Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3)

Adobe makes great software. Contributing editor Ed Mendelson and I have together reviewed the eight applications that comprise the Design and Web editions of Creative Suite 3, and we haven't given any program a score of less than 4. Mac users should be especially pleased, since all the apps are now available as universal binaries. If you're involved with computer graphics (or want to be), Adobe has a program for you. But if more than one Adobe app appeals to you, then you may want to think about purchasing one of the Creative Suite packages instead of buying the apps à la carte. And with six different editions of the Creative Suite 3 to choose from, there's probably one tailored to your needs (we laid out which suite includes which apps in a piece called Adobe CS3: What You Get.

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If you're interested in the Web, there are the Web Standard and the more deluxe Web Premium suites. If you're interested in print, there's the Design Standard suite. If you want to design for both online and hard copy, the Design Premium is the choice for you. Expected for release later this year is the Production Premium suite, tailored for video work. Note that the two linchpins of the Production Premium suite, After Effects CS3 Professional and Premiere Pro CS3, are currently available on the Adobe site as public betas. Also note that the Premiere beta is available for Macintosh as well, and that the After Effects beta requires a licensed serial number for version 7. The final edition of the Creative Suite is the Master Collection, containing "all of the above" for those with print, Web, and video needs. The Master Collection will be available with the release of the Production Premium suite.

One thing's for sure: The Creative Suites offer an incredible bargain. Prices are slashed to 40 or 50 percent of the cost of buying each suite component individually. The only exception is the Web Standard edition, which is reduced to 78 percent. This is one of the reasons I have a few reservations about recommending Web Standard. It may have been designed for die-hard Macromedia users who want only upgrades to their favorite Web apps and don't want to mess with the Adobe stuff. But if you're not upgrading, it's hard to justify spending $1,000 on Web Standard when for $600 more you could get Web Premium, which also contains Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, and Acrobat—over $2,000 worth of additional software.

I find it interesting that none of the Creative Suites offer a robust way to organize the digital photo collection that will probably play a large part in whatever graphical work you do. The new Photoshop Lightroom is the obvious candidate for inclusion (it even has a CS3 "chemical element"–style icon), and I think a Photographer's Collection suite consisting of Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom, priced around $799, would be a good idea. At the very least, Adobe should give a serious break on Lightroom's price to Creative Suite 3 owners.

Given the complexity of six different Creative Suite editions, Adobe has kept the concept of upgrading relatively simple. Each suite has two upgrade prices: one if you already own a previous version of Creative Suite or Macromedia Studio, and one if you already own a previous version of just one application in the suite you're upgrading to. (Hey, I said relatively simple.)

But wait—there's more. I've held off talking about the new Adobe Bridge CS3 until this summary of the Creative Suites, even though Bridge is included when you buy any of the eight applications we've reviewed. Bridge is the glue that holds a Creative Suite together; it's a file browser–type "media manager" for organizing, browsing, and finding the media you need to use in your Suite work. This version of Bridge has seen many welcome improvements, starting with the dark, nondistracting interface. There are also some helpful preset viewing modes, stacking features to group similar files together, slide shows, and a loupe tool reminiscent of Apple Aperture's. I particularly love the "flat view" that shows the contents of nested folders along with the contents of the main folder, and the ability to assign a playback frame rate to stacked images in the browser, letting you preview animations that are rendered as image sequences.

Two other Creative Suite components bear mentioning. Bridge's new Inspector panel taps into Version Cue CS3, Adobe's solution for workgroups that need to collaborate on the same projects and track different versions of files. While my experience with Version Cue admittedly doesn't run very deep, there are some nice features for making the process simpler and easier for workgroups to use. (Note that Version Cue won't be included with the Production Premium suite.) And Adobe Device Central CS3 is a nifty program that allows you to take mobile content created in the Creative Suite and preview it surrounded by a "skin" interface drawn from a large databank of mobile devices, complete with working, clickable "buttons."

If I had to sum up Adobe Creative Suite 3 in a single word, that word would be integration. Adobe's focus has clearly been on getting its long-standing apps and the newly acquired Macromedia Web programs (Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, and Contribute) to play nice together. Adobe has succeeded quite admirably in this goal, but it has also managed to throw in many significant enhancements within each program's feature set—both to standardize many elements of the individual apps' interfaces and to improve the way they function.

With six different editions of the Adobe Creative Suite 3, each offering enormous savings over the total cost of the individual apps, there's bound to be a collection that will meet the needs of any computer graphics artist.

Complete Adobe Creative Suite Coverage

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More Digital Imaging reviews:
•   Google Photos (for Android)
•   Google Photos (for iPhone)
•   Google Photos
•   Dubsmash (for iPhone)
•   Phase One Capture One Pro 8
• more

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Vanishing Point

Useful for defining three-dimensional planes in an image, the old version of Vanishing Point was restricted to planes meeting at 90-degree angles. This restriction has been lifted, letting you define any angle with the tool. In this figure, the varying angles of a folded blank piece of paper were defined with Vanishing Point, and a photo was then mapped onto the paper’s surface.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Refine Edge

The Quick Selection tool is usually best followed with an application of the new Refine Edge command. The tools here can help you smooth and perfect a ragged selection, and there are five helpful options for viewing the selection-in-progress.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Photo Downloader

With the addition of a Photo Downloader, Adobe Bridge joins the long line of photo software ready to spring into action the minute you connect a camera or card reader to your computer.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Bridge Filter Pane

One excellent feature in Adobe Bridge’s overhaul is the new Filter pane. From the list of file types found in the active folder, you can place checkmarks to limit the types of files Bridge displays.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Auto-Align

The new Auto-Align Layers command analyses the content of layers in a document and does the necessary adjustments to knit the two layers into a seamless photo. Any differences in exposure can be overcome with the indispensable Auto-Blend Layers command.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Camera Raw

The Adobe Camera Raw window boasts many new features designed to help you get the most from your raw formatted images.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Smart Filters

The Background image in this figure was first converted to a Smart Object. From that point onward, filters applied to the image become Smart Filters, ready to be re-edited or turned off altogether with convenient implementation in the Layers palette.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Black and White

Knowledgeable Photoshop users have long used the Channel Mixer to artfully convert color images to black and white. The new Black and White command makes the process easier. You get exacting control over the amount of influence various color ranges have on the final black and white image.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Quick Selection

Like Photoshop Elements’ "magic" selection tools, Photoshop CS3’s new Quick Selection tool lets you "paint" on your image to create a selection. For easy-to-select subjects, this tool can be a great timesaver.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 : Interface

Photoshop CS3’s interface has undergone a dramatic transformation. The toolbox at far left defaults to a space-saving one column mode, though you can switch it to the familiar two columns with a single click. Palettes now reside by default in docks, and can collapse down to mere icons, like the History palette in the figure.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Templates

Dreamweaver comes with a massive collection of prebuilt templates, all based on up-to-date CSS formatting.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Device Central

Dreamweaver comes with Adobe DeviceCentral, which previews your pages as they’ll look on mobile phones and other small-screen devices. The result isn’t always pretty.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Site Definition

When you’re ready to publish to a server, Dreamweaver can connect with any standard server type.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Sample Template

Dreamweaver’s supplied sample templates are elegant and distinctiv—perhaps too distinctive for sites with names and slogans that don’t exactly fit into the sample’s format.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Target Browsers

Preview your site's appearance in Different Browsers

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : History Panel

Dreamweaver’s History panel lets you replay an editing session or temporarily select an earlier stage from which you copy text or graphics from an earlier edit and paste into the current version.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Opening Screen

The welcome screen lists recent files, templates, and built-in samples, together with a link to the Dreamweaver Exchange site for downloadable add-ons.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : HelpViewer

Dreamweaver’s help viewer has a bad habit of offering to connect you with exactly the same help page as it appears on the web. Someday it may be worth checking the Web version to see if it adds information.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Context Menu

This is basically the same right-click context menu that you’ll see almost anywhere you right-click on a page. Don’t expect the menu’s content to adjust itself to exactly what you’re trying to edit.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Code View

Real coders don’t always use WYSIWYG, and Dreamweaver includes a code view where you can modify code directly or use the property panel at the foot of the screen, in order to avoid typing errors.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 : Picture Optimize

Dreamweaver’s built-in picture editor lets you crop, resize, or modify an image—and convert a GIF into a JPEG or the reverse.

Adobe Contribute CS3 : CreateNew

Creating New Pages: Contribute can create new pages based on supplied templates or any other templates that you create and save in Dreamweaver.

Adobe Contribute CS3 : EditImage

Image Property Box: Contribute’s image property box lets you change the layout and display size of an uploaded or linked image.

Adobe Contribute CS3 : DraftConsole

Draft Revisions: Contribute keeps track of draft versions of revised in the form of a link that lets you open the draft in the app.

Adobe Contribute CS3 : AddLink

Mini Browser: You add links to a page via the wizard interface. The wizard lets you find the page you want by browsing to it in a miniature web browser.

Adobe Contribute CS3 : ConnectionWizard

Remote Connections: Contribute makes it easy to set up a connection with a remote website. Corresponding blogging options are simple with hosted blogs like Blogger.com, slightly more complicated with blogs that run from your own web server.

Adobe Contribute CS3 : EditRegion

Dreamweaver Templates: Contribute won’t make changes to areas inserted by Dreamweaver templates; editing is possible only in the green-bordered editing box.

Adobe Illustrator CS3 : Interface

Illustrator CS3’s interface has been revamped to match most other apps in Adobe’s Creative Suites.

Adobe Illustrator CS3 : Illustrator In Living Color

Once you’ve established a group of colors, you can spin them around the color wheel as a linked group, maintaining their harmonious relationship, rather like changing the Hue in Photoshop’s Hue/Saturation command.

Adobe Illustrator CS3 : Perfect Harmony

This pulldown menu in the Color Guide palette offers many different "rules" for creating harmonious color groups, all starting from the same base color.

Adobe Illustrator CS3 : A Clean Sweep

I dragged the Eraser tool through this complex Illustrator art. When the art is selected, you can see the complex path redrawing the tool performed

Adobe Fireworks CS3 : Check it Out

The Common Library houses many pre-built rich symbols for you to use. Here are some common interface elements in both Mac OS X and Windows XP styles.

Adobe Fireworks CS3 : Interface

While Fireworks’ interface is efficient, I'd like to see it conform to the standard interface that Adobe seems to be introducing in most of the Creative Suite.

Adobe Fireworks CS3 : Special Effects

Photoshop’s Layer Styles manifest themselves in Fireworks CS3 as Live Effects, adding dimensional effects to objects such as text.

Adobe Fireworks CS3 : It Slices, It Dices

Nine-slice scaling lets you chop up objects and specify which parts you want to scale and which you want to leave alone.

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional : Making the Code

Flash CS3 is the first version of the program to work with ActionScript 3.0, and the Action palette is central to Flash’s handling of the code

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional : From Photoshop to Flash

Choosing the Import to Stage command Choosing the Import to Stage command and selecting a Photoshop file displays this window, in which you have terrific control over how your Photoshop art should be translated into Flash CS3.

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional : Video to Go

Flash Video Encoder, a free-standing application that installs with Flash, has seen some enhancements and reorganization in the CS3 version.

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional : The Flash CS3 Professional Interface

Part of the highly-requested integration of Flash, Photoshop, and Illustrator consisted of giving these programs the same basic interface, with a default one-column toolbox and docked palettes.

Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 : Acrobat Toolbars

Acrobat can display a profusion of toolbars and navigation tools, as shown here, or can be reduced to a document-only view.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional : Adobe Getting Started

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional : Acrobat Combine

A clear menu lets you select files to combine into a single PDF or package.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional : Acrobat Getting Started

This task-oriented screen leads to wizard-style menus with explanations of all major Acrobat procedures—but it's only available on startup.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional : Acrobat Combine Step 2

Click on a radio button to choose between combining files into a single PDF or a Package of multiple PDF files.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional : Acrobat Connect

What does the Acrobat Connect Web-based collaboration service have to do with Acrobat? If you can find a good reason why they both have the same name, please let us know.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional : Acrobat Outlook Archive

Acrobat's add-ins to Office can create e-mail archives like this one. You can turn off the navigation tool in the top window or transform it into an icon toolbar on the left of the window.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : New Welcome Screen

The Welcome screen showcases the new "chemical element"-style branding Adobe has given to its applications. The butterfly logo that used to represent InDesign has fluttered away for good.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : Default Interface

Note the palettes (also referred to as panels) in the dock on the right side of the screen.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : Pages Palette

The Pages palette now displays thumbnails that reflect the actual content of the repre-sented page. Here I’ve set the thumbnails to Extra Large in the palette options.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : Table Styles Palette

I formatted this entire table with one click using the new Table Styles palette.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : Interface Customization

InDesign CS3 offers extensive customization of its application, palette, and context-sensitive menus.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : Multi-File Placement

The Multi-file Placing cursor shows one of the six images I’ve loaded. Tapping the arrow keys cycles through the loaded items. When the preview shows the item you want to place, one click does the job.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : Gradient Feather Effect

Another of the new Effects palette’s attractive options.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : Enhanced Find/Change Command

The greatly enhanced Find/Change command lets me specify the formatting options I want to search for in my document.

Adobe InDesign CS3 : New or Enhanced Features

This Workspace preset highlights the menu items that are new or that Adobe has enhanced in version CS3.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3: Multi Cam

You can edit several camera feeds simultaneously.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3: On Location

Record SD and HD video directly to hard disk using Adobe OnLocation CS3 software, included with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. Review each shot without shuttling tape. Adobe OnLocation automatically detects and flags problems to enhance results.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3: Color Correction

Fine tune the colors in your videos.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3: Time Remapping

Create dramatic slow and fast motion effects without exporting clips to another application.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3: Adobe Encore CS3

With one click, create SWF versions of your DVD and Blu-ray Disc projects for the web. Use Adobe Encore CS3, included with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, to create content compatible with Adobe Flash Player, complete with DVD interactivity and menus.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 : Changing Speeds

Premiere Pro’s new time remapping effect is the easiest way I’ve seen to gradually change speeds in a video file. Here I’m changing from 100 to 25% speed to reveal all swing flaws, then back up to 100%.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 : The Big Picture.

The most significant change to Premiere Pro is that it’s available on the Macintosh. Note that the pink clips on Video 1 are After Effect projects imported via Dynamic Link to lev-erage After Effect’s excellent Keylight keying plug-in.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 : Windows Only

This Levels Settings visual control isn’t available on the Macintosh. I find it the best way to maximize contrast and adjust gamma when required.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 : Keying

UltraCS3 offers outstanding keying capabilities and interesting virtual sets.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 : OnLocation

Here’s OnLocation. Note the 16:9 preview and waveform monitor on the upper right.

Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional: 3D

Import Vanishing Point data from Photoshop into After Effects to build 3D compositions automatically.

Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional: Text Animation

Explore new text animation possibilities by making individual characters in your text —or an entire phrase —move and rotate in 3D space.

Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional: Shape Layers

Create and animate vector graphics with new Shape Layers. Add and animate strokes, fills, gradients, and vector effects. You can convert text into shapes and animate them just like any other shape type.

Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional: Brainstorm

Brainstorm is a new user interface that offers variations based on selected design and animation parameters. Choose which properties and effects you want to explore, and Brainstorm will propose animated variations.

Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional: Puppet Tool

This animation tool lets you squash and stretch images or text to bring it to life as an animated character. Use Motion Sketch to record the position and speed of your puppet movements, the Starch tool to stiffen areas of the character, and the Overlap tool to control the depth of elements of your puppet.

Adobe SoundBooth CS3: Auto Heal

Use tools like those in Adobe Photoshop software to visually identify, select, and remove individual sounds from a spectral display of your waveform.

Adobe SoundBooth CS3: Clean Up

Automatically detect and fix common flaws in audio recordings such as hisses, hums, rumbling, crackling, and pops.

Adobe SoundBooth CS3: Flash Markers

Lay down markers in Adobe Soundbooth and export them as XML or in FLV. Access the markers through ActionScriptn language in Adobe Flash software or in the FLV encoder for tasks like driving animation or creating captions.

SoundBooth CS3: Soundbooth Scores

Select one of the dozens of included Soundbooth Scores, and then customize it to match your project. Adjust intensity to match the project's visual mood, and change the length to fit.

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 : Split Screen View

Soundbooth's split screen waveform/spectral view provides two views for finding offending noises.

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 : Louder Button

Soundbooth's Louder button first normalizes, then compresses the audio file.

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 : SoundTrack

Here's the big picture view of SoundTrack. Like all Production Studio applications, it's got a flexible interface you can customize and save.

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 : Recording

The new recording interface is more usable than Audition's.

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 : Noise Reduction

Soundbooth's noise reduction effect lacks a "keep only noise" preview function.

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 : Vocal Enhancer

Soundbooth features a Vocal Enhancer effect you can use for voice-over recordings, and a Compressor tool for boosting the sound of various types of music and speech.

Adobe Soundbooth CS3 : AutoCompose Score

Sound booth’s AutoCompose Score function lets you modify various music characteristics over the course of the track via key frames.