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Adobe CS and Retina

M

mzd

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 25, 2005
951
41
Wisconsin
Does anyone have Adobe CS 6 and a Retina iMac? CS 6 was the last one you could get without going to the subscription model. I have CS 5.5 and it is not pleasant. From my limited testing, the main programs work fine, but the UI is really bad. Everything is pixelated. But, the worst part is your artwork is pixelated. It is really bad with text. It is even bad in Illustrator, which I thought would be ok since it is vector based. For some programs I could live with it, but these are design programs, and the design looks awful. It is difficult to design something when it looks bad no matter what. I realize these are older versions, but Apple has been recommending resolution independence for a while now.
So, would stepping up to CS 6 be any better?
I also use Lightroom 6 and that looks great - UI, photos, everything.
I really don't want to be stuck with the never-ending subscription deal. Though Adobe would love it I'm sure.
 
My version of CS6 is not retina-supported, but it might not be updated.

If you've bought Creative Suite in the past, a subscription model isn't going to be that much more expensive unless it turns out you use it for long enough. And if you're making money off your work, you can keep supporting it. Otherwise, look for alternatives.
 
redheeler said:
The latest version of CS6 supports Retina.
Click to expand...
So Adobe CS6 (released in 2012) supports Retina? The current release is Adobe CC (Creative Cloud) and that is the subscription only suite.
If so, that is great news.
 
mzd said:
...I have CS 5.5 and it is not pleasant. From my limited testing, the main programs work fine, but the UI is really bad. Everything is pixelated...would stepping up to CS 6 be any better?
I also use Lightroom 6 and that looks great - UI, photos, everything. I really don't want to be stuck with the never-ending subscription deal. Though Adobe would love it I'm sure.
Click to expand...

You are in a tough situation. I would definitely not recommend CS6 at this point. I used CS5 and CS6 for years on Windows and now use both CC and FCPX on Mac. I don't know how well CS6 works on OS X but it is so old that some problems will be inevitable as time passes.

You either need to subscribe to CC or change editors. FCPX works very well and is faster than Premiere for certain things, but it uses a different UI paradigm and you'd have a learning curve. The CC suite is powerful and diverse but if you ever stop paying you lose access to your projects.

For a pure editor (with Hollywood-level color grading) a free high-quality option is DaVinci Resolve which runs on both Windows and OS X. However it is quite complex -- I believe the manual is 1,000 pages: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve

If you have basic video editing needs, iMovie can do that.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. My video editing needs are pretty minimal. I have used Premier in the past, but for the most part iMovie has been sufficient. DaVinci Resolve looks fantastic though!
I did verify that CS6 was updated to support HiDPI displays, at least in Photoshop and Illustrator. I haven't had a lot of luck finding CS6 for sale anywhere at an affordable (to me) price range. eBay auctions run very high and it is a desirable item since it is the last stand alone version.
This is for personal use (I have access to CC at work) on my home computer. I found out I can get an amazing deal on a 1 year subscription, but no guarantee I can get that price again next year - it all has to do with University negotiations with Adobe. And, of course, any deal runs out if I ever stop working here.
 
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