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.

The centerpiece of Creative Suite 2 will be a new multifunctional graphical file browser called Adobe Bridge, which will replace the file browser in Photoshop CS, but will be accessible from within all of the CS2 applications.

Adobe Bridge will also act as an interface to Adobe Stock Photos, a new online service Adobe is launching to sell royalty-free images. Adobe Bridge will also have the ability to set suite-wide colors synchronized for consistent use by all of the applications.

Several of the Creative Suite applications will be more compatible and consistent with each other in the updated version. Illustrator CS2 has a new feature called Live Trace that will turn bit-mapped images from Photoshop or other applications into editable vector paths with anchor points.

A Photoshop CS2 feature called Smart Objects will let you edit Illustrator files nondestructively. All of the CS2 applications will also be able to export PDF files using the same set of default presets for various quality and file sizes. The presets are editable and stored in one place—you'll only need to make a change once to have it appear in all of the CS2 applications.

Photoshop CS2 also includes Vanishing Point, a new pseudo-three-dimensional editing mode for working on photos in perspective. For instance, you can copy a doorway from one side of a building and paste it onto another side, and the copied portion will adjust itself to the apparent perspective of the image.

Adobe demonstrated Vanishing Point at Photoshop World in Las Vegas this week, but did not say when it would ship. Our sources said that Vanishing Point would be a part of Photoshop CS2.

However, in terms of interapplication collaboration, Adobe Bridge and Version Cue CS2 do the most toward integrating the suite, according to one source. Adobe Bridge is accessible from the File menu in the applications. It will let you browse for and preview all of the files supported by the suite, including multipage PDF files.

Adobe Bridge will also let you browse and open non-Adobe files, including those created by Microsoft Office. There will be several different views for previewing files and a slider bar for changing the size of previews.

Adobe Bridge will also act as an organizing tool for project files. Users will be able to add metadata to files without having to open the files, and then conduct searches on the added text. Adobe Bridge will store the metadata in XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) format.

Another function of Adobe Bridge will be to act as the user interface to Adobe Stock Photos, a new Internet-based service that will sell royalty-free stock images. Users will be able to search Adobe Stock Photos with a number of criteria and will be able to purchase images from multiple suppliers.

Adobe Bridge also acts as the user interface for Version Cue CS2, which is now more visual and has a greatly improved user interface, according to sources. The file-version manager lets users locate, rename, move and compare multiple versions of Creative Suite projects. Adobe Bridge will preview multiple version "alternates" side by side without the user having to open the files. Version Cue CS2 will also keep track of non-Adobe files in a project.

Version Cue is also aware of networks with multiple users. If two users have the same file open at the same time, Version Cue first saves the changes to the users' hard disks so that the two versions don't end up overwriting each other. Each user's edited file is then saved as another version.

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