{"id":163,"date":"2010-09-11T18:10:46","date_gmt":"2010-09-12T01:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/?p=163"},"modified":"2010-12-08T14:29:11","modified_gmt":"2010-12-08T21:29:11","slug":"cs5-master-collection-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/2010\/09\/11\/cs5-master-collection-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"CS5 Master Collection Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Adobe<\/a> CS5<\/a> Master Collection <\/a>includes many other applications besides the video ones I reviewed in my last two posts.\u00c2\u00a0 Although I don’t use any of these nearly as extensively in my normal day to day workflow, they all come in handy from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t use as many of the newer features of these apps, because I usually only need the core functionality, that Adobe\u00c2\u00a0established multiple versions back.<\/p>\n

Photoshop<\/a> is probably Adobe’s most popular media creation application.\u00c2\u00a0 It should really be called ImageShop at this point, since photo editing is a small slice of Photoshop’s<\/a> feature set.\u00c2\u00a0 It also has extensive tools for digital painting and art, graphical interface design, 3D image manipulation, video effects editing, medical imaging organization, and hundreds of other features.\u00c2\u00a0 My primary uses for it at work include titles and graphics for video, and interface development for DVD menus, but I use it for all sorts of other things as well.
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\nSince I am not an artist, I\u00c2\u00a0primarily use Illustrator<\/a> for converting existing AI files into layered PSDs, but I have used it to make overhead blueprints to exact scale for wiring schematics of production and editing facilities that I have designed.\u00c2\u00a0 Illustrator’s<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0vector based imaging<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0offers more precision and scalability for my needs in those instances, but\u00c2\u00a0my use\u00c2\u00a0definitely falls outside of the application’s original design. \u00c2\u00a0I am basically using it as a substitute for AutoCAD<\/a> at that point, but I can hardly scratch the surface of its artistic capabilities, since that is not where the strength of my talent lies.<\/p>\n

InDesign<\/a> is a program that I rarely use, but may explore more in the future, as new features are added that fit my workflow needs.\u00c2\u00a0 InDesign<\/a> was originally developed as\u00c2\u00a0a print design and layout program, but is now also used to create digital media that can be exported to Flash or the web, and even imbed media such as videos.\u00c2\u00a0 This capability ties in well with another Adobe application that has been moving far beyond the printed page over the last few releases.\u00c2\u00a0 Adobe Acrobat <\/a>is an incredible product with more features and uses than I can fully comprehend, but as long as I can print static documents to PDFs<\/a>, my needs are covered.\u00c2\u00a0 Editable fields, tracked changes, online collaboration, and all of the other features that Acrobat includes are great, but I have not had the opportunity to utilize them in my current workflow.\u00c2\u00a0 Clipnotes was a feature in Premiere that embedded video into PDFs for enhanced annotation and collaboration, but that feature has been removed from recent versions, and integrated into Adobe’s CS Review<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0feature,\u00c2\u00a0on\u00c2\u00a0its\u00c2\u00a0recently launched\u00c2\u00a0CS Live<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0collection of web services.\u00c2\u00a0 I am sure we will see more of these cloud based <\/a>services developed for other applications, but I am not sure how I feel about losing certain aspects of user control through these types of changes.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe that is just because I spent time developing tools to leverage the previous features, with a level of customization that can’t be replicated\u00c2\u00a0with the new automated services.\u00c2\u00a0 But that previous level of control does admittedly come at the cost of ease-of-use, and raises the accessibility threshold above many entry level users’ reach.<\/p>\n

Adobe has faced the same issue of usability versus capability with its Flash based development tools, and has taken a different approach in addressing the issue there.\u00c2\u00a0 The CS5 release\u00c2\u00a0includes three separate dedicated Flash development applications, in the form of Flash Catalyst<\/a>, Flash Builder<\/a>, and Flash Professional<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Catalyst is aimed at designers creating interactive interfaces, which can\u00c2\u00a0be powered by assets created in Flash Builder by coders writing the backend support, while Flash Professional remains the full featured development tool that experienced web designers are already\u00c2\u00a0familiar with.\u00c2\u00a0 Flash output options have been added directly\u00c2\u00a0into many of Adobe’s other\u00c2\u00a0applications, including After Effects, Encore, InDesign, and Fireworks, but these are mostly geared towards creating Flash assets to be viewed on standard web browsers.\u00c2\u00a0 Much of the content being generated by these newer dedicated tools will end up on cell phones and other mobile devices.\u00c2\u00a0 Adobe facilitates the testing of these applications through Device Central<\/a>, and Apple’s<\/a> recent decision to\u00c2\u00a0permit Flash based authoring of iPhone apps will allow developers to\u00c2\u00a0use CS5’s\u00c2\u00a0AIR Packager for\u00c2\u00a0iPhone<\/a>, to create content for that platform as well.\u00c2\u00a0 This preview capability ties in well with Fireworks<\/a>, which Adobe has aimed at interface design for web and mobile devices, since Photoshop can handle most other imaging requirements.<\/p>\n

Dreamweaver<\/a> has been my website editor of choice since back when\u00c2\u00a0it was owned by Macromedia.\u00c2\u00a0 Like most Adobe apps, Dreamweaver has far more capabilities and functionality than the average user will ever need, or even be aware of, but at its core it gives immediate visual feedback to changes in web code.\u00c2\u00a0 Originally this was via an HTML render engine, to which basic\u00c2\u00a0server side code execution was integrated via the testing server feature, and now this has been extended to support PHP<\/a> based content management systems (CMS) which are usually far too complicated for their own good.\u00c2\u00a0 Since my website is powered by WordPress<\/a>, I am looking forward to leveraging these new capabilities in CS5 to further develop the site in new ways.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0To this point I have done all custom modification of this site in Notepad, but that will no longer be necessary now\u00c2\u00a0with Dreamweaver’s new functionality.\u00c2\u00a0 Besides being able to preview changes to complex dynamic web pages in real time, through another feature of the new CS Live services, Adobe\u00c2\u00a0BrowserLab<\/a> allows designers to compare the way different browsers will interpret and render the code that they have written.\u00c2\u00a0 I suspect Dreamweaver will begin to retake ground from the Flash generating applications as the primary web development tool, if HTML5<\/a> begins to replace Flash as the medium of choice for dynamic interactivity on the web.\u00c2\u00a0 My only complaint about Dreamweaver is that it takes forever to open, leading me to use Windows Notepad instead for my simple changes, but all Adobe apps seem to suffer from that issue.<\/p>\n

Soundbooth<\/a> was initially\u00c2\u00a0released with CS3, and I was never very impressed with its feature set.\u00c2\u00a0 I found it easier to edit audio in Premiere, and the only thing I ever used it for was simplified background noise reduction.\u00c2\u00a0 Newer versions have added multi-track support, but still no surround sound<\/a>, which was my primary use for Audition<\/a> back when it was included in the suite instead, and I still used the old version for processing my surround tracks until recently.\u00c2\u00a0 I am not sure why Master Collection doesn’t include Audition<\/a> or Lightroom<\/a>, but I have also\u00c2\u00a0started playing with Lightroom<\/a> to process the RAW<\/a> stills from my new Canon Rebel T2i<\/a>, and that program can do some cool stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 Its features are more geared toward organizing and archiving your photos than actually editing them.<\/p>\n

The Adobe CS5 Master Collection<\/a> provides users with an amazing array of tools for content creation.\u00c2\u00a0 While it is not perfect, it should meet nearly every possible\u00c2\u00a0need of most users.\u00c2\u00a0 There are far more features and functions available than any individual person could ever fully master, but the similarities in design and function of the different applications makes it easier for users to figure things out once they are familiar with the basic Adobe toolset.\u00c2\u00a0 The integration between the applications makes it easier to develop a consistent look and feel for a project across many different mediums of output.\u00c2\u00a0 It is far to imagine what features they will add to the next release, but I am hoping we will see more tools for stereoscopic 3D<\/a> content creation, as more\u00c2\u00a03D displays become available on the market.<\/p>\n

FTC Disclosure<\/a>: I have been on Adobe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beta team for many years, and Adobe has provided me a copy of CS5 for this review.\u00c2\u00a0 My only admitted personal bias is my preference of Windows over OSX, because I like full control over every aspect of my computing experience.\u00c2\u00a0 If that bothers anyone, there are plenty of other sources of information on the internet, but I try to provide unique insight on how each of these tools fits into the larger picture based on my real world experience using them.\u00c2\u00a0 I invite comment or correction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Adobe CS5 Master Collection includes many other applications besides the video ones I reviewed in my last two posts.\u00c2\u00a0 Although I don’t use any of these nearly as extensively in my normal day to day workflow, they all come in handy from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t use as many of the newer features […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[43,7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}