5 Cool Features in Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe has just announced a radical update to its Creative Suite, which in effect will be replaced by Creative Cloud. No longer will you be able to go into a store and buy a box with Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, or any of the other suite members. One of several good things about the change is that for a $49.99 a month fee ($29.99 for students and teachers) you get every single Adobe application—although there's predictably a lot of kvetching online about the new subscription model, that might almost be a cool new feature in itself. And there are no more levels like Photoshop vs. Photoshop Extended; you get everything, period.

But the way the apps are delivered isn't the only thing that's changed. This year's Creative Suite, er, Creative Cloud update will bring plenty of nifty new tools, features, and services when it launches on June 17. To whet your appetite in the meantime, we've pulled out what we consider the best of 'em. Well, at least the most readily impressive ones. There are plenty of other new features that, while, not as sexy, may actually be of more use to pros in the field, such as Photoshop's new improved upsampling and nondestructive smart object effects.

Some of the features we've included are pretty well known already. Photoshop CC's new, amazing Camera Shake Reduction was first demoed way back at the company's Fall 2011 MAX trade show and only now has finally made it into the released product.

A subtler kind of new feature is the cloud connectivity you get in all of the major Creative Cloud applications. The apps will now let you sync your workspace layout, settings, and even project assets. Another web service benefit that comes with the new suite is integration with the Bēhance social network for creative professionals. CC apps can share work directly to Bēhance for feedback from colleagues and customers, as well as showcasing their work to the industry at large.

Keep in mind that this is just a tiny sampling of what new in the Adobe Creative Cloud applications: If you dig into the individual programs, you'll find many more, some of which may be more crucial to your use of the software.

Photoshop CC: Camera Shake Reduction

This almost unbelievable feature solves an age-old problem: you move the camera a little when snapping a picture, and the result is a slightly smeared image. Before this Photoshop feature, your best option was to just chuck the photo. The feature analyses the motion path of the shake, and realigns the pixels for a crisp, sharp image. You really have to see this in a video to fully appreciate it, which you can by watching Adobe's Zorana Gee showing Camera Shake Reduction . Since your shake may include some rotation as well as linear movement, all areas of the photo won't be blurred to the same degree. The feature lets you compensate for this by selecting areas that should be in focus. This is one feature that I can't wait to try out, personally.

Illustrator CC: Kuler iPhone App

Kuler is a cool yet simple iPhone app that lets you create a color swatch from photos you shoot with the phone. You'll simply tap on five areas in the picture that you want to extract the color from, and the app creates a swatch of these colors that can be sent to Illustrator for use in your projects. It's a great tool for getting title text to match a photo in your project. You can also choose preset color themes or share with an online Kuler community at kuler.adobe.com. Sync your color themes to Creative Cloud, and they'll be available if you work from a different computer.

After Effects CC: Refine Edge

Rotoscoping is a time-honored—and much reviled—tradition in the movie editing business. It involves frame-by-frame retouching to separate foreground objects from the background. Even in the age of computers, it's an incredibly intensive process, but After Effects CC's new Refine Edge tool convincingly handles even difficult objects like hair or tree lines.

Bēhance

In this day of Facebook, we always know what all our friends are up to at all times; why not have the same currency for coworkers, clients, and other professionals in the creative field? The new CC apps can upload your work directly to the Bēhance professional creative social network for feedback from colleagues and clients for just this kind of immediacy. Bēhance also acts as a clearinghouse for the digital creative industry, where you can post your work in an online portfolio where potential customers can see it.

Dreamweaver CC: Fluid Grid Layouts

These days, web developers can't get by with just designing sites for desktop browsers: smart phones and tablets now make up a huge segment of the web audience. Dreamweaver CC's new Fluid Grid Layout tool lets webdevs easily adjust their sites for different screen size by specifying break points that trigger different CSS layouts that fit the current display surface. And it uses web-standard CSS3 and HMTL5 to accomplish this.

About Our Expert

Michael Muchmore

Contributor

My Experience

I've been testing PC and mobile software for more than 20 years, focusing on photo and video editing, operating systems, and web browsers. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech and headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team. I’ve attended trade shows for Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.

I still get a kick out of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft misstep and win, up to the latest Windows 11.

I’m an avid bird photographer and traveler—I’ve been to 40 countries, many with great birds! Because I’m also a classical music fan and former performer, I’ve reviewed streaming services that emphasize classical music.

Technology I Use

For everyday work, I use a good-old Dell tower with 16GB of RAM, a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, and an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti GPU that runs on Windows 11. I pair it with a 4K Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-10 monitor and a Logitech MX Vertical mouse. For offsite work, I use a 2024 Microsoft Surface Laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. Camera-wise, I moved to mirrorless from a Canon EOS 80D with a Canon 70-300mm IS USM lens. I now have a Canon EOS R7 with a 100-400mm lens, but I miss my DSLR for several reasons.

In order of usage, the software I turn to most frequently is the Edge web browser, Slack, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, Firefox, Brave, and WhatsApp. I use the Windows Phone link app to see everything on my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra phone, which has excellent telephoto capability.

For fitness monitoring, I have a Fitbit Charge 6 and use an Anker Smart Scale P1. I’m also a streaming fan, so I subscribe to both Amazon Music Unlimited (especially for its Dolby Atmos content) and Qobuz (for its high-res sound quality and classical catalog). I recently added a Vizio 5.1 Soundbar SE, which sounds surprisingly good given its low price. To holler commands instead of using a remote control, I have the Amazon Fire TV Cube in the living room, which lets me verbally tell the TV what I want to watch. It hooks up to an LG B4 OLED TV. I have a Sonos One speaker in my kitchen that also ties in with Alexa, as does the Echo Dot 2 With Clock in my bedroom. For serious listening, I have B&W 601 speakers plugged into a Conrad-Johnson Sonographe amp and preamp, with a Cambridge Audio AXN10 streamer as source. For reading, I also have a Nook GlowLight 3.

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