Adobe to expand VR/360 editing in Premiere, After Effects with acquisition of SkyBox tech from Mettle

 

 

In a move that will expand their ability to stay at the forefront of 360 degree and VR video editing, Adobe has announced their acquisition of all SkyBox technology from Mettle, a global developer of best-in-class 360-degree and virtual reality software. The Skybox toolset at present is already designed exclusively for post-production in Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Adobe After Effects CC and complements Adobe Creative Cloud’s existing 360/VR cinematic production technology. This acquisition formally combines the two technologies into one. 

Adobe has made this move in response to increasing numbers of creators, brands and entertainment companies that are embracing 360 degree video and VR, and therefore needing a place to create post production workflows for them. Thanks to SkyBox, Adobe can likely stay ahead of the competition in this area. Adobe will integrate SkyBox plugin functionality natively into future releases of Premiere Pro and After Effects. Further, Mettle co-founder Chris Bobotis will join Adobe, bringing more than 25 years of production experience to his new role

Introduced in April 2015, SkyBox was the first plugin to leverage Mettle’s proprietary 3DNAE Technology, and its success quickly led to additional development of 360/VR plugins for Premiere Pro and After Effects. Today, Mettle’s plugins have been widely adopted by leading companies world-wide, such as The New York Times, CNN, HBO, Google, YouTube, Discovery VR, DreamWorks TV, National Geographic, Washington Post, Apple, and Facebook, as well as independent filmmakers and YouTubers.