LOVE the long detailed response!
First comment ... I'm a user like you, not an Adobe staffer. I've been to NAB since 2014, and MAX since 2017 (except didn't go to this one just now) ... and I've had the opportunity over the years to build relationships with the managers and some of the engineers. Which has meant getting to ask detailed questions in person, and push for detailed responses. Not always the stuff I want to hear, but hey ... they're pretty honest and as direct as they can be.
They all know how critical of many things I can be, and well, I'm always pretty direct. And they know I'll not only raise things that are part of my workflow, but a lot of things that come from other users 'here' and elsewhere. I'm going to be grilling them good & hot. And yet, they still break into big smiles when they see me coming, how sweet!
Inner/outer strokes
Yes, you can do it quickly and well in Ae. Which is probably why it took what, three years to get added into the ESG stuff in Premiere. It was not a huge priority for the devs. But a LOT of Premiere users don't think for pretty basic stuff like strokes that they should always have to run over to Ae to get something done.
Similar to the way it's real easy to go to Audition for nearly all sound work in Pr. Yet as easy as that is ... a ton of users do NOT want to have to learn the other app, which like Ae, has a different UI and workflow pattern than Pr. So ... they've brought a bunch of Au stuff into Pr over time. And keep adding a bit more. Personally, I'm in Au for at least half the projects I work on.
Whether you or I think strokes or Au sound stuff is necessary, they've got probably more than a million users who like both having more graphics capabilities in Pr as well as having more sound capabilities in Pr.
As to "priorities" ... like most users, I've got a list of maybe 15 things that would for me be a LOT higher than inner/outer strokes and Au 'tricks' in Pr. But I know there's a ton of other users saying get this stuff in Pr NOW.
Adobe's CC apps are one small part of that massive company. The main part is actually building the ability to create and use 'metrics' in building user experiences with any particular company. Which is a HUGE part of their own staffing, and of course, sold to other mega-corps as a major part of the Adobe business life. (Another huge segment of Adobe is the Acrobat 'family' of business documentation apps & services.)
I refer to the metrics crowd as Marketing & Experience ... M&E. And make no mistake, if M&E says 'do this', the product teams do that. It's part of the heirarchy of Adobe's corporate structure. The apps are technically below the M&E staff.
I've had the ... pleasure ... to be 'interviewed' both in-person at NAB and several times via team-tag zooms by Adobe M&E. It's an intriguing experience. I think I very much know what little white lab rats feel like, looking up at the white coated scientists with glasses, pocket protectors and notebooks in hand, poking you, changing your environment, saying things like "Oh, that's ... fascinating, I wonder what happens if I do X?" And then furiously writing notes down.
The UserVoice has been the one way we users have had to get real actual metrics 'seen' by the M&E folks, as well as communicate directly to the devs. Would that have been my design? No. But it's what The Company Decreed, so ... it was Done.
For example, speakers in the Adobe booths at NAB and IBC, along with the speakers for Adobe MAX ... are all run past M&E. The product teams, like with anything else, can make recommendations ... but M&E has the final say. At NAB, there's always a couple or more speakers who ... well ... coulda been left out and improved the show. People will wonder what the Premiere team was thinking! ... but it was M&E who made those decisions. Sometimes ... because the person is from a Major Corporate Client is probably the main reason. Ah well.
Flexible Alignment Controls
Agreed, I'd love to have seen that when the EGP was introduced. But it finally is out, and so naturally they list it. I'm rather critical of how poorly the Adobe folks do communicate real working things of their apps to users. So I'm not going to be critical when they do point out a change that has been made.
Bulk changes
The two apps have their differences where bulk changes are made easy & where they're a bit more work. On the Resolve forums, complaints about having to do extra steps past what they did in Avid or Pr are rather routine.
But as you point out, some bulk changes are vastly easier in Resolve. I'd add to that list, color management. Pr was always a total Rec.709 hard-coded app, so no user CM was needed or allowed. But now that we're moving past "SDR" as the only game in ProVille, they're finally getting some user settings for CM. But ... it's been done in a really odd way to me.
Burying media CM in a right-click context menu in the Project panel? Really? But to the engineers, that is THE OBVIOUS place any 'normal' user would look for them. Yea, they know I do not find their comments even sensible on that one. Sorry, but to me, that is as illogical as you could get.
Which is why I've a user request for an Essential Color Panel ... a separate panel we could have up all the time, docked or floating, with ALL CM controls there. Including all user-changeable defaults, everything. One panel to rule them all ... 😉
Color Management Panel
Project file changes
They have a practice of applying 'major' product file updates and changes on a yearly timeline. It used to be rolled out for NAB, but has for 4-5 years changed to rolling out timed for the first day of Adobe MAX. So all new changes in the underlying code are going to be in those yearly updates. Some effects have to be redone to work with the new base code, and well ... sometimes that's an improvement, sometimes there's a train wreck needing a patch. Life in the computer world.
Faster mogrts or other effects
Sometimes there's only so many ways to do X within the 'present' basic code. So by changing the underlying base code, one can make other choices possible. Or just use new capabilities in the hardware that didn't exist a year or two ago. There's several things in both Ae and Pr that are faster this build due to underlying base code changes.
And a couple things I complain about ... well, for those, the devs have said they'd have to change the underlying code, and that's scheduled down the road for that effect or part of the app. So sometime in the next couple cycles those will get a massive change, but ... not at this time. And that's frustrating.
Resolve vs Premiere for Editing
This comes up on the MixingLight discussions a fair amount. A number of the colorists love Resolve, and find it faster for their work. Primarily ones that are using the nifty keyboard or 'cut' devices. But a few others simply shake their heads and start listing off several major things for them that Resolve still lags behind both Pr & Avid. Inluding one (rather noted) editor in a recent discussion commenting about Pr having the widest capability for keyboard shortcuts, including user mods of them. And listing a number of things that Resolve simply doesn't have the shorts for.
Well ... that's one of those things where if you need and use those shorts, not having them in Resolve is major problem. But if you don't need or use the shorts or even those tools within Resolve ... well, it's not an issue is it? We're all different, every one of use does the same task differently than about any other post-production worker out there. That constantly amazes and intrigues me.
And both my 3960x Ryzen desktop w 128GB of RAM, a 2080Ti, a couple Nvme drives for OS and cache files, and all other SSDs for working files and my 4 year old Acer laptop ... work faster and better with Premiere than Resolve. Resolve runs pretty decently on my desktop now, but this laptop is much happier with Pr.
But that varies so dramatically between users at this time it's nearly not worth mentioning. For example, I've seen people with almost identical desktops to mine, who throw on a basic mogrt and Pr practically stops. I can run three vid tracks with a couple different mogrts on top, and ... it just works. Why the differences? I haven't a clue. That wild variablity drives me nuts.
And I've seen the same things with Resolve, now that over 17 & 18 they've worked very hard to mimic "Adobe" and be the one 'house' for all workflows, users, hardware, OS, and media. I think there is an inherent problem in trying to be all things for all users. There's so many different pieces of kit, media, and workflow needs these days ... it's mind boggling.
New Import/Edit/Export tabs
I'd never have made those. Period. And you're absolutely right that it's a pain in the tush to use as the Create button is all the frickin' way across the screen, without any keyboard shortcut!!! ... so you have to type a name, then mouse the very upper left corner to set the location, then go COMPLETELY to the opposite corner to click create.
BAD design. No question.
That said, I've no other problems with the Import page. Just wish you could set the location hit 'enter' and be done. The Export page ... that's worse, and the only way to work with it is to spend the time to eliminate ALL default 'starred' presets, star only the presets you'd use, AND ... make multiple presets for different settings of the same format/codec if you need them. Once you spend the time to do that, it's at least less annoying.
Ann Bens here always just says hit the queue to Me, to skip the blame thing entirely. Which is one way to handle it.
And I know some people have issues with direct uploads to various services. I've tried those, and never had an issue. But my base practice is nearly always to export to local drive, check the export, then upload. Everyone's mileage always varies, of course.
Save and share settings
I didn't see anything in your post about saving and sharing settings. So I didn't comment about it, and just went back to reread. Still not sure exactly what you're referring to ... maybe the part about where Adobe apps tend to put user stuff or something? You did have a comment about that.
I've constantly complained to the devs about the way that the Adobe apps park crud on our computers ... the user layout settings and some other things are here, presets over there ... it's like four to five places to get all of our personal settings copied from if you want to have a single repository for re-applying them if something breaks.
I would really REALLY really prefer ONE freaking user folder, with ALL user stuff, profiles, keyshorts settings, presets, LUTs, EVERYTHING ... but the devs just look at me like that's something kinda obviously stupid and they don't want to be offensive in mentioning it. And yes, that's something I mention every time I see the Pr team. Every. Time.
Neil
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