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PremiereRemote - Customizable remote access to Adobe Premiere Pro CEP.

CEP Version Premiere Version Custom

Using the Adobe Premiere Extension mechanism, PremiereRemote provides a framework to trigger your own Premiere CEP-based functionality from outside of Premiere, e.g., by using AutoHotkey. This is achieved with a server that is started inside of Premiere on your local machine. Any custom functionality can then be triggerd using a local http request.

Let's take a custom function like locking a video track inside of Premiere Pro. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts available without modification. With CEP, you can define your own javascript function using extendscript:

function lockVideoLayer(layerNumber) {
  app.enableQE();
  var activeSequence = qe.project.getActiveSequence();
  var someTrack = activeSequence.getVideoTrackAt(layerNumber);
  someTrack.setLock(true);
}

Using PremiereRemote, you can now easily trigger this function from outside of Premiere Pro with a http request. The required endpoint is generated automaticaly. In the case of the default port 8081 and the function lockVideoLayer presented above:

$ curl "http://localhost:8081/lockVideoLayer?layerNumber=3"

Of course, you can also embed this line of code in a AHK-script or even remote control your Premiere instance from another computer. Sounds interesting? Let's get started!

Installation

This short guide will show how to install and use the PremiereRemote framework.

  1. Preconditions: Please make sure that your Adobe Premiere Pro version matches the version shown in the README file. Other versions might work but could break things. Also, this framework requires NodeJS. Please install the current version, and verify that it is usable by, e.g., typing npm --version.

  2. Start by cloning or downloading this repository. There is a ready-to-use-version available.

  3. Follow this documentation to install the extension. Basicaly, you have to:

    1. Use regedit to allow the execution of unsigned Adobe Premiere extensions as described here.
    2. Copy the downloaded code inside of an extension folder, described here, e.g., C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions\PremiereRemote.

  4. Install the required dependencies to use PremiereRemote.

    1. Open a console window in the PremiereRemote\client folder. Execute npm i to install all dependencies. These dependencies are used to run the local web server inside of Premiere.
    2. Open a console window in the PremiereRemote\host folder. Execute npm i to install all dependencies. These dependencies are used for the development workflow.
    3. In the same console window in the PremiereRemote\host folder, execute npm run build. This should generate a folder called build, where your custom functionality is contained.

  5. (Re) start Adobe Premiere Pro.

  6. Now, you should see the Framework under Window -> Extensions. If there is no entry, you might recheck the documentation and compare your premiere version / setup with the manifest.xml- file, located inside the CSXS- folder.

  7. Double click the extension window. This should open the plugins host- folder. Inside the folder src, you can add your own functionality, e.g., in the index.tsx. Please stick to the format already used to ensure correct parsing and server setup from the framework-side. A semi-minimal index.tsx-file looks like this:

    export const host = {
    kill: function () {
        // This method is only there for debugging purposes and shall not be replaced.
    },
    yourNewFunction: function(param1, param2) {
        alert(param1 + " " + param2);
    }
}

    After making changes in any .tsx files, repeat the process of running npm run build from inside the PremiereRemote\host folder. You also have to close and repoen the PremiereRemote extension via Window -> Extensions. Note, that a restart of Premiere Pro is usually not required.

    There is more custom functionality available as inspiration or to directly use here.

Usage

Now, you are ready to call your own Premiere CEP functions, defined in the host variable of the index.tsx-file remotely. Test the endpoints in the browser of your choice, as shown above. For example, use Chrome and the url:

http://localhost:8081/yourNewFunction?param1=Hello&param2=World

There is support for a Swagger-based user interface (UI) to trigger your functionality. This UI is generated based on the annotations of the functions inside the host variable of the index.tsx file. By default, it is also hosted by the internal Premiere Pro server at http://localhost:8081/api-docs/. It is highly recommended to annotate your functions to simplify their usage (also, by you :)).

On Windows 10 and later, you can easily trigger the URLs using the curl-functionality. AutoHotkey code wrapping the curl process would look like this:

F11::
	Run curl ""http://localhost:8081/yourNewFunction?param1=Hello&param2=World"",,hide
	return

Quite easy, isn't it? Of course, you can change the port on your localhost. Have a look at the index.html- file for this. Also, AutoHotkey is only one example on how your custom Premiere Pro functionality can be called. Any application that can execute HTTP-requests is capable of triggering your functions.

Additionally, it is possible to return values from inside of Premiere Pro, by returning their serialized representation at the end of a function inside the index.tsx file. An example JSON-based result can look like this:

{"message":"ok.","result":"5"}

Development

Here is my workflow for easy development and debugging of your own CEP-based functionality:

  1. Start developing your new function using the ExtendScript Debugger extension for Visual Studio Code. Just specify Adobe Premiere as targed and you're ready to go with your own javascript CEP code.
  2. After finishing with the development and testing of your new function, copy & paste the code inside the index.tsx-file. Alternatively, you can use multiple files to organize your code, as demonstrated here.
  3. After making changes in any .tsx files, repeat the process of running npm run build from inside the PremiereRemote\host folder.
  4. Then, reopen the PremiereRemote extension via Window -> Extensions and test it again, e.g., by using a browser, as shown above.
  5. Optional: This extension enables debugging by default. Using chrome web debugger, you can simply connect to http://localhost:8004 (by default) and see the javascript console output in real time.

Custom functionality inside the host folder is written in TypeScript and is based on Types-for-Adobe.

More

If you want learn more about using the Adobe CEP SDK or AutoHotkey, have a look at this:

If there are more questions, you can contact me on Twitter or via mail.