| Adobe Introduces Creative Suite 4 Product Family - photoshop cs4 with 3d painting and compositing |
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Posted On:
Sep 23 2008 @ 04:09 PM
By:
admin
In Section:
Software
SAN JOSE, Calif. Sept. 23, 2008 Adobe Systems
Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the Adobe Creative Suite 4
product family, a milestone release of the industry-leading design and
development software for virtually every creative workflow. Delivering
radical workflow breakthroughs that bring down the walls between
designers and developers and packed with hundreds of feature
innovationsthe new Creative Suite 4 product line advances the creative
process across print, Web, mobile, interactive, film and video
production. With new levels of integration and expressiveness for Flash
technology across the entire product line, Adobes biggest software
release to date includes Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design editions,
Creative Suite 4 Web editions, Creative Suite 4 Production Premium,
Creative Suite 4 Master Collection, as well as 13 point products, 14
integrated technologies and seven services.
Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection CS4 combines virtually all of
Adobe's new design and development applications, technologies and
services in a single box the most comprehensive creative environment
ever delivered.
Designers and developers are shaping the way that people consume
information, share ideas, sell products, tell stories and create
memorable experiences in print, online and via mobile handsets, said
Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer at Adobe.
Whether youre creating a rich Internet application, a video or a
best-selling magazine, Adobe Creative Suite 4 delivers powerful
cross-media technologies that have the ability to elevate products,
brands and ideas above the clutter.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 offers unprecedented choice among editions and
stand-alone products, with comprehensive support for the most
cutting-edge workflows for virtually any design discipline. Customers
can choose from six suites or full version upgrades of 13 stand-alone
applications, including Photoshop CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended,
InDesign CS4 (see separate releases), Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4
Professional, Dreamweaver CS4, After Effects CS4, and Adobe Premiere
Pro CS4.
A simplified workflow in Adobe Creative Suite 4 enables users to design
across media more efficiently by making it easier to complete common
tasks and switch between mediums without leaving a project. InDesign
CS4 includes a new Live Preflight tool that allows designers to catch
production errors and a newly customizable Links panel to place files
more efficiently. The revolutionary new Content-Aware Scaling tool in
Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended automatically recomposes an
image as it is resized, preserving vital areas as it adapts to new
dimensions. An expanded version of Dynamic Link in CS4 Production
Premium enables users to move content between After Effects CS4, Adobe
Premiere Pro CS4, Soundbooth CS4, and Encore CS4, so updates can be
seen instantly without rendering.
Designers using the Adobe Creative Suite 4 product family will be able
to gain unprecedented creative control using the new expressive
features and visual performance improvements in Adobe Flash Player 10
to deliver breakthrough Web experiences across multiple browsers and
operating systems.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 brings 3D center-stage providing the ability to
paint, composite, and animate 3D models using familiar tools. Flash CS4
Professional now offers the ability to apply tweens to objects instead
of keyframes, providing greater control over animation attributes. Also
in Flash, the new Bones tool helps create more realistic animations
between linked objects. With a searchable library of more than 450
dynamically updated device profiles from leading manufacturers, Adobe
Device Central CS4 (see separate release) enables users to easily test
mobile content designed using many of the Creative Suite 4 products.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 significantly expands access to services*
available to creative professionals and developers who want to
collaborate online. Adobe ConnectNow, a service of Acrobat.com, can be
accessed from InDesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Photoshop CS4 and
Photoshop Extended CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver CS4,
Fireworks CS4, and Acrobat 9 Pro, allowing real-time collaboration
with two colleagues or clients. Designers can also share color
harmonies with Adobe Kuler, which is now accessible from within
InDesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Extended
CS4, Flash CS4 and Fireworks CS4. Other online resources include: Adobe
Community Help for technical questions; Resource Central for accessing
video and audio product-related news and tutorials, as well as
Soundbooth scores, sound effects, and other stock media; and Adobe
Bridge Home, a customizable resource for tips, tutorials, news and
inspirational content.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 and its associated point products are scheduled
to ship in October 2008 with availability through Adobe Authorized
Resellers and the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/go/gn_store
. Estimated street price for the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium
will be US$1799, US$1699 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium,
US$1699 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium, and US$2499 for
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection. Adobe plans to offer tiered
upgrade pricing from previous versions. For a limited time, validly
licensed customers of eligible versions of Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe
Production Studio and Macromedia Studio will be able to upgrade to
Creative Suite 4 for the CS3 upgrade price. For more detailed
information about features, upgrade policies, pricing, and
international versions please visit: www.adobe.com/creativesuite
.
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New Features in Photoshop CS4 : Videos can be found here
Revolutionary 3D painting and compositing
Now paint directly on 3D models, wrap 2D images around 3D shapes,
convert gradient maps to 3D objects, add depth to layers and text, get
print-quality output with the new ray-tracing rendering engine, and
enjoy exporting to supported common 3D formats.
Adjustments panel
Simplify image adjustment by easily accessing every tool you need to
nondestructively adjust and enhance the color and tone of your images;
on-image controls and a wide variety of presets are also included in
the new live and dynamic Adjustments panel.
Masks panel
Quickly create and edit masks from the new Masks panel. This panel
offers all the tools you need to create editable pixel- and
vector-based masks, adjust mask density and feathering, easily select
noncontiguous objects, and more.
Auto-blending of images
Easily create a single image from a series of shots that have
different focal points with the enhanced Auto-Blend Layers command,
which smoothly blends color and shading and now extends your depth of
field, automatically correcting vignettes and lens distortion.
Auto-alignment of layers
Create
accurate composites with the enhanced Auto-Align Layers command. Move,
rotate, or warp layers to align them more accurately than ever before.
Or use spherical alignment to create breathtaking panoramas. Extended depth of field
Combine
a range of images, each with a different exposure, color, and focal
point with options to preserve tones and colors into a single
color-corrected image.
More powerful printing options
Get outstanding prints with superior color management, tighter
integration with leading printer models, and the ability to preview
out-of-gamut image areas. Support for 16-bit printing on Mac OS offers
increased color depth and clarity.
Integration with other Adobe software
Be
productive with enhanced integration between Photoshop Extended and
other Adobe applications you depend on, including Adobe After Effects,
Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe Flash Professional software.
Improved Adobe Photoshop Lightroom workflow
Select multiple photos in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (sold
separately) and automatically open them in Photoshop CS4 to merge them
into a panorama, a high dynamic range (HDR) photo, or a multilayered
Photoshop document. And seamlessly roundtrip back to Lightroom.
3D object and property editing
Edit,
enhance, and manipulate 3D images in a streamlined interface without
dialog boxes. Adjust lighting, meshes, and materials. Easily orient
objects and position the camera using 3D axes and a ground plane.
Fluid canvas rotation
Now just click to smoothly turn your canvas for distortion-free
viewing at any desired angle no more tilting your head in the middle
of painting and drawing.
Smoother panning and zooming
Gracefully
navigate to any area of an image with new, ultra-smooth zooming and
panning. Maintain clarity as you zoom to individual pixels and easily
edit at the highest magnification with the new Pixel Grid.
Content-Aware Scaling
Use
the new and revolutionary Content-Aware Scaling feature to
automatically recompose an image as you resize it, smartly preserving
vital areas as the image adapts to the new dimensions. Get the perfect
image in one step without time-intensive cropping and retouching.
Enhanced motion graphics editing
Edit
motion graphics more efficiently with new single-key shortcuts, sync
visual effects with specific points in an audio track using new audio
syncing controls, and turn any 3D object into a video display zone. Better raw image processing
Enjoy
superior conversion quality as you process raw images with the
industry-leading Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 5 plug-in, which now offers
localized corrections, post-crop vignetting, TIFF and JPEG processing,
and support for more than 190 camera models.
Industry-leading color correction
Enjoy
dramatically enhanced color correction with reengineered Dodge, Burn,
and Sponge tools that now intelligently preserve color and tone details.
File display options
Easily work with multiple open files by using tabbed document display or n-up views.
Extensibility
Get
and share Adobe Flash technology-based panels that developers create
to accomplish customized tasks. Plus, get tips and tricks from the
thriving worldwide community of Photoshop users through the new Adobe
Community Help online service.
Adobe's CS4 Top Features Page with vids
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These guys at photoshopuser.com have some great videos on new features in Photoshop CS4. Check them out.
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was really hoping for a 64 bit after effects....seems kinda lame they thought photoshop needed 64 bits more so than AE in this HD day in age
Though AE was 64 bit under vista-64 ? Could have swore I read that somewhere, just not apple 64 bit...if thats the case. I hardly see a reason for upgrade on that end right now.
MMhm, Adobe should get with it.
I keep seeing conflicting reports as to windows and AE CS4.
I'd say since its vague and not cut and dry AE isn't a 64 bit app now on either platform. Is that correct?
Everything keeps saying, "optimized" which means what? We found some 32 bit on a 64 bit OS memory leaks and we fixed them?
That is bad. I could understand adobe not getting it together in time for cs3, but come on. Anyone doing HD composting and not seriously migrating to some form of 64 bit (where we should have been 10 years ago after SGI/IRIX died anyway) is way behind as far as getting the job done faster and with less headache.
They should have not put cs4 out until the entire suit was 64 bit.
I suspect they did this because Photoshop was ready to go and Adobe no longer puts out single app upgrades at different times like they once did.I am not impressed or happy with this.
IF, the demo handles HD significantly better than CS3 even without being a 64 bit app. then I'll put the money out. Right now, purging my ram every 2 seconds and dealing with crashes once a half hour isn't cutting it. Even with a new updated fast PC with 8 gigs of ram AE can't use.
I don't need multiple Apps open, I need AE to better handle ram and large amounts of data. I only see going 64 bit the way to do that.
Am I wrong here?
Also, the strange issues with Nvidia and Quicktime on PC, is that addressed at all in cs4? Last time I checked neither company says its their fault and since turning off quicktime acceleration AE has been much more stable. However, curious if thats no longer an issue.
AE is not 64 bit. It is 32 bit, and normally limited to 2 gigs of ram, but if you have a 64 bit OS with 64 bit hardware, then you can use up to 3 gigs of ram due to some clever programming on Adobe's part.
CS3 is hugely unstable. I've been using 7.0 to do my work, then later finishing up a project or outputting with CS3. I did notice turning openGL acceleration off with CS3 improved stability big time since before just scrubbing around the timeline would crash it on both my work and home computers
CS3 has been a mess. IF...things are stable with CS4, it might be worth it. I'm just really surprised and unhappy Adobe didn't get it together by now. HD layers eat ram away like a hungry termite. I'd love to have it use my entire 8 gigs. Heck, POSER is 64-bit now..ha...
Its not as if being 64-bit is some new amazing thing, I wouldn't even consider it next-gen these days, its considered "expected". If you read this years forums on AE, everyone pretty much figured 64 bit for them at this point would be a no-brainer. Maybe that's why they've been so vague about if it is, or if it an't.
Again, I have a suspicion Photoshop was ready to go and they no longer let a program upgrade alone. It all goes out with whatever they've done. I don't care much for that as a practice.
I'd definitely look into another solution, but with shared projects across my group, AE is a standard. It seems to work with everyone. I'm sure I'll be happy with it, sounds like its what cs3 should have been. A stable, good 32-bit app. without memory leaks. For 599.00 to upgrade my suite...the more I look at some of the updates, I'll be doing it. A couple of photoshop things might save me a few hours.
OH, on a side note...I haven't been able to use openGL acceleration in any stable way yet. Its always on Adaptive.
Well to honest i ahveant been fond with adobes releases in ages. The only truly good adobe software si illustrator and indesign. Photoshop is jut not up to its real tasks if i compare to other pixel processors out there. Same applies to AE.*
I am whoever glad to hear of the future inclusion of a gui building tool set. I men one of the most annoying things of photoshop was the fact taht you couldnt esaily do small tweaks in the gui to suit YOUR need.
*on AE what i think of it is taht ist used much mainly because adobe bundles it, on ots own it would probably fly out fo the door at many places. Tough for some stuff ist Amazingly good. but fails on others abysmally
so what company actually is making upgrades worthy of getting each and every one?
or are XSI and Houdini the only apps out on the market worth getting each upgrade for?
sentry65 said:
so what company actually is making upgrades worthy of getting each and every one?
Well quite many ones. As a general rule ITS NOT worth to buy upgrades to software like houdini, xsi and maya. Its Worth buying a support contract. This gets you the upgrades for free. What you essentially pay for is the ability to ask the manufacturers for support. And because they cant support old versions they whave a incentive to keep you upgraded. So depends on how you look at things.
In general it NEVER pays to be left versions behind. Its actually more costly than keeping current even if the additions arent all that fabulous. Dont look at the price tag as a loss look at it as a investment into your future. Quite often without knowing it you DO benefit in ways that pays the upgrades back even if you dont think so.
So to make money you must spend money. The aim is NEVER to make a least amount of spending for some profit. But the optimum amount of spending in relation to profit. And theres a HUGE difference.
So for example for me maya 7.0 to 8 was not a big deal, but the renderer got faster so i could actually buy less computers for my projects again 8.5 was a huge step. Again 2008 want so good for me personally but again the mentalray got a HUGE update and again i got more speed. Lost some momentum too because of changes in the underlying system but in general is now 4 times faster to do a average GI scene.
So while i wasnt excited about the upgrades i did benefit.
On adobe side tough i didnt need much of adobe so i could phase that one out because i didnt do print for a long while so i skipped the CS2-3 but not because i didn't think the upgrades where worth it. Mainly because i didn't need photoshop at ALL for anything (and indeed i use it less and less every day, because i dont need its functions at all). So the only adobe app i did buy was illustrator.
yeah, that's great for maya and most 3d apps, but adobe and most companies for instance doesn't offer an ongoing support license. You have to pay for each upgrade. In the case of adobe, I could have After Effects 6.0 or CS3, and either way it will still cost the same to upgrade to CS4.
Yes thats a flaw in how adobe conducts business IMHO. because if you leave maya behind many versions they WILL Not rebate you for upgrade. And this is true to most apps.
OK, I'm going to put some rumor and gossip out there. By no way is this documented or fact.
But, I saw some postings that mentioned the general belief was AE was to be 64 bit but plug-in conflicts kept it from happening with their 3rd party companies and is giving them more time to adapt. So, who knows.
The biggest thing with Adobe is, you want to be compliant with other people if you work with other locations and , mostly, you are. Better but lesser used software is great if you're an island, or only distribute final projects, but, if you're not, they are still king in many businesses.
Everyones heard of photoshop.
With the Maya contract thing, agree 100%. If you're going to own Maya, try to make enough capital every year to support it. You'll be happier with your investment in the long run.
So far, Autodesk has kept that aspect still a viable one.
problem is I haven't been happy with every maya update. Some of them like version 8.0 64 bit were just flat out useless.
granted I've been pretty much happy with most of them, but some of them really were not even ready until they got their 1st or 2nd service pack minor update.
So in a way I don't always think maintenance is always worth it because you're constantly paying every year for what might possibly end up being useless software.
I gotta weigh if maya's newest batch of features are more important than hardware upgrades...and usually they're not. Cause it's not just 1 license, but everyone who's using maya. Is it really worth spending money on maintenance for a bunch of people every year - some of which might not even hardly end up using maya depending on the work they're given. Or should that money be used to upgrade 1 or 2 people's computers and just sit out an upgrade or two because it's pretty rare that a single software upgrade is worth it IMO. You can't ever go wrong with hardware upgrades though and that has more of a global effect on everything you do than just a single app
Not only that but if you bought a node locked license, you gotta pay each time you get a new computer. It just doesn't make sense to me to pay extra money for maintaining floating licenses for everyone when a lot of people are not going to be upgrading machines for awhile.
At my job, money occasionally fluctuates between tightening up and suddenly having plenty of it. So we buy software upgrades when the time suites us instead of always paying for what can end end up being features we might not really need or for the new version being too buggy to even use yet.
I still think most upgrades are reasonable. I don't have completely unrealistic expectations for what each upgrade should be. But I'd rather get some feedback from people about current versions first instead of possibly just wasting time instead of comiting to something I don't even know if it's going to work - which takes me a few days of messing with it to really get a feel for if it's ready or not
Neither have I but i have still benefited for each of them! As not getting the upgrade even if i dont use it halpf me to tool up next version isntead. Also allmost allways you get some things you need.
Yes but with this approaches you still use up more money. And if floating i not your piece of tea get a dongle licence it moves form computer to computer.
The point with maintenance is not that YOU need the upgrade you get it its up to you not to use it. But most importantly you get a foot inside the support structure of auto desk which can be a HUGE deal, as you can get that one annoying bug fixed on request. Dont downplay this. Without the support you have no sayso, keep complaining your out of the loop.
JTK:
Well i dont see this as production island issue. First 2D stuff such as images are pretty much usable cross the board without any problems unlike 3d. So whatever 2d imaging app you use then you can export is as is to another 2d app without much trouble. So no you REALLY really do not need to have adobe apps to work on the same island.
So the codecs for opening image formats are in system as are the video codecs. So no you do not need adobe apps to be compatible. THIS is the biggest deal here. So to make a fantastic z comp with shake and working witha ae user is NO problem even if i have no AE i can allways just ship the references out and they can ship thirs is omebody needs to change just update footage.
Yeah I see it's uses and why it's worth it for perhaps most people, but it's just not something I think is worth paying for in our dept. And like I said, it becomes a new hardware vs maya upgrade issue and faster and more hardware is usually the better investment for us
I've only ever bothered to use tech support once in the 8 years I've been using maya. I just don't feel like I need it at least for the relatively simple things our dept does. I actually do maya tech support for other people and friends where they call me if they've run into a snag and I do it for our dept to. Usually I come up with my own fix or a work around and move on. I'll dig around forums if I have time and can't figure it out.
maya 2009 is a nice upgrade. I give it a thumbs up. But at the same time if you asked me what would get our work done faster: maya 2009 or faster computers?
We side with faster hardware almost every time.
We need everyone in our dept to be in sync with the same version of maya to prevent renderfarm and converting headaches. Some people are not full time maya users and would probably not notice the improvements or wouldn't look at the release notes to see what has changed because they only use it for some basic types of things or an early phase in production.
So for us it makes more sense to take that maintenance money and put it towards new computers for the lead animators. Then later upgrade everyone's maya later on at the same time when there's been enough improvements to be worth it. Also when I've read enough feedback that the current version is decent enough to use.
Adobe is at least reasonable with their upgrade costs which are about 1/4 the cost of the full package. Maya's upgrades are almost 50% the cost of their full package. It's too expensive IMO and not at all worth it. So that leaves the only alternative is either maintenance, or not upgrade. For us, the choice is to not upgrade. If each maya complete upgrade was $500 instead of $900, we might actually upgrade more often
Well thats your choice but to be honest would i want o work for a company that can not spend money on upgrades thats less than 1/2 one workers half months salary a few times a year. Then the answer is NO.
I mean what kind of signal does that give for YOUR worth? So at any time one mistake anywhere in tha cahin of comamnd and your job is gone.
But yes thats a choice. Im not saying its sane.
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