Adobe launches Creative Suite 4
Graphics acceleration and a more digitally leaning workflow grace Adobe CS4 launch
Adobe has today announced Creative Suite 4, encompassing new versions of its world-beating image editor, Photoshop CS4, together with new versions of Illustrator CS4, InDesign CS4, Flash CS4 and Dreamweaver CS4, and After Effects CS4, Premiere Pro CS4 and Soundbooth CS4.
New features for Photoshop CS4 include a content aware image-resizing tool – which allows users to pull and stretch images without distorting people or objects within it – as well as a new canvas rotation function that allows you to quickly spin your image for detailed editing of specific regions.
Heavy handling
Adobe has been making loud noises about Photoshop's new GPU acceleration – meaning that its new apps should fly on OpenGL compatible cards.
In a recent demo by Adobe's Photoshop guru John Nack, Photoshop CS4 was seen to capably handle a large 2GB image, with the new app's zoom and crop functions vastly improved thanks to GPU graphics acceleration.
New features in InDesign CS4 include improved colour and print support, together with new support for Flash documents.
Flash CS4 builds on this, introducing a new timeline-based editing model and compatibility with the Creative Suite 4's new XFL format.
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The Creative Suite 4 will ship in six versions: Production Standard CS4, Production Premium CS4, Design Standard CS4, Design Premium CS4, Web Standard and Premium CS4, and the Creative Suite 4 Master Collection.
Prices range from £1,195 for Web Premium CS4 to £1,969 for the Master Collection CS4.
The team on TechRadar.com's sister title, Computer Arts, have been beta testing the new Creative Suite 4 for some time. Read their initial thoughts of the new applications.
The magazine also has more in-depth coverage in the form of a preview of Photoshop CS4, a preview of Illustrator CS4, a preview of Flash CS4 and a preview of InDesign CS4.