Adobe Announces Updates Across its Creative Cloud Lineup

[MacRumors]

At its annual Adobe MAX Creativity Conference, Adobe today announced a range of updates that are being introduced to its Creative Cloud software.

Three Adobe apps that have been available in a beta capacity are officially launching, including Adobe XD CC for user interface design, Adobe Dimension CC for 2D to 3D compositing, and Adobe Character Animator CC for 2D character animations.

Adobe is also introducing a new Lightroom CC app that includes a built-in cloud storage feature, and it is announcing feature updates for Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, and Premiere Pro.

"Adobe continues to lead the creative revolution, driving modernization and innovation that will accelerate the creative process across all platforms and devices," said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Media at Adobe. "Today, we unveiled a new generation of Creative Cloud, with a wide spectrum of capabilities--from new experience design, 2D animation and 3D rendering apps to an all-new, cloud-based photography service. These tools enable creative professionals and enthusiasts to express themselves and reach their full creative potential anytime, anywhere, on any device."

Photoshop CC is gaining 1,400 new brushes from Adobe's acquisition of KyleBrush.com, and Adobe is introducing new tools and tutorials that are designed to make it easier for first-time Photoshop users to learn how to do basic tasks in the app, which are available in a new Learn Panel.

Adobe is integrating the Lightroom cloud catalog into Photoshop for quicker access to Lightroom photos, there are new tools for editing 360 spherical panoramic images, and new Range Masks make it easier to make local adjustments with fine control.

Photoshop CC also features improved brush preset management tools, automatic brush stroke smoothing, better select and mask tools, a new Curvature Pen tool, improvements for painting performance, and a symmetry painting experience for creating mirrored brush strokes along a symmetry axis.

Illustrator CC features an updated Essentials workspace with a new Properties Panel that offers up dynamic access to controls and better panel organization for less clutter on the workspace. It also includes support for more artboards (up to 1,000), an option to disable Zoom to Selection, support for variable fonts, and global color swatches.

InDesign CC includes supports for endnotes and annotations, enhancements to object-styles, paragraph borders, and an option to manage text in Creative Cloud Libraries.

Updates for Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC that were detailed earlier this year at IBC are also launching today.

Adobe Stock, Adobe's collection of professionally created images and videos, is being updated with new motion graphics templates for Premiere Pro and After Effects, and TypeKit is using Adobe Sensei technology for a new feature that lets users search for fonts using a photograph.

These are just a handful of the new features Adobe is introducing today. Details on all of the updates debuting across Adobe's range of apps can be found on the Adobe website.

Adobe is planning to raise the price of its Creative Cloud plans in North America in the near future. Starting on March 1 or when a contract is up for renewal, pricing across all plans will increase. The Adobe CC plan that provides access to all apps for individuals, for example, will be priced at $52.99 instead of $49.99 going forward. Pricing information is available on Adobe's Creative Cloud membership site.

Article Link: Adobe Announces Updates Across its Creative Cloud Lineup

 

[krfr]

Sounds like some neat updates, however, this is the start of the slow but steady price increases. Just what myself and everyone I spoke to was afraid of...

 

[jstrick428]

But did they update it for High Sierra? I still have not update my machines because of this

 

[Starflyer]

But did they update it for High Sierra? I still have not update my machines because of this

Apple fixed the CC glitches with the 11.0.3 update. It has been rock solid for me since.

 

[jstrick428]

Apple fixed the CC glitches with 11.0.3 update. It has been rock solid for me since.

Across indesign, photoshop and AI?

 

[stainless]

Wow, I get to spend $3 MORE/month or $36/year for 1,400 more brushes and moooore tutorials... seriously? Give it two years guys and you'll be spending $75/month and Adobe will let you export in truly optimized png (but still with all of adobes meta information in it!)

Pass... love live GIMP and Pixelmator!!

FYI, I owned a publishing company and we would pay the $1,200 upgrade price (per computer or seat as it was called) BUT we only upgraded every three years once we went five years without an upgrade, no new features needed and didn't need to. Believe it or not, you can put PS3 in front of a newby and they wouldn't only a few differences/features over today's PS! 80% of most designers use 20% of the CC features.

 

[Janichsan]

Apple fixed the CC glitches with the 11.0.3 update. It has been rock solid for me since.

???

11.0.3 is an update for iOS. What does this have to do with macOS High Sierra (which yet has to receive any update)?

 

[shiseiryu1]

“Company with virtual monopoly in creative software decides to increase prices”

You don’t say?!

 

[LERsince1991]

What we need is the ability to collaborate with other colleagues on InDesign files.... currently we have to take multiple copies and copy/paste to the master as you can’t have the Sam file open from a server!

 

[pubwvj]

I have bought Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop since version 1.0, actually even before that as I was in the testing. But I'm not at all interested in subscriptions and cloud storage. The internet is not secure and not reliable enough. I have real work to do. Subscription software adds another link that will fail. Cloud storage adds another link that will fail. Not might but will fail.

I also can't trust Adobe not to discontinue software which would end the subscription and access to my files and they could simply go out of business. They're not too big to fail - nothing is.

So I don't do upgrades anymore to Adobe products which means Adobe loses that money. There a LOT of people like me who are simply continuing to use older software because of this issue.

Since the newer Macs don't run the older Adobe software that means I don't bother buying new Macs. This means Apple is losing sales too. I know of a lot of other people doing the same. Apple would be wise to offer legacy support, that is to say keep the older software working, because then people would continue buying the newer hardware and upgrade to the newer OSs.

 

[maflynn]

Cloud storage adds another link that will fail. Not might but will fail.

You lose control of your data, and it increases the difficulty on changing products, if you wish leave CC behind.

 

[now i see it]

I shudder to think the bloatware Photoshop & illustrator will become 10 years from now. They're already over bloated. I pity the newbs that have to learn this software for the first time. Overwhelming.

 

[arkitect]

I shudder to think the bloatware Photoshop & illustrator will become 10 years from now. They're already over bloated. I pity the newbs that have to learn this software for the first time. Overwhelming.

I agree.

However, that is assuming that Adobe will still be relevant in a decade's time.

New apps are coming along very well… The world that Adobe once dominated without competition is changing.
Great tools, far less bloat, decent prices.

Personally I have already switched to Affinity Photo — Illustrator is the last hold out until Affinity Designer gets updated.
Oh… and Acrobat. But only because I haven't sourced a proper substitute yet.
[doublepost=1508351069][/doublepost]

You lose control of your data, and it increases the difficulty on changing products, if you wish leave CC behind.

And that I suspect is a major part of Adobe's strategy.

 

[ThiGeever]

But did they update CC to work in High Sierra? No, they deedn’t! Dude, it’s been almost a month, get it together!!!!

 

[Cursor]

But did they update CC to work in High Sierra? No, they deedn’t! Dude, it’s been almost a month, get it together!!!!

Have you tested this? I just updated ID, PS, AI and Acrobat. I was going to upgrade to High Sierra tonight, but am hesitant now. Has anyone verified if the page layout/print design apps work in High Sierra?

 

[Kangastu]

You might want to hold of updating. I've got a wicked bug in Photoshop 2018 with leading jumping all over the place.

I'm on with Adobe Tech Support now. Heres a vid I made of the issue:

[doublepost=1508406323][/doublepost]

You might want to hold of updating. I've got a wicked bug in Photoshop 2018 with leading jumping all over the place.

I'm on with Adobe Tech Support now. Heres a vid I made of the issue:

Adobe have confirmed this as a bug they are working on: https://feedback.photoshop.com/phot...c-reply-list[settings][page]=1#reply_19031261

If you use transform and leading - avoid this update until they fix it!

 

[Cursor]

You might want to hold of updating. I've got a wicked bug in Photoshop 2018 with leading jumping all over the place.


If you are you using an internal SSD internal as your scratch disk, does PS recognize it?

 

[hellis95]

But did they update it for High Sierra? I still have not update my machines because of this

I have been using the CC suite on the high Sierra beta for a while now and its been pretty solid, no obvious problems

 

[jayGalvan]

That is why today I cut the cord with Adobe and I have started to give another small developer a chance and my support, it may not be perfect but it feels good to support another company.

I am going with affinity now:
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/

 

[Cursor]

I have been using the CC suite on the high Sierra beta for a while now and its been pretty solid, no obvious problems

Photoshop has been ok with using your updated SSD as a scratch disk (if you are using a solid state drive as your internal disk)? And Illustrator has been opening alright? Those are the two biggest complaints that I read about that would affect me most.

 

[2013.1]

I have bought Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop since version 1.0, actually even before that as I was in the testing. But I'm not at all interested in subscriptions and cloud storage. The internet is not secure and not reliable enough. I have real work to do. Subscription software adds another link that will fail. Cloud storage adds another link that will fail. Not might but will fail.

I also can't trust Adobe not to discontinue software which would end the subscription and access to my files and they could simply go out of business. They're not too big to fail - nothing is.

So I don't do upgrades anymore to Adobe products which means Adobe loses that money. There a LOT of people like me who are simply continuing to use older software because of this issue.

Since the newer Macs don't run the older Adobe software that means I don't bother buying new Macs. This means Apple is losing sales too. I know of a lot of other people doing the same. Apple would be wise to offer legacy support, that is to say keep the older software working, because then people would continue buying the newer hardware and upgrade to the newer OSs.

I run older Adobe software like Freehand or Illustrator 5 in a virtual machine with Parallels and Snow Leopard Server. (I am on a 8-core 2009 Mac Pro)
I guess this will still work with next years Mac Pro High Sierra and CS 6.
I don’t use CC.
I switched to Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer and will switch to Affinity Publisher.
CS6 will stay for legacy files.

 

[Cursor]

I just read that an Adobe staff member officially reported that Adobe CC 2018 has been confirmed to work with High Sierra. There are sporadic issues with some users' Intel GPUs, but for the vast majority, CC will work.

That being said, I'm going to research Affinity to see if I can make the switch. Anybody know if Affinity apps will open PS, AI and ID files?

 

[Mainyehc]

I just read that an Adobe staff member officially reported that Adobe CC 2018 has been confirmed to work with High Sierra. There are sporadic issues with some users' Intel GPUs, but for the vast majority, CC will work.

That being said, I'm going to research Affinity to see if I can make the switch. Anybody know if Affinity apps will open PS, AI and ID files?

Affinity Photo will open and write back PSDs without bells and whisles (such as smart filters) and multi-layer TIFFs, besides all the obvious formats. Plus, it supports 16-bit colours and full, end-to-end CMYK workflows, unlike Gimp.

Affinity Designer will open SVG, EPS and PDF files, and newer Ai files which were saved, by default (unless you unchecked that checkbox), with an embedded PDF stream.

Affinity Publisher isn’t out yet (not even in beta form, and it seems the guys at Serif are dragging their feet on that one), but I’m sincerely hoping that it will at least open IDML files.

Oh, and all the apps support Pantone PMS colours by default, unlike Gimp, Inkscape or Scribus. I know it would be better karma to just use F/OSS, but in a production environment it ends up being more trouble than it’s worth.

 

[2013.1]

I just read that an Adobe staff member officially reported that Adobe CC 2018 has been confirmed to work with High Sierra. There are sporadic issues with some users' Intel GPUs, but for the vast majority, CC will work.

That being said, I'm going to research Affinity to see if I can make the switch. Anybody know if Affinity apps will open PS, AI and ID files?

When Opening PSDs with Dynamic/Saturation layers you should check the appearance in Affinity Photo. They appear a little different there. Otherwise everything else works fine. With AI I found no issues. One day I had an pixeling issue with AI exporting a jpg from an AI file with a rotated embedded PSD with transparencies. I just opened the AI file in Affinity Designer and there everything worked flawlessly. Affinity Designer opens PDFs exported with AI much better than AI itself. No unnecessary annoying masks for almost every path. In Affinity Designer it is editable right away without resolving masks.
By the way. A lot of shortcuts are the same in PS/AP AI/AD and editable.

 

[ItWasNotMe]

They may have announced updates but there are still well documented and easily reproducible bugs in what is now Lightroom Classic that have been there for over three years.