Adobe announce Creative Suite 4

[Nnnnsic]

Adobe have now announced Creative Suite 4... and I'm too lazy to write about it in two places.

Mods can copy & paste if needed, but I've had an NDA stopping me from talking about or showing CS4 to people for the past month or so. I've been playing with it on both Windows and Mac platforms and some of the things Adobe have got in this are bloody impressive. In any case, I've got three things for my DSLR peoples (well, technically one but you'll see)...

The first is an easy to watch (I hope) under-10 minute video showing off a few features from Photoshop, InDesign, and Flash that I made for the place I work, CyberShack.

The second is an article at CyberShack detailing more of the features found in the suite. I'm doing this off the top of my head and glancing at the reviewer's guide to remember things I've missed. This isnt me rehashing a press release like some other places might.

The third is one I did this morning for here that shows a little more of Photoshop. I'm annoyed I forgot things like content-aware scaling as well as localised RAW editing, but I hadn't had breakfast and had only been awake for about 15 minutes. I also had to leave to work in 12 so... you know... like it. Or nor. It's your call.

Just remember to say thank you.

[gstark]

To add to Leigh's post ...

I've had the opportunity to look over his shoulder, as it were, while he was evaluating and learning some of what's new here. A couple of times, I looked across and it was a case of "did you just do what I think you just did?", such is the impact of what's been done in this release.

Suffice to say that, of the features I've seen ... impressed I am.

[norbs]

Leigh. Thank you.

Now, is it true you will need some beefy GPU to run it to its fullest potential? What sort of Mac where you running it on?

Oh, and, Thank You.

[BullcreekBob]

Of course there's a new product - I've only recently forked out for CS3.3

I've just been informed by my retailer that Adobe will only give free upgrades to people who purchase CS3 between 24/9 and 31/12/2008.

[ozonejunkie]

Thanks for that Leigh! It looks pretty nifty - any idea when it is due out?

Tristan

[stubbsy]

Interesting to see the local editing stuff is filched from Lightroom 2 which makes me wonder how they'll manage the overlap in functionality between these two products. Not quite sure if this is a compelling upgrade for me though.

Thanks for the details Leigh

[Nnnnsic]

Norbs, I didn't get to test it with many video cards mostly because I didn't want to switch out between cards on my main box, but one of the guys from Atomic and I were talking about this (because he was under NDA too) and based on the idea that this works off of OpenGL, I expect that the Nvidia cards will do a better job just based on how the Nvidia GPU tends to work better with the OpenGL platform. That said, I don't think it needs an exhaustive card like a GTX280 or an SLi rig as that'd be overkill.

To be honest, I expect that provided you've got a video card from the mid-range to high end spectrum, you'll be fine.

And I was running the Mac version on a Macbook Wind.

Ozonejunkie, I expect Octoberish to be honest.

If anyone in here Diggs things, if you could Digg that CyberShack article, it'd be most appreciated.

And now that the NDA is lifted, if people want I could probably record more videos based on programs or even open up a "Share my screen" to a few people (though when it was in beta, the Adobe Connect network didn't work very well).

[Gripboy]

Thanks for the post Leigh, nice demo.
I've just recently made contact with an former work mate that is now on the Indesign development team at Adobe. Maybe I'll hit him up for an employee discount!

[norbs]

Norbs, I didn't get to test it with many video cards mostly because I didn't want to switch out between cards on my main box, but one of the guys from Atomic and I were talking about this (because he was under NDA too) and based on the idea that this works off of OpenGL, I expect that the Nvidia cards will do a better job just based on how the Nvidia GPU tends to work better with the OpenGL platform. That said, I don't think it needs an exhaustive card like a GTX280 or an SLi rig as that'd be overkill.

To be honest, I expect that provided you've got a video card from the mid-range to high end spectrum, you'll be fine.

And I was running the Mac version on a Macbook Wind.

Thanks Leigh. My biggest concern is that I have a 16month old MBP, which obviously isnt upgradeable on the video card side of things. Will have to wait and see I suppose. I probably only use 5% of CS3, so unless there is some really compelling stuff in CS4, I will probably stay with 3.

[Nnnnsic]

I'm assuming you have an ATI 1600XT (I think that's what they had in them) and that should perform fine with CS4. It won't be as good as say the 8600M GT's in current notebooks (providing they don't, you know, blow up which is something that model processor can do) but unless you foresee yourself compiling 40 or 50 megapixel images, I expect it should perform fine on CS4. The 2600XT I used on my PC for the demo performed fine and the differences between a 1600 and a 2600 aren't that big.

I think the thing that people have to remember is that even video cards from a year or two ago had incredibly powerful GPU's.

[norbs]

I'm assuming you have an ATI 1600XT (I think that's what they had in them) and that should perform fine with CS4. It won't be as good as say the 8600M GT's in current notebooks (providing they don't, you know, blow up which is something that model processor can do) but unless you foresee yourself compiling 40 or 50 megapixel images, I expect it should perform fine on CS4. The 2600XT I used on my PC for the demo performed fine and the differences between a 1600 and a 2600 aren't that big.

I think the thing that people have to remember is that even video cards from a year or two ago had incredibly powerful GPU's.

According to the all knowing [booming voice] SYSTEM Profiler[/booming voice]:

Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 128 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

So I will keep a fire extinguisher handy and get a fire rated desk in pronto. Thanks again Leigh. Is it the hat that makes you uber-smart?

[Nnnnsic]

It's actually the socks... which is why I never take photos of them. I can't have ya'll stealing my secrets. The hat just acts as a form of misdirection.

In truth with the 8600 in your MBP, if you have your Macbook crash on you or come up with graphical glitches, take it back to Mac and complain of issues with the graphics adapter. You should get it replaced for free since the 8600 chip issue is an Nvidia problem that only two companies are admitting to... and Apple ain't one of them.

[who]

Haha.... might have to buy CS4 whilst I am still a (part-time) student

And then try to blow up this Dell - it has the 256Mb 8600M GT (Dell XPS M1530)...... Are they one who acknowledge the problem? But it's under the 3 year complete warranty anyway

[the foto fanatic]

Now available for purchase by download from the Adobe site.

[bwhatnall]

I can tell you its worth the upgrade from CS3, I was part of the beta testing crew, and damn its nice to use.