*** From the Archives ***
This article is from September 23, 2008, and is no longer current.
First Looks: InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop CS4
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Illustrator CS4: Improving Efficiency
Illustrator CS4 is also a notable upgrade. Since Adobe says that Illustrator CS4 is all about efficiency, I should discuss CS4’s interface changes. CS4 applications sport a new Application Bar by default, with its own close/minimize/maximize buttons, as well as links to Adobe Bridge CS4 and panel configurations. I’m not sure that the Application Bar setup has helped me, but I do like the Arrange Documents menu, which I use to tile documents in useful ways. CS4 also has tabbed windows, which I enjoyed in the Macromedia products.
Lots of people will cheer the addition of multiple artboards. They aren’t really designed for multi-page layouts (there is no Pages panel, for instance), but having multiple artboards in one file does make it easier to work on multiple projects and share assets between them. I like to use multiple artboards when creating illustrations with minor differences, such as varying sizes or different color configurations.
At last, multiple artboards! Click on the image for a much larger version.
Illustrator CS4 includes a new brush type, the Blob Brush. It’s designed to be a more intuitive brush, and it reminds me of Flash’s brush: brushstrokes merge to create larger shapes, and it’s more like moving paint than drawing a stroke.
Scary name, cool brush: the Blob. Click on the image for a much larger version.
Not new (it debuted in CS3) but improved is Isolation Mode. When you click an element and enter Isolation Mode, everything but the element is editable, and the Layers panel shows only the isolated element.
Illustrator CS4 has added on-object gradient controls, which are very useful. When you add a gradient to an element, a circle and gradient bar appear directly on the element. The gradient controller does everything the Gradient panel can and more. Gradient color stops can also use transparent colors now.
The on-object gradients are easy to use. Click on the image for a much larger version.
More new features:
- The Appearance panel is now more like the Layers panel: attributes can be shown, hidden, and revised
- Clipping masks have been revised so it’s easier to work with masks and masked elements
- Smart Guides show rotation angles and distance between nearby objects
- Graphic Styles preview faster and are easier to revise
- A new Separations Preview helps proof color separations
- Live Color lets you recolor artwork based on color palettes from Kuler or your own palettes
For full reviews of the shipping versions of all three of these apps, check back soon!
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Where’s the mention of fixing all the crash-causing buts in the CS3 version, which is the most unstable app I’ve ever experienced (outside of ANY Windows OS).
that’s “bugs”, not “buts”…
Anybody know of a discount for buying from adobe.com similar to the 15% AIGA offers?
I didn’t want to comment about bugs or stability because I’m using a beta version of CS4 and the shipping product may be far different. But my experience with the beta has been pretty good in terms of speed and handling so I expect performance will be improved compared to CS3.
In my section about Photoshop CS4, I mentioned some accelerated graphics features that I didn’t find in my beta version. You can read more about them here:
https://designorati.com/articles/t1/photoshop/1628/more-about-photoshop-cs4-and-graphics-acceleration.php
Anyway, after some more testing I did find these features in my beta version. For some reason some features like float/panning the canvas don’t always work for me and zooming in and out is not always smooth. I’m still trying to figure out if these features kick in only in certain situations, or if my beta doesn’t quite have all the features.
I am glad to see you have revealed details about InDesign’s features.
It seems Adobe itself doesn’t want to divulge any details about its application’s features, as I couldn’t find anything specific for the applications when I visited it without digging fairly deep into their site.
some pretty solid applications. thanks for posting.
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I’ve found that multiple artboards only seems to work for simple vector art. I’ve had larger files crash and you lose all the extra artboads… anyone else have this happen too?
You know I’m happy that you revealed details about InDesign’s features.
It seems Adobe itself doesn’t want to divulge any details about its application’s features,
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I bought CS4 Master Suite primarily for Photoshop, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver. However, it turns out that InDesign proved to be invaluable. I wrote a book for self-publishing and on a WordPress website to sell to my customers. I messed around with MS Publisher (a total disaster) and then dug into InDesign. The InDesign book looks fantastic and my customer feedback is great. I’m now looking at getting it printed and because I created it with InDesign, it’s ready to go which will save formatting costs big time.
Naturally, I’ve been very pleased with CS4 Photoshop, but am finding myself using Fireworks more and more often since I mostly build websites rather than focus solely on images. However, for logos and headers, I still often rely on Photoshop.
I’m finding this new version of Creative Suite 4 to be very good. It always takes me awhile to upgrade.
InDesign is useful, and I’ve been doing some custom website templates work with CS4, although it’s not my main area.
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