June 11, 2010

Video performance hotness in CS5

The 64-bit-native CS5 video apps are faster than ever. I just saw this blurb in email:

• On average, 130 different benchmark tests are more than twice as fast in Premiere Pro CS5 than in CS4.
• Working with XDCAM footage in CS5 with a CUDA-accelerated card is more than six times faster than CS4. In software-only mode, it’s still about 33% faster.
• Compared to CS4, working with R3D footage takes about two thirds of the time in software-only mode–and about half the time with a CUDA card.
• Simple rotoscoping tasks take one tenth the time they required in CS4, and the time savings for complex, real-world projects are likely to be even more significant.

I’ll try to point to more details when I see them posted publicly.

Of Lightroom, iPads, and muffins

When asking customers about possible Adobe tablet apps, I’m reminded of the experience of trying to get our toddler to count bites of dinner en route to a chocolate muffin:

Mom: “Okay, what number comes before six?”

Finn: “Muffin!”

Mom: “Five…then what’s next? Not three but…”

Finn: “Muffin!”

It’s like this:

Me: “So, we’re thinking of building app X…

Everyone: “Lightroom!”

Me: “Yes, cool, we hear you. But back to X…”

Everyone: “Lightroom!”

Me: “Right, I know, but…”

Everyone: “Lightroom!”

I find this kind of charming and encouraging. Building a great iPad app for mobile photo review, editing, and sharing is (presently) tougher than one might think, but customer desire is very clear. (Feedback about non-LR/photography workflow apps is welcome, too.)