Video: Adobe dabbles in video-object manipulation

Hey you, hot-shot movie cutter! Now that we've got your attention, have a look at this. Adobe's research laboratory has been toiling away with a sophisticated interactive video-object manipulation system, which gives video editors all sorts of creative windows with next to no rendering lag. An After Effects demonstration shows an editor selecting the outside of a cab and typing "taxi" -- once the text is imprinted on the vehicle, it stays on the car as it moves up and down the street. We know, you're totally scratching your head trying to envision what we just said, so why not just head past the break and give it a look?

Interactive Video Object Manipulation from Dan Goldman on Vimeo.

[allgoodnameideastakenup @ Nov 29th 2008 11:58PM]

Wow that is pretty amazing actually ZOMG

[Information Central @ Nov 30th 2008 4:37AM]

"Blog about it"? That's Adobe's feedback mechanism?

It's all well and good to implement SIGGRAPH papers, but Adobe can't even field working updaters or a decent UI for Photoshop or Illustrator. They need to clean up the wretched mess that is the Creative Suite before dicking around with anything else.

And they can start by listening to customers, which they essentially NEVER do. Just look at their "feature request" forums.

[loocas @ Nov 30th 2008 8:07AM]

@ Information Central

I'm totally high-ranking you, man! I feel the same way about Adobe. Their PS CS4 is a UI sluggish hell! I don't use much of their other apps, but PS is a foundation for my DCC work! And I DEMAND it to NOT slow me down when I want to work on whatever I want to work!

[Das Gluten @ Nov 30th 2008 11:12PM]

My mind has officially been blown. It was way too early in the morning for this lol

[Jeremiah2MAN @ Nov 30th 2008 9:42AM]

I have been longing for software like this so I can teach my mom how to work on my projects!

:/

[LondonConsultant @ Nov 30th 2008 9:46AM]

Yep, it's pretty amazing how easy those features are to use. Here's hoping they appear in the next version of Adobe Premiere Elements!...

[RogueStorm @ Nov 30th 2008 11:23AM]

Information Central, I couldn't agree more on the updates. It's damn near impossible to maintain patches on thousands of Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash, etc., because their patching mechanisms suck. You'd think they'd want to save on bandwidth when possible, but it seems like they WANT people to get all their patches and updates for each client, each time through automatic updater.

[Chuckles McGee @ Nov 30th 2008 11:59AM]

How long until we see airbrushing of models in recorded events, say fashion shows?

[Taylor @ Dec 1st 2008 3:30AM]

Information Central: Adobe does have different departments, you know.

The department responsible for Photoshop CS4's UI is not the same one that makes stuff to tag objects in videos.

(Disclaimer: I haven't used CS4.)

[OneLove @ Dec 1st 2008 12:53PM]

I want to grab some video titties and move them around.

[PyRo1509 @ Nov 29th 2008 11:59PM]

Now I can see what my graffiti looks like before I start tagging up city.

[Brian @ Nov 30th 2008 10:01AM]

bring a sweater, it's chilly outside this time of year.

[Chris @ Nov 30th 2008 12:01AM]

Very cool, and I didn't know you guys worked around the clock!

[eggothewaffle @ Nov 30th 2008 12:02AM]

Spoiler:

The background scenery behind Dan Goldman is actually...AFTER EFFECTS.

[Travis @ Nov 30th 2008 1:37AM]

No. The background is really Seattle. The bridge is the Aurora Avenue Bridge (US-99) and is a popular jumping off place.

[Paul @ Nov 30th 2008 2:16AM]

Haha, I actually live right behind the camera man, and I'm pretty sure that's real...

[ED @ Nov 30th 2008 5:47PM]

How many people who've jumped off would reccomend it?

[Ben @ Nov 30th 2008 2:26PM]

Nothing I can't do with pftrack and after effects....

[Oleg Prosalov @ Nov 30th 2008 12:12AM]

Holy crap I've been waiting for this FOREVER!!

[nickz @ Nov 30th 2008 12:12AM]

Cool. Maybe those geniuses at Adobe have it in them to put together a version of Acrobat Reader that doesn't hog 20% of my CPU or take ten seconds to start up.

[BananaBoat @ Nov 30th 2008 12:21AM]

We all know that's never going to happen.

[ethana2 @ Nov 30th 2008 1:19AM]

You mean, like, evince?

[Matthew C @ Nov 30th 2008 3:13AM]

or maybe one that doesn't crash on my vista system every time, even after i have installed every update.

[phate @ Nov 30th 2008 5:15AM]

Foxit PDF reader is the way to go, it takes up almost no CPU or memory.

[giuliop @ Nov 30th 2008 6:12AM]

I used to use Foxit, but too many PDFs gave me problems; then I found PDF-XCHANGE VIEWER, and never looked back.

[ducky @ Nov 30th 2008 12:18AM]

If this system consistently works as well as the video demonstrates, there's only one word: AWESOME.

This is the kind of natural interaction that computers should be about. Make things work by doing what "feels right", not by doing an hour's work for ten seconds of footage in AfterEffects.

[Wulile @ Nov 30th 2008 2:02AM]

I've got no problem doing hours of work in After Effects for 10 seconds of footage that a client is willing to pay $100,000 for... think commercial motion graphics. Concept consumer apps like this can't enable such scenarios. Don't get me wrong they're sick and I want 'em, but there's always going to be a time and a place for robust editing tools like AE.

[ducky @ Nov 30th 2008 2:20AM]

@Wulile, why do you think that such an app wouldn't be good for commercial purposes? Simply because it's consumer-oriented? Wouldn't you rather get paid that amount of cash for doing the same job in half the time? It's not definite that it would work, and yes, there will always be a place for powerful apps like AE, but you shouldn't shun it just because it's geared for consumers.

[Wulile @ Nov 30th 2008 2:53AM]

Sorry, I don't recall shunning it, I actually said I wanted it so calm down. I think applications like this are brilliant and fun. The idea of providing this sort of power to a novice is one of the most liberating parts of software design. I'm just pointing out that complexity, like you find in AE isn't always bad. I think quite often its necessary and healthy. Trying too hard to eliminate complexity can lead to bad design. I think it's much more useful to try and manage it.

Statements like "this is the kind of natural interaction that computers should be about. Make things work by doing what 'feels right'..." sound to me like naive Apple fanboy-isms. And before you flame me again, keep in mind I own an iPhone and I love it.

[topspinserve @ Nov 30th 2008 12:25AM]

I would prefer that they dabble in a 64-bit version of Flash. Please, Adobe?

[Sid @ Nov 30th 2008 1:17AM]

64-bit flash is available on linux, why not use that if it is so important?

[topspinserve @ Nov 30th 2008 2:57PM]

Wow, you're absolutely right. I must have been living in the gutter for rhe last couple of weeks to miss that announcement. Sorry about my eagerness to bash Adobe. =D

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Nov 30th 2008 12:25AM]

LBP meets Adobe! Epic.

[MrZucchiniHead @ Nov 30th 2008 12:28AM]

you gotta wonder how powerful of a system that's running on though, it might run like in the video on an 8-core mac pro, but how's it gonna run on the average schmo's computer?

[Sora @ Nov 30th 2008 12:36AM]

Probably just like Acrobat Reader... =\

[Josh @ Nov 30th 2008 1:32AM]

The average schmo won't be able to afford this software.

[Technex @ Nov 30th 2008 3:34PM]

@Josh

Let me introduce you to the internet.

[James @ Nov 30th 2008 7:32PM]

There are people out there who pay for adobe?

[R @ Nov 30th 2008 12:37AM]

Made on a Mac. Just sayin'.

[Game_playa @ Nov 30th 2008 1:10AM]

Thanks for telling me!!!

[urandom @ Nov 30th 2008 4:54AM]

oh yeah. It appears to use plain-ol' gtk+ widgets.

[jj @ Nov 30th 2008 12:35AM]

oooh... motion tracking. Can anyone say "shake"?

[Justin @ Nov 30th 2008 1:24AM]

Yes there are several ways of accomplishing this already. Shake has a pretty steep learning curve IMHO though and is not that widely used by the masses... thus everyones surprise...

[roach @ Nov 30th 2008 10:51AM]

I use to use this type of technology eons ago when I use to work in special effects (I now create games) way before Shake. . . and after Apple bought Shake and dropped Window version.

[jupiterthunder @ Nov 30th 2008 12:42AM]

Can't wait to get to work on my first bit of blackmail video.

[BigD145 @ Nov 30th 2008 12:46AM]

How many cores do I need to process one second of video in under an hour?

[Matthew C @ Nov 30th 2008 3:14AM]

only one, so long as its liquid nitrogen cooled and oc'd to at least 6 ghz

[Kris @ Dec 1st 2008 2:29AM]

...And that you are not running Acrobat at the same time. We all know you cannot run Acrobat alongside another application (Yes, the OS is also included in this generalization)

[louay @ Nov 30th 2008 1:01AM]

that was amazing

[iwsmg @ Nov 30th 2008 1:15AM]

his friends look 12