Adobe on Wednesday will release updates for Photoshop Lightroom and its Camera Raw plug-in. The updates bring the most current versions to 2.1 and 5.1, respectively. The updates bring raw support for 15 digital cameras, including the Canon EOS 1000D, Canon EOS 50D, Fuji FinePix IS Pro, Kodak EasyShare Z1015 IS, Leaf AFi II 6, Leaf AFi II 7, Leaf Aptus II 6, Leaf Aptus II 7, Nikon D700, Nikon D90, Nikon Coolpix P6000, Olympus SP-565 UZ, Pentax K2000, Sigma DP1, and Sony A900.
Among the changes in Lightroom 2.1 are improvements to Photoshop integration, performance improvements with Mac OS X and keyword migration from Lightroom.
Adobe will also release new camera profiles from the Adobe Labs Web site. The profiles are used to improve the default raw processing. Profiles are available for the Leica M8, Canon EOS 50D, Canon G9, Nikon D90 and Pentax models.
Lightroom 2.1 and Camera Raw 5.1 are free updates that can be downloaded from Adobe’s Web site. Reference : http://www.macworld.com/article/136290/2008/10/adobeupdates.html?lsrc=rss_main
Adobe next week will unveil Creative Suite 4, a new version of its media design bundle set to ship the following month with features such as enhanced options for working with 3D objects in Photoshop, new Flash document exports from within InDesign, and a new animation model for Flash, AppleInsider has learned।The San Jose-based software developer has confirmed the package to include new versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Flash Player, InDesign, Photoshop, and Soundbooth, but will also bundle minor updates to the suite's remaining components. Nothing revolutionaryPeople privy to private demonstrations of Creative Suite 4 say the update will generally be minor, with only a few new features tacked on to each application. "The lack of compelling new features has been the discussion among many employees and customers that are testing the software," one of those people said, "with many relating CS4 to a maintenance release rather than a complete new version." Photoshop CS4Photoshop's new 3D feature, which allows 3D objects to be imported as wireframes, stands to benefit only a small group of users such as architects, engineers, and package designers, according to those familiar with the software. Some also describe the application's new interface (shown below) as a step backwards. Information from entire screens and dialog boxes is now fitted to a small palette with the goal of making the interface look consistent with the other applications, they say.The new version of Photoshop will also feature a Flash services panel, natural canvas rotation, content aware image resizing and deliver 64-bit support for Windows users.InDesign CS4One of the big features of InDesign CS4 will be a new Flash export option, but those familiar with the product say the feature is somewhat impractical, given that text can only be edited one line at a time after it's exported. InDesign files exported to Flash may also not contain any multimedia content such as movies because they'll get stripped out in the conversion process and need to be re-added using Flash.Unlike the new Photoshop interface (detailed below), InDesign CS4 uses a more conventional layout, with a standard document window and Office-style floating palette menus. Flash CS4Among the new features of Flash CS4 are a completely new "and proper" timeline dubbed Motion Editor, as well as a new object-based motion tween model. While some have praised the Flash's new animation model as "the best thing" to happen to the software, others believe it may present a new learning curve that further fragments the Flash community. "The reengineered file format means that the Flash community, still split between ActionScript 2 and 3, will now be split with new source file formats," one person said.Screen SharingAnother big push behind CS4 will be collaboration. Leveraging its web conferencing business and Connect software, Adobe has built a new feature into all CS4 applications that will allow users to initiate a screen-sharing sessions from the File Menu.Kuler CorrectionKuler, Adobe's color creation and sharing product, will also be available across all the CS4 programs, and each product in the suite will ship with a feature called Adobe Drive to help share files between programs. New Tabbed Window InterfaceThe user interface for each application will also see minor changes. The most notable differences include a tabbed interface to switch between open documents, and a workspace switching menu to choose which menus and palettes are displayed. Also somewhat controversial is Adobe's effort to rework the title bar on both Windows and the Mac to a new design that doesn't follow the human interface guidelines of either, although this is only carried forward in specific applications in the suite. In a confidential note to beta testers, Adobe wrote "the advantages of this new unifying App bar are: On Windows, it saves vertical real estate by combining title bar, main menu bar, and windowing controls in a single row; emphasizes task-based workspaces; up-levels and exposes commonly used View controls (currently hidden in bottom status bars or in menus); allows for cross-suite common controls such as UI Search and Multiple Monitor controls; unifies user experience across the CS applications.""On the Mac," Adobe said, "the main menus are not moving to the Application bar but instead remain at the top of the main monitor."Photoshop CS4 (below) shows the new title bar with tools adjacent to the close, minimize, and zoom buttons, as well as the tabbed document interface, 3D menu, and other pulldowns. Pricing People familiar with Adobe's plans say the company will continue to offer multiple versions of the Creative Suite, continuing with the same suite configurations। Upgrades for the most popular suite, Design Premium, are expected to be priced at $699. Reference : http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/09/17/adobe_creative_suite_4_details_emerge.html
After Adobe Systems asked them to keep quiet about their findings, two security researchers have pulled out of a technical talk where they were going to demonstrate how they could seize control of a victim's browser using an online attack called 'clickjacking।' Robert Hansen and Jeremiah Grossman had been set to deliver their talk next week at the OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) conference in New York. But the proof of concept code they'd developed to show how their clickjacking attack worked divulged a bug in one of Adobe's products. After a week of discussions with Adobe, the researchers decided last Friday to pull the talk. Although Hansen and Grossman believe that the clickjacking flaw ultimately lies in the way that Internet browsers are designed, Adobe convinced them to hold off on their discussion until they could release a patch. "Adobe thinks they can do something to make the hack harder," said Grossman, CTO with White Hat Security, in an interview. In a clickjacking attack, the attacker tricks the victim into clicking on malicious Web links without realizing it. This type of attack has been known for years, but had not been considered to be particularly dangerous. Security experts had thought it could be used to commit advertising click fraud or to inflate Digg ratings for a Web page, for example. However, in writing their proof-of-concept code, Hansen and Grossman realized that clickjacking was actually more serious than they'd first thought. "When we finally built it and got the proof of concept it was quite nasty," said Grossman. "If I control what you click on, how much bad can I do? It turns out you can do a number of really, really bad things." Neither Grossman nor Hansen, CEO of consultancy SecTheory, wanted to get into specifics of their attack. However, Tom Brennan, the OWASP conference organizer said that he has seen the attack code demonstrated and that it allows the attacker to take complete control of the victim's desktop. The researchers say that they were not pressured by Adobe to drop their talk. "This is not an evil 'the man is trying to keep us hackers down' situation," Hansen wrote Monday on his blog. Late Monday, Adobe posted a note, thanking the researchers for keeping the bug private and indicating that the company is working on patching the problem. Even if disclosing the bug may help attackers, OWASP's Brennan said that the researchers should still go ahead and give their talk in order to give IT professionals an opportunity to understand the real nature of the threat. "There is a zero-day problem in browsers that is affecting millions of people today," he said. "When a person discusses it, it puts everyone on the same playing field." Hansen and Grossman say that they also expect Microsoft to patch a related bug in Internet Explorer, and that many other browsers are also affected by the clickjacking problem। "We believe it is more or less a browser security problem," Grossman said. Reference : http://www.macworld.com/article/135587/2008/09/clickjack.html?lsrc=rss_main
A nearly feature complete beta version of Adobe AIR for Linux is now available on Adobe Labs. Following a couple prerelease versions that contained limited functionality, this new version, referred to as the Adobe AIR 1.1 for Linux beta, includes almost all the same functionality as the release versions of Adobe AIR for Mac and Windows — the primary feature still missing is badge installer compatibility. More details can be found in the release notes। Linux users and Adobe AIR developers should download this new beta. Reference : http://weblogs.macromedia.com/labs/archives/2008/09/adobe_air_for_l.html
Adobe on Monday announced it has acquired Danish imaging software maker YaWah ApS to expand the use of Adobe Scene7 software in Europe. The two companies provide rich-media software used to manage and distribute dynamic content, including changing images and text fields, in Internet stores. Adobe plans to make use of YaWah's client lists as well as integrate some of its technology into Scene7. Terms of the deal were not disclosed। Adobe said the deal will not have a material impact on fiscal 2008 earnings. Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/151068/.html?tk=rss_news
Adobe will officially announce Creative Suite 4 on September 23, 2008. The company will also host a webcast introducing the products to the public. Creative Suite is a collection of Adobe applications that the company sells to help professionals be more efficient. For instance, Adobe currently sells Production Premium, Web Premium, and a Master Collection, all targeted to different market segments. Creative Suite 3 included InDesign, Acrobat, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop and Premiere Pro. The Adobe webcast introducing the suite will take place on September 23, 2008 at 9:00 am ET. You can register for the webcast online। Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/150661/.html?tk=rss_news
Adobe plans to offer its customers the first overview of Creative Suite 4।0 later this month and could be ready to deliver the software to market as early as this fall, according to those close to the company.The Mountain View, Calif-based software maker released public betas of CS4-bound applications Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth in late May, but has kept secret its plans for some of the suite's more prominent components, namely Photoshop and Flash.That's about to change. The company this week began notifying its customers that it intends to host a webcast covering its next-generation software bundle at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, September 23rd. "Are you ready for something brilliant?," the company wrote on the digital registration form for the presentation. "Be one of the first to see Adobe Creative Suite 4.0 in a special web broadcast."Word of the event comes amid an increasing number of reports from Adobe's partners who say the company is aiming for a near 18-month refresh cycle of its bread and butter software suite, with a release as early as October. This comes despite earlier claims of an October release that were hotly contested by company representatives.Creative Suite 3.0, which delivered universal binaries of all major component applications for the Mac, was announced in March of 2007. Adobe offered several different editions or bundles of the suite when it began shipping between the months of April and June that year.People familiar with the ongoing development of Creative Suite 4.0 say a good chunk of Adobe's resources for the project were devoted to bringing two applications acquired from Macromedia -- Dreamweaver and Fireworks -- up to spec with its existing flagship offerings. However, the company is expected to tout a handful of significant enhancements to both Photoshop and Flash.For example, the company is expected to announce that Photoshop CS4 (codenamed Stonehenge) will be capable of pulling in 3D objects as wireframes. Although UV mapping won't be supported, the feature will reportedly allow sales teams to perform quick color changes and color corrections. The new version of Photoshop will also feature a Flash services panel, natural canvas rotation, content aware image resizing and deliver 64-bit support for Windows users।Separately, Adobe is planning a slew of enhancements in Flash CS4 (codenamed Diesel) that have resonated well with early testers, leading some to bill upgrade as "the best thing" to happen to Flash in quite some time. Among these will be a completely new "and proper" timeline dubbed Motion Editor, as well as a new object-based motion tween model.Other enhancements bound for Flash CS4 reportedly include an "Inverse kinematics" tool for building complex animations and 3D rotation support. Reference : http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/09/02/adobe_set_to_take_the_wraps_off_creative_suite_4_0.html
Noise Industries on Friday announced the release of FxFactory 2.0.4, an update to their collection of visual effects plug-ins for the Mac. A free update for registered users, FxFactory Pro 2.0.4 costs $399. FxFactory 2.0.4 includes more than 300 visual effects plug-ins designed for real-time performance. Capabilities include blurs, color correction, distortions, glows, half-tones and stylization filters, generators and transitions. The software is designed to use the system graphics card to offset rendering times and preview functions. Already compatible with Apple's Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro digital video editing software, FxFactory Pro 2।0.4 gains native support for Adobe After Effects CS3 as well. Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/149612/2008/08/.html?tk=rss_news
Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 has been out for less then a day, and I've already heard from a number of people asking about the new version released Tuesday. A few current users have asked if it's worth the US$99 upgrade from Lightroom 1.0. Others who have been on the fence about investing in a $299 photo workflow tool have asked about what Adobe did that make Lightroom 2.0 an improvement over the initial release. (I've also gotten a couple of the inevitable, "Which do I choose: Aperture or Lightroom?" questions, to which I say, download the 30-day demos and see which one feels right to you.) I'm currently working on Macworld's review of Lightroom 2.0, but here's a quick summary of five key enhancements that I think make it a compelling upgrade. Selective editing One of the problems with the first version of Lightroom was its lack of selection-based adjustments. Any changes you made to a photo were applied to the entire image. For many photos, this wasn't a problem--changing the exposure, color balance, or other tonal setting throughout an image made sense. But, if you had an image that had a perfectly exposed sky and an underexposed foreground, for example, you couldn't selectively change the foreground without making the sky look bad. To make those types of changes in Lightroom 1.0, you needed Photoshop or another image-editing application. You would edit the image out of Lightroom, and then have to deal with a second version (or third or fourth, depending upon how much you edited it) of a photo in your Lightroom library. Lightroom 2.0's Adjustment Brush tool addresses that shortcoming by letting you create masks that change only the parts of a photo you want to alter. With the brushes, you select the type of enhancement you want and whether you want to increase or decrease the effect; then, simply "paint" with your mouse over the area you want to change. If you brush a little aggressively in places, you can hold down the Option key and brush the areas you don't want affected. In the image shown below, I've used an Exposure-based Adjustment Brush to darken the areas around my subject. (The area in red is the actual masked area--Lightroom lets you toggle that overlay view on and off when you are painting an effect.) The Adjustment Brush works with the primary Lightroom image-adjustment controls--Exposure, Saturation, Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness, Clarity and Color--and you can mix and match those controls on any masked region. You can also save a specific group of settings as a preset, and Adobe includes a Soften Skin preset that works surprisingly well. And, if you want more than a brush, Lightroom 2.0 includes a Graduated Effect tool that works in a similar manner, letting you add an effect that gradually increases or decreases across an area you choose. Better filtering tools Finding images in your catalog with Lightroom 1.0 wasn't the most straightforward process, although, once you got the hang of the program's idiosyncrasies, it worked. With Version 2.0, finding and filtering your images is much easier, via the new Library Filter bar, which puts all of the primary search options right at the top of the screen. From that one location, you can search for text associated with your photos (file name, keywords, captions, and so forth); attributes like rating, color label, and flag; and any camera metadata saved with an image. The great thing about the Filter bar is that it quickly and easily lets you get to a group of images based upon multiple criteria. I was able to quickly select all images shot with a Canon EOS 5D and the 85mm f/1.2 lens that had a minimum rating of two stars and had my "To Print" label applied. It was possible to get to this refined group of images with Lightroom 1.x, but nowhere near as quickly. As an added bonus, I can now save my filters as presets. Smart albums Apple's Aperture, iTunes, and iPhoto have had them for years, and Adobe finally has Smart Album skin in the game with Lightroom 2.0--they're just called Smart Collections. As is the case with Apple's apps, you can create a collection (Lightroom's term for a photo album) of photos using a set of criteria (identical to that used in the Filter bar), and then save it as a set that automatically updates as you add and edit images in your library. It's a small, but extremely welcome, enhancement. Multiple monitor support A major productivity enhancer that both Photoshop and Aperture have--support for more than one display--is now part of Lightroom. Many photographers work in the field on a portable, and then have a second display in their studio, which gives them much more space to compare, sort, select, and edit images. Again, it's a little thing, but for many of us, it will make Lightroom a much more powerful tool. Better Photoshop integration Lightroom doesn't pretend to be an all-things-to-all-people type of application, and it lacks the deep compositing and editing functionality that you find in a program like Photoshop. Version 1.0 had the capability to export photos to Photoshop, letting you make adjustments and save your edits back in Lightroom as a copy. With Lightroom 2.0, Adobe has made it a bit easier to "round-trip" your photos with Photoshop. There are menu options for automatically creating panoramas and high dynamic range (HDR) images from a selection of photos, and you can also open up a Lightroom image as a Smart Object layer in Photoshop, which lets you preserve changes made in Photoshop in Lightroom. This latter feature is tremendously important if you want to make further changes to a photo that has already been edited; your changes are preserved when you return to Photoshop. There are a few more changes under the hood, but these five are the ones that have made the most impact on me as I've been working with the betas and the final release of Lightroom 2।0. Stay tuned for the final review. Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/149113/2008/07/.html?tk=rss_news
Adobe on Tuesday officially released Photoshop Lightroom 2, a product that was first released as a beta in April 2008. Lightroom has many new features including being Adobe's first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5. Tom Hogarty, senior product manager for Lightroom and Camera Raw at Adobe, told Macworld that the Lightroom 2 beta was downloaded 130,000 times. The company received a lot of valuable feedback about the new features and some insight into how professional photographers were using the application during the beta process. One of the ways that a photographer's workflow is changing is with the use of Raw image format. Adobe is supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers are used to seeing from their favorite camera. This means that a photographer can use a profile to match what they see when they take the picture or build their own profile to suit their own preference. Profiles can be created by photographers using the DNG Profile Editor and Camera Raw 4.5, also being released today. The Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in and DNG Converter 4.5 are available for download and support over 190 camera models. Among the changes made in the new version of Lightroom is the ability to visually organize images across multiple hard drives. As more professional photographers use the Raw format, multiple hard drives are becoming the norm in the industry, making this an important feature. New features like Suggested Keyword aim to make the mundane task of keywording images more intuitive. The application suggests keywords based on your keywording habits. For instance, if you go to the beach and always take your dog, when you enter the keyword "beach," Lightroom will probably suggest "dog" as the next keyword. Hogarty said that Local brush enhancements, library filleting tools and output sharpening refinements were major topics of discussion among photographers during the beta period. Now, using the Develop module, the Local Adjustment Brush allows photographers to adjust color, exposure and tonal range of specific areas, without affecting other areas of the image. A new Graduated Filter allows users to edit larger areas by applying gradually diminishing or increasing adjustment effects such as exposure, clarity, and saturation, alone, or in any combination, according to Adobe. Other changes in Lightroom 2 include dual-monitor support, Library Filter Bar, and streamlined search capabilities. Lightroom 2 is available immediately for US$299 or $99 for an upgrade for qualifying Lightroom customers। Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/149089/2008/07/.html?tk=rss_news
Following an earlier open beta, Adobe on Tuesday released version 2।0 of its Photoshop Lightroom post production photography software, which stands as the company's first application to run 64-bit-native on Apple's Mac OS X Leopard operating system.The San Jose-based software developer is particularly proud of the accomplishment given that Lightroom's main competitor, Apple's Aperture, has yet to see native 64-bit support. Adobe has committed to delivering 64-bit versions of Photoshop and its other Creative Suite applications, but said earlier this year that those updates will take considerably longer due to Apple's decision to scrap plans for a 64-bit version of its Carbon developer tool set.For Lightroom 2.0, 64-bit support will allow the application to address large amounts of memory in excess of 4 gigabytes, which will speed up overall performance for photographers dealing with large scale images that must be swapped into and out of memory during processing-intensive operations.The software also aims to streamline and accelerate photographers’ workflows through an enhanced Library module featuring the ability to visually organize images across multiple hard drives. A Library Filter Bar and Suggested Keywords feature work towards simplifying the search and retrieval process.Two other highly touted features of Lightroom 2.0 are dual-monitor support for maximizing workspace and more efficient printing tools. For instance, the software now arranges photos of multiple sizes on one or many pages with customizable templates to maximize paper and ink. Intelligent algorithms then automatically determine optimal sharpening for screen or print, producing crisper images faster.Adobe is also rolling out new RAW technology that gives photographers access to flexible camera profiles that will help reduce unexpected changes in the quality of their photographs. "Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, but image preferences vary for every photographer," the company siad. "To minimize surprises, Adobe is supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers are used to seeing from their favorite camera, while also providing the ability to create highly customized profiles to suit different tastes."Camera profiles are available for immediate download on Adobe Labs for use with Lightroom 2 and Camera RAW 4.5, along with a DNG Profile Editor for the community to test and create their own profiles. The tools currently support over 190 camera models including the Olympus E 420 and E 520 models.Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available for immediate download (or shipping) through the Adobe Store in English, French and German with the Japanese language version planned to be released at a future date। New licenses cost $299 and upgrades fetch $99. Reference : http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/29/photoshop_lightroom_2_released_as_adobes_first_64_bit_mac_app.html
onOne Software has announced the release of Plug-In Suite 4 for Adobe Photoshop. The collection of Photoshop plug-ins costs US$499.95, or $199.95 to upgrade. Plug-In Suite 4 combines full versions of six software tools developed by onOne, including Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro, which helps you resize images by more than 1,000 percent with no loss of detail; PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition, which uses Photoshop Actions to create effects that can be stacked and blended like filters; PhotoFrame 3.1 Professional Edition, used to create border and edge effects; Mask Pro 4.1, a high-quality masking and selection tool that works with difficult subjects like hair and glass; PhotoTune 2.2, a color correction tool; and FocalPoint 1.0, a new plug-in that simulates selective focus or tilt-shift lenses. System requirements call for Mac OS X 10।4.8 or later, Photoshop CS2 or CS3 or Photoshop Elements 4 or later, 512MB RAM, 3GB hard disk space, DVD drive, Adobe Flash Player 9. Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,147493-pg,1/article.html
Adobe on Tuesday offered a sneak peek at the next release of its Creative Suite design bundle by releasing limited public betas of new versions Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth.The San Jose-based software developer said the Dreamweaver beta for Web design and development, the Fireworks beta for prototyping, and the Soundbooth beta for creating and editing audio, demonstrate a new direction for Creative Suite in which new features and technologies will simplify and streamline design and development workflows across all media types.“Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth are the major applications we’re unveiling as public betas before the next release of Creative Suite,” said David Burkett, vice president of product management for Adobe Creative Suite. “This early release software gives our loyal customers a taste of the radical workflow enhancements that we have in store, as we redefine how designers and developers collaborate to deliver stand-out digital experiences.”Dreamweaver CS4Adobe said the Dreamweaver public beta includes a new Related Files Toolbar and Code Navigator feature that allows users to dive deep into complex pages that include HTML files, links to JavaScript documents and integrated XML data. Users can see related files in the Related Files Toolbar and with Code Navigator make changes to code that appears in various parts of a document just with one update. The update to Dreamweaver also features a new Live View Mode, which is based on the open source rendering engine Webkit from Apple, and enables users to see content in real-world, real-time environments without having to leave Dreamweaver to preview in a browser. The feature also gives users the ability to freeze JavaScript language to debug interactive pages as well as view and interact with Flash content.Fireworks CS4Meanwhile, Adobe said fresh features in the Fireworks beta include a new user interface that is now consistent with other applications within the Creative Suite, making it easier for users to switch between applications that now have a universal look and feel. In addition, Fireworks beta now allows users to export design comps as high fidelity, interactive, and secure Adobe PDF documents for enhanced client communication. Fireworks beta is also now compatible with Adobe AIR, HTML, Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex Builder so users can create their design once and deploy to whichever application platform is required by clients.Soundbooth CS4For its part, the Soundbooth beta showcases a host of new features aimed at allowing creative professionals to complete their audio production tasks more efficiently, including the new multiple track support which allows users to edit multiple audio clips on a number of tracks, and the new ability for users to match volume levels across audio files. Also included is the capability to preview MP3 compression settings before saving them and a new speech recognition technology that lets users create transcripts of dialogue tracks quickly and search them for words and phrases within a timeline.How the betas workAdobe says the three betas, once downloaded and launched, will be active for 48 hours after which time only CS3 customers will have extended access. Existing CS3 license holders will be able to use their CS3 product serial numbers to unlock the betas and use them for free until the next version of Creative Suite becomes available. Adobe added that the betas will give users an opportunity to deliver feedback to the company, via Adobe Labs, for future product development Reference : http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/05/27/adobe_previews_creative_suite_4_0_with_new_beta_releases.html
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