High five for Adobe
Sophie Matthews-Paul takes a first look at Adobe's Creative Suite 5 Design Premium and finds it worth celebrating.
When Adobe launched CS5 in the spring it seemed a little hard to comprehend that it was possible to pack any more features into what was, already, a fully functioning suite of programs which have continued to ease the lives of all those working with images and layouts. But the world of design and creativity has shifted in line with growth in the way we expect to view content and, not surprisingly, these are issues which are now catered for in depth along with refined features with which many of use are already familiar.
At a guess, the majority of users within the Image Reports readership would opt for Creative Suite 5 Design Premium although there might be those who have selected the Master Collection simply because it contains everything, in a single package, which can be found spread around in the five Creative Suite editions or as separate options. Design Premium features most of the tools likely to be of use to those involved in the creation of wide-format print, with InDesign complemented by Photoshop and Illustrator. Complemented by Acrobat Pro 9, CS5 Design Premium also includes Dreamweaver and Fireworks. Also included is Adobe Flash Catalyst which lets users convert static designs created in Photoshop, Illustrator or Fireworks to interactive results without needing to incorporate complex coding.
Starting with Photoshop, following CS4 it wasn't easy to see what features could tempt users to upgrade to the latest version; yet Adobe has managed successfully to include new options that make life easier for image editing. There's no point in pretending that photographers don't tweak and cheat to get the results they want, and this is even more prevalent when working to specific criteria for displays. Notable amongst CS5's additions is the Content-Aware Fill which saves hours of cloning out unwanted elements by intelligently using surroundings to fill in areas realistically. Similarly, the Refine Edge tool makes it easier to select difficult image areas.
HDR is a bit like marmite; people either love high dynamic range images or they don't. But Photoshop CS5 has joined the former populace with powerful tone mapping, even being able to produce convincing emulation from a single image, rather than multiple exposures.
The new Photoshop also has improved tools and brushes and, with Extended being included in CS5 Design Premium, those interested in three dimensional and motion based content can now generate 3D logos as well as manipulate artwork.
Illustrator, too, has received some revisions to make the building of shapes easier, along with stroke and paint capabilities, perspective drawing capabilities and a refined working area. When working with multiple artboards, it's now possible to name them individually, with simple navigation and ordering of the ones in use. This is also improved by a Past In Place function which means that a copied object from one location can be pasted in exactly the same place on an another artboard, with a useful multiple paste option.
InDesign has also been tweaked with the addition of a Content Grabber tool, which simplifies selection of images, and a similar feeling to Illustrator's multiple artboards brought across to documents. This makes it easy to keep every element together when working with different types of eventual output from the same origination. Similarly, refined text tools include the ability to track changes and create dynamic captions.
Although InDesign also caters for interactive design, its main presence in the wide-format industry is as a key element for creating output using text and graphics for posters, banners and other displays. Yet essentially it is a page layout program that continues to compete against Quark XPress for this necessary element of the pre-press process.
Using CS5 as an example of integration at its best, Adobe has certainly upped the ante by introducing interaction, motion, sound and video to its static program elements. Yet at the core of most users' requirements in the digital display industry is the need to work quickly and efficiently with images, text and layouts and know that the end results can be exported via PDF into the workflow and along to the Rip.
The changes evident in Adobe Design Premium CS5 are valuable but time needs to be spent optimising the new tools and integrating them into existing working patterns. This suite is only one of the options available, with elements available for purchase or upgrade separately. Upgrading from the equivalent in CS4 costs ?516 and the full version is ?1,509, both plus VAT. Downloaded versions cost slightly more. Users wanting to go the whole hog and choose the CS5 Master Collection can expect to pay ?794 to upgrade and ?2,303 for the full version, again plus VAT. Upgrading specific programs has keen and tempting pricing; for example, to move from up Photoshop CS2, CS3 or CS4 will only cost ?278 plus VAT whilst a shift upwards from Illustrator CS2, CS3 or CS4 to the latest version is only ?159.
Full details are available via the Adobe web site, and signed-up users get the opportunity to try out versions of the new software before buying.