The product updates Adobe announced today represent what it has called “a major milestone release” that includes hundreds of new features along with the following major enhancements:
- New versions of all 14 Adobe Creative Cloud desktop applications, integrated with cloud services.
- Three new mobile apps that are tightly integrated with cloud services.
- Two new hardware offerings.
- Updates to CC for Enterprise and Education.
- Updates to CC for Teams.
These enhancements were developed in response to market shifts that are driving creative professionals to work in new ways, based on three key trends:
- The rapid pace of change in tech. With new hardware, new software, new formats, and other emerging technologies continually coming to market, many creatives are challenged to keep up with the pace of innovation, but they want to leverage the latest tools to gain a competitive edge.
- An explosion in the use of mobile devices. Mobile technologies have changed creatives’ expectations regarding how they create content, what they create, and where. Mobile devices are no longer purely consumption devices; creatives need to be able to do professional-grade work on all types of devices.
- Living in a super-connected world. Social media technologies have changed how we interact with people, collaborate, discover new content, get feedback, and share content. Creatives are connecting and sharing information differently than they used to; who they are, what they build, and who inspired them are part of what Adobe is calling their “creative identity.”
Since creatives need always-on access, Adobe is introducing services that integrate the desktop, web and mobile, so that each user’s creative profile is available anytime, anywhere they choose to work.
Desktop Apps
To help creative professionals keep up with the pace of change, Adobe has developed new versions of the 14 Creative Cloud desktop apps (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.) that are tightly integrated with cloud services. These updates represent the biggest software release since CS 6 in 2012.
There are four key elements that Adobe focused on:
- Performance boosts.
- Workflow efficiencies.
- Support for changing hardware and formats.
- What was referred to as Adobe “magic,” with the addition of hundreds of helpful new features, such as Blur Gallery motion effects and Focus Mask in Photoshop.
Mobile Apps
Adobe has released a new family of mobile apps to provide a more agile way of working.
Three mobile apps for iPad that extend the desktop workflow with community and services embedded are Adobe Sketch, Adobe Line, and Adobe Photoshop Mix. Sketch enables designers to share their sketches with peers and get feedback on their work through the Behance community. Adobe Line “re-imagines traditional drawing tools…for the mobile world” and can be used in conjunction with Adobe Slide (more info below). Photoshop Mix offers a CC-connected mobile workflow.
These tools are professional-grade but are simple enough for non-professionals to use as well. They were created using Adobe’s new Creative SDK, which is still in private beta. (Stay tuned for more information about Creative SDK leading up to the Adobe MAX event in the fall.)
Hardware
Adobe has introduced two hardware products that further connect Creative Cloud to the iPad: Adobe Ink and Adobe Slide.
Ink is a three-sided stylus for the iPad that allows controlled, expressive drawing. It connects to Creative Cloud for automatic access to your creative assets in the cloud, such as Kuler and your favorite drawings.
Adobe Slide is a 3-in. multifunction digital ruler that will enable precision sketching, such as the ability to create straight lines and perfect circles.
The tools will be manufactured and sold as a pair, in the U.S. only, for $199; they’ll become available in other regions later this year.
Creative Cloud Services
The Creative Cloud Services layer will provide the connection between the desktop, web, and mobile. If you’ve used CC, you might be familiar with the CC Desktop app, which enables users to manage and access all of your creative assets, such as files, fonts, and assets. The CC Services component extends that to the web. There’s also a new CC app for iOS. Users will be able to manage such elements from their desktops or from their mobile devices.
Another element of the services layer is Creative Cloud Market, a collection of curated content “for creatives, by creatives.” The content, created by the Adobe community, is being shared for free with other CC members. Members can access assets on the desktop or mobile, including vector graphics, patterns, icons, UI kits, and more. Creatives can download up to 500 unique, royalty-free assets each month to use in their own apps. This will serve as a resource for generating new ideas and sparking creativity.
Enterprise and Education Customers
There are also updates to the Enterprise and Education offerings.
Enterprise customers will now have access to more services, with collaboration and file storage, plus an expanded option for deployment (whether choosing named user or anonymous deployment) plus a new enterprise dashboard to help them manage users and entitlements.
Educational institutions will now have device-based licensing for classrooms and labs, so multiple users have access to software on a single machine.
Creative Cloud for Teams
Updates to CC for Teams include a redesigned admin console UI to make it much easier to use (released about six weeks ago). The reseller console has been updated as well.
Pricing for CC for Teams has been changed as of June 1, so that its more consistent and less confusing.
Posted by: tfpadmin