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Not worth upgrading to CS4?
- Thread starter Yr Blues
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Doesn't look like much has changed to merit the price-tag.
There are some spiffy features, but nothing I can't really live without.
This is the first Adobe product upgrade that I've really felt was worth skipping...or at the very least, prolonging.
I guess only if you used a lot of Fireworks, so basically web, and Print were the main upgrades. Video hasn't changed to much.
for me personally the 64bit support is nice (I use windows alot due to cad software) and as such its nice to be able to have a native app in vista x64.
Probably see a small speed increase in some areas too but I'm not sure its something I need and as such probably wouldn't rush out and buy it right now either.
Probably see a small speed increase in some areas too but I'm not sure its something I need and as such probably wouldn't rush out and buy it right now either.
Eh - print doesn't have too much going for it. InDesign has live preflighting, which is nice, but nothing I can't live without. You can also export to Flash from InDesign...which I find curious since InDesign is a print app.
Illustrator has multiple pasteboards...sort of. It's apparently kind of convoluted how to go about accessing the pasteboards.
Photoshop has the content-aware scaling which I have to admit looks incredible. But that feature just doesn't justify the price for me.
From what I can tell, it's a very lukewarm upgrade.
And the app icons still suck.
Illustrator has multiple pasteboards...sort of. It's apparently kind of convoluted how to go about accessing the pasteboards.
Photoshop has the content-aware scaling which I have to admit looks incredible. But that feature just doesn't justify the price for me.
From what I can tell, it's a very lukewarm upgrade.
And the app icons still suck.
Preflight could catch some goof-ups, but that's all. Smart-guides in InDesign. Yippee!
Freehand had multiple sizes like 10 years ago. Jeez! Innovation?
Extremely useful for lame-commercial ad-building.
I saw that!
I was looking for more 3D solutions in Illustrator. Like real 3D vectors instead of extrusions.
Seems more like workflow updates so that things are better organised and simpler rather than features that didn't exist before, or things you couldn't do before.
also don't forget opengl support.
By using video cards' power, panning and zooming are finally smooth and not jerky/jumpy. The image is rendered smoothly at odd percentages too.
Also, click to drag curves looks slick, I can see that being useful.
Non destructive adjustments panel is nice too, but I'm not sure if I'd use it more than adjustments layers.
By using video cards' power, panning and zooming are finally smooth and not jerky/jumpy. The image is rendered smoothly at odd percentages too.
Also, click to drag curves looks slick, I can see that being useful.
Non destructive adjustments panel is nice too, but I'm not sure if I'd use it more than adjustments layers.
I expect I'll wait until at least CS5 to upgrade (currently on CS3), but you never know.
Adobe is putting quite a bit of time into its DRM for its Digital Editions (.EPUB) and PDFs at the moment and all the form stuff in Acrobat 9. What do people think about this? Will buying and borrowing eBooks using Digital Editions take off in the same way as iTunes?
Adobe is putting quite a bit of time into its DRM for its Digital Editions (.EPUB) and PDFs at the moment and all the form stuff in Acrobat 9. What do people think about this? Will buying and borrowing eBooks using Digital Editions take off in the same way as iTunes?
Question for me is whether or not it is worth upgrading from CS2. I did not see anything compelling about CS3 (I am primarily InDesign/Photoshop/Dreamweaver) but CS2 seems (Dreamweaver especially) long in the tooth and unstable.
I'm pretty sure that CS3 is much more cooperative on Intel processors than CS2.
Seems to me that they are moving InDesign away from being print-only and more toward being a layout program to suit many needs. Being able to build interactive PDFs with Flash embedded sounds like a fantastic upgrade for ID.
Might this be the first step towards getting rid of Dreamweaver? Wouldn't you love to be able to design web pages in InDesign instead? I know I would.
I would upgrade in a heartbeat.
I'm actually thinking of ditching the Adobe workflow at home. Still only have CS1 (CS3 at work, but they paid for it
) Maybe investing in Pixelmator and Rapidweaver. My home requirements aren't crazy demanding - but I need to get into freelance sometime soon. Maybe while I'm off work this next week because of LASIK
Holy Frak, Ignatius. Hadn't thought of that before. That would be amazing.
There's still a long way to go. Print designers still have much more control over the display of their content than web designers two fundamentally different media. But being able to layout a webpage in ID would be incredible.
Interactive PDFs haven't quite hit the mainstream. I'm betting that they will very soon. Definitely within 2 years. CS5 will be out by then.
And maybe it will have better icons
There's still a long way to go. Print designers still have much more control over the display of their content than web designers two fundamentally different media. But being able to layout a webpage in ID would be incredible.
Interactive PDFs haven't quite hit the mainstream. I'm betting that they will very soon. Definitely within 2 years. CS5 will be out by then.
And maybe it will have better icons
I think the improved usability and performance features makes it worth it. But I bet older computers are going to have a hard time with it, more powerful computers that meet the requirements should perform a lot better.
I can hear the web developers/designers outside your door, I think theyre carrying pitchforks and torches.
Haha I hear that, but as someone who does extensive print work and quite a bit of web design, as well, I would give my left arm to be able to do it all in ID.
Well most of the web designers I know HATE wysiwyg stuff and are pretty anal about code. Not the point of developers where the whole website should be designed with minimal graphics and maximum code that works on a 1992 computer, but still anal enough to have streamlined code high on their list. InDesign would maim the code pretty badly since it would need to add spacing containers all over the place, it would drive most web designers who have to make large sites insane.
I like clean code as much as the next guy, but think how much easier it would be to set up CSS using an interface like InDesign.
I think one of the reasons why people dislike WYSIWYG is because of how the programs work. A program like InDesign, if it was coded to work as well for web layout as it does for print layout, could completely change things.
Ya but thats a big if, and not really a possible one because of the way html is so limited. You can do whatever you want with print design, it will always print the way it looks on screen (not counting color issues), but not in web design because you have to follow rules. If you break the rules (which is easy in wysiwyg) and do weird things then the code gets bloated with tons of spacers and other weird crap so everything is aligned and layered right (which never looks right anyways). Next thing you know you have every line of text in its own div and 800 images sliced in 5px pieces.
I don't know yet if I'll get CS4, it depends if it will run at least somewhat ok on my 1,67 ghz G4 PowerBook. I have no problem with CS3 on it, and for presenting something and working on the go maybe once a week it's certainly enough. I want to wait until there are quad core mbps next year to get a new lappi. And if I'd have to wait this long to get CS4 I might skip it entirely.
System requirements say G5 or intel (except for Illustrator) but as far as I know there is not too much of a difference between a 1,6 ghz G4 and a 1,6/1,8 ghz single G5... I'll try it with the demo and see...
System requirements say G5 or intel (except for Illustrator) but as far as I know there is not too much of a difference between a 1,6 ghz G4 and a 1,6/1,8 ghz single G5... I'll try it with the demo and see...