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Control surface for Premiere under $100?
I’m working on a project to make control surfaces for Premiere (and FCP, Resolve, Lightroom etc.) accessible to all as an app on iPods/iPhones/iPads. There’s no way I know everything, so I’m asking you – what would help you in your workflow? What would allow you do in one button press that currently requires three? (Macros, presets, jog wheels…)
This what I have so far. Check it out and let me know. https://kck.st/RIWgN4
Here’s a couple things not mentioned in the video:
Keeping your eye on your video – The goal of any interface is that you can keep your eyes on your video. And a common critique of an iPad-based interface is that you would have to look at the buttons because there’s no tactile reference. I found that out myself when I first created the prototype and spent months exploring physical capacitive jog wheels and physical buttons to help reference the hand without looking. In the end I decided that would add costs and not have long-term utility. Instead I thought, why not use touchscreens the way they were meant to be used – with gestures. The benefit of gestures is that they can be location agnostic and be done anywhere on the screen. Two-finger slide left and right becomes the shuttle control. Two-finger swipe moves cut-to-cut. Three fingers swipe moves to beginning and end.. Lots of possibility here to allow you to keep your eye on the footage.Keyboard shortcuts may be faster for you – They may be, especially if you’ve been using them for years. I’ve been a Photoshop user for 10+ years and use my mechanical keyboard and shortcuts most of the time. If the app were simply buttons, it wouldn’t be any faster for a seasoned pro. But when I decide to pick up Illustrator or any new program, I get annoyed at how long it takes to integrate the shortcuts and get up to speed. I know there’s a faster way but haven’t reached the frustration and usage to justify learning the shortcut. An app allows me to skip the frustration/resolution pattern and get up to speed right away.
Features not possible on keyboards – There is no way a keyboard can be a three-way color corrector. That is suddenly possible with an iPad app; I just made a quick proof of concept for Davinci Resolve. Want an audio board to ride the levels of multiple audio tracks as you play back (skipping that whole audio keyframing mess) – done. The iPad emulates a MACKIE control surface. Any hardware console that does this is hundreds to thousands of dollars. For the non-professional, an app can give you some of that control for much less.
Console for every program – Whether it’s Audition, SpeedGrade, After Effects, Color, Smoke, Blender, Photoshop, Illustrator or Gmail; we can make a console to work specifically with those programs. As Steve Jobs lamented of existing smartphones when launching the iPhone, “the problem is that they have keys fixed in plastic…. They can’t change for new features or new applications down the road.” And then he revealed the touchscreen on the iPhone that can change to fit each application and each feature. He did it for phones, I’m just trying to extend his idea to our computers.
Love to hear your thoughts or what you would want to see in a editing console.
Jeff
founder, Red Bird Rising LLC -
2 Replies
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I foresee a few issues.
From my own experience as a retouching veteran, I have a Wacom Intuous4 and I don’t use the 6 shortcut keys on the pad because they are limiting. I keep my right hand on the pen and the left hand on my keyboard.
– Whatever you do, needs to be able to recall many, many commands easily to break into the pro market as a general controller. Different program schemes are paramount for different programs, of course.
– Make the controller designed for one-handed use. Most users will at least need to navigate their whole screen with the mouse. Avoid two-handed gestures.
– Another issue is modifier keys like Alt/Control and Option/Command. If I have to mouse click and need a modifier, you’re slowing me down if I can’t use these on the control surface and I need to move to the keyboard. Perhaps reserve the far corners of the screen for modifier keys.
– Gestures are great but there is the process of figuring out 10+ unique gestures. Custom interfaces like the Mackie audio controller or Tangent Wave would be paramount for breaking into Pro Apps that use these protocols.
– Be aware of program limitations. The threeway color corrector in Premiere, from what I know of Adobe’s plugin architecture, is probably mouse control only.
– Look into similar products already on the market like “Custom Keypad” for iPhone/iPad which goes for $3.99
Angelo Lorenzo
Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
RED transcoding, on-set DIT, and RED Epic rental services
Fallen Empire – The Blog
A blog dedicated to filmmaking, the RED workflow, and DIT tips and tricks -
Hi Angelo,
Thanks for the thoughtful response. Allow me to respond in kind.
– I agree, having many (dare I say all) of the commands easily accessible is important. The first console you see is for cutting simple sequences, but the beauty of the iPad is that it can host many pages of commands for different users. What I imagine building out is consoles for different tasks from cutting sequences, trimming, effects, color correction – allowing pros access to organized commands that are relavant to that task. With the ability to jump back and forth as needed.
– Also agree. There will be no two-handed gestures on the iPad. I use it in my left, mouse right and the keyboard in the middle if I need to type anything. A proper interface should be like playing an instrument.
– That’s a great idea. Putting modifiers can be done easily.
– Once again I agree. There are only so many gestures you can create before it becomes too complex (to use or to programmatically distinguish). One way I imagine expanding on them is having zones, say the left and right half of the iPad, that can use the same or similar gestures to control different commands. That way it retains the no-look functionality of gestures, keeps gesture complexity down and double available commands. I can already emulate the MACKIE protocol and don’t expect that to cause any trouble.
– Thanks. Yes. I just discovered Premiere’s limitation in control surfaces. It doesn’t give you direct access to either the audio faders or color correction. To expand into color correction I have begun to toy with controlling the color wheels in Davinci Resolve and have a rough working prototype. Now that Resolve Lite is free, it seems many people do their color work there now.
– Yes, there are a number of programs out there like Custom Keypad. While they offer buttons, dials, and so forth, I believe there’s a qualitative difference when the interface is designed for editors, or colorists, or photographers specifically. Each console given close attention to the ergonomic needs of the user. Not simply a custom keyboard on the iPad, but custom consoles that a pro would use and a beginner can pick up.
We definitely agree on many of your comments! Thanks for taking the time!
Jeff
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