Adobe CS4 Is Out -- Impressions/Reviews

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
PC World's Photoshop CS4 Impressions:
In the 64-bit version, I was able to create and work with an image of 45,000 pixels by 45,000 pixels, for a total of a little over 2000 megapixels and a 5.6GB file size. Obviously, most people don't need that sort of capability, but many professional photographers shoot with large- or medium-format cameras with digital backs that can capture nearly 40 megapixels or even higher, and they often create much larger compositions. Adobe says that Photoshop keeps its editing history in RAM for as long as possible, too, so even if you're working with smaller images but making lots of edits to them, allocating more RAM will help you in that situation as well. For people who do work on very large images, it's probably more cost-effective to buy more RAM for your PC than to buy large RAID systems, and Photoshop will probably perform better.

Running the 64-bit version will provide little performance benefit other than the ability to address more RAM. And even a system with lots of RAM won't be able to avoid reading and writing data to your hard disk--a process that still proves time-consuming. I got to watch a dialog box for a coffee-break-length period when I asked Photoshop to apply a simple monochrome gradient to my 5.6GB file.
Click to expand...
Owners of systems using OpenGL graphics cards will enjoy additional performance enhancements. After enabling a preference setting, you can zoom with infinite smoothness (rather than in steps) by holding down a key: If you hold down the H key while zooming, it zips to 100 percent so you can locate where in an image you want to work--at which point the view zips back in to the previous magnification. Furthermore, you can hold down a key to resize brushes on the fly, and adjust their hardness. I found that latter function particularly time-saving when performing such operations as cloning and healing. OpenGL rendering also eliminates jagginess in the display of images at odd magnification percentages. For example, if you look at an electrical line at 27 percent on a system without OpenGL rendering, the line will appear jagged; view it at 25 percent or 50 percent, and the line will look straight. With Photoshop CS4, the line will look straight no matter what the magnification is, as long as your system has an OpenGL-compatible graphics card.
Click to expand...

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/35706/review/photoshop_cs4.html

Also, wtf at no 64-bit version for MacOSX?

Pricing:

Creative Suite 4
Design Premium

* Buy US$1,799
* Upgrade from US$599
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Design Standard

* Buy US$1,399
* Upgrade from US$499
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Web Premium

* Buy US$1,699
* Upgrade from US$599
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Web Standard

* Buy US$999
* Upgrade from US$399
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Production Premium

* Buy US$1,699
* Upgrade from US$599
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Master Collection

* Buy US$2,499
* Upgrade from US$899
* Learn more

More info: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/

Anybody have impressions on the suite so far? Most interested in Photoshop and Flash.
 
reilo said:
Also, wtf at no 64-bit version for MacOSX?
Click to expand...

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/04/photoshop_lr_64.html

As we wrapped up Photoshop CS3, our plan was to ship 64-bit versions of the next version of Photoshop for both Mac and Windows. On the Mac Photoshop (like the rest of the Creative Suite, not to mention applications like Apple's Final Cut Pro and iTunes) relies on Apple's Carbon technology. Apple's OS team was busy enabling a 64-bit version of Carbon, a prerequisite for letting Carbon-based apps run 64-bit-native.

At the WWDC show last June, however, Adobe & other developers learned that Apple had decided to stop their Carbon 64 efforts. This means that 64-bit Mac apps need to be written to use Cocoa (as Lightroom is) instead of Carbon. This means that we'll need to rewrite large parts of Photoshop and its plug-ins (potentially affecting over a million lines of code) to move it from Carbon to Cocoa.

Now let me be very clear about something: It's entirely Apple's call about what's best for the Mac OS and how to spend their engineering cycles. Like any development team, they have finite resources & need to spend them judiciously. They've decided that Carbon 64 doesn't belong on their roadmap, and we respect their decision. It's up to Adobe to adapt to the new plan.

As soon as we got the news in June, we began adjusting our product development plans. No one has ever ported an application the size of Photoshop from Carbon to Cocoa (as I mentioned earlier, after 9 years as an Apple product Final Cut Pro remains Carbon-based), so we're dealing with unknown territory. We began training our engineers to rewrite code in Objective C (instead of C++), and they began prototyping select areas to get a better view of the overall effort.
Click to expand...
 
Max@GC said:
Is there a list with improvements of photoshop cs4 and after effects cs4 towards cs3?
Click to expand...

My question as well. 64 though, whoo. Wondering if it's worth the upgrade for me (yes I actually buy Photoshop lolol).
 
The OpenGL acceleration truly rocks my world. Everything feels much more responsive.

The interface changes to AE are pretty sweet, the color palette change reminds me more of Combustion (which I would use if it weren't for how damn well Adobe has integrated their lineup). Haven't gotten into the new features that much as I'm just tinkering while working on something for deadline. But I was able to really push my current project thanks to the increased responsiveness and optimizations.
 
DataStream said:
The OpenGL acceleration truly rocks my world. Everything feels much more responsive.

The interface changes to AE are pretty sweet, the color palette change reminds me more of Combustion (which I would use if it weren't for how damn well Adobe has integrated their lineup). Haven't gotten into the new features that much as I'm just tinkering while working on something for deadline. But I was able to really push my current project thanks to the increased responsiveness and optimizations.
Click to expand...
Damn, that's nice to know!

If I get this job applied for, I'm buying this + a shiny new MacBook Pro [waiting on the 17"!].
 
Photoshop CS4 is nice, using the OpenGL enhancements it certainly makes zooming in a smoother affair - it also loads up and loads images considerably faster than CS3, although my CS3 may have been a bit bogged down towards the end.

I don't like the way windows works in it now, images have lost their tab so to minimize/maximize them you seem to need to drag them, I'm sure I'll get used to it though I don't really see the point.

Another plus is since installing it my Pen Tablet has stopped having so many driver issues, so it doesn't loose it's touch sensitivity in PS until I restart, could just be a coincidence.
 
I'm so fucking pissed these programs are so expensive. Flash CS4 is like $800. For ONE PROGRAM IT'S ALMOST A GRAND. That's almost three times what I pay each month for my Mercedes Benz. Fucking ridiculous, how the hell are students supposed to afford these programs? The entire CS4 is $2500. Unbelievable. I want Flash CS4 really bad, the new "bones" feature alone looks remarkable, but there's no way in hell I could ever pony up that amount of cash for a single program that'll be replaced in the amount of time it'd take for me to pay it off a credit card.

Arrgh. Stupid Adobe and their money grubbing ways. >:(
 
WordAssassin said:
I'm so fucking pissed these programs are so expensive. Flash CS4 is like $800. For ONE PROGRAM IT'S ALMOST A GRAND. That's almost three times what I pay each month for my Mercedes Benz. Fucking ridiculous, how the hell are students supposed to afford these programs? The entire CS4 is $2500. Unbelievable. I want Flash CS4 really bad, the new "bones" feature alone looks remarkable, but there's no way in hell I could ever pony up that amount of cash for a single program that'll be replaced in the amount of time it'd take for me to pay it off a credit card.

Arrgh. Stupid Adobe and their money grubbing ways. >:(
Click to expand...
I didn't know students even paid for Adobe products. Not when I was in school!
 
WordAssassin said:
I'm so fucking pissed these programs are so expensive. Flash CS4 is like $800. For ONE PROGRAM IT'S ALMOST A GRAND. That's almost three times what I pay each month for my Mercedes Benz. Fucking ridiculous, how the hell are students supposed to afford these programs? The entire CS4 is $2500. Unbelievable. I want Flash CS4 really bad, the new "bones" feature alone looks remarkable, but there's no way in hell I could ever pony up that amount of cash for a single program that'll be replaced in the amount of time it'd take for me to pay it off a credit card.

Arrgh. Stupid Adobe and their money grubbing ways. >:(
Click to expand...

If you've purchased an older version of Flash, you can get the upgrade version which is considerably less expensive. This is also true of any other Adobe product. AFAIK, the suite upgrade only requires a legit Photoshop license. That's your best bang-for-buck.
 
WordAssassin said:
I'm so fucking pissed these programs are so expensive. Flash CS4 is like $800. For ONE PROGRAM IT'S ALMOST A GRAND. That's almost three times what I pay each month for my Mercedes Benz. Fucking ridiculous, how the hell are students supposed to afford these programs? The entire CS4 is $2500. Unbelievable. I want Flash CS4 really bad, the new "bones" feature alone looks remarkable, but there's no way in hell I could ever pony up that amount of cash for a single program that'll be replaced in the amount of time it'd take for me to pay it off a credit card.

Arrgh. Stupid Adobe and their money grubbing ways. >:(
Click to expand...

oh please. You should be able to make $800 with one flash job.
 
Flo_Evans said:
oh please. You should be able to make $800 with one flash job.
Click to expand...
I don't use it for "jobs" I use Flash as means to animate short films for school or film festivals. I have a car payment ($310), insurance ($110), phone bill ($70) and rent ($500) to pay each month, and I work full time, which brings home just enough to cover those four things plus a bit extra for gas (my car needs premium) and food. Add to that I have a credit limit of $500, and yeah, buying a single $800 piece of software really isn't feasible for me. Especially considering I'm going to go back to school next year, which could cost anything from $17,000 to $38,000 a semester. I have a hard time fitting in a single $50 game into my budget, let alone something that costs $800 that I won't even be able to use properly (since my Acer C310 just ate shit and died last weekend, RIP.)

Did I mention I have a girlfriend? Those eat money pretty nicely too.

;__;

Edit: Oh God the new keyframe and motion editor and animation path editors all over my face.
 
WordAssassin said:
I don't use it for "jobs" I use Flash as means to animate short films for school or film festivals. I have a car payment ($310), insurance ($110), phone bill ($70) and rent ($500) to pay each month, and I work full time, which brings home just enough to cover those four things plus a bit extra for gas (my car needs premium) and food. Add to that I have a credit limit of $500, and yeah, buying a single $800 piece of software really isn't feasible for me. Especially considering I'm going to go back to school next year, which could cost anything from $17,000 to $38,000 a semester. I have a hard time fitting in a single $50 game into my budget, let alone something that costs $800 that I won't even be able to use properly (since my Acer C310 just ate shit and died last weekend, RIP.)

Did I mention I have a girlfriend? Those eat money pretty nicely too.

;__;
Click to expand...
If you're not using Flash to make money, stop using Flash.

$800 is like less than a day's worth of billable work. For the amount of time I spend in Adobe's applications, the price is actually rather low. Think about it: nearly every image on any website is a result of Photoshop. Flash is the standard for embedding videos now. Illustrator is used to make just about every icon or vector you'll ever see. These products make the Internet.
 
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
If you're not using Flash to make money, stop using Flash.

$800 is like less than a day's worth of billable work. For the amount of time I spend in Adobe's applications, the price is actually rather low. Think about it: nearly every image on any website is a result of Photoshop. Flash is the standard for embedding videos now. These products make the Internet.
Click to expand...
If there's something out there that has a timeline like Flash has and the ability to use movie clips like Flash does and is great for keyframe animating like Flash is, please, please tell me what it is. The only other thing I know of is Toon Boom Studio, and I can't make heads or tails of it. I learned Flash in school and that's what I know. Is there like a GIMP for Flash like there is for Photoshop?

Edit: Holy shit at Student Edition's pricing. Wow. See? This is what I meant when I said "how can students afford these things?" That's an insane discount. Hmmmm.... Who do I know that's currently a student that can buy this for me....

Edit 2: Hmmmwahahaha, SBCC has it as an online reseller. Time to dial in my GF for a birthday present....!
 
reilo said:
Pricing:

Creative Suite 4
Design Premium

* Buy US$1,799
* Upgrade from US$599
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Design Standard

* Buy US$1,399
* Upgrade from US$499
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Web Premium

* Buy US$1,699
* Upgrade from US$599
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Web Standard

* Buy US$999
* Upgrade from US$399
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Production Premium

* Buy US$1,699
* Upgrade from US$599
* Learn more

Creative Suite 4
Master Collection

* Buy US$2,499
* Upgrade from US$899
* Learn more

More info: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/

Anybody have impressions on the suite so far? Most interested in Photoshop and Flash.
Click to expand...

And once again, Photoshop costs an arm and a leg. Adobe will never learn.
 
WordAssassin said:
If there's something out there that has a timeline like Flash has and the ability to use movie clips like Flash does and is great for keyframe animating like Flash is, please, please tell me what it is. The only other thing I know of is Toon Boom Studio, and I can't make heads or tails of it. I learned Flash in school and that's what I know. Is there like a GIMP for Flash like there is for Photoshop?
Click to expand...
You missed my point entirely. If you're not using Flash to make money, you shouldn't be using Flash. It's not made so powerful just so it can be used for funsies. If you are as good at it as you say you are, you should be bringing in some cash with it to pay for itself. Just one single day of some sort of project should do it.

Pellham said:
And once again, Photoshop costs an arm and a leg. Adobe will never learn.
Click to expand...
Man if only they'd make it cheaper. People may actually use it then! It could become the standard in image editing!
 
WordAssasin: 'Damn my mercedes benz and new girlfriend eating up all my money. How am I supposed to afford Flash when I need to keep my merc running. The premium on my merc blah blah blah. MERCEDES MERCEDES MERCEDES! Why oh why can't I afford Flash?! ;_;'
 
WordAssassin said:
I'm so fucking pissed these programs are so expensive. Flash CS4 is like $800. For ONE PROGRAM IT'S ALMOST A GRAND. That's almost three times what I pay each month for my Mercedes Benz. Fucking ridiculous, how the hell are students supposed to afford these programs? The entire CS4 is $2500. Unbelievable. I want Flash CS4 really bad, the new "bones" feature alone looks remarkable, but there's no way in hell I could ever pony up that amount of cash for a single program that'll be replaced in the amount of time it'd take for me to pay it off a credit card.

Arrgh. Stupid Adobe and their money grubbing ways. >:(
Click to expand...
Sorry those programs are not for amateurs doing this from their basement. The price is trivial is you do actual work with it.
 
I've got CS4 Production Premium. Love it.

WordAssassin said:
I'm so fucking pissed these programs are so expensive. Flash CS4 is like $800. For ONE PROGRAM IT'S ALMOST A GRAND. That's almost three times what I pay each month for my Mercedes Benz. Fucking ridiculous, how the hell are students supposed to afford these programs?
Click to expand...

By using the education discount?

Flash CS4 Pro, $249:

http://www.adobe.com/education/purchasing/education_pricing.html
 
Pellham said:
And once again, Photoshop costs an arm and a leg. Adobe will never learn.
Click to expand...

Those prices are low compared to the prices of the engineering software used in my field. Furthermore, Adobe does sell a cheaper version of Photoshop - Elements.
 
Why are people complaining about the price? It's well worth it. If you know how to use Flash, you can earn enough for the master collection in a week.

Look forward to getting CS4, it looks amazing, Flash CS4 makes things almost too easy!
 
WordAssassin said:
If there's something out there that has a timeline like Flash has and the ability to use movie clips like Flash does and is great for keyframe animating like Flash is, please, please tell me what it is. The only other thing I know of is Toon Boom Studio, and I can't make heads or tails of it. I learned Flash in school and that's what I know. Is there like a GIMP for Flash like there is for Photoshop?
Click to expand...


After Effects sounds more applicable to your uses...

and it can even export in .swf... :P
 
WordAssassin said:
I'm so fucking pissed these programs are so expensive. Flash CS4 is like $800. For ONE PROGRAM IT'S ALMOST A GRAND. That's almost three times what I pay each month for my Mercedes Benz. Fucking ridiculous, how the hell are students supposed to afford these programs? The entire CS4 is $2500. Unbelievable. I want Flash CS4 really bad, the new "bones" feature alone looks remarkable, but there's no way in hell I could ever pony up that amount of cash for a single program that'll be replaced in the amount of time it'd take for me to pay it off a credit card.

Arrgh. Stupid Adobe and their money grubbing ways. >:(
Click to expand...
Erhm, most students can buy the entire suite for under $400-600:

http://journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?ItmNo=40181031
 
StopMakingSense said:
Wow, after 10 versions or so Flash finally has a usable client.
Click to expand...

Eh, what do you mean? Speed-wise? Developer-wise? Overall usability-wise?
 
Phoenix said:
Pretty much. Apple's treatment of Carbon64 was pretty shitty - a new Apple low. Apple really treats its development community/business partners like a 'necessary evil' in many instances.
Click to expand...
carbon needed to die anyway.
 
The only Adobe App I use is Photoshop and so far it's pretty nice. Give me some more time to find it's sweet spots I just upgraded about an hour ago. Content-Aware Scaling is certainly as awesome as it looks.

I like the interface better, the tabs are a simple yet awesome addition.

Ripclawe said:
No trial version to download?
Click to expand...
I don't think there's a Mac version but if you do some digging I think there's a windows version.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Boogie2988 crashes out and smashes table
9
1K
AJUMP23 replied
Is Pixar out of originality?
2
66
4K
Ophiuchus replied
Why is Inside Out 2 so successful?
35
2K
SlimySnake replied
Ignoring the Pyramids what is the most famous or most impressive ancient structure in the world to you?
Opinion  2 3
105
3K
jason10mm replied
Adobe Photoshop new terms wants to moderate content of your active projects
2
63
7K
DKehoe replied
Top Bottom