Gizmodo: Content Creation

Adobe CS3 Is Finally Here; May Prove Macromedia Merger Was Good Idea

www.gizmodo.com — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:40:35 EDT

For all you graphics geeks who have been waiting eagerly to find out whether or not Adobe has screwed up all of your favorite Macromedia design tools, now's your chance to plunk down $1,000+ to find out. CS3 launches today, and it's as freakin' thorough as expected. You can buy Design Premium for $1,799, Design Standard for $1,199, Web Premium for $1,599 and Web Standard for $999. Also available are separately wrapped apps: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe InDesign CS3, Adobe Illustrator CS3, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, Adobe Fireworks CS3, and Adobe Contribute CS3.

If you've been holding out on buying a new system, Adobe says go ahead: All of the programs run as Universal apps for both PowerPC Macs and their Intel-based successors, with some significant speed improvement there. Adobe also says that you get a speed boost running CS3 on the latest Windows hardware.

Follow the jump to see CS3's new scary clown mascot plus some extra specs...

Crazy list of features:
•Experiment with, save, and apply color combinations quickly and intuitively using the new Live Color feature in Illustrator
•Perform image editing tasks such as selecting image areas, compositing images, and applying filters faster and more flexibly with Photoshop CS3 Extended
•Master Flash more easily thanks to its new Adobe-standard user interface
•Repurpose print content on the Web by exporting InDesign CS3 documents as XHTML and the modifying them in Dreamweaver CS3 using CSS
•Import native Photoshop and Illustrator files directly into Flash and Fireworks with full fidelity
•New Spry Framework for AJAX, a pre-built, cross-browser compatible library of widgets and effects that make it faster and easier to build rich, interactive websites
•Fireworks CS3 boasts new workflows for rapidly prototyping RIA layouts for websites and Web applications, intelligent Photoshop and Illustrator integration, and a library of common and customizable graphics assets
•Updated version of Adobe Bridge CS3, the hub of Adobe Creative Suite, which provides instant access to Version Cue CS3, Acrobat Connect and an expanded Adobe Stock Photos service
Click here for even more info. –Wilson Rothman

Adobe CS3 [Gizmodo]

Super Slo-Mo: First Commercial Shot With the Kick-Ass Phantom HD Camera

Charlie White — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:59:00 EST

Serious progress is being made with digital film technology, with extremely high-rez cameras by Thompson, Dalsa and the upcoming Red One rivaling imagery that until recently could only be acquired on film. Now here's the first commercial spot shot with a one of the latest innovations in digital film, the 2K (2048x2048) Phantom HD camera (pictured at right) by Vision Research that can shoot in extremely high speed just like its film-based grandfathers.

This is looking terrific. Will this technology replace film any time soon? Has it already?

Check out that butta-smooth slo-mo, the result of cranking up the speed on the Phantom HD camera to frame rates as high as 1000 frames per second. That's right—the faster the frames go by when shooting, the slower the image moves when you play back those frames in real time. This is one sweet-looking spot, showing off the superior tech at work inside this camera.

Every time improvements such as these are made to digital cinema acquisition gear, more diehard filmmakers start leaning toward abandoning film and its chemicals, expense and clunky inconvenience. It's just a matter of time. – Charlie White

Hyundai -Fluid, see the QuickTime version of the spot ['boards] (Thanks, Lisa!)

Adobe Video Post Suite for Mac Announced

Charlie White — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:13:50 EST

Adobe announced its Production Studio software is on its way for the Mac, returning the respectable Adobe Premiere Pro nonlinear editing software back to the Mac whence it came. Also newly available on the Mac will be DVD authoring software Adobe Encore and the new Adobe Soundbooth, which makes audio production more palatable for video jockeys.

The biggest story here is editing software Premiere Pro's return to the Mac, where it was practically pushed out of the market by Apple's wildly popular Final Cut Pro three years ago. Premiere Pro has since been beefed up considerably, and enjoys the huge advantage of smooth interoperability with other Adobe applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator and the powerful compositing tool, After Effects. Expect to see the new Windows and Mac versions by mid-year.

Take a look at these screen shots:

Premiere Pro is the best editing software on the planet, and this sets up a battle royale between Apple and Adobe, the two video content creation industry titans. This will be fun to watch. – Charlie White

Adobe Annouces Mac Production Studio (Big Screen Shots) [Digital Video Editing]
Adobe Production Studio To Be Available for Both Mac and Windows [Adobe]