January Update: New Importer, Asset Collection, and OBS Chapter Extraction

We just shipped our January update with three big workflow improvements: a completely rebuilt importer, automatic asset collection for shared projects, and a new OBS chapter extractor. Let me walk you through what changed and why it matters. You can watch the full YouTube video here.

The New Importer

We rebuilt the entire import system from scratch. You no longer need to select clips before importing. Just move your playhead to where you want the effect and hit import. Transitions, titles, overlays, whatever. It drops exactly where your playhead is.

Why this is different:

Before, you had to select exactly two clips to add a transition. If you had text layers or other elements stacked on top, you'd need to nest everything just to get back to two clips. That workflow broke constantly.

Now, you can stack as many layers as you want. The importer looks at your timeline, figures out what clips to use, and injects the effect exactly where you need it. No nesting. No workarounds.

Automatic Asset Collection

When you import anything from Spotlight FX, we now automatically save it in a "Spotlight FX" folder next to your project file.

This solves the biggest pain point when sharing projects with other editors. Before, they'd have to relink everything or download the same assets themselves. Now, you just send them the project folder and everything works immediately.

All your transitions, titles, and effects are already there. No relinking. No missing files.

OBS Chapter Extractor

If you record with OBS and use chapter markers (Control+Alt+L by default), you can now extract those markers directly into Premiere Pro. Go to Toolbox, click "OBS Chapters Extractor," select your footage, and hit extract. Your OBS markers instantly appear on your Premiere timeline.

You can extract them as regions (green chapters you can double-click and trim) or as standard markers (yellow flags you can snap to with Shift). This is huge if you're recording gameplay, podcasts, or long-form content and marking key moments as you go. No more scrubbing through hours of footage to find what you flagged during recording.

New 3D Screens

We also rebuilt our 3D Screens library from scratch. These let you take flat images or video and turn them into realistic 3D mockups with camera movement, depth, reflections, and blur. All controllable without leaving your sequence.

Want to create that classic newspaper highlight effect? Drop your image on the timeline, add a circle marker from Elements, then import a 3D Screen. Everything gets pulled into a 3D scene with animation, vignetting, RGB split, whatever you need. Change the camera angle, adjust the zoom, tweak the background. It's all in the effects panel. No comps. No expressions.

One More Thing

We updated the category cards in the app. Hover over any category and you'll see a preview of what's inside. Small thing, but it makes browsing way faster.

It's All Live

Everything I just showed you is live right now. Restart Spotlight FX and it'll pull the latest version automatically.

Try the new importer. Move your playhead somewhere random and import a transition without selecting anything. It feels weird at first, then it just feels right.

Let me know what you think. Reply on Discord, shoot me an email, or hit the chat bubble in the app. Thanks for being here.

Tom