The original Creative Suite, launched a year and a half ago, offered an outstanding collection of software at a great price. With Version 2, Adobe has made general improvements to the functionality and integration of all the included programs, and even topped the whole package off with a more attractive price. Some of the new tools feel a little experimental, but overall the suite is a class-leading design package.
Pros: Class-leading programs; improved integration
Cons: No SVGT animation tools; some tools are a little experimental
Creative Suite 2 Premium Edition integrates new full-version upgrades of the best design software available - Photoshop CS2 (image editing), InDesign CS2 (page layout), Illustrator CS2 (graphics) and GoLive CS2 (Web development).
The suite also introduces Adobe's Stock Photos service, Adobe's Bridge and includes the recently released Acrobat 7.0 Professional. The Standard Edition drops GoLive and Acrobat, and retails for £699 (ex. VAT). While most of the products in the suite are available separately, the ability to set up and manage network projects using Version Cue 2.0 is exclusive to Creative Suite owners.
The suite provides a powerhouse compilation of design and publishing tools for print, Web and the latest generation of handheld devices. Anchored by a new visual file browser, Adobe Bridge acts as a hub for productivity and enables you to quickly browse, organise, and process design assets.
The browser also displays scaleable thumbnail previews of the files on your hard disk, in addition to time-saving feature such as drag-and-drop import, editable and searchable metadata, file rating, slide shows, batch processing, camera RAW conversion, and colour-management synchronisation.
Bridge is more than a file browser, though. It comes with a customisable Bridge Center view from which you can trace current and recent documents, manage your Version Cue projects, and apply colour management preferences uniformly across the entire suite in one go. It even includes a built-in RSS reader and provides direct access to Adobe's new stock photography service, allowing you to shop for high-quality, royalty-free images.
Photoshop CS2, perhaps the most significant product in the suite, brings a new Vanishing Point feature that cuts tedious graphic and photo retouching tasks by allowing you to clone, paint and transform image objects while retaining visual perspective. To duplicate an object or add text, you simply draw a grid and then copy and paste from either a selection or another file onto your background image or a new layer.
The tool adjusts the object's dimensions to match the perspective that the grid defines and draws on Photoshop's 'healing' feature to adjust colour and levels to make the object match its surroundings. There are limitations, though: you cannot bend a cloned selection halfway around the edge between two planes, nor can you describe non-flat surfaces.
Photoshop CS2 also adds host of new features that are designed for digital photography professionals. For example, the product has an enhanced Spot Healing Brush, a tool to correct photo problems such as blemishes, red eyes, blurring, and lens distortion.
Now, however, don't have to 'Alt'-click to set a reference point; instead, it analyses the area around the tool as you use it. Unfortunately, the results are often less than impressive and you'd be better off using the standard healing brush (which is still available) for more control.
In addition, Photoshop CS2 includes improved support for working with RAW digital camera images, unprocessed digital camera files that are increasingly popular among professional photographers and digital photography hobbyists. Photoshop CS2 allows batch conversion of raw files and offer better cropping and straightening tools, as well as a brilliant Noise Reduction filter.
