New Feature Highlights– from the Adobe CS4Launch tour.

PHOTOSHOP- Content - Aware Scaling

Under the Edit Menu is the new Content - Aware Scaling which is a mind-blowing new feature. In all prior Photoshop releases when scaling an image vertical or horizontal the content would become squished. Now you can protect the main content and scale vertical or horizontal to your heart’s content and the protected areas, people or objects will remain the same size. You can even protect skintones. Check out this url for a demo mov. http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/ContentAwareScale_SM.mov 3D Object Tool-Allows you to import a 3D Object and work on it, Paint it etc. You can take a 2D object and merge it onto a 3D Object. An example would be a 2D Logo or insignia merged onto a 3D Car.

INDESIGN

Ability to pull pictures from Bridge and place them proportionately in a page layout. Tables can be used that indicate headers and anything that is over flowing for print. You can create Interactive pages within InDesign and export as an interactive PDF a SWF or a Flash XFL file. A page curl and transitions can be added. You can create interactive buttons with a panel and presets for Buttons. These buttons can be hyperlinked to web pages. Quick Apply Paragraph Styles Shortcut Feature: The styles panel has a lighting bolt icon which when clicked will allow you to type in a style name or use apply a style to multiple selections.

ILLUSTRATOR

There is a new Artboard tool that allows you to have up to 99 multiple artboards with bleeds. The Artboards can be treated as separate Artboards or as one Artboard and in some cases sent as a completed print template to a Printer. Gradient tool has an option to rotate a gradient. You can also create a gradient mask and manipulate the transparency. When working in the styles panel and selecting a style there is an added preview feature that allows you to preview how the style appears on your artwork. The Drag Tool permits you to drag one item and drop it on another artwork.

FLASH

The timeline tween arrow has gone away and is replaced with the same icon that AfterEffects uses for tweening. There is a new Motion Editor for easing-in and out which resembles the one in AfterEffects. There is a new Art Deco Brush that Builds patterns. To view an H264 Flash video, the Flash player 10 is required. The new Bone Tool acts like an armature inside an object and is use to change the shape of the object. The Spray Brush tool produces random unpredictable animations.

DREAMWEAVER

Code Navigator is the new tool in the shape of a ship’s wheel. CSS styles update in real-time. Live Code shows all code being generated dynamically reassigning CSS rules. Click on: http://www.mogo-media.com/seminars/the-adobe-cs4-launch-tour/recordings/

Renee Levine, BFA, MA Trainer-Multimedia Developer-Photographer www.levineproductions.com