Scoop: Sources offer an in-depth look into the new version of Adobe's design environment, which will reportedly be announced on Monday. Each part of the updated suite sports new features, including some "radical" productivity boosters,Adobe will announce on Monday the launch of Adobe Creative Suite 2.0, its design environment that includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive and Acrobat.
Sources have given Publish.com inside information about the suite's components, and we're letting the cat out of the bag early with three stories that detail the changes users will find in Creative Suite, which is expected to ship in May.
In what will be a major upgrade of Adobe Systems Inc.'s premier graphics-design package, Adobe Creative Suite 2 will feature tighter integration between Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, GoLive and Version Cue, according to sources.
Each application will also include major new functionality of its own. Adobe is expected to release the updated suite for Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X in April.
Sources say Creative Suite 2 will feature tighter integration. Click here to read the story.
In the second of our under-the-hood stories, we look at the new capabilities that Adobe is adding to Illustrator CS2 and InDesign CS2.
One of the most significant new features of Illustrator CS2 is called Live Trace, sources said. With a single click, Live Trace will automatically convert bit-mapped art into editable vector art containing fully editable anchor points and paths.
In InDesign CS2, sources said, one of the important new features is Object Styles, the ability to save groups of settings for fill, drop shadows, text characteristics and other settings as a style that can be applied to other objects.
Adobe delivers important changes to Illustrator CS2 and InDesign CS2. Click here to read more.
In the third story, we examine the changes in Photoshop CS2. The new version will also enhance support of Camera Raw data and will add support for HDR (High Dynamic Range) images, sources said.
Photoshop CS2 also features Image Warp, a tool that can bend a flat piece of art around a virtual 3-D object such as a sphere or cylinder. The warped art can remain editable. The update also contains new filters aimed at correcting flaws in photographs.
Adobe pushes photo manipulation in Photoshop CS2. Click here to read more.
More details about Photoshop CS2 are available in our March 28 story about the May release of Photoshop CS2.
Photoshop Creative Suite update due in May. Click here to read more.
In the graphic-design marketplace, Adobe and Quark Inc. are battling for mindshare, as they have been since Adobe launched InDesign and began winning market share away from Quark XPress.
Quark fights back against Adobe. Click here to read more.
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