Todd Kopriva - Request from FCP editor ready to switch

Question

Hi Todd:
As an editor for 30  years (CMX, Avid, Avid DS, FCP) I am always  looking for the best apps  to use in my work. After Effects and Photoshop  have always been at the  top of the list. After seeing the great work  done on PP ( and getting a  sense of where FCP is going), more than ever I  am considering   switching.
If you search the web, you will see I have been  unsatisfied with the  third party support for PP, especially when it  comes to transitions.  They have a definite place with certain kinds of  projects I work on.
I have tried to act as a catalyst in  encouraging developers currently  supporting FCP to support PP. This  includes Noise Industries (FX  Factory) and  Klaus Eiperle (a German  developer who make CGM plugins)
http://www.cgm-online.com/eiperle/cgm_screenshots_v4_e.html).
Both vendors products would fill a void in PP capabilities. Klaus   expressed interest but said he had no contacts with Adobe. Please help   me strengthen PP's position in the market by enhancing this lacking  area.
    I have done extensive research and testing of the  current plugins that  involve transitions (i.e.Sapphire, SpiceMaster,New  Blue) and found them  to be severely lacking in several areas. These  include shortcomings like  pedestrian effects, bad coding causing slow  rendering (to accomadate multiplatform use), limited options  for  control and variation of the transition or exorbitant pricing for a   very few effects.
   Anything you could do will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi lasvideo,
It's great to have you working to attract new third-party developers to the Creative Suite platform.  As Colin mentioned, the SDK forums are a fine place for developers to ask general questions on using the SDKs.  If needed, my email is also in the PPro SDK PDF documentation right at the end of the first chapter.
For developing effects plug-ins, the After Effects SDK is the recommended route.  For video transitions that can be applied between two clips, the Premiere Pro SDK has a transition API.
Regarding Noise Industries, we do have one specific feature request from them to support multiple PiPLs (and therefore multiple plug-ins) in a single binary.  This is not a dealbreaker for most developers, but perhaps this is more important for their needs, or perhaps their product roadmap is different than other developers.  As Todd mentioned, _many_ other effects, both internal and third-party, are developed using the After Effects API.  And version over version, we continue to improve upon the AE API support in Premiere Pro.
Has CGM worked with proDAD (another German company that developers Premiere Pro plug-ins) in the past?  Because some of the CGM effects look similar to proDAD Adorage.  One of their plug-in sets is even called "CGM Power".
Cheers,
Zac