Posts Tagged ‘adobe’
Adobe Digital Publishing Platform – Welcome Back to the Show, Adobe!
Today Adobe announced the upcoming release of the Digital Publishing Platform that is built upon Creative Suite 5. This technology, though not available publicly as of yet, was used by WIRED to publish their first iPad edition of their magazine. Having seen the WIRED digital magazine on my iPad, I’m excited to see what this Digital Publishing Platform can do. In the FAQs Adobe has posted, they mention that InDesign CS5 was a core element in the creation of the WIRED Reader. I love creating print collateral with InDesign and look forward to a chance of creating interactive materials in it. I’m hoping that the publishing platform will allow me to provide new services to clients where we can turn what use to be ‘plain-Jane’ PDFs into more interactive pieces that really engage the reader.
And in case you’re wondering, this platform appears to be fully compliant with the Apple Developers License Agreement, so it shouldn’t go the way of Flash. It also takes advantage of HTML5 technologies – showing that they are not being too stubborn in their quest for Flash acceptance. The plan is also to make this support multiple platforms, so the iPad isn’t the only tablet/device out there that will take advantage of this.
I’m happy to see Adobe is embracing new technologies like the iPad even if Flash is not supported. What the WIRED digital magazine shows is that Adobe is still tops in producing creative materials, static or interactive. Welcome back to the show, Adobe! [Adobe via Gizmodo]
Photoshop CS5 (64-bit) Blows CS4 (32-bit) Out of the Water
Posted in Software, on April 19th, 2010 by Carlos.
John Nack, Principal Product Manager for Adobe Photoshop, has posted some rather impressive speed benchmarks comparing the soon-to-be-shipped Photoshop CS5 64-bit vs the 32-bit CS4 counterpart. CS5 outperforms CS4 in every test that was run from 1.4 – 2.4 times faster. From time to time I work with large files that put a strain on my system, but given CS5 can take advantage of more system RAM that I actually have a available, I should realize some improvements.
I’ll admit one of my greatest disappoints with CS4 was that Adobe didn’t make it 32-bit, while our Windows brethren got to enjoy an extra 32 bits of bittage. It’s good to hear that the initial results are showing that 64-bit was worth the wait. Let’s hope that tests run by non-Adobe employees turn out to be similar! [John Nack on Adobe via Daring Fireball]
Adobe Creative Suite 5 (CS5) to Ship Mid-May – Pricing Announced
Posted in Software, on April 12th, 2010 by Carlos.
Adobe has announced that the CS5 entourage of products will be available mid-may and is up for pre-order on their website now. Also, the pricing has been made official. Here are some of the different packages available and pricing grabbed from their website:
- Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium will sell for $1899 USD, upgrade for $599 USD
- Adobe Creative Suite 5 Web Premium will sell for $1799 USD, upgrade for $599 USD
- Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium will sell for $1699 USD, upgrade for $599 USD
- and the Death Star of the Adobe CS5 lineup, Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection will sell for $2599 USD, upgrade for $899 USD
As always adoption of the new software suites is generally slow in the professional realm as printers and agencies have to evaluate the costs, budget for it and finally upgrade all their machines. I have a couple clients that are quick on the upgrade so I’ll be waiting for their cue before I take the plunge. [Adobe via BusinessWire via Gizmodo]
Adobe Photoshop’s Puppet Warp Feature
Posted in Software, on April 5th, 2010 by Carlos.
Another nifty feature being built in to Photoshop called Puppet Warp. If you read the comments on the Gizmodo page, this has apparently been in Adobe After Effects since CS3. Still neat though. I’ve had to recreate wires that twisted and turned a specific way, and I’m hoping a tool like this would make things a little easier! [Adobe You Tube Vid via Gizmodo]
Lightroom 3 beta 2 Now Available – Brings with it Tethered Shooting!
Posted in Photography, on March 24th, 2010 by Carlos.
Impeccable timing. I saw this right after posting my photography tip. Adobe has released its second beta for Lightroom 3. Lightroom, is a powerful tool to manage and manipulate your photography. Here are the list of features they’ve introduced in the latest build:
- Improved performance throughout the application for faster importing and loading of images
- Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras
- Luminance noise reduction has been added to the previous color noise reduction improvements available in the first public beta for outstanding overall high ISO quality
- Support for importing and managing video files from DSLR cameras for better overall photographic workflow control
- Improvements to the import experience in the first beta to reflect public feedback
- Improved watermarking functionality from the first beta to reflect public feedback
I’m certainly most interested in “Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras”, explained here from an excerpt grabbed from the announcement page:
“You don’t need to be a professional photographer in a studio environment to appreciate the instant feedback provided by a tethered workflow. Any time you need quick access to an image immediately after capture, simply plug in your Nikon or Canon DSLR via USB or Firewire and start a tethered session to view key camera settings, control the shutter release or apply various metadata and develop settings to incoming images. No need for intermediate software or “watched” folders, Lightroom will handle the communication with your camera and safely transfer images to the folder you specify. For this first implementation we’ve certified a limited number of Nikon and Canon DSLR models and look forward to adding additional Nikon and Canon camera models going forward.”
I’ve been using Nikon’s sub-standard Camera Control Pro 2 (ridiculously priced at $224.99 CAD), to tether my Nikon to my laptop when doing a photoshoot. Sure I had it save directly to a folder that I set Lightroom to automatically import as mentioned in the excerpt, but I can now cut-out the middle-man and tether straight into Lightroom. Looking forward to the official release of this one! [Adobe via TUAW]
Adobe CS5 Launch – April 12, 2010. Groan.
Posted in Software, on March 24th, 2010 by Carlos.
Ugh. Seriously? Already? It would be nice that with a new release this time around, Adobe decided to IMPROVE its software. [Adobe Creative Suite 5 Launch]
Photoshop’s 20th Anniversary
Posted in Design, on February 25th, 2010 by Carlos.
I missed the boat on this post by about 8 days, but I still felt it necessary to give recognition to the one piece of software that is responsible for jump starting my hobby/job/career. Before Photoshop I dabbled with Paint Shop Pro, and other shareware programs (anyone remember Neopaint for DOS?). The moment I started using Photoshop though, I was hooked for good.
Photoshop turned 20 on February 19th. I turned 30 almost a month before. I started using Photoshop in 1996 (version 4.0). I’ve therefore been using it for nearly half of my life. And boy have I been using it. What started as a obsession creating random patterns using the clouds, distort and of course, the lens flare filters (see above), evolved into professional use for manipulating photos, or designing websites. I still find time to use it for comedic purposes, one of Photoshop’s many hidden talents (see below – in case you aren’t familiar, those two are Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae of the Canadian Liberal Party). It truly is a versatile product that allows you to create pretty much anything under the sun.
Although today’s iteration of Photoshop is far from perfect (CS4 can be easily called bloatware), I still find that it is unmatched in its versatility and power. Just the other day, I gave Pixelmator another shot. It’s a beautifully designed graphics program for the Mac that looks stunning. Regardless of the shiny exterior, I still found it lacking in several departments (drop shadows need to be created manually, no CMYK support, etc.). I do hope Pixelmator and other competitors do step up to the plate to give Photoshop a run for its money, but they do have a way to go before more graphics pros make the jump. Maybe I’m just use to Photoshop in my workflow, but I don’t really see me dropping it cold turkey any time soon.
Adobe has put together a commemorative site celebrating Photoshop’s 20 years. They have a nifty timeline that walks you through the many iterations of one of history’s most celebrated pieces of software. Go check it out!
If you’re a Photoshop user, what version did you first use?
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