Welcome
Well, it is that time again. Adobe has just announced the updates to their major software packages. Adobe Creative Suite CS4 is due to ship before the end of 2008. This will mark the first time in Adobe's history that all of their major applications have been updated and released at once. Previously Creative Suite CS3 came the closest with their desktop publishing and design applications being released at once and then a few months later their video editing products. This time everything ships at once.
The Interface
All of the programs have seen major work done to their interface. In fact the design applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, InDesign, Flash, etc. all have a very similar interface. It is the video editing applications like Premiere Pro, After Effects, SoundBooth, etc. that are still the most different.
Honestly I am glad that Adobe is working towards a unified interface look and feel, but I am also happy that they aren't just cramming one interface down all of the applications throats even when that interface just wouldn't work.
Lets face it InDesign is a very different from After Effects and while the InDesign interface works well for it, it wouldn't work all that well for After Effects or vice versa so I am glad Adobe sees this and just tries to bring them as close as possible without making a total disaster of it.
Cross Application Compatibility
Another area that has seen major advancements across the applications is cross application integration. It is becoming much easier to take a Photoshop layered PSD file in to Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, etc. and have everything not only remain as you designed it, but editable, and manipulatable as well. Things like layer masks, layer effects, adjustment layers, etc. are all kept and work as they did in the originating application. This cross application compatibility in my opinion is a not only awesome it is perhaps the single most important advancement Adobe has done for their applications. CS3 brought this closer to reality and CS4 just about finishes the job.
Being able to bring one programs files in to another, have them remain as you designed them and then being able to quickly slip back in to the original creator of the file to edit it and have it update in the secondary program is just marvelous and a very big productivity booster as well.
64-bit Support
Another area that is finally starting to come to life is the support for 64-bit operating systems. While moving to a 64-bit OS alone will not make the applications run faster or be more stable or anything like that. It does however, enable the 64-bit programs to access more memory. Right now with a 32-bit OS having more than 2GB of RAM is of questionable value.
My own personal system has 4GB but I see little value in that amount of ram under a 32-bit OS. However, being able to access a lot more memory under a 64-bit OS means programs like Photoshop can use a lot more physical memory and this means that when working with large/complex files it will have to use the hard drives less and that will make Photoshop run faster. Being able to fully use 4GB or even 8GB of RAM with a program like Photoshop is a very big plus in my book.
Right now only Photoshop CS4 on Windows will have a native 64-bit version available. Others will hopefully follow over the next couple of years as well as 64-bit versions for the Macintosh as well. 64-bit for the real world is still in its infancy, but I am happy to see major players like Adobe taking the first steps that will in end make life easier for all of us. More memory is never a bad thing. It's like money you can never have too much.
Well, what do you say we move on to specifics? Like what's new and enhanced in these new versions.
Suites
Includes:
- Adobe InDesign CS4
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- Adobe Fireworks CS4
- Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
- Adobe Bridge CS4
- Adobe Version Cue CS4
- Adobe Device Central CS4
Includes:
- Adobe InDesign CS4
- Adobe Photoshop CS4
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
- Adobe Bridge CS4
- Adobe Version Cue CS4
- Adobe Device Central CS4
Pricing
- Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium: Full: $1,799.
- Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard: Full: $1,399.
- Upgrade for either Design Premium or Design Standard: Upgrade: $599
- For the first 6 months after initial release owners of Creative Suite 2.x, 1.x or Studio 8 or MX 2004 can upgrade for $599 after the 6 months it goes to $799.
Needs
- 2GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
- 1GB of RAM or more recommended
- 9.3GB of available hard-disk space for installation;
additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card.
- Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0
- Some features in Adobe Bridge rely on a DirectX 9–capable graphics card with at least 64MB of VRAM
- DVD-ROM drive
- QuickTime 7.4.5 software required for multimedia
features
- Internet connection required for online services
Includes:
- Adobe SoundBooth CS4
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- Adobe Fireworks CS4
- Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
- Contribute CS4
- Adobe Bridge CS4
- Adobe Version Cue CS4
- Adobe Device Central CS4
Includes:
- Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- Adobe Fireworks CS4
- Contribute CS4
- Adobe Bridge CS4
- Adobe Device Central CS4
Pricing
- Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium: Full: $1,699
- Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Standard: Full: $999
- Upgrade for either Web Premium or Design Standard: Upgrade: $599
- For the first 6 months after initial release owners of Creative Studio 8 or MX 2004 can upgrade for $599 after the 6 months it goes to $799.
Needs
- 2GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
- 1GB of RAM or more recommended
- 9.1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,280x900 display with 32-bit video card and 16MB of VRAM
- Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0
- Some features in Adobe Bridge rely on a DirectX 9–capable graphics card with at least 64MB of VRAM
- DVD-ROM drive
- QuickTime 7.4.5 software required for multimedia features
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Includes:
- Adobe SoundBooth CS4
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
- Adobe After Effects CS4
- Adobe Premiere Pro CS4
- Adobe OnLocation CS4
- Adobe Encore CS4
- Adobe Bridge CS4
- Adobe Dynamic Link
- Adobe Device Central CS4
Pricing
- Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium: Full: $1,699
- Upgrade for either Web Premium or Design Standard: Upgrade: $599
- For the first 6 months after initial release owners of Adobe Production Studio Premium or Standard can upgrade for $599 after the 6 months it goes to $799.
Needs
- 2GHz or faster processor for DV; 3.4GHz for HDV; dual 2.8GHz for HD
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32- and 64-bit Windows Vista)
- 2GB of RAM (more RAM recommended when running multiple components)
- 16.3GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,280x900 display with OpenGL 2.0 - compatible graphics card
- Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0
- Dedicated 7200 RPM hard drive for DV and HDV editing; striped disk array storage (RAID 0) for HD; SCSI disk subsystem preferred
- For SD/HD workflows, an Adobe-certified card for capture and export to tape
- OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 port for DV and HDV capture, export to tape, and transmit to DV device
- DVD-ROM drive (DVD+R or DVD-R burner required for DVD creation)
- Blu-ray burner required for Blu-ray disc creation
- Microsoft Windows Driver Model - or ASIO compatible sound card
- QuickTime 7.4.5 software required to use QuickTime features
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Notes: An SSE2-enabled processor is required for AMD systems. Adobe Photoshop Extended natively supports 64-bit editions of Windows Vista. Adobe Premiere
Pro, After Effects, Soundbooth, Encore, and Adobe OnLocation are certified on 64-bit Windows Vista.
Includes:
- Adobe InDesign CS4
- Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
- Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
- Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
- Adobe Fireworks CS4
- Adobe Contribute CS4
- Adobe After Effects CS4
- Adobe Premiere Pro CS4
- Adobe SoundBooth CS4
- Adobe OnLocation CS4
- Adobe Encore CS4
- Adobe Bridge CS4
- Adobe Device Central CS4
- Adobe Dynamic Link
- Adobe Media Player
- Adobe Version Cue CS4
Pricing
- Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection: Full: $2.499
Upgrades
- Owners of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, and Production Premium; Adobe Creative Suite 2.x Premium and Standard; Adobe Creative Suite 1.x Premium and Standard; Macromedia Studio 8 and Studio MX 2004; and Adobe Production Studio Premium and Standard 1.x. Can upgrade to Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection for $1,599.
- Those licensed customers who have specific combinations of two eligible older versions of the suite—for example, a copy of Adobe Creative Suite plus a copy of Macromedia Studio, a copy of Creative Suite plus a copy of Adobe Production Studio, or a copy of Macromedia Studio plus a copy of Production Studio—can upgrade to CS4 Master Collection for $1,199.
Needs
- 2GHz or faster processor for DV; 3.4GHz for HDV; dual 2.8GHz for HD
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32- and 64-bit Windows Vista)
- 2GB of RAM (more RAM recommended when running multiple components)
- 16.3GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,280x900 display with OpenGL 2.0 - compatible graphics card
- Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0
- Dedicated 7200 RPM hard drive for DV and HDV editing; striped disk array storage (RAID 0) for HD; SCSI disk subsystem preferred
- For SD/HD workflows, an Adobe-certified card for capture and export to tape
- OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 port for DV and HDV capture, export to tape, and transmit to DV device
- DVD-ROM drive (DVD+R or DVD-R burner required for DVD creation)
- Blu-ray burner required for Blu-ray disc creation
- Microsoft Windows Driver Model - or ASIO compatible sound card
- QuickTime 7.4.5 software required to use QuickTime features
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Notes: An SSE2-enabled processor is required for AMD systems. Adobe Photoshop Extended natively supports 64-bit editions of Windows Vista. Adobe Premiere
Pro, After Effects, Soundbooth, Encore, and Adobe OnLocation are certified on 64-bit Windows Vista.
Photoshop CS4
Adobe Photoshop CS4 in a number of ways is one of the most remarkable updates to Photoshop since Adobe added layers in Photoshop 3.0. Of all of things added and improved in Photoshop CS4 for me the most compelling reason to upgrade is the new GPU support. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of other things I like about this release but if I had to pick one thing that would make me recommend that user's of previous versions of Photoshop upgrade to CS4 the GPU support is it.
By off loading some of the display functions in Photoshop to the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit, basically the CPU on your video card) Adobe was able to offer some really cool speed boosts and productivity boosts. In CS3 most of the GPU support was used for the new 3D capacities, working with the 3D models, rendering those models and the like. Well besides that in CS4 the GPU is used to smooth out the jagged edges of the image display when you are at a zoom level that can't be evenly divided by 2. For example 33.3%, 66.7%, etc. Now when you are at these odd zoom levels you don't get jagged edges you get a nice smooth looking image similar to what you get at 100% zoom 
, or 50% zoom. Now keep in mind that this is display only. Nothing is being done to your actual image data.
Another added GPU benefit in CS4 is that when you zoom in past 600% you get a pixel grid overlay on the image. This pixel grid like the zoom anti-alias is display only and makes it a lot easier at the higher zoom levels to tell where one pixel starts and another ends, this is something that wasn't always easy to see especially when working in areas of your image that had very similar colors.
Yet another added GPU benefit is you can now sling your pixels around. I loaded in a 14.6MP digital camera image that in memory in Photoshop was 45MB in size. I zoomed in to 300% zoom and I was able to sling the image around on screen using the hand/pan tool like it was a small low resolution image.
This is just some of what you now get in CS4 with a video card with the proper GPU. There are others and a lot of those things do deal with the 3D capabilities, but I really like these non-3D GPU benefits and they go a long way to make working in Photoshop faster and much more pleasant.
Some may need to upgrade their video card to make use of these new features. When you go in to the Photoshop preferences and look at the performance section if the GPU option isn't checked then your video card isn't capable of providing Photoshop CS4 with what it needs. However, if this happens before you go out and buy a new video card check two things first. One check to see if there is a bios update for your video card. Some cards can have their bios updated. Second make sure that your video drivers are up to date. Sometimes one or both of these can add or enable features that you didn't have before. Or, improve them to the point that Photoshop CS4 may be able to use the video card then. If these two things fail then you will need to replace your video card. I am hopeful that after Photoshop CS4 ships Adobe will provide at least some kind of list of video cards that will work with Photoshop CS4's GPU capabilities. I can tell you from personal experience that the ATI Radeon 1650 series will work. I am using two PCI-express editions of this card to power three monitors. The GPU capabilities in CS4 work great with them.
Some of the other enhancements that I like is the new adjustments palette| and masks palette.| Basically neither of these adds any new features to Photoshop. What they do do is make features that were there more accessible which I think will make it more likely that people will use them. There are a couple of usability benefits to these two new palettes. The adjustments palette means you no longer have to double click on an adjustment layer in the layers palette to bring up the dialog box for the adjustment. Instead you just select the adjustment layer in the layers palette and the adjustment controls (for example the controls for levels) show up right in the adjustments palette. This non-modal approach means adjusting the adjustment layers is now very easy and no more annoying dialog boxes popping up that require you to deal with before you can continue to work. Another benefit is that you have easy access to the included adjustments presets. Presets for levels, black and white, etc.
There is also a new adjustment layer. Vibrance has been added. If you have used the Vibrance command in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom you will know what it is all about. Basically Vibrance is similar to saturation except that it doesn't boost the saturation of all colors only the ones that are more muted or dull. You can also adjust regular saturation from the Vibrance adjustment layer too so that is a nice little time saver.
The masks palette| basically becomes active anytime you have a selection or mask active or you're editing a layer mask, it is also important to note that it is totally non-destructive. It provides control over opacity, well they call it density, but it basically adjusts the opacity of the mask as well as feather. There is button access to the Refine Edge feature that was introduced in CS3 as well as the Color Range feature and mask invert. I have to say I am a little disappointed that when you click on the Mask Edge button (Why the changed the name from Refine Edge to Mask Edge here, but not on the Select drop down is anyone's guess) it brings up the Refine Edge dialog box. These features should have been in the new masks palette. The same for Color Range, maybe this will happen is CS5. I do have to say that the Masks palette I am sure will increase the use of layer masks which is a good thing. With Adobe moving everything towards non-destructive editing having mask adjustment and layer adjustments more out in the open and easier to access and use is a good thing.
Another enhancement that will see a lot of use from me is the improved Dodge, Burn and Sponge tools. You can still have them work like they did in CS3, but there is a new check box added to the Dodge and Burn tool that locks the tools effect to the range you have selected. So if you have Shadows selected and you have the Protect Tones check box checked the tool will only affect the shadows. If you have highlights selected for the range then it will only affect the highlights. What this does is make the tools much more useful. You now don't have to worry about whiting or blacking something out. You can hold the mouse button down and go over an area all you want it will only be adjusted so far. If you need to adjust more release the mouse button and press it again to add more adjustment. In CS3 the more you went over an area the more... well damage it did. It was very hard to get a nice even non-streaking look with Dodge and Burn in CS3 and earlier. CS4's refinement is a dream come true.
The sponge tool also has a new check box option. With the Vibrance check box checked you can paint with Vibrance. Yes, the same Vibrance that is now available as an adjustment layer and the same Vibrance that has been available in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom.
Below is a very complete list of new features and enhancements in Photoshop CS4. I believe that the list below is probably one of the most complete lists you will find. I would like to thank John Nack at Adobe for providing the more complete list to me.
New and Improved Features:
UI / Color Correction
- Adjustments Panel for easier browsing of/access to adjustments.|
- Masks panel offering non-destructive feathering & density control.|
- Presets (including actions that apply preset combos) for easier experimentation.
- Refined CS4 workspace & panel management (OWL 2.0, tabbed windows, etc.)
- Vibrance adjustment layer.
- On-image controls for Hue/Saturation, Curves, & Black & White.
- Support for multi-touch gestures on portable Macs.
Photography
- Camera Raw 5.0 with selective image editing. Camera Raw 5.0 offers the same image editing features that are in the new Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 bring both programs in to feature alignment making editing an image in either one much easier.
- Depth-of-field extension. You can now shoot several images of the same subject each with a different part of the subject in focus and then combine them in to one fully in focus image. Until this feature this had to be done in third party programs like the Helicon Focus product.
- Improved blending (auto-vignette removal.) This applies the Photomerge feature and Auto-Blend Layers features.
- Improved alignment (auto correction of geometric distortion.) This applies the Photomerge feature and Auto-Align Layers features.
- 360-degree panorama stitching.
- Improved Color Range selection tools.
The color range feature can be accessed via both the Select menu (where it is currently located in Photoshop CS3) and the new Mask Panel. The improved color range features new algorithms which create better selections, faster; these selections are now presented as layer masks which makes them re-editable and more flexible and of a higher quality than simple selections. Color Range also has the ability to target multiple color clusters -- in other words, users can choose not only multiple colors, but multiple colors which exclude like colors in other portions of the image. This is done using the fuzziness and range sliders.
- Improved Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools.
By default the dodge and burn tools use new algorithms which are hooked in to the "protect tones" checkboxes in the option bar so that if need-be, they can be toggled off which makes the dodge and burn tools act like they did in Photoshop CS3. The improved dodge and burn tools apply more intelligent dodging and burning in the highlights, midtones and shadows like excluding each other. So when dodging or burning the highlights the midtones and shadows and protected. The improved sponge tool can now saturate and desaturate Vibrance and with logic from the new Vibrance adjustment layer.
Metadata
- Extensible, Flash-based File Info (enabling developers to add network-stored keywords, spellchecking, etc.)
- Unique IDs per document (for easier asset tracking downstream.)
- Layer-based metadata (time stamps, open ended.)
Painting
- Smoother painting performance.
- Drag-resizing cursors.
Press and hold the control and the alt keys while holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse to the left or right to resize the brush or press and hold the control, alt and shift keys will pressing the right mouse button and moving the mouse left and right to adjust the brushes hardness setting.
- Post-ship: Alternate/non-modal color pickers (via Flash panels.)
Miscellaneous
- Spring-loaded keys (switch from any tool to any other tool temporarily.)
For example you are using the paint brush tool, but you to temporarily use the dodge tool. Simply hold down the dodge tools keyboard shortcut, use the tool and then release and you will go back to the brush tool. One word of warning you can not adjust the temporary tools size, in this case you can't make the dodge tools brush smaller. You have to actually fully switch to the tool to do this. It would be nice if you can use the bracket keys and adjust the temporary tools size like you can when that tool is fully selected. But, this is a nice start and one of those small things that is going to be much loved.
- Content-Aware Scaling (aka seam carving.)
I have to admit after playing around with the content aware scaling feature in Photoshop CS4 I wasn't impressed. It just didn't seem to work all that well. Figuring that Adobe wouldn't have went to the trouble of adding a feature that at least didn't offer some benefit to its user's I spent more time and dug deeper in to the options and capabilities that it offers. My opinion now is that it isn't usable for all images, but when you have the right image and you use it correctly it can do some really spectacular things. Since I could not do a better job of a demonstration video for this feature I have instead decided to link to one done by Adobe's Russell Brown. This demonstration video really shows the power and flexibility that this feature offers.
This video above is the sole property of and copyrighted by Adobe Systems and was recorded by Russell Brown. We make no claims to this video and we are showing it as a really good example of what the content aware scaling can do. For more videos by Russell Brown, Click Here.
- FXG export (for Flex/Thermo integration.)
- CUDO support (using soft proofing to simulate color blindness.)
- Device Link color profile support.
- Smart Object enhancements (perspective transform, linked layer masks.)
- Vanishing Point-style preview for cloning/healing.
- Eyedropper option to sample all layers or just the current layer.
- Save for Web: Improved Metadata export options and more discoverable color management (Convert to sRGB.)
- Save for Web: Vastly improved interface and dialog box.
- Ability to delete layers when any tool is selected.
- Ability to delete multiple channels at once.
- Ability to set the color of each screen mode separately (now actually discoverable by humans.)
- Scene collage mode option in auto-align and Photomerge.
Flash Panels
- Kuler for color harmony creation & sharing.
Now you can easily create color schemes inside of Adobe Photoshop (and other Adobe applications) thanks to the inclusion of Adobe Kuler. Create analogous, monochromatic, triad, complimentary, compound, shades or custom color schemes. Perfect for marketing materials, photo galleries, web sites, video projects and more. You can also access right from the Kuler palette the thousands of color schemes that others have uploaded to the Adobe Kuler site.
The only thing missing from this is the ability to have Kuler look at your image and create a color scheme using the color rule of your choice (analogous, triad, etc.) and the colors in your image to create the color scheme. This can be done with the web based Kuler on Adobe's web site (you upload a picture for it to use), so this should have been in the version for Adobe Photoshop. That would have been "Kuler"!
- "Frio" connection to start free Web conferencing sessions. You can now share your screen and conference with friends or colleges from inside of Photoshop for free (limited to the number of people that you can connect with, a pay service will increase this limit.)
- More panels should be available by the time Photoshop CS4 ships or sometime after. What kinds is anyone's guess but I suspect good things will come from this.
GPU
Printing
- Large printing (>30,000 pixels); different limits on Macintosh and Windows systems.
- User interface improvements.
- Rulers on preview.
- Gamut warnings.
- 16-bit printing; Macintosh only at this time. This is not an Adobe imposed limitation but a limitation of Windows.
- Greater scripting support.
Adobe has worked hard to make the print engine more scriptable using JavaScript and the scripting SDK that Photoshop and other Adobe applications have had for sometime.
Photomerge Enhancements
- In CS4 has improved the quality and speed of the alignment process.
- Now offers lens correction options for addressing vignetting and radial distortion.
- The final stage of the alignment process is now at least two times faster in the case of big panoramas.
- Used some of the time saved in the alignment process to improve the blending process.
Check out the cuts along the edges of the masks created, they are much less jagged now.
- Significant improvements in the alignment capability of images taken with fisheye lens.
Photoshop Extended
3D
- Direct painting onto 3D objects.
- High-quality ray-tracer for realistic rendering.
- Dramatically faster performance.
- Editable lights.
- After Effects integration (will read PSD 3D layers.)
- Convert 2D layers to 3D layers (plane, tiles, sphere, etc.)
- Merge 3D layers to one scene.
- Export 3D layers (OBJ, KMZ, Collada, U3D.)
- Volume rendering.
- Editable scene properties.
- Material editing.
- Transform of individual objects within a 3D scene.
- 3D Widgets: Light Widgets, Ground Plane, Axis Orientation Widget (for object-space transformations.)
- Google Warehouse plug-in to open any 3D model directly in PS (via Labs.)
3D In Detail
Workflows
- Compositing 3D Objects.
- 3D Painting.
- Generating Acrobat 3D Interactive PDFs.
- After Effects Integration.
- Volumetric Data Exploration.
- Lenticular 3D Printing.
- Flash Panoramas – Labs post-ship.
Application Features
- 3D Painting, Merging, and Filtering.
- Detailed Render Settings.
- 19 3D Tools.
- 3D Scene Panel – Mesh, Light, and Material Editing.
- 3D Export – OBJ, 3DS, KMZ, DAE.
- 3D From 2D – Postcard, Presets, Depth Map.
- 3D Animation – Animated Textures, Render State Keyframes.
Engine Features
- OpenGL / Cg.
- Interactive Ray Tracer.
- High Quality Ray Tracer.
- 9 Map Types.
- Volume Rendering.
- Stereo Rendering Including Anaglyph and Lenticular.
- Two Sided Cross Sections.
- 3D Widget Rendering – Lights, Ground Plane, Axis.
- Direct-to-screen rendering in cases where it is possible for a 10x performance boost.
Video
- Single-letter keyboard shortcuts for video.
- Smooth display of non-square pixels.
- Export and preview audio.
- Export comments.
Technical / Scientific / Forensics
- Scale Marker (can change text/size in the place scale marker dialog.)
- Count Tool (supports multiple counts per document.)
- Ability to open DICOM files directly as 3D volumes.
- Measurement Scale imported from DICOM files.
Post-Ship, Things coming after Photoshop ships
- Drew's Flash panels.
- Configurator.
- Flash panorama output.
- Adobe Pixel Bender (formerly "Hydra") plug-in for fast filters.
- Camera Raw 5.1 with enhanced profiles.
This is in my opinion one of the most worth while updates Adobe has done of Photoshop since Photoshop 4. Yes, there are a lot of nice new features, but there is also a lot of nice improvements to existing features. The GPU support for non-3D related features is a real plus in my book. I hope Adobe continues to make improvements to existing features, there are quite a few that need a little more work.
The next thing I would like to see improved are the filters. I would like to see all of them updated with large in dialog box previews (Not too large though) and I would like to see all of them that create pixels (like lens flare, lighting, etc.) be able to be applied to an empty layer. I would also like to see something done with the filter gallery. It's dialog box is far too large and it is a rather childish feature. If they want to keep it they need to make it smaller, they need to have all filters available there, they need to add opacity and layer blending capabilities to the filter stack in it as well. Then maybe it would be worth liking. Right now its just an annoyance, one with no way to turn off without loosing the use of the filters.
I am not going to give my traditional wish list of features and improvements. Instead I am giving the one above in the hopes that CS5 will see this wish come true.
If you do any work in Photoshop, you need CS4. New features aside the improvements in the existing features like the dodge and burn tools and the new speedier workflow thanks to the GPU support makes it worth the cost of upgrade.
Dreamweaver CS4
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 is the worlds most used web page/web site design package. Besides an improved interface is offers some compelling new features and enhancements which include:
Live View
View your web pages under real-world browser conditions with the new Live View-while still retaining direct access to the code. This new rendering mode, which uses the open source rendering engine WebKit, displays your designs like a standards-based browser. Changes to the code are immediately reflected in the rendered display.
However, Live View is no ordinary static viewport. Trigger your CSS-based navigation to view hover states or pull-down submenus, and freeze your page at any point to review the generated code. Dreamweaver CS4 combines the beauty of real-world rendering with the brains of interactive coding.
Related Files and Code Navigator
Dreamweaver CS4 introduces two new features that will help you more efficiently manage the various files that make up the modern web page. The Related Files feature displays all the documents associated with your current page-whether CSS, JavaScript, PHP or XML-in a bar along the top of your primary document. Click any related file to edit its source in Code View while viewing the parent page in Design View. Changes made to the related file code are immediately reflected in Design View.
Prefer to work at the code level? The new Code Navigator pop-up window shows you links to all the CSS code sources that affect your current selection. A click in either Code or Design View brings up the Code Navigator, which displays CSS rules and their definitions.
CSS best practices
Implement CSS best practices without writing code. The new CSS tab in the Properties panel shows the styles for the current selection as well as all the applicable CSS rules. Hover over any property to view a tool tip with no-jargon English explanations of CSS principles. New CSS rules can be created and applied in the Properties panel and stored in the same document or an external style sheet. Dreamweaver CS4 even gives you control over the specificity of your rule: Just click Less Specific or More Specific in the updated New CSS Rule dialog box to target your style precisely.
Code hinting for Ajax and JavaScript frameworks
Write JavaScript more quickly and accurately with improved support for JavaScript core objects and primitive data types. Advanced code-hinting functionality helps you power through your code, whether you're adding functions to defined primitive data types (including Object, Array, Number, RegExp, or String) or DOM objects such as Window, Screen, Document, or Event. Dreamweaver CS4 also extends code-hinting muscle to your most advanced custom functions with support for parameters, class constructors, and nested objects, updated in real time as you modify your related JavaScript files.
Put the extended coding functionality of Dreamweaver CS4 to work by incorporating popular JavaScript frameworks including jQuery, Prototype, and Spry. Simply attach the appropriate external JavaScript files, and Dreamweaver automatically displays code hints on demand. Built-in syntax error detection helps you craft the bulletproof code you need-the first time, and every time.
Adobe InContext Editing
Enable content authors to edit their own web pages without additional software installations- and, at the same time, free yourself up to design more. The new online InContext Editing service from Adobe lets anyone who can use a browser update content quickly and easily. Design your editable pages in Dreamweaver CS4 to retain total control over the look and feel of your sites. Then, simply designate the parts of the page you want your clients to be able to change; all other sections of the page are locked, and editable only by you. Easily set CSS styles to ensure entered content is properly and consistently formatted. Dreamweaver gives you the tools to create the perfect website, and hosted InContext Editing lets your clients keep that site up-to-date. (InContext Editing is one of several online services available from Dreamweaver CS4. For more information, see Creative Pro Online Services on page 7.)
HTML data sets
The lure of dynamic data is strong, but learning to use databases or XML can be daunting. Dreamweaver CS4 combines accessibility with ease of use in the new HTML data sets feature. With HTML data sets functionality, you create your data in a standard HTML table, a series of div tags, or even an unordered list, and then choose Insert > Spry > Spry Data Set to integrate that data into a dynamic table on the page, complete with sortable columns, a master-detail layout, or other sophisticated displays. It's easier than ever, with real-time previews of your data-both for selection and results. Spry Data Set also works with XML files to render information from RSS feeds and other sources.
Photoshop Smart Objects.
Integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver has evolved to the next level of compatibility and functionality. Simply drag and drop a Photoshop PSD file into a Dreamweaver CS4 page to create an image Smart Object. Unlike standard web-page graphics, a Smart Object is tightly linked to its source file. A small indicator on the Smart Object in Dreamweaver CS4 shows when the source and instance are in sync. When you make any changes to the source image, Dreamweaver notes that the files are out of sync; just click the Update from Original icon in the Properties panel to immediately update your image without opening Photoshop.
But Smart Objects are more clever still. Let's say you have a logo placed throughout your site in a variety of sizes as Smart Objects. Any updates made to the Photoshop file can be applied individually to the associated Smart Objects on a page-by-page basis, or to all of them at once through the Assets panel. Unique sizes are maintained while the image itself is faithfully resampled. Best of all, the Smart Object evolution is built on top of current Photoshop and Dreamweaver integration, so you can still copy image selections from Photoshop and paste them in Dreamweaver for an easy comp-to-layout workflow. Moreover, you're free to rescale Photoshop images in Dreamweaver to fine-tune your design with no image degradation or revisits to Photoshop.
Subversion integration
When a collaborative project requires a team of designers and developers, open-source Subversion software is often used to handle version control. Dreamweaver CS4 integrates Subversion for a more robust check-in/check-out experience with file versioning, rollback, and more. Once you've defined Subversion as your version-control system, you can update your site to get the latest versions of its pages. Modified pages can be checked into a Subversion repository directly from within Dreamweaver-no third-party utility or command line interface is required. Dreamweaver can also revert checked-out files or mark conflicts as resolved to complete the team site-building experience.
Adobe AIR authoring support
Create multi-platform desktop applications from your Dreamweaver HTML and JavaScript sites with new Adobe AIR authoring support. Download and install the latest version of the Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver to begin creating engaging, branded applications that run on all major desktop operating systems using your existing web development resources with Adobe AIR. For a streamlined workflow, you can repurpose your existing assets into Adobe AIR desktop applications without leaving Dreamweaver. Preview your Adobe AIR applications within Dreamweaver CS4 to make sure everything is working as designed. When you're ready, prepare your application for deployment with Adobe AIR packaging and code-signing features. Dreamweaver also serves as an Adobe AIR development platform for custom applications. Adobe AIR applications run online or off-they can even be used to access a persistent data source populated from your database.
New user interface
Work faster and smarter across Dreamweaver CS4 and other applications in the Creative Suite CS4 Suites, thanks to a new level of integration and common user-interface elements. A common interface means a more natural process as you move from Photoshop or Fireworks to Flash to Dreamweaver. Stack or minimize your docked panels to maximize your visual or coding environment; click once to pull out a panel and expose desired properties, and then click again to put it away. Work in new Split Code View to display your code in two different sections simultaneously, or choose the new Horizontal Split View option for a different perspective. Quickly move from one layout organization to another with the Workspace pull-down list. You can choose from a series of predesigned layouts-like those for application coders or designers-or create your own custom work environments for the ultimate in personalized workspaces.
Needs
- 1GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
- 512MB of RAM
- 1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,280x800 display with 16-bit video card
- DVD-ROM drive
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Flash Pro CS4
Adobe Flash Pro CS4 is Adobe's premiere Web animation, application development application. Used by millions of web sites all over the world for things like animated buttons, web videos, animated ads, web based games as well as full web sites and more Adobe Flash Pro CS4 offers a nice array of new and improved features. These include:
Object-based animation model
In previous versions of Flash, creating an animation on the Timeline involved a myriad of keystrokes and commands involving symbol creation, manual placement of keyframes, and manual tween adjustments on the Timeline itself. Even upon the successful creation of an animation, users faced time-consuming and sometimes difficult editing tasks whenever changes had to be made.
The adoption of an object-based animation model means that motion tweens are applied directly to objects instead of to keyframes. Now, Flash CS4 Professional is far more approachable for new users, while simultaneously providing advanced designers and developers far greater control of individual animation attributes.
Creating a motion tween
With Flash CS4, tweening, or the interpolation of steps between keyframes, is now applied directly to objects, rather than to keyframes in the Timeline. In fact, the new object-based animation model enables users to create animations without using the Timeline at all.
Creating an animation in Flash CS4 is now an incredibly simple two-step process:
- Right-click on any object, and then choose Create Motion Tween.
- Move the object.
That's it you're done. It's really that easy.
But don't let the simplicity fool you. While a designer need only click the mouse a few times, Flash CS4 works behind the scenes to reduce the number of steps necessary to offer a smoother user experience. For example, experienced Flash users know that they must first convert objects to symbols before applying motion tweens to them. Now, if you try to apply a motion tween to an object that isn't a symbol, Flash CS4 automatically converts the object to a symbol without interrupting the tweening process. Streamlining object-to-symbol conversion allows new users to get started quickly with minimal frustration and expert users to get more done faster.
Editing a motion tween
If creating an animation proves just how user-friendly Flash CS4 can be, the process of editing an animation likewise proves how powerful this new version can be. For example, motion paths are now automatically generated and easily modified with Bezier handles. In addition, timing can be adjusted throughout an animation without having to manually set keyframes in the Timeline, and-more importantly-without breaking tweens. This provides significant efficiency with more intuitive interaction and control.
The new object-based animation model allows you to do things that were either extremely difficult or impossible to do with previous versions of Flash:
- Adjust the timing of any animation. Simply drag the span on the Timeline, and the animation- including any and all keyframes-scales accordingly.
- Apply individual animations to multiple symbols-all within the same frame.
- Easily edit a motion path. When an animation is created, a motion path is automatically generated, and can be edited as easily as any regular Bezier path.
In summary, the new object-based animation model in Flash CS4 brings valuable benefits for all kinds of users-beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
3D transformations
Bringing perspective and dimension to your design can add an element of excitement and fun to any project. But until now, the ability to create 3D motion was available only to expert users via ActionScript or other sophisticated tools. Now, with Flash CS4, you can animate 2D objects through 3D space with new easy-to-use 3D transformation tools, greatly extending creative possibilities. Built for inexperienced and advanced users alike, the 3D transformation tools make motion effects available to everyone.
Specifically, Flash CS4 features two new tools for applying 3D effects:
- The 3D Translation tool provides visually intuitive x-, y-, and z-axis object manipulation.
- The 3D Rotation tool allows you to spin and twirl your art within a 3D space.
You can apply local or global rotation to move an object within relationship to itself or to the stage and fine-tune perspectives with complete control over vanishing-point location and perspective angle. A global vanishing point enables you to define the location at which your animation disappears in the distance.
Inverse kinematics with the Bones tool
Those who live and breathe animation may be familiar with the term inverse kinematics, or IK, which is a method used to create chain-like effects with a series of linked objects or to quickly distort single objects. Much like the bones in the human body form a skeleton that moves and behaves in a definitive way, the new Bones tool in Flash CS4 allows you to link a series of symbols together with "bones" that can be quickly and easily animated and then controlled relative to one another.
With the new Bones tool, simply click and drag between separate symbols that you've already created. This defines an Armature layer that allows organic and complex motions. You can also control the motion by applying constraints to individual symbols. This makes puppeting and quick distortion practical and more approachable for most users.
To use inverse kinematics in Flash CS4, you use the Bones tool to link different symbols together or apply constraints on individual ones. To further control the distortion of single objects, use the Bind tool to carefully define how each part of the shape reacts when another part moves, bringing a new, sophisticated level of expressiveness to even single shape animations.
Once you've defined an armature, you can even enable an option called Runtime in the Properties panel, which allows users to control or interact with the linked objects themselves as your content plays in Adobe Flash Player.
Inverse kinematics with the Bones tool allows new users to work with advanced Flash functionality sooner, opens up new creative possibilities for experienced designers, and saves time for almost any user who would have previously used ActionScript to define complex symbol interactions and behaviors.
Procedural modeling with the Deco tool
If you think Flash CS4 is all about technical stuff that does nothing for the design side of the brain, think again. The Deco tool is a fantastic new addition that literally blossoms forth with symmetry and creativity as you turn any symbol into an instant design element. Whether creating patterns or kaleidoscope-like effects using single or multiple symbols, the Deco tool provides a new way to create and apply symbols to your work.
Based on settings specified by the designer in the Properties panel, the Deco tool, using and applying algorithmic calculations to selected symbols in a process known as procedural modeling, enables designers to express their creativity with different drawing effects:
- The Vine Fill drawing effect fills any shape or background with a branching pattern formation. Designers can use already included images or substitute custom graphics.
- The Grid Fill drawing effect fills any shape or background with a pattern of the selected symbol. Designers interested in patterns, intricate drawing options, and rich textures and surfaces can now create and apply them to spaces or objects more easily.
- The Symmetry Brush allows designers to quickly create kaleidoscope-like effects and can be used with single and multiple symbols alike, providing even more creative options.
Motion Editor panel
With the new object-based animation model in Flash CS4 Professional, keyframes take on a new and significant role. You can now experience granular, independent control over every keyframe parameter, including rotation, size, scale, position, filters, and more, using the Motion Editor panel. Offering even more command over the creative presentation of your animations, the Motion Editor panel allows you to graphically control easing using curves.
Fine control over tweens was previously buried deep within Flash. Now, that power is brought to the surface through the Motion Editor panel, which enables Flash users to fine-tune animation parameters for each attribute. Advanced users will love this level of control, and the fact that it looks and behaves much like the keyframe editor in After Effects is an added bonus.
Motion Presets panel
Being efficient is a large part of being a successful designer or developer. To this end, Flash CS4 Professional provides a library of prebuilt animations to jump-start your project. A huge time-saver, motion presets are easy for anyone to create and use.
To define a motion preset, right-click on any object that has a tween applied to it, and choose Save As Motion Preset. To use a motion preset, simply select any symbol on the stage, choose a preset from the Motion Presets panel, and click Apply. Individual users who spend a lot of time with repetitive application of motion can increase their productivity through the use of motion presets. Additionally, motion presets can be shared or distributed to an entire team of users, enhancing team collaboration and consistency.
Authoring for Adobe AIR
Adobe AIR, the technology that makes Flash experiences on the desktop possible, is now built into Flash CS4 Professional. By extending Flash beyond the browser with custom desktop experiences and branding opportunities, Adobe AIR introduces exciting new methods for delivering interactive content. Using a new setting in the Publish dialog box, Flash CS4 automatically bundles all the necessary files to create an Adobe AIR application.
Adobe AIR allows you to leverage local desktop resources and data to deliver even more personal and engaging experiences. With the same skills you use to deliver to Flash Player, you can now reach even more audiences across more devices-web, mobile, and now the desktop.
XFL support
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional introduces support for XFL, a file format that allows for improved integration across the Creative Suite 4 family. Users can now easily export content from Adobe InDesign and Adobe After Effects to Flash. With XFL support, InDesign and After Effects users have new opportunities to begin using Flash.
For experienced creative professionals, XFL support means being better able to meet constantly changing production demands. While we know that print itself isn't dead, we also know that many designers are faced with providing content that appears both in print and on the web. Designers can now use Adobe InDesign to design their content for print, and then painlessly use XFL to export their layouts for use in Flash. This adds an entirely new dimension to cross-media publishing and is a practical solution for publishing houses that want to expand their print publications to new media.
Metadata support
As more and more digital content fills your hard drives and servers, it becomes increasingly difficult to quickly find the files you need. Metadata plays an important role in solving this problem by making files "smarter" about the content they hold. With metadata, finding the right content at the right time not only becomes easy-it also enables a level of collaboration that was not previously possible.
Adobe has played an active role in the support of metadata by helping to define and develop the Extensible Metadata Protocol (XMP) standard. Components of the Adobe Creative Suite
family of software have supported XMP in the past; now, Flash CS4 Professional adds support for XMP metadata as well, allowing designers to leverage the power of Adobe Bridge in their workflow.
But the benefits of the new metadata support in Flash CS4 extend far beyond the designer's desktop and work environment. Metadata also enables mobile devices to identify the type of content being played, allowing mobile and Flash developers to deliver a better user experience to mobile devices.
Adobe Media Encoder with H.264 support
Video content is fast becoming a first-class citizen on the web. As companies make the decision to add more video content to their online presence, designers and developers struggle to find that happy medium-video content that is high in quality but small in file size. With more and more people using their mobile devices to view video content, developers must be acutely aware of bandwidth issues-without budging an inch on quality. So it's no surprise that Adobe Flash Player 10 supports what has become the standard in high-quality/ low-bandwidth video content-H.264.
Now, developers can deliver high-quality video with more control than ever before. Adobe Media Encoder-the same tool found in other Adobe professional video products such as Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 software and After Effects CS4-now supports H.264 and is included with Flash CS4 Professional.
Adobe Media Encoder automates the process of creating multiple encoded versions of your content using the batch encoder, making higher quality video delivery easier and more reliable-essential for the growing distribution of video created with Flash.
Maximizing productivity by encoding in the background while you work, Adobe Media Encoder lets you encode to a wide variety of video formats, including FLV and F4V. Adobe Media Encoder also offers improved video quality, thanks to two-pass variable bit-rate encoding and support for H.264.
Needs
- 1GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
- 1GB of RAM
- 3.5GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
- DVD-ROM drive
- QuickTime 7.1.2 software required for multimedia features
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Illustrator CS4
Adobe Illustrator was once a lame duck application, falling behind in features, usability and stability to programs like CorelDraw and Freehand. Today Illustrator CS4 is a powerful, flexible and useful addition to anyone's creative workflow. With a range of new features and enhancements it has moved to the top of the food change. Improvements include:
Multiple artboards
Define working areas of varying sizes with complete freedom, all within one document. Work on a variety of projects in a single file and share settings and content across designs. You no longer need to use page tiling to create multipage PDF files, and you can arrange up to 100 artboards of different sizes any way you want-tiled, overlapping or freeform. You can even create an artboard inside an artboard to easily export just a piece of a composition.
Multiple artboards provide the most powerful way yet to organize projects with multiple pages or diverse outputs. Sharing objects, styles, and output settings is a great time-saver, and you can apply symbols or test color variations with Live Color while viewing artwork in multiple contexts. Quickly set up bleeds and crop marks, and choose to show video-safe areas using preset profiles.
Export your artboards in any supported file format as a series of files that are automatically numbered in sequence, or save as a single, multipage PDF file-your choice.
Transparency in gradients
Create a gradient of many colors and define the opacity of any or all individual colors assigned to your color stops. Transparency within a gradient simplifies creating interaction between layers and enables easy mixing and knockouts. Use transparency to create cover-up fades or to reveal underlying objects or images. For example, make a rainbow gradient on one object, and then simply set the blue gradient slider or color stop to 0% opacity level to show what's underneath.
You can even apply multiple fills to a single object, such as a pattern fill overlaid with transparent gradients, to create highlights and shadows that simulate the fabric of a draped garment. In the Appearances panel, simply apply additional fills and then use the Gradient tool to define opacities. And change the shape of that object as much as you want-all of your fills will follow along.
Transparency in gradients also enhances work between Illustrator and other Creative Suite 4 components in which transparency and gradients behave in a similar fashion, such as Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, and Adobe Fireworks CS4 software.
Gradients exposed
On-object interaction plus new elliptical gradients exposes the power of gradients in Illustrator CS4. The new controls enable fast adjustment with minimum interruption of your train of thought-no need to shift your attention to the Gradient panel.
Work with gradients right on your object with immediate visual feedback. Color sliders and swatches appear on your selected object, with gradient stops that you can drag along the gradient bar. You can add and delete gradient stops and set the angle and position of the gradient by clicking directly on the controls.
Radial gradients are enhanced with the new ability to set dimensions independently, to create an elliptical gradient of any proportion.
Blob Brush tool
The Blob Brush tool generates a clean, filled, vector shape while you sketch, even when strokes overlap, merging your paths naturally into a single object that's easily selected and edited. Now, when you draw, you don't get the typical jumble of paths, you get an outlined and filled shape-no expansion or Pathfinder tools required. And you can customize how your drawing flows together, choosing options for stroke character and pressure sensitivity.
Drawing with the Blob brush is a truly painterly, fluid way to create vector forms, especially when used in combination with the Eraser and Smooth tools. Use these tools together-alternately stroking and erasing-to perfect your silhouette to get a single, smooth outline without ever needing to expand paths or use the Pathfinder panel.
Integration and delivery
Collaborate with your team, work across products, and deliver anywhere, using integrated tools and extensive format support. Illustrator CS4 enables export of editable, workable content for web, interactive, and RIA projects. And moving smoothly among Adobe tools is easier than ever, thanks to cross-product feature support and common interface elements.
Flex integration
Enrich your Flex applications more easily and take advantage of further support for designer-developer efficiency with Adobe Flex 3 integration. Flex Skin Design extensions for Illustrator enable reliable creation of vector skins with export in native Flex format.
Smooth send and receive
Send your artwork anywhere with broad support of even more file formats and across Adobe products. Enjoy cross-product feature support such as the ability to import multiple artboards from Illustrator into both Flash and Adobe InDesign CS4 software.
Work across multiple applications
Streamline your work among multiple applications with more tool commonality, increased consistency of tool behavior, and new user-interface enhancements across the components of Creative Suite 4.
Enhanced user experience
Stay in the creative groove, thanks to significant interface improvements. Work faster and smarter with the following features that help reduce clicks and make interacting with Illustrator easier and more productive.
Options where you work
Choose tool options, stay precisely oriented, and make complicated edits to your artwork without interrupting your train of thought. New features in Illustrator CS4 help focus your attention where you need it most-on your artboard and on your objects.
Tabbed document view
With multiple open documents in a tabbed view, you can bring windows to the front with one click. Tabbed documents are also spring-loaded for easy copying and pasting. Simply drag a selection from your window onto a document tab, and that document pops to the front so you can paste your selection where you want. And, you can arrange multiple document windows in a tiled or cascaded view for easy visual comparison and even faster copying across documents.
Spring-loaded panels
Get to your panels even more quickly with spring-loading. Panels now expand automatically when you drag an object on top of the panel icon.
Practical Smart Guides
Smart Guides are more intuitive and practical, with an unobtrusive look and new behaviors, such as alignment to objects on the artboard rather than to the cursor. New on-object readouts tell you exactly where you are, without your having to shift focus away from your work.
Isolation Mode advances
Isolation Mode now supports more object types, including compound paths, gradient mesh objects, images, and clipping masks. You can isolate a single object as well as top-level layers. Control your view while in Isolation Mode with new support for Outline View and with quick locking and hiding of objects. It's now easy to add new objects to a particular place in a stacking order, reducing the need for the Paste In Front/Back and Arrange commands.
Check the new iconic breadcrumbs to see at a glance what type of object you're editing. The icons symbolize Layer, Group, Symbol, Path, and Image. The labels in the breadcrumbs are clickable so you can quickly navigate through your layers and objects. When you're finished working in Isolation Mode, exit using the Escape key.
In-panel appearance editing
Edit multiple object characteristics directly in the Appearance panel. This improved panel shows attributes for single and multiple objects, such as fill or stroke color, which you can edit by simply clicking on the attribute-even when it's shared among objects.
Another new function in the Appearance panel is the ability to control the display of individual attributes. You can simply click the eye icon to turn off a complex effect that must be re-rendered with every move, so that you can work faster and keep your creative momentum going.
And if you wish to select all objects in your artwork that have certain attributes, you can use a new Same Appearance Attribute option in the Select menu. Once you have selected objects with at least one common attribute, you can edit that attribute in the Appearance panel and see immediate results on all the objects at once.
The power of the new Appearance panel lies in centralization of control and streamlining of your workspace. You no longer need to keep multiple panels open to apply and edit fills, strokes, complex attributes, and more. You can even copy and paste within the panel, so adding attributes to any object is fast and simple.
Refined graphic styles
Apply sets of attributes to objects and text as a single graphic style, layering and combining styles for unique effects. The Graphic Styles panel provides new functionality that includes an option to preview all your styles on the seleted object or group of objects. It's now easy to choose a style without having to actually apply it.
The Graphic Styles panel and the Appearance panel work hand in hand, supporting creation of complex styles that can be quickly applied without destroying an object's original appearance. Add a new style while pressing the Option key (Mac) or the Alt key (Windows) and observe that it doesn't replace the object's existing appearance. To see all the attributes that make a graphic style, click on the style and find its attributes listed in the Appearance panel-each easily edited.
Illustrator CS4 makes graphic styles even more attractive with a new library of prebuilt styles to jump-start your creative exploration. New libraries include sets of effects such as pre-set blurs and drop shadows that you can add without affecting fills. And, of course, you can generate your own libraries of graphic styles that you can use again and again.
Clipping masks demystified
Work with masks more easily, thanks to true WYSIWYG behavior. Now, when the clipping object or group is selected, you will see only the clipped area (the visible parts of your objects). Edit the masking object in Isolation Mode or choose to make it visible using the Clipping Path menu options. Plus, with the buttons in the Control panel for Edit Clipping Paths and Edit Contents, you have truly intuitive choices for viewing and editing both your masks and masked objects.
Separations preview
Help ensure flawless printing using the new Separations Preview panel. Avoid color output surprises such as unexpected spot colors, unwanted overprinting, overprints that don't overprint, white overprinting, and CMYK blacks in text and placed files. The Separations Preview panel displays a list of spot and process colors; you can choose to display individual colors for previewing color separations onscreen. Illustrator CS4 continues the tradition of improving print support so you can deliver artwork that prints more reliably than ever.
Needs
- 2GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
- 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
- 2GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
- DVD-ROM drive
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services.
InDesign CS4
Quark Xpress rained supreme in the desktop publishing field for many years. That is until they got sloppy. Aldus PageMaker had a large following and did quite well even after Adobe bought Aldus. Once InDesign came on the scene many didn't think it stood a chance. But, time and a commitment from Adobe has made InDesign the top desktop publishing package on the market. With PageMaker all but gone and Quark still trying to catch up and shakes it's reputation for buggy feature lacking software InDesign's Future looks brighter than ever. With the new and enhanced features in InDesign CS4 it is clear Adobe is still committed to being the best. New and enhanced features include:
Live Preflight
The new Live Preflight feature alerts you to potential production problems in real time- directly within your layout. Preflighting while you design helps you achieve better results, greater time savings, and lower production costs. Immediately identify and correct errors during the design phase of your project instead of waiting until the document is ready for print. When an error is detected, quickly navigate to the problem area, fix the problem, and keep working on your document.
The Preflight panel shows you exactly what's going on in your layout, such as instances of low image resolution or overset text. The panel suggests what's required to make the correction, and provides a link directly to the problem area. You can monitor errors across an entire document or constrain monitoring to a specific page range.
Custom preflight profiles take the power of continuous preflighting even further. Define a profile that checks bleed and slug parameters, transparency blending space, overprinting, minimum stroke weight, and much more. You can even share preflight profiles with members of your production or design team to further achieve consistent outputs.
With InDesign CS4, real-time preflighting is an integral part of your design process and no longer a separate activity right before you package your files for print. The result? You save time and lower production costs from start to finish of your project.
Customizable Links panel
When you produce complex documents, managing linked content effectively is critical. With the redesigned Links panel, you can find, sort, and manage all of your document's placed files. Link attributes and metadata displayed in a single, customizable panel means that information about your linked files is readily available just the way you want it.
The Links panel displays your placed files in a collapsible tree view. When your document contains multiple instances of the same file, the Links panel displays the filename once, with an expandable list so you can view all other instances. Update the parent file, and all instances with that filename are also updated automatically.
Each object in the Links panel is visually represented with a thumbnail image, so no more guessing by filename. Click on any thumbnail and view additional information about that link, such as scale, rotation, and resolution. And your Links panel is fully customizable, with preferences for choosing exactly which link details you wish to see.
Conditional text
Quickly deliver multiple versions of a document for different users and channels-print or screen. Build unique variants of technical manuals, student/teacher textbook editions, or multi-language publications within a single InDesign source file.
Simply select text you wish to show for a particular version of your document, and apply a condition to the selection. Then you can quickly choose to hide or show all text with this condition applied, throughout your document. For example, if you're building a file for publishing both in print and online, apply conditions to content that's appropriate only for the print version. When you want to edit or export content for print, click to show all text with print conditions applied. When you work on the online version, hide the print content.
Conditional text enables hiding text at the paragraph, word, and character levels without relying on layers. The visible text and anchored objects automatically reflow for smooth changes to layout. InDesign even removes blank pages that result from hiding conditional text. And if overset text is created as a result of a condition, a new page is automatically added so that the number of pages in your document is always correct for the content that's showing. Only the content that currently appears in your document will be exported and printed. Conditional text streamlines document updates, reduces the number of source files, minimizes review cycles, and allows you to deliver powerful custom content.
Cross-references
Improve technical accuracy and streamline production with cross-references that update when you change content or rearrange text within a document.
Manual updates have until now eaten up a great deal of time, especially when you have cross-references such as figure numbers or headings that are linked to multiple locations in a long document. Now your cross-references will follow your edits automatically.
Cross-reference updates also work for online documents. Hyperlinks to another section in your document, or to a section of text in any external document, can be set up just as easily as any other cross-reference.
You'll find the panel options for cross-references easy to use, flexible, and powerful. Spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time being creative while helping to ensure that your readers will be able to navigate through your print and online documents with ease.
Interactive document design with SWF file export
Transform page layouts into dynamic SWF files directly within InDesign. Insert hyperlinks, page transitions, and interactive buttons-all in the design tool you know best. When your document is finished, just export it as a SWF file and play it in Adobe Flash Player.
Build hyperlinks that quickly navigate to external URLs, launch an e-mail client, or jump to a section within the same or even a different document. The enhanced Hyperlinks panel enables quick creation of new hyperlinks and verification directly in InDesign.
Choose from a rich set of page transitions that include curl, wipe, dissolve, fade, and many more, using the Page Transitions panel. Experiment with speeds and direction.
Quickly create interactive buttons by using the new, intuitive Buttons panel. Design your own custom button-or drag a finished button, complete with effects such as gradient feathering and drop shadows- directly into your document from the Sample Buttons panel. Easily create an appearance for each button state, add predefined actions such as "Go to Next Page" or "Go to URL," and then apply that action to an event such as clicking or rolling over the button.
Adding rich and engaging playback options breathes life into all your online publications-digital magazines, digital brochures, digital catalogs, presentations, and more. Deliver high-impact, interactive SWF documents that leverage all the power of InDesign.
Export to Adobe Flash CS4 Professional (XFL)
One of the most exciting features in InDesign CS4 is its new integration with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional. Combine the page layout strengths of InDesign with the power of Flash authoring to create rich, interactive documents.
Export an InDesign document as an XFL file (an interchange format) which can be opened in Flash, where visual fidelity to each original InDesign page is maintained, with support for editing text and graphics.
Thanks to XFL, designers and developers can easily exchange data and collaborate. And if you're an InDesign user venturing into the world of interactive documents, you can now use your existing skills and the capabilities of InDesign to create complex layouts, and then take advantage of the tools in Flash to add animation and navigation for engaging online reading.
The new integration of InDesign CS4 with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional provides an ideal combination of the fundamental strengths of each tool for creating highly sophisticated digital publications in a straightforward, streamlined workflow.
Smart Guides and Smart Spacing
Smart Guides turn aligning and resizing objects into a fluid process. It is no longer necessary to open multiple panels, manually apply numerous grids or guides to a layout, or rely on the Control panel to accurately align and resize objects.
Quickly align, space, rotate, and resize multiple objects or align to the horizontal, vertical, or center of your page edges-in fewer steps. And quickly snap your selected object's edge to other objects in the layout, thanks to the visibility of Smart Guide readouts.
Smart Guides are dynamically drawn when you transform an object and then they disappear automatically. You can see dimensions, rotation, and X-Y coordinates of your selection as you work. When you stop, the guides vanish, leaving an uncluttered layout.
In addition, new Smart Spacing evenly spaces multiple items on your page by snapping objects into position without having to use the Align panel. Together, Smart Guides and its options that include Smart Spacing, Smart Dimensions, and more, enable ultra precise positioning with immediate feedback, right where you work.
Spread rotation
Tired of rotating your monitor (or your head) when working on a publication with vertical text elements? The new Rotate Spread View allows you to temporarily turn your document in 90 degree increments. Develop your layout in a more natural and comfortable position and reduce the time it takes to produce your best work. Spread rotation makes it easier to lay out calendars, packaging, annual reports, and other content types that requires vertical placement of text and images in your document.
Smart text reflow
Add text without interrupting your creative process, thanks to automatic addition of pages at the end of a story, selection, or document when text is overset. You will observe smart text reflow when implementing conditional text as well-conditional text becomes even more efficient because pages are automatically deleted or added when text is hidden or shown.
Additional productivity features in Adobe InDesign CS4
InDesign CS4 provides a host of additional new and enhanced features that can increase your productivity. These include:
Interface enhancements
Work smoothly and swiftly within InDesign using several elegant interface enhancements that make it particularly easy to work among multiple InDesign documents at once. Explore the new N-up view, an application bar, an application frame, tabbed documents, and task-based workspaces.
Application bar
Use new control buttons in the menu bar to quickly switch to a new workspace, modify the view of a document, perform a search, quickly access Adobe Bridge CS4, and more.
Task-based workspaces
Work quickly with task-based workspaces that unclutter your screen and present only the keyboard shortcuts, menu commands, and panel arrangements best for the job at hand. Or, easily customize your own menus and workspaces that can be shared and saved.
Tabbed documents
Manage and work across multiple documents with ease by quickly tabbing through open documents to find the one you need without having to maximize each document individually.
Inline notes supported in tables.
Add inline notes in tables to collaborate more effectively. Store alternate text, designers' comments, and other annotations in notes linked to specific text in a table.
Edit tables in Story Editor
You can now edit text in table cells in Story Editor. Editing your table content directly within the text flow allows you to quickly correct overset text without impacting table design.
Contact-sheet placement
Quickly create a contact sheet by placing multiple images in a grid arrangement, with a single click. As you drag to create the frame for placing your images, you can use your arrow keys to control the number of rows and columns in the grid.
Multi-file placement
Speed document creation by importing multiple files at once or by dragging them from the desktop or Adobe Bridge CS4. Preview and place files in any order within your layout.
Proportional file placement
Drag to create a frame with the Place cursor loaded; files automatically fit to a proportionally sized frame, or according to the frame-fitting options you have chosen.
Power zoom
Use the Hand tool in to zoom out by holding down your mouse button (patient user mode). Continue to hold, and you can move the zoom area indicator across pages. Release, and the view returns to your original zoom level in your new location. Increase or decrease the zoom percentage using the Up and Down arrow keys.
Placed InDesign files
When you place one InDesign file into another, the source file remains an editable link. Now, when you initiate an edit, the linked source file opens to the exact point where you wish to make your edits, even if that source file is multipage or a complex, long document.
GREP support for character styles
Apply character styles to text using a GREP expression to find instances of a character or string of characters that occur in a specific context. Quickly apply your style to just those characters.
Nested styles
Use nested styles to dynamically apply complex character formatting to ranges of text within a paragraph. Now apply nested styles through the end of a line for even greater flexibility. Formatting remains unchanged when text is edited.
InDesign Markup Language (IDML)
InDesign Markup Language, an XML-based file format, allows developers to programmatically assemble and disassemble InDesign documents using standard XML tools and without having to open INDD files. Realize increases in performance, convenience, and flexibility when building applications based on InDesign CS4 page layouts.
Needs
- 1.5GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
- 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
- 1.8GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
- DVD-ROM drive
- QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Premiere Pro CS4
Adobe Premiere Pro is Adobe's non - linear video editing application. While I think there are other video editing applications that are just as powerful and just as flexible as Premiere Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro has at least two major reasons why when someone asks me what they should use for video editing I recommend Premiere Pro. First you have a tremendous ability to quickly and easily move your project materials from one Adobe product to another. You can create things in Photoshop and bring that in to Premiere, or create something in Premiere and take it over to After Effects and more. When you look at the ability you have to quickly and easily use all of the Adobe products as if they are one large application you will see that the creative possibilities from video production, web video authoring, and more is nearly endless.
The other area that Adobe's products including Premiere Pro has over any other products on the market is third party support. There are more books, training package, plug - in packages, free tutorials online, free plug - ins online and more available for Adobe's products including Premiere Pro than all of the other products combined. This not only makes it easier to learn how to use Premiere Pro it makes it easier to expand it so that you can do more with it.
One of my big complaints however, About Adobe is that they can sometimes be a little slow in getting new technology support in to their products. A case in point is AVCHD support. In my opinion Adobe should have released an update to CS3 that added this support instead of waiting for the next major update. AVCHD camcorders are selling like hot cakes and by and large for their price they produce some very impressive video. While all of the other companies like Corel, Ulead (now Corel), Sony, etc. were putting out free updates to support this Adobe did nothing, falling behind and quite likely loosing some market share or new customers.
Premiere Pro CS4 like After Effects CS4 now has full AVCHD support, but you have to pay to get that support. This was not a very smooth or smart move for Adobe. But, they did it and now they have support for it and it works very well. I love my Canon HF - 100 SD memory card based HD Camcorder and I love being able to edit the video in Premiere Pro.
If you have used Premiere Pro in the past I am sure like me you are interested in what's new and improved. Below is a list of the major enhancements and new features.
Next - generation tapeless camera support
Capturing video directly to disk opens the door to exciting new workflows that save time and maintain the highest quality throughout the entire production process. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 is designed to exploit the full power inherent in tapeless workflows. Direct - to - disk recording eliminates the time - consuming capture - from - tape, media - ingest phase of post - production.
Adobe Premiere Pro offers comprehensive video - format support, from DV to HD and beyond. Full support for a variety of tapeless cameras and media lets you work with them natively to achieve the fastest workflow from capture to edit, retaining the pristine quality of your source material by eliminating time - consuming transcoding or rewrapping.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 supports Panasonic P2 cameras in DVCPRO, DVCPROHD, and AVC - Intra formats, and across multiple P2 cards. Sony XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD cameras directly, without rewrapping or transcoding. And Sony HDV cameras that record directly to removable media, as well as AVCHD content from Canon, Panasonic, and Sony cameras.
Access the footage you want before you import it by viewing camera metadata and organizing files in the Media Browser. You can also edit directly from the P2 card via the camera or a card reader, the SxS card by way of the camera or a card reader (XDCAM EX only), or use the Media Browser to transfer content to hard disk for better performance.
Batch encoding
With the explosion of video on the Internet, there’s been a massive shift in how people consume video entertainment. Whether you post dailies on a password - protected website for review and approval, produce episodic shows for viewing online or on iPods, or distribute films by way of an enterprise - level video - on - demand service, being able to efficiently deliver your content in a variety of formats is crucial. Adobe Media Encoder, a separate software application included with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, saves you time by automating the process of creating multiple encoded versions of your source files and Adobe Premiere Pro sequences. Set up multiple items for encoding, manage priorities, and control advanced settings for each item individually. Adobe Media Encoder also encodes compositions from Adobe After Effects software when it’s installed as a component of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium. Use any combination of sequences and clips as sources, and encode to a wide variety of video formats, including FLV and F4V, Windows Media, MPEG - 2, H.264, QuickTime, and more.
Optimized encoding for mobile devices
Keeping track of video - enabled cell phone and mobile device capabilities is no small task. Device Central puts the latest mobile device profiles at your fingertips through a dynamically updated online device library. Device Central lets you test and preview what your work will look like on an extensive selection of devices under a variety of simulated real - life conditions. This lets you can make intelligent design decisions without having to go through a time - consuming trial and error process, and deliver engaging experiences to billions of mobile subscribers.
Improved Adobe integration
Sharing media between pre - and post - production software tools used to require you to render your work in one application before importing it into another, which was an inefficient and time - consuming process. If you needed to make changes, you had to make them in the original application and re - render the asset. Innovative Adobe Dynamic Link, previously available only in Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium, streamlines this process. Dynamic Link eliminates the need for intermediate rendering by creating a direct link between new or existing assets in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and Encore CS4. Changes made in Adobe Premiere Pro such as color corrections and so on are immediately reflected in Encore.
With new Adobe Premiere Pro integration in Adobe OnLocation, you can send entire shot lists directly to Adobe Premiere Pro along with all the metadata - based project intelligence that was logged during the shoot.
Other integration enhancements in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 include:
Flexible Photoshop layer options. Control exactly how Photoshop files look when imported into Adobe Premiere Pro. Preview all layers, choose which layers to import, and then choose how to import them—as individual layers, merged, or as a sequence.
Support for Photoshop files with video. Avoid the extra rendering step from Adobe Photoshop when importing PSD files that contain video. Simply import the files and use them just like any other video clip in the Timeline.
Support for Photoshop blending modes. Match your favorite looks from Photoshop by applying Photoshop blending modes to clips on the Adobe Premiere Pro Timeline. Blending modes are available for all clips, and are fully key - frameable. When importing Photoshop PSD files, blending modes are automatically carried over into Adobe Premiere Pro.
Dynamic Link to Encore. Save time by sending sequences directly from Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 to Adobe Encore CS4, where they open immediately without rendering. From within Encore, open Adobe Premiere Pro sequences, and then use the Edit Original command to make a quick change to the sequence. Any changes you make in Adobe Premiere Pro are automatically reflected in Encore. Encore also reads chapter markers from the sequence, making it easy to set DVD chapter markers in the Adobe Premiere Pro Timeline.
Copy and paste text between Adobe applications. Achieve the same look for text in multiple deliverable formats. Exchange text by copying and pasting it between other Adobe Creative Suite 4 software and the Adobe Premiere Pro titler. The text retains all supported formatting, including font, spacing, and styles.
Enhanced editing efficiency
Work faster with powerful and flexible editing enhancements. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 includes over 50 of the most requested editing enhancements that streamline your workflow.
Display search results quickly. Apply effects to multiple selections, get timecode information faster, speed up work in the Timeline with new keyboard shortcuts, and much more.
Powerful management of projects, sequences, and clips
Find content quickly and efficiently by typing what you’re looking for into the Search box in the Effects, Project, or Metadata panel, and see results update instantly as you type. Manage projects more efficiently by saving file - location preferences on a per - project basis, making it easier to set up partitions for particular projects. Update assets in your project quickly as newer versions become available by replacing files in the Project panel; when replacing assets, all clip instances of that media update automatically. Combine content from multiple projects easily with the ability to import sequences from other projects. Choose any combination of sequences to import; Adobe Premiere Pro includes all nested sequences, helping to ensure that all content is imported successfully.
Pick up projects where you left them, without having to adjust the user interface—the workspace configuration is saved with each project, making it easy to work efficiently. You can now select any combination of sequences for trimming, to avoid trimming redundant content in the Project Manager. Only the portions of the offline clips used in a sequence are included in the trimmed project, so when you subsequently recapture the offline clips, only the portions used are recaptured. Mix content even more freely in your project with different editing and rendering settings for each sequence in your project; manage your assets easily by collecting all sequences into a single project; and output multiple versions from HD masters quickly using nested sequences with different settings.
Create workspace configurations using Project - panel column configurations optimized for the task at hand. For example, set up different columns for logging and for editing.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 lets you delete individual preview files, making it easy to reclaim disk space. Keep the preview files you need, and discard the ones you don’t.
Superior editing control
Use Track Sync Lock controls to select which tracks remain in sync after ripple and insert edits. Display source content of clips, route channels to specific destination tracks in the Timeline, and toggle video or audio channels on or off as needed with source - content controls. Place clips exactly where you want them when dragging to the Timeline. Innovative ways to target audio and video tracks provide multiple methods to control clip placement, saving you time and preserving the placement of other clips in the Timeline. Drag and drop video - or audio - only portions of clips onto any combination of compatible destination tracks.
Timesaving editing enhancements
When you paste multiple clips into the Timeline, the playhead jumps to the end of the pasted clip so that subsequent clips are placed directly after, saving you time. Create new subclips quickly and easily by simply dragging content directly from the Timeline to the Project panel. Place keyframes precisely within the Effect Controls panel. As you move them, keyframes snap to sequence markers, the playhead, clip edges, or other video or audio keyframes. This makes it simple to align new keyframes with existing ones. Use vertical snapping to keep clips in sync when moving them between tracks. Easily apply the same transition to multiple items in your project by copying and pasting the transition. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 applies all transition information, while maintaining destination attributes such as transition duration.
Use smart zoom features in the Timeline to switch quickly between detailed and global views of your content. Simply press a key to zoom the Timeline to show the entire contents of your sequence, and then press another to return to the previous zoom level.
Quickly clear all effects from one or multiple selected clips using a single command.
More options with multiple selections
Create commonly used combinations of effects and save them in a single preset for easy reuse. The ability to apply effects to multiple clips in a single action helps you work more efficiently. Make speed/duration adjustments to multiple clips simultaneously, saving significant time when working with large numbers of clips. You can work more productively when using transitions by applying the default transition to multiple selected clips with a single command. Apply audio - gain settings to multiple selected clips in a single action, without having to repeat for each item.
Precise audio control
Finding specific sonic events in your audio tracks—for example, the start of a sentence, a car door slamming, or the downbeat in your soundtrack—is often a simple matter of looking for peaks and valleys in their waveforms. New features in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 let you view audio waveforms in more detail in the Source Monitor. Zoom both channels independently or together. Navigate with precision within the Source Monitor when working with audio - only clips. Use the playhead to scrub the waveform directly. Change batch capture behavior easily by setting and adjusting audio - channel mapping for offline clips at any time, when or after they are created. You can also recapture offline clips as audio - only or video - only by changing recapture settings for offline clips, without having to recapture them first.
Robust timecode display
Precise editing and communication with clients are facilitated by timecode. Whether you’re working with news footage gathered in the field, telecined film footage, or clips shot on a camcorder that supports timecode only by way of an accessory pack, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 offers you a variety of ways to display timecode. The source - media timecode display format acts as the default in both the Project panel and Source Monitor. If there is no timecode or frame rate associated with the media—say if it’s a still graphic or was shot on a camera that doesn’t record timecode—Adobe Premiere Pro will use the format specified in the Project Settings dialog box. You can display SMPTE - style timecode or frame - count timecode that you can set to start at frame 0 or 1.
Place items in the Timeline with timecode accuracy by dragging and dropping them. See up - to - date timecode information in the Info panel as you drag clips. Choose the appropriate timecode display mode separately for each sequence in your project. Use any supported timecode format as the timecode display mode in the Timeline, Info panel, and Timecode controls. View source - media information for clips in the Timeline using the Info panel.
Enhanced keyboard - driven workflow
Point-and-click, mouse - based operation is a simple and easy way to learn new software. But experienced users want to navigate and control their tools as quickly and efficiently as possible. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 offers complete, mouseless operation via customizable keyboard shortcuts, to help you focus on being creative. Use keyboard shortcuts to browse through clips loaded in the Source Monitor tab and to save time when moving to the start and end of clips in the Effect Controls panel. Jump to the start and end of clips in the Timeline using dedicated shortcuts that make clip navigation easy. You can assign shortcuts to mark clips more quickly and to cycle forward and backward through all the panels in the Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 user interface.
Direct-to-disk recording with cross-platform, redesigned Adobe OnLocation CS4
Adobe OnLocation CS4 gives you an impressive array of production tools to help you shoot better and faster while saving time and money. You can produce superior - quality results from your video camera. Quickly calibrate the camera, monitor your footage, and check video levels by using your workstation or laptop as a virtual (and lightweight) video reference monitor. See what you can’t see on a camera’s small LCD viewfinder or flip - out screen, and use the comprehensive software waveform monitor and vectorscope as well as the audio spectrum analyzer to identify and correct image and audio problems before committing to videotape and hard disk.
Shooting and capturing video directly to disk lets you record a two - hour event as a single clip, or shoot as many takes of a scene as your actors need to get it right—no changing tapes, no solid - state memory time limits, no missed action. It’s a director’s dream come true, but in the edit suite, finding that one perfect take among dozens can be problematic. Metadata - based project intelligence and the new Shot List panel let you take control of this situation. Each time you re - record a scene to disk, a new take is automatically created that inherits the project intelligence from the master shot. You can search by keywords in the intelligence, or create a metadata - based text transcription of dialogue and use the text display in the Metadata panel to click on words and jump to the spot in the clip you’re interested in. Additionally, you can flag your selects as you capture them, making it a snap to find them in post - production.
Adobe OnLocation CS4 is available on Windows and Intel - based Mac systems. (Previously, Adobe OnLocation was only for Windows, and thus required Boot Camp to run on a Mac.) Cross - platform operation allows both Mac and Windows users to take full advantage of the power of Adobe OnLocation on laptops or workstations. The completely redesigned interface puts control of all functions on a single screen and features the familiar look and feel of other Adobe creative applications. Shot lists and metadata - based project intelligence save time and take the tedium out of logging on - set and in post - production.
Project intelligence with new XMP metadata support
Metadata is the unsung hero of an efficient workflow, and the key to the perennial challenge of making video searchable. You have great footage, but do you know where it was shot, who the talent is, and if you have the rights to use it? And more important, can you - and your viewers - find the video content that’s most relevant? Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, Adobe OnLocation CS4, and Encore CS4 deliver innovative, industry - leading solutions that solve both problems.
Careful planning keeps your productions on schedule and on budget. During preproduction, block your scenes, plan camera moves, and create a shot list to plot your shooting sequence and fill in metadata associated with each shot. Bring your careful planning on - set by creating a shot list in Adobe OnLocation. While you’re recording footage directly to disk, Adobe OnLocation automatically captures important metadata - based project intelligence associated with each shot coming from the camera. Create new takes each time you re - record, with each take inheriting metadata from the master shot. You can even edit or add to the metadata while you’re at the shoot.
During post - production, you can use metadata to streamline project tracking, asset auditing, and many other formerly tedious manual tasks in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and Encore CS4, as well as in Adobe Soundbooth CS4, After Effects CS4, and Adobe Flash CS4 Professional software. Best of all, as other workgroup members modify files and assets, metadata - based project intelligence associated with each media asset can be edited and updated in real time during the normal course of production.
Save even more time by eliminating the need to hunt from folder to folder to track down assets. Metadata makes your assets searchable within the Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 Timeline, so you can locate assets and clips by filename, date, time, camera setting such as resolution or frame rate, shot location, or any other search term you’ve added to your asset or clip.
Speech Search makes dialogue in your video assets searchable
Whether you start your production with a script or assemble your narrative in the editing suite, you can use powerful new Speech Search technology in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 to turn spoken dialogue into text - based metadata that makes your video searchable. This new capability solves one of the biggest challenges in taking video online by automatically turning any spoken word into a keyword that points precisely to the places in a clip where the word is spoken. This unleashes considerable power, for both post - production professionals and all of us who watch video online. During the editing process, creative professionals can use Speech Search to quickly find the relevant points in a particular clip, or easily locate the right clip based on what gets said in it. Equally important, the time - accurate text that corresponds to spoken words is embedded in the output you render from Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, so your video is searchable by other tools that can read XMP metadata, such as search and indexing engines.
In Adobe Premiere Pro, Speech Search can significantly speed the time - consuming process of wading through large quantities of footage to find the relevant clips. For example, you can quickly find all of the clips in a project that contain a particular word, or the opening lines of a scene from the script you’re shooting, by searching from the Project panel. Once you’ve narrowed your search, you can search within a particular clip for a word or phrase by using the Source Monitor, or you can skim the preliminary transcript that appears in the Metadata panel. Both approaches are significantly faster than manually scrubbing through a clip to find, for example, the spot in a long interview where the subject talks about a transformative trip to Zambia. Additionally, you can tab from word to word in the Metadata panel to make edits while ensuring that text remains synchronized to the spoken word.
Industry-leading Blu-ray Disc output
Adobe Encore CS4 software is a versatile, interactive authoring tool for video distribution that allows you to deliver your high - definition work complete with advanced functions such as pop - up menus, subtitles, and more to clients or consumers on standard - definition DVDs and high - definition Blu - ray Discs. Save time during the authoring workflow by sending sequences directly from Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 to Adobe Encore CS4, where they open immediately without intermediate rendering, using Adobe Dynamic Link. From within Encore, open Adobe Premiere Pro sequences and then use the Edit Original command to make a change to the sequence. Any changes you make in Adobe Premiere Pro are automatically reflected in Encore. Plus, Encore reads chapter markers in the sequence.
Further streamline your authoring workflow by using the enhanced flowchart to define and view your project’s points and links. New independent variable - zoom functionality and the ability to see the asset’s name help streamline your disc - and SWF - file authoring workflow. See exactly what your project is going to look like with the new FireWire Video - out feature, and have ultimate control over your motion menu loop points.
Web versions of your DVD and Blu-ray Disc projects made easy with Adobe Encore CS4
Create compelling stories and use Adobe Encore CS4 software to deliver them on standard - definition DVD or high - definition Blu - ray Disc, and with a single click create SWF - file versions of those DVD and Blu - ray Disc projects for the web, without opening another application. Added flexibility and HTML templates in Encore CS4 let you create content compatible with Adobe Flash Player, complete with DVD interactivity, menus, and URL links. Export different video sizes for SWF - file streaming or progressive download, customize player skins, and reduce encoding time by using optimized encode settings in Adobe Media Encoder. Leverage Adobe Flash Media Server to build new revenue sources based on a secure - streaming, protected - download, or subscription - based delivery model—or all three—using metadata to track rights and permissions.
Needs
- 2GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista)
- 512MB of RAM
- 100MB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,280x900 display with DirectX 9.0c–compatible graphics card†
- 5400 RPM hard drive for recording; 13GB of available hard-disk space for each hour of recording
- OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 port for DV and HDV capture
- DVD-ROM drive
- Microsoft Windows Driver Model– or ASIO-compatible sound card
Notes: An SSE2-enabled processor is required for AMD systems.
After Effects CS4
Adobe After Effects CS4 is to video special effects and compositing what Adobe Photoshop is to photographs. The amount of power, creativity and fun you can have with his program is nothing short of mind blowing. With the new and enhanced features found in CS4 that blowing of the mind has just been taken to the next level. New features and enhancements include:
Searchable timelines and projects plus easier nested composition navigation
As projects become deeper and more complex, it can be challenging to find a specific layer or other asset-especially on deadline or when you're working in an unfamiliar project. After Effects CS4 eliminates this frustration by including live search functions directly inside the Timeline and Project panels. You can quickly find project elements, keyframeable properties, effects, and more. This ability to directly target properties saves considerable time scrolling through lists and twirling open layers to manually reveal their contents.
You can search projects for specific footage items or footage properties, such as scanning by file type to find all the SWF files that have been imported, or flagging whether or not an updated logo is currently being used in a composition. You can also search timelines by layer names, properties, comments or expressions, effect names or parameters, and more. Search results appear as soon as you start typing, and can be limited to selected layers or may encompass your entire timeline or project.
Many artists use nested compositions inside After Effects as a way to break complex projects into smaller, more manageable elements. This allows both the creation of elaborate animation chains and also the ability to make quick updates to a project where a change in one composition may be immediately rippled out through other comps.
To make these composition hierarchies easier to navigate, After Effects CS4 features a Composition navigator along the top of each Composition panel, which displays the names of the incoming (nested) compositions as well as the outgoing (parent) compositions for the currently active composition. These compositions can be opened to access the Mini- Flowchart, which reveals the nesting organization of related compositions. This allows you to more easily visualize and navigate the structure of complex projects: You merely have to click on a composition's name in the Mini-Flowchart to instantly switch to it.
These features make it easier for you to familiarize yourself with and to navigate through projects created by other After Effects artists, or to recall the structure of an older project which now needs updating.
Photoshop 3D layers import
A powerful new technology in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended allows you to place 3D objects on layers, paint them using the industry-standard tools in Photoshop, and render them along with the rest of your imagery. With After Effects CS4, you can import and animate Photoshop 3D layers in your composition, where they can be viewed as 3D objects using cameras in After Effects. You can also apply effects to change the layers' appearance over time, composite 3D layers with other objects (including animated text and shape layers, live-action video, and sound), and render the result as you would any other project element.
This feature creates a flexible new 3D workflow in which artists, instead of rendering a 3D scene from within a dedicated 3D application and treating it as finished footage inside After Effects, can import and paint objects in Photoshop, import the PSD file with the 3D layer into After Effects, and further process and animate the objects without having to go back to a 3D application and re-render the result. Combined with the Vanishing Point feature introduced in Creative Suite 3, artists have a growing list of options for how they can create 3D worlds without the need to purchase and learn dedicated 3D software.
Cartoon effect
The new Cartoon effect allows you to create new looks for your video or other animated imagery, instantly applying the appearance of cel animation or watercolor paintings to live action or to computer-generated 3D imagery. It's a creative tool that allows you to quickly stylize footage, using a deep set of controls to create your own fresh looks. This makes it equally useful for motion graphics and for interactive designers interested in crafting new visual styles as well as videographers and editors who want to create unique visuals without the painstaking process of hand-drawing every frame. You can even use the Cartoon effect to rescue low-resolution or poor-quality footage by smoothing and abstracting it.
This effect-found in the Effects > Stylize category-provides three essential enhancements. First, it performs a smoothing operation to remove distracting image details. Second, it finds the edges between the remaining details in order to highlight them and provide a border to help separate the areas of color. Third, it fills in the colors and gradients between the edges. You have full control over each of these enhancements through a set of separate Fill and Edge parameters as well as Advanced parameters. The Cartoon effect is also graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerated, so you can quickly experiment with refinements or try out whole new looks.
Independent keyframing of X, Y, and Z position plus other 3D compositing enhancements
In addition to the Photoshop 3D layers import feature mentioned earlier, After Effects CS4 contains two other major enhancements that make working in 3D more fluid.
X-, Y-, and Z-position properties can be keyframed separately, greatly easing the crafting of complex animation moves, such as having a camera smoothly change elevations and then hold while maintaining a constant forward or sideways velocity, or creating bounce-style actions. These separate properties may be collapsed back into a unified set of keyframes that control all properties at once.
A new Unified Camera tool takes advantage of a three-button mouse, allowing you to quickly switch between Track XY, Track Z, and Orbit movements. This allows you to work more intuitively while setting up camera positions. It also makes the experience of using cameras in After Effects more similar to that in 3D modeling applications.
Rich media composition export from After Effects to Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
Compelling motion design is essential in both the broadcast and online worlds. As the languages and experiences of interactive design and traditional motion graphics continue to converge, it is only natural that you will want to expand your personal toolset. While previously you could export text animations and other elements from After Effects to SWF format and render movies to FLV format, now you can also export After Effects compositions as layered projects that can be imported into Flash CS4 Professional. FLV, PNG, and JPG source footage files are passed directly to the Flash Professional project without transcoding. Animated transformations, such as scale and rotation, are preserved, and can be edited in Flash Professional. Other footage types and layers with effects are automatically converted to Flash compatible graphics.
Enhanced Dynamic Link in Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium
Step up to Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium and enjoy the full benefits of cross-component integration with Adobe Dynamic Link. Dynamic Link is the ability for select Adobe Production Premium components to render the results of another Production Premium component on the fly. Changes inside the project of one component are immediately reflected inside the other. This streamlines the entire creative process by eliminating intermediate rendering between applications, enabling you to work faster and stay in your creative flow. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium features enhanced Dynamic Link functionality between After Effects CS4 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, between After Effects and Adobe Soundbooth CS4, and between After Effects and Adobe Encore CS4 software. For example, you can now dynamically link Adobe Premiere Pro sequences to an After Effects composition or Encore project. This allows you to use Adobe Premiere Pro sequences inside After Effects or Encore without rendering an intermediate file. Updates are visible in After Effects or Encore the instant they are made. Dynamic Link also enables you to use an After Effects comp inside a project in Encore.
Imagineer Systems' Mocha for Adobe After Effects for 2.5D planar motion tracking
After Effects CS4 includes Imagineer Systems' Mocha for Adobe After Effects, a standalone application with advanced 2.5D planar motion tracking. Mocha for Adobe After Effects provides advanced motion tracking and makes it easier to tackle difficult motion-tracking challenges, such as tracking footage with objects moving out of the frame, lack of detail in the underlying footage, motion blur, and heavy grain or noise. Now you can avoid the guesswork and inaccuracies that result from hand-tracking challenging shots. Mocha also speeds up the process of generating solid four-point tracks, yielding position, scale, rotation, and shear information, resulting in perspective-matched tracks.
Mocha for Adobe After Effects is resolution independent and can import Cineon, DPX, TGA, TIF, JPEG, PNG, SGI, and QuickTime files with up to 16 bits per color channel. It then exports 2D tracking data that can be loaded into After Effects. This valuable software is included with After Effects CS4 (along with powerful favorites Color Finesse from Synthetic Aperture and Keylight from The Foundry).
Integrated workflow for mobile-device authoring
Authoring content for mobile devices is a growing field of work for editors, producers, and motion graphics artists. But this new field presents new challenges: Screen dimensions and video frame rates vary greatly from one mobile device to another. Adobe Device Central CS4 software-included with After Effects CS4-contains an extensive library of device profiles that provide information about these mobile devices. Device Central can then use these profiles to automatically create a set of After Effects compositions tailored for your selected devices.
You create your design in a master composition. This master comp is then used to feed a set of device-specific compositions, each reflecting the screen size and other parameters of your chosen devices. You can use the powerful After Effects Render Queue to render and export a set of finished movies for a large number of mobile devices in one batch render job. A special preview composition is also created that consists of a grid of your device-specific compositions, so that you can preview your master composition in the context of several devices simultaneously.
Project intelligence through XMP metadata
Workflow specialists and producers are sure to love the new support for XMP metadata in After Effects CS4 and other Adobe video and audio software. Among other capabilities, you can easily identify the job number or work ticket associated with any asset, make better informed decisions about the assets you use, and streamline the rights-auditing process by efficiently viewing copyright information.
Not only is asset metadata retained while in After Effects, but you can add new project and layer-level metadata during the render stage to streamline project tracking and automate asset auditing. For example, you can add a list of assets used in a composition, or the durations of stock footage clips, used to aid in determining payment for rights managed assets. Markers in the source composition will be saved in the rendered file, and will appear as layer markers when you re-import the file. You can also use scripting to access and manipulate metadata. This makes it possible to add intelligence to your After Effects CS4 workflows.
Speech Search turns spoken dialog into searchable metadata
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and Soundbooth CS4 both offer the new Speech Search feature, which uses speech recognition technology that can convert spoken dialogue to text. By exporting this text as metadata in your media, you can make video clips searchable during postproduction. When you import this media to your After Effects project, each word appears as a marker on the Timeline, making it easy to design motion graphics synchronized to the spoken dialog. In addition, you can intelligently automate your workflows using this metadata and the scripting capabilities in After Effects. For example, a custom script could look for certain words and create text layers that start at the point where those words are spoken.
Numerous interface and workflow improvements
Dozens of enhancements in every area make After Effects more productive and fun to use. Here are but a few of the additional enhancements contained in After Effects CS4:
- Auto-resolution to optimize interaction speed by rendering only the pixels you need for your current zoom level.
- Easier settings management to optimize memory and multi-core processing.
- ProEXR support for working with layered high dynamic range (HDR) image files.
- Native P2 plus Sony XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD support.
- Longer names for layers, comps, folders, and other items.
- New Turbulent Noise and Bilateral Blur effects.
- Option for converting text to mask outlines or a shape layer.
- Duration specification for markers.
- Center-cut safe areas for ensuring widescreen projects look good on 4:3 displays.
- Composition panel control to simulate output, for improved color management.
- 32-bit-per-channel color for shape layers, Depth Of Field Blur effect, and Reduce Interlace Flicker effect.
- Interpret Footage button in the Project panel.
- Wiggle position, scale, rotation, and opacity for shape layers.
- Import Adobe Premiere Pro time remapping data.
Needs
- 1.5GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista)
- 2GB of RAM
- 1.3GB of available hard-disk space for installation, plus 2GB of space for optional content; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,280x900 display with OpenGL 2.0-compatible graphics card
- DVD-ROM drive
- QuickTime 7.4.5 software required to use QuickTime features
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Notes: An SSE2-enabled processor is required for AMD systems.
Improved performance and stability
Work faster and smarter, with Fireworks CS4 performance enhancements through-out the application. Fireworks CS4 boasts faster document opening and saving for files large and small, including those with a great number of pages, states, layers, and symbols. File saving is now an asynchronous operation, so designers can get back to work while storing a large file. Symbol updating is more robust, as are intensive bitmap and vector operations. With its improved system responsiveness, Fireworks CS4 gives you the power to prototype your designs faster than ever.
New user interface
The new look and feel of Fireworks CS4 is far more than just a designer-friendly overhaul. It now shares a common interface with other Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web and Design components, from Photoshop and Illustrator to Flash and Dreamweaver. Maintain common workspace layouts and tools as you move smoothly between Fireworks and any other Creative Suite 4 component. The user interface enhancements aren't just skin-deep either: Pages, States, and Layers panels are now easier to use, with right-click menu additions and all commands and command panels upgraded for greater ease of use.
CSS- and images -based export
Design complete web pages in the robust graphic environment of Fireworks, and then export web-standards compliant, CSS-based layouts-complete with external style sheets- all in one step. Integrate foreground and background graphics with the new slice types where you have the option to set your background slices to repeat along X or Y coordinates or not repeat at all. Drop form-element-rich symbols like checkboxes, text fields, and Submit buttons onto your Fireworks layouts to output well-built HTML code.
PDF export
Deliver the preciseness of your Fireworks CS4 design comps directly to your clients with the new Export To PDF feature. Export any range of pages in your Fireworks document with fidelity using a single command. The PDF document maintains hotspot-linked pages, creating interactive electronic comps that are viewable by anyone with Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat software: All the functionality of the Reader editing capabilities can be accessed for collaboration and iteration of your web design. You can safeguard your designs with optional password protection-separate passwords are definable for viewing and for other tasks such as copying, commenting, and printing.
Adobe text engine
The enhanced typographical capabilities familiar to users of Photoshop and Illustrator are now implemented in the text engine of Fireworks CS4. Set type easily and intuitively; you can get the same elegant results whether you start from scratch or import text. You can even import or copy and paste double-byte characters from Adobe InDesign software, Illustrator, or Photoshop without loss of fidelity. The Adobe text engine improvements also let you bring Photoshop PSD files into Fireworks CS4 with fully editable text. Designers will further appreciate the new ability to float text inside a path to quickly simulate text floating around an image in CSS layouts.
Style improvements
Styles are an important asset in any designer's toolbox, allowing consistent color, effects, and text attributes to be applied easily. The improved styles feature in Fireworks CS4 lifts this functionality to new heights. Now, when you modify a style, all elements to which the style has been applied are immediately updated. And you can break individual instances away from the style with the click of a Properties panel icon.
Additionally, Fireworks CS4 supports multiple style sets. Designers can quickly switch between various style sets, whether standard or custom. The Styles panel, enhanced for Fireworks CS4, includes pull-down menus which display all open documents and their style sets for rapid application.
Symbol enhancements
Fireworks CS4 symbols have also taken a big step forward with in-place editing-modifying the symbol without having to jump to a separate window. Now you can precisely refine your symbol while keeping an eye on the larger picture of your canvas. Moreover, one of the most valuable features of symbol editing, 9-slice scaling, is now available for any type of object- pixel, vector, group, or text area. Symbol properties are now even more robust with support of nested symbols (one symbol inside another) in Fireworks CS4.
Workspace improvements
Turn on Smart Guides for swift, accurate positioning and measurement of guides and elements on the canvas. Smart Guides offer a heads-up feature that shows where you are in relation to other objects as you drag guides into position, as well as displaying their current X and Y coordinates. Press Shift while adjusting your guides to view dynamically updated distances between canvas edges and existing guides in the same plane.
Adobe Kuler
Inspirational color review and creation comes to Fireworks CS4. Adobe Kuler is a popular web-hosted application and online color community where designers can create and store color sets to share or keep handy for their own use. With the Kuler panel in Fireworks CS4, you can find, sample, and apply the latest color themes from Adobe Kuler. Having Adobe Kuler accessible in Fireworks CS4 gives you the opportunity to craft color harmonies for your own use or to upload to Adobe Kuler, without leaving your design space.
Adobe ConnectNow, a service of Acrobat.com
Designers often need to discuss comps and layouts with their clients to iron out specific details, but face-to-face meetings can be costly and e-mail communication is often too slow. Fireworks CS4 brings clients and designers together for real-time online meetings through its connection with Adobe ConnectNow, one of the services offered on Acrobat.com. Now you can meet live over the web to share your screen, present creative concepts and prototypes, and brainstorm with up to two online guests for no additional service charge. To share your screen with colleagues and clients, choose File > Share My Screen. Guests can then see your desktop on their screens as you work. You can exchange ideas using the chat pod, add a live video or audio feed, or use the Whiteboard feature to enable guests to comment on content. You can even temporarily hand over control of the screen to a guest to collaborate on a file. Additional Acrobat.com services, such as Share, Create PDF, My Files, and Adobe Buzzword, are accessible via your web browser. (Internet connection required.)
Adobe AIR authoring
Preview and package your Adobe AIR interactive prototype directly from within Fireworks CS4, ready to be delivered to HTML and CSS, Flex, or Flash. Pages and states in Fireworks CS4 map exactly to an interactive Adobe AIR application experience, so you can quickly convert your click-through mock-up to a fully designed prototype. Distribute the prototype to clients or colleagues for approval and move it into application development more rapidly.
Needs
- 1GHz or faster processor
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
- 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
- 1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
- DVD-ROM drive
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Multitrack support
Sound for visuals usually comprises a variety of different elements—dialogue tracks give voice to actors, animated characters, and featured talent; voice-overs supply narrative context; sound effects and ambient sounds create atmosphere and aural depth cues; and music provides emotional cues. The ability to work with multiple audio tracks—the new feature most requested by Adobe Soundbooth CS3 users—gives you the power to assemble all the elements of a complex soundtrack into a final audio mixdown.
New Adobe Sound Document
The new Adobe Sound Document (ASND) file format enables nondestructive audio editing, so you can always return to the original source files. The ASND document can be easily shared with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, and Adobe After Effects CS4.
Automatic volume matching
Equalizing volume levels within a specific file can be a challenge. In interviews, for example, sometimes speakers’ voices are captured at different volume levels. The equalize volume feature in Adobe Soundbooth CS4 can correct this kind of problem with a single click. You can also use the new volume-matching functionality to quickly match the volume of multiple clips to each other or to a single reference volume level.
Volume keyframing
Volume keyframing lets you adjust the volume of your dialogue and sound-effects tracks or adjust the volume of your audio over time. The volume keyframing feature is especially useful when you create podcasts. Soundbooth lets you record directly into a track, duck vocals, improve the quality and sound of your voice, and add sound effects.
MP3 compression preview
When you want to output work in MP3 format, the MP3 compression preview allows you to preview the sound quality at whatever bit rate you select and see the consequent file size before saving. As a result, you can save time and increase efficiency by previewing sound quality before you commit to specific compression settings to achieve the results you want.
Improved integration with other Creative Suite 4 software
Convenient roundtrip editing saves you time. Now you can use the Edit In Adobe Soundbooth command from within Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, or Adobe After Effects CS4 to send assets directly to Soundbooth, where you can clean up or enhance your audio. After your edits are complete, the files automatically update in the timeline or project window of your Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 or Adobe After Effects CS4 project.
Adobe Dynamic Link workflows
When Soundbooth is installed as a component of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium, you can save time when opening Adobe After Effects CS4 compositions or Adobe Premiere Pro sequences directly in Soundbooth by using the innovative Adobe Dynamic Link. Dynamic Link eliminates the need for intermediate rendering by creating a direct link between new or existing assets in select Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium components. Any changes made in one application are quickly reflected in the other.
Improved editing capabilities
Soundbooth provides instant cut, copy, and paste functions as well as on-clip editing tools such as trim, fade, and volume control. With just one click, you can fix, boost, or otherwise modify audio assets to better meet the needs of your production. You can even stretch audio assets to match the length of your scene. Improved spectral editing lets you edit your audio visually.
Looping tool enhancements
Looping enhancements in Adobe Soundbooth CS4 increase your creative options and save you time. Automatic beat detection makes it even easier to create seamless loops: Beats are displayed as orange lines, and you can adjust the in and out points by individual beats until you get a loop you like.
Additional Soundbooth Scores and improved workflow
You don’t need a recording studio or a computer loaded with specialized music software to create soundtracks for your projects when you can jump-start your audio efforts with customizable, pre-existing content conveniently accessible in Soundbooth. Free Soundbooth Scores are available online through Resource Central, and you can also purchase additional Soundbooth Score bundles through Resource Central (Internet connection required).
In Adobe Soundbooth CS4, you can use multiple scores in a multitrack environment, which also allows you to layer scores. You can also change the length of a score, the intensity, and the levels of various instruments to match just the mood and pacing you want. Then place the music beneath a voice-over, add sound effects to bring impact to your visuals, and use Soundbooth to alter the tone and volume at various points based on what’s going on visually.
Speech Search
Use New Speech Search technology in Adobe Soundbooth CS4 to turn spoken dialogue into text-based metadata that makes your video searchable. This new capability solves one of the biggest challenges in taking audio and video online by automatically turning any spoken word into a keyword that points precisely to the places in a clip where the word is spoken. This unleashes considerable power, for post-production and Web professionals, and all of us who watch video online. During the editing process, creative professionals can use Speech Search to quickly find the relevant points in a particular clip, or easily locate the right clip based on what gets said in it. Equally important, the time-accurate text that corresponds to spoken words is embedded in the output you render from Adobe Soundbooth CS4, so your audio and video is searchable by other tools that can read XMP metadata, such as search and indexing engines.
Needs
- 1.4GHz or faster processor for DV; 3.4GHz for HDV; dual 2.8GHz for HD
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista)
- 1GB of RAM; 2GB for HDV and HD playback
- 10GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- 1,280x900 display with 32-bit video card that supports OpenGL 2.0
- DVD-ROM drive
- Microsoft DirectX or ASI-compatible sound card
- QuickTime 7 software required to use QuickTime features
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
Notes: An SSE2-enabled processor is required for AMD systems.
Adobe Bridge CS4 which is included with Illustrator CS4 -is a visual file browser that helps you search, view, and sort through many assets to quickly find the ones you want. New features and enhancements include:
- Faster performance from startup to browsing, including an option to display previews embedded in raw images.
- Easier access to task-based workspaces.
- A new List view with rich data and familiar sorting controls.
- Built-in preview and creation of HTML and Flash web galleries, and PDF contact sheets.
- One-click full-screen previews.
- Collections for organizing related assets in freeform or search-based virtual groups-even when assets are spread across multiple folders.
- Fast, detailed search results thanks to tight integration with Spotlight in Mac OS X and Desktop Search in Windows Vista.
- New review modes, such as Carousel View for quickly cycling through assets.
- Smart analysis and auto-stacking of High Dynamic Range (HDR) and panoramic images for handoff to Photoshop.
- New support for previewing 3D images.
- Camera Raw improvements, including non-destructive application of dodge, burn, sharpen, and other adjustments.
CS4 Links
Here is a growing list of links to web sites other than ours that have interesting stuff for Adobe Creative Suite 4. Including tutorials, videos and more.
