Adobe releases Creative Suite 4

[BrianKitts]

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/?promoid=DNOWM

 

doesn't look like any new advances worth singing about, I think I'll probably skip this one. It sounds like mostly UI improvements across the board... at least I haven't seen anything ground breaking in the new features listings.

[shaneis]

I love those updates - half a dozen "New" features based solely around one of their products and changes to Help and Bridge. "Enhancements" to the rest and a jiggled UI so you can spend a couple of weeks finding your favourite tools. Hardly worth the hundreds to upgrade let alone the +$1000 for a new suite.

 

I really wish Adobe and A'Desk would try a new marketing model. It consistently dumbfounds me how some of the biggest software developers can produce fiddly little "developments" at a snail's pace, all with flamboyant packaging and pricing to match and dare to call it "new", while there are groups like the Blender Foundation and GIMP who offer apps with regular 6-monthly meaningful developments for free. Just have a look at the features for Blender - http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/features/ Lets hope GIMP goes 32-bit soon or Cinepaint (original dev by ILM) goes back into full dev.

[Matt McDonald]

I don't know, just about everything that they added to InDesign sounds awesome... maybe not specifically 3D related but if you've ever felt like killing yourself two slides into a PowerPoint presentation the InDesign to Flash connection (with transitions and animation) sounds positively exhilarating. Multiple artboards in Illustrator sounds pretty sweet too.

 

Photoshop is kind of a yawner. I had heard that it was going to be 64bit but I don't see anything about it in the info. 16bit printing sounds interesting but I'm not sure that 8bit doesn't still represent a larger color gamut than most printers (even the ones with orange and green).

[AJLynn]

The GPU acceleration in Photoshop has potential. I'll need to get a look at the 3D features before deciding whether they're useful. Also, if you do web, the integration of all the apps is supposed to be a lot better, and if you do photography, the Lightroom integration sounds good. I'm also pretty happy about the Indesign and Illustrator improvements. Probably not a huge upgrade for everybody though.

[SandmanNinja]

One thing that I'd like to see is when you use the Clone tool.

You get crosshairs when you SELECT the source, but no crosshairs when you go to apply that, there are no crosshairs.

 

I'm always needing to apply specific FROM to a specific location TO. (if that makes sense)

[Ky Lane]

One thing that I'd like to see is when you use the Clone tool.

You get crosshairs when you SELECT the source, but no crosshairs when you go to apply that, there are no crosshairs.

 

I'm always needing to apply specific FROM to a specific location TO. (if that makes sense)

 

Jump into your settings, and tick the "show actual brush" option I think it is... itll show the size/shape of the clone brush.

[SandmanNinja]

I thank you whole-heartedly.

 

I also shifted the swap file to my big D: Drive while I was in there.

 

Thanks heaps!

[Ky Lane]

I thank you whole-heartedly.

 

I also shifted the swap file to my big D: Drive while I was in there.

 

Thanks heaps!

 

Good idea No wuckers.

 

Sometimes worth allocating more memory too.

[tropitech]

going by subject of this thread, and reading the following comments, the thread starter is totally on the ball. i think ill keep my IOU's and stay with cs3, just like im staying with maya 2008 and autocad arch 2008 for the same reasons...

[vizfx]

Some of the “new features” should be included as an update in prior versions of the CS package or even single software. The most annoying part is in video editing were all the others (Apple, Pinnacle, Avid, Corel, etc.) offered support for AVCHD, P2 and other type of files and even export to DVD (transfer from Premiere to Encore) with no necessary intermediate rendering a long time ago. Now it is offered in CS4 with Dynamic Workflow.

The true flagship remains Photoshop but the competitors are very close.

The rest of the products especially those inherited from Macromedia have very small leaps from one version to another.

Another example is the developing of the Adobe Director 11 (not included in CS package) which didn`t offered the much expected advanced features promised for multimedia and real time 3D (offline and online).

But we already know… these are the politics of the Adobe giant.

From my point of view it should be called CS1.4 and not a genuine 4.

[mattclinch]

wow. i'm really surprised at the reaction here.

photoshop (which i am assuming is the most used of the suites programs by the people on this forum) seems to have made a massive jump - perhaps not in features, but certainly in technical and programming.

personally, i think GPU processing and shader model 3.0 and 64-bit processing for pc will make the performance jump very noticable, and the features list makes for some interesting reading - not least the canvas rotation which i have wanted for some time now. other tools for HDR and the lightroom workflow, content aware scaling, enhanced masking, zoom to 3200%, tabbed open files, and workspace window layouts all look like very useful tools.

[Trick]

If you need 2 adobe apps for serious work, buying/upgrading the suite is the best thing you can do. Initially I always thought that new features were sparse, but even if there are few, they always made my workflow a lot lighter. I think if you are a serious 3D artist you can't miss PShop CS4 for its 64bit feature alone. A bit disappointing is the fact that I have to wait for (at least) CS5 before After Effects is 64bit, while Fusion already is...

[Iain Denby]

Unfortunately the 64bit processing is on Vista only!

[BrianKitts]

I don't know, just about everything that they added to InDesign sounds awesome... maybe not specifically 3D related but if you've ever felt like killing yourself two slides into a PowerPoint presentation the InDesign to Flash connection (with transitions and animation) sounds positively exhilarating. Multiple artboards in Illustrator sounds pretty sweet too.

 

I overlooked that one, I break out In-Design maybe twice a year that makes it sound like something I'll want to get into more for presentations.

 

One thing that I'd like to see is when you use the Clone tool.

You get crosshairs when you SELECT the source, but no crosshairs when you go to apply that, there are no crosshairs.

 

I'm always needing to apply specific FROM to a specific location TO. (if that makes sense)

 

Hit your CAPSLOCK key when stamping it will change your cursor from the brush size to the cross-hairs.

 

Unfortunately the 64bit processing is on Vista only!

 

that really sucks.

 

Although I can half understand not building the software for previous OS's, but Adobe of all people should be wise enough the the fact that at least 75% of the commercial world is still running XP (I'm guessing here).

Edited September 24, 2008 by BrianKitts

[Ingsoc75]

Having done a lot of Flash design over the years the new 3D space feature in Flash CS4 has me excited. I've always loved this ability in After Effects (especially in the pre AE 5 days when I could only use Flint/Effect for this) and now it seems I will in Flash.

[SandmanNinja]

Thanks for the CAPSLOCK tip, Brian! I would have never guessed that one...

[AJLynn]

Unfortunately the 64bit processing is on Vista only!

 

I see where it says "certified" for 32-bit XP and 32/64 Vista but I read somewhere else that it runs on all four. What the heck is "certified" and do we need it?

 

Also I'm not entirely sure that they consider 64-bit useful. Apparently the OSX version is not 64-bit, but when they did the demos of how well the GPU system works on huge files they were doing it in OSX. I'm not sure what's up with that, it seems that if I were arranging a demo of a feature like that and I only had 64-bit support in Vista, I'd run it on Vista.

[Dave Buchhofer]

I think the sheer fact that to upgrade from CS3 to CS4 costs half what we paid individually for CS3 to begin with means that this one is going to just be for you slack ass people who dont pay for your software.

 

enjoy!

Edited September 24, 2008 by Dave Buchhofer
exagerration--;

[SandmanNinja]

I think "certified" means they installed it on Vista in a controlled environment and it didn't crash (immediately). They may not have certified it for XP64 because a) it costs money and b) why undercut the integrity of their favourite child (Vista)...

 

I really don't see the app using propritary Vista 64bit extensions predominately.

 

I'd make an educated guess and say it should would under XP64 if it works under Vista 64

[Billabong]

Since I have been getting into a lot of lowpoly game stuff lately. I think the new features for PS are awesome

[SandmanNinja]

ED-209, by any chance Billa?

 

I hope to soon!

[Ky Lane]

What I love is tho, there is now a CS4 file format. Its essentially no different to the CS3, however, if a client sends you a CS4 file, you obviously cant open it with CS3 (despite there being nothing new in the file). Its a rort, and Adobe holds our businesses to ransom essentially.

[Billabong]

ED-209, by any chance Billa?

 

I hope to soon!

 

No not at the moment. I am to slammed. It does look good, but im more into environments. Kevin Johnson over at Epic Games has announced on Eat3D he is going to do a 2 part dvd on creating some of their environment objects or buildings. I may hold off for that one

 

What I love is tho, there is now a CS4 file format. Its essentially no different to the CS3, however, if a client sends you a CS4 file, you obviously cant open it with CS3 (despite there being nothing new in the file). Its a rort, and Adobe holds our businesses to ransom essentially.

 

Now that does suck

[Matt McDonald]

What I love is tho, there is now a CS4 file format. Its essentially no different to the CS3, however, if a client sends you a CS4 file, you obviously cant open it with CS3 (despite there being nothing new in the file). Its a rort, and Adobe holds our businesses to ransom essentially.

 

For which apps? Photoshop (IMHO) has been fantastic about working across versions (we run 7 through CS3). Illustrator has always let you save down pretty easily. InDesign was the tricky one until I discovered "export - InDesign Interchange"...probably could have saved some money had I know about that a couple of months ago. Anywho, I can't vouch for Flash as I haven't used it in years.

[AJLynn]

The Indesign part is hard because they do change so much in each version - I guess in the CS4 version the .indd file wil need to store animation information for the Flash exporter, and that dynamic text thing, and lord knows what else is new in there. I've had issues with Indesign versioning in the past but the .inx files have been very useful, but I don't think I've ever had a .psd versioning problem.