Adobe Bridge, Version Cue CS2 and XMP combine to create new capabilities for managing files with metadata and storing previous versions for easy access and reference.NEW YORK—New features in Adobe Creative Suite 2 will enable graphic design teams to manage their workflows more effectively with less time spent outside the Adobe design environment, according to panelists at this week's Ideas conference here, sponsored by Adobe.
Adobe Systems Inc. announced at the show that Creative Suite 2 will ship next month. The updated suite includes new CS2 versions of Adobe's design applications, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and GoLive. Version Cue has been updated to Version Cue CS2, and the suite also includes Acrobat 7 and the new Adobe Bridge file browser.
Adobe Product Manager Bob Schaffel, who moderated the workshop called "Simplifying Creative Workflows," said that Adobe Bridge, Version Cue CS2 and XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) will deliver strong workflow capabilities.
Using this combination of tools, Schaffel said, users can add intelligence to their files and simplify the handling of metadata. Users can add metadata from any application in Creative Suite 2, he said. For a photo, they might add comments, keywords, and image colorspace and resolution settings. Other types of metadata update automatically, such as the font list accompanying an InDesign page layout.
Schaffel called Adobe Bridge "a replacement for the desktop." The Bridge is a file-browsing application that can be summoned for use in any of the suite's applications. In its expanded-view mode, it displays thumbnail views of files—photos, page layouts and PDFs, for example—with panels for preview, metadata, previous versions, folders and Version Cue Workspaces.
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Version Cue 2, which Schaffel describes as "digital asset management for designers," creates Workspaces, which are project-related collections that are grouped together based on workflow, regardless of their location on a network. When a user defines a Workspace, he or she can control access to it and add files by drag-and-drop, Schaffel said.
Version Cue 2 saves previous versions of edited files and can display them as a group in Bridge, where metadata is easily accessed via mouseover, making it easy to locate and open any previous version of a photo, page layout, PDF or other file.
Schaffel said Adobe has focused on making the file-management tools consistent across the suite, well integrated and easy to use. Users should be able to perform workflow-related tasks without leaving the suite and without substantial interruption of their application-related work.
For example, when a user saves a new version of an illustration or a layout, the old version is automatically stored and displayed in the Bridge with other versions. Without Version Cue CS2, he said, the same task would require making a save-as version with a different name and designating its location. With Version Cue CS2, "you can make notes with each version, and the notes can be searched," he said.
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Schaffel also demonstrated the Alternates capability in CS2, which enables a user to easily compare two or more variations of a file, such as a pair of images that are being considered for a page layout. An icon located on the image thumbnail view indicates that an alternate image exists. Clicking on the icon instantly replaces the current image with an alternate. With another click, the original is restored. One of the alternates can be designated as the preferred choice, and that designation can be changed.
Creative Suite 2 also simplifies the process of PDF review, Schaffel said. Users can quickly define an e-mail distribution list and distribute PDFs for review with minimal time spent entering addresses and links. As users return their comments, CS2 can aggregate them automatically.
Version Cue CS2 also stamps files as in use if they have been checked out by another user but allows an administrator to override a checkout.
Panelist Scott Dunn, a partner in Flux Consulting, of New York, said Adobe Bridge provides a window into the Version Cue system that was not available in the original Creative Suite release. He said Creative Suite 2 can provide workflow capabilities sufficient for teams of up to 10 or 15 people, but a more robust workflow solution such as SoftCare Software-Service GmbH's K4 Publishing System is required for larger groups. (Flux is an authorized integrator of K4.)
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Panelist James Leone, imaging manager for Business Week, said his imaging department is using XMP metadata to lay the groundwork to implement a digital asset management system. "XMP started us on the road to digital asset management," Leone said. "It was critical to start putting information into XMP so that we could get more information about a file than that it's a picture of a duck."
Business Week uses Version Cue 1.0 on a dedicated server in conjunction with iView Multimedia Ltd.'s iView MediaPro to create searchable image catalogs. When a user checks out an image, the system automatically copies a file to the hard drive. The user can manipulate the version on the desktop and eventually save a version with metadata back to the server, Leone said. The system has allowed Leone's team to eliminate a paper logging system they had, he said.
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