbrowser does this for you - Yes the browser will do that work for you :-).

In case of "Microsoft Edge" on Windows or "Google Chrome-Browser" on both Win and Mac will care about the async download and will place the downloaded file in a random %Temp% folder on your local hard drive (e. g. C:\Users<YOUR-USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Temp\chrome_drag<PID>_<RANDOM NUMBER>\Audio.wav in case of Windows 10/11 where \Audio.wav will become the name the website can force to be the name).

But since downloading bigger files can end in some seconds of download time, it's good practice that the JavaScript behind the source website pre-loads the file in the background (e. g. with an ajax get/pots request) and when the user start dragging the file to the os desktop or to an application like Premiere Pro, this pre-loaded file is already in client computer's memory so the Darg and Drop will only take the time of copying the BLOB data in memory to file to the %Temp% folder and within the DROP event the client app will receive the complete path to that file as a normal file drop (in case of Windows this is normaly a CF_HDROP with a filled DROPFILES structure).

As I wrote, i have both a working website to drag from and a win32 client app to drop to as a working example.

[R Neil Haugen]

I must say having the OS or a browser downloading significant-sized asset files and parking them in buried locations, probably on the C drive, is not at all attractive.

As in the H*** NO! category of 'attractive'.

I would never want anything to download crap to splay it aound the C drive. So ... it would need to have some sort of option to intentionally park things, in a properly organized manner. That organization determined by individual users somehow, probably.

As we all work differently.

[mhuellwegen]

@R Neil Haugen 
Ah, okay. Please think of smaller audio files (like sound fx or text to speech) rather than large video files at this point.

And btw the %Temp% folder is only needed for a short time "for transit" so that the application can get "a local path" rather than a "url" to the file during the drop action and then can take the file and MOVE the file to the project folder or your prefered location.

[R Neil Haugen]

So you still need to manually find the file, then move the file to a proper location ... right?

[mhuellwegen]

@R Neil Haugen 
> So you still need to manually find the file, then move the file to a proper location ... right?
No, fortunately not.

Since the target application (e. g. Premiere Pro) will get informed by the OS about the temporary local "transit" location of the just dropped file (by a normal DROP event), the target application (e. g. Premiere Pro) also has every opportunity to immediately determine the next steps by itself.

This means in case of the audio file I mentioned, this file can be immediately moved, converted from 44100 to 48000, or even discarded due to incompatibility by Premiere itself.

I believe that "Drag and Drop" from "website to timeline" can speed up the workflow considerably in some cases, especially when it comes to serveral individual AI-generated voice prompts, as in my case, which have to be generated by a web service due to the very complex AI models behind that process and the variety of voices.

[R Neil Haugen]

So this would also require the devs to create an automated file handling and moving process. Ok.

[mhuellwegen]

@R Neil Haugen 
> So this would also require the devs...
Unfortunately, yes - and that's why I wrote my post as an idea for an extension.

But the effort is rather low.

I can say that because I programmed a small working example in c++ by myself this week, also to check the effort involved.

[R Neil Haugen]

Having been around this app for several years, I have seen numerous instances of what were thought minimalist changes wreak havoc unexpected.

Might it be easy enough to code across OS/hardware needs? And work within and augment the current file handling capabilities? Maybe.

Might be more work than it seems. Just as a possibility.

[MyerPj]

I'm not agreeing with any of this. There are all kinds of paywalls and protection for files out there in wild on the web. I don't ever drag and drop onto the timeline, always into the project. No thanks.

[mhuellwegen]

@MyerPj 
> I don't ever drag and drop onto the timeline, always into the project.
Okay, I seed.

Did I understand you correctly: You're using Drag and Drop (sometimes) but only for files already located in a local content folder and then drop these files to your "project window" instead of "timeline window"?

[R Neil Haugen]

I would expect that's what MyerPj does, as that is what nearly all of us do. It's part of basic organization processes to keep our project ... organized. And part of Premiere's design paramaters too.

This way, the files go into the bins we want them in, and get proper metadata attached ... which is always attached to the project file from the project/bin panel.

Projects are nothing but metadata ... text files ... of all the assets added to a project, where bits are used in sequences, and the effects applied to the bits on those sequences.

The project is the metadata 'home' ... storage facility ... for Premiere to track everything.

Sequences are only metadata within a project.

[mhuellwegen]

@R Neil Haugen 
> It's part of basic organization processes
Okay, I see. And makes sense for me, too.

But please let's put aside for a moment my idea of being able to drag a file directly from a website (i.e. from the Internet) via a transit local %Temp% folder directly onto the timeline or directly into the project window of Premiere Pro.

Nevertheless, I already can Drag and Drop "a local file" from "a local folder" or directly from the "local desktop" either into the Premiere Pro project window or directly onto the Premiere Pro timeline as well and the file is then automatically listed in the Premiere Pro project window as well while meta data will be preserved since meta data is (normaly) embedded into the file.

Or do I understand something wrong (since my english is not the best, nor my native language) and “project/bin panel” does not mean the Premiere Pro project window but "a local project folder on the machine" instead?
And please note that I am unfortunately running the German version of Premiere Pro and therefore cannot determine exactly what is meant by the “bin” folder based on the gui labeling inside the program.

Regards,
Martin

[R Neil Haugen]

 The project panel is the project, really, in most respects. Some assets like mogrts are shown in other places, which kinda confuses the mental "appreciation" of the project panel as the "home" of the project.

It's been discussed in many cases that how assets are brought in can affect how well Premiere gathers all the correct and necessary meta. For instance, "spanned" files.

While you can import them by drag/dropping a folder onto the Project file, it may be not as solid as you might hope.  Dragging the video files (like with Red) may get you four "instances" of the same file, as it is four chopped up bits of one file.

And you might not get the 'attached' audio, if it's organized by the camera in another folder. As is often the case with 'spanned media'.

So using the MediaBrowser panel has been the recommendation for importing those particular types of assets ... as it does a better job of grabbing the folder structure as part of the internal oranization of metadata.

Now, Karl Soule has started teaching using the Import page as also a very good, and perhaps faster way, to add spanned media to a current project. It is built to do a great job at that, including copying from card to computer and doing cheksum testing.

Yea, not all importing processes are the same.

I use LucidLink, which is an incredible process, way off to the Harry Potter magical sort of thing. My Mac-based partner in Cape Town SA calls me to say he just started uploading a folder of clips and Ae comps to our shared files on an Amazon S3 in London.

I'm in Oregon, USA, and my PC shows all our LucidLink storage as a virtual "local" drive. So I see the folders start appearing in seconds, with files in them, and go to Premiere and start importing files, plopping them on a sequence, even getting playback.

And the uploading from Cape Town to London hasn't even finished yet!

But LucidLink is built around shipping video assets in the manner needed specifically for video program usage. Which does normally require a 'local' drive home for assets.

Your suggestion is interesting, but ... would as I've noted require the ability to set the location for the local storage of such downloaded assets. So there'd have to be an options panel to set how it works.

Doable? Sure. Though I'm not sure how many would trust it especially at first. And there are other ways to basically accomplish similar behavior.

I'd welcome the addition, understand. I normally do prefer adding options for users. I might be skeptical of using it myself, though, but why not add it for others if they choose? We all work differently.

[Christian.Z]

what I think would be a different workaround for this is for Adobe to implement the long-awaited watch folder for premiere bins. unless it happened and im not aware?

[MyerPj]

Yes, PP's main workflow is to work on local assets. Even external drives are to be mapped if assets are used from them, so they boot with a consistency of drive letter.

Since you've volunteered to give Adobe some tips how they may do, I suggest you write an extension for PP which would allow you to do that. Then, you can grab the temp file that is downloaded, copy to a local folder and import it into PP (and ugh--into the timeline, if you must). 

Then you can give it away to the community. Or even sell it, if there are any takers.

[mhuellwegen]

@Christian.Z
> to implement the long-awaited watch folder for premiere bins.
Ahh, okay ... also a good idea!

Just for a moment try to imagine that this is very similar to, how "Drag and Drop" (in the widest sense in this case) works as well. Why?

1st once more, I would like to emphasize AGAIN that my "Drag and Drop" suggestion for improvement is NOT INTENDED for "large video files" but for smaller audio files, audiofx or "text to speech" WAVs and also not for importing existing material, that was located on external hard drives or on location in the cloud (although it would also work here).

Why do I say, the "watch folder" and my suggestion are similar?
Since the local %Temp% folder (that's the local TRANSIT folder (or in your case the folder in the role to be watched) where a dropped file will be placed first for further action - and this is a behavior by the Google and MS web browser and can be researched at the official GitHub mirror of the Chromium source) - is that "watch folder" you brought into play but it's even better since Premiere Pro will be notified in the moment of dropping a file (since the file was in fact "visually" dropped over the Premiere Pro project window but actually in this moment still located in that local transit %Temp% folder for further action).

So a permanent "background watch" is even omitted here because of the additional drop notification to PP (similar to mouse click notification, etc.) - However, this does not mean replacing your idea of implementing "watch folder" functionality.

Why "suggestion for improvement" and NOT a complete "new case"?
Since Adobe Premiere Pro already supports file "Drag and Drop" from local folders to the "Project"- or "Timeline"-Window for some time, this usually should also already work in Premiere Pro on THAT "Drag and Drop" from a website to PP,  I mentioned.

IT COULD already work now, BUT it doesn't since Adobe does not implement the full handling for the CF_HDROP event (sorry, here I can only speak for Win). Adobe missed to add some lines (and this are really just a few lines - and I know what I'm talking about) of code also for the better "ASYNC" (UI non blocking) handling the CF_HDROP event (that is what is technically missing in the implementation) since they handle the CF_HDROP only as an easy "SYNC" (UI blocking) operation. But modern browsers like the Google- and MS'-Browser awaits some additional kind of signaling from Premiere Pro at this point (for the better async handling a "start" and "stop/done" signaling of final file handling => file movement from local %Temp% to the local project folder handled by Premiere Pro, yes in this moment PP already has full control over the file). And this seems to be necessary so that the web browser can be sure the action has been accepted and completed by Premiere Pro.

Btw: The windows file explorer and macOS finder can handle this in "ASYNC" mode which also shows us that it generally works.

Regards
Martin


Is somebody interested in a working live demo?
Please let me know....

The demo will be:
1st dragging an audio file from my demo site to your desktop or local folder and then in a
2nd step dragging that dropped file to the Premiere Pro project window (since this cannot be done in one step until Adobe will handle the CF_HDROP also in "ASYNC" mode).

The pre-requisites for this demo are:
In addition to a positive attitude towards this matter to be able to visit and drag a file from "my demo site" to a local folder or desktop "on your machine" the MS Edge or Google Chrome-Browser on Win or Mac has to be installed and used for this demo (this prevents me from implementing additional code for other browsers for this short demo as well).

[mhuellwegen]

@R Neil Haugen 
> While you can import them by drag/dropping a folder onto the Project file, it may be not as solid as you might hope.
Okay, this is an important and valuable tip for me, thanx!
During my tests I had not discovered any "stumbling blocks" with my small and simple audio wav prompts so far.

However, this was not to be expected for me either, as I only used individual wav files and not entire folders with many huge files, nor proxy or segmented files.

> I use LucidLink...
That sounds very interesing, also as an alternative to my "Drag and Drop" as well (also to me :-).
I didn't heared about "LucidLink" in the PP context before but it's also very interesting not least because of the existing  "LucidLink Panel" for Premiere Pro...

While "LucidLink" seems to be attractive for cloud storage and user to user or group to user purpose (especially for long distance collaboration I think), do you perhaps know if a web service (AI text to speech service for ADR) may also can upload files there (as a sort of cloud "transit")?

Regards
Martin

[R Neil Haugen]

LucidLink is a specially designed service ... based on using whichever Cloud storage you choose, as they can work with several. It's really a transport mechanism at heart.

So you can choose your level of service, from a relatively small cost/amount of data to be routinely moved, to an "enterprise" level. Between the cost for L-L, and the storage you choose, costs can be from pretty low to ... ouch! ... so take a look.

Their service to users is completely off the wall incredible. They have their own slack, which is heavily used and which is how you get help for troubles. There are both devs on that Slack every couple minutes 24/7, and many highly experienced users that also post helpful comments.

It may be of use to you. It's a huge upgrade from any other online storage/transport service.

And with Premiere, my partner and I simply leave the Production and projects and media online. Work in Premiere or AfterEffects using the 'virtual' drive that L-L creates, and it works beautifully.

[mhuellwegen]

@R Neil Haugen 
> LucidLink ... using the 'virtual' drive that L-L creates...
First of all, thank you very much for the interesting information about LucidLink!

I think I will definitely have to test L-L myself in the next few weeks, especially in connection with the LucidLink Panel for Premiere Pro.

You wrote that L-L creates a virtual drive letter? So with L-L you've seamless access to your files in a L-L supported cloud space of your choice?

> and it works beautifully.
I would actually like something like that since I already use something similar for my own remote servers, called "SFTP Drive". But sometimes the situation arises that I have to disconnect and reconnect once in the client app in order to restore access to the remote file system...

Regards
Martin

[R Neil Haugen]

With 240Mbps internet speeds most work can be done with both the Productions files and assets in online storage. As far as the OS and Premiere are concerned, it's just another local drive.

You can at needs "pin" a file, and L-L will download that to local storage but still link to it 'as if'.