Different software is better for different things. It’s a fact of life. With NLEs that sometimes means round-tripping between color grading programs, visual effects, and your basic timeline, plus you might be using standard image editors to make additional assets.
One advantage of modern editing software is a support for plugins. These tools can add features, controls, and more within your NLE.
Being that Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the most popular choices of NLEs today, Denver Riddle of Color Grading Central walks us through his top five picks for plugins in 2021. Save some time and lots of headache by checking these out for yourself. Keep as much as you can in your NLE.
5. Motion Array Transitions
Loaded with over 40 different transitions, this Motion Array pack will be a serious upgrade over the built-in options. Designed to function exactly like the Premiere defaults, all you have to do is drop the transition on top of your clips. The simplicity and ease of use is huge. There are even effects available in the control panel where you can tweak various parameters for
The selling point for this pack specifically is that it is properly optimized for Premiere, meaning on a sufficient machine you should get instant playback without needing to render things out every time you make a change.
4. Red Giant Primatte Keyer
If you ever need to key something out you’ll likely find yourself moving over to something like After Effects to get good control. Now, Denver believes the Primatte Keyer is even better.
Even if you haven’t thought of keying cause you don’t use a green screen, it’s a tool that can be used to perform sky replacements, add objects/text behind subjects, and plenty more.
The catch is that you’ll have to purchase Red Giant’s VFX Suite to get it. There is some other great stuff in there so it’s worth the cost.
3. Accusonus ERA5 Bundle
Image Credit: Accusonus
I’ve seen this recommended many places. The Accusonus ERA5 plugin gives you straightforward and effective audio controls. Simplified to a single knob it can seriously help users who just want to get things sounding good quickly. Getting rid of things like plosives is doable but time consuming, and since audio can make or break a project you’ll want something that can help you out.
2. Boris FX Mocha Pro
Mocha Pro is one of the best trackers in the business. The planar tracking tech literally got an award. Having it as a plugin means that it’s all accessible right within Premiere. Replace a TV screen in the background, add graphics to t-shirts, and anything else you can think of.
1. Cinema Grade
Coloring the film is one of the most important aspects of finishing a film. The built-in tools can seem incredibly daunting if you’ve never used them before and honestly can take a while to dial in a look even after you get some practice.
Cinema Grade makes that a lot easier by providing tools in the actual viewer so you can see the changes in real time.
The description here is point-and-click grading.
Want to adjust the sky? Just click it and move the cursor to adjust saturation, hue, and more. It also provides an inspector that shows controls similar to how photo editors might see it in Lightroom.
Those with a photo background will feel right at home. And, you can see LUT effect applied in a selection window, copy a color grade instantly from another clip, and access a false color tool.
Do you have any favorite plugins?
[source: Color Grading Central]
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