Mon 9/29/03 -- Adobe Systems Inc. took a new tack with its software today, unleashing an integrated suite that combines new versions of its applications -- including its flagship image editor Adobe Photoshop -- into a cohesive whole, all anchored by a new file management system. The company is positioning the bundle, dubbed Adobe Creative Suite, as a "complete design environment."
"With Adobe Creative Suite, we are delivering a platform for the future of design and publishing, building on 20 years of innovation and partnership with the creative community worldwide," says Bruce Chizen, president and CEO of Adobe.
Two versions of the suite are expected to ship in the fourth quarter of this year. Adobe Creative Suite Premium Edition, with an estimated retail price of $1,229 ($749 if upgrading from an existing version of Photoshop), brings together Photoshop CS, the Illustrator CS drawing package, InDesign CS page layout program, GoLive CS Web designer, and Acrobat 6.0 Professional. The Standard Edition, with an estimated retail price of $999 ($549 if upgrading from an existing version of Photoshop), omits GoLive CS and Acrobat 6.0 Professional.
Both editions are anchored by the Version Cue file management system, which allows users to visually scan image thumbnails in Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, InDesign CS, and GoLive CS. The software also lets users search XMP metadata across version comments, keywords, author, date, and so on.
"Simplification of the creative workflow and tighter integration of applications into suites is a trend which will benefit designers collaborating on projects to become more efficient and productive," said Joshua Duhl, research director at IDC. "Features that will allow users to share files with clients and colleagues, and locate files visually or through metadata, will facilitate the broader workflow and lifecycle of creative assets."
According to Adobe, the new Photoshop CS boasts increased user control, with a redesigned File Browser that improves search, sorting, and sharing capabilities and a Histogram Palette that monitors changes in an image as they are made. Other enhancements include Match Color, which reads color statistics to help achieve a consistent look across a series of photographs; Shadow/Highlight, which improves the contrast of over- or underexposed digital images; and improved ImageReady CS integration. The program ($649 alone or $169 upgrade) also integrates second-generation Camera Raw functionality, which allows direct manipulation of raw data in an expanded set of professional-grade digital cameras.
With Illustrator CS ($499 alone or $169 upgrade), Adobe has introduced support for 3D Effects that transform type or any object into a 3D shape with options like Extrude, Bevel, Revolve, and Artwork Mapping, as well as a Scribble Effect that gives a loose, hand-drawn look to any image. Text enhancements include professional typography features, paragraph and character styles, and automatic ligatures and smart quotes.
InDesign CS, the latest version of Adobe's layout and design application, features integrated word processing functionality in Story Editor, as well as features like Separations Preview and Flattener Preview palettes that let users check output onscreen before pages appear on film or press. Its standalone price is $699 ($169 upgrade).
The new release of GoLive CS ($399 alone or $169 upgrade) adds support for CSS level-2 layout and authoring, giving Webmasters and designers the ability to visually author CSS level-2 compliant pages and check support in different browsers and devices., as well as code completion that offers a pop-up list of tags in the source code editor.
Finally, Adobe InCopy CS -- the company's professional writing and editing application, previously only available through systems integrators and third-party developers -- will now be available over the counter for $249. It enables a collaborative editorial workflow to allow writers, editors, and designers to work simultaneously on the same InDesign CS document, with accurate line-break and copyfitting information and alternative galley, story, and layout views.
The Adobe Creative Suite will support Windows XP Professional and Home Editions, Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 or higher, and Mac OS X 10.2.4.
