In the likely event that you haven’t yet mastered everything in Adobe System’s massive Creative Suite 3, take a breath. On Tuesday, the company announced CS4.
Adobe said the new version delivers “radical work-flow breakthroughs that bring down the walls between designers and developers.” Adobe added that CS4 is “packed” with new features.
All Adobe in One Box
Creative Suite 4 comes in several editions, including Design, Web, Production Premium, and Master Collection. The suite will ship in October at prices ranging from $1,799 to $2,499.
Adobe said the suite includes “virtually all of Adobe’s design and development applications in one box.” These include Photoshop CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, InDesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver CS4, After Effects CS4, and Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
Shantanu Narayen, Adobe president and CEO, said CS 4 offers powerful tools “whether you’re creating a rich Internet application, a video, or a best-selling magazine.”
The simplified work-flow Adobe is touting allows users to work across media more efficiently by making it easier to finish common tasks and switch between media without exiting a project.
Among other features, Adobe noted that a new Live Preflight tool in InDesign CS4 allows users to catch production errors, and a customizable Links panel allows files to be placed more efficiently.
In Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended, a new content-aware scaling tool can automatically recompose an image as it is being resized to new dimensions. In the Production Premium suite, a new version of dynamic link allows a user to move content between various applications, including After Effects, Adobe Premium Pro, Soundbooth and Encore.
Previously, a ‘Rubber-Band Suite’
The company also cited increased 3-D capabilities in CS4 and noted that Flash Pro now allows a creator to apply tweens on objects instead of keyframes, and a new Bones tool provides for more realistic animation…