Archive for April, 2012

ZDNet Education: Adobe Nails the Value Question

Posted on April 26, 2012 by mabear | Comments (0)

Yesterday (April 25)  of ZDNet Education published an article entitled:

Adobe nails the value question with Creative Cloud and announces scholarships to boot

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/adobe-nails-the-value-question-with-creative-cloud-and-announces-scholarships-to-boot/4884

Here’s the complete article which although from a self-confessed Adobe fan, puts the creative cloud into perspective from an Education point of view.

Summary: Adobe released important research on the value of creativity worldwide; at the same time, they put their money where their mouth is, making Adobe’s Creative Suite much more affordable for schools and students.

Full disclosure: I love Adobe Products, even if they are pricey
I make no secret of my love for Adobe products. I use Creative Suite 5.5 every day and as I dive deeper into the applications and become really proficient with Photoshop and InDesign in particular, I find them utterly indispensable. Their recent Touch Apps for both iOS and Android are incredibly useful creation tools for capturing ideas as you have them and the Photoshop CS6 beta has been flooring me since it was released.

I’ve also not pulled any punches in my assessment of their pricing, whether academic or professional. Of course, as my old economics teacher used to ask the class, “How much should you charge for a product?” We’d all answer in unison, “As much as the market will bear”. Clearly, the market will bear a hefty price for industry-standard content creation tools.

Adobe tools are great, but price and learning curves have kept them from the mainstream
In education, that market has generally been limited to vocational technical high schools and colleges that require the software for specific majors or programs. However, with Monday’s announcement of Creative Suite CS6 and their related Creative Cloud offering, Adobe has taken some very big steps towards making their state-of-the-art software available to a much wider audience in education (and, for that matter, in general).

With Creative Cloud, price is much less of a barrier
When Adobe first briefed me on everything that was included in their Creative Cloud subscriptions for students and teachers, I was floored. Current Creative Suite customers can subscribe for just $30 a month (with a one-year commitment); students and teachers can access the same pricing regardless of whether they currently have licensed copies of the Suite. Creative Cloud isn’t exactly new (it’s been around since Adobe introduced their Touch Apps, which leverage cloud storage to pass images and files between tablet apps and desktop applications), but this new subscription now includes access to the entire CS6 Master Collection (normally almost $2600 to purchase outright or $800 for students and teachers).

It also includes access to all of the Touch Apps for Android (iOS apps to follow soon; these are normally $10 a piece), Muse (the most powerful WYSIWYG web design tool I’ve ever seen, which had previously been announced as abandoned, but I’m thrilled that it’s now under active development again; it’s in beta preview currently, but will formally be included in Creative Cloud subscriptions later this year), and cloud storage and syncing (20 GB with subscription). Perhaps even more interestingly for students, Creative Cloud comes with rapid updates to software, new software (like the full version of Adobe Edge when it becomes available), and the latest available tools from the company, meaning that students can walk out of school with the absolute latest skills to take into the job market.

The value of creativity
Adobe also released the results of the “State of Create” study that it conducted this year. The study was conducted among “5,000 adults, 1,000 per country, in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan. The research was designed to identify attitudes and beliefs about creativity and provide insights into the role of creativity in business, education and society.”

You can read the study for yourself, but bottom line, adults generally value creativity and believe that it’s key to economic success, but also feel that our educational institutions are stifling creativity. Only one in four people believe they are living up to their creative potential.

To help address this gap between our creative potential and our creative actions, Adobe also announced a million dollar scholarship fund for high school seniors “around the world who participate in the Adobe Youth Voices program, the scholarship will help them go to the next level with their education, pursue creative careers and find innovative ways to improve their communities.”

Aside from the fact that the beta version of Photoshop CS6 so far has proved to be a truly brilliant and incredibly versatile tool, Adobe seems to have hit one out of the park with the entire Creative Cloud proposition. The commitment to education in particular and the overall elevation of creative and knowledge economy pursuits is incredibly compelling.

Education Resources for CS6

Posted on April 25, 2012 by mabear | Comments (0)

With the announcement of Adobe Creative Suite 6 and the Creative Cloud, the Adobe Education Exchange is brimming with great new content produced by Adobe, Adobe Education Leaders, and other contributors. Much of this content is featured on a special page dedicated to CS6 for easy access. With CS6 and the supporting resources, you can be fully equipped to engage students in learning, unleash creativity, and prepare them for career success.

The materials cover an assortment of CS6 products and topics. For example, here is a video overview of the Mobile Content Simulator:  Flash Professional CS6

Rich, topical content like this is typical of what you will find in the Education Exchange. Here are some others:

 There are also a variety of product-focused  technical guides to quickly get up to speed on how to use CS6 and links to other great content surrounding this new collection of professional software.

All you need to join the Education Exchange is a free Adobe ID. Anyone can contribute.

A few highlights of what we launched yesterday:

  • Adobe Digital Careers CS6 curriculum – 3 year-long, project based curriculums for design, web, and video, updated to include new CS6 features.
    • We produced 3 curriculums with a total of 25 projects and 289 technical guides, presentations, and asset files. There is also a British English/A4 paper size version of each document in the curriculums.
    • The Digital Design: Foundations of Web Design curriculum was completely rewritten with new projects that align with HTML5 and CSS3 web standards and a new focus for using Flash for game design and mobile application design and development. 
  • Learn CS6 guides – brand new for this year, we removed the technical guides from the curriculums and repackaged them for educators to learn how to use CS6 or for educators to use in developing their own curriculum. This is a simple, but extremely important way to support a larger constituency, including self-learners (particularly Higher Education faculty) and software training programs. Think of each of these as a mini-Classroom in a Book that is free!
  • Adobe TV CS6 shows – new video tutorial shows that align to our CS6 curriculum have been launched and will continue to be updated as more CS6 content becomes available on Adobe TV. 
  • Tutorials from our Adobe Education Leaders – many of our AELs stepped up to the plate to create some amazing resources for CS6 and this content will be invaluable as we seek to get the broader AEE community involved in developing CS6 focused resources. 

Adobe Launches Creative Cloud

Posted on April 23, 2012 by mabear | Comments (2)

SAN JOSE, Calif. —April 23, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Creative Cloud™, a radical new way of providing tools and services* that will change the game for creatives worldwide.  A subscription-based offering, Adobe Creative Cloud is a hub for making, sharing and delivering creative work and it is centered around a powerful release of Adobe Creative Suite® 6 software (see separate release), packed with innovation across its industry-defining design, Web, video and digital imaging tools.

Adobe Creative Cloud Highlights

  • Creative Cloud membership provides users with access to download and install every new Adobe CS6 application announced today and two new HTML5 products, Adobe Muse™ and Adobe Edge preview.
  • Creative Cloud integrates Adobe’s creative tablet applications†, such as Photoshop Touch, into everyday work – seamlessly synchronizing and storing files in the cloud for sharing and access on any device.
  • Creative Cloud members will be able to easily deliver mobile apps to iOS and Android marketplaces and publish, manage and host websites.
  • Adobe Creative Cloud members will have access to application upgrades, including new CS point-product features, before they are launched as part of major CS updates, as well as inventive new products and services as they emerge.
  • Adobe Creative Cloud membership is US$49.99 per month, with an annual contract. A special introductory offer of US$29.99 per month for CS3, CS4, CS5 and CS5.5 individual customers is also available.

“The urge to be creative is universal, and harnessing the creative spark – in everyone from school children to creative pros – has never been more important,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer, Adobe. “Wherever and whenever inspiration strikes, Adobe will be there to help capture, refine and publish your ideas.”

Creative Suite 6, Innovative HTML5 Tools Anchor Creative Cloud

  • CS6 includes landmark releases of industry icons such as Adobe Photoshop® CS6 (see separate release), Adobe InDesign® CS6, Adobe Illustrator® CS6, Adobe Dreamweaver® CS6, Adobe Premiere® Pro CS6, Adobe After Effects® CS6, Adobe Flash® Professional CS6 and more.  With Creative Cloud membership, creatives can download and install all of the 14 new Adobe Creative Suite 6 applications.
  • Creative Cloud membership also includes access to Adobe Muse and Adobe Edge preview, new tools for HTML5 design and development that demonstrate Adobe’s commitment to the latest Web standards.

Creative Cloud Links Adobe Touch Apps to CS6 Desktop Tools

  • Adobe Creative Cloud integrates Adobe’s line of creative touch tools with CS6 desktop applications.
  • Adobe Touch Apps bring professional-level creativity to tablet devices and address multiple areas of the creative process: image editing, ideation, sketching, mood board creation, website and mobile app prototyping, and the presentation of finished work. 
  • Photoshop Touch and Adobe Ideas have already proved runaway hits on the iPad and Android tablets. Three additional tools, available on Android today, will be coming to iPad soon: Adobe Collage, Adobe Debut and Adobe Proto. 
  • A new desktop app, Adobe Creative Cloud Connection, enables the syncing, sharing and storing of files across mobile devices and desktop. 
  • Creative Cloud membership includes up to 20GB of cloud storage, with additional storage purchase options coming soon. 

Creative Cloud Publishing Services Streamline Website and App Creation

  • Creative Cloud publishing services will include the ability to easily publish apps, magazines and catalogues to iPad, iPhone and Android devices.
  • Members have immediate access to Adobe Typekit, the Web-based font library that pioneered the use of real fonts on websites, delivering more than 700 typefaces from leading foundries.
  • New Web hosting capabilities, integrated as part of Adobe Creative Cloud membership, allow users to easily create and host high-impact websites.  The Integration between Adobe Muse, Typekit and the Web hosting capabilities power a new simplified workflow for delivering high-impact websites.

Members Receive Ongoing Delivery of New Applications, Services and Features
Creative Cloud members will receive ongoing updates to Creative Suite applications as well as other new products and services as they emerge. Coming in the future to Adobe Creative Cloud are:

  • Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4, the desktop software tool that enables photographic perfection from shoot to finish; the first complete release of Adobe Edge, a ground-breaking HTML5 development tool; and Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition, the technology behind the delivery of digital magazines on iPad.
  • Creative Cloud will also include training, support and community features that drive meaningful connections between creatives worldwide.

Live Streamed Webcast
The launch event for Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 will be streamed live beginning at 10 a.m. PT, April 23 at www.adobe.com/special/cs6/launch-event.html and will be available there as a continuous rebroadcast from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. PT on April 23. An on-demand version will be available at http://tv.adobe.com beginning April 24.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Creative Suite 6 products and Adobe Creative Cloud are scheduled to be available within 30 days and can be pre-ordered now.

Milestone Adobe CS6 Release

Posted on April 23, 2012 by mabear | Comments (0)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 23, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the ultimate toolkit for design, Web and video professionals with the unveiling of the Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 product line and Adobe Creative Cloud™ (see separate release). Powerful new releases of 14 CS6 applications and four Creative Suites – Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium, and Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection – drive home Adobe’s continued innovation across creative markets. A new subscription-based offering, Adobe Creative Cloud, will provide users with the ability to download and install every Adobe CS6 application* announced today.  Creative Cloud also integrates Adobe Touch Apps† into everyday work, introduces cloud-based sync and store capabilities, and powers the publishing of apps and high-impact Web experiences.

“Creatives get a ton of innovation across CS6, with milestone releases of all our flagship products,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president, Digital Media Business, Adobe. “With CS6 and Creative Cloud, we’re also introducing new products, new mobile workflows and advanced publishing capabilities that show we are laser-focused on ensuring design, Web and video pros have everything they need for the delivery of high-impact content and apps.”

Major CS Upgrades and All-New Muse Anchor Landmark Launch for Designers
The performance and workflow enhancements in Adobe Photoshop® CS6 (see separate release), Adobe Illustrator® CS6 and Adobe InDesign® CS6 will result in significant time savings for print, Web and mobile projects.

  • In Photoshop CS6, designers will experience incredible performance, powered by the Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine, enabling near instant results from essential editing tools, including Liquify, Puppet Warp, Transform and Lighting Effects.
  • Adobe has built on Photoshop’s breakthrough Content-Aware capabilities with advanced new Content-Aware Patch and Content-Aware Move features. 
  • Illustrator CS6 debuts a revamped modern interface, and features include a new image tracing engine, easy pattern creation and ability to apply gradients to strokes. The Mercury Performance System delivers speed and stability, including 64-bit support for Mac OS and Windows.
  • InDesign CS6 continues to blaze a trail in publishing, streamlining the creation of multiple layouts from a single set of content with new Adaptive Design Tools – Alternate Layout, Liquid Layout, Content Collector Tools and Linked Content.
  • A brand new application, Adobe Muse™, a radical tool that enables designers to create and publish HTML5 web sites without writing code, was also announced today.

Adobe Doubles-Down on HTML5 Tooling for Web Professionals
Innovative new workflows and capabilities across Adobe tools simplify the creative process for today’s Web designers, developers and interactive professionals.

  • Web pros can conveniently integrate HTML5 animations, created with Adobe Edge preview, into their Dreamweaver projects, driving home Adobe’s leadership in tooling for the HTML5 Web standard.
  • Adobe Dreamweaver® CS6 addresses the challenge of responsive Web designs with the ability to build fluid grid layouts replacing the tedious manual process of creating and configuring separate CSS-based interfaces for phone, tablet and desktop.
  • Through direct integration with Adobe’s recently announced PhoneGap Build service, Dreamweaver CS6 helps round out Web professionals’ skillsets and enables them to produce native mobile applications for multiple platforms. 
  • Adobe Flash® Professional CS6 users can easily translate and transition their skills to HTML5 using the Flash Professional Toolkit for CreateJS. Flash Professional CS6 also helps designers create exciting and impactful gaming experiences and advancements include the ability to generate sprite sheets that improve workflows and performance.
  • Pre-built native extensions and new packaging options, leveraging the latest Adobe Flash Player and AIR runtimes, help expand and ease app delivery to Android and iOS devices.

Production Premium CS6 Pushes Boundaries of Video Creativity
Redesigned by and for video editors, with major performance enhancements, the tools included in Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium set a new standard in professional video.

  • With dozens of new features, Adobe Premiere® Pro CS6 is the hub of any professional video workflow, featuring a sleek new editing environment.  The powerful Adobe Mercury Playback Engine now supports OpenCL on MacBook Pros.
  • The most significant After Effects release in a decade, Adobe After Effects® CS6 is faster and more responsive than ever. With Global Performance Cache, previews are saved and ready to go – cutting the time spent bouncing between projects. 
  • New to Production Premium are Adobe Prelude™ CS6, which streamlines logging and ingest workflows in post-production, and Adobe SpeedGrade, which contains powerful finishing tools for film finishing and color grading.
  • Adobe Audition® CS6 accelerates audio post-production: real-time clip stretching makes it simple to stretch clips to fit an edit; and Automatic Speech Alignment introduces a powerful new engine for automated dialogue analysis.
  • A new third party API for hardware integration – Adobe Mercury Transmit – allows broadcast video monitoring to connect directly into the Mercury Playback Engine via third-party cards from AJA, Blackmagic Design and Matrox.

Live Streamed Webcast
The launch event for Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 will be streamed live beginning at 10 a.m. PT, April 23 at www.adobe.com/special/cs6/launch-event.html and will be available there as a continuous rebroadcast from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. PT on April 23. An on-demand version will be available at http://tv.adobe.com beginning April 24.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Creative Suite 6 products and Adobe Creative Cloud are scheduled to be available within 30 days and can be pre-ordered now.

Adobe Creative Cloud, Creative Suite 6 Deliver Professional Grade Features for Students and Educators

Posted on April 23, 2012 by mabear | Comments (0)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 23, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Creative Cloud™ Student and Teacher Edition, and Adobe Creative Suite® 6 Student and Teacher Edition for institutions, educators and students. The new release and supporting educational resources help K-12 and higher education institutions enhance teaching and learning, and better prepare students for their future careers.

“We are now in the era of the ‘3Cs’ – creativity, communication and collaboration – driven by how digital media is revolutionizing teaching and learning,” said Jon Perera, vice president of worldwide education, Adobe. “Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 applications make it easier for educators to create and deliver stunning digital education content across devices, cloud, and social platforms.”

In addition to 14 new CS6 point products and four Creative Suite editions, Adobe is now delivering its first cloud offering for students and educators. Adobe Creative Cloud is a hub where students and educators can explore, share and deliver creative content using any of the Adobe Creative Suite 6 desktop applications, also announced today (see separate releases), as well as new tools for HTML5 such as Adobe Muse™ and Adobe Edge preview. By offering integration with Adobe Touch Apps*, headlined by Photoshop® Touch, Adobe Creative Cloud enables new mobile workflows, from ideation to publishing, that bring the power of Adobe innovation to the classroom via iPad and Android tablets.

More than 100 education institutions worldwide participated in the beta program for CS6 and Creative Cloud, including Lake City High School, The Academy of Art, Rochester Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University. According to David Holzemer at Carnegie Mellon University e-learning and media design, “Adobe Creative Suite 6 software is a real game changer for us. The new Mercury Graphics Engine running at 64-bit will cut my production time in half and time is always critical for a very small staff serving such a large institution. Adobe Creative Suite 6 is invaluable to my e-learning team.”

Prepare Students for Careers
With new capabilities designed to help students across all disciplines create stunning digital content that stands out, Adobe Creative Suite 6 helps give students the ability to learn the skills needed in today’s competitive workforce:

  • Gain digital content creation skills across video, animations, 3D and photos with major updates to Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Premiere® Pro CS6, Adobe After Effects® CS6, and Adobe Audition® CS6. With the new Adobe Photoshop CS6, students can express themselves by leveraging the powerful new 3D and video editing tools for media they have captured across multiple devices.
  • Create on virtually any device with Adobe Creative Cloud Connection which enables the syncing, sharing and storing of files from Adobe Touch Apps for download and use with CS6 desktop products. For example, educators and students can work with a file in Photoshop Touch on iPad and use Adobe Creative Cloud to sync and share that file on the desktop for refinement using Photoshop CS6.
  • Get noticed with multimedia-rich portfolios, websites and applications. Adobe InDesign® CS6 extends its lead in digital publishing, streamlining the creation of multiple layouts from a single set of content, helping to deliver interactive campus publications for iPad, Kindle Fire and Android devices. Adobe Dreamweaver® CS6 helps enable students to create high-impact school or personal websites.

Engage Students, Empower Faculty and Advance Teaching
The new Creative Suite 6 release gives faculty and students the tools to easily visualize, understand, and communicate information in creative ways across print, Web, video, and mobile devices.

  • Create digital education content ranging from digital storytelling for history and languages, gaming and animations for math, to data visualization in the sciences – all in a way that helps engage students and creates rich learning experiences. CS6 provides the features and flexibility to produce interactive presentations and explore the boundaries of creativity and critical thinking.
  • Expand the delivery of education content with multi-screen publishing across multiple platforms and devices using HTML5 and the very latest standards for Web, mobile, e-books, and tablets.
  • Help improve productivity and efficiency in the classroom with simplified workflows, speed and performance enhancements, and a new, more intuitive user interface across the CS6 product set.
  • Empower educators with ISTE-aligned curricula with the release of three newly-updated, year-long, project based curricula for graphic design and print production, Web design and development, and video production. These curricula are available on the Adobe Education Exchange, along with resources from the education community.
  • Certify industry-centric technical and communication skills with Adobe certifications. More than 300,000 students worldwide have been certified through the Adobe Certified Associate examination. With CS6, Adobe and CertiPort are offering new, updated curricula and certification for this major release. Educators and students can get certified for both entry-level skills as an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA), and professional-level skills as an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE).

Live Streamed Webcast
The launch event for Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 will be streamed live beginning at 10 a.m. PT, April 23 at www.adobe.com/special/cs6/launch-event.html and will be available there as a continuous rebroadcast from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. PT on April 23. An on-demand version will be available at http://tv.adobe.com beginning April 24.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Creative Suite 6 products and Adobe Creative Cloud are scheduled to be available within 30 days. The Student and Teacher Edition of Adobe Creative Cloud is available for US$29.99 per month. For information on Adobe licensing go to www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/volumelicensing/education.

Adobe is also offering a new Adobe K-12 Enterprise Agreement designed for the needs of school districts in the United States and Canada. Customers can purchase Creative Suite 6 via Adobe.com and through select retail and online stores. More product information is available at www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite.html.

For more detailed information about educational upgrade policies and pricing, as well as the full portfolio of suites, please visit www.adobe.com/education.edu.html.

About Adobe Education
Adobe’s education vision is to unleash the creativity of students and educators around the world. In addition to product innovations, Adobe’s education offering includes standards-aligned curriculums, certification, professional development, and flexible purchasing options for students, faculty and schools to help ensure students are ready for the opportunities in an ever-evolving digital world. More information on Adobe education solutions and licensing can be found at www.adobe.com/education and www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/volumelicensing/education.

Announcement: Photoshop CS6

Posted on April 23, 2012 by mabear | Comments (0)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 23, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended software, major releases of the undisputed standard for professional digital imaging. Packed with new features and enhancements, the software includes groundbreaking innovations and unparalleled performance breakthroughs that expand the frontiers of imaging science, and deliver new levels of creativity and increased efficiency. Photoshop CS6 Extended integrates the state-of-the-art editing, compositing, and graphic design capabilities of Photoshop CS6, as well as advanced tools for 3D design*, image and video editing, and quantitative analysis which address the unique needs of the graphic design, video, Web, architecture, medical, manufacturing and engineering industries.

“Creativity is at the very center of our efforts – both in developing exceptional tools, and enabling our users to create beautiful imagery that stands out from the visual clutter around us,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Photoshop CS6 is unrivaled in capabilities and power and – as we have seen from the astonishing reception of our recent public beta – has once again captured the imagination of the worldwide creative community. ‘Photoshop magic’ is alive and well with CS6.”

Since Photoshop CS6 was released as a public beta on March 22 for Mac OS and Microsoft® Windows® platforms, there have been nearly one million downloads of the software worldwide – surpassing any public beta in Adobe’s history. With this launch, Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended can be purchased as stand-alone applications, key components of the Adobe Creative Suite 6 family (see separate press release), and now as part of Adobe’s revolutionary Creative Cloud™ offering, also announced today (see separate release).

Create with Imaging Innovation and Peak Performance
Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended deliver unparalleled speed and power combined with the creative tools necessary to perform advanced image manipulation, design, motion‐based content editing, and compositing. The software helps users to patch images with control for exceptional results; edit with real-time interactions and a fluid feel powered by the new Mercury Graphics Engine; easily edit video; perform automatic tone mapping and sharpening; and use improved design tools for better results with fewer steps. Creative customers will be able to take advantage of an efficient, modern UI that puts all focus on images, and sync settings and preferences for consistent workflows across multiple devices via Adobe Creative Cloud.

“Adobe Photoshop CS6 gives Trek powerful design tools to help bring our creative vision to a reality faster and with greater control than ever before. The responsiveness of the new Mercury Graphics Engine is simply breathtaking and being able to see the results instantaneously helps us keep to our extremely tight timelines,” said Eric Lynn, creative director, Trek Bicycle. “We often work with large files that include more than 500 layers and being able to search them all – and continue working while saving a large document – is invaluable to our workflow and a huge time saver for us.”

Photoshop CS6 features include:

  • Content-Aware Patch – Allows greater control by letting users choose the sample area used to create a patch.
  • Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine – Takes advantage of the graphics processing unit in modern hardware to speed up imaging and editing tasks, and process large images faster.
  • New and Re-engineered Design Tools – Type styles enable consistent formatting; vector layers apply strokes and add gradients to vector objects; custom strokes and dashed lines are easily created; quick layers search and more.
  • Intuitive Video Creation – The full range of familiar Photoshop tools and an intuitive set of new video tools to create and enhance any video clip.
  • Blur Gallery – A simple new interface with on-image and in-context controls allows users to quickly create photographic blur effects including tilt-shift effects, blur everything with one focal point, or vary the blurriness between multiple focal points.

Photoshop CS6 Extended includes all Photoshop CS6 features and:

  • Mercury Graphics Engine for 3D – Increased power and speed via engine optimized for 3D imaging.
  • New 3D Controls – UI improvements for more efficient 3D workflows.
  • New 3D Effects – Reflections and “drag-able” shadows to enhance images.

Adobe Creative Cloud and Digital Imaging
Adobe Creative Cloud gives creative customers a new option for purchasing and experiencing Adobe software innovation, including Adobe Photoshop CS6:

  • Creative Cloud membership provides designers with access to download and install every new Adobe CS6 application announced today and two new HTML5 products, Adobe Muse™ and Adobe Edge preview.  
  • Creative Cloud powers the integration of creative tablet applications, such as Photoshop Touch, into everyday work – seamlessly synchronizing and storing files in the cloud, for sharing and access on any device. 
  • Creative Cloud members will be able to easily deliver mobile apps to iOS and Android marketplaces and publish, manage and host websites.
  • Adobe Creative Cloud members will receive access to application upgrades, including new Photoshop features – before they are launched as part of a major update, as well as inventive new products and services, as they emerge. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® 4 will be offered as part of Creative Cloud membership in the future.

Live Streamed Webcast
The launch event for Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 will be streamed live beginning at 10 a.m. PT, April 23 at www.adobe.com/special/cs6/launch-event.html and will be available there as a continuous rebroadcast from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. PT on April 23. An on-demand version will be available at http://tv.adobe.com beginning April 24.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended, Adobe Creative Suite 6 editions and Adobe Creative Cloud are scheduled to be available within 30 days and can be pre-ordered now.

Sneak Peeks

Posted on April 17, 2012 by mabear | Comments (2)

Here is a consolidated list and set of links to the latest sneak peeks on YouTube:

View all Sneak Peek videos on YouTube

Adobe Transforms Video Workflows with Upcoming Creative Suite 6 Production Premium Release

Posted on April 13, 2012 by mabear | Comments (2)

London, UK. April 12, 2012

At the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show
(Nasdaq:ADBE) will showcase new software and innovations that improve how broadcasters, filmmakers and video professionals create, deliver and monetise high-quality productions across multiple screens. Highlights of the show will include the first public demonstrations of Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 Production Premium including major updates for Adobe Premiere® Pro CS6 and Adobe After Effects® CS6 enables video professionals to work efficiently and streamline workflows. Adobe will demonstrate its new solutions along with key customer and partner-focused initiatives during the 2012 NAB Show at its booth #SL2624 in the Las Vegas Convention Centre, April 16 19. Creative Suite 6 Production Premium will also be presented in more than 60 partner booths throughout the NAB exhibition.

Creative Suite 6 Production Premium, the complete solution at the heart of any production workflow for video professionals, is packed with major updates to help bring high-quality productions to any screen. The suite features significant updates to familiar tools including powerful new versions of Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition®, Adobe Story, Adobe Media the process of ingest, logging and transcoding, essential tasks in a modern file-based workflow. For advanced video editing, Premiere Pro CS6 incorporates a new user interface, trimming and OpenCL support in the new turbo-charged Mercury Playback Engine. After Effects CS6 is the biggest release in a decade, with huge performance gains and powerful 3D features.

Throughout the show, Adobe will be providing attendees with an exclusive first look at Creative Suite 6 Production Premium. This upcoming release, expected in the first half of 2012, will feature across-the-board performance and workflow enhancements that broadcasters, filmmakers and corporate video professionals worldwide need to stay at the forefront of the explosion of multiple screens, file-based workflows and new distribution models.

Adobe is dedicated to boosting video professionals productivity, giving them a dependable and seamless solution to plan, produce and deliver engaging content despite shrinking timelines and budgets. Broadcasters are completely redesigning and streamlining their demands for delivering content to multiple screens. Top global broadcasters including BBC, CBS Sports Network, CNN, Hearst, Media General and NRK are turning to Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium for a more complete plan-to-playback, file-based solution.

“Our video editors need to work with a large variety of digital assets and the Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium, including Adobe Premiere Pro, allows them to handle instant turnaround news edits as well as long-form feature edits without compromising speed or creativity,” said Moritz Gimbel, head of production at Bloomberg TV International. “Its latest software release, the Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium, helps make our workflow more efficient with support for more video formats and codecs, accelerating content delivery with the ability to export sequences into two different formats at the same time.”

Availability

Adobe CS6 Production Premium is expected in the first half of 2012. For more detailed information about the suite, please visit:

http://success.adobe.com/en/na/programs/events/1203_16108_nab.html

Useful links to Announcements/Sneak Peeks:

Education Team and Resources

Posted on April 2, 2012 by mabear | Comments (0)

It’s sometimes difficult to find the right contact or the right resouce, so Liz Wilkins has created an Education contact sheet. As well as contact details ther are links to resources for HE, Schools and Students, including blogs, twitter, Adobe Education Leaders, the Education Exchange and curriculum resources.

Adobe & Education_Contact Sheet_April2012

We’ll try and keep this up-to-date, so that you have the latest information on the team as well as new resources when they become available.