Adobe Unveils Creative Suite 3
By
Mike Pasini, The Imaging Resource
(Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 10:57 EDT)
Six Creative Suites, two versions of Photoshop highlight the new release -- but GoLive and Lightroom don't make the squad.
Nothing is quite so revealing about the nature of Creative Suite 3 as its icons. Like elements from the Periodic Table of the Elements, they are simply two letters of text with different colored backgrounds. Gone are the more elaborate and elegant illustrations.
One reason for that is that there are simply more applications in CS3 than there were in CS2. In fact, there are more suites -- six in all -- listed here with full and basic upgrade pricing:
• Design Premium ($1,799/599) and Design Standard ($1,199/399) editions, shipping in April
• Web Premium ($1,599/499) and Web Standard ($999/399) editions, shipping in April
• Production Premium ($1,699/799), shipping in the third quarter
• Master Collection ($2,499/1,999)
So, while little simplification goes a long way, you still need a program to tell the players. Here's the complete list:
• Acrobat Connection (bundled)
• Acrobat Professional ($449/159) for PDF workflows
• After Effects CS3 Professional ($999/299) for creating motion graphics and effects
• Bridge CS3 (bundled) for managing projects across CS3 applications
• Contribute CS3 (bundled) for updating Web sites and blogs
• Device Central (bundled) for previewing designs on mobile devices
• Dreamweaver CS3 ($399/199) for building Web sites
• Dynamic Link (bundled)
• Encore CS3 (bundled) for authoring once and outputting to DVD, Blu-Ray disc, and Flash
• Fireworks CS3 ($299/149) for prototyping and designing Web sites
• Flash CS3 Professional ($699/199) for creating interactive content
• InCopy ($249/89) for generating copy to fit for InDesign layouts
• InDesign CS3 ($699/199) for design and production of page layouts
• Illustrator CS3 ($599/199) for creating and editing line art
• OnLocation CS3 (bundled for Windows only)
• Photoshop CS3 ($649/199) for editing digital images
• Photoshop CS3 Extended ($999/349) for editing digital images with tools for 3D, scientific and video
• Premiere Pro CS3 ($799/299) for capturing, editing and delivering video
• Soundbooth CS3 ($249) for creating and editing audio
• Stock Photos (bundled) for browsing and purchasing stock images online
• Ultra CS3 (bundled with Windows only) keying software with virtual sets
• Version Cue CS3 (bundled) for managing versions of files and projects
The one glaring omission is GoLive. In our discussions with Adobe, it wasn't clear what the future of GoLive would be. The best scenario painted for us was as a cut-and-paste Web page builder for users of InDesign. But we also understood the company didn't expect users to migrate to the more code-oriented Dreamweaver. So while Adobe continues to develop GoLive, it is no longer part of any Create Suite.
Of course, Lightroom isn't included, either. And that product is not end-of-life.
SUITE BUNDLES
The Master edition includes InDesign, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, Contribute, Fireworks, After Effects, Premiere, Soundbooth, Encore, Acrobat, Bridge, Version Cue, Stock Photos, Device Central, Acrobat Connect.
The Design Premium edition includes InDesign, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Acrobat, Flash and Dreamweaver. The Design Standard edition includes InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat. Both editions also include Bridge, Acrobat Connect, Stock Photos, Version Cue and Device Central.
The Web Premium edition includes Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop Extended, Fireworks, Illustrator, Acrobat and Contribute. The Web Standard edition includes Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks and Contribute. Both editions also include Bridge, Acrobat Connect, Stock Photos, Version Cue and Device Central.
The Production Premium edition includes After Effects, Premiere, Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, Soundbooth, Encore, OnLocation, Ultra. Also included is Bridge, Acrobat Connect, Stock Photos, Device Central and Dynamic Link.
Individual applications can still be purchased, often bundled with other essential applications. In the case of Photoshop, Bridge is also bundled.
OUR EXPERIENCE
We attended a three-day Reviewer's Workshop at Adobe's San Jose facilities in January where we used CS3 to do a number of projects on an Intel-based Macintosh. Subsequently, the company provided beta copies of most of the elements in the suite, which we've been running for several weeks.
In fact, since the public beta of Photoshop CS3 was released, we've adopted it for our image editing needs, abandoning the CS2 version. It was not only stable enough to meet our demands, but the interface was significantly more polished and the launch time significantly reduced.
We've done much the same with InDesign CS3, preferring its interface to the CS2 version.
Beyond those two main applications, we've only experimented, primarily at the Workshop. We were impressed, however, to see O'Reilly titles incorporated as reference documents in Dreamweaver, a system-wide Javascript approach to automation and scripting, the integration of Macromedia tools and concepts (although Illustrator lags a bit behind here), the power of Adobe's Spry framework for Ajax and a good bit more.
PHOTOGRAPHERS
But for photographers, the compelling suite is no more than basic Photoshop (including Bridge) with Lightroom. We'll have more to say on this in our newsletter this Friday. But for now, we'll just note that the Extended version of Photoshop addresses primarily 3D, scientific and video production needs, bringing Photoshop's 2D painting tools to those markets.
Meanwhile, Adobe is holding an exclusive event to celebrate the company's launch of Adobe Creative Suite 3. The event will be webcast live from New York City on today at 3:30 p.m. ET at http://www.adobe.com/go/cs3launch.
Following are links to the PDF press releases for the Creative Suite launch:
• Adobe Unleashes Creative Suite 3 Product Line
• Adobe Delivers Two Editions of Photoshop CS3
• Adobe Introduces Powerful InDesign CS3 Release
• Adobe Unveils Creative Suite 3 Design Premium
• Adobe Debuts Creative Suite 3 Web Premium
• Adobe Reveals Creative Suite 3 Production Premium
• Adobe Device Central CS3 Mobilizes Creative Pros
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