the adobe creative suite 4 benchmark project video text, is available in both premiere pro cs4 and...

Key Productivity Data and Benchmark Analysis

The Adobe Creative Suite 4 Benchmark Project

VideoReal-World Productivity for Video Professionals


t Overall, Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium can save a video professional hours of work every month, quickly paying for the upgrade through increased productivity.

t 2

Real-World Productivity for Video Professionals

t Overall, Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium can save a video professional hours of work every month, quickly paying for the upgrade through increased productivity.

t Premiere Pro CS4: Convert Speech to Text .................................. 3Premiere Pro CS4 lets you convert spoken words into searchable text. The productivity impact can be spectacular.

t Premiere Pro CS4: Direct to Disk / Tapeless Video ...................... 4Premiere Pro CS4 directly supports XDCAM, P2 and AVCHD and together with OnLocation brings a new level of efficiency to tapeless video production.

t Premiere Pro CS4: Editing Efficiency ........................................... 5Premiere Pro CS4 redefines how you work with video.

t After Effects CS4: Finding Project Elements ................................ 6After Effects CS4 allows you to find any layer, property, effect or even expression in a project almost instantly.

t After Effects CS4 and Premiere Pro CS4: Dynamic Link ................ 7Premiere Pro CS4 and After Effects CS4 offer expanded options for integrating visual effects and editing workflows.

t Photoshop CS4: The Adjustments Panel ...................................... 8Photoshop CS4 helps you make non-destructive adjustments faster.

t Soundbooth CS4: Equalize Audio Clips ......................................... 9Soundbooth CS4 allows you to equalize the volume on multiple audio clips in a single operation, speeding up audio editing significantly.

t Creative Potential: Cartoon Effects with After Effects CS4 ......... 10Find out how easily After Effects CS4 can draw a different picture.

t The Bigger Picture .................................................................... 11Find out how Creative Suite 4 can help you save time and money.

t About the Benchmarks ............................................................. 12Find out more about the methodology and the techniques used to provide a reliable assessment of productivity gains.

Introduction

This document presents key findings of a benchmarking project designed to assess the impact of the Adobe Creative Suite 4 on the productivity of creative professionals.Benchmarks were designed to measure how specific functions speed up everyday tasks. For details on the methodology used to conduct these benchmarks, see “About the Benchmarks” at the end of this report.This report focuses specifically on features and functionality geared towards the video professional. Design, web design and development, and digital imaging are covered in separate reports.

Table of Contents

t 3

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Search for point within10 interview clips

of 2/3 minutes

Search for point in 10minute interview

16.46

88.21

95.42

588.08

CS3 or older

CS4

Premiere Pro CS4: Speech to TextTime in seconds. Shorter is better.


Bottom Line: Over the course of a month, Speech Search can save you hours over the typical time necessary to locate a specific spot in a clip based on the voice track.

How it affects productivity: Speech Search can make the

task of finding a specific spot in a video very

fast. (Examples do not include transcription

of footage.)

The feature: Speech Search, which converts

spoken dialogue to searchable text, is available in both

Premiere Pro CS4 and Soundbooth CS4.

t Software: Premiere Pro CS4 Soundbooth CS4

t Despite some rough edges—slow transcription (it is handled as a background task) and frequent inaccuracies in speech to text conversion—the technology introduced with Adobe CS4 is truly spectacular. Speech Search can save considerable time when working with dialogue heavy footage such as interviews.

t Speech to Text is a good example of how integrated different data types can become, and how useful metadata can be.

What is it all about?

Premiere Pro CS4 and Soundbooth CS4 offer an original new feature: the transcription of speech to text, called Speech Search—essentially making video searchable while you edit (as well as online).

How do I use it?

Premiere Pro CS4 and Soundbooth CS4 transcribe the speech and insert it as temporal metadata in a video clip. Once the transcription process is complete, you can search for specific words, and instantaneously jump to the corresponding frame in the video clip.This feature is particularly useful when you are editing interviews and other content where the image in the frame changes little, and finding specific words or phrases is essential.

Convert Speech to Text—and Start Searching Your Clips

t 4


0 300 600 900 1200 1500

0 300 600 900 1200 1500

Extract three 3-minutesegments fromsource material

Import multiple Clips(20 min)

Import single clip(5min)

Import single clip(60sec)

8.98

9.02

84.74

322.2

9.62

57.99

1224.33

691.41

CS3 or older

CS4

On Location/Premiere Pro CS4: Import from disc vs. Capture from tapeTime in seconds. Shorter is better.

Bottom Line: Direct-to-disk capture with OnLocation CS4 can save you several hours a week.(Based on 2 repetitions of benchmarked operations per week. Click here to find out more.)

How it affects productivity: Importing

video captured with OnLocation does not

require any processing and can provide very substantial

productivity gains.

The feature: OnLocation can

monitor footage from tape-based cameras

connected to the computer and capture

footage directly to disk, so that it is

immediately ready for the editing process.

t Productivity gains of tapeless video at the editing stage are very impressive.

t Software: Premiere Pro CS4 OnLocation CS4

t Tapeless video capture is significantly more efficient than older, conventional methods.

t Premiere Pro CS4 has a considerable edge in this area, since it does not force the user to copy all captured footage to the computer before the editing process.

t OnLocation CS4 provides users of tape-based cameras with a robust environment to capture footage directly to disk, ready for use in a video.


The future of video belongs to tapeless recording. Premiere Pro CS4 supports all of the leading tapeless video standards (XDCAM, P2, AVCHD, as well as RED), and OnLocation CS4 lets you capture and monitor footage from tape-based cameras directly to the hard drive of your computer.

How do I use it?

Footage captured directly to your computer disk with OnLocation CS4 is immediately available for editing in Premiere Pro CS4, saving significant time compared to ingesting video from a tape-based medium. As for tapeless video cameras, footage can be used directly in Premiere Pro. If you have a card-reader for XDCAM or P2 footage connected to your computer, you can start editing without having to copy several gigabytes to your hard drive.

Direct to Disk / Tapeless Video Workflows: The Future of Productivity

t 5

0 10 20 30 40 50

0 10 20 30 40 50

Apply video transitionsto 10 clip sequence

Apply multiple video effects to 3 clips

Apply video transitionsbetween 3 clips

Change speed of 3 clipsin a sequence

6.47

4.35

17.76

9.25

30.15

4.59

46.36

24.89

CS3 or older

CS4

Premiere Pro CS4: Workflow EfficiencyTime in seconds. Shorter is better.


Bottom Line: Multiple-clip operations can save you almost three hours per month. (Based on 10 repetitions of benchmarked operations per day. Click here to find out more.)

How it affects productivity: Applying

multiple effects and transitions to multiple

selections is two to five times faster than copying and

pasting attributes in Premiere Pro CS3.

The feature: Premiere Pro CS4 offers a

variety of operations that can be applied

to multiple selections simultaneously such as applying transitions to a multi-clip sequence.

t Software: Premiere Pro CS4

t Being able to work directly with several clips at once streamlines repetitive editing operations and provides significant efficiency gains—particularly in deadline-driven situations.

t Premiere Pro CS4 significantly expands the operating efficiency of the video editing process over older releases of the program.


Premiere Pro CS4 adds several productivity features to its video-editing toolbox, such as the possibility of applying video and audio effects and transitions directly to several clips simultaneously.

How do I use it?

There are several ways of applying effects, transitions, and playback speed changes to multiple clips simultaneously in Premiere Pro CS4: you can drag the effects or transitions directly onto the selected clips, or you can select and right-click the clips to change the speed of all clips using the Speed/Duration option. It is even possible to apply multiple effects to multiple clips in one operation.

Premiere Pro CS4 Makes Editing More Efficient

t 6


Bottom Line: QuickSearch and Composition Navigator can save you over 6 hours per month. (Based on 10 repetitions of benchmarked operations per day. Click here to find out more.)

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Navigate complexnested composition

Navigate 5-level nestedcomposition

Search for asset withina complex project

Search for asset withina typical project

4.08

19.28

18.33

101.5

4.41

10.42

8.25

22.75

CS3 or older

CS4

After Effects Quicksearch/Composition NavigatorTime in seconds. Shorter is better.

How it affects productivity:

QuickSearch and Composition Navigator

streamline the design process significantly.

t QuickSearch and the new Mini-Flow navigator are essential additions to the After Effects toolbox.

The feature: After Effects CS4 offers two new ways to search

and navigate projects much more efficiently:

the Mini-Flow navigator (top), and the

search field in Project and Timeline panels.


To say that After Effects projects are complex is an understatement. These animation files frequently contain hundreds or thousands of layers. But not until After Effects CS4 did you have a way of efficiently searching these enormous compositions.

How do I use it?

Quick Search lets you search for a specific parameter by typing its name into the Timeline panel. The Project Navigation panel can be accessed by pressing shift when the Timeline or Composition panel is selected, and allows you to immediately see connections between compositions in a project.

t Software: After Effects CS4

t After Effects is one of the essential programs in modern dynamic media production. The latest release extends its possibilities not only through clever effects, but by making the management of complex compositions more efficient.

After Effects CS4 Lets You Search Your Projects—And Saves You a Lot Of Time

t 7


0 20 40 60 80 100

0 20 40 60 80

Apply effect toPremiere Pro clip

using Dynamic Linkwith After Effects

30.11

88.20

CS3 or older

CS4

After Effect/Premiere Pro CS4: Dynamic LinkTime in seconds. Shorter is better.

Bottom Line: Dynamic Link can save you over 3 hours per month. (Based on 10 repetitions of benchmarked operations per day. Click here to find out more.)

How it affects productivity: Using

After Effects and Premiere Pro together

through Dynamic Link gives you the full power of both applications in a

much faster workflow.

The feature: After Effects CS4 and

Premiere Pro CS4 now offer bidirectional

dynamic links.

t Dynamic Link between Premiere Pro CS4 and After Effects CS4 provides a much tighter integration between the two environments.

t Software: Premiere Pro CS4 After Effects CS4

t With the CS4 release After Effects and Premiere Pro now provide a tightly integrated work environment for effects-driven video production.

t Dynamic Link also exists between After Effects or Premiere Pro and Soundbooth, as well as After Effects or Premiere Pro and Encore.


Premiere Pro CS4 sequences and After Effects CS4 compositions can now be linked dynamically, streamlining the process by reducing the amount of time spent waiting for interim drafts to render as you work on refining your project.

How do I use it?

Previously, you could dynamically link After Effects sequences to Premiere Pro as clips. Now it is possible to dynamically link a Premiere Pro sequence as a layer in After Effects, making it easy to use After Effects for color corrections, effects, type animations, and much more. Any edits to the sequence in Premiere Pro are automatically reflected in the After Effects composition and vice versa, eliminating the need to render until the work is completed.

Dynamic Link: Let Premiere Pro CS4 and After Effects CS4 Communicate Freely

t 8

Bottom Line: Using the Adjustments Panel can save you over an hour in just one week.(Based on 10 repetitions of benchmarked operations per day. Click here to find out more.)


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Adjustment Panelworkflow

Three adjustments

Simple adjustment4.89

12.84

16.88

44.06

64.32

35.50

CS3 or older

CS4

Photoshop CS4: Adjustments Panel vs. Create Adjustment LayerTime in seconds. Shorter is better.

How it affects productivity: With

the Adjustments Panel, applying

changes to an image in Photoshop CS4 takes

less than half the time required in previous

Photoshop releases.

The feature: The Adjustments Panel offers

fast access to frequently used image modification

options by placing them in a panel and

automating the creation of an adjustment layer

and layer mask.

t The Adjustments Panel eliminates several unnecessary steps in the non-destructive image modification workflow.

t Software: Photoshop CS4

t The Adjustments Panel speeds up non-destructive image modifications considerably by eliminating several time-consuming steps.

t Cumulative productivity gains linked to the Adjustments Panel are significant, especially if you spend a lot of time tweaking images to look just right.


The Adjustments Panel was introduced in Photoshop CS4 to streamline the process of making non-destructive changes to images. Previously, in order to make such changes, it was necessary to create an adjustment layer, choose the kind of adjustment (Levels, Contrast, etc), and then adjust desired settings. With The Adjustments Panel, all you need to do is to select the option and choose the setting in one convenient panel.

How do I use it?

In fact, you don’t need to do anything: Photoshop CS4 automatically creates a new adjustment layer as soon as you select an option. The program also automatically creates a layer mask and presents presets for each adjustment option within the panel, saving many round-trips to the menu-bar.

How the Adjustments Panel Can Speed Up Non-destructive Image Correction

t 9


0 20 40 60 80 100 120

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Adjust volume of10 individual clips

Adjust volume of5 individual clips

15.69

50.70

17.24

103.88

CS3 or older

CS4

Soundbooth CS4: Adjust Volume of Multiple ClipsTime in seconds. Shorter is better.

t Soundbooth CS4 has become a robust multitrack audio editing environment to complement other components of Production Premium.

Bottom Line: Soundbooth CS4 can save you over 2 hours per month.(Based on 3 repetitions of benchmarked operations per day. Click here to find out more.)

How it affects productivity: The

productivity gains of working with several clips in one operation are very significant,

particularly when you need to adjust a large number of

individual clips.

The feature: Soundbooth CS4

provides a powerful multi-track audio

editing environment for video professionals.


While the previous release of Soundbooth CS4 provided powerful sound editing possibilities, it did not allow working on several clips at once. The multi-track work environment of Soundbooth CS4 is one of the major productivity improvements of CS4 Production Premium.

How do I use it?

Equalizing the volume of several audio clips in Soundbooth CS4 could hardly be easier: choose the clips you want to work with, and then select Equalize Volume. Even beyond simple and very frequent operations such as unifying the volume of clips, the multitrack editing capabilities of the program are a major expansion of its creative potential.

t Software: Soundbooth CS4

t Soundbooth CS4 has matured into a very powerful sound editing environment for video professionals, and lets you work efficiently with multiple clips, saving significant time in production.

How Soundbooth CS4 Speeds Up Adjusting Multiple Clips

t 10

Bottom Line: Cartoon Effect provides you with a powerful new way to stylize animated footage.

The Cartoon effect can simulate the look

of cel-animation or watercolor painting.

The Cartoon effect can be applied to an

After Effects layer, and provides several options

to fine-tune the result.


The Cartoon effect can be used to transform video footage or other animated imagery to give it a hand-drawn look. It can be used to quickly stylize a clip, or even to salvage footage with insufficient resolution.

How do I use it?

The Cartoon effect is applied to a layer of an After Effects CS4 composition. Several parameters can be used to fine-tune the appearance interactively. After Effects CS4 uses the processing power of modern video cards to accelerate this computing-intensive effect.

t The Cartoon effect automates graphic effects that were previously extremely time-consuming.

t Software: After Effects CS4

t The Cartoon effect provides rendering effects that would previously have been achieved by rendering frames individually in Illustrator or Photoshop.

Create a Different Image with Cartoon Effect in After Effects CS4

Creative Potential for Video Professionals

t 11

Return On Investment (ROI) Projections

How does it all add up?

This document looks at some key figures extracted from the extensive productivity benchmarking project Pfeiffer Consulting has conducted on Adobe Creative Suite 4 software.

While the complete benchmarking project comprises over 120 individual benchmarks, we have picked key features of Adobe Creative Suite 4 that are common in a wide range of creative workflows, and are usually repeated over and over again.Even seemingly minimal

productivity gains—say, a few seconds for a single operation—add up over time, when an operation is frequently repeated.

Every mouse click counts, and every second adds up. This is particularly true for workflows executed under enormous deadline pressure.Just the few features analyzed

here can save you many hours over the course of a month— precious time gained to be more creative, more time to explore visual ideas, to take your work to the next level. And this is without taking into account all the other productivity enhancements in the Adobe Creative Suite 4.

FeatureReptitions of Benchmarked

Operations/day

Time saved per month

Time saved per year

t Premiere Pro CS4:Speech to Text

2 6 h. 16 min. 68 h. 59 min.

t Premiere Pro CS4:Direct-to-Disc Workflow

2 per week 4 h. 58 min. 54 h. 41 min.

t Premiere Pro CS4:Editing Efficiency

10 2 h. 55 min. 32 h. 12 min.

t After Effects CS4: Navigating and Searching Projects

10 6 h. 15 min. 68 h. 51 min.

t After Effects CS4, Premiere Pro CS4: Dynamic Link

10 3 h. 13 min. 35 h. 29 min.

t Photoshop CS4: The Adjustments Panel

10 3 h. 43 min. 41 h. 00 min.

t Soundbooth CS4: Equalize Audio Clips

3 2 h. 01 min. 22 h. 18 min.

Figures calculated from the number of repetitions of benchmarked operations for each feature. See feature pages for detail.

Return on Investment for Video Professionals

t 12

About the Benchmarks: How We Measure Productivity

About the Adobe CS4 Productivity Benchmarks

The productivity figures in this report are part of an extensive and ongoing productivity benchmarking project commissioned by Adobe, in order to independently assess the productivity gains that the latest release of Adobe Creative Suite can provide creative professionals.Pfeiffer Consulting independently developed and executed the benchmarks presented here, by analyzing creative workflows in four different segments of activity: design, web and interactive, digital imaging, and video. The benchmarks were designed and executed by creative professionals.

How we design the benchmarks

The basic approach is simple: in order to assess productivity gains that a new release or a different product may (or may not) bring, we start by analyzing the minimum number of steps necessary to achieve a given result in each of the applications that have to be compared.Once this list of actions has been clearly established, we start to execute the operation or workflow in each program, with the help of seasoned professionals who have long-standing experience in the field and with the programs that are tested. In order to be certain that no lag or operator-induced delays are included in the productivity measures, each benchmarked example is cut down into small segments of three or four steps each. After an initial training phase, each segment is executed three times,

and the average time is used as a result. The cumulative times for all segments that form a complete workflow example are then used as benchmark results.

How we prepare hardware for testing

We use factory-standard configuration hardware, that has been completely re-initialized prior to benchmarking. Only the system software and application software necessary for tests, as well as all required updates at the time of testing, are installed on the benchmark system. No peripherals other than the ones required for the benchmarks are connected. Network access is only enabled when required by the benchmark protocol, or for software activation.

Hardware

Benchmarks for this document were conducted on a 2008 release 2.8GHz Mac Pro equipped with 4GB of RAM. Future benchmarks for this ongoing project will also be executed on a similarly configured Windows system.

About Pfeiffer Consulting

Pfeiffer Consulting is an independent technology research institute and benchmarking operation focused on the needs of publishing, digital content production, and new media professionals.Download the full Adobe Creative Suite 4 Productivity Benchmark Report, as well as other benchmark reports and research studies at www.pfeifferreport.com.

t This benchmark project was commissioned by Adobe and independently executed by Pfeiffer Consulting.

t All the productivity measures presented in this document are based on real-world workflow examples designed and executed by professionals.

t No scripting or programming of any kind was used during the execution of the benchmarks.

t For an in-depth description of the benchmark methodology, complete list of benchmarks and detailed results, please download the complete Adobe CS4 Productivity Benchmark Report at www.pfeifferreport.com


© Pfeiffer Consulting 2009


This report was created by Pfeiffer Consulting (http://www.pfeifferconsulting.com).

All texts and illustrations © Pfeiffer Consulting 2009. Reproduction prohibited without previous written approval.

For further information, please contact [email protected].

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