Adobe Creative Suite

Developer(s)	Adobe Systems
Stable release	Creative Suite 4 / 2008-10-15; 13 months ago
Operating system	Windows (32-bit; 64-bit for Windows Vista) and Mac OS X (32-bit)
Available in	Multilingual
Type	Graphic design, video editing and web development
License	Proprietary
Website	Adobe Creative Suite

Adobe Creative Suite (CS) is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems. The collection consists of Adobe's applications (e.g., Photoshop, Acrobat, InDesign), that are based on various technologies (e.g., PostScript, PDF, Flash). The latest version, Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4), was announced on September 23, 2008 as the successor to Adobe Creative Suite 3. It was officially released on October 15, 2008.^[1] 30-day trials for all products are available.^[2]

Adobe sells Creative Suite applications in six different combinations called "editions".

[edit] New in Creative Suite 4

Icons of the core CS4 programs lined up. The colors of the icons are reflected in each program's box which are colored according to the programs they include

All applications in CS4 feature the same user interface, with a new tabbed interface for working with concurrently running Adobe CS4 programs where multiple applications can be opened inside multiple tabs contained in a single window.^[3] It was announced that nVidia CUDA technology is now available via 3rd party plugins which will accelerate H.264 video encoding.

Adobe CS4 is also developed to perform better under 64-bit and multi-core processors. On Windows, Adobe Photoshop CS4 runs natively as a 64-bit application. Although they are not natively 64-bit applications, Adobe After Effects CS4 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 have been optimized for 64-bit computers.^[4] However, Adobe has stated that no 64-bit version of CS4 will be available for Mac OS X.^[5] In early testing of 64-bit support in Adobe Photoshop CS4, overall performance gains ranged from 8% to 12%. Those who work with extremely large files may realize noticeably greater gains in performance, in some cases as dramatic as ten times the previous speed. This is because 64-bit applications can address larger amounts of memory and thus result in less file swapping — one of the biggest factors that can affect data processing speed.^[6]

[edit] Applications

Brief descriptions of the applications in the various Adobe Creative Suite editions:

• Adobe Acrobat is a software family dedicated to Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF):
  • Adobe Acrobat Standard and Adobe Acrobat Professional, which allows the creation of PDF files
  • Adobe Reader, a free software application which allows the reading of PDF files
• Adobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems. It can be used in film and video post-production.
• Adobe Bridge is an organizational program. Its primary purpose is to link the parts of the Creative Suite together using a format similar to the file browser found in previous versions of Adobe Photoshop.
• Adobe Contribute is for editing the content of a website. It allows a wide variety of people within an organization to update web pages by reducing the amount of web design skills necessary for the process.
• Adobe Device Central's primary purpose is to integrate parts of the Creative Suite together to offer both professional and individual creative professionals, web designers, and mobile developers an easier way to preview and test Flash Lite, bitmap, web, and video content for mobile devices.
• Adobe Dreamweaver is a combination code / GUI web development application.
• Adobe Dynamic Link integrates After Effects with Premiere Pro and with Encore.
• Adobe Encore is a DVD authoring software tool produced by Adobe Systems and targeted at semi-professional video producers. Files are automatically transcoded to MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital audio. DVD menus can be created and edited in Adobe Photoshop using special layering techniques.
• Adobe Fireworks is a bitmap and vector graphics editor, aimed at web designers (with features such as: slices, the ability to add hotspots etc.).
• Adobe Flash is a software family dedicated to various Adobe multimedia technologies:
  • Adobe Flash Professional, a multimedia authoring program used to create web applications, games, movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices. It features support for vector and raster graphics, a scripting language called ActionScript and bi-directional streaming of audio and video.
  • Adobe Flash Player, a free software application which allows the playing of standalone Adobe Flash (SWF) multimedia files.
• Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor.
• Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing (DTP) software application.
• Adobe OnLocation is a direct-to-disk recording and monitoring software.
• Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor (with significant vector graphics functionality).
• Adobe Premiere Pro is a real-time, timeline based video editing software application.
• Adobe Soundbooth is a digital audio editor. Adobe has described it as being "in the spirit of Sound Edit 16 and Cool Edit 2000". Soundbooth is not replacing Adobe Audition, rather creating a product for creative professionals who do not specialize in audio.
• Adobe Version Cue enables users to easily track and manipulate file metadata, which is information about the history of computer files, such as the fact that one file is a new version of a related older file. Version Cue also automates the process of collaboratively reviewing documents among groups of people.

[edit] Editions

Below is a matrix of the applications that are bundled in each of the software suites (for CS4).

Software	Design		Web		Production Premium	Master Collection
	Standard	Premium	Standard	Premium
Photoshop CS4
Photoshop CS4 Extended
Illustrator CS4
InDesign CS4
Acrobat 9 Pro
Flash CS4 Professional
Dreamweaver CS4
Fireworks CS4
Contribute CS4
Soundbooth CS4
After Effects CS4
Premiere Pro CS4
OnLocation CS4
Encore CS4
Shared features, services, and applications
Bridge CS4
Device Central CS4
Version Cue CS4
Dynamic Link

Adobe Ultra, a vector keying application which utilizes image analysis technology to produce high quality chroma key effects in less than ideal lighting environments and provides keying of a subject into a virtual 3D environment through virtual set technology, and Adobe Stock Photos, previously included in CS3, has been dropped from the CS4 line-up.

Adobe Encore and Adobe OnLocation (formerly Serious Magic DV Rack HD2) are included as part of Adobe Premiere Pro and will not be released as standalone products.

Adobe InCopy, an application closely integrated with Adobe InDesign, is also part of the Creative Suite family, but is not included in any CS4 edition. It can be ordered from Adobe, third party plug-in developers, or systems integrators.

[edit] Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium & Standard

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium and Design Standard are two editions of the Adobe Creative Suite 4 family of products intended for professional print, web, interactive and mobile designers.

The key difference between Design Premium and Design Standard is the addition of Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, and Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 to the Premium version.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium includes the following stand-alone products:

• Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
• Adobe Fireworks CS4
• Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
• Adobe Illustrator CS4
• Adobe InDesign CS4
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard includes the following stand-alone products:

• Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional
• Adobe Illustrator CS4
• Adobe InDesign CS4
• Adobe Photoshop CS4

[edit] Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium is an edition of the Adobe Creative Suite 4 family of products intended for professional rich media and video post-production experts who create projects for film, video, broadcast, web, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and mobile devices.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium includes the following stand-alone software:

• Adobe After Effects CS4
• Adobe Premiere Pro CS4
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
• Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
• Adobe Illustrator CS4
• Adobe Soundbooth CS4
• Adobe Encore CS4
• Adobe OnLocation CS4

The legacy equivalent of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium is Adobe Production Studio.

[edit] Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium & Standard

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium and Web Standard are two editions of the Adobe Creative Suite 4 family of products intended for professional web designers and developers.

The addition of Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended and Adobe Illustrator CS4, Adobe's 2D and 3D animation software for vector graphics, and Adobe Soundbooth CS4, Adobe's digital audio editor, are the key differentiators between Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium and Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Standard.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium includes the following stand-alone products:

• Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional
• Adobe Contribute CS4
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
• Adobe Fireworks CS4
• Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
• Adobe Illustrator CS4
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended
• Adobe Soundbooth CS4

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Standard includes the following stand-alone products:

• Adobe Contribute CS4
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
• Adobe Fireworks CS4
• Adobe Flash CS4 Professional

The closest legacy equivalent of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium & Standard is Macromedia Studio 8.

[edit] History

[edit] Creative Suite 1 & 2

The Adobe Creative Suite 2 logo

The first version of Adobe Creative Suite was released in September 2003 ^[7] and Creative Suite 2 in April 2005 ^[8]. The first two versions (CS and CS2) were available in two editions.

The Standard Edition included:

• Adobe Bridge
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Version Cue
• Design guide and training resources

The Premium Edition also included:

• Adobe Acrobat Professional
• Adobe Dreamweaver (from Creative Suite version 2.3)
• Adobe GoLive

[edit] Creative Suite 3

The Adobe Creative Suite 3 logo

Icons of the core CS3 programs lined up. The colors of the icons are reflected in each program's box. Also, the boxes of the different editions are colored according to the programs they include

Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) was announced on March 27, 2007; it introduced universal binaries for all major programs for the Apple Macintosh.^[9] Some Creative Suite programs also began using the Presto layout engine used in the Opera web browser^[10].

Adobe began selling CS3 applications in six different combinations called "editions." These editions were the same as those released for CS4. Design Standard & Premium and Web Standard & Premium began shipping on April 16, 2007, and Production Premium and Master Collection editions began shipping on July 2, 2007. The latest released CS3 version was version 3.3, released on June 2, 2008. In this version Fireworks CS3 was included in Design Premium and all editions that included Acrobat 8 Pro had been replaced with Acrobat 9 Pro. ^[11] Below is a matrix of the applications included in each edition of CS3 version 3.3:

Program	Design		Web		Production Premium	Master Collection
	Standard	Premium	Standard	Premium
Photoshop CS3
Photoshop CS3 Extended
Illustrator CS3
InDesign CS3
Acrobat 9 Pro
Flash CS3 Professional
Dreamweaver CS3
Fireworks CS3		(in v3.3)
Contribute CS3
Soundbooth CS3
After Effects CS3 Professional
Premiere Pro CS3
Encore CS3

All of the above editions included shared applications and services including Adobe Bridge, Adobe Version Cue (except Production Premium), Adobe Device Central, Adobe Acrobat Connect and Adobe Stock Photos. Adobe Dynamic Link, Adobe OnLocation (Windows only) and Adobe Ultra (Windows only) were included in Production Premium and Master Collection editions.

CS3 included several programs, including Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks that were developed by Macromedia, a former rival acquired by Adobe in 2005. It also included Adobe OnLocation and Adobe Ultra that were developed by Serious Magic, also a firm acquired by Adobe in 2006.

Adobe dropped the following programs (that were previously included in CS2) from the CS3 software bundles:^[12]

• Adobe GoLive (replaced by Adobe Dreamweaver)
• Adobe ImageReady (merged into Adobe Photoshop and replaced by Adobe Fireworks)
• Adobe Audition (replaced by Adobe Soundbooth)

Adobe had announced that it would continue to develop Audition as a standalone product, while GoLive had been discontinued. Adobe GoLive 9 was released as a standalone product on June 10, 2007. Adobe Audition 3 was announced as a standalone product on September 6, 2007. Adobe had discontinued ImageReady and had replaced it with Fireworks, with some of ImageReady's features integrated into Photoshop.

[edit] Production Studio

Adobe Creative Suite Production Studio (previously Adobe Video Collection) was a suite of programs for acquiring, editing, and distributing digital video and audio. The suite was available in standard and premium editions.

The Adobe Production Studio Premium edition consisted of:

• Adobe After Effects Professional
• Adobe Audition
• Adobe Bridge
• Adobe Encore DVD
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Dynamic Link (Not sold separately)

The Standard edition consisted of:

• Adobe After Effects Standard
• Adobe Bridge
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Adobe Photoshop

Since CS3, Adobe Production Studio became part of the Creative Suite family. The equivalent version for Production Studio Premium is the Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium.

[edit] Macromedia Studio

Macromedia Studio was a suite of programs designed for web content creation designed and distributed by Macromedia. After Adobe’s acquisition of Macromedia, Macromedia Studio 8 was replaced, modified, and integrated into two editions of the Adobe Creative Suite family of software. The closest relatives of Macromedia Studio 8 are now called Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium and Web Standard.

Core applications from Macromedia Studio have been merged with Adobe Creative Suite since CS3, including Flash, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks. Some Macromedia applications were absorbed into existing Adobe products, e.g. FreeHand has been replaced with Adobe Illustrator. Director and ColdFusion are not part of Adobe Creative Suite and will only be available as standalone products. Four recent versions of Macromedia Studio released include:

• Macromedia Studio MX Released 29 May 2002, internally it was version 6 and the first incarnation of the studio to use the "MX" suffix, which for marketing purposes was a shorthand abbreviation that meant "Maximize". Studio MX included Dreamweaver, Flash, FreeHand, Fireworks and a developer edition of ColdFusion.
• Macromedia Studio MX Plus Released 10 February 2003, sometimes referred to as MX 1.1. MX plus was a special edition release of MX that include Freehand MX (replacing Freehand 10), Contribute and DevNet Resource Kit Special Edition in addition to the existing MX suite of products.
• Macromedia Studio MX 2004 Released 10 September 2003, despite its name, it is internally version 7. Studio MX 2004 included FreeHand along with updated versions of Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks. An alternate version of Studio MX 2004 included Flash Professional.
• Macromedia Studio 8 Released 13 September 2005, Studio 8 was the last version of Macromedia Studio. It comprised Dreamweaver 8, Flash 8, Flash 8 Video Converter, Fireworks 8, Contribute 3 and FlashPaper.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Adobe Creative Suite