Review of Adobe Creative Suite 4

Several reviewers have taken a look at the new Adobe Creative Suite 4 in advance of its shipment date, with positive results.

Jeff Gamut of TMO writes, “The new versions of the Creative Suite applications sport redesigned user interfaces that offer more consistency across programs, tighter integration between applications, and enhanced in-application support for Flash across the product lineup.”

Macnn agrees, and writes, “CS4 is less about fancy new features, and more about workflow — that is, making the products work better together. The Suite, officially unveiled Monday night, contains hundreds of refinements designed to “bring down the walls” in the creative process, by making it easier to move content between applications and by adopting a consistent user interface across the entire suite. Adobe has also added more web-accessible content and Connect Pro meeting software for instant communication between artists and developers. There are new features as well, but the real meat in this release is the improved integration, efficiency and collaboration tools.:

Echoed a third time, Michael Burns of MacWorld UK says, “The main tools in Adobe’s dedicated post-production suite show even greater integration than the rest of the Creative Suite. You can now use Dynamic Link when exporting After Effects compositions to Premiere Pro and Soundbooth, so any edits in After Effects are always reflected immediately in your Premiere Pro timeline. Dynamic Link between Adobe Premiere Pro and Encore also saves you time by eliminating the need to render clips before authoring. As well as being able to author standard DVDs and high-definition Blu-Ray Discs, Encore CS4 lets you render the same projects for the web as interactive SWF files.”

Macnn writes, “Perhaps the most welcome improvement in Photoshop and Photoshop Extended is the addition of OpenGL support. The application can now make use of graphics processors to reduce rendering times, provide smoother pan and zoom effects and generally speed things up. Photoshop CS4 sports a new unified application frame with a tab-based interface, and self-adjusting panels designed to simplify access to advanced editing tools. Photoshop CS4 Extended adds a new 3D engine, allowing faster, more realistic image rendering.” Gamut says, “Photoshop CS4 Adobe Photoshop CS4 offers improved non-destructive editing, content-aware image scaling that scales parts of images without distorting or changing the size of people, improved Lightroom compatibility, smart guides, GPU (graphics processor unit) and OpenGL support for enhanced graphics rendering and improved performance, and more.

Photoshop CS4 Extended gained new 3D features including additional editing tools and support for more 3D formats.” The general consensus is that the process is streamlined, simplified and made even more user-friendly.

Burns looks at another of the applications. “OnLocation appears on the Mac for the first time, sporting a revised interface that displays all control functions on a single screen, rather than the scrolling panels found in the CS3 version. OnLocation allows you to plug a FireWire-equipped camera into a Mac and record PAL/NTSC DV, HDV, and DVCPRO content directly to the hard drive. There are professional image-monitoring tools, including a software vectorscope and waveform monitor that can optimise footage while simplifying camera calibration, focus and audio monitoring. Metadata handling has been enhanced, and with the new Shot List panel, each time you re-record a scene to disk, a new take is automatically created that inherits the metadata from the master shot. You can mark your good takes and rate them as you capture, making it easier to find them in post-production. If you’re going down the tapeless camera route, Premiere Pro offers native format support, meaning you can import and edit content without rewrapping or transcoding. Premiere Pro CS4 includes more than 50 of the most requested editing enhancements to streamline your workflow, including the ability to apply video and audio transitions to multiple tracks and change speed and duration of multiple clips in the Project panel.”

Macnn writes, “With the explosion of video content on the web and on mobile devices, CS4 Production Premium is Adobe’s attempt cover all of the bases. The idea is to allow users to work with virtually any video, audio and graphic format, and output the content to any screen — from mobile phones to DVDs to big-screen televisions. To do this, Adobe says its has improved the “Dynamic Link” feature, which makes it easier to move content between After Effects, Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, and Encore. Intermediate rendering has been eliminated, so sequences can be transferred from one application to another without rendering. Adobe has also added enhanced XMP metadata support making it easier for editors to search video. For example, Product Manager Bruce Bowman says spoken-word audio is automatically converted to text, so a user can quickly find a spot in an interview or narration track. The metadata can also provide detailed information on the source and format of content.”

Designers want the ability to use their content across a variety of platforms, moving from print to web to video. So, the idea behind CS4 Design Suite was to reduce the difficulties that can arise with content sharing across platforms. The company is proud of the “time savers” and workflow enhancements that make it easier to switch between mediums without having to leave a project. For instance, Macnn writes, “Dreamweaver and Fireworks, the foundation of Adobe’s CS4 Web Standard and Premium suites, have left their Macromedia roots behind and now sport the same interface used in the other CS4 apps. Senior Product Manager Chad Siegel told MacNN the streamlined interfaces give a more consistent feel and makes it easier for developers and designers to work together. For example, users can design a graphic in Photoshop CS4 Extended and create a Smart Object — a source file that can then be used in Dreamweaver. If the Smart Object source file is changed in Photoshop — Dreamweaver will automatically warn that the object has changed and can be updated with a click. Siegel says users can design content on one application, and easily import it to another without having to redo any work.”

The reviews all agree that CS4 is an overall improvement, offering ease of use and more integrated flow between the platforms and the applications.

CS4 will ship in early October, and pricing will be as follows: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium will be £1249, £1195 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium, £1409 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium, and £1969 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection.

Here is what they will include: 
Design Premium: The Design Premium CS4 suite will include Adobe InDesign CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver CS4, Acrobat 9 Pro, and Adobe Fireworks CS4. Web Premium: The Web Premiums CS4 suite will include Adobe Fireworks CS4,Dreamweaver CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4, Contribute CS4, Device Central CS4, and Acrobat 9 Professional. Production Premium: The Production Premium CS4 suite will include Adobe After Effects CS4 Professional, Premiere Pro CS4, Encore CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Soundbooth CS4, and OnLocation CS4. OnLocation is now also available in a Mac OS X-compatible version.