Adobe Updates Creative Cloud with New Photoshop Features, Team Version, Digital Publishing Tools

[MacRumors]

Following up on its announcement regarding Retina display support for Photoshop CS6 and Illustrator CS6, Adobe today announced additional major upgrades to its Creative Cloud subscription service. The upgrades, which are currently exclusive to Creative Cloud subscribers, are headlined by a number of upgrades to Adobe's flagship Photoshop application.

- Immediate support for HiDPI (Retina) displays for Apple MacBook Pro. This feature was also made available to perpetual license customers as a free update.
- Smart Object support for Blur Gallery and Liquify.
- The ability to quickly export CSS code for text and objects, and import color swatches to easily design incredible websites.
- New workflow timesavers including Crop tool refinements.
- 3D enhancements including improved live (OpenGL) previews of shadow effects and additional control over illumination using 32-bit color picker to create glow effects.
- Conditional Actions that automatically select the appropriate Action based on user-defined rules, giving users enhanced image processing speed.

Creative Cloud has also been enhanced with a new version designed to support teams of users, updates to the Adobe Muse web design tools, a new Creative Cloud Connection desktop syncing app, and new training tools.

Finally, Adobe is promoting a demo of its Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition at its Create Now event today. The software helps designers create digital publications for the iPad using many of the same tools used by major publishers to bring their content to the App Store.

Adobe's Create Now event begins at 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern and will be streamed live on the Creative Cloud Facebook page.

Article Link: Adobe Updates Creative Cloud with New Photoshop Features, Team Version, Digital Publishing Tools

[Dionte]

It looks like all the apps have been updated.

[multipasser]

They should have fired the guy that 'reinvented' the croptool!
This was 4 steps backwards! It annoys me still every day. I want to start drawing the cropbox outside my image!

Why change a tool that has been the same for 20 years?

[BillyBobBongo]

Originally Posted by multipasser

They should have fired the guy that 'reinvented' the croptool!
This was 4 steps backwards! It annoys me still every day. I want to start drawing the cropbox outside my image!

Why change a tool that has been the same for 20 years?

I can't +1 you enough on this. Updating it now, let's see if they've put it back to normal.

[Northgrove]

Adobe Lightroom 4.3: Git 'r done!

[koban4max]

Originally Posted by multipasser

They should have fired the guy that 'reinvented' the croptool!
This was 4 steps backwards! It annoys me still every day. I want to start drawing the cropbox outside my image!

Why change a tool that has been the same for 20 years?

go back to old school way..or deal with it. time to move on.

[Yvan256]

Originally Posted by koban4max

go back to old school way..or deal with it. time to move on.

Change for change's sake is not a good change.

Install the Dvorak keyboard layout on your computer and delete the regular one.

And if you complain, we'll tell you to "go back to old school way..or deal with it. time to move on."

[Snowshiro]

I think this is kinda a d1ck move by Adobe. I don't really recall them making clear to customers who paid thousands of dollars for their CS6 apps, "Oh by the way, from now on, all the good updates are going to be for Creative Cloud customers only. But thanks for your cash. Suckers."

This kind of thing should have been introduced with CS7 so that customers could have made a better and more informed choice of which way to go. When I read the marketing blurb for Creative Cloud it seemed to suggest that it would ensure the apps were always at the latest version, but I saw nothing about NEW FEATURES being entirely withheld from boxed product customers.

Personally I've switched from Dreamweaver to Coda 2 and Photoshop to Pixelmator. Both have been retina enabled for a while now. Pixelmator doesn't have all the features of Ps, but it has 95% of what I use regularly and is a hell of a lot cheaper. I'll stick with Illustrator for now because there's no real alternative, but no more upgrades. Adobe is never going to see another dime from me.

[kalsta]

I've previously defended the inclusion of various front page stories when people start whinging… but I'm struggling to see how this is anything other than a large advertisement for Adobe Creative Cloud. Anyone subscribed to it is getting the updates anyway.

As for me, I won't be upgrading my copies of Creative Suite until Adobe rectifies its atrocious pricing practices in Australia.

[nwcs]

It seems to indicate that the retina support is available for perpetual license people as well. Anyone confirm that? I don't have retina (waiting for spec bump) and I'm at work so I can't check to see if I get any update.

[Mac21ND]

Originally Posted by multipasser

They should have fired the guy that 'reinvented' the croptool!
This was 4 steps backwards! It annoys me still every day. I want to start drawing the cropbox outside my image!

Why change a tool that has been the same for 20 years?

Whole heartedly agree. Annoys me daily.

[kalsta]

Originally Posted by Snowshiro

Personally I've switched from Dreamweaver to Coda 2 and Photoshop to Pixelmator. Both have been retina enabled for a while now. Pixelmator doesn't have all the features of Ps, but it has 95% of what I use regularly and is a hell of a lot cheaper. I'll stick with Illustrator for now because there's no real alternative, but no more upgrades. Adobe is never going to see another dime from me.

I'm increasingly using Coda instead of Dreamweaver too. Haven't tried Pixelmator because Photoshop CS4 does everything I need, but I would certainly consider alternatives in the future. InDesign is the one I can't see switching from anytime soon. But Adobe has lost a lot of love in the industry I think—something they had more of way back when they went up against QuarkXpress with InDesign 1.0. As this article speculates, Adobe could one day be in for a shock if they think we'll just keep upgrading all our CS apps while newer, more sensibly priced alternatives come onto the market.

[jeremyschultz]

Here's my article on today's announcements, including some hands-on experience with the new Photoshop features, CSS export and conditional actions in particular.

http://designorati.com/articles/t1/p...-for-teams.php

[croooow]

Originally Posted by Snowshiro

This kind of thing should have been introduced with CS7 so that customers could have made a better and more informed choice of which way to go. When I read the marketing blurb for Creative Cloud it seemed to suggest that it would ensure the apps were always at the latest version, but I saw nothing about NEW FEATURES being entirely withheld from boxed product customers.

But do they owe you something more than you purchased? You purchased the software in a box as it was when you decided to buy it. If they come out with something new you are owed unless they call it CS7? If these updates were the same but called "CS7" and still not given to owners of CS6 you would be okay with it?

[Mac21ND]

Originally Posted by kalsta

I'm increasingly using Coda instead of Dreamweaver too. Haven't tried Pixelmator because Photoshop CS4 does everything I need, but I would certainly consider alternatives in the future. InDesign is the one I can't see switching from anytime soon. But Adobe has lost a lot of love in the industry I think—something they had more of way back when they went up against QuarkXpress with InDesign 1.0. As this article speculates, Adobe could one day be in for a shock if they think we'll just keep upgrading all our CS apps while newer, more sensibly priced alternatives come onto the market.

I'm curious as to what options are available outside of InDesign and Quark? (Honestly, not being snarky). Not real thrilled with Stone Studio's products either.

[koban4max]

Originally Posted by Yvan256

Change for change's sake is not a good change.

Install the Dvorak keyboard layout on your computer and delete the regular one.

And if you complain, we'll tell you to "go back to old school way..or deal with it. time to move on."

If you gonna complain..you got options to go elsewhere. Change isn't bad..you're just not used to it.

[ksgant]

Originally Posted by multipasser

They should have fired the guy that 'reinvented' the croptool!
This was 4 steps backwards! It annoys me still every day. I want to start drawing the cropbox outside my image!

Why change a tool that has been the same for 20 years?

Originally Posted by BillyBobBongo

I can't +1 you enough on this. Updating it now, let's see if they've put it back to normal.

You both realize that you can go back to the old crop tool, yes? Also, I love and welcome the new crop tool. But, as I say, if you want to go back to the old version, you can.

[koban4max]

Originally Posted by Snowshiro

I think this is kinda a d1ck move by Adobe. I don't really recall them making clear to customers who paid thousands of dollars for their CS6 apps, "Oh by the way, from now on, all the good updates are going to be for Creative Cloud customers only. But thanks for your cash. Suckers."

This kind of thing should have been introduced with CS7 so that customers could have made a better and more informed choice of which way to go. When I read the marketing blurb for Creative Cloud it seemed to suggest that it would ensure the apps were always at the latest version, but I saw nothing about NEW FEATURES being entirely withheld from boxed product customers.

Personally I've switched from Dreamweaver to Coda 2 and Photoshop to Pixelmator. Both have been retina enabled for a while now. Pixelmator doesn't have all the features of Ps, but it has 95% of what I use regularly and is a hell of a lot cheaper. I'll stick with Illustrator for now because there's no real alternative, but no more upgrades. Adobe is never going to see another dime from me.

that's why you pirate it.

[CodexMonkey]

Originally Posted by multipasser

They should have fired the guy that 'reinvented' the croptool!
This was 4 steps backwards! It annoys me still every day. I want to start drawing the cropbox outside my image!

Why change a tool that has been the same for 20 years?

Are you aware that you can use "Classic" mode by selecting the crop tool, clicking the little gear icon in the top bar (next to the 'view' drop down) and selecting "Use Classic Mode"..? That said, I’m not sure it actually cures your issue as you still don't seem to be able to start drawing outside the canvas, but have to drag your marquee out instead.

* * * * *

On another note, Adobe have fallen well down in my estimation since they told me that users of PS7 got a special low price to upgrade their one piece of outdated software to a COMPLETE version of CS3 whilst I, having bought three full versions (6 licences) of CS2 still had to pay full price upgrades (more than double that quoted to the PS7 user) for each copy and that MY CS2 copies of Photoshop did not qualify for the special upgrade pricing as they were "already part of a suite".

And while we’re at it, try this... In Illustrator, go to "Save" or "Save As" then create a new folder but, before you click "OK", copy the name of the folder so that you can paste it as a basis for the file name (my agency names files and folders in a very specific way). Yay!! It works.

Now try doing the same thing in Indesign. Doesn’t work. Just beeps at you when you try to copy, as though you’re doing something wrong. No reason for this to happen except for sheer laziness and the left hand (INDD Developers) not knowing (or caring) what the right hand (PS developers) are doing.

This is just one of a hundred issues I could list. Adobe are idiots whose eternal promises of "a fully integrated suite that works the same from program to program" never really come to fruition. But only because they’re idiots and, worse than that, increasingly lazy ones.

[John.B]

Originally Posted by Snowshiro

I think this is kinda a d1ck move by Adobe. I don't really recall them making clear to customers who paid thousands of dollars for their CS6 apps, "Oh by the way, from now on, all the good updates are going to be for Creative Cloud customers only. But thanks for your cash. Suckers."

Seems like they are hell bent on making the product ownership route a ghetto and forcing people into their subscription plan, doesn't it? If it succeeds, expect to see the same type of thing from Microsoft Office, etc.

[FrizzleFryBen]

Finally TEAM! It's been soooo tough to manage all our subscriptions. Here's to hoping they made it simple to consolidate or link them all.

[petsounds]

Originally Posted by John.B

Seems like they are hell bent on making the product ownership route a ghetto and forcing people into their subscription plan, doesn't it? If it succeeds, expect to see the same type of thing from Microsoft Office, etc.

Yup, but what do you expect from a company that's run by bean counters? Photoshop CS6 is a piece of junk...huge memory leaks, extremely slow. A piece of junk I paid hundreds of dollars for, and which I don't even get updates for. Yet they now have even less incentive to fix bugs when most customers now no longer own the products. I feel like there's probably a class-action suit brewing over this matter.

I won't succumb to "renting" software like most of my work colleagues have, but I will probably stop using Adobe products in the future. Replacing Photoshop will be tough however. Pixelmator, though getting better, is still a toy compared to what Pshop can do.

[Unggoy Murderer]

Got to say, I turned my back on DW a few years back when I freed my soul (dropped Windows) and got a hold of Coda. Couldn't believe how much better it was at virtually everything, and parting with £40 wasn't a big deal. I've never looked back, and Coda 2 (although it had a wee rough start with me) is without a doubt the best thing I've used for my web development.

Pixelmator replaced Photoshop for about 90% of the stuff I do... the remaining 10% gets done on my friends MacBook

[newagemac]

Originally Posted by Snowshiro

I think this is kinda a d1ck move by Adobe. I don't really recall them making clear to customers who paid thousands of dollars for their CS6 apps, "Oh by the way, from now on, all the good updates are going to be for Creative Cloud customers only. But thanks for your cash. Suckers."

This kind of thing should have been introduced with CS7 so that customers could have made a better and more informed choice of which way to go. When I read the marketing blurb for Creative Cloud it seemed to suggest that it would ensure the apps were always at the latest version, but I saw nothing about NEW FEATURES being entirely withheld from boxed product customers.

Personally I've switched from Dreamweaver to Coda 2 and Photoshop to Pixelmator. Both have been retina enabled for a while now. Pixelmator doesn't have all the features of Ps, but it has 95% of what I use regularly and is a hell of a lot cheaper. I'll stick with Illustrator for now because there's no real alternative, but no more upgrades. Adobe is never going to see another dime from me.

Adobe clearly stated that one of the best benefits of a Creative Cloud subscription would be much faster updates. Instead of waiting 2 years for the next Creative Suite, they specifically stated that Creative Cloud members would get updates every few months.

I guess a lot of people didn't take this seriously and purchased a Suite anyway. Enjoying my Creative Cloud subscription though!

[ksgant]

Originally Posted by newagemac

Adobe clearly stated that one of the best benefits of a Creative Cloud subscription would be much faster updates. Instead of waiting 2 years for the next Creative Suite, they specifically stated that Creative Cloud members would get updates every few months.

I guess a lot of people didn't take this seriously and purchased a Suite anyway. Enjoying my Creative Cloud subscription though!

Indeed, they said it many many times. In fact, they were spamming my inbox stating that Creative Cloud members would get the added benefit of faster updates.

Now that they're actually doing that, everyone all of a sudden have all this indignation over it. How DARE they do what they said they were going to do, that they've been saying they were going to do for the past 8 months!