Less is more: Video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro for everyone.

Despite its ease of use, the sophistication of Premiere Pro may intimidate some users. Faced with a feature-rich user interface, many may feel they need hours of training and to gain extensive experience with the application to use it effectively. However, many people don’t have the time to invest in learning every nuance of the application. This is especially true when editing is an add-on to someone’s other tasks. These people have to be able to work efficiently, using only the specific capabilities they need most. For example, a video editor, who is just responsible for cutting, will not need to use the Essential Sound panel or Lumetri Color tools in Premiere Pro.

This is precisely where the challenge to using the application can be: everyone defines their requirements differently, and a capability that is not important to one person may be critical to someone else. This applies to anyone using the video editing application in any enterprise.

The solution

Helmut4 is a useful supplementary tool that complements the versatile capabilities in Premiere Pro. Helmut4 can assign an individual configuration of the application interface to each user and save personal settings so that only functions relevant to that person are included. When Premiere Pro launches, a configuration file loads that was previously assigned to a user in Helmut4. This file automatically deactivates all functions classified as not relevant for someone. The result is a streamlined user interface that can be individually tailored to a specific person or team of people.

The technical implementation

To define the custom configuration, a text file is stored in the corresponding Premiere Pro directory. A distinction must be made between configurations that apply to all users and those only stored for certain users. The latter are individually configured and must be stored in each individual user’s directory. In larger production environments, this can quickly lead to a large manual effort, which can be avoided with the help of the Helmut4 solution.

Through a node created in the Streamdesigner, each individual configuration file is automatically assigned to the corresponding person. Helmut4 makes it possible to create individualized application interfaces for editors that contain only the functions relevant to them. This allows each user to concentrate on the creative work, rather than the technology.

The result

Using the Helmut4 solution enables beginners in the field of video editing to concentrate on essential functions rather than being overwhelmed by capabilities they don’t need. As people’s video editing needs change and expand, it’s possible to modify the configuration at any time to adapt it to new requirements. This results in more security and flexibility for everyone using Premiere Pro to edit videos.